Annotations for Countries: Germany

The Miami Herald reports from Rio on recent political arrest in Brazil. Grim accounts are emerging in the wake of the latest wave of political arrest, of widespread use of sophisticated torture techniques by Brazil's security forces. The accounts include use of electric shocks, prolonged interrogation, cold rooms, intense noise, and occasional physical beatings. When the details first began surfacing, many observers were inclined to dismiss them as left-wing propaganda. For many of the people who have been arrested, allegedly are members of leftist organizations ideologically opposed to Brazil's militarily controlled regime. Brazil's censored press has printed no torture stories.

The Miami Herald continues, but dozens of conversations with lawyers, doctors, politicians, and diplomats, plus details of the personal accounts from some of the prisoners who are being released have built up a massive information so consistent it no longer can be dismissed. Names of former prisoners cannot be given, because they say they have been threatened with rearrest if they talk. The details of the methods of operation of the security forces are frightening, in a country where a person accused of acting or conspiring against the rigid security laws has almost no protection. Lawyers, politicians, family and friends of some of the victims tell similar stories of the circumstances of arrest that more nearly resemble kidnappings, in which are reminiscent of Gestapo methods in Hitler's Germany.

Account after account tells of invasion of private homes by armed men dressed in civilian clothes who refuse to identify themselves. The arrested person is taken from the residence, pushed into the back of a car, told to lie on the floor and is hooded. Others are arrested sometimes during the day on city streets. One account tells of a prisoner being beaten and kicked while lying on the floor in the back of a car. This prisoner refused to talk to reporters of his experiences, but when he was released, his face still was badly cut and bruised. The hood is not removed until the prisoner already is in a cell and for the first two or three days is taken out only for long periods of questioning. During this period, the prisoner receives neither food nor water.

According to the Miami Herald, the treatment is designed to lower the physical resistance of the prisoner and to induce fear of the coming shock, humiliation, and degradation. Men and women are told to remove their clothing. Some are given thin prison uniforms, but others remain nude. They are put for varying periods in cold rooms. Descriptions of these vary from cell-like rooms to structures that resemble commercial refrigerators in which the prisoners cannot stand up. The noise treatment is given in specially prepared rooms which are silenced with acoustic tiles and in which the prisoner remains for long periods without hearing any noise, then blasts of sound are channeled into the cell.

Some prisoners say these are noises of people screaming as if in pain, and they seem to be tape recordings greatly magnified electronically. The prisoners also spend periods in rooms with metal floors through which they receive electric shocks. Details of the treatment of the prisoners have surfaced slowly, because of the difficulty lawyers and relatives have in getting in touch with the prisoners. In cases in which the people are arrested away from home, it is sometimes more than a day before relatives become concerned. From then on, locating the missing person is an extremely difficult task.

The atmosphere of uncertainty and fear this flouting the law generates has been condemned openly several times by Brazil's Bar associations and by leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. But lawyers say that despite the protest, the situation has not improved. In the recent wave of arrest, which began in March, nearly 300 persons are believed to have been detained in Rio alone. Though some of these later were released, the arrests still are going on. Nationwide, the number arrested is estimated at about 700 to 800 persons. Lawyers say they have not been able to speak to many of those still held prisoner, even though the detention has been officially notified with officials of the military courts. The security authorities say they're inquiring into two organizations, the Communist Party of Brazil and the National Armed Resistance. This report from the Miami Herald.

In a related story, United Press International reports from London. Amnesty International asked for an impartial inquiry into the alleged deaths of some 26 jailed opponents of the Brazilian military government. The organization, which is concerned with political prisoners throughout the world, said in a statement, that political prisoners have been run down or shot by friends in exchanges of gunfire with police, with such surprising frequency that we believe an impartial inquiry is essential. The organization also said it was concerned about reports that a number of those who died had been tortured while in prison.

