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PARTISAN REVIEW
HS:
I'm afraid that Mario Vargas Llosa was absolutely right in the
action he undertook. His fear was that if government controlled 100
percent of all legal credit, the power of the state would be excessive
and that credit, like many other things in Peru that are under the
control of the state, would become totally politicized . Prior to the na–
tionalization, at least 20 to 25 percent of the credit was still in private
hands and free options were available , so I share his fears . I don't
think the state has said anything or done anything that would allay
my fears nor his, in the sense that it has not explained how credit is
not going to be politicized as a result of the nationalization . So , I
don't think that this says much for democracy in the near future.
KA :
Liberation theology has become an influential political force in
Latin America. Would you discuss its role in the Latin American
political climate, and if or how the goals of liberation theology have
any parallels with the goals of ILD?
HS:
Liberation theology doesn't really say anything new that
Marxist-Leninism and dependency theory haven't said before . Es–
sentially, it's a repetition of these philosophies . What is interesting
about liberation theology, of course, is that it provides a moral justi–
fication for old theories, which haven't worked, and it gives them the
credibility that religious faith or the institution of the church would
have.
If
liberation theology were not, as it unfortunately is , attached
to Marxist ideas, then I would say that it would not be a bad thing,
because I subscribe to the idea that Christians should be conscious of
poverty and social injustice. What I don't see is that once you are
conscious of that, you should look toward Marxist-Leninism to
change it.
KA:
I would like you to talk about the role of nationalistic impulses
in Latin America and how they tie into certain strains of Marxist
ideology.
HS:
Well , that's a very good question because I think that behind
Marxism and behind dependency theory , there's basically nothing
else other than nationalism. That's what it's all about. Nationalism is
a way of reaffirming your national identity versus foreign influence.
The people who understood that a long time ago are, of course, the
Marxist-Leninists, who have tried to tie it to dependency theory .
The proof that it is basically nationalism that you're talking about is
in the experience we have typically at ILD. Every time we talk about
change, we have a lot of former Communists coming in and joining
our ranks simply because they feel it's as good an idea as the ones
they've heard before , and this indicates that , in terms of Marxist-
