Evening star., 1950-01-22

Columbus established the first
American settlement. Swash-
buckling Gen. Anastasio So
moza could not be of more gen.
uine Nicaraguan stock. Police
Chief Col. Jose Remon and
President Arnulfo Arias, the an
cient enemies who now share pow
er in little Panama, are members
of two of the oldest families on
the isthmus. The blood of DR..
Laureano Gomez, the arch reac-
tionary President-elect of Colom-
bia and the first dictator the once
proud South American country
has had in nearly so years, is the
bluest in Bogota.
Col. Delgado Chalbaud and his
fellow members of the military
junta which overthrew and
usurped the power of the first
President the Venezuelan people
were ever permitted to vote for,
are genuine natives of that historic
country which was the birthplace
of the great South American lib
orator, Simon Bolivar.
Alexandra Bustamante, bushy-
named rabble-rouser who domi-
mates the majority of the cane
field workers and small towns
people of Jamaica, like his OK
ford trained cousin, Norman
Manley, who is gradually edging
in on Bustamante's mastery of
THE Jamaican mob, are both home
grown If not home-trained prod
ucts. The shouting Communist
members of the local assembly of
Martinique and Guadeloupe are
entirely of local stock. Senator
Eusebio Mujal, boss of the Con-
federation of Labor and whose
ambition is to drive foreign, and
especially private American in
vestors out of the island, is 100
per cent Cuban.
OAS Task Difficult
Herein lies the real difficulties
that confront the United States
in its relations with the Carib-
bean nations. The abuse of gov
ernment. the exploitation and op-
preston of the peoples of these
countries today are purely inter-
nal questions, with which we can
not afford to interfere directly.
Past experience proves that such
action is futile. The sad results
of the recent Braden regime in
the State Department and the
controversy over the Peron die
tatorship in Argentina, is too
fresh in our memory even to
think of policy of positive, or
purely passive, intervention.
Besides. the two outstanding
and firmly established dictator
ships in the Caribbean, those IN
the Dominican Republic and Mic
aragua, are in countries which we
once forcibly occupied and in
which we attempted to install re-
gimes in keeping with our own
ideas of democratic society. Both
Generalissimos Trujillo and So
moza are creatures of our own
training. Both were students of
the Yankee Marines. who hardly
waited for the withdrawal of our
occupying forces before they took
over their respective countries
bodily.
1t seems to be the consensus of
most of the men in the field, the
experts in our own embassies and
missions in these countries, that
our policy in the Caribbean should
be what one of them called both
negative and positive" First we
should give as little direct finan-
cial and material assistance as
possible to the dictators and
strong-arm governments. Refuse
them outright loans of money.
BY all means refrain from supply
ing them with arms and military
equipment.
Second, insist that our ma
tionals, who engage in legitimate
business enterprise in these coun-
tries be given fair and equal treat
ment, no more but not less consid-
Grafton than is accorded native
business enterprise. BY all means
continue to help in developing
their natural resources and build
ing up Their buying power. Con-
tinue to supply economic and in
dustrial know-how. Help to i'm
prove educational, sanitation and
health facilities, because all of this
tends to raise the standard of liv-
ing and increase the influence of
the people.
Cr.fso.e,~, To:4oI1.