The work of the opposition parties in Chile continues full strength this week as the Christian Democratic sectors among the miners and white-collar workers of the nationalized El Teniente copper mine remain on the strike that began in late April. In May, the Christian Democratic workers burned cars, fought with police, and seized a Socialist Party radio station in the city of Rancagua. The strike is costing Chile a million dollars a day. Though the strike demands are economic, its political character is seen in the rejection of any government solution, as well as the firm support given by the newspapers, radios, and political organizations of Chile's extreme right, which has been built up over a period of years only by being able to repress the labor movement. 

The London Weekly Latin America comments that early in June, the state-owned Chilean Copper Corporation declared a freeze on all June deliveries from the El Teniente mine where some of the miners have been on strike for the past two months. For July, 50% of deliveries from El Teniente and all deliveries from Chuquicamata mine, where white-collar workers have struck in sympathy with the El Teniente strikers, are similarly affected. Between them, the two mines produce two-thirds of Chilean copper production. 

The strike has political overtones, claims Latin America. Only the most highly paid workers are involved in the strike, which concerns a dispute over production bonuses. Young Christian Democrats have organized marches of support for the strikers. Outbreaks of violence between strikers and the security forces have increased sharply since an employee of the mine was shot dead last week when he started to drive his vehicle over a patrol guarding miners who were still working. Several people on both sides have been injured and 33 arrested. The halt in copper exports will further aggravate the country's economic difficulties. 

The Santiago weekly, Chile Hoy, gives an analysis of the crippling copper miner strike which lays the blame on the opposition Christian Democratic Party. The miner strike at El Teniente mine has just completed its second month. Until now, its result has been a loss of $40 million in expected copper revenue, the suspension of copper shipments to Britain and Germany with the accompanying deterioration of the image of Codelco, the state-run copper enterprise in terms of its ability to complete its contracts, a congressional censure of two government ministers, and a climate of explosive tension in the northern city of Rancagua. For much less reason than this, ex-president Eduardo Frei ordered the Army in 1966 to violently repress the striking miners at El Salvador Mine, killing six miners. 

The most painful aspect of the situation for the Chilean working class is a fragmentation caused by the strike within the copper workers who manage one of the most vital industries in Chile. For years, the Christian Democrats worked to divide Chilean workers and its Catholic unions were the worst enemy of the Central Workers Federation. As in all sectors which the Christian Democrats are not able to actually control, they promote fractionalism and division inside the Federation. This is the purpose of the El Teniente strike. It is strictly an economist struggle. 

Chile Hoy goes on to say the progressive sectors of the miner's union resolved this time to sacrifice their immediate needs for a higher living standard, viewing the strike issue as a question of political conscience. The strike vote at Chuquicamata mine demonstrated this new "conciencia", 1,750 against the strike in 1,450 in favor. This increasingly class-conscious attitude was expressed last week in Rancagua during a demonstration of solidarity with the two censured cabinet ministers. 

A union leader advised the miners that the strike was characterized by the eagerness of the right-wing Christian Democrats to impose the minority's wishes upon the majorities and thus destroy the base of union democracy. He said that this method was an old tactic of the Christian Democrats and that the El Teniente strike was one more move designed to destroy the popular unity government. This report on the copper miner strike in Chile is from the weekly, Chile Hoy. 

Excélsior, the Mexico City daily, gives a more recent account of the increasing unrest and tension caused by the strike in Chile. Excélsior reports from Santiago that last week, public forces used armored cars and tear gas to disperse striking miners concentrated in front of the Christian Democratic Party barricades in Santiago. 

Carlos Latorre, one of the youth leaders of the Christian Democratic Party, called out to the militants to unite rapidly and repel the police aggression but the police forces were able to dismantle further concentration. Speakers for the state-owned copper corporation, Codelco, announced that Allende had made the same offer to the striking copper miners, which weeks ago was refused. Namely, a subsidy of $240 monthly to compensate for the rise in the cost of living, which has been 238% in the past 12 months. The strikers asked for a 41% raise in salary. 

