Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-05-29

regime would Dear down heaV-
lily on the national honor. II
II were convenient 10 do 80 for
purposes Of keeping the public
In line. the regime would beat
the anti-Yankee drum q few
times-but not too hard. be-
cause the United States
equipped armed forces need
continued support from the
Colossus Of the North.
Harsher Rule Likely
Internally. any new dicta-
torship would almost certainly
make the old one OF Perez
Jimenez look like a meeting OF
Sunday school superlntend-
ents-at least IN comparing the
early days OF the one with the
early days OF the other. p. J.
did not really start getting
rough until about is55-seven
years after he had come 70
power. BY that time he had
many enemies az large and his
organized repressions we're too
late to be really effective.
The close custody OF poll
tical prisoners lost art since
Secret Police Chief Pedro
Estrada fed Venezuela last
January i5-would surely be
revived. Censorship certainly
would be reimpoSed.
Whatever refugees get out Of
Venezuela after the next golpe
takes place probably viii be
travelling light. There has been
little or no stealing going on in
the government since January
ga sure sign that there
hasn't been much activity Of
any kind. Any of the newly re-
turned, post-January % exiles
who saw fit TO leave again
probably would have their old
bank deposits in New York and
Switzerland TO go back to.
There would be no possibility
Of return by Gen. Perez Jime-
neZ, such as may occur soon
in Argentina with ex-Dictator
Juan Peron. Perez Jimenez
possessed no political organ
ization, his former military
juniors do not want him back,
and even at his present rate Of
living it up, it is going to take
him a long time to spend the
$500 million he reputedly ex-
tracted from the economy.
u. S. Interference Unlikely
Despite official Washington
protestations of fondness for
democracies and revulsiOn
against relationships, there is
scant possibility that Washing
ton would-or for that matter
could-do anything to halt a
military takeover in Venezuela.
Historically, our policy south
of the border, if not precisely
one of non-intervention, at
least contemplates our trying
to get along with any kind of
government a sister republic
chooses to saddle itself with
as long as that government is
not too far to the left.
There is a telling, which
seems to be growing within the
large American business COM
munity in Caracas, that a little
less freedom and a little more
attention to duty would be in
order in Venezuela. Increasing
Ily one hears American resi-
dents say nostalgia things
about the old Perez Jimenez
regime, in much the way peo-
pie used to justify Mussolini's
Italian dictatorship because
'he made the trains run on
time"
1t would be impossible to get
any American official to admit
to similar sentiments. But even
on the official level. after the
outrage of May 1914, it was
openly asserted that such a
thing would never have hap
lpened in P. Us Venezuela.
Bigger Oil "Take" Possible
A new dictatorship, for its
part, almost certainly would
try to maintain close ties with
the United States. But at the
same time, such a regime would
try to improve its position Wis
avis the oil companies. These
foreign companies, dominated