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The Colombian “Black Hand”: A Case Study of Neoliberalism in Latin America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Norman A. Bailey
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Extract

COMMENTATORS puzzling over the question of whether the Brazilian insurrection of March-April, 1964, was a revolution or simply a coup d'état have speculated on the role of a faintly mysterious civilian organization called IPES (Instituto de Pesquisas Estudos Sociais) in the rebellion. IPES is one of a large number of organized civilian groups now covering all of Latin America except for Haiti and Cuba, groups which can be generically termed Neoliberal. The Brazilian rebellion is undoubtedly the greatest success the Neoliberals have had so far in their four or five years of existence (only three of the more than forty Neoliberal organizations were founded before 1959), and the only occasion on which they have been directly (though not uniquely) responsible for the overthrow of an incumbent regime. What the future role of IPES and similar groups will be in Brazil, and whether the transformation of the country will be a truly revolutionary one, remains to be seen, but the power mustered by the Neoliberals in half a decade is remarkable, and a factor which will have to be dealt with in the future.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , October 1965 , pp. 445 - 464
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1965

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References

* The author wishes to express his thanks to the Social Science Research Council which facilitated field research in Colombia and Central America during 1963; Bryce Wood of the Council, and Professors Charles Wagley, Frank Tannenbaum, and Leland Goodrich of Columbia University for their encouragement and guidance.

1 For a discussion of the “revolution vs. coup” controversy and the role of IPES, see James W. Rowe, Revolution or Counterrevolution in Brazil?, American Universities Field Staff, East Coast South America Series, XI, nos. 4 and 5, and the chapter by Paulo Ayres Filho in Bailey, Norman A., ed., The Strategic Importance of Latin America (New York, 1965).Google Scholar

2 See Friedrich, Carl J., “The Political Thought of Neoliberalism”, American Political Science Review, XLIX (1955), 509 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 An analysis of the total membership (2463) of thirteen Neoliberal organizations in six Latin American countries revealed 67% “capitalist” and 19% professional, with only 14% “others” (mostly women).

4 “Comentario a los Planes de Gobierno del Partido Liberación” (San Josó; Asociación Nacional de Fomento Económico, 1962), back cover.

5 It should be stressed that the trade union and peasant league cells do not try to destroy or nullify the organizations (they are, after all, made up of members), but rather to take over control of them from agents of the communist party or the Jacobin left. Unions and leagues affiliated with the democratic left are generally not touched.

6 On all three of his trips to Latin America (in Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico), President Kennedy was protected by paramilitary Neoliberal organizations.

7 For a more detailed description of the organization and tactics of Neoliberalismin Latin America, see chapter by Bailey, “Neoliberalism in Latin America: Organization and Operations”, in Bailey, ed., The Strategic Importance of Latin America.

8 Garcia, Antonio, La Democracia en la teoria y en la Práctica, Second Edition (Bogotá: Cooperativa Colombiana de Editores, 1957), pp. 81–82Google Scholar.

9 On the traditional Colombian political parties see Martinez, Fernando Guillén, Radz y Futuro de la Revolución (Bogotá: Ediciones Tercer Mundo, 1963), esp. p. 145Google Scholar.

10 For general background on the modern period, see Arciniegas, Germán, The State of Latin America (1952)Google Scholar; Fluharty, Vernon Lee, Dance of the Millions (1957)Google Scholar; and Martz, John D., Colombia (1962)Google Scholar. The first two are interpretations, the last is an annotated chronology. A contentious account of United States investment in Colombia can be found in Rippy, J. Fred, The Capitalists and Colombia (1931)Google Scholar. A fascinating interpretation of Colombian history and contemporary social reality is outlined in Fernando Guillèn Martinez, op. cit.

11 Of course, the constitution also prohibits the issuance of fiat paper money (art. 49) and budget deficits (art. 211), provisions very much honored in the breach.

12 A very good exposition of the “dos brazos” theory can be found in Octavio Arizmendi Posada, “Un Nuevo Camino para el Intervencionismo de Estado”, Arco, Separata, n.d.

13 Interview with Mario Galán Gómez, then General Manager of ANDI (now Manager of the state petroleum company, ECOPETROL), Bogotá, July 3, 1963.

14 Interview with Francisco de Paula Jaramillo G., Secretario de Ideología of the PSDC, Bogotá, August 9, 1963. See also his book, La Democracia Cristiana (Bogotá: Ediciones del Garibe, 1962), and his pamphlet, “Partido Social Demócrata Cristiano” (Bogotá: Ediciones del Caribe, 3, n.d.). The PSDC wants to replace capitalist enterprise with “communal” enterprise, and also wants to abolish labor as a cost factor. Ibid., p. 25. The author has been unable to discover the precise meaning of either of these statements. “Private enterprise is respectable [sic] … only when it constitutes a communal organism made up of all the elements which comprise it, ….” Ibid., p. 13.

15 This money was largely dissipated in Peronist-style “social works”, not primarily in graft.

16 The value of stock market transactions was only 1.03% higher in 1962 than in 1952 at constant peso prices.

17 In contrast, the highly successful and well-run Servicio Nacional de aprendizaje (SENA), by law cannot spend more than 15% of its budget on administration. (Interview with Jose1 Vicente Borrero, Director of the SENA for the Department of Valle, Cali, August 5, 1963.)

