Bolivia Under Study

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31724, 6 July 1968, Page 13

Bolivia Under Study

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) SAN ANTONIO (Texas), July 5. President Johnson will focus his round of hemisphere diplomacy on Bolivia today as he received visiting President Rene Barrientos at his Texas ranch.

A United States-trained Air Force pilot who became a general and then President of his country. President Barrientos is expected to bring a microcism of the problems facing Latin America as a whole to his private talk with Mr Johnson. The United States has poured more than s3oom worth of aid into Bolivia since World War II and gave counter-insurgency training to the Bolivian troops which broke the guerrilla band of the Cuban revolutionary, “Che” Guevara, last year, killing its leader. The United States has cut down drastically on its aid in recent years, however, and in spite of Bolivia’s role in frustrating “Che” Guevara’s aim of creating “Vietnams” in Latin America, Washington has been insisting on Bolivian self-help efforts before committing more major aid. Agreement on a relatively small $4.5m loan, which may be announced in San Antonio, was reached only about a week ago after protracted negotiation between Washington and La Paz. But the two Presidents, at their luncheon meeting, expected to continue through most of the afternoon, are ex-

pected to cover a much broader range of subjects. Mr Johnson is interested in winning support from South American leaders for accelerating the pace of Latin American integration, particularly in multi-national infrastructure works which tie the continent together.

His visitor is interested in modifying United States surplus tin disposal policy because of what Bolivia feels is its adverse effect on its exports of the metal, historically its prime foreign trade lifeline. And within the context of physical integration, Bolivia has been pushing for its longdesired outlet to the sea to break its landlocked status.