Noam Chomsky on contemporary United States - Latin American relations

Louisa Reynolds recently completed an interview with Noam Chomsky that has been published in English in Plaza Publica. The lead is a not so surprising quote of “For the first time in 500 years, Latin America has begun to free itself of imperial control."

The US strongly supported the genocide trial of Guatemala’s former dictator Efrain Rios Montt...

I think “strongly supported” is an overstatement…

The US embassy in Guatemala expressed an interest in having the trial come to a conclusion…

A quick conclusion that would not implicate the United States and its allies. After all, Rios Montt wasn’t acting in isolation. He was acting with support from the Reagan administration and when Congress blocked Reagan from direct participation in the genocidal crimes, Reagan called in his international terrorist army, Israel, to train Guatemalan officers and provide the weapons, essentially as a surrogate for the United States. The US embassy made sure that none of that was going to be brought up.

What were America’s real motivations for supporting the Rios Montt trial? Was it concern over the possibility of having a failed state in its back yard? 

There were undoubtedly people in the US embassy that were interested in pursuing it but as far as government policy is concerned it seems to me it was tolerated as long as the US and its allies were excluded; that was always crucial. The US has no real objection to crimes being prosecuted locally as long as the international aspect doesn’t enter. It happens all over the place...

The US has been strongly supportive of the case against Rios Montt. Of that, I have little doubt. However, I get the impression that the US has been more of a cheerleader rather than a prosecutor which is how it should be.

For the most part, the Obama administration's approach to Central America has been to let Central Americans take the lead and for the US to nudge policy in a direction we find more acceptable. Republicans and leftist sympathizers prefer that the use a sledge hammer - just usually forcing action in opposite directions. Sometimes that happens (accepting Honduras back in to the democratic fold, CICIG and Rios Montt, arbitration against Guatemala on labor rights) and sometimes it doesn't (perhaps the Monsanto laws fall here, wanting El Salvador to do more to crack down on money laundering and corruption).

Had Guatemalans not been at the forefront of pushing for the prosecution of Rios Montt, my guess is that the US Embassy would have stayed relatively, if not completely, silent.

Speaking of which, Rios Montt's re-trial resumed today in Guatemala. Following on Twitter, there looks to have been some excitement with a demand that the former general and dictator show up in court (he had been claiming that he's too sick to attend) and a motion to have one of the justices removed (Judge Valdez wrote her master's thesis on the genocide in Guatemala - see this post from June 2013).

#Guatemala's ex-dictator Rios Montt was wheeled into court by paramedics for 1st day in court. Theatrics or old age? pic.twitter.com/hvfIlM3NYt
— Geoff Ramsey (@PanAmericanPost) January 5, 2015

I was wrong. I honestly didn't think that Rios Montt would see the inside of a courtroom but there Bernie he is

[UPDATE - Not much of a surprise but Judge Irma Jeannette Valdés Rodas is off the case and a new judge will have to be appointed. No idea yet of the timeline.]

In a majority decision, the court accepts defense argument that Judge Valdez is biased; the #RiosMontt trial is postponed #EyesonJan5
— guatemalajustice (@guatejustice) January 5, 2015

Teach Me to Be Generous: The First Century of Regis High School in New York City

Regis High School

My most favorite gift of the Christmas season by far was Teach Me to Be Generous: The First Century of Regis High School in New York City by Anthony D. Andreassi, C.O. I graduated from Regis in 1992. It is a special high school in many ways, especially because "Regis remains singular among all Jesuit (and all Catholic) high schools in the nation in that all its students are academically gifted and on scholarship."

Regis opened its doors in 1914 thanks to an imaginative Jesuit, Father David W. Hearn. Fr. Hearn sought to establish a high school that could serve poor Catholic young men, frequently the sons of immigrants, in New York City in the true spirit of Jesuit education. He succeeded when convinced Julia Grant, the widow of former New York City mayor Hugh Grant (1889-1992), to fund such an endeavor. Julia Grant and her children's financial support of Regis High School would not be recognized for several decades as the family preferred to keep their generosity anonymous.

The book provides interesting insights into Catholic and Jesuit education, especially in the New York area, in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Teach Me to Be Generous traces the school's development through the depression (fortunate financial decisions by Julia Grant), World War II (over 1,000 alumni served in the war), the free-spirited 1960s and 1970s (students wanted more control over their education), the 1980s (Latin no longer required), and today (fewer New York City students, efforts at remaining true to providing a superior education for economically disadvantaged Catholic boys).

The book will mainly be of interest to alumni and others interested in Jesuit and Catholic education. There was a bit of redundancy across chapters that seemed a bit awkward. Some of the statistics were spotty (financial backgrounds of student families, hometowns, college acceptance) and instead we are left to trust that those presented are representative of the times. As an alumnus and social scientist, I would have appreciated more details everywhere, more interviews, and descriptive statistics in tables and figures.

Regis has so far been able to excel in spite of the challenges confronted by Jesuit high schools and colleges throughout the country. Over the first 100 years of its existence, Regis High School was able to provide a superior education to young Catholic boys because of the generosity of the Hearn family, alumni beginning in the 1960s, and friends and family in more recent years. Unfortunately, Mr. Andreassi seems somewhat pessimistic that the free model of Jesuit education offered by Regis High School will complete its bicentennial in 2114.

El Salvador year in review 2014

I'm not very good at these so I am glad that some people are. Here is a link to Tim's Top 10 stories from El Salvador in 2014. Here are the first two:

Salvador Sánchez Cerén from the FMLN wins a tight presidential race. For the first time since the end of El Salvador's civil war, the presidential election required two rounds to decide. Former president Tony Saca captured enough votes to prevent either Salvador Sánchez Cerén from the FMLN or Norman Quijano from ARENA from winning in the first round. In the second round, Sánchez Cerén won by only 6000 votes out of some 3 million votes cast, in a highly polarized election. Quijano conceded only after weeks of challenges before the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and the courts.

The election of Sánchez Cerén, a former guerrilla commander and member of the FMLN's traditional leadership, put in place an administration farther to the left than the prior government of Mauricio Funes. It means the social programs put in place under Funes will continue, but also means even greater antagonism between the government and the country's business and conservative elites.

The collapse of the gang truce. The so-called "tregua" or truce between El Salvador's largest gangs completely collapsed during 2014 leading homicide rates to climb back to 2011 levels. The tally in 2014 of 3875 murders was a56% increase over 2013.

Although Salvadorans ranks criminal violence as the top problem facing their country, no party or presidential candidate presented a plan to deal with the problem which had any credibility with voters. After newly-elected president Salvador Sánchez Cerén took office, his two crime initiatives have been an emphasis on community policing and the formation of anational council on citizen security. A group of religious leaders suggest that ongoing dialogue with the gangs is necessary, but the sole initiative of the national council, so far, has been to hire former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani as a consultant.

And don't forget to check out Polycarpio's Year in Oscar Romero which includes a list of the most important news stories related to the late Archbishop last year. Something tells me that he might top the top 10 El Salvador stories in 2015.