18 For the background on the agrarian reform law, see Hirschman, Albert O., Journeys Toward Progress (New York: The Twentieth Century Fund, 1963), Chapter 2.Google Scholar

19 Interview with Eduardo Zuleta Ángel, attorney and founding member of CEAS, Bogotá, June 26, 1963, and others. Dr. Zuleta mentioned these items to demonstrate that private enterprise can overcome almost any obstacle.

20 The only possible precursor of CEAS the author has been able to find is the Comité Central pro Paz, founded in 1948 with many of the same people who later formed CEAS. Mons. Guzmán, German, Borda, Orlando Fals, and Luna, Eduardo Umaña, La Violencia en Colombia (Bogota: Ediciones Tercer Mundo, 1962), p. 241Google Scholar.

21 CEAS, “Escritura de constitución No. 4710” (typewritten), 09 24, 1960, p. 4Google Scholar.

22 High officials of these companies sat on the board of CEAS during the first year or so of its existence. They subsequently resigned in order to avoid embarrassment to CEAS. Interviews with these individuals, Bogotá, July, 1963.

23 This is an important measure in Latin America in order to combat the impression that the Jacobin left and the communists have a monopoly of dynamism. Two of the most common slogans were “Rompamos con Castro” and “El Comunismo vende hombres” (referring to the prisoner sale proposal following the Bay of Pigs invasion).

24 In 1959 a group of the same men had proposed their own agrarian reform through a change in tax policies. Hirschman, , op. cit., p. 132Google Scholar.

25 This opinion is held not only by persons in CEAS and others sympathetic to CEAS, but also by members of the Jacobin left, who were, of course, not happy about it.

26 “La Mano Negra y el Dólar”, La Nueva Prensa, April 19/25, 1961. López Michelsen claimed that he first called CEAS “The Black Hand” (in an interview with the author), but I have been unable to find any earlier use of this name than the Nueva Prensa article. “La Mano Negra” was the name of a guerrilla band in Antioquia at the turn of the century (Guzmàn, et al. op. cit., p. 157)Google Scholar, but in all probability use of the name was meant to identify CEAS with the tactics of the Italian Mafia.

27 Caifás Gutiérrez (Pseud, for López Michelsen), “Cómo es la Mano? …. NEGRA,” La Calle, IV, no. 166, 07 23, 1961Google Scholar.

28 For example, the Black Hand was blamed by La Calle (now organ of the Línea Dura of the MRL) for the fact that the “ley primera” of 1963 was not applied by the government. “La Mano Negra Aboliò las Alzas de los Salarios”, La Calle, VI, no. 225, 07 4, 1963, 4Google Scholar.

29 Interview with Alfonso López Michelsen, Bogotá, July 17, 1963.

30 It was at this time that CEAS retained the public relations firm of Andrtés Samper y Asociados.

31 Some members of the organizations in Medellín and Cali were not even aware of the CEAS role in their foundation.

32 Interview with Fernando Guillén Martínez, Executive Director of CAC, Bogotá, June 20, 1963.

33 Mimeographed throwaways published by GEAS. In one of these the organization goes so far as to say that it accepts the test of the social utility of property.

34 CERES, I, no. 1, pp. 4 & 8.

35 Interview with Hernán Tobar, Executive Director of CEAS, Bogotá, June 20, 1963.

36 Interview with Antonio Salgado, National Coordinator of FEPRANAL, Bogotá, June 24, 1963, and “FEPRANAL” (pamphlet) (Bogotá, n.d.).

37 Interview with Emilio Garza, Director of the Instituto Americano para el Desarrollo del Sindicalismo Libre, Bogotá, June 28, 1963, and interviews with Colombian labor leaders.

38 On September 25, 1963, a Movimiento Cívico directed against terrorism and judicial impunity was founded in Bogotá. Some of the members are closely linked to CEAS, but the author does not know if this is a CEAS initiative. El Espectador, September 26, 1963.

39 Confusion over land titles has traditionally been one of the knottiest of Colombia's agrarian problems. This program has been undertaken in cooperation with INCORA, Colombia's agrarian reform institute.

40 “El Estado y la Empresa Privada” (pamphlet) (Bogotá: Companía Colombiana de Seguros, 05, 1963), p. 8Google Scholar.

41 An interesting example of this is the pamphlet mentioned in note 40. In the August, 1963, Feria del Libro in Bogotá the most popular book was Echavarria's, HernánEl Sentido Común en la Economla Colombiana (Cali: Editorial Norma, 3rd Edition, 1962)Google Scholar, a defense of economic freedom.

42 Interview with Alberto del Corral, President of the Fundación para Estudios sobre la Libertad, Bogotá, June 19, 1963.

43 See “El Estado y la Empresa Privada”, op. cit., p. 49.

44 Trying to keep anything confidential in Latin America is a labor of Sisyphus. Actually the Neoliberal organizations do quite well in this regard.

45 Juan Delgado Padilla of IESE fills these qualifications best among the Executive Directors of Neoliberal groups in Colombia.

46 Román, Raimundo Emiliani, “El Camino a la Miseria” (pamphlet), (Bogotá: Editora Colombiana, n.d.), p. 27Google Scholar.