converting the home of Leon Trotsky in Coyoacdén into a public museum. The place where Trotsky spent his final years and fell victim to a Stalinist assassin constitutes part of “contemporary history," he declares. "The house in itself is one of the most valuable vestiges left to posterity by the man who forged the Soviet army and who, persecuted to the end, died fighting."
"The old house is located at Viena and Morelos," he writes; “its exterior is distinguished from the neighboring ones -- on the roof and in the windows the walls still stand that were put up as part of the defense. An ordinary house with protection against funfire. High walls and a metal door, Those who have visited it say that Trotsky's grandson, now living there, has kept it unchanged, carrying out the wishes of Natalia Trotsky, the widow of the revolutionist. It is said to be the way it was when Trotsky was alive, Behind the blank door, a patio and garden with high trees and cactus. It is difficult to imagine, looking at the towers and the embrasures that there could be flowers growing inside and some one to greet you. The house is built like a 'T.' The rooms were furnished very modestly and filled with books, magazines, newspapers, all arranged with the scrupulous order characteristic of Trotsky."
After describing the assassination of Trotsky, Zabludovsky argues that whatever one's politics may be, Communist or anti-Communist, Trotskyist or anti-Trotskyist, it is in Mexico's interest to con-
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vert the house into a public museum,
He points out that Coyoacdn itself has a number of other historic sites such as the palace of Herndn Cortés, still standing after more than four centuries.
GEN, CASTELO DECREES HIMSELF ABSOLUTE DICTATOR OF BRAZIL
Brazil's reactionary officer caste has now made it crystal - clear what the alternative is for all of Latin America. Either a socialist revolution like the one in Cuba or an absolute fascist-like dictatorship, This is the basic meaning of the decree announced by General Humberto Castelo Branco October 27, converting himself into absolute dictator of Brazil.
Entitled the "Second Institutional Act," the decree declares all political parties in the country "extinct.'
It empowers Castelo to dismiss from office any member of parliament or any other elective body any time he chooses,
The courts are to be packed immediately. The Supreme Court, for instance, is expanded from ll judges to 16, with Castelo empower ed to designate the appointees,
The powers of the governors of states are reduced, enabling Castelo to dictate to local administrations.
No elections can be held until the dictator decides. This in effect cancels the presidential elections scheduled for October 1966,
Castelo has the power to cancel the political rights of anyone he wishes for ten years. Political opponents can be placed under house arrest or ordered to stay in remote parts of the country ina kind of internal exile.
As for Castelots successor, this will not be determined by universal suffrage but by a parliament handpicked by Castelo himself,
The decree is to run until March 15, 1967. There is, of course, nothing to stop the dictator from issuing a new decree extending this one if he wishes,
As for the constitution of Brazil, this was already violated by the coup dtétat that put Castelo in power in April last year, This scrap of paper has now been torn to shreds. If there is any doubt about it, Castelo can call a “state of siege" at any time, suspending any constitutional rights that anyone may imagine still exist.
The immediate reason for Castelo's decree was transparent, The dictator had hoped to gain a democratic fagade through elections October 3 in which the "opposition" was limited to barely token candidates approved by Costelo. The voters utilized this chink to roll up such a strong vote for the "opposition" that the regime stood discredited, obviously repudiated by the electorate,
The oligarchy, which displays almost pathological fear of the mildest kind of reforms, panicked at what the election revealed concerning public sentiment. Screams went up from the most reactionary figures such as Carlos Lacerda that Castelo had "betrayed." A "crackdown" was demanded to "stop" the "subversion." Castelo responded to this pressure, as was to be expected,
When Castelo seized power in April 1964 by toppling the legally elected Goulart government, his coup d'état was immediately recognized with the most indecent acclamations by the Johnson administration. The evidence showed, in fact, that the counterrevolutionary move was fomented by American business interests and actively pushed by the State Department. Since then the coup d'état has.been presented as a great victory for the Johnson administration. The process put into motion by Wall Street and their indigenous allies, servants and bootlickers has now reached its logical culmination. Latin America has been presented with Washington's alternative to the Cuban Revolution.
_The absolute dictatorship instituted by Castelo is an example of what American imperialism would like to see throughout the world. This is the kind of regime Johnson is seeking to establish in Vietnam, in the Dominican Republic, in the Congo and wherever it can possibly be rammed down the throats. of the people.