Prospects of Mankind with Eleanor Roosevelt; 105; Latin America: Neglected Neighbors

This is the Latin America with governors Nelson Rockefeller and prospect. But the good neighbor policy seemed to be a part of another hoax of that period in a mounting wave of hostility and resentment. The vice president in Venezuela and Peru other American incidents have exploded. Recently and tried to replace the US flag with their own in the. Current play of the Cuban government of Fidel Castro

hurls a steady stream of epithets and accusations that the United States bought all the panic in the world to hear. These events are a partial and outward manifestation of a region in. Latin America that has the world's most rapidly growing population. It requires a gigantic effort to provide for the increase let alone improve the standard of living. This is an area which is not so much underdeveloped as. Evenly developed. Schoolchildren in some places do not have chairs to sit on. Extremes of wealth and poverty have given rise in some Latin American countries to political instability. Yet the peoples of Latin America seem determined to achieve two objectives in the latter half of the 20th. America.

And the. United States in its relations with our neighbors. Today's guests are Chilean diplomats and ambassador to the United Nations General Assembly. The governor of Puerto Rico. Economic development. Managing editor of The Christian Science Monitor. Governor of New York and President Roosevelt's coordinator into American affairs. Now here is a. President Eisenhower is leaving shortly for his first visit to Latin America.

This takes me back to the days of my husband's trips to Latin America and his announcement of the policy in his first inaugural 33. But that Latin America was going through a period of economic and political. There was a view that nine of the Latin American countries had been through revolution. We have come a long way since then. With me today three men that I Welcome back. Managing editor of The Christian Science Monitor trenchant questions contributed so much to our program that we have invited to join this discussion in discussing the United States and Latin American relations

with the most conspicuous communicate that is with you. Do you think we should deal with the situation there. What a pleasure it is to be with you on this program and have a chance to discuss these problems with you. I've. Gone to the question you are asking to me we need to look at that in the perspective of the developments over the past few years with tremendous sympathy for Castro as the revolutionary leader who was going to overthrow this dictatorship which had done so much to stifle all the forces of freedom and democracy in Cuba. And he was a very popular hero in this country as well as throughout the hemisphere. Then he was successful. In the military aspect of the old. Now you come into the new phase of course which is out of the hopes and aspirations of the people in a revolution become translated into reality. And I think this is

where the confusion seems to be stored. You know as to his capacity to deal with some of these. And then of course the question of U.S. interest and other foreign interests in the country further complicates and in addition to that there are stories of influence by outside subversive forces whether it's international communism or some other. So that I think we have a very difficult situation there but I thought the president handled the situation extremely wise with the other day when he spoke about restraint and not using returning as you might say is the old days you referred to the big stick powers you know government that deal with situation I particularly want to thank you for that because you have been very grateful for the opportunity to be here with you this day.

To me there are there to cast. A spell that we're in such a way overthrew the dictatorship that the cruel. One deserves great credit for having accomplished that. The Cuban people deserve enormous credit. They are a fine people in their and they love freedom very deeply. This was a one of the greatest revolutions that ever took place in America. I also go along with with Mr. Castro in the in the in his support of the social revolution long overdue. I don't agree with many of his methods but it's certainly a social revolution was overdue and I think the whole

people of United things look upon this with understanding and with the other Castro is the man who came to me and understandably were to set up a campaign against the United States. Quite unnecessarily you didn't need a whipping boy. You have plenty of support without the aid of whipping boys that I don't. If it were true it is no possible justification. That too but now without this challenge from the countries of South America where

they have to work. Welcome to our Latin America. He's taught the changes long of a new nation with a very high rate of dignity but tremendous amount of wealth and the very poor are not happy. The one thing that is difficult to understand is why in the process of translating this revolution I did a young girl form another mesures into action just to untie an American and is here for you. Q divers. What is the use of fog. Have someone American being a little bit careless in that opinions of what's happening and thereby created a reaction on the part of Castro and his followers. This is something that

a lot of opinions and breath we could move without much foundation about the capital movement be a commoner's movement for which I personally believe it is not. I think tattoos of communism have been either caught in the tide in Cuba have taken advantage of this revolution to try to promote that all of it but I don't think this is a carpenter's revolution these reveled from a change even begins to fusion into distribution of the well which as we all are for was long overdue. But this unexpected turn again to get out of the Big Easy because so many people in this pen have been putting judgment on pastoral to light heartedly are giving him but blues people purposes and tensions.

