I suggested to them that there were other ways of accomplishing political objectives besides violence. They did not agree with me, and they said that, in fact, any other form of political action in this country would be doomed to failure.
—U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, C. Burke Elbrick
Guerrilla warfare has plagued the hinterlands of Latin America for more than a decade. But the Brazilian kidnapers who seized Ambassador Elbrick two weeks ago and held him captive for 77 hours represent a relatively recent, and rapidly spreading, phenomenon—organized urban guerrilla warfare. Kidnapings, bombings and bank robberies in the great cities of the continent seem to be overshadowing the tactics devised by Mao Tse-tung, Vo Nguyen Giap and Ernesto Che Guevara —all of whom hold that the proper arena for armed revolutionary struggle is the countryside. With the exception of Fidel Castro's Cuba, that kind of warfare has not been notably successful in Latin America. Venezuela fought off a bloody Communist challenge in the mid-'60s partly because rural folk often betrayed the guerrillas. Guevara himself was killed by government troops in 1967, when the Bolivian peasants he sought to stir up gave no support to his cause.
Filling War Chests. Now the guerrillas seem to be turning from bush to big city. Violence in the streets is nothing new to Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Uruguay, but all are now feeling the sting of an accelerated and often well-coordinated urban terrorist campaign. The action groups appear to be locally directed, far-leftist, to be sure, but not necessarily Communist. In fact, Moscow, pursuing its objectives in Latin America with trade and aid, often finds the radical terrorists a hindrance. In Brazil, several factions are known to be operating, united only by their desire to overthrow the country's repressive military regime. The scant intelligence available suggests that many of the urban guerrillas are radical, highly nationalistic students between the ages of 20 and 25, convinced of the need for revolution, deeply hostile to their own governments, and to the U.S. as well. Many of them come from the middle class.
The terrorists, often organized into "cells" of three or more operatives, find the teeming cities to be excellent breeding grounds for unrest—and perfect places to hide. What makes urban terrorism particularly attractive to them is the fact that incidents occurring in the cities usually get far more publicity than do those that take place in the countryside—an important factor.
The guerrillas have scored a number of impressive successes. The terrorists who held Elbrick managed in one stroke to embarrass the Brazilian government, set free 15 political prisoners, and seriously impair Elbrick's effectiveness. Indebted to the military regime for securing his release, the ambassador may find it impossible to function as an independent observer in Brazil.