Europe’s Latin Assault
At the end of World War ii, Germany lay smoldering in the ashes of defeat. At the same time, a lone voice warned that Europe’s will for global dominance had not been broken, and that it would rise again—one final time. That voice warned that Germany had prepared a blueprint for that rise, long before its crushing defeat by the clenched fist of the Allied powers. After its previous failures, the Teutonic power knew of one sure way Adolf Hitler’s dream of an Aryan superstate could become a reality.
But it needed the help of Latin America.
Nazi-Latino Underground
This time, it would not be stony-faced, jack-booted storm troopers taking the world by blitzkrieg, but rather well-spoken, handsome businessmen equipped with the weapons of the new Euroforce—a three-piece suit and briefcase to match. The war now waged by the underground Nazis was to be one fought in corporate boardrooms, restaurants, hotels, at political functions and through international diplomacy.
As early as May 1962, the lone voice of the Plain Truth magazine issued this warning: “Germany’s plans in South America were temporarily halted by its defeat in World War ii. … ‘South America will be conquered by business agents, not by guns!’” (quoting T.H. Teten’s Germany Plots With the Kremlin; emphasis mine throughout).
After World War ii, over 55,000 Germans fled their native land to havens in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the countries of Central and South America. Other Nazi sympathizers from Croatia, Hungary and Yugoslavia found their way to foreign countries through the Vatican-engineered “ratlines,” to continue working for the coming European religious-corporate Reich.
In its October 1957 issue, the Plain Truth said, “During World War ii, Argentina was an outspoken friend of Hitler, sheltering Nazi officers and men, offering safe haven for Nazi ships and submarines. Many Nazis found their way to Argentina and safety while Hitler’s regime was collapsing under the steady rain of Allied bombs.”
German influence began to dominate Latin America by the late 1940s. The Germans had high-level military presence in Argentina; Krupp industrial strength established in Brazil; Hitler’s Croat Ustashi Chief Ante Pavelic influencing security in Paraguay; Nazi intelligence agents of Farben Bayer in Chile and Venezuela; and Nazi Party organizers of Brueckmann and Co. on the ground in Ecuador.
Since then, German businesses, with the support of the Vatican, have led the European fold to penetrate key industrial, agricultural and corporate industries in Latin America. Many German corporate giants such as Krupp, Siemens, Bayer, Volkswagen, I.G. Farben and Deutsche Bank steadily became household names south of the Rio Grande, across Panama and clear down to southern Argentina. From 1990-1999, with a united Germany and other EU members now “on side,” all levels of trade and investment to the Latin region, the world’s fourth-largest trading bloc, dramatically increased.
Herbert Armstrong knew far in advance that communism would fail to entice the Latinos and that British and American influence would dwindle. He knew it was Europe which stood on the threshold of achieving its long-term goal of economic and religious domination of Latin America. Now Europe has crossed that threshold!
EU and Mercosur
On Nov. 25, 1999, after signing a historic free-trade agreement with Mexico, the EU announced that it was working to conclude “formal talks toward a free-trade pact” with the entire Latin American region. Some Latino countries have already signed a formal document geared toward cementing free-trade relations. The agreement—signed on June 30, 1999, in Rio de Janeiro by the four presidents of the Southern Cone Common Market, the president of Chile and the 15 EU heads of state or their delegates—provides for “the bilateral, progressive and reciprocal liberalization of trade, with no sector excluded.”
As the then-president of the European Council, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder led the Rio talks, voicing his strong support for the integration of European and Latin American markets.
The vast Latin American trade bloc known today as Mercosur incorporates Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay with Chile and Bolivia as its associate members. The EU hopes to use an agreement with the $1 trillion Mercosur market to gain a solid trade footing in the region, and to get a leg up on the U.S. with Latin American trade partners. The EU-Mercosur free-trade agreement will cover 90 percent of two-way trade.
