The Reappraisal Begins

In the first week of reappraisal of U.S.Latin American relations, it became plain that two schools of thought existed in Washington--for drastic and for cautious policy revision.

Before a standing-room-only audience of newsmen in Washington's National Press Club, Vice President Richard Nixon spoke for far-reaching revision.* Said Nixon: "What we must do is to show that when private enterprise and the United States come into Latin America, we do so not for the purpose of simply keeping in power the elite." He deprecated U.S. diplomats who concentrated on "white-tie dinners," adding that "the universities and the labor movement [are] the wave of the future." Do we leave the field to the Communists? If we do, said Nixon, "we are going to lose the battle."

Dulles Speaks. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles stood up for current U.S. policies. But he was not intransigent; he told his press conference that "our policy must constantly be adapted to new situations. But I do not believe there is anything basically different that we can do." Dulles pointed out that if the U.S. began drawing distinctions between Latino governments "on the basis of whether they were dictatorial or not," it would violate "one of the cardinal doctrines for this hemisphere . . . noninterference in the internal affairs of other countries."

Said Dulles: "I would not say there is any general anti-American sentiment among the people of Venezuela." He ascribed the Caracas riot to the fact that "the police force maintained under Pedro Estrada [police chief under Perez Jimenez] had been virtually liquidated, and the subsitute police did not know how to cope with the mob." This was also the verdict of experts on the scene, appalled by the ease with which a crowd of several hundred rioters tied up the police. Dulles' statement was perfectly accurate; some touchy Venezuelans reacted, however, as though he were lamenting the liquidation of Estrada's hated police.

Many More Voices. Before the reappraisal ended, more voices were sure to be heard. Nixon planned a confidential report to the President and a public one to the nation. Dr. Milton Eisenhower said he still planned to make his study tour of Central America, tentatively set for June 15. A Senate subcommittee would soon start taking a long look into Latin American relations.

To the Latino press, Nixon's stand for revision was enough to transform him into a hemisphere hero. Said Caracas' El National: "Nixon [did] not lose sight of the vast problems of Latin America, which have nothing to do with Communism, and Nixon has moved a large section of North American opinion." Said the Mexico City weekly Siempre: "We stand with Mr. Nixon."

* Ecuador, which gave Nixon two friendly, peaceful days, last week followed up by selling a green two-sucre (11 1/2-c-) postage stamp, hurriedly engraved in Austria's State Printing Works and flown to Quito. The commemorative stamp bore the Vice President's likeness and the flags of the U.S. and Ecuador.

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