Undue emphasis on communism, he says
Speaker blasts Reagan’s
foreign policy
By Henry Crumme
Of ttf Emerald
Pres Ronald Reagan thinks
Latin America is long, China is
big, and Africa is black — except
for a little white tip
This, in William Wipfler’s
words, is an excellent example
of the United States' narrow
minded foreign policy.
Wipfler, director of the Human
Rights Office of the National
Council of the Churches of
Christ, spoke at "Human Rights:
Crisis in the Southern Cone
(Argentina, Chile, and
Uruguay)," Saturday s confer
ence in the EMU Ballroom The
Eugene Council for Human
Rights in Latin America, in
cooperation with Amnesty In
ternational USA, sponsored the
symposium
Wipfler charged that human
rights in Latin America are of no
concern to the Reagan Admin
istration In general, the admin
istration chooses to subordin
ate North-South affairs to the
"East-West" struggle In other
words, the Reagan Administra
tion gives top priority to its
global struggle against com
munism The violation of human
rights by totalitarian govern
ments in South America can
only be a secondary considera
tion according to the new U S
policy, Wipfler said
The foreign policy of the
Reagan Administration was
generated by conservative
think-tanks, such as the Hoover
Institute, the Georgetown
Center for Strategic Studies,
and the American Enterprise
Institute, Wipfler said The
think-tank's foreign policy is
grounded upon three basic
points First, no independent
political activity exists Second,
all political policy must be tied to
diplomatic and military policy.
And third, all policy must relate
to the world struggle between
communism and democracy
The goals of the new U S
foreign policy, said Wipfler, are
as follows First. American
superiority in all areas must be
established through military
strength Furthermore, local
conflicts must be viewed as to
tally inferior to the worldwide
conflict between communism
and democracy; issues of na
tionalism, hunger, and injustice
must be ignored Moreover, the
U S must not share world
leadership with anyone, includ
ing Europe or Japan. Also,
because of the East-West con
frontation, North-South prob
lems must be considered
secondary. The U S. should
deal bilaterally with other na
tions on the basis of national
security, and must more nar
rowly protect its private invest
merits abroad.
The U S. government is con
cerned with "stopping certain
governments from allowing
Cuba and the Soviet Union from
expanding in Latin America,"
Latin American
governments
maintain
themselves
through ‘law
turned on its
head. ’
Patricia Weiss-Fagen related foreign policy to human rights.
Photo by Mark Pynes
I
3 recent coups squelch democracies
There has been a fascist revolution in the
southern zone” countries of South America,
including Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. In
these three countries military coups have
transformed their societies from democratic to
near-totalitarian.
Uruguay was once known as the Switzer
land of South America ” Before 1970, Uruguay
had the highest per capita income, highest
literacy rate, and the highest gold reserves in
Latin America.
But, since 1973, when the military seized
political power and installed their own pres
ident, political parties have been banned.
During the eight or nine years of military rule,
one out of every 50 Uruguayans have been
detained or imprisoned One in 90 have been
tortured Nearly one-sixth of the population
has left the country within the last 10 years.
With a labor law modelled on a similar statute
in Mussolini’s Italy, the Uruguayan government
has outlawed labor unions and prohibited
strikes In Uruguay it is now a a crime to read
any newspaper that is less than 100 years old
Chileans used to pride themselves on their
democratic traditions But since 1973, all poli
tical parties have been banned and thousands
of Chileans have been arrested and tortured
Meanwhile, in Argentina, a state of siege
enforced since 1974, has enabled the military
to indiscriminately arrest, imprison, and torture
Argentine citizens
Wipfler said. The Reagan Ad
ministration views Latin Amer
ica as a test-case to prove that
communism cannot effectively
spread. Therefore, the U S
supports — with military advi
sors and monetary aid — gross
violations of human rights by
Latin American governments,
provided those governments
are sufficiently anti-Marxist,
Wipfler added
The Reagan Administration
has appointed policy architects
who are opponents of human
rights, Wipfler said. For exam
ple, when he first assumed of
fice, Secretary of State Alex
ander Haig said that interna
tional terrorism would replace
human rights as the basic
premise of U S. foreign policy.
Almost all of Reagan’s state
department appointees for Latin
America either have no exper
ience in the area or have close
ties with the Latin American
military, Wipfler said
Patricia Weiss-Fagen, the
other main speaker at the sym
posium, said Southern Cone
governments maintain them
selves through “law turned on
its head.” Decrees made by
military governments have
overturned the constitutions of
Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay,
declaring those constitutions
“ unconstitutional,” she said.
The military governments em
ploy terror to maintain their
power, routinely torturing their
prisoners and detainees, added
the associate history professor
from San Jose State University.
But the most frightening use
of terror, she said, is the sudden
disappearances of political dis
sidents, social workers, or any
one who “makes demands on
the government.” Between
1973 and 1977, an estimated
1,500 persons “ disappeared’’ in
Chile. A UN task force reported
that it had information on
between 7,000 and 9,000 "dis
appearances" in Argentina. The
military governments of the
Southern Cone prefer to make
their opponents “disappear"
because it releases the govern
ments from accountability,
Weiss-Fagen said. Since these
governments regard them
selves as the saviors of civilized
culture, they must make them
selves appear innocent, she ad
ded
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