Evening star., 1940-06-16
Does Vargas Woo the Axis?
Reasons Are Offered Believe Brazilian Seeks No Such Ties
Rp

A LMOST from the very moment he
became supreme in Germany Adolf
Hitler has been waging seductive battle
Tor supremacy in Latin America. The
thousands OF square miles between the
Rio Grande and the Straits of Magellan
have been covered by German agents
airplane pilots, tourism officials. even
Immigrants"
The Roosevelt administration is con-
vlnced that Nazi coups are plotted in
every Western Hemisphere nation. It is
for this reason that the administration
IN recent months has been advancing
with great vigor its doctrine of conti-
mental solidarity And it is for this
reason that President Vargas of Brazil
shook the American continents Tuesday
with his announcement apparently of
sympathy with the totalitarian way.
Was Getulio Vargas inviting the Ger
mans and the Italians into his republic?
Vargas himself has disavowed this.
Ihe answer to this question has grave
implications for the United States, for
Canada. for the British, French and
Dutch outposts of empire in the New
World and also for Brazil's Latin neigh
bors. For more than six years the
United States has been fencing against
Hitler on the South American field in a
great battle of diplomacy. Brazil was in
the center of the fight. If the answer
to this question is no, the United States
is still far ahead of Germany. If the
answer is yes, Germany has her foot in
the Western Hemisphere.
Diplomats Scoff at Idea.
The fact is that most diplomats and
other persons familiar with Brazils re-
cent course dismiss the fears of a trans
Atlantlc Fascist axis with Mussolini and
Hitler at one end and Vargas at the
other. One source of the misapprehen-
sion that Vargas is leading Brazil into
the Jaws OF Italy and Germany is the
incorrect belief that Brazil is de-
mocracy. Continental solidarity is not an
alliance of democracies 1t is a geo.
graphical, not an theological concert. of
nations. Government by dictatorship is
the Latin American norm. 1t happens
tnat Getulio Vargas is one Latin Amer
lean dictator who finds the Fascist
governing technique interesting, but he
mas always opposed the Brazilian "ereen
SHIRT Fascist party, the Inteeralistas
Ihey, indeed, tried once to assassinate
him.
vargas has been dictator for 10 Years.
In order to stay in power he must placate
all factions within his country while he
governs them ALL Gestures to democ-
racy, gestures to Fascism, gestures to
Europe, gestures to the United States
all these at times he finds it expedient
10 make. Through all these gestures
thls government retains unshaking con-
fdence that Vargas stands for a united
America. The problem of American
safety is complicated less by political
speeches of friendly dictators than nv
the enormous difficulty of arming South
America. The United States has con-
Quoted a triumphant diplomacy with our
good neighbors" to the south. The times
now seem to demand military as we'll
as political sustenance of these neigh
bors.
Vargas Is Nationalist
Through all his gesture-makjnp Var.
gas remains fundamentally an authorita-
ran But between homegrown Fas-
clsm and axis Fascism is wide gulf
Portugal, for instance, is a Fascist state
but in international affairs PORTUGAL
leans toward cooperation with Great
britain and has no axis ties leading to
Berlin or Rome. Vargas is an intense
nationalist. The disquieting thought
aroused IN some in this country, how
ever, Is whether or not Vargas even
While devoting all his efforts to making
great state of Brazil. can resist falling
INTO the German net SO long as he f1irts
with the German political technique
MOST Latin American countries have been
able to resist democracy even though
they have close relations with the
United States. But democracy has never
sought to impose itself on others.
Ihe inference that Vargas was voo-
hoolng to Hitler puts peculiarly 1ronic
hight on Hitlers aspirations in South
America Mr.. Vargas probably has ,ead
Hltlers apostate apostle, Hermann
Eauscnnlng, who recalls that Hitler once
cried of Brazil:
we shall create new GERMANY
there. We shall find everything we need
there"
Hitler, according to Mr.. Rauschning
making disclosures in THE Voice of.De-
struction,' offered this observation in
1888 during talk with "a trusted, lead