This “strategic alliance” flies directly in the face of the United States’ former hopes of creating a pan-American free-trade area by 2005. Former President Clinton’s “fast track” talks toward expanding nafta (North American Free Trade Agreement) to become ftaa (Free Trade Area of the Americas) began in 1994 but were later blocked by the U.S. Congress. Since that time the EU has worked feverishly to establish itself as the number-one trading partner and investor in Latin America.
The EU-Mercosur free-trade area could result in additional annual profits of more than 6 billion for the Europeans and nearly 5 billion for Mercosur. In 1998 the two blocs saw a trade surplus of $49.5 billion. The EU is currently Mercosur’s main trading partner, accounting for 33 percent of trade imports in 1998 and 30 percent of its total exports. A report issued by the Madrid-based Institute for European-Latin American Relations (irela) noted that, “For Mercosur, perhaps the main advantage of a free-trade agreement would be access to European markets.” The establishment of a free-trade area would enable an even greater flow of EU exports currently subject to high duties and internal taxes.
In the European Commission’s 1999 report “European Union and Latin America Advancing Together,” it is noted that the driving force in escalated Euro-Latin trade was the mapping of a comprehensive document generated in 1994 “under the impetus of the German presidency.” As the Trumpet has previously reported, so often where Germany leads, Europe follows. It comes as no real shock that German exports and imports to and from Latin America far outweigh that of all other EU member states.
Europe’s exports to Latin America grew by 164 percent in the decade of the ’90s, while Latin exports to EU countries rose by 29 percent. Over 55 percent of all Latin American financial aid came from EU coffers. The EU is also the largest donor of bilateral development assistance to the region. Prior to 2000, just in loan grants, the EU gifted over €746 billion to Latin America. Not surprisingly, the EU report boldly claimed that the European Investment Bank has become “one of the principal European players on the subcontinent.”
The Facts Are In
The May 1962 Plain Truth declared that “the United States is going to be left out in the cold as two gigantic trade blocs, Europe and Latin America, mesh together and begin calling the shots in world commerce.”
In perhaps the most powerful statement in its 1999 report, the European Commission (EC) declared, “The European alternative can thus represent a viable counterweight to what is sometimes perceived as excessive economic and political dependence” (op. cit.). The EC is directly referring to Latin America having had an “excessive economic and political dependence” upon the United States. The U.S. was the region’s largest trade partner until being overtaken by the EU! That is a shocking fact if you understand what we have been proclaiming for over 60 years.
The Plain Truth cautioned its readers in its April 1966 issue: “Can you see why we warn readers that the Latin American Common Market and the Central American Common Market are dangerously close to becoming partners with the European Common Market? Can you see these giant combines are dangerously close to turning their backs on America and Britain, once and for all? Can you see why we warn you that the Nazis—hiding out all over South America—are dangerously close to rising again, this time to be victorious as prophesied in Isaiah 10, Jeremiah 25:15-33?” The facts are in. The passage of time has proved Herbert W. Armstrong and the warning message of the Plain Truth absolutely right!
The July 1965 Plain Truth told of what was coming: “Flowing across the Atlantic to feed the hungry furnaces of the Ruhr and the other industrial complexes of Europe will come the rich mineral resources of Latin America.”
South America, rich in resources, is an attractive smorgasbord for resource-hungry Europeans. Silver from Mexico and Peru, tin from Bolivia and iron ore from Venezuela and Brazil—Europe needs a steady supply of these and other raw materials, which Latin America can provide in abundance.
Do you see the seriousness of the EU-Mercosur combine? An economically unified, politically stable Latino bloc is necessary to ensure constant delivery of goods. That is a major reason Europe, with Vatican assistance, is working hard to bring Latin America stability through economic and religious prosperity.