We did only concentrated on the United States and Mr. Cohen do you suppose that there is a possibility that the Castro revolution might possibly be taken over by communists. Do you think that the infiltration is serious enough so that that has something to do with the problem. I doubt that that is going to face any doubt that there is a friend in this country to be without contradicting spot any reform. Any revolution that could change some institutions. It's a very simple way of approaching the problems of Latin America and a lot of nations in the world that commonly used religion in the capital or into carrying out of their capitals have recovered. Good have intended this reaction seen in many ways a lot of things that I interrupt you yet read here from the

Bogota conference resolution adopted at that conference by the states the world they are all the American states and by its anti-democratic nature and its interventionist tendencies the political activity of international communism or any Totalitarian doctrine is incompatible with the concept of American freedom which rests upon two undeniable postulates the dignity of man as an individual and the sovereignty sovereignty of the nation as a state. At this conference as you remember there was a revolution that took place during the conference to overthrow the government and to try and destroy the conference. Now Castro was one of the revolutionaries left his own country Kemo but of all the time Colombia and was one of the revolutionaries throwing Molotov cocktails during that conference and I wonder whether that doesn't give the crown which. By implication that's right.

This is what he's what he's up against in terms of the of the situation. They're younger than 48. Well not a lot of power going at this is a practical problem. Then I saw some figures just the other day which I can't vouch for how accurate they were but they came from a responsible source saying that the properties of about 5000 individuals now and the properties of about 500 companies of varying sizes had been taken over in one way or another by the government without any sign of expropriation in many cases and in other cases talk of expropriation in terms of bomb squads like the Japanese bonds which which they compensated the landowners with might very well be worth nothing day after tomorrow. So what should the United States do with a very practical problem like that a lot of that together. A large number of properties up to get over by the government. In all the bills that

were enriching the South during the period of the dictatorship those out of several thousand individuals who are involved in that particular measure got a lot of cooperation in the process of that video. Tom of the large companies which have touched by the same want to touch this issue involved here though because the great problem in Latin America today is the problem of capital investment as all of us know. And it's a problem of setting up the kind of climate in which capital investment will feel free to go into these countries and every time that countries are taken over and expropriated without the signs of a reasonable compensation there are investors everywhere who will simply freeze and just just won't send their their money out to where it's needed

but has to pay compensation but it hasn't done it all the time. Just on the way we've cut out we've gone a long way since then. And I do think that a man who is dedicated to the well-being of his people today has got to exercise responsibility of judgment and restraint. And there's no reason why if you want to as he said distribute the land to the people they have a right it's a sovereign nation of course but they can set up a means of issuing bonds taking these steps. That's not a very difficult thing and therefore by the manner in which he's done it discredits his good face in the eyes of the public and it places the United States in a very difficult position because here we are buying sugar from Cuba at twice the world market price on a longstanding basis and what should we do to pay for this sugar when various other countries want to produce

more sugar. And yet we're placed in a position where Americans are beginning to say well is this revolution in good faith working to the interests of people. And if so why haven't they represented responsible government. Very well. And you can't expect governments provide such as the person running Cuba with very human with the feelings you act to them when you do work the problem. You would be able would you have it. If you just do that task go further in these compensation. But how could they work out if you must. They do perform came in and at cation to work out the system upon payment. Here with more.

But then I should have deferred the expropriation the cat the cat or dog. Revolution cannot be thought revolution has its first inevitable job in redistribution of wealth that is conceived to have been on justly distributed before it can begin thinking about climate which is the kind of climate that increases wealth. A little bit after the first the first tendency of revolution is to destroy the most obvious injustices in this case that we're now referring to economic redistribution. This is an interesting point he promised to give this land of the people which I think great to everybody sympathize with because there was a need for land and yet none of this land has been distributed to people it's all held in state operated farms and what they've done is they lower the wages paid by the private owners and the people find themselves exactly were doing what they were before. But that by understand the logic of the individual owners later on that's what he said originally.

