Evening star., 1950-12-17

the chief of the Colombian dele
cation to the General Assembly,
DR.. Roberto Urdaneta Arbelaez,
his country's Minister of War
and chairman of the important
Committee Number One or the
Political Committee of the Gen.
eral Assembly. gave an important
dinner to his fellow delegates at a.
fashionable Fifth avenue hotel. 1t
has become a tradition for each
delegation to tender such a din
ner some time during the Assem-
bly, meetings. The Colombians
were giving one of the very last
dinnerc Of the present Assembly
on this occasion everybody
showed up except the representa-
tives OF the United States. Nat.
uraliy the 20 Latin American dele
cations attached considerable i'm
portance to it.
Vishinsky Gets in a Blow
Unfortunately the Colombian
dinner happened to fall on one
OF the first critical days of the
Korean crisis and at the last min
ute our people sent regrets saying
in effect that they were too occu.
pied with the fate of our armies
in the Far East and they could
not attend. But Andrei Y. Vishin-
sky attended, fianked by the most
prominent members Of his staff.
When the guests were seated the
garrulous Russian looked around
and expressed surprise that mo
North Americans" were present.
He even displayed a knowledge of
the fact that the peoples to the
south OF us usually refer to us
as North Americans" instead of
using the all-inclusive term
Americans" as we do. At any
rate the Colombians explained
that unfortunately the United
States delegation was desperately
busy with the disastrous problem
which had just arisen in Korea.
I'VE. too. are very busy"
Vishinsky trumpeted, but we take
time to accept and show our ap-
probation of the friendly hos
pitality of our fellow delegates
from so important a Latin Amer
lean republic"
Significantly enough, the CO.
lombian government is one of the
several in Latin America which
does not maintain diplomatic
relations with Moscow. Indeed,
it is one of the most anti-Com-
munist of all the regimes on the
South American continent. It is
the one country next door which
has ordered a large contingent Of
troops and its newest and largest
warship to the Korean front.
Naturally, none Of these facts
had been overlooked by the
Russians.
More Than Social Function
Our Latin neighbors do not
understand how we overlook the
fine points of diplomacy and hand
our enemies such splendid oppor.
tunities for their propagandists.
Maybe large dinners should be
dispensed with in such times, but
they are not In fact, these gath
erings are important adjuncts Of
the United Nations. Furthermore,
it is interesting that these spokes-
men for the various governments
usually get together at private din
ners to exchange opinions free
of heated debate and away from
the glaring spotlight of publicity.
Often some of the most important
problems are ironed out on these
occasions. Such gatherings are
also important listening posts.
From the standpoint OF pure
self interest, even in the midst
of tragedy and disaster, we can
well afford to keep in mind the
Importance of our relations with
the people whose friendship, and
whose vast resources of minerals,
metals and other raw materials We
shall desperately need in the near
future, if we are to maintain the
power and prestige of the Western
Hemisphere against communism.