LATIN NIGHTMARES

To the Editor:

Re "New Files Tie U.S. to Deaths of Latin Leftists in 1970's" (news
article, March 6):

Perhaps our increasing awareness of United States involvement in the
nightmarish military regimes of Latin America in the 1970's can inform the
current engagement in Colombia.

An attempt to counter "Marxist" influence in the Southern Hemisphere
resulted in a political culture of fear and intimidation (and ultimately
"disappearance") that still reverberates in Latin America. Coca has
replaced leftist thought as today's enemy, but United States involvement
remains eerily similar.

Let us hope that we will learn from the mistakes of our past so as not to
repeat them.

Ethan Yankowitz, Brooklyn, March 7, 2001