Sub-Secretary of the Interior, Daniel Vergara, announced that he had drafted orders to arrest the director of La Segunda, the afternoon edition of the newspaper El Mercurio, and to arrest the director of Radio Agricultura. Vergara said these medias broadcasted false news. After the disturbances, Allende emphasized that the doors of the palace are open to the workers, whoever they may be. This from Excélsior of Mexico City. 

Chile Hoy carries a report by a North American correspondent who recently visited Nicaragua to see firsthand the aftermath of December's earthquake. His account of the corruption and misuse of the millions of dollars worth of goods donated from all over the hemisphere is harrowing. He was witness to the fact that the disaster relief destined for the victims of the earthquake never reached them. It was redirected instead to fill the bellies and line the pockets of Nicaragua's strong men, Tachito Samoza and his National Guard. 

The accounts tell of exclusive beaches and elegant residential neighborhoods lined with canvas tents from the United States, Canada, and Germany, while victims of the earthquake still homeless, huddle under trees are improvised cardboard lintos. It tells us stores operating out of private homes where the merchandise comes from cartons labeled, "Care. US Aid", "From the people of the Dominican Republic to the Nicaraguan People" and so on.

Canned goods, clothing, electric lanterns, water purifiers, tools, even blood transfusion units in Samsonite cases are for sale in such shops. The article notes that the transfusion units are generally valued only for the case which they come in. Other stores operate out of the residences of many members of the National Guard. These cell items sacked from the most elegant monogan doors after the guard had cordoned off a 400 block area. Anastasio Somoza III, son of the present dictator and grandson of Anastasio I, who was given control of the country by the US Marines in 1933, was in charge of this cleanup operation.

The article portrays US Ambassador Shelton as Samoza's personal counselor and most unwavering ally. As a close friend and former employee of Howard Hughes and the staunch Nixon man, Shelton has a lot to offer Samoza. For instance, the $2 million check he brought to Nicaragua from Washington after the quake has now made its way through a shady land deal to Tachito Samoza's personal bank account. This from the Santiago Weekly, Chile Hoy 

The first of several reports from Argentina comes from the Mexican daily, Excélsior. In a move which surprised most observers, Argentinian President Hector Cámpora, recently resigned his post in order to allow former president Juan Perón to return to power. Two hours after a provisional president was sworn in, Perón announced that he would accept the candidacy for the presidency. With a voice hoarse from a recent cold, the 77-year-old ex-president said it would be a tremendous sacrifice for himself. 

Although Cámpora was elected earlier this year on a slogan of "Cámpora in office, Perón in power," few expected to see Perón take the reins of power directly. This year's elections were the first in which Peronist candidates were allowed to compete in since Perón was ousted in 1955. The Mexican daily, Excélsior, asked some military officials, Peronists, radicals and unionists if Campora's forced resignation was not virtually a coup. Most all replied that, in any case, it was a gradual coup supported by the armed forces and political leaders of the country. Perón will likely be opposed by extremists of all parties as well as many guerrillas who earlier fought for him. 

In a recent editorial, Excélsior points out that conditions in Argentina are very different from the post-war era, when Perón had built a huge popular following. Instead of an economic boom due to high world prices of Argentine exports, as was the case before, there is now a serious economic crisis as well as political and social upheaval. While Perón returns from his long exile to capitalize on nationalist, socialist and populist sentiments in Argentina, Excélsior hints that Argentinians may soon grow disenchanted with a Perón who can no longer give all of them what they expect from him. 

The Santiago weekly, Chile Hoy, made an in-depth attempt to analyze the political content of Peron's ideology known as "Justicialismo". Perón and his followers described their ideal as quote, "national socialism." However, there seems to be a great deal of disagreement over exactly what this means. Even as late as 1970, Perón himself, unfortunately, identified national socialism with "fascism", Hitler's term for a country unified under the leadership of big business and authoritarian government. Campora, the recently-removed president who has just handed over the reins of power to Perón, had expressed interest, in quote, "humanistic capitalism". 

