URUGUAY TALKS LIVING STANDARDS MAIN SUBJECT

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31343, 13 April 1967, Page 13

URUGUAY TALKS LIVING STANDARDS MAIN SUBJECT

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

PUNTA DEL ESTE (Uruguay), April 12. President Johnson and his fellow leaders from the Western Hemisphere will meet round a casino table in Punta del Este today to try and bring to life their dream of jointly raising LatinAmerican living standards.

The centrepiece for the historic summit, a year in the making, is the casino of the San Rafael Hotel in this exclusive Atlantic resort, now the scene of unprecedented security precautions. Punta del Este was virtually sealed off with a roadblock just outside the resort, two Uruguayan warships anchored in the harbour and all unauthorised planes banned from flying over the area. Anti-aircraft batteries were manned to shoot down intruders.

Police battled in fierce clashes with demonstrating students in Montevideo before President Johnson flew there on his way to the summit meeting. He then went on in a helicopter from Montevideo airport to Punta del Este. Police moved up in riot trucks when the demonstrations started in Montevideo this morning. Students hurled stones while the police replied with tear-gas and baton charges. Three demonstrators were reported injured. The federation of Uruguayan university students last night called for demonstrations against the summit and “the presence of dictators in Uruguay and particularly of Lyndon Johnson, responsible for genocide in Vietnam.” The visiting Heads of State who flew in over the last few days all issued statements on optimism and hope for their three-day conference. There was speculation that the 18-strong line-up might be increased by the surprise appearance of Dr. Francois

Duvalier, of Haiti, because he has not announced that he is staying at home. The Bolivian President, Mr Rene Barrientos, is boycotting the top-level launching of the Hemisphere integration drive and the Nicaraguan President, Mr Lorenzo Guerrero Gutierrez is not coming because of the critical illness of the former President, Mr Luis Somoza, in Managua. President Johnson is expected to drive home that how far Latin America moves ahead in the coming decade largely depends on his fellow presidents. United States officials underlined that it was Latin American initiative that led to the summit conference—with the help of a big push from President Johnson. He wants to listen and learn what the other presidents have to propose, observers said. When they have formulated their own ideas on how Latin American development can be realised, he intends to evaluate exactly how the United States can help.