He has to do that because he doesn't have a population is greater than the production of that can think of what happened after the Mexican Revolution. Mexico used for food stuff for us for port. That's where we have much less food. What you do really I think that perhaps Cuba has come a long ways out of Mexico. It might have learned something from Mexico and it might have seen that thing which happened in Mexico could happen again. You did not have. You have actually. For the most part not wrong as you have. What are these big

states. You know what that is significant Puerto Rico. Oh that is one of the troubles very often when they come into this country from Puerto Rico. They are not real. They are accustomed to being told to do one particular job or two and to be really what they do know. A Mr. Castro the young the revenue man I don't think you did see. I think he thought only the military side of winning freedom which is a wonderful thing and should be should be should be the motivating force. But then he was faced with having to do some things and I think there is where we see the failure and I. Think that. It is a mistake that he turned upon the United States because I think if he had really capitalized on the goodwill he might have had some technical

assistance. Which could have helped him with these problems and I think that one of the things communism does because it comes in. And. Suggests things that can be done which are really not as good in the long run. And. The people are away from the United States states away from them. We seem to be the question of timing dont when this is real. At what point do you take a firm stand and at what point do you say this is the moment for patients lets wait a while and see how this is working out for the patients. We're doing now well but I'm interested in what comes next are we going to say this is coming. Therefore we have nothing to do with it. You see I mean they turned towards. Another.

Foresight and forbearance and Castro going to have. And now intelligence too. His abduction which are evident today coming for that half. An. Hour away make a change. I think this is time for understanding rather than merely for patients. I think there's a lot of misunderstanding the coverage has put the crowd and what they mean. I couldn't hand say brother probably a lot of goodwill people from my day. Now to clarify this I'm fortunate situation which as a routine in which the friendship between two pretty close together is right while the friendship but you know the government is going to split.

United States or Western Hemisphere as a whole to stop the revolution. Certainly not. This is one of Castro's mistakes that he that he claims that he sees evidence that the United States wishes to stop the revolution. I am just as competent just as I am confident that Castro and his movement are not coming equally confident deeply convinced that there is no force in the United States that could that could move the United States government as a whole with this revolution. That is why I said in the short while ago that his attacks were gratuitous because we have no basis. However they do have an apparent base. I don't think they have a real base but they do have an apparent base. And and this brings us to the equivocal way in

which sometimes the U.S. government treats with dictatorships in Latin America. I know the American people do not approve of tyranny or dictatorship. I know the U.S. government does not approve of tyranny or dictatorship. But the treatment of these differences for a long time of support of military supplies presumably for the fence against big power supplies that would not be very useful for a defense against big power supplies were stopped nine months before Custer won but they had been going on before and some of the planes that bombarded the young rebels and people in the open cities to which the end of

the war the war where US planes now the United States did not send its planes there to bombard your people they did not send this planes there to support tyranny. They did not send this plane to prevent justified revolution by the people of Cuba. But this is it is it is not that it could appear that way to me. Because our moments are available all over the world. The forces of democracy strongly with

this revolution in the way of raising the standard of living the people and giving them the respect for human dignity. But we're going to be real. This is one of the things that I think there's a very real problem of American foreign policy that we're dealing with here. We've had a very difficult problem. Era in which we were very strongly supporting the government of Nouri and the opposition was looking down the business the business end of American guns which we had given to Nori and supplied him with and when the opposition took over power obviously they became anti-American almost immediately and there are cases scattered all over Asia along the perimeter of the containment line where it's the same way. Talk to

someone a short while ago who said that he had been carried to jail a short while ago because he had been trying in one of the Central American countries to stage a middle ground opposition rally and the Jeep that carried him to jail was said to the Nicaraguan people of the United States. Well there's that kind of problem. Don't we have really a serious problem. I wonder whether we don't have to think as the United States. Question As a nation. Having having what you say always the same desire for the well-being of the people all nations in this hemisphere and I'd like to read another declaration from the Caracas conference in 1954 which was unanimously adopted says the domination or control of the political institutions of any American state. International Communist movement extending to this hemisphere the political system of any extra continental power

would constitute a threat to the sovereignty and political independence of the American system endangering the peace of the Americas and would call for a meeting of consultation to consider the adoption of measures in accordance with existing treaties. I wonder whether instead of trying to study the situation as a nation along whether we wouldn't be better off if we had an end American conference and had evidence and discussed this question of a common policy is the situation getting off the track and so that we develop the model force of it or American position as distinct from the individual nations. It's a very serious problem. Because you were open to all the resolution adults that I thought would play well here we don't have cooperated open and direct Cuba on the other hand you have the fact that over 50 years in Latin

