[1960s AMERICAN VIEW OF LATIN AMERICA FIDEL CASTRO & CUBAN REVOLUTION]

[Music] gay feschi glowing with romance [Music] [Applause] Ashton Granger touched with nature's magic this is the timeless face of Latin America but there is yet another Latin America more urgent than these not lovely but harsh not exotic but grim the turbulent Latin America through which today the unpredictable winds of history are how [Music] [Applause] [Music] our interest in Latin America has always been high through the years today it is deeper than ever there are solid practical reasons for this interest Latin America supplies us with nearly 1/3 of all our imports and among these are many of the raw materials with which we maintain our position as the world's industrial leader bauxite copper manganese 10 Len Z petroleum and iron over we also get many of our important food products from their coffee bananas and silver and at the same time these countries are a big market for many of the products who you have to sell particularly manufactured goods such as industrial machinery and farm equipment there are other vital reasons why Latin America is important to us the security of the hemisphere is involved we have military bases in the Caribbean islands such as the naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba we guard and operate the strategic Panama Canal and as far as military security is concerned it's easy to see that hostile missile bases anywhere in Latin America would gravely imperil the safety of all but security involves more than the question of bases our security as a nation indeed the security of the civilization we are part of is embedded in this question in which direction will the world move and in the framework of that question Latin America's importance to us is very great indeed Adlai Stevenson our ambassador to the United Nations heard it put this way on a trip he made through Latin America the balance between east and west today is precarious Latin America along with Africa could tip the balance we want the balance to tip in our favor we speak of Latin America as if it were an entity it's not it's not one country but 20 totaling almost 200 million people covering a quarter of the globe from the Rio Grande River on the border between Texas and Mexico to Cape Horn some of the countries are huge Brazil for instance with 67 million people covers a territory larger than the continental United States some are small Panama with only 1 million inhabitants is smaller than the state of South Carolina [Music] there are great diversities among the Latin American people themselves [Music] [Applause] the land itself shows the same kind of dramatic variation [Music] [Applause] [Music] but for all their differences these many individual countries are bound together by more than their geographic unity and by more than the common name Latin America a common cultural background manifest itself in many ways the Roman Catholic Church is as it has been for several centuries and important influence [Music] although the products themselves vary most of the Latin American countries base their economies on one or at the most two commodities throughout all the countries there is the sense of sharp contrasts great cosmopolitan cities show the effects of modern life [Music] but away from the cities life has changed little over the centuries [Music] and the sharpest contrast of all is this alongside evidence of great wealth exist poverty as grinding as can be found anywhere on the face of the earth this poverty pressing down upon millions is the most urgent of all the characteristics of Latin America today and the one which more than any other links these many separate countries together hand in hand with poverty are the problems which usually accompany it uneven land distribution is one the lot of the farm worker is little better than that of the poor men in the city slums most of the agricultural land in Latin America is owned by a very small percent of the wealthy [Music] the majority of those who cultivate the land either scratch out of bare existence on a small plot of Earth or work as tenant farmers usually deeply in debt to their absentee landlords [Music] illiteracy is another handicap in some countries more than half the people cannot read or write health - presents grave problems diets are inadequate diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis claimed many lives each year [Music] all of this taking place in a part of the world that is rich in resources is a condition inherited from the days of Latin America's dictatorships when only a relative few prospered and the masses suffered in several of the latin-american countries over the last few years the people have overthrown the dictatorships with which they associated the hard heritage of their lives but the demand for still greater change continues to be felt in literally every country this demand this discontent is a part of the ferment that stirs today in all the evolving regions of the world where men are impatient with the old ways that held them in privation for so long and seek to change their lot through revolution of one kind or another fortunately most of the nations of Latin America that they have strong Democratic leadership men who are aware of the pent-up pressures for reform and water got ahead with the work of social reconstruction while there yet is time before the Holocaust of revolution engulfs tomorrow Venezuela is an example of such a country it's government headed by rómulo betancourt was elected in 1959 after a revolution how stood the dictatorship which had ruled it for years Venezuela's problems are those shared by all the Latin American countries the new government since its inception has been under steady pressure from both the left and the right but in the face of these difficulties it is working with diligence to build up the nation to improve housing and education and public health it is Cuba however which provides the example the world knows best of the direction in which the revolutionary spirit can move a latin-american country in its essentials the background of the Cuban story is similar to that of many another latin-american country for years it was ruled by dictatorship the most recent headed by Fulgencio Batista did little to improve the life of the people a revolutionary band headed by Fidel Castro hiding in the mountains harassed the regime with guerrilla warfare building up enormous support with the peasants finally in 1959 the revolution succeeded [Music] [Applause] the Batista regime was overthrown and Cuba had a new government with Castro at the head [Music] [Applause] in many ways the revolution appeared to bring to the lives of the Cuban people the changes they had so desperately wanted the new government undertook redistribution of wealth and income initiated agricultural reforms built schools and housing developments the people were able to believe that at long last they