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TheUS.A.
..-..-....YZED
BYTHE
GHOSTOFVIETNAM
by
Gene H. Hogberg
Turmoil in the Western Hemisphere is growing by the month.
The stakes are enormous. Why does one
superpower- the United States- seem powerless to act in its own interest?
C
ENTRAL
Ameri–
ca is ablaze on
several fronts.
In E l Salvador, re–
cent successes by insur–
gen ts have prompted
renewed gover nment
requests for increased
U.S. milita ry aid for
that beleaguered coun–
try.
In Nicaragua, counter–
revol utionaries- covertl y
financ.ed by the United
States-have taken a firm hold in
areas of the countryside. A storm is
brewing in the U .S. Congress over
Washington's attempt to put pres–
sure on the Marxist regime in
N icaragua. The U.S. claims it only
wants Nicaragua to qui t supplying
revolutionaries in El Salvador. Yet
the forces the U nited States is
assisting openly profess that thei r
aim includes the overthrow of the
government in Nicaragua.
At the southern t ip of the Carib–
bean island chain, off the coast of
Venezuela, Cuban engineers are
building a 10,000-foot-long ai rstrip
in Grenada. To the east, on the
northern shore of South Ameríca, a
pro-Soviet government has taken
root in Suriname, the former colo–
ny of Dutch Guiana. Authorities
there have offered to send t roops to
2
N icaragua "to defend the revolu–
tion" in tbat country.
Region of Turmoil
The countries of Central America
have lived, ever since their days of
independence in the early 1800s, in
a cauldron of political uncertainty.
This has naturally concerned the
United States. The economic for–
tunes of the United States and
Central America, as well as the
Caribbean island countr ies, have
been closely linked together. This
has been true despite vast differ–
ences in culture, language, religious
orientation and hjstorical develop–
ment patterns.
The United States-along with
Canada- emerged as a unified
prosperous society, underlaid by a
large and influential middle class.
By contrast the Central
American societies were
unsuccessful in attempts
at broad political union
and remained divided
among themselves and
within themselves.
As a whole they could
be described as somewhat
feudalistic societies, with
a layer of wealthy and
politically dominant land–
owners and entrepreneurs
at the top.
Whíle a substantial
middle class developed in
El Salvador , Guatemala, Costa
Rica and Panama, great gaps
between the prosperous and the
poor continue to this day. With
regard to politics, moderate parties
between the authoritarian right and
revolutionary movements on the
left have been difficult to establish.
There ·is precious little "middle
ground."
U.S. lnvolvement
Periodically the United States has
felt compelled to intervene militari–
ly in the regíon to preserve its own
interests. During one period, U.S.
marines remained in Nicaragua for
20 years. lnterventions, bowever,
nearly always carne with a price:
widespread resentment in Latín
American coun tries of
yanqui
imperialism.
The
PLAIN TRUTH