Evening star., 1933-01-08
TWO CONFLICTING FORCES
MEET In LATIN NATIONS
International Cooperation and Nation
alism Prominent as New Year Begins.
Pace of Both Aided by Depression.

tion will have to deal alone with ths
rebels who defled for several years the
efficiency Of Uncle Sans bluejackets.
In Costa Rica the recrudescence Of
the natioaalistic spirit has resulted In
the denuAciation of the Washington
treaty Of 1923, which condemned gov
ernment by revolution and entailed q
self-limitatirn OF sovereignty on the
part Of the Central American republics.
Same True in Ell Salvador.
The same is true of FL Salvador,
where the present government is denied
recognition by the neighboring coun-
tries because of that treaty. Internally
both the Costa Rican and the Saliva
doran governments have recently been
reported suppressing communistic plots.
In Panama and the Dominican Re-
public the outlook seems clearer. The
new Arias regime in the former and
the Trujillo administration in the lat
ter appear entirely devoted to economic
| reconstruction and national relief This
is elso the case in Venezuela. where
not even the financial problems of the
government are so pressing as in the
rest Of the Latin American republics.
In Cuba the domestic struggle which
has been latent for the past two years
between the partisans and enemies Of
the Machado rule is still prevailing.
The latter are earnestly endeavoring
to convert the internal problem into an
international one by requesting the
intervention of the United States.
In Haiti the nationalistic spirit has
lately been aroused considerably by the
proposed new treaty with the United
States, which fell short of assuring the
natives the full autonomy for which
they have been clamoring. After the
Inauguration of President-elect Roose-
velt the Haitians will probably renew
their efforts to conclude their present
status of political and economic de-
pendence on the United States, for
which the next Chief Executive was
partly responsible when Assistant Sec
retary of the Navy.
In Colombia and Peru, domestic prob
lens have for the moment given way to
an outburst of nationalism, provoked by
the Leticia incident in the Amazon
region. September /, 1882, group of
| Peruvian hssailants seized the port of
Leticia, I~ded to Colombia by the
| Salomon|Ssozano treaty. signed by the
two countries only a few years before.
At first the Peruvian government dis
claimed responsibility for the action,
but when the Colombian authorities
started to make provisions for the resto-
ration OF their sovereignty over Leticia
the former announced its intention to
protect the Peruvian civilians who had
seized the town. Ever since both gov
| ernments have been engaged in warlike
| preparations. Soldiers and ammunition
are being rapidly concentrated near
Leticia. Colombian warshipS have start
ed up the Amazon River And Peruvian
planes, 100 of them. are reported ready
t11or1 bot
destination.
Clash Seems Inevitable.
AS the days go by violent clash
seems unavoidable Peruvian sugges-
tions for submitting the dispute to a
conciliation tribunal Sre logically re-
fused by Colombia, who first wants her
| sovereignty restored. She considers the
| Leticia affair one of a domestic char
| acter in which the Colombian authori-
ties, alone are called to act.
In the meantime Brazil is also REIN
| forcing her border troops to protect her
neutrality IN the event of a Peruvian
Colombian encounter The attention of
the Brazilian government is thus being
| diverted from internal matters-uuite
| serious at the conclusion of the recent
| bloody civil war and on the eve of
| presidential election-to an interna-
| tional problem which may have far
reaching consequences.
Further to the south. another nation
alistic clash has Bolivia and Paraguay
in virtual state of war Since the
middle of last year Bolivian and Para
guayan regular troops. have been bat
Ting for the possession of the Chaco.
Just before the new year began Para
quay rejected the truce proposal sub
mitted by the Commission of NeutraIs
made up of the United States, Colom-
bia, Mexico, Cuba and Uruguay-which
had already been accepted in principle
by Bolivia, and ordered her representa-
tive in the peace negotiations to sail
Tor home. In the meantime, new Bo-
livian offensive began in the Chaco un-
der the direction of Gen. Hans Kundt
of World War fame.
The government of Argentina is busy
trying to bring about some sort of con-
ciliation between the disputant countries
and proposing anti-war pacts to Brazil
and other neighboring States, while do
meStic peace at home is thereatened by
radical agitators and enemies of the
JuSto administration.
In Ecuador and Chile two recently
inaugurated regimes, those of President
Martinez Mera and President Ales-
sandri, are just as busy restoring political
,normalcy after a series of internal dis
orders which during 1892 almost de-
stroyed governmental stability In those
two countries. In both, as in Uruguay,
socialistic tendencies have been making
considerable progress, although the
menace Of disturbances arising out of
such progress has appeared, so far, only
in Chile.
The problem of the clash between the
two predominating forces is ever pres
ent. Where it is not in the form of an
external conflict between international
cooperation and nationalism, it is in
that of an internal conflict between ma
tlonal cooperation and class and group
riValries.
(Copyright 1p33)