The Great Fear in Latin America

JOHN GERASSI

REVISED EDITION

1965

A hardcover edition of The Great Fear in Latin America was published originally by The Macmillan Company under the title, The Great Fear.

This book is dedicated, pretentiously, to our Latin American policymakers.

Assumption

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

-- Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

Corollary

That if governments do not derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish them by the means available. That such means include elections, if possible, or force, if not.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Need for Reconquest

PART I: An Overview

  1. Conditions and Realities
  2. News and Facts
PART II: The Pacesetters
  1. Argentina
  2. Brazil
  3. Mexico
PART III: The Followers
  1. Chile
  2. Paraguay
  3. Peru
  4. Ecuador
  5. Colombia
  6. Venezuela
  7. Central America
  8. The Caribbean

PART IV: The Rebels

  1. Costa Rica
  2. Uruguay
  3. Bolivia
  4. -- A Digression: United States -- Latin American Inter-History
PART V: The Alliance for Progress
  1. Birth Pangs
  2. Concept and Application
  3. Achievements
  4. Commodities and Common Markets
  5. Military Aid
  6. Case History: Colombia
  7. Political Considerations
PART VI: Free Enterprise vs. Free Choice
  1. Dollars and Sense
  2. Paper Capital and Cash Profits
  3. The Lost Value of Coppe^
  4. Black Gold and Private Banks
  5. Development and Foreign Investment
  6. The Sieve for Dollars and Pesos
PART VII: Castro vs. The United States
  1. The Battlefronts and the Forces
  2. Motives and Principles
Conclusion: A Policy for Reconquest

APPENDIX

  1. Vargas' Suicide Note
  2. Honduras -- United States Military Treaty
  3. Nicaragua -- United States Military Treaty
  4. Agriculture and Technology in Colombia
Note on Sources
Bibliography
Index

List of Tables

  1. Latin America's Population (Urban and Rural)
  2. Importance of Latin America's Export Earnings to GNP. Graph: Latin America's Trade
  3. Latin America's Exports
  4. Latin America's GNP Contributions
  5. Latin America's Agricultural Distribution
  6. Latin America's Literacy Rates
  7. Latin America's Health Rates
  8. Latin America's Life Expectancies
  9. Latin America's Concentration of Economic Power
  10. United States Investments and Income (in World)
  11. Venezuelan Oil Costs, Profits, and Taxes
  12. Venezuelan Oil Investments, Reinvested and Remitted Profits