Evening star., 1932-12-25
BY GASTON NERvAL.
Z YITH two undeclared interna~

~ tional wars in progress, va
wv Iious domestic revolts Just
quelled and several others
in the bud, Christmas. this
year, will not find Latin America in
the proper Yuletide spirit of Peace
on earth, good will to men"
In his journey through the Southern
republics lying on the other side of the
Rio Grande, Santa Claus will find most
of them confronted with critical in
ternal problems and agitated by politi-
cal unrest.
Some Of them have Just come out Of
revolutionary adventures. Others are
inaugurating new governments. Nearly
all OF them find themselves in the midst
Of turbulent period Of political and
financial reorganization, aggravated by
the worldwide economic depression.
And four Of them are engaged in inter-
national controversies which seem to
have temporarily banned good will from
the so-called continent of peace.
While the good Offices Of five neutral
American republics and the League Of
Nations are being exhausted to bring
about cessation of hostilities in the
Chaco-where' for several months now
Bolivia and Paraguay have been en-
gagged in bloody struggle-another in
sumo major proportions IN the Leticia
region.
New Rumblings Of War.
The governments OF Colombia and
Peru, despite their pacific intentions,
appear unable to come to an under
standing, or to control the aroused SEN
timents Of public opinion in both coun-
tries. Press reports bring, almost daily,
the news Of military preparations on
both sides of the Leticia port, seized
from Colombia less than three months
ago. Even Brazil, neighboring coun-
try, Is forced to send a warship up
the Amazon River and reinforce its
border patrols in order to protect its
neutrality.
Each day that goes by without dip
lomatic arrangement in sight increases
the possibilities of another serious in
ternational conflict. not very far from
the Chaco wilderness. where Bolivians
and Paraguayans have been practically
in state Of war since the middle Of
the year.
Further to the south. in Argentina,
the most important of Spanish Ameri-
can countries, vast revolutionary
plot was unearthed by the authorities
only last week. According to official
announcements, the plans for the revolt
included acts of terrorism and some
practices which seem borrowed from
fiction stories or the movies.
In one Of the popular American
magazines a series has been running
for several weeks. in which the
imaginary kidnapping of President
OF the United States Is described BY a
well-known fiction writer. According
to the statements of the Buenos Aires
government, the kidnapping of Presi-
dent Justo Of Argentina was part Of
the plans carefully prepared by the op-
position leaders Just apprehended.
The plot was entirely of a sangui-
nary, terrorist character" says the Off
clal communique, The authors of the
plot planned. among other measures.
to kidnap the President and kill high
public officials. take possession of pub
lie buildings housing vital services, de-
stroy others with hand grenades and
violently produce, in the shortest pos
sible time, the most intense alarm
among the populaCe."
Appear as Saviors.
The idea was to hand Buenos Aires
over to criminals and terrorists of the
worst type" for 48 hours, not for mill
tary purposes. but with the avoWed OBJ
Ject OF showing to the rest of the coun-
try that the legally established author
tiles were unable to control the situa-
tion. that anarchy was reigning in the
capital, and that the rebel leaders were
justified in taking by force the reigns
OF government, to restore order and
afford protection to the civil popula-
ton. Thus they would have appeared,
not as revolutionists, but as the en-
forcers Of peace and 'saviors of the
republic"
The plans had been cleverly laid A
number Of proclamations were found,
all ready to be dispatched to the farth-
est corners Of the country. telling Of
the acts of incendiarism and excesses
Of violence in which the mobs were
engaged at the capital" and of the en-
ergetic measures which the self-impos-
ed authorities were forced to take" TO
put an end to them More than 1000
bombs and hand grenades have been
reported found. A number of codes and
secret communications have also been
disclosed, which tell the inside story of
the plot and testify to the dramatic
seriousness of it.
Fortunately. the Buenos Aires gov
ernment jumped on the plotters at the
right moment, arrested all the princi-
pal leaders, asked Congress to author
ize 1t to declare state Of siege" (mar-
tial law and in "a hours had consoli-