LBJ's empty hand

LATIN AMERICA MALCOLM RUTHERFORD

The most curious fact about the meeting of American presidents which has just ended in Uruguay is that it was called by Lyndon John- son himself. Nothing in the charter of the Organisation of American States dictated that such a meeting should take place at this par- ticular time. The Latin Americans themselves were not demanding it. It need, in fact, never have taken place at all Yet it was called by Mr Johnson at very short notice, Washington hurriedly declared its commitment to Latin American economic integration and the presi- dents gathered in Punta del Este, not perhaps with enthusiasm, but at least with the expecta- tion that Mr Johnson would have something to say.

Nothing happened. Mr Johnson made no new commitments, no specific promises of in- creased American aid and no memorable state- ment of policy. From the start he set out to conduct two sets of discussions at once, one the conference proper and the other a series of bilateral meetings with his Latin counterparts. Almost all those who went in to see him, however, came away with the im- pression that the President was overtired, that he was obsessed with his own domestic prob- lems and the war in Vietnam, and that all he could offer Latin America at present was ex- cuses. The very fact that he had summoned the meeting had caused the Latin Americans to formulate demands—most notably for preferential tariff agreements on exports to the us. Yet all he could do was to turn them empty away with unspecific promises for the. future and despairing references to America's own balance of payments. And although the main purpose of the summit, from Mr John- son's point of view, was to give us blessing to the aim of achieving a Latin American Com- mon Market by 1985, the sad fact is that those presidents who came away most disappointed were Frei of Chile and Lleras Restrepo of.. Colombia, two men for whom economic integra- tion is a supreme article of faith.

All of which raises a second curious fact about the meeting: the men from Washington seem to have departed believing that it was a howling success. Clearly reflecting official us satisfaction, the conference has been described by Newsweek, for instance, as 'one of the most productive experiments in international sum- mitry.'

Part of this overwhelming misconception may be attributed to Latin politeness. (The only man who did speak his mind and even declined to sign the final declaration, President Arosemena of Ecuador, was openly rebuked by Lleras_ Restrepo at a .press con- ference for doing so.) Pah, but not all; by far the greater explanation of Washington's misunder-

standing is a fundamental refusal to reassess the guidelines of its own policy, to admit that the time when it could have Latin America to itself is long past.

Mr Johnson went to Punta del Este o e- dare that this was the 'decade of agency,' that the us needed a strong Latin' America, as much as anything else for the sake of its own security, and that Washington would do

everything it could to help. But Washington did not do it. AS the President pointed out, us policy is inhibited by commitments else- where and by economic problems at home.

Not only, therefore, is Washington not doing enough to help; it is there on the President's own admission that it cannot. Besides, it is also

becoming perfectly plain that a growing num- ber of Latin American leaders do not want to

take their guidance and help, however generous, exclusively from the us. They see no reason why they should not be able to pick and choose their friends and benefactors as they please like any other adult state.

President Arosemena, the man who refused to sign, is an excellent example of this. He is no more a marxist than Lyndon Johnson and possibly rather less so. He is a conservative who was surprisingly elected at the end of last year over a liberal and has emerged as primarily a nationalist The main business of Ecuador abroad is to find markets for its bananas, markets which he has been picking up in Eastern Europe. There is, it seems, for Latin Americans a certain feeling of illicit

- pleasure in securing relations with Communist countries because they know Washington does not like it. At the same time, however, it is a vital way of increasing trade and perhaps of winning fresh offers of aid. If the us really cares about Latin America, such developments should be welcome. They should also appear a way of relieving America's own obligations. Mr Johnson did not say so. He talked instead as though nothing in the sphere of inter- American relations had changed in the past 150 years: the us had grown progressively more powerful (as always), but as has happened from time to time here, in the shape of the President himself, was living proof that the other Ameri- cans had not been forgotten.

So Mr Johnson missed an opportunity. He

- either failed to see or chose to ignore the most important political development among Latin American leaders at the present time—the resurgence of interest in the world outside. Mr Johnson could have made his mark by acknowledging this and implicitly jettisoning the Monroe Doctrine. Instead he chose to reaffirm it, and to do so not by transform- ing it into a revivified Alliance for Pro- gress, but by promising aid which he had to admit the us could not at present afford.

In every sense except that it gave an oppor- tunity for like-minded Latin Americans to hold meetings of their own outside the main con- ference, the Punta del Este summit was a non- event. By calling it in thearst place, Mr John- son suggested he had something to say. He revealed that he had not. He was himself re- sponsible both for providing the opportunity and then for throwing it away. Unless he can produce some effective follow-up quickly, last week's meeting may go down as the moment when the. Alliance. for Progress finally lost heart and the tms began to become as nebulous an association as the Commonwealth.

The public bitterness of President Aresemena and the quieter disappointment of President Frei should act as a warning. These are moderate men not asking for the moon. Mr Johnson has attempted to fob them off with promises, sym- pathy and a declaration of intent. He can only make their own task of trying to carry out their mandates more difficult. And the men who replace them may be neither so restrained nor so willing to give Washington a chance.