Utopia Unarmed: The Latin
American Left After the Cold
War by Jorge G. Castafieda, Arthur A. Knopf, 498 pp., $27.50 (cloth).
Mexican-born, U.S. and European-
educated UNAM political scientist
Jorge G. Castafieda has written an
impressive book whose purpose “is
to ascertain whether the relevance
of the left in Latin America is
intact.” The answer seems: yes, but
not as presently constituted. The
work consists of two parts: an
analysis of the Latin American
Left’s failures, and a blueprint for
the future. Castafieda argues that
due to its past defeats, the Left
must now play in the capitalist
ballpark to achieve social change.
The author marshalls an impres-
sive display of academic pyrotech-
nics ranging from long and copious
footnotes (but unfortunately no
bibliography) to extensive inter-
view material and telling anec-
dotes. In a brief historical survey
of the Latin American Left, the
author examines the development
of Communist parties and pop-
ulism from the 1930s to the 1960s,
yet inexplicably ignores the pre-
Communist period dominated by
anarchism and anarcho-syndical-
ism. He is harshly critical of the
Cuban revolution. While he be-
grudgingly acknowledges the revo-
lution’s considerable social and
economic achievements, he high-
lights Cuba’s “failures,” its nega-
tive impact on the development of
the Left, and its supposed continen-
tal network of spying and intrigue.
Castefieda speculates that the
Cuban intelligence service is sys-
tematically linked to drug traffick-
ing, but admits that such a connec-
tion has never been substantiated.
Castafieda’s conclusion that
socialism and armed struggle are
dead reflects the anti-Marxism now
in fashion. Most would agree with
his assessment that the dismal fail-
ure of the import substitution
model implemented in the 1960s
and 1970s compounded by the cur-
rent proliferation of neoliberal eco-
nomic programs severely exacer-
bated the plight of the poor. Like-
wise, few would oppose his casti-
gation of the anti-national bour-
geoisie (and its U.S. and European
backers) for refusing to meaning-
fully redistribute income. Lastly,
NACLA readers would no doubt
agree with his depiction of the
repression, corruption and injustice
now rampant in Latin America.
So what should the Left do? First,
Castafieda argues, it should accept
the reality that capitalism has won.
On the economic front, the Left
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VOI XXVII, NO 4 JANI/EB 1994 55
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should adapt the European “social
market” economy or apply the
export-led growth model of the
Asian Tigers. The author also sug-
gests that a leftist government could
best position itself in the global
economy by playing capitalist blocs
off against one another. He says the
Left must work politically within
the existing system of electoral
democracies. Leftist parties, he
asserts, can gain acceptance in the
political arena by convincing the
elites that a “responsible” Left in
power is better than an unchanneled
social explosion from below. He
concedes that current democracies
are not up to par. He envisions the
Left ushering in a “democratized”
democracy, in which the have-nots
have a meaningful vote.
The analysis unravels not
because it ignores the impact of
dependent capitalist development
upon Latin America, but because it
denies the very nature of the beast.
It is unrealistic to think that either
international or local capital will
freely tilt the playing field back in
favor of the exploited and their
defenders. Castafieda’s proposal
seems ideal: social change without
class struggle. In this scenario, the
rich-under threat of being voted
out of office-will willingly give
some power to the poor. But histo-
ry teaches us that centrist projects
prosper only at the expense of the
exploitation of millions, either at
home or abroad. Castefieda’s
development model contains a cru-
cial flaw: who will Third World
countries exploit if not their own
people? The social and economic
problems that Latin America con-
fronts today are not the fault of
Left strategy and tactics-however
much they may need re-tooling–
but of the basic contradiction
between capital and labor.
Castefieda refuses to address this.
But then, someday he may be a
ministerial candidate for the PRD
or even the PRI.
-Hobart Spalding, Jr
56 NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS
The Palace of Justice:
A Colombian Tragedy by Ana Carrigan, Four Walls Eight Windows, 1993, 304 pp., $22.95 (cloth).
This is a first-rate piece of inves-
tigative reporting, an illuminating
slice of political history, and a
compelling personal memoir. Ana
Carrigan, a Colombian-Irish
writer, returned to Colombia in
1991 to piece together-and make
sense of-the tragic events of
November, 1985, when M-19
guerrillas stormed the Colombian
Palace of Justice, and seized scores
of hostages-among them most of
the members of Colombia’s
Supreme Court-in an attempt to
force a public dialogue with the
country’s political rulers. The
episode ended with over 100 peo-
ple-including 11 justices and
probably all the guerrillas-killed,
scores of people “disappeared,”
and the venerable Palace reduced
to rubble.
Carrigan gives us what seems
like a minute-by-minute account
of the planning and execution of
the guerrilla action; the response
of the Colombian military; the
disingenuous hands-off behavior
of Colombia’s political leadership;
and most compelling of all, the
experience of the scores of
hostages-including the futile
attempts of the captured Supreme
Court justices to reach President
Belisario Betancur by telephone.
She carefully highlights M-19’s
fatal and tragic mistake: the
hostages they took-among them,
the most courageous, independent
and progressive members of
Colombia’s judiciary-were com-
pletely expendable to the coun-
try’s clase dirigente, and even
more so to the military. Not only
were no serious attempts made to
save the hostages, but subsequent
investigations showed that most
were ultimately killed, not by the
guerrillas, but by their military
rescuers.
