EL GRINGO

by D.H. Radler ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1962

is a hot-eyed look at our image in Latin America, and according to angry young sociologist Radler's searing, if not too searching, study that image is horrifying. Among the shockers: Fidel is still a god to many and not only in Cuba; the trade flow is leaving us and gushing to the Soviets; Red cells invest every neighborhood of the Guatemalan capital, most students and intellectuals are swishing about in the Marxist wave of the future. What has generated the anti-Yankee impasse? Historically, our of manifest destiny, currently, our continued use of dollar diplomacy and protection of vested interests: half the so-called ""development capital"" down there is in extractive industries which exploit cheap labor and resources, making no attempt to attract local ownership and social identification; besides which we show a rough and tumble arrogance, from embassy to executive suite, towards the ""banana republics"" and their ""shiftless, sponging"" peoples. The Alliance for Progress, Peace Crops and OAS are not enough; it is necessary to understand the cultural orientation as humanistic, not mechanistic; allow the emergent democracies union among themselves, an international political neutralism, and economic opportunism vis a vis East and West; above all, gradually sell out our south-of-the-border stocks through World Bank administrations- if not, eventual expropriation's in the cards. An intense, personal, committed coverage, slightly wobbly with the facts, but a well-aimed broadside at Washington indifference or ignorance.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1962

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Chilton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1962

Categories: NONFICTION