What Does the US Owe Guatemala?

On 4/7/2019 Eugene’s Register Guard ran a story, “Explaining the Impact of Trump’s Threat of Halting Aid” to Central American countries, including Guatemala. 

        The article was based on an interview of a University of Oregon academic identified as a specialist on Guatemala.   She mentioned the 1954 coup that removed President Jacob Arbenz from office.  She made no mention of Carlos Castillo-Armas, who, assisted by the CIA, rose to power in l954, or that Castillo-Armas was assassinated three years later in the summer of l957.  The academic implied that US interference in Guatemalan politics in 1954 obliged us to continue to support Guatemala with aid today.   

This is a fuller story.

        I was a student in San Carlos University in Guatemala City during the summer of l957 when President Carlos Castillo-Armas was assassinated. I did not know in l957 that the eviction of former president, Jacob Arbenz, and the subsequent assassination of President Castillo-Armas—would lead to a civil war, a war that would bring fear, political chaos, and economic hardship to Guatemala for decades.

        In l957, most politically active Guatemalans considered the assassination of Castillo-Armas the more unfortunate event.  The socialist policies of Jacob Arbenz —who was on his way to becoming a Guatemalan Castro— were driving the economy into the ground.  When it was clear Arbenz was losing power, the market women of Guatemala City— the ultimate judges of what was and what was not good for Guatemala’s economy—literally drove Arbenz out of town.  On the other hand, many Guatemalans at that time saw Castillo-Armas as a sincere man of democratic and free-market sympathies—and his death tragic.”

                                                         

                                                         

                                                                                                                        

What, Exactly, is Multiculturalism?

To the Atlantic magazine:

You invited comments on a recent article.  Here are mine:

Your use of the word Apartheid to describe our political reality is most unfortunate and misleading.  Apartheid was official government policy in South Africa and enforced by that government. Our government has  promoted desegregation for  half a century and promotes the rights of minorities today. 

What is multiculturalism, a word much bandied about these days?  Define what you mean, Atlantic! If you mean multi-lingual, we are headed for Quebec and endless trouble.  World views and values are embedded in languages. Do we really want to import Spanish-speaking Latin American politics?  

Speaking English is a critical part of what it is to be an American. There are two things that unite our currently unhappy nation.  One is the Constitution and the values it promotes.  The other is the English language. Without both, we will be lost.  I speak as a retired American diplomat who majored in cultural anthropology in college and has followed that discipline ever since.  Lewis Richard Luchs, LRLuchs1@msn.com

"Baby, Its Cold Outside"

“Baby, It’s Cold Outside”  

Curiously, this song––which some today want to ban––contributed to the radicalization of a Muslim educational exchange student in the 1950s.  The following quote is taken from my book, Diplomatic Tales, which includes my experience working with Muslim students in Malaysia.

“Educational exchanges with Western countries caused a few young Muslim students to become radicalized. Many believed the West was in decline and had reached its twilight. A case in point is Sayyid Qutab,Egyptian and leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and 1960s. His many books are still influential among Islamic extremist groups today and supply much of their ideology. His radical anti-Western views were formed while he was an exchange  student at  what is today Colorado State University. He was shocked by the materialism and violence he found in America, and what he considered sexual immorality. He found the popular song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” which he heard at a church dance, solid evidence for his views”