The End of the Three Shows – Folha de S. Paulo, February 7, 1977
by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Today, I conclude the series on the three showsthat almost ruined Uruguay.
As readers know, in my last two articles, I commented on the book Leftism in the Church: The Communists’ Fellow Traveler on Their Long Journey of Failures and Metamorphoses, authored by the study commission of the Uruguayan TFP.
As I write, I hold an impressive acknowledgment of the impact this work has had. It is an advertisement from the well-known A. Monteverdi bookstore in Montevideo, listing the week’s bestsellers. The top-selling book is a novel published by the international publisher Berlitz, and the second is Leftism in the Church: The Communists’ Fellow Traveler on Their Long Journey of Failures and Metamorphoses.
Today, I will limit myself to summarizing the facts presented in the Uruguayan TFP’s book. These facts serve as a striking illustration of my previous articles.
1964–1970
During this period, the triple ecclesiastical, Tupamaro, and media show prepared the country to support an “advanced” socialist regime, which would shortly precede the official implementation of communism.
1. A minority of propagandists and agitators is formed by bringing together left-wing intellectuals, advertisers, academics, students, and manual laborers. Their objectives are: a) to persuade public opinion of the urgent need for socialist reforms; b) to create the impression that, if peaceful persuasion is not enough, the country will be shaken by a wave of attacks that will ultimately impose the left’s reform program. To this end, terrorist agitation begins, with the Tupamaros standing out for their refined techniques and brutal savagery.
2. In 1967, Most Rev. Antonio Maria Parteli, appointed by Paul VI as auxiliary archbishop of Montevideo in 1966, published a sensational pastoral letter in full support of radical socialist reforms.
This document had a profound impact on the clergy, religious orders, and lay circles closely tied to apostolic activities. More and more people from these circles joined the leftist ranks, which loudly applauded Bishop Parteli.
All these events deeply shocked the Catholic masses, who began to distance themselves not from the practice of religion but from the vast majority of its official representatives.
3. The Tupamaros gradually fill the entire country with the sound of their attacks and kidnappings. In this way, they seek to disorient and paralyze most of the population.
1970 – 1971
Political activities center on selecting Pacheco Areco’s successor as president. In November 1971, simultaneous elections will be held to choose the president, members of the Senate and the House, and “consejales” (councilors). Several notable events mark this period.
1. In September 1970, an electoral front with an ideological composition similar to that of the Uruguayan reformist left, comprising socialists, radicals, and Christian Democratic political groups, won the elections in Chile. The rest of the Chilean electorate, excluding communists, split its vote between two candidates. Thus, Marxist Salvador Allende, the third candidate, won, a result that had a major impact in Uruguay.
Senator Juan Pablo Terra, a leading figure in Uruguay’s Christian democracy, took the initiative to form a Broad Front, uniting socialists, communists, and Christian Democrats around retired General Liber Seregni, an avowed Marxist. To intensify the terror, the Tupamaros removed their “left-wing nationalist” masks and proclaimed themselves “Marxist-Leninists.”
2. In obedience to the Holy See’s repeated and formal prescriptions, countless Uruguayan Catholics feel prevented in conscience from voting for General Seregni. Yet the Uruguayan Bishops Conference lent its full support to the Marxist candidate by declaring it licit for Catholics to vote for the Broad Front, which had nominated Seregni. A considerable number of priests made a formal commitment to the Broad Front.
Catholics opposed to communism were unimpressed and continued opposing the Broad Front.
A leader then emerged from the ranks of the episcopate, Most Rev. Antonio Corso, bishop of Maldonado and Punta del Este. He served as their figurehead until 1975, when he supported a collective document by the bishops calling for the reinstatement of leftists defeated in national life.
3. Presumably believing they had sufficiently terrorized the population, the Tupamaros sought to win public sympathy by halting their terrorist activities. Uruguay once again enjoyed the delights of “peace.” However, significant unrest among trade unions and university students persisted throughout the election campaign. The students took over the university, but there were no terrorist attacks. The Tupamaros announced that this “delightful” peace would continue if people elected the Marxist Seregni. Otherwise, they would resume their activities.
This is what socialist reformists call “freedom.”
In Chile, the terror carried out by MIR terrorists played a lesser role than that of the Tupamaros in Uruguay. The similarity of the communization process in both countries, especially when viewed from a distance today, suggests that a single plan was devised and implemented by the same mysterious central authority.
4. Strikingly, like their Chilean counterparts, Uruguay’s non-communist politicians divided themselves into two camps, each with its own presidential candidate.
All of this leads the left to await victory eagerly.
NOVEMBER 28, 1971
1. ELECTIONS are held. Uruguay goes to the polls. The left is deeply frustrated. Only 18% of voters chose “Comrade” Seregni. The election shows that, combined, the influence of the three giants that seemed to drag Uruguay behind them—the Tupamaro giant, the ecclesiastical giant, and the media giant—is barely a fraction of what people imagined. The manifestation of these three “great powers” is nothing more than a triple show.
2. With Seregni’s defeat, candidate J. M. Bordaberry assumes power. Fulfilling their threats, the Tupamaros intensify their violence. However, they no longer present themselves as mouthpieces for a discontented majority but rather for a despotic and bloodthirsty minority.
1972–1976
1. In 1972, terrorism reached its peak. Leftists of all stripes continued to demand drastic social reforms as a precondition for ending the violence.
2. Midyear, the military launched a sweeping anti-guerrilla campaign. Within six months, the Tupamaro guerrilla movement was virtually extinct.
3. The bishops took a practical stand against repression by refusing to praise it and by strongly condemning the excesses they witnessed.
4. In 1973, law enforcement silences the last pockets of unrest—both union and political. Congress is shut down.
5. At the same time, as these events unfold, the leaders of the three shows infiltrate official circles and begin behind-the-scenes maneuvering to influence Bordaberry, who falls for it. In the second half of 1973, he embarks on a policy of détente with the communists.
In 1974, Bordaberry even suspended the TFP’s public campaigns. Détente with communism always leads to the persecution of anticommunists. This lasted until the end of the Bordaberry government in 1976.
The narration of the work of the Uruguayan TFP ends before that point, so it does not cover the great event when the Armed Forces, rightly apprehensive, deposed Bordaberry.
