Evening star., 1961-08-13
CONFERENCE
u. S. Works to Keep
Cuba Out of 'AIionzo'

starts having impact in an
area, the initial qualms about
violating national sovereignty,
fall aside.
But another and more basic
reason for American approval
is the fact that all development
projects using United States
Government money will have to-
be approved by United States
officials. This will be true,
delegation sources say, whether
or not a particular project hap
pens to fall in a national plan
approved by a committee Of ex-
perts.
This device for American ap-
proval is considered the chief
guarantee that Cuba will not
get any money from the Alli-
ance for Progress, Furthermore.
Cuban Prime Minister Castro
has refused to join the Inter-
American Development Bank,
which is the hemisphere inSti-
tuition so far designated to loan.
out a large part Of the. Alliance,
for Progress funds appropriated
by Congress.
On the other hand, American
representatives are busy work
ing out what the United States
position will be if Mai. Guevara
decides to sign the basic docu-
ment Of the alliance being
drawn up here. They say they
cannot prohibit his signing
since Cuba is still a member of
the Organization of American
States. And Maj. Guevara's
reaSonableness in discussion is
believed a strong indication he
will sign-with reservations"
opposing the way the vast aid
effort is organized. b
Political Reasoning ,
Cuban reasoning on this
score is purely political. They
fear that a Declaration of.
Punta Del Este without Cuba'S'
signature would be promptly
used by the United States to
call q foreign ministers meeting
for the exclusion of Cuba from
hemisphere organizations.
Top administration sources
here emphatically deny any
such intention. They argue that
such a blatant maneuver would
not be in American self
interest. 1t would introduce
political controversy into this
fragile machinery of the alli-
ance before it even begins to
work. They also profess to
believe that Cuba's signature
on the final document here
would be no more than a
signature, since the United
States can effectively veto any
funds Cuba might request un-
the Alliance for Progress.
These same sources believe
they have succeeded in getting
reluctant Latin American lead
ers to spell out the urgent need
for land and tax reforms.
These two reforms are con-
sidered the most controversial
in the alliance, for they hurt
the vested power groups the
most. According to these
sources the original Latin idea
was to state their general in
tentions on reform without 60
ing into specifics here. But
under American pressure the
draft resolution Of the five
major nations calls for aboli-
ton of latifundia (abSent land
lordism) fair and adequate"
taxation of large incomes, and
vigorous enforcement" Of tax
laws.
American officials admit
they have no guarantee that
these high sounding declara-
tionS will be carried out. But
they also emphasize that the
Latin American diplomats here
are under no illusion about
getting promised foreign aid If
their promises are not kept.
The feeling is that these
finance ministers have really
committed themselves to pri-
mary reliance on self-help in
Latin America. The big ques-
ton still unanswered by this
conference is whether the
ruling groups back home are
willing to carry out the re-
forms implicit in that commit
ment.