The Threshold of Hope
In October 1957, the Plain Truth trumpeted that “the rest of these Latin American nations will join in with the European revival of the old Roman Empire.” For devoutly Catholic Europeans, Latin America is a home away from home. No geographic area is more aligned with the Vatican today than the Mercosur countries. With an office in every Latino country, the Vatican maintains a massive presence in the region. In no other geographic area does the pope have such widespread religious dominance and power of influence. The EU and Latin America are more than just a trade duo—they are “religious, commercial and political partners.”
In September 1999, Pope John Paul ii visited Latin America and blessed the soil of Brazil in celebration of five centuries of Catholic influence.
In his book The Threshold of Hope, John Paul recognized the centuries-old power and influence that Catholicism had upon the Spanish-Portuguese world. “A great new wave of evangelization began at the end of the 15th century, originating above all in Spain and Portugal,” he wrote. “With the discovery of America, the evangelization of that entire hemisphere, from north to south, was set in motion.”
With religious unity and an EU-Mercosur free-trade agreement already assured, no other area of the world is better prepared to ascend the throne of global trade than the EU.
Trumpet correspondent Ron Fraser echoed Herbert Armstrong’s warnings in our February 1998 issue: “Watch for strengthening religious and commercial ties between Latin America and Europe. Watch for careful but overt initiatives from Vatican City to consolidate the church’s power ….” In August 1999, the Trumpet warned, “… Latin America, besides boasting agricultural and other resources, also represents a population of 500 million citizens, the vast majority of which are firmly bound to Catholicism.”
In advance of the Nov. 25, 1999, EU-Mercosur announcement, the Trumpet reported that “the ecstatic support given to the pope’s 1998 Latin America visit, to the point where Communist Cuba kept Christmas last winter, reconfirms where this population ultimately offers its allegiance—to the heart of Europe, the seat of their economic and religious heritage” (ibid.).
“The Vatican is fully cognizant of the fact that more than half of the world’s Roman Catholics live in Latin America!” (ibid., September/October 1997). During his tenure, Pope John Paul visited all 24 countries of Central and South America as part of an effort to stabilize the region in preparation for its trade obligations to the EU and its collective religious unity with the Catholic Church. The pope wrote, “By the year 2000 we need to be more united, more willing to advance along the path toward the unity. It is very important to cross the threshold of hope, not to stop before it, but to let oneself be led.”
Reporting on the pope’s progress toward Latin American stability, the Trumpet declared, “The Vatican has proven to be a powerfully influential force in stabilizing the socio-political climate in Latin America, leading to this great sub-continent becoming a favored repository for the funds of global investors” (September/October 1997).
Many will let themselves be led into collusion with the rising Eurobeast, the seventh and final revival of the medieval Holy Roman Empire. The EU’s corporate war machine and the powerful religious influence of the Vatican are quickly outsmarting Britain and America.
Where Is It Leading?
Remember, while Germany still lay in the ashes of defeat, Mr. Armstrong warned that it would again unite behind the cloak of a uniting Europe. Looking through the lens of Bible prophecy, he boldly declared that Europe would dominate the Latino common market while the Catholic Church would exercise religious dominance.
The Trumpet continues to report prophetic end-time events as they happen. Americans need to know what is happening between Europe and Latin America—and why. Europeans need to know. Latinos need to know. The whole world needs to know. With Mr. Armstrong gone, only the Trumpet tells you why!
For now, the European assault on Latin America will continue. Events between these blocs of nations will aid the formation of the greatest double cross of all time. Once great powers, Britain and America have failed to heed the warning of that lone voice and continued in national disobedience to the supreme laws of God. As a result of their failure, their birthright promises are being stripped away; the Eurobeast will soon stride atop the world, ridden by a great false church, and enslave these superpowers of the 20th century.
Their only hope is to heed the warning of the Trumpet magazine and the Key of David television program, yield themselves to the power of Almighty God, and, on their knees, in national repentance, start obeying their God.
Very soon, in supreme power and glory, one will come again to put down all opposition, and with the help of those who have yielded themselves to His family government, restore peace and unity, and usher in a time of resplendent, harmonious, abundant living for all.
