OPINION
CONTENTS
Skinhead Movement
Growing In S. America
SETH GARFIELD
N
_
eo-Nazi skinheads
have emerged in
Latin America,
espousing the same racist and
anti-Semitic slogans and
displaying similar violent
tendencies as their counter-
parts in the United States
and Europe.
The fragility of newly
democratic governments in
Latin America, burdened
with immense foreign debt,
makes the presence of such
anti democratic and violent
groups all the more alarming.
Valter Rosetti, leader of the
Brazilian skinhead group
"Carecas do Suburbio"
(Suburban Skinheads) offered
his solution to Brazil's woes,
Some non-racist
skinheads have
been targeted for
t ;) violence by the
neo-Nazis.
r
vowing that when his group
comes to power, Jews will be
"invited to leave the country,
like what happened in Ger-
many, so that they no longer
run the country."
The skinhead phenomenon
originated in the United
Kingdom, spreading to other
European nations, the United
States and Canada.
Skinheads may be easily
identified by their attire:
shaved head or closely crop-
ped hair, tatoos and Nazi in-
signia, jeans and suspenders,
and "Doc Martens," a heavy
boot of British make. Racist
rock music, known as "white
power" or "oi" music, is cen-
tral to neo-Nazi skinhead
"culture?'
Not all skinheads are racist
— in fact, some non-racist
skinheads have been targeted
for violence by neo-Nazi
skinheads. However, those
who do espouse racism preach
violence against blacks, Jews,
Asians, Third World im-
migrants and homosexuals.
An Anti-Defamation
League survey published in
June, 1989, found that in the
United States, skinhead
membership soared to 3,000
in the course of several years,
paralleled by an increase in
Garfield is assistant director
of the Anti-Defamation
League's Latin American
Affairs Department. This
article is from the October
issue of ADL's Latin
American Report.
violent skinhead crime which
has included several
homicides and numerous
beatings and stabbings, most-
ly directed against members
of minority groups.
Skinheads have also been
responsible for vandalizing
several synagogues and other
Jewish institutions. In the
United States, some
skinheads maintain close con-
tacts with established hate
groups such as the White
Aryan Resistance (WAR),
headed by veteran anti-
Semite and racist leader Tom
Metzger, as well as the Ku
Klux Klan.
There is considerable
eivdence showing a transcon-
tinental network linking
skinhead groups across the
Atlantic, and more recently,
above and below the equator.
In Latin America, skinhead
groups have sprung up in
Brazil and Argentina and
have displayed similar pat-
terns of behavior as those of
skinheads in the United
States and Europe. Argentine
skinheads have linked up
with ultra-right and neo-Nazi
organizations such as "Movi-
miento Nacionalista Social"
(National Socialist Move-
ment), led by Federico
Rivanera Carles, and the
"Frente Nacional Revolu-
cionario" (National Revolu-
tionary Front).
In Buenos Aires, a skinhead
group known as "Fuerza Skin
Argentina" (Argentine Skin
Force) claims to have eighty
followers. A skinhead rock
group, "El Comando Suicida"
(The Suicide Command),
sings about "whoever gets in
our way we are going to
destroy/we are the same
race/we are going to kill
them."
The skinheads' belligerent
lyrics have proven to be more
than idle threats. One gang,
"Los Camargo" (The
Camargo), has been linked to
a brawl in a Buenos Aires
discotheque in which one per-
son was killed. Another gang,
armed with baseball bats, at-
tacked four female high
school students last March,
and vandalized the school
building, painiting swastikas
and signs of "Viva Rico" in
homage to Aldo Rico, a former
military official who led an
abortive coup against ex-
president Raul Alfonsin.
In Brazil, the group called
"Carecas do Suburbio" has
emerged as the most promi-
nent skinhead gang. Mem-
bers have made statements to
Continued on Page 12
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Friday, November 3, 1989
5:06 p.m.
Sabbath ends Nov. 4 6:07 p.m.
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