U.S. SENATOR’S ATTACK

Grey River Argus, 30 November 1943, Page 3

U.S. SENATOR’S ATTACK

ON SOUTH AMERICAN GOVERNMENTS REPUDIATED BY VICE- . PRESIDENT. (Rec. 9.40) WASHINGTON, Nov. 27. Senator Butler, after making a 20,000-mile trip through twenty Central American and South American Republics, made to the Senate a report that United States aid to Latin-American countries had helped to keep military dictatorships in power and laid a ground work for future wars. He said that only three of the countries he visited could fairly be called democracies. The remainder were dictatorships of the most autocratic kind. The United States had poured six billion dollars into Latin America. It had built, or had financed, five hundred air , ports without agreements as to postwar ownership or post-war operational agreements. The United States actually was being charged landing fees at some of these airports. At least one country was using lendlease armaments to prepare for war against neighbours. He said: “A seething eagerness to get at each others throats exists at this moment in Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentine. Tension “also exists in Peru, Chile and Brazil. War between some of these nations is considered inevitable. Graft is common among ruling cliques of various Governments. High officials have received their cut on much United States spending. They Laugh behind our backs and call us suckers while we pour in billions.”

Mr. Butler submitted his report to the Truman Investigation Committee and the Byrd Economy Committee. He asked for "a re-examina-tion of United States policies to forestall an inevitable collapse of United States-Latin American relations when the United States liberality ends.”

Senator Butler’s report has been characterised bv Vice-President Wai-, lace as “a shocking slur to our LatinAmerican Allies.” Mr. Wallace said: “Fantastic figures have been used in an apparent attempt to discredit our good-neigh-bour policv. These will be refuted by the agencies involved. I feel compelled to express deep regret to our Latin-American Allies in the war tor the shocking slur made against