Autobiography - The Galindo Group

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Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 54 I want the freedom of choice to select my options. I prefer the beckoning of challenge to a guaranteed existence. It is my heritage to rely on my god and myself, to be an individual in my thoughts, decisions and actions. I find satisfaction in the thrill of accomplishment and too many restrictive burdens in the socialist system. I want to take the calculated risk, to dream and to build, to attempt and to succeed. If in trying I fail, I ask for the chance to try again. I refuse to exchange my right to exercise my initiative for a promise of state supplied security. I believe in a social system which allows me to face new challenges, to develop opportunities for myself and others, and to justly enjoy the benefits of my creations. I find no substitute for freedom. As I tell later, I moved to Texas from Bolivia, a country on one of the front lines where the cold war was raging - communism vs. freedom. I could see the effects of both ideologies right in front of my eyes. I could feel the methods the combatants were using to defeat each other. It is important to my story that the political environment where these thoughts were congealed be understood. The period of foreign policy paralysis ushered by the Lyndon Johnson administration handling of Viet Nam in the late 1960’s, gripped America not only in the theater of operations, but it also set it up for even greater failures in the next decade. President Nixon managed to steer us away from the shoals and President Ford kept us floating, but not with much steam. Using Cuba’s Castro as its surrogate, the Soviet Union launched wars of liberation throughout Africa and South America. The map of the world was turning red in Southeast Asia, Africa, Central and South America. In the Western Hemisphere Nicaragua was virtually lost. Chile was Castro’s favorite stop in his Latin America lecturing circuit. El Salvador was besieged. Bolivia was fighting “Che” Guevara’s invasion. The communist pressure was on and the response from the U.S. was erratic at best. In my eyes Jimmy Carter was not just a bad steward of the fight against communism; he was close to incompetent. I am sure that in the eyes of Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran and Anastacio Somoza of Nicaragua, he was a traitor. These two heads of state, frail with defects as they might have been, were staunch defenders of our country and our way of Autobiography.doc 54 of 239
Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 55 life. When we called on them to help contain communism, they risked their power and their future place in history to do our bidding. Their writings indicate they never suspected we would repay with betrayal. When their usefulness was worn out, President Carter coldly discarded them as cumbersome ballast. They are not the only allies that felt betrayed! A visitor to Tierra del Fuego in Southern Argentina can observe around Cape Horn the gargantuan turbulence of the waters where Atlantic meets Pacific in a never-ending battle for supremacy. That view is the best description I can give of how it felt to be a protagonist in the hot fronts of the Cold War. In the early 1970’s my brothers, immediate friends and I started to feel like fish in Cape Horn waters. The push of totalitarian communism to eradicate the hope of democratic freedom took on faces. It became personal and violent. It resorted to threats, terrorism and brutality. Our thirst for freedom did not diminish with Washington’s languishing enthusiasm to support our cause. We experienced a feeling akin to Luke Skywalker’s fighting the Empire in the movie Starwars, except we didn’t have a Yoda. It was one of America’s weakest foreign policy periods. It was in this climate of near despair that, while living in Bolivia, I began to formulate my thoughts and conceive my dreams. This book is my personal testament to the power of a dream. Autobiography.doc 55 of 239
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Bernard Bailyn, THE IDEOLOGICAL ORI
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George Fuermann, HOUSTON LAND OF TH
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Council for Natural Cooperation in
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Autobiography - The Galindo Group

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