HAPPY HUNTING GROUND IN LATIN AMERICA
‘The reason for the avid interest displayed by merchants, industrialists and bankers of the United States in the domestic politics of the Latin-American countries can be gathered from some statistics compiled by Monde Uni [March 1964).
In the category of food, the United States imports from Latin America: bananas, 95%3 coffe, 8525 ‘sugar, 76%3 cacao, 48%,
Figures for raw materials are as follows: beryllium, 716; copper, 62%; iron, 58%; zinc, 52%; oil, 43%; bauxite, 42%; tungsten, 40%. These are only examples from a Long list.
For handling key supplies like these American businessmen insist on a cut. The annual take is about h, 000, 000,000.
As an example of what can be aecomplished under benevolent dictators backed by American ambassadors and military missions, the International Railway Co., a United Fruit enterprise, on an invest~ ment of $28,000,000 in 1904 realized $97,000,000 by 1953,
And for their generosity in supplying the United States, the Latin-American people are rewarded with sometimes catastrophic drops in the prices of what they sell. From 1951 to 1959, for instance, cacao dropped 52%3 sugar, 47%3 wool, 46%; coffee, 3343 lead, B26; zinc, 28%; cotton, 23%; canned beef, 22%; tin, 20%; cereals, ies, etc.