Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 74
reinforces my persuasion that church and state ought to be clearly separate, lest one
religion try to control all others. Second, if public grants are given to hire teachers, the
grants ought to be clearly given to the boards hiring the teachers and never to the
teachers themselves.
Following the failed attempt under Generals Banzer and Valencia, under the presidency
of Gen. Torres, the communist acronyms achieved greater preponderance in everyday
life. The media (TV was still in the hands of the state) was overrun with information
about the doings and undoings of these various factions in their efforts to gain control of
the government. The internecine war raging within them and between them clearly
demonstrated their disrespect for human life and the cruelty of their methods. Persons
who changed their minds after joining one or another of these groups were often found
summarily executed in caves, tunnels or ravines. I was glad they were purging
themselves out in true Kremlin form, but I was scared that they would eventually turn
against us. We were in a race against time.
During that period Richard Nixon was consumed by Viet Nam and with problems at
home. The Soviets were on the offensive not only in Southeast Asia but everywhere
they could. They felt they were close to getting the upper hand in a permanent way. As
an example, in September 1970 alone, Nixon had to deal with the Palestinian Liberation
Organization invading Jordan with the connivance of Syria, both sent by Moscow, and
with the Soviets building a nuclear submarine base in the port of Cienfuegos in Cuba in
defiance of the policy of detente. Domestically, his advisors, understandably so in the
opinion of many, were more concerned in securing his re-election as insurance against
another Lyndon Johnson, or worse. South America, and particularly Bolivia, was not
even on his radar screen. We could expect no help from him. The State Department
was of no help either because its on-going feud with the White House on the larger
issues consumed its attention.
With the election of Salvador Allende as president of Chile, Castro gained the ally that
Guevara was not able to provide in South America. Their axis became the vector
through which they exerted their power. It was later revealed publicly that the Central
Intelligence Agency had supported Gen. Augusto Pinochet on his successful coup
against Allende. I can say with certainty that Allende’s fall went a long way to keep
Bolivia, and probably Peru, from becoming entrenched Soviet assets in the heart of the
South American continent. I can also say with certainty that without Pinochet, Chileans
would not have advanced to the state of economic development in which they are now.
But neither the State Department nor the CIA was willing to give us any help.
In early 1971 my group could find some hope only in our Brazilian connection and not
very confidently at that. At the time of Chilean Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s coup against
Allende, it was only a rumor that the Company (CIA) had made its success possible.
True or not, we realized that such an undertaking needed outside help. Thus, the simple
thought that this might have in fact happened reinforced my evolving conviction that the
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