The Crisis of the Latin-America Democratic Left

The Crisis of the Latin-America Democratic Left

THE DEMOCRATIC LEFT in Latin America, once considered the great hope of the Western hemisphere, seems everywhere in decline. Challenged by both the Right and the extreme Left, the democratic radical reformers and their parties seem to have lost their mystique. The “League of Popular Parties,” an informal union of Latin-American social democratic parties, has broken up; the old generation of Democratic Left spokesmen is fading away. To these groups John F. Kennedy seemed the embodiment of their ideals—a return to the Good Neighbor policy, an updated version of the New Deal, and a renewed liberal outlook toward Latin-American affairs. But two post-Kennedy administrations have since come to office, and neither under Johnson nor Nixon has the Democratic Left had the sympathetic ear it once enjoyed.

Not that the Latin-American Democratic Left is in full rout. The Autenticos in Cuba, Arevalo in Guatemala, Frondizi in Argentina, Bosch in the Dominican Republic, and Vil...