Considering Chapters: Notes on Eduardo Galeano's "Open Veins of Latin America"

A few months ago on my son's Facebook page, a thread of conversation had us discussing a book that Hugo Chavez of Venezuela had rather publicly presented to President Obama. Most commentators seemed to think the presentation was an arrogant act. Certainly it was given in the middle of Chavez's bombastic three day tour-de-force of rhetoric directed against capitalist imperialism. This, anyway, is how I remember Tim's correspondents viewing it.

The book, "Open Veins of Latin America," was written by Uruguayan journalist and author, Eduardo Galeano. It soon became clear that, despite the heat and passion of our comments, all of us were more or less ignorant of the book. My son suggested that we should all read it. The book suddenly became the number 2 best seller on Amazon.Com, and so only after a long delay I have at last begun to turn and mark its pages.

I ordered the book because, Chavez's rhetoric not withstanding, I think that he gave the book to President Obama because he thought that here, at last, was a President who just might read it. Clearly, this is a book that must be read if we wish to understand why it is that so many Latin Americans look at the United States with a mixture of mistrust and aversion. Galeano is a powerful advocate whose advocacy is more vigorous because of his immense poetic skill, a talent that, in this case, survives and flourishes in translation.

I propose to share my notes and reflections as I read each chapter of the book, beginning today with the introduction. I would ask my Facebook friends, if they feel so disposed, to comment either on my Facebook page or on this Blog entry itself. I will try to incorporate your comments into my notes.

Introduction

"This book," the author writes, "which seeks to chronicle our despoliation and at the same time explain how the current mechanisms of plunder operate, will present in close proximity the caravelled conquistadors and the jet-propelled technocrats; Hernan Cortes and the Marines; the agents of the Spanish Crown and the International Monetary Fund missions; the dividends from slave trade and the profits of General Motors." He makes his creed and mission statement clear. Galeano believes that, while epochs may have changed, the greed of economic exploitation remains as potent as ever south of the border.

"We are no longer in the era of marvels when fact surpassed fable and imagination was shamed by the trophies of conquest--the lodes of gold, the mountains of silver. But our region still works as a menial. It continues to exist at the service of others' needs, as a source and reserve of oil and iron, of copper and meat, of fruit and coffee, the raw materials and foods destined for rich countries which profit more from consuming them than Latin America does from producing them."

He closes this argument with an aside that is awful to contemplate. "The taxes collected by the buyers are much higher than the prices received by the sellers." Imagine that for a moment! The taxes collected are more than the prices received--not higher than the profits received, but higher than the prices! A little later on, he sustains this argument with comparative statistics that almost makes this reader fear the rest of the book.

He moves on to write two or three damning paragraphs reflecting upon our government's role and motives in promoting birth control in Latin America. He underscores and expands his argument by including Rockefeller and Ford Foundation's corporate sponsorship of militant birth control programs--all based, he asserts, upon the thinking of Lyndon Johnson's plain statement: "Let us act on the fact that less than $5 invested in population control is worth $100 invested in economic growth."

His conclusion? "Now that the Alliance for Progress is dead and buried the Imperium proposes, more in panic than in generosity, to solve Latin America's problems by eliminating Latin Americans; Washington has reason to suspect that the poor peoples don't prefer to be poor. But it is impossible to desire the end without desiring the means. Those who deny liberation to Latin America also deny our only possible rebirth, and incidentally absolve the existing structures of blame. Our youth multiplies, rises, listens: what does the voice of the system offer? The system speaks a surrealist language. In lands that are empty it proposes to avoid births; in countries where capital is plentiful but wasted it suggests that capital is lacking; it describes as "aid" the deforming orthopedics of loans and the draining of wealth that results from foreign investment; it calls upon big landowners to carry out agrarian reforms and upon the oligarchy to practice social justice."

He then demands his readers answer this questions: "Is everything forbidden us except to fold our arms? Poverty is not written in the stars [and] underdevelopment is not one of God's mysterious designs." It is that last remark that justifies this book's consideration on a Blog dedicated to considering matters the intersect God and Caesar. Our rush to judgment concerning Chavez's gift to Obama may reveal our deep desire to ignore its symbolism. In truth, our rush to judgment may have a symbolism and significance of its own--a failure to heed the cry of the poor as well as the cry of Isaiah.

No matter how long or loud or often you pray,

I'll not be listening.

And do you know why? Because you've been tearing

people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.

Go home and wash up.

Clean up your act.

Sweep your lives clean of evil doings

so I don't have to look at them any longer.

Say no wrong.

Learn to do good.

Work for justice.

Help the down-and-out.

Stand up for the homeless.

Go to bat for the defenseless.

~Isaiah 1: 15-17 The Message Bible

Perhaps in reading this book, we might begin in earnest to listen to the cry of the poor.