The [Handsome] American

The death of Robert White, former American diplomat in Latin America, is food for thought. The man had his heart and mind in the right place, and did his best to convince his government to "seek negotiated solutions to all conflicts, maintain a moral component in its dealings with all regimes and respect the will of local populations." Evidently, his counsel fell on deaf ears all these years.

In 1981, he said it best: "U.S. policy toward Latin America can be summed up in three words: fear of revolution. Because we feared revolution, we consistently opposed the forces of change while uncritically supporting dictatorships and small economic elites. We blinked at repression and participated in the perversion of democracy throughout the hemisphere."

How tragic that this vision has been the dominant one throughout U.S. history, and these words of wisdom went unheeded for most of the 20th century and the 21st century up to the present.

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