U.S. Extremist Groups More Violent, Larouche Spreads South, ADL Finds

More than 70 racist and anti-Semitic organizations are active in the United States while the organization of conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche has made inroads in Latin America, according to reports released here by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.

The 138-page “Hate Groups in America: A Record of Bigotry and Violence” details an upsurge of violence by extremist groups during the past six years as their membership declined.

The violence led to sweeping crackdowns by federal and local law enforcement authorities, sending many extremists to prison, the report notes. According to the U.S. Justice Department, more than 150 people have been prosecuted for racially motivated violence from 1979-85.

The violence includes bombings and arson against Jewish, black or other property and religious institutions; armed robberies and shootouts with law enforcement officers; counterfeiting operations; and murders, such as the fatal shooting of Denver radio talk-show host Alan Berg in 1984.

According to the report, extremists also have conspired to commit large-scale sabotage with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the American government in order to establish a white supremacist regime. The plans, such as the destruction of dams, were aborted by law enforcement action.

Despite neo-Nazi membership being at its “lowest ebb” since George Lincoln Rockwell founded the American Nazi Party in the 1950s, the report indicates, neo-Nazi groups reach a widening audience through the nationwide dissemination of anti-Semitic literature and posters. They also use radio–especially call-in programs–cable television and lately a computer network.

The survey also points out that youth are joining the movement. It cites the Skinheads, the gangs of shaven-headed youth who wear neo-Nazi garb and carry out violence against blacks, Jews and other minorities.

LAROUCHE IN LATIN AMERICA

The second report, also released at the ADL national executive committee meeting here, is “The LaRouche Network in Latin America.” It is a 10-page study of what it calls the largely unknown spread of LaRouche’s organization from the United States to Central and South America.

LaRouche’s network, headquartered in Loudoun County, Va., operates an international complex of corporations, political fronts, campaign committees and institutes that pose as respectable organizations, ADL says.

Despite LaRouche’s indictment for fraud, his ongoing trial in Boston and convictions of some of his associates in several American cities, the report points out, his network has reportedly expanded to Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.

The organization uses a fraudulent “labor party” front, the Partido Laboral, to propagate its extremist politics, according to the report.

The network blames the U.S. government and ADL for the region’s debt to the International Monetary Fund. It further claims that the U.S. government and the ADL are collaborating to destabilize Latin American governments.

That, coupled with the organization’s use of deception, fear and hatred in an area of relative governmental instability, “may be a threat to democratic values and institutions,” the report says.

According to the report, LaRouche has deceived some Latin American leaders into believing he was a reputable American political leader.

The report points out that Jose Blandon, formerly Panama’s consul general in New York, accused Panamanian leader General Manuel Noriega of funneling money to the LaRouche organization, which then harassed Sens. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) and other American who had criticized Noriega.