Evening star., 1941-12-04
Fa|angist Movement
Coo|s, but Puerto Rico
HAS Other Problems
Army and Navy Getting
Little Cooperation on
Needed Defense Rood
By STEPHEN TRUMBULL,
Special Dispatch to The Star and North
American Newspaper Alliance.


American Newspaper Alliance.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Dec. A.
You cannot go far in Latin America
without hearing tales of the Falan-
gista, the movement OF los silenci-
osos"-the silent ones" 1t sounds
ominouS.
This movement has been ad-
vanced as an argument by those
who favor martial law to end the
civil-military differences which are
helping national defense not at all
at this primary outpost Of Western
Hemisphere defense.
Those who gather all of their in
formation here from recently ar
rived American construction men,
and gather 1t in the towns taverns
between the fifth and the tenth
drinks, start looking under beds and
seeing a crouching Flangista behind
every piece of non-co-operatlon.
Much has been made of the lavish
display of Franco flags on Puerto
Rico business houses during the
war in Spain and speculation goes
far into the night as to what would
happen here should Franco get of
the fence and follow his natural
inclination into the Hitler camp.
Would the fifth column here march
on nearby Fort Buchanan?
longtime residents here ridicule
the idea. The majority of them
see in this Falangista camp some
thing OF an overly written script, en-
acted by cast Of hams, and a per-
formance which could be slapped
down by the F. B. l. office and mill
tary intelligence If, as and when
the occasion demands.
Movement Has Cooled.
Perhaps this viewpoint inclines to
the side of optimism, but there is
definite assurance this Falangista
movement has cooled, and that 1t
offers not half of the complications
that are presented by the buck
passing. stalling tactics of a more
modern and potent brand of Latin
politics intrenched here beside the
concrete gun emplacements and on
the edge OF the airplane runWays
The Falangista movement is big
business movement, and the little
man now is in the Puerto Rican
political saddle. The Falangista
movement came TO Puerto Rico. as
1t did TO other Latin American coun-
tries, through the Spanish sugar,
rum and wholesale supply barons.
These men held tremendous in
vestments in properties in Spain
and in Spanish utility stocks. The
revolution had rendered these worth
less Franco was going to save
Spain and their investments. Viva
Franco!
Some DiehardS Remain
So the flags of Franco few until
they completely blanketed the flags
OF the United States. and hundreds
OF thousands OF Puerto Rico dollars
were routed to Spain. But now
Franco has won, and Franco has
said not one word about restoring
those properties or pumping values
into those utility stocks. The Franco
ardor. famed more by greed than by
love, has cooled.
There remain some diehards who
believe Puerto Rico will 20 back to
Spain when the team of Franco
Hltler-Mussolini lick the world and
set up the new order and that they
will be the local Mr.. Bigs." The
number of these, together with ad-
dresses and contacts, is believed to
be very well known and few military
men on this island are losing much
sleep over it.
There are too many other things
over which sleep can be lost here.
such as the contacts with insular
government which the United States
set up as part OF the experiment in
home rule long before defense start
ed, and which is not at all Falan-
glsta, but which is Puerto Rico for
the Puerto Ricans."
Road a Headache
Take the contacts now under way
With this insular government over
the very vital 80-mile military high
way from San Juan to Aguada, link
ing north coastal defense units, the
main supply depot Of Fort Buchanan
and the Army base of Borinquen.
This is the highway which, after
two years of attempted cooperation,
is nine miles in construction and
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