Alfonsin Calls for a Latin Marshall Plan

Drawing a comparison between war-ravaged Europe at the end of World War II and Latin America’s current attempts at embracing democracy in the midst of economic “devastation,” Argentine President Raul Alfonsin on Sunday proposed the formulation of something akin to a Marshall Plan for the developing region.

“Now in Latin America, you have the development of democracy, but with economies that are completely devastated,” Alfonsin said at a meeting with the editorial board of The Times, which followed his attendence at a gathering of about 1,500 members of the Argentine community in Los Angeles, part of his four-day unofficial visit to the United States.

Latin America Suffering

Alfonsin said that the United States, in particular, responded “imaginatively and altruistically” while protecting its own security interests when it helped rebuild Western Europe’s economy through the Marshall Plan. But the “exact opposite” has been the case with Latin America, he said.

“In the last five years, Latin America has transferred to the developed countries, including the U.S., more than twice the cost of the Marshall Plan,” said Alfonsin, whose government is struggling to control inflation and repay a $50-billion foreign debt--the third largest in Latin America--inherited from the previous military government.

Alfonsin, a longtime human rights advocate and vigorous champion of democracy, was swept into office on a wave of optimism more than three years ago as Argentina turned its back on a discredited military and returned to civilian, constitutional rule. And despite recent military unrest over trials of military officers for human rights abuses committed during the so-called dirty war against leftists in the 1970s and early 1980s, Alfonsin maintains that democracy remains secure in Argentina.

Alfonsin’s greatest challenge is to assure that democracy remains on a solid footing in a country that has seen half a dozen switches between military and civilian rule since the 1930s.

While he praised U.S. solidarity with Latin American countries in the field of human rights, he termed it a “post-mortem solidarity,” offered only after a democratic government has fallen.

“What the United States must definitively understand,” he said, is that the political pendulum in Latin America swings between democracy and dictatorship because “at the moment, democracies do not have the (economic) means to solve their social problems.”

“It must also be understood that it is very important for the security of the United States to pay attention to the economic problems of Latin America,” he said. Noting the political problems generated by Nicaragua, he added, “Multiply this by 1,000 and you will understand the potential consequences.”

Clear Position Needed

He further suggested that both the Democratic and the Republican parties develop a clear position regarding Latin America.

During his U.S. visit, Alfonsin attended a bicentennial celebration of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia and received an award in San Diego from the Institute of the Americas honoring him as “Man of the Americas.”

The nonprofit study institution was founded by Theodore E. Gildred, a millionaire San Diego developer who is the American envoy to Argentina and who accompanied Alfonsin on his trip.

After a visit to San Francisco, Alfonsin was scheduled to begin his trip home today, with a stopover planned in Mexico to meet with President Miguel de la Madrid.