ABSTRACT
A school of Latin-American thought argues that Latin Americans are endowed with spiritual and mystical qualities that more than compensate for the vulgar, materialistic success of the United States. This is no doubt less objectionable than exalting the dark forces of barbarism present in the history, and tracing the historic identity to these hidden roots. Latin America's cultural lag is regarded as simply another aspect of overall American barbarism. Latin Americans are not going to repeat one of the constantly recurring cycles of history, one of the "partial attempts of nature". It will be the triumph "to be the definitive race, the synthesis race, the cosmic race and therefore able to achieve genuine fraternity and to project a truly universal vision of the world". The Latin-American ruling elite easily understood the allusive language. Ariel, the fairy spirit, was one of their own kindred, while the more able and enterprising North Americans were incarnations of Caliban, the symbol of animalism.
