Rearmament in Latin America

Abstract

Dr Castro* s call for a prolonged campaign of guerrilla insurgency against the existing non-communist regimes in the Western hemisphere may, ironically, be of most immediate diplomatic benefit to the United States, who for several years has tried to persuade fellow members of the Alliance for Progress to take the threat of communist insurgency in their own territories more seriously. Most experts have dismissed the possibility of co-ordinated military activities by the Organization for Latin American Solidarity (OLAS) which held its first conference in Havana at the beginning of August. Nevertheless, the outbursts at the OLAS conference provide a good opportunity to look at some of the broader strategic problems of Latin America issues that do not usually command a wide audience unless the United States is directly involved in a military capacity, as during the Cuban missile crisis and the Dominican Republic and Panamanian interventions. Of particular interest recently has been the hullabaloo caused by the sale of a few jet combat aircraft by the United States and Britain to Argentina and Chile and the reports of a Latin American 'arms race'. In strategic terms Latin America is an outback, divorced geographically from the major conflict areas of the world. Since the turn of the century it has been dependent on the ubiquitous presence of the United States for protection against serious external aggression. There has not been a major conflict between Latin American countries since the Chaco War of 1932-5 between Bolivia and Peru. Furthermore, it now seems probable that the area will become the world's first populated denuclearized zone; Antarctica has been covered by treaty since 1959. Fifteen countries have so far signed the Treaty for the Denuclearization of Latin America (Cuba has been the only Latin American country to refuse to co-operate) and though many outstanding problems remain, the progress to date is a significant achievement, especially for Mexico, who pioneered the idea. However, this spirit of co-operation on nuclear questions has yet to be mirrored in the field of conventional weapons. At the summit meeting of American leaders at Punta del Este in April this year, President Johnson entreated certain participants not to engage in wasteful military reequipment programmes unless the weapons were needed for counter-