Thin Red Line

Disarm your enemy in peacetime by diplomacy and trade . . .

--Lenin

To newsmen gathered in Moscow's foreign ministry last week, a spokesman read a propaganda pronouncement for Latin American consumption. It was slightly disguised as Premier Nikolai Bulganin's answers to questions submitted by Vision, a Spanish-language fortnightly edited in Manhattan. Vision tossed up nice, soft pitches, and Bulganin, or whoever the batter really was, swung for the fences:

On Diplomacy. "Naturally, the Soviet Union is ready to establish diplomatic relations . . . One can hope that in the future our relations with the countries of Latin America will develop to the mutual advantage of the parties."

On Trade. "The Soviet Union stands for the development of trade with Latin America ... In particular, the Soviet Union could export . . . different kinds of industrial equipment and machinery."

Latin American reaction ranged from chilly skepticism to outright rebuff. Snorted Cuba's U.N. delegate: "What the Russians want is to place spies and agitators in Latin America." Snapped Santiago's El Mercurio: "The U.S.S.R. is making a false offer in an attempt to extend its tyranny." In Rome, Traveler Juscelino Kubitschek spoke as the President-elect of Latin America's biggest nation: "We know from past experience that the Russians never give anything without trying to take at least twice as much in return."

Both the Soviet sweet talk and the Latino sour pointed up the fact that Communist influence in Latin America has waned during the past decade. The only pro-Communist government in postwar Latin America, the Arbenz regime in Guatemala, collapsed in 1954. Communist parties are now illegal in 15 out of 20 Latin American republics. Only three south-of-the-border countries (Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay) maintain diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Communist-bloc trade with Latin America, though expanding, amounted in 1955 to less than 5% of U.S.-Latin American trade, and Red performance on promises was ragged (TIME, Oct. 17).

In Latin America, as in the Near East and South Asia, the Soviet Union last year stepped up its efforts at economic, diplomatic and cultural penetration. To counter the Reds, the U.S. Government has fattened the Information Service budget for Latin America and broadened the lending program of the Export-Import Bank. But the most important barrier to Red penetration is the Latin Americans' own common-sense awareness of Communist aims and methods. From a Communist viewpoint, last week's reaction to Moscow's "mutual advantage" line was hardly encouraging.

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