Vice President Lima has always made references to a pluralistic democracy concept of the French philosopher Maritain. The Peronist Youth, on the other hand, see Peronism as the first age of a progressive scientific socialism. In an interview which appeared in the magazine, Nouveau Confirmado, with Vice President Lima, the following dialogue developed. 

What does national socialism mean? It seems to be a mysterious expression of Peronist propaganda. Is it really socialism? 

National socialism is what Jacques Maritain calls "pluralists democracy", which he explained by saying that property should not be concentrated, also, within the definition of national socialism, is the definition of what it is not. It is not Marxist socialism. 

How would you, for example, socialize property? How would you give it a social contact? 

Social income, socialized incomes, that is what we will do. 

A shoe factory, should it continue being owned privately or should it become state property, or should it belong to those who work it? 

I think the factory must belong to the workers and owners both. I believe in co-ownership and co-operation. That is what the world is moving towards. 

Chile Hoy concludes by pointing out that Peronism is determined more by its actions than by its words, and that its actions will be determined by the direction that political and class struggles take in Argentina in the future. 

International protest to the repressive tactics of the Chilean military junta is rising, according to reports from Excélsior. West Germany has threatened to withdraw from the Inter-American Development Bank if that organization continues to give financial support to the junta. The bank, along with other major international monetary organizations dominated by the United States, withdrew all credit and other financial support from Chile during the Allende regime, helping to precipitate the crisis which brought about his overthrow. 

Excélsior reports also that a French journalist, Edouard Belby of L'Express, was jailed by Chilean authorities after photographing bodies in Santiago, and was subsequently expelled from the country. 

In Chile itself, resistance to the military government apparently continues. The Excélsior of October 29th reports that the war tribunals will continue to function for many more years to apply the death penalty to enemies of the regime. The same issue reports that army and navy troops occupied several cities in the south of Chile, conducting house-by-house searches for arms and leftist leaders as part of a stepped-up offensive against the opponents at the junta. 

According to the Excélsior of November 2nd, about 3,500 prisoners of war are held in various prisons in Chile as a result of this campaign. Two of the Chilean cabinet members, General Oscar Bonilla, Minister of the Interior, and Fernando Leniz Cerda, the new Secretary of Economy, were confronted by hundreds of angry housewives during a visit to the poor communities of Lo Hermida and La Granja on the outskirts of Santiago. 

Excélsior says that the women protested the high prices of necessities, to which the ministers replied that consumption should be decreased until the prices were lowered. The junta's reconstruction policies have hit the poor especially hard. In sharp contrast to the shortages reported during Allende's administration, stores in Chile now have surpluses of many items because prices are so high that no one can afford to buy them. Prices of milk are four and one-half times higher than under the Allende regime. The price of kerosene has risen six times, meat and gasoline eight times each. 

The Excélsior of October 29th charges that inflation will be fought with a progressive decrease in the purchasing power and with unemployment, and that the poor are paying for the reconstruction of the Chilean economy. 

Our feature this week is the first half of an article on the controversial Brazilian model of economic development written by the United Presbyterian Church and reprinted in the Mexican daily El Dia. 

Most Americans don't know it, but the land of Carmen Miranda and the bossa nova has become the industrial giant of the Southern Hemisphere. Derided only a few short years ago as the perpetual land of the future, Brazilians now proclaim loudly that the future has arrived. "Underdeveloped hell", read the slogan at one of Sao Paulo's recent auto shows. The talk now is of an economic miracle to rival the recovery of West Germany after World War II. 

One wonders what this economic boom means for the majority of the Brazilian population. Brazil's resources may be extensive, but the majority of its people have always been poor, and their suffering great. Brazil's Indian population was nearly wiped out by the Portuguese colonists in the 16th and 17th centuries. Black slavery was introduced early into Brazil and was practiced widely until 1888. Historically, most Brazilians, slave or free, have been dependent and poor. Even those who own land, supervise plantations, and led expeditions were poor by today's standards. Very few had much in the way of comforts and goods. For most of its history, Brazil was a colony. It was governed by Portugal and existed to make money for the Portuguese. No matter that Indians were exterminated and African slaves went to early graves. 

