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THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY IN LATIN AMERICA by

THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY IN LATIN AMERICA

By

Publisher: Macmillan

This readable, if somewhat simplified, work amounts to a primer on the evolution of democracy in Latin America and an indictment of U.S. policy (perhaps lack of policy) toward the area. Congressman Porter, best known for his vigorous criticisms of the Dominican Republic, and his collaborator find most Latin countries now democracies or becoming so. Nevertheless, they think that the future is perilous in several nations, including Cuba. The best hope lies in the important new multi-class National Revolutionary Parties which have sprung up in a number of countries, they feel, and they believe the biggest foe of democracy to be the Army. Sharply critical of U.S. military leaders for strengthening Local armies, the authors reason that security for the hemisphere rests on U.S. might and local armies can only serve to tyrannize local populations. They find the Catholic Church, once friend of totalitarian regimes, undergoing a change of policy. U. S. support of Fascist-like dictatorships can only in the long run lead to strengthening of the Communist Parties, the authors contend. More U.S. economic aid and a firm declaration in favor of democracy will shore up tottering popular governments and lead to abolition of remaining dictatorships, they say.