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reflects near-universal concern in
the region over the declining
power and influence of the
. United States. The
norteamerica–
nos
may never have been exactly
loved, but Washington has nev–
ertheless been the military guar–
antor of the entire Westero hemi–
sphere. Now everywhere, the
United States is perceived as a
power on the skids.
"What links Brazil and Argen–
tina, particularly at this time,"
notes one expert, ..is a growing
fear that they can no longer rely
on the United States to defend
the Western world."
Many knowledgeable Latín
Americans wonder if the United
States even perceives any longer
what is at stake in the Western
hemisphere. An American profes–
sor was recently quoted in
Latín
American Times
as saying that
Latin America ..is neither strate–
gically, politically, economically
nor ideologically of life-or-death
importance to the United States."
A reader from Venezuela (sup–
plier of 8 percent of U.S. oil
imports) justi fiably called such
assertions "incredible" and "very
poor judgment."
In Latin America, U.S. policy
of late has flip-flopped and floun–
dered. In making human rights
the centerpiece of U.S. foreign
policy, the Carter administration
has al ienated nations such as
Argentina and Chile who strug–
gled to the near-death with
Marxism and communist-backed
guerrilla terrorists in the 1970s.
The Argentines feel that if the
Marxists ever gain control of al!
of Central America they will be
in a position to threaten Mexico
and its vast oi l fields, to the north,
and the Panama Canal and Vene–
zuela and its oil and other South
American countries, to the
south.
Tles to Europe Will Grow
The newly emerging powers of
South America, however, will not
be comfortable existing in sorne
sort of hemispheric vacuum.
They are, as 1 was told repeatedly
in Argentina especially, part of
Western culture and tradition .
However, many of them trade,
December 1980
for profit, with the communist
world. And Argentina, for one,
would not go along with Mr.
Carter's call for a post-Afghanis–
tan grain embargo. Also Brazil
defied the U.S. plea for a Free
World boycott of the Olympic
Games in Moscow by sending a
team. Yet all of these countries
want to maintain a comfortable
political distance from Moscow.
Where then, is Latín America
to turn for assistance, even a good
measure of guidance? A
Times
of
London dispatch provides a clue:
" In general, a gradually unifying
Latín America would become a
much more interested economic
and political partner for Europe,
although Europeans are slow to
understand it."
Not that Western Europe, or
sorne of its key nations, are not
already vitally interested in the
region. Far from it. Nearly half of
West German prívate investment
in developing countries, for exam–
ple, is now plowed into Latín
America, with the emphasis on
Brazil. Chancellor Helmut
Schmidt toured Latin America in
May of 1979, followed a few
months later by Bonn's economic
affairs minister. West Germany,
moreover, has been far more cir–
cumspect than Washington in
condemning military govern–
ments out of hand, choosing the
path of quiet diplomacy rather
than noisome ideological pro–
nouncements.
When Spain becomes a mem–
ber of the European Community
(Common Market) in the near
future, look for that nation to
play a special role, because of its
historical, cultural and current
economic links with Latin Ameri–
ca.
The Common Market as a unit ,
with its centralized machinery in
Brussels, will inevitably play an
even greater role in Latin Ameri–
can affairs than it now does. The
Common Market is already the
dominant trading bloc in the
world, carrying on three times as
much externa! trade as the
United States. And now the nine–
nation bloc is emerging as an
independent political force, devel–
oping its own policies for key
world regions, such as the Middle
East, independent of Washington
if need be.
Europe is beginning to speak
with one voice on the interests
that concern it. The
Economist
of
London warned recently that to
be independent "means having
the capacity to act separately and
differently than America, not just
in side issues, and matters of
tactic, but in the heart of the
matter, which is the business of
keeping Western Europe out of
the Soviet sphere of control."
This fundamental issue- keep–
ing out of the Soviet orbit–
deeply concerns South American
powers too. Latín Americans, as
do Europeans, see a vacuum of
U.S. leadership in the Free
World that is likely to last well
beyond the recent U.S. national
elections. This vacuum will be
filled- by a resurgent European
third force, a coming economic,
military and religiousjcultural
powerhouse.
Prophesled In the Blble
The 18th chapter of the book of
Revelation depicts an end-of-the–
age worldwide European econom–
ic system, exercising the same
force over the modern world that
ancient Babylon did 2,500 years
ago over the ancient world.
It
will
be
an economic arder encompass–
ing much of the political world.
It
will reach its zenith after the
decline and fall of the English–
speaking powers.
The key raw materials and
industrialized products of Latín
America will of necessity be
drawn into such an alignment.
Verses 11 through 13 of Revela–
tion 18 even mentían sorne of the
exportable wealth of the Latín
American world- silver, wood,
iron, wheat, cattle and sheep.
Watch Latín America-and
Europe! o
Recently,
The Plain Truth
sent
news editor Gene H . Hogberg on a
fact-finding trip to South Ameri–
ca, to Argentina, Brazil, Chile,
Colombia and Venezuela. He was
accompanied by Keith Speaks,
staff member of our Spanish-lan–
guage version,
La
Pura Verdad.
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