One must not forget that most of Brazil's population is racially mixed, according to El Dia, that much of it is Black, and that its history of subjugation and misery continues to this day. 

There exists in Brazil one of the deepest cleavages between rich and poor, economically, culturally, and racially, to be found anywhere in the world. A few facts may help sketch the current scene. Here are Brazil's income distribution figures for 1968. The richest 1% of the population received an annual per capita income of $6,500. The middle 40% income group received $350 in 1968, and the poorest 50% of the population earned an average income of $120 in that year. What this says is that one half of Brazil's population in the middle of the 1960s had an average cash income of 35 cents a day. Most people, in other words, live outside the money economy. A cultural and economic middle class does exist in Brazil. It is the small, relatively privileged top 10% of the population. A tiny part of this group is wealthy, but most of it is composed of business and professional people, army officers and government officials, and corresponds to the salaried urban middle class in the United States. 

"But what do you do about poverty?", asks El Dia. A decade ago, Brazilian leaders and their North American allies embarked on an alliance for progress, a program which had its roots in Kubitschek's Operation Pan America. Kubitschek was president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961. His idea was to improve the lives of all Latin Americans by laying out an elaborate and massive program of economic development. He would stimulate this development with huge inputs of foreign capital, principally from the United States and Western Europe. Factories would be built in Latin America to produce the things people needed, provide them with jobs and wages, and yield tax revenues for their schools and cities. Foreign investors would become catalysts in the process of developing the natural and human resources of Latin America and partners in the creation of new and greater wealth for everyone. 

The key to the process of industrialization in Brazil was to be a program of import substitution. The idea was for Brazil to limit the importation of manufactured goods and build domestic industry behind high tariffs. Thus, Brazil would exploit her own internal market. Brazilian industries would be created to supply a domestic market, formerly undeveloped or in the hands of foreign companies. Once these companies were on their feet, the tariff walls would be lowered, forcing Brazilian industry to become more efficient and competitive. Finally, these industries would operate without protection and in competition on the world market. Brazil would then begin to export manufactured goods, improve her balance of trade and be on her way. 

A glance at Brazil's economic history is instructive. El Dia explains that traditionally, the Brazilian economy was based on agriculture and the export of agricultural commodities and minerals, coffee, cocoa, sugar, cotton, iron ore and gems. Rubber and gold were of great importance at one time. But countries whose economies are based on the export of primary products play a losing game. They are subject to the fluctuations of the world market and the increasing competition of other primary producers. Brazil's economic history is characterized by a succession of cycles of its major export commodities. From the early 16th century on, this was in turn the story of dye, wood, sugar, gold and coffee. The latter, of course, is still Brazil's major export commodity, although its strength has fluctuated substantially with changes in world demand. 

Against this discouraging history, the process of industrialization began, but it was a late beginning. Until 1822, Brazil was a Portuguese colony administered along strict mercantilist lines. That is, no industry was allowed to develop. It was not until the First World War that the beginnings of industrialization were much felt. The impetus towards industrialization came from the impact of the two World Wars, largely because of the interruption of supplies from overseas and the elimination of foreign competition. It was during this period that Brazil's import substitution policies began. 

Kubitschek was undoubtedly one of Brazil's most enthusiastic developmentalists. When he was inaugurated in 1956, he immediately set up a national development council, formulated a program of targets, and called for 50 years of development in five. His most spectacular project was the building of Brasilia, the country's modernistic capital, 600 miles into the interior. Brazil's automobile industry began under Kubitschek. Steel and cement production doubled and power generation tripled. 

After Kubitschek, however, the country experienced a period of political instability. Jânio Quadros resigned shortly after taking office, and the administration of was marked by a period of runaway inflation. By 1963, prices were going up by 71% a year. In 1963, the gross national product increased only 1.6%, while population growth exceeded 3%, thus producing a negative growth in per capita income. 

