The Press WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1954. Communism in Latin America

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27377, 16 June 1954, Page 10

The Press WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1954. Communism in Latin America

Recently, the subject of communism j in Latin America has been drama- 1 tised by the shipment of arms to J Guatemala from a Russian satellite country. As Joseph Harsch said in j a special article printed last Wednes- < day, this seems to be no more than \ a piece of Russian-inspired mischief i to make trouble for the United States. But the United States takes ' seriously both this particular Com- < munist activity and the wider ' question of Communist intrusion in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere. This is instanced by the vigorous United States reaction to ■he possibility of military domination of the Central American Republics by Guatemala, and by the pains to which the United States went to get an anti-Communist resolution passed at the recent interAmerican conference .at Caracas, virtually extending the Monroe Doctrine to cover interference in I Latin America by international ! communism. Communism is by no means a new or recent development in Latin America; in 1945 some 500,000 votes were cast for Communist candidates at elections in Brazil. Today, there are thought to be fewer active Communists than that in the whole of Latin America; a report issued last October by a United States Congressional committee estimated the total of active Communist strength in Latin America as 200,000. But though relatively few, the Latin American Communists are said to be intelligent, highly trained, and indefatigable workers, who exercise an influence out of all proportion to their numbers. In no Latin American country are Communists in active control of government. Even in Guatemala, apologists for the regime say there are no Communists in the Cabinet and only four in the Guatemalan Congress. But in Guatemala the Communists exert their influence through their participation in the high councils of the National Democratic Front, the ruling jjolitical coalition. In other Latin American countries—particu-

larly in Chile and Brazil—the Communists work through the trade unions; and they do this although in both Chile and Brazil the Communist Party has no legal standing. Though communism is outlawed in 13 of the 20 Latin American Republics, there is said to be significant Communist activity in most of the countries. Guatemala, indeed, seems to be the only country in Latin America where the Communists do not try to keep their activities as inconspicuous as possible by organising and working behind “fronts” of other parties. There is no denying that Latin America offers openings to the Communists. Revolution in many of the Republics is the accepted method of changing a government; and in an area where social and economic

conditions cry out for correction it is not difficult for the Communists

to find causes to champion. The United States has no easy task in countering communism on its door-

step. Intervention in the affairs of one Latin American Republic would be resented by all; the sensitiveness of present-day Latin America to any suggestion of “ Yankee imperialism ” was noticeable at Caracas, where it took a whole fortnight of patient negotiating by Mr Dulles to get the anti-Communist resolution passed, 'with Guatemala the only dissenter. American difficulties have become greater with the curtailment of aid

programmes. The “ New York “ Times ” has said that the “ surest “ approach.” to the problem from the point of view of the United States remains an unrelenting effort to prove to the Latin Americans that the way of life of the United States is better than that of Russia. But that is at best a slow business. As Joseph Harsch said in the article referred to, the pace the Communists are setting may make it necessary for the United States to consider counter-measures, among them reconsideration of the scale of economic aid to Latin America. And, since the American purse is not bottomless, that could not but be detrimental to other areas which rely on American aid.