Whoops, there goes Latin America

With the leftist and Communist regimes of Cuba, Venezuela, and Bolivia having just signed a triple alliance, mainstream conservatives are taking note of the growing political threat in Latin America. Powerline writes: “In quieter times, Latin America’s worsening political condition would have been a major concern. Now, it’s mostly overlooked, by the public, at least.” It’s been overlooked by our government. For 40 years the U.S. government resisted Communist expansion. But in recent years, preoccupied with the chimera of Muslim democratization, the U.S. has been sitting on its hands while leftist regimes take hold south of the border. The grim reality is that the Latin Americans will never have stable and enduring free government and will always require some involvement and intervention by the U.S., if for no other reason than to prevent their becoming a problem for us. Assisting anti-leftist political forces in South America and thus protecting ourselves is something we successfully did in the Cold War and can do now. Democratizing Islamic countries is something we cannot do—and would not be helpful even if we could do it.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 29, 2006 10:34 AM | Send