Brazil's relations with foreign investors and the United States government suffered during this time. Popular movements were gaining force and demanding redress of the country's longstanding inequities. Social unrest was widespread and growing. United States economic aid and corporate investments dropped sharply. Then in March 1964, the Brazilian army staged a coup d'etat and the United States recognized the provisional military government within 24 hours. United States economic aid was then restored at higher levels than ever before, and US technicians and advisors began to enter the country in unprecedented numbers.

The Brazilian military, under Castelo Branco, crushed the protest movements, jailed their leaders and deprived civilian political leaders of political rights for 10 years. Under the leadership of Brazil's new Harvard-trained Minister of Planning, Roberto Campos, stringent measures were taken to stem inflation, and tax concessions and investment guarantees were set up to lure back foreign capital.

The economic picture began to change. In 1965, the Brazilian economy, principally the industrial sector, grew at a rate of 3.9%. In 1966, the rate was 4.3%. In 1967, it was 5%, and in 1968, it was 6.3%. Since 1968, the GNP has increased by no less than 9% a year to a record high of 11% in 1972. This is what Brazilians call their economic miracle, and it is indeed a formidable achievement. The evidence is everywhere. One may raise questions about the way Brazil is growing and about who is benefiting from this growth and who is not, but the growth is very real. 

According to El Dia, in 1968 the US Information Agency in Rio released a somewhat whimsical TV spot announcement, extolling the success of Brazil's industrial development. It showed a scantily clad and shapely model operating a massive drill press to the sensuous beat of the samba and asked, "Is this development or isn't it?" 

For many Brazilians, the answer was, "Maybe not." They had basic questions to ask about what was happening to their country, and they were not matters about which to be whimsical. The first question has to do with the theory of import substitution. On the surface, it looks like a good idea for Brazil to cut foreign imports and encourage the growth of domestic industry in a protected market. Why shouldn't Brazil supply its own consumer needs, reinvest its profits, and spread the wealth? Perhaps it should. The problem is the theory doesn't work that way.

It is not Brazilians, by and large who are manufacturing the import substitutes, but foreign companies incorporated under Brazilian law. No group of private investors in Brazil, for example, could possibly compete with Volkswagen, Ford, and General Motors in establishing an automotive industry. There are, of course, many successful Brazilian industrialists, but they compete at a great disadvantage against the corporate giants of the United States, Western Europe, and Japan.

An American professor in Brazil put it this way. "What was supposed to be a solution for Brazil has turned out to be a solution for us. It was supposed to be a gain for Brazil to have foreign companies come in and set up shop. What we are now discovering," the professor said, "is that these companies make far more money through direct investments in manufacturing and sales operations in Brazil than they were able to make previously by exporting these same products from home. Volkswagen and Ford no longer ship cars to Brazil from Bremerhaven and New York. They manufacture them in Sao Paulo. Why is this more profitable? Certain costs, of course, are lower, but the more compelling answer is that the Brazilian market can be more effectively penetrated when a company's entire manufacturing, sales and servicing operation is managed within the host country." 

John Powers, president of Charles Pfizer & Company Pharmaceuticals, put it this way, in a speech to the American Management Association. "It is simply not possible in this decade of the 20th century to establish a business effectively in most world markets, in most products, by exporting. Successful market penetration usually requires building warehouses, creating and training an organization. It requires local sales promotion and building plants or assembly lines to back up the marketing effort. In short, it requires direct investment." 

It should not be surprising that some Brazilians are wondering who's helping whom. It is argued, of course, that even though foreign corporations take sizable profits out of Brazil, both in the form of repatriated profits and from cheaper production costs, Brazil benefits more than it loses. Certainly, some Brazilians gain from the salaries and wages paid to Brazilian managers and factory workers, from taxes paid to the state and from the availability of added goods and services. Whether the country gains more than it loses is another matter, and the answer depends on more than conventional economic considerations. 

You have been listening to the first part of a two-part feature on the Brazilian economic development model, written by the United Presbyterian Church and reprinted in the Mexican daily, El Dia.