NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 17, 20 July 1942, Page 4

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

LATIN AMERICA

INFLUENCE ON EVENTS

Events at the weekend have brought no great change in the war situation. In Egypt the fight for position at El Alamein continues on the whole satisfactory to the Allies. General Auchinleck's forces have maintained their grip on the areas of advantage commanding the battleground which were captured last week and held against seated attack. In Russia the Germans have occupied Voroshilovgral on the Donets, 90 miles north of Rostov, which is now increasingly threatened. At Voronezh, on the north flank of the drive, the ; Germans are on the defensive. In China the Chinese have recaptured Wenchow, on the Chekiang coast. All these operations are more or less beyond the power of the greater Allies of the outside circle, Britain and America, to affect by immediate direct intervention. Help to Russia is hindered by the difficulty of getting convoys through the Arctic to Archangel and Murmansk unscathed. On this point the testimony of the Moscow correspondent of the London "Sunday Times," given in today's news, is somewhat disturbing. Direct help to China is influenced by the loss of the Burma Road, and the route to Egypt and through Irak and Iran to Russia is roundabout and slow both from Britain and from America. The crux of the problem is shipping, and shipping losses have been heavier in the waters off America, north, central, and south, than anywhere else, the number of ships sunk now approaching 400 since Pearl Harbour, December 7, 1941. As world events have more and more forced the United States into the forefront of the war for freedom, as not only the "arsenal of j democracy," but the centre of military activity, the position of Latin America assumes increasing importance. "Bulge of Brazil." In the last of a long series of articles on "Amencans at Wai' in the "Chris- j tian Science Monitor," Roland Hall Sharp, staff correspondent, sums up his impressions of a 20,000 miles' flying tour of Latin America extending from the United. States to the far south ul Chile and the Argentine. He notes how vulnerable Latin America is to Axis attack and how strong Axis influence is in certain areas. At one point, in the "bulge" of Brazil eastward, South America is only 1700 miles from Dakar in West Africa, generally believed to be under Axis control. This, in a belt of sea singularly free from storms, is easy flying distance for large modern aircraft: Fortunately* Brazil, under the firm government of President Vargas, stands as a bulwark against the Axis. Brazil is by far the largest of the South American republics, being actually larger than the United States, but communications are poor, except by air. But Brazil, with the help of the United States, is quickly j developing its defences, particularly in the "bulge." It is on the whole the strongest country militarily in South America. Argentine Neutrality The next strongest country is the Argentine. Here the position is different. Argentina has declined to break off diplomatic relations with the Axis and has influenced i^hile in the same direction. But pro-Nazi opinion is far more prevalent in the Argentine than in Chile, where the dominant motives are caution, fear, and a desire to continue the profits of neutral trading. Both countries are of great strategic importance as controlling the land areas bordering on the sea route via Cape Horn and the Strait of Magellan. The prolonged illness and recent death of President Ortiz in Argentina have left power to President Castillo, who will go no further against the Axis than according the United States the rights of a nonbelligerent. Costillo's neutrality-at-any-price policy has received the enthusiastic approval of Berlin, Rome, and Tokio, but it is bitterly opposed 'in Argentina itself. His party of the reactionary interests, Democrata Nacional, is still the strongest in the Argentine Congress, but it does not command a majority. With sympathetic independents Castillo can muster 76, but the opposition, of Radicals and Socialists, numbers 82. The Opposition won its first victory by electing Jose Lvi Cantilo, a staunch supporter of the United Nations, President of the Chamber. But Castillo has decreed a "state of siege" in Argentina, and there is much to be done before democracy there can win through. Pro-Ally Republics. Argentina, Brazil, and Chile—the A.B.C. countries —are the leading Powers in South America. Uruguay, sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil, is staunchly pro-Ally. The remaining countries'—Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Paraguay—are listed by Roland Sharp as "firm" for the United Nations in that order. They have broken off diplomatic relations with the Axis, but, he adds, their internal political and economic situations are unstable enough in some instances to throw doubt on the durability of present pro-U.S. policies. Paraguay, Ecuador, and Bolivia, he considers, should hold on, provided they are not subjected to pressures beyond their strength. It should not be forgotten that Latin America has been seriously affected in its economy by the war and that there are internal political rivalries as well as rivalries between States. Central America. Central America, including- the Republics of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, SJiearagua, Costa

Rica, and Panama, is now at war with the Axis, and all the nations mentioned are members of the United Nations. So also are the West Indian States of Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. But within all these small States there are subt^ and determined foes, conspiring to help, the Axis and injure the Allies. All this area round the Caribbean Sea and on the Pacific side is of vital importance for its seaborne traffic in and out of the Gulf of Mexico and through the Panama Canal. These seas must be among the. busiest in the world ' today and in them the U-boat is still finding many victims. How the U-boat also finds friends and sources of supply of fuel and other material from secret bases is told in a long dispatch from New York today, which tells also of some of the difficulties the American authorities are meeting in the effort to safeguard the passage of shipping. The insecurity of American waters may well have a profound effect on the progress of the war, showing how indivisible the whole struggle has be-