It is a well known, oft stated fact that Latin American periodicals, particularly of the nineteenth century, contain a wealth of untapped documentation for the historian and literary critic. This is especially true for Cuba, where a protracted colonial period with years of tight censorship, repression, and revolutionary turmoil made the publication of lengthy works unfulfilled dreams thwarted by “la Señora Censura” or a highly underdeveloped publishing industry. Magazines and newspapers were frequently the only outlets for the expression of ideas on politics, economics, education, philosophy, religion, literature, science, music, and art, or for the publication of creative works in prose and poetry. Consequently, the examination of nineteenth-century Cuban periodicals yields an unusually rich view of the history and culture of the island; indeed, in some periods these publications, frequently ephemeral, offer the only major source of comprehensive information and documentation.

One cannot help but ask, “Are international businesses, like the fabled Don Quixote, making dragons of windmills?” We have seen a great rise in international business investment. We have also seen a corresponding rise in business attempts to prevent an awareness by local nations of this increased foreign investment. The general feeling is that increased awareness will lead to greater resentment. The question, however, has not been directly asked: What happens to the evaluation of foreign firms in a specific setting in Latin America as the rate of foreign investment climbs and is more keenly perceived? In an attempt to determine if we are realistically assessing the situation in Latin America, a study was conducted in four Central American countries: El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. These countries were selected because they have been among the rapidly developing countries of Latin America since the formation of the Central American Common Market (CACM) in the early 1960s, receiving considerable foreign investment.

This essay reviews and analyzes recent north american writing on united States-Latin American relations, particularly on the Alliance for Progress. It does not attempt to summarize or evaluate the Alliance's history as such, nor does it deal with Latin American perspectives on the Alliance (or more generally on inter-American relations), though I hope to treat these subjects in future works. What this article does instead is to analyze the dwindling North American literature on the Alliance for Progress, as a means of illuminating the state of scholarship in this country on United States-Latin American relations. I shall draw on available writings to illustrate my major theme, which is that United States analysts of inter-American relations tend to adopt either of two alternative perspectives. These perspectives, which I will call “liberal” and “radical” (using both words without quote marks hereafter), differ sharply in their sets of assumptions about the nature of United States-Latin American relations and, more generally, about politics in America, North and South. Each perspective provides insights for interpreting the Alliance and for explaining other aspects of inter-American relations; neither, by itself, seems to me satisfactory. In the final section of this essay, I shall attempt to sketch out a complementary “bureaucratic politics” perspective, one that is usually missing from both liberal and radical accounts, and suggest that this third perspective may be useful for analyzing United States policy toward Latin America.

La presente contribución es sólo una aproximación al tema propuesto. Suma de problemas más que respuestas. Catálogo de líneas posibles de investigación de un tema que adquiere, a veces, por motivos ajenos al interés científico, particular trascendencia. En la misma, se dan por supuestos, los elementos constitutivos básicos al igual que los aspectos meramente épocales, brindando los retazos multicolores de un cajón de sastre, sólo unidos entre si por un vertebral hilo conductor, la percepción de quien dedicara gran parte de su labor investigativa al período en análisis.

The publication information for THE ECONOMY OF SOCIALIST CUBA: A TWO DECADE APPRAISAL by CARMELO MESA-LAGO (William M. LeoGrande, “Two Decades of Socialism in Cuba,” LARR 16, no. 1 [1981]: 187–206) was incorrectly given as New York University Press, forthcoming. This work, which appeared in July 1981, was published by the University of New Mexico Press. In our effort to make the review as comprehensive and up-to-date as possible, our reviewer worked from galleys. The publishers have indicated that “several of the objections he raises concern points which are either not present or treated differently in the final galleys and pages of this book.” LARR regrets any inconvenience this may have caused.

Hoping to stimulate undergraduate as well as graduate students of the University of Houston and residents of the city to consider critically and constructively our country's relations with Latin America—their knowledge seemed to be limited to a tiny bag of clichés relative to Fidel Castro, military dictatorships, ownership of the Panama Canal, Mexican braceros, etc.—Harvey L. Johnson, professor of Spanish and Portuguese and acting director of Latin American Studies at the University of Houston, arranged a one-day conference on 19 March 1966 that featured two lectures and discussions led by members of the faculty plus a luncheon address, “The Epic Poem of Latin America” by Rafael Squirru, Argentine poet and critic and director of the Cultural Division of the Pan American Union. At a general meeting, the coordinator of the program raised the question about founding a council of Latin American studies for the southwest. Wholehearted support was manifest. In November of the same year, a three-day conference, sponsored by Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, and coordinated by Richard A. Johnson, its director of Interdisciplinary Area Programs, focused on the subject “The Confluence of the Cultures of the Americas.” Among the speakers were the Honorable Fulton Freeman, United States ambassador to Mexico; Luther H. Evans, director of International Collections at Columbia University; several distinguished professors from various Mexican universities; and Howard F. Cline, director of the Hispanic Foundation. At the close of the conference an informal meeting was convened, with Richard A. Johnson serving as chairman, for the purpose of considering the desirability of establishing in Texas a regional association of Latin American studies. A motion to create it carried, but in the general discussion regarding the implementation of the proposal it was decided to await the outcome of the final decision to be reached at the conference scheduled for April 1967, at the University of Houston. Although the organization was postponed, the group recognized, nevertheless, the need to have a committee appointed to draft a constitution and bylaws prior to the meeting in Houston.