Neoliberalism, Democracy and “Private Diplomacy”

A trailblazing account of the Council of the Americas (COA), revealing how it became the leading private orchestrator of the United States’ unofficial political actions in Latin America.

Drawing on a Marxian and Gramscian perspective, the work analyzes the ties between this transnational hegemonic private apparatus and the South American dictatorships of the 1960s and 1970s, later shaping their democracies through neoliberalism. By exposing the role of the COA as an organic “collective intellectual” of fractions of international capital, the study offers a vital contribution to understanding the inner workings of U.S. hegemony.

ISBN: 9798903931927

Publication date: July 16, 2027

Acknowledgments IX

1 Introduction
1 What Is Known about the Council of the Americas—and What This Book Adds
2 How to Read This Book—a Proposed Periodization

2 The Origins of the Council of the Americas (1956–1969)
1 Historical Context
2 David Rockefeller and Latin America
3 The Great Merger: the United Statesian Entrepreneurial Action on ALPRO and the Birth of the Council of the Americas
4 The First CLA Actions in Latin America (April–October 1965)
5 “Public Relations”
6 “Community Relations”
7 Creating a Relationship with the Strict State—United States
8 Latin American Common Market
9 The May of 1968 of the Council of the Americas
10 The 1969 Rockefellers’ Report
11 Philantropy as Investment and Preventive Counterrevolution: the Rockefellers’ Approach
12 Capital and Nation-State: Entrepreneurial Ideologies Post- and Anti-1968

3 The Council of the Americas and the Dictatorial Cycle in Latin America (1969–1979)
1 COA Central Characters: David Rockefellers’ Trusted Men, and CIA Agents
2 The CLA within the Expanded State in the United States: Activity in Political Society and Civil Society
3 Relations with US-Led Multilateral Organizations
4 Campaign for Trade Liberalization
5 Business Engagement and Pro-private Enterprise Advertising
6 Espionage of the Student Movement and Critical Intellectuals in the United States
7 The Internal Reorganization of the Council: Name, Statutes, Funding
8 Articulation of Interests and Imperialism
9 The May Report
10 The Council of the Americas’ Battle against the Andean Code
11 A Council for 1970s Latin America
12 The Council of the Americas in the Height of the Corporate-Military Dictatorship in Brazil
13 The Network Linked to the Council of the Americas in Post-1964 Coup Brazil: FAS, Ação, AMCHAMs, ACRJ, ex-IPES
14 The Close Ties between the Council of the Americas and the Brazilian Dictatorial Regime
15 João Paulo dos Reis Velloso at the Council of the Americas
16 The CLA and the Origins of the Brazil-United States Business Council
17 The Council of the Americas, Brazilian Business Leaders, and Political Opening
18 Chile: the Multiple Forms of Political Intervention by the Council of the Americas before and after the 1973 Military Coup
19 A Letter to Allende
20 The Council of the Americas as Co-author of US Policy toward Chile
21 David Rockefeller’s Confession
22 The Council of the Americas’ Support for Pinochet’s Neoliberal Regime
23 The Testimony of Enno Hobbing to the Church Committee (March 1973)
24 Other Latin American Tentacles of the Council
25 Carter Administration’s “Human Rights” Policy to the Displeasure of the Council of the Americas

4 Neoliberalization and Restricted Democratizations: the Council of the Americas in the Reagan and Bush Administrations (1981–2000)
1 Ronald Reagan and the Council of Americas
2 The “Caribbean Initiative” and the US Offensive in Central America
3 The Council of the Americas and the CIA: Collaborations and Tensions
4 Diplomatic Tensions: Argentina (Falklands) and Venezuela (Otto Reich)
5 Debt, Dependence, and Neoliberalization of Latin America
6 A Neoliberal Agenda by the Americas Society (1986)
7 Brazil in the 1980s at the Council of the Americas
8 Tensions and Comparisons
9 Argentine Resistance
10 Prescriptions for Restricted Democracy

5 The New Council of the Americas (2000–2019)
1 Ensuring International Capitalist Property through Justice: the Defense of “Rule of Law” in Latin America
2 The Definition of Rule of Law and Justice Systems
3 Rule of Law, Pro-Market Reforms, and Democratization in Latin America
4 The “Administration” of Justice
5 Deregulation of Regulatory Frameworks
6 Property Rights as a Precondition for Citizenship
7 The Role of the Private Sector in Strengthening the Rule of Law
8 The Council of the Americas and the Guidelines for “Hemispheric Security” (2004)
9 A “Growth Agenda” for the Hemisphere (2009)
10 The “New” Corporate Social Responsibility and the Council of the Americas’ Business Social Policies (2010–2015)
11 Designing Neoliberal Public Policies: Labor, Health, and Education
12 Disciplining Latin American Youth for the Labor Market
13 Colombia and Peru
14 Mexico and El Salvador
15 Health
16 Colombia and Mexico
17 Security: the Case of El Salvador
18 Education
19 The Council of the Americas and the Latin American “Progressive” Governments
20 Macri’s Argentina
21 The Council of the Americas and the 2018 Elections in Brazil
22 The Debate on Brazil’s 2018 Elections at the Council of the Americas: Convergences and Divergences among Organic Intellectuals
23 The Council of the Americas and RenovaBR
24 Between Liberal Morality and Market Pragmatism
25 Sérgio Moro, the “Adult in the Room”
26 Can Paulo Guedes Deliver? Market Skepticism

6 Final Considerations
References
Index