Evening star., 1942-01-16
The Issues at Rio


Rio de Janeiro opens today under IA
vorable auspices. Held in the beauti-
full capital of Brazil, traditionally
friendly to the United States, the en-
thusiastic reception of our delega-
ton, headed by Undersecretary of
State Sumner Welles, revealed a
warmth Of popular feeling which is
echoed by official circles. The Bra
lillian government already has gone
on record as favoring effective hemis-
pheric solidarity against external
dangers, and Oswaldo Aranha, the
Brazilian Minister of Foreign Al
fairs, can be counted on to promote
this policy to the best of his ability.
1t can be said with confidence that
all the Latin American nations ad-
here to the basic principle of mutual
harmony and cooperation. Yet the
eloquent speeches which heralded
the opening of the conference should
not blind us to the fact that this
principle is variously interpreted. On
this matter, Latin America falls into
three groups. The first Of these are
the nine republics Of Central Amer
ica and the Caribbean, who have
gone "all out" in their solidarity with
the United States and have declared
war against the Axis powers The
second group is composed OF Mexico,
Colombia and Venezuela. who have
broken diplomatic relations with the
Axis and are cooperating closely
with the United States, but have not
declared war on the Axis. The third
group is an indeterminate quantity.
Covering all of South America ex-
cept Colombia and Venezuela, the
respective attitudes Of these countries
vary all the way from that Of Uru-
quay, which is strongly sympathetic
toward the United States, to that Of
Argentina, which thus far has held
to policy OF neutrality tempered
only by the resolution OF the pre-
vious PanAmerican Conference at
Havana to consider the United States
a acknowledgement" and as such
exempt from the strict rules of neu-
trality ordinarily applicable under
international law.
Washington has made no secret
OF its hope to get all Latin America
to break relations with the Axis, thus
depriving those enemy powers of
their remaining diplomatic and eco
nomic footholds in the Western
Hemisphere. However, Washington
has shown no disposition to press for
a general declaration of war against
the Axis. That would imply guaran-
tees for naval and military protec-
ton everywhere against possible Axis
hostilities from without or pro-Axis
fifth column disturbances from with
in which the United States may at
present not be in a position to as
sumo. Washington will be we'll con-
tent if Argentina's reluctance can be
overcome and solid anti-Axis diplo-
matte front attained
Although not so much in the
news, the economic side of the con-
ference should not be overlooked. On
its agenda is whole series of i'm
portant economic proposals. Out
standing is the plan to pool
hemisphere shipping, even at the
immediate expense of certain in
dividual nations. Then there is the
complicated problem of financing or
pegging the price Of raw material
export surpluses cut OF from their
normal European markets, together
with the converse problem of assur-
ing and allocating to Latin Amer
ican nations manufactured goods
and equipment from the United
States to replace those Of which
they are deprived from former Eu-
ropean sources. These matters go
far beyond mere monetary loans.
Money and credits alone will not
restore the economic lives of certain
Latin American countries which the
war has badly disrupted. And, of
course, only as those economic lives
are normalized can the countries in
question be effectively geared eco