America God does not have a cat point of the foreign policy any form of intervention in voting for it. We got an agreement of a conference and Montevideo was a delegate there and I thought this is it. And we have but be careful not to open the door to any form of intervention even if it may Appiah justified in a particular case. Because once the door is open. Need my guess at the other 10. That's why we have all of this considering it which is a common problem and may affect the United States just the same but better off I think to consult with each other which is the tradition you're talking about. Unilateral intervention is what I believe

that this doctrine of absolute sovereignty is carried too far it's supposed to be a doctrine to protect freedom but it frequently is a doctrine to prevent the freedom of individuals from being protected from tyrannical government here. However and I do believe that this fear should develop some manner of protection of human rights anywhere in the hemisphere in which they are violated. We may however really think. Human rights violated by a tyranny on justify by any sense of justice. That didn't exist in America. It's a very

different thing from being in the course of protecting human rights anyway. But it has been. Is this to be done for yet or is the one way they prevent us from calling for. An at least that is not intervention I don't think. Drawing together.

This. Is. A problem. Nobody is going to intervene that they will have a joint problem but that taking any intervention on the morning paper. You're from Venezuela asking for consultation on the subject of mass arrests and treatment in the Dominican Republic. There's a case in point where the suggestion has been made to use the same process of consultation when human liberties individual rights are being violated and I think that we have precedent and we should use this means accounts as a whole new the human rights of the American work very carefully considered. There was a declaration of human rights a

convention that was read beyond the Universal Declaration of the United Nations which was drafted under your challenge now that we need to vet did he create the court. Individual right that objects to the possibility that come from. Interestingly enough some days ago I think it was eight or ten days ago Castro himself said that he would be glad to see an interim Merican court established for dealing with problems of human rights so we may have an entering wedge that we could we could be in with. I wonder if we could look at this whole picture from a slightly larger perspective for a moment. However we've been discussing the problem of Castro

and we've made a quick reference to the Dominican Republic. We have in the Latin American scene looking at it as looking at it as a whole a very interesting picture. There are a number of dictatorships of the right which are still existing. Not too many. Now there are a number of countries which are trying to work their way toward social progress through the free and democratic approach and then we have this new thing. Castro is in which he himself described as radical. Just the other day coming into the picture. We haven't said much about these in-between people about the baton corps and the countries which are now on the Democratic side. And I wonder if they don't need help. Doesn't Mr. Betancourt for example need some support in building the sinews of the kind of democracy which is trying so hard to establish itself by the procedures that we would like to see adopted little that need more help.

Let me just speak for one second of the case and we do what we had to yield the. Floor now from what we have money for the polling place. We don't know. Other countries have tried to do the same by The Heavenly Father. This your mama don't have to develop that of a divinity due to the cover of the government. So that bothers me. How long. This court today for the problems of Latin America. Big supporters of the law of the citizenry in the countries where they are right all resort to create living conditions or.

Directives for Mac who are a lot of the problem and then we have to add the fact that populations are growing faster in the Latin American countries than any other part of the world. That's a fact the prediction is that by 40 years from now by the end of this century there will be more than a billion people in the western hemisphere which is one of the founding facts. Maybe this is the moment. Of reality reality I think possible cooperation should be given to close the economic gap between the northern and southern part of the hemisphere neglecting Latin America. That's a phrase that continually during the great deal of attention to Americans when we needed them for defense purposes that after the war when we

no longer needed them so they charged the whole picture and neglected them. Well I would say that more attention is being paid to Latin America than not. But. As much as you would like to do it but there is a problem because this would seem to be very largely an economic problem but it is not completely an economic problem because in order to bring about the economic and social result which you have to have a much greater power because you do all the other things without the education. And this is a problem which I think we give too little thought to because I believe that it's just as important to give technical assistance

which will enable a country to the way not to dictate the type but the way of education. We can't just say you have good democratic government without education. So what about what your problem is and you have pointed out to me on a number of occasions one of the real lacks an understanding and I think to the point now. You love you know America is fundamentally different. If the number of children were required for you to grow you have such a case that no government even those who are in a better position have enough money to create that many schools have to train that many teachers. So that is a basic. The thing with which we speak a great deal you call it changes to compete.