had a friend in Castro someone who had their interest at heart but changes of a substantially different nature also came with the revolution the sweeping reforms were not accomplished through any kind of legislation they were accomplished only by government decree ratified by voice vote of large gatherings of people no elections were held nor did it appear likely that there would be any thus through the reforms the shape of Cuba's new dictatorship could clearly be seen the island nation was plunged into an orgy of bloodshed when hundreds of followers of Batista were tried and executed for what the new government said were war crimes a [Music] dictator of any stripe must always have whipping boys enemies whether real or imagined when we can use to spare his people into a frenzy of fear and Allegiance Castro did not look far to find his he looked to us the United States where the Cuban people revolted by the bloodbath they had witnessed were they suspicious of Castro's brand of democracy the kind that knows no election did they see disturbing evidence of waste in the new government Castro threw up a smoke screen thick enough to obscure these and any other suspicions from Cuban eyes and monitors a smokescreen fabricated of charges of Yankee imperialism and North American aggression he pictured for his frenzied people a sinister and hostile United States ready to gobble up the tiny Cuban nation whose only hope for survival lay with Fidel Castro and they hailed him as their hero fantastic of course but not without precedent the successful use of the big lie was introduced to the modern world by another dicta who had a way with crowds Adolf Hitler and it has been used with striking effect by dictators in the Communist world since then after a series of steps taken by Castro aimed at producing trade between the United States and Cuba and seizure and confiscation of American property in Cuba the United States drastically reduced its importation of sugar Cuba then signed new trade agreements to export a large part of its sugar to the Soviet Union and Communist China when Cuba finally demanded that our diplomatic staff be reduced to 11 the United States severed diplomatic relations with the new government [Music] finally more significant than any of these was the new danger which the Cuban Revolution introduced to Cuba and to the Western Hemisphere with increasing speed Castro's Cuba set about establishing strong ties with the Soviet Union and with Red China [Music] suddenly in our part of the world on the very doorstep of the United States there existed - what all intents and purposes could be called a communist state now the danger to us send to the hemisphere of a communist beachhead in Cuba is real and immediate and it is important that we understand it thoroughly first of all it is not true that the Cuban Revolution was at its inception a communist revolution that revolution or one like it would have taken place had communism never existed at all in fact it was not until Castro was successful and was attempting to form a government that the communist elements took over but what is true and exceedingly dangerous from our point of view is the example that Cuba offers of how communism can and will take advantage of an unstable situation and convert it to its own use how it stands ready to exploit to its own advantage every successful revolution wherever it occurs in the world there is little doubt that Castro and the revolution he represents have caught the imagination of great masses of people in Latin America who see in him the symbol of how they can get what they want quickly his popularity with the Latin American governments is not so high as it once was some which avidly supported him are now showing discomfort at his close ties with Moscow and his willingness to export his own brand of revolution to other lands but with the people themselves Castro is still a dynamic force a force to be reckoned with castro has helped to release a flood of anti-american feeling throughout latin america [Applause] [Music] again let us make sure we understand this anti-american sentiment Castro did not invent it neither did communism but there is little doubt of course that the Communists who work unceasingly to convince the Latin Americans that we care nothing about them are more than willing to whip it up members of a committee of the United States Congress visited several Latin American countries recently and in the report they made on their trip they had this to say on this subject it is probably inevitable that Envy at the disparity between our living conditions and theirs should make the United States a rich and powerful nation a convenient scapegoat for hopelessness and frustration in any case we should forbear hysterical response to hysterical provocations the wisest course would appear to be the quiet and determined pursuit in cooperation with responsible leaders in Latin America our policy is designed to provide hope to the countless despairing human beings in the area a pursuit to bring hope working to help our sister American Republic's is not a new experience for us our private businesses have invested nine and a half billion dollars in Latin American industries providing jobs for many workers enter the export-import bank the United States has loaned the countries of Latin America some three and a half billion dollars since World War Two in technical programs we have provided assistance on many levels to the struggling countries [Music] through the organization of the American states we work to solve our mutual problems peacefully now the United States is preparing to increase substantially our assistance to Latin America what the United States plans in brief is to undertake a ten-year program in which we will work closely with the Latin American governments to improve the lives of the Latin American people working first on reforms in such basic areas as education housing and health it's a big program it will involve money time and talent but the clock of history is running fast in Latin America as in all the turbulent regions of the world in outlining the program which the United States plans to undertake President Kennedy described also the philosophy which lies behind it our hemisphere mission is not yet completed for our unfilled task is to demonstrate to the entire world that man's unsatisfied aspirations for economic progress and social justice can best be achieved by free men working within a framework of democratic institutions let us once again transform the American continent into a vast crucible of revolutionary ideas and efforts a tribute to the power of the creative energies of free men and women an example to all the world that liberty and progress walk hand in hand let us once again awaken our American Revolution until it guides the struggle of people everywhere not within imperialism of force or fear rule of courage and freedom hope for the future of man