Customer Reviews

The Che Guevara Myth and the Future of Liberty (Independent Studies in Political Economy)

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This slim volume by the son of Mario Vargas Llosa is really two books in one, though it's divided into three parts. The first part, which will sell this book to a large audience, is a debunking of the romanticism of Latin America's most celebrated thug. This is a very useful and worthy bit of work, though it could benefit from more depth, since Che left plenty of evidence of his depravity and the depravity of his ideology to draw upon.

The second and third parts are a discussion of Latin America's economic and political problems, from a very broad perspective. Unfortunately, the author does not connect the problems or his solutions to Che terribly well - while any serious person would realize that Che wasn't fighting to overthrow the system of privilege and pull endemic to Latin America, but merely to replace the people in charge with his own people, the second part of the book doesn't make much effort to draw a connection between the persistence of Latin American mercantilism and the pseudo-revolution promoted by Che and his admirers.

As a Latin-American, I very much enjoyed the book. Some of the ideas expressed were interesting and I agree with, some don't. But the main intention in buying the book was to learn more about "Che", and my surprise was that "Che" was not there. He was present in less than a third of the book, in a excessive "compressed" way, and it even wasn't the most interesting part of the book. It looked more as a "bait" to get more people into buying the book. As I said, is a good book, but if you are looking for "Che", he will not be there.

First off, this is a very short book (79 pages). The first chapter deals with the life of Che Guevara. Che since his death has become a legend. The reality of his life are blood stained hands. Che executed a lot of people. This happened both during the Cuban Revolution and its aftermath. Che was not someone you would want your daughter or sister dating. He was a killer, but somehow his persona has assumed the legend of underdog and hero.

The following two chapters talks on how Latin America has been mismanaged economically and politically since independence. Both the left and right have instituted statist economies in their countries. The rule of the strongman has corrupted the political system. Corruption and the lack of followed laws has also undermined the capitalistic system in Latin countries. Few countries (except for a brief time Argentina) have followed the course of capitalism. The result are very poor countries with a small elite controlling the resources. These chapters relate how following a capitalistic economy these countries would not be poor and mismanaged.

The writing on these final two chapters are pretty heavy. This is not for everyone. The one chapter on Che was an enticement to read the following two chapters. That is why this book is not for everyone.

It shouldn't be too hard to find a book that is critical of a loser like Ernesto Guevara, but it is. This book finally counters much of the romantic clap-trap that exists about the murderous, anti-freedom, hate-filled hypocrite, but it's certainly not ideal. I'd like more info abot his life and his work and his "teachings" overall, but most of the more exhaustive biographies are stricly the aforementioned sentimental clap-trap. This book is a little too short and branches out into areas I'm not really interested in, but it gets 4 stars simply for being a good attempt and the FIRST attempt at honesty regarding this horrible man.

This is a short and sweet two books in one, though it's divided into four chapters. The first part is a debunking of the romantic myth of the 20th century most photogenic murderer- Che Guevara- thru an analytical essay of his behavior during the Cuban revolution, where it seemed that one dictatorship was replaced by a more oppressive one that centralized more the economic and political control of the country. Che's taste for violence are portrayed throughout the book, particularly the executions of many Cubans in the early years of the Revolution, including the teenager Ariel Lima. He also seemed to enjoy the media's fascination with him, particularly when telling a British newsman after the Missile Crisis: "If the rockets had remained, we would have used them all." Vargas Llosa goes on to discuss the caudillismo political culture professed by Che and others in Latin America and the ensuing centralization of government and corrupt favoritism that led us to folks like Fidel Castro, Augusto Pinochet, and Hugo Chavez- resulting in hampering the political and economic development of many Latin American countries

As other reviewers have pointed out, the book prominently displays Che on the cover but precious little information about his life. Che's influence and despotism could easily fill a large volume. This book was a disappointment in that it barely touches on such an important historical figure. I'm hoping a better treatment is in the works somewhere. The "Progressive" world needs to know that one of its major heroes was, in fact, a murderous maritinet - and a dismal failure as a human being.

This is a well researched and thoughtful critique of problems with government in Latin America and a good insight of what the future of big government may hold for the west. Additionally the section on the parallel, or underground economy was revealing. It also explained the attitudes these people have towards institutions.

Be warned: This is not a book about Che Guevara, a romantic who never learned that "revolutions" only change the name on the letterhead, not any basic values. Instead, it is a rant about why Guevara was wrong plus an assertion that Llosa is right.

Yet, it's a good book. As Llosa writes, "For proof that Latin Americans are the same as others in their instinctive pursuit of self-interest through enterprise and exchange, no contemporary phenomenon speaks more eloquently than the informal ("underground") economy."

Llosa asserts poor Latinos " ... just like the rest, actually like to own property, produce goods and services privately, exchange them by contract rather than by command, and enjoy the fruits of their labour. Every politician and commentator praised the inventiveness, entrepreneurial spirit, productive potential, survival instincts, organizational skills, and cultural achievements of the 'informals,' as they began to call the poor."

All countries have an "informal" economy that operates outside the paperwork structure of formal society; in the US, "casual labour" is about 14 percent of the economy. In Peru it's about 60 percent, in Mexico, 50 percent, and 40 percent in Argentina.

The problem is that authoritarian rulers believe they, and not the people, they have the right to decide how the riches of society should be used. Latin America is proof that tax cuts and government subsidies for the rich are immensely effective in enriching the rich -- exactly what some now advocate as economic policy to create a new 'Los Estados Unidos'.

Llosa points out it's not just spending power that inhibits growth; it's also the lack of the usual protections of state authority. Unless one is rich, Latinos are often "illegals" in their homelands, victims of the whims of police, indifference by the government and intolerance by the church -- the same fate when they come to the US as undocumented migrants. For many, they are as "illegal" in their homelands as after they cross the border into "el Norte".

The impact on Latin societies is inefficiency, since "informals" have few or none of the rights and benefits of regular workers. Likewise in Arizona, "iilegals" provide cheap unregulated marginal labour during periods of expansion with none of the normal benefits or protections or costs of society. The problem, similar to a slave-owning society, is the creation of an informal economy that contributes little or nothing -- except docile labour -- to society.

Hopefully, some day he'll write a sequel to this book --- explaining how the prosecution and fate of "los illegales" in the US is similar to their homelands, and how this is creating a "third world" atmosphere in the US.

I wish the first chapter was expanded into a full-length critique of Che.