Now to my surprise disappoint I must say that my American friend concluded of this exchange as a way to roll. I mean American students coming to the United States. If you look for the growing blood on the hundreds of America beaters growing in America I'm not eating for the love of a couple of the United States. I think teams mean that quoting the dictionary is where you draw. Now let me quote one thing which have been made public. Where will your copy of the run one day approached me and said Big Corn I want to know your opinion about the bill now before Congress to establish this system or finishing them out. What do you think about. I think it's a very bad idea

because Latin America will mean forces of the political parties more cut. We do need to be right to bring in every year ten thousand young call them soldiers and question is the force of the United States. The number of people to the forces who are down there live by. And instead of giving us an arm. No Long Island have a level or another they're needed for effect. That's a very good idea. I believe that we can get more people to know how we all live in our own. But to

understand we break up. So first of all. I think everybody Mr. Davis's question the standard of living which is going to make education. And I'd like to go back to work. And see whether we really really big where we're going in this hemisphere for the future. And here we've helped Europe joined together in an economic union encouraging economic development with a great tradition of sumon believe which was the first man the first

man to have this concept of free peoples working together in the common interest of all. Why not create an economic union in the western hemisphere. That is our goal. Where we would have a chance for industrial development. We would have a chance for the exchange of goods and the free flow of people and all of these capacities it would be one of the greatest economic areas of support can be given to the development of a common market. Latin America the better it will be. We need a compass. We can work towards that. And I think that for the opportunity. And the more

we need but let's face it best when the work of money invested money for your ship. What about the basics in more of a can because of what's going on in Cuba. Sure. Capital is given for the best that would draw a profit panel. There are today U.S. overseas investment. Total about twenty six billion dollars as against the World

Trade between the nations. About 45 percent of our imports export 55. There's a tremendous need and not because in the old days the possibility of intervention by the United States might have contributed to give assurance to the investor in a wrong kind of way. But there is no such thing going on today. I mean there's no intervention. This has been sealed off and still this moment of investment capital continues to progress and we need more. We're supplying about 15 percent of the total capital investment in the country's still is a tremendous need if the standard of living.

I think the average income United States twenty five hundred dollars a year per person in Canada and Latin America $400 gives them some areas to come back for a moment to do your concept of an overall Pan American economic union of sorts where money and people and so forth can flow back and forth. Isn't it true that you have to have a big long range goal and at the same time you have to cope with those little nagging day to day problems. I'm thinking for example many many obstacles on the American end which so many of our people don't fully appreciate. We have these quotas on some of the major imports from Latin America at the present time. We have this problem of public law on the shipment of American surpluses abroad and we will not do this in countries where in any way. There is competition with crops back here at home and we handle the

distribution of surpluses sometimes in a dumping fashion which damages their markets. And then there's the problem which I imagine must be close to your memory which is how we coordinate our policies. You were coordinator during the halcyon days of the war when I imagine co-ordinating was a little easier. But look at the problem. Let me let me stick my neck out again as president Conant once said that progress is only when. We have a much more serious problem it seems to me in dealing with policy formation in Washington today. I spent several months with the committee which was working on American foreign aid and I got a good taste of it. There is a dullness and a negativism in Washington today which you get from the competition between the State Department and the operations

coordination board in the Export Import Bank and the Pentagon and all of various other policy formation groups. And the result is that you don't have a sense of policy formation you have a sense of oh you can't do it because so many people are going to oppose it. That's what happens with a great many things with becoming too complicated or something to begin to be simplified so that you could do a few very fundamental things. Better understanding. Better to educate. And I think it points a good deal to not thinking so much about military things but thinking more about economics. At least in this area I am thinking of bringing people together as one. Now we have a little trouble in Panama Preston. I don't know how that is to be except to gain

greater understanding I suppose. Understanding I think that one of the things we need to understand in this country is that these countries in the Western Hemisphere cannot bear economic problems from within their own borders alone because a big export is a commodity price there is their importers of manufactured goods which they depend on again from outside sources. Therefore they control either their economic or their social life and the impact of that. Is on their political life so that I think we've got to recognize that unless we work closely with them in the solution of their problems they cannot solve them. Alone by themselves I say that with much understanding of our ability which is one of the things that is difficult for us to accept and just because much to our advantage the United the hard question of the money we have to a degree at least taken the position that we have this containment policy around the

perimeter of the communist block powers and that we put the bulk of our technical assistance in the bulk of our foreign aid into that area or not into the Latin-American area and when we say we need more money for Latin America then we come up against the president's budget philosophy where he says well there just isn't enough money to add this additional airier on to the things that we're already covering is the president's follow up budget philosophy going to have to be changed before we do what we really need to do and the president has asked for over a billion increase in foreign aid within his present budget so I think he's recognized the exact you're talking about and is asking for more aid so that we can be more effective in our cooperation with these countries in our own country. There he is doing something more perhaps in his scripts. He is the president trips I have felt primarily changed the climate in which

really serious discussions could go on but I'm not sure that whether going himself to see will not mean possibly that that sense of the need for placing greater emphasis here or there will not be one of the factors that will come out of these trips which may be important in the future I think. What do you think about that. Very true. But I now because I work for a year in foreign affairs and I now is deep concern and deep interest and he has consistently for more money than Congress would given during his entire tenure in office. His concern has been there and I think that getting back to Ben's statement we really need more understanding on the part of the country the people to support the Congress in carrying out his request for greater latitude in assistance and working with other countries.

No you don't believe that racial. Which people in the need for more understanding. Studying the catalogue of universe qualities of the United States to see you know how many big history of Latino life there geography of Latin America are top hundred. When you compare them with the new one which according to the nearly 1.5 on the path that leads to reality it costs what I lock my firearm. So here you have it. Everything which is gone together not only by geographic puberty by the knee and measures that the born create about polluted consecrated to a common destiny. After all in the Western Hemisphere is it family. Do ocracy other color. The world today. Yes I was among the people in this

which is real that is what we must do is to develop some people who have been in Chris who have the money interests. One reason you have so much. Certain areas of the Near East is because there are economic interests there which subsidize education in many of our colleges and universities areas but never with the largest of all the amount of money devoted to it. In that meeting the people who are really deeply interested in developing this and will put money into it because this is something I never thought about before until you

mentioned the Near East now I suddenly remember who was paying for certain courses that I knew of in various universities and colleges. But this is something that perhaps we should think about it might be possible in in South America and in our country to find some ways of doing. When I was working for your husband we worked with all of the states in the nation to get them to change their rules so that teach history culture and the students would get credit for languages because you couldn't even get Spanish. And so I think it is a recognition by the universities that this is part of our culture our heritage and we need to know what's going on in the western hemisphere. Can you have exchange that

is doing a wonderful job. I was down there for the governors conference with 200 school teachers from New York City to give them an economic and social understanding of the Puerto Rican children in the background. I wonder if perhaps the economic answer to the problem of setting up some kind of an overall plan American economic union because this is the kind of relationship which was established between an undeveloped underdeveloped country Puerto Rico and the United States under the sort of relatively free market and free flow of people and so forth which is exactly what we want for American Union has some advantages in its relationship with the United States that

other countries in the hemisphere have got a completely free market and general fiscal relationship and so forth. But. But thank you for coming back. TO AFRICA. Just as with the American the public.

First elected governor of the Commonwealth. Mr. Cohen is the ambassador for the United Nations General Assembly. Mr. Davis is the managing editor of The Christian Science Monitor. Courtesy of the Pan American Society of New England the United Nations and the Associated Press of the Boston Globe. This program was recorded on Sunday in 1968. Special guests on the next prospect of mankind. Journalist and economist undersecretary of the United Nations. The topic will be Africa.

Yeah. But with national educational development.