LETTER TO PRESIDENT KENNEDY FROM ARGENTINE PRESIDENT FRONDIZI

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01676R000800050066-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 13, 2002
• Sequence Number: 66
• Publication Date: April 7, 1961
• Content Type: LETTER

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LETTER FROM PRESIDENT FRONDIZI
TO PRESIDENT KENNEDY
NSC REFERRAL NOT REQUIRERD ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESSApril 7 1961
To His Excellency
The President of the United States of America,
JOHN F. KENNEDY
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. President:
I have given most careful attention to the address
delivered by Your Excellency on March 13 last before the
Latin American Ambassadors in-Washington.
I wish to state to Your Excellency that the announce-
ment of the Alliance for Progress enunciated therein opens
a new historic perspective of the common task of the Ame-
rican Republics.
Our countries constitute a community united by geogra-
phical, historical, and, above all, spiritual ties that are
indissoluble.
We are a branch of the Western Wor14,ft At the time of
the great discoveries, the Western World put out branches to
all corners of the Earth. To all of them it transmitted the
vitality of its culture and its spirit of progress. In this
way it came into contact with other ancient cultures and
with priwitive peoples. It penetrated some 0 them and fused
thO-dId and the new" Values. -In others it-made 5.-t--1-5FeSnce-
actively felt but did not effect a permanent fusion.
America developed as part of the Western World. Our
indigenous peoples absorbed its religion and its culture.
The European peoples who came to our shores became a part of
our land forever.
? Our political independence, which we gained almost
simultaneously, was the first expression of the vitality and
maturity of the imported culture, which was thus acquiring an
autonomous existence.
1
ntry
747t -
From that time on, we began the great struggles to
develop .our national entities, to establish a democratic way
of life based on respect for human dignity, and to promote
the progress and well being of our peoples.
The evolution of our Republics was marked by the variety
and diversity that are characteristic of human destiny itself,
although our ideals and our objectives were the same. We
have all faced problems and conflicts in our evolution toward
democracy and liberty: internecine struggles, local con-
flicts, tyranny. In Europe, in full maturity, such conflicts
reached the catastrophic dimensions that brought the world
to the last war.
On that occasion, the United States constituted the
moral and material reserve upon which decisive action de-
volved to save paramount values at the final crossroads.
Then, in an unprecedented decision, it put forth a great
economic and technical effort in the Marshall Plan in order
to make it possible the rapid reconstruction of a world
economically paralyzed by devastation and tottering on the
edge of a grave crisis threatening desintesration which
would have been fatal to our civilization.
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Today Latin America is also passing through a period in
which basis values are at a stake.
Many of our peoples have been successful in establish-
ing the democratic institutions essential to the respect for
our traditional values, for human dignity, and for an econo-
mic regime based on social justice, private enterprise and
respect for private property.
Nevertheless, the Latin American nations are troubled
by a serious, disturbing factor which hinders our progress,
makes it difficult for the governments to satisfy the ever
stronger aspirations of the peoples and, under such condi-
tions, threatens our social stability in the face of the
corrosive activities of disruptive demagoguery and propagan-
da; this negative factor, as Your Excellency has clearly
perceived, is that of under-development.
The conditions of under-development prevalent in Latin
America disturb and impede all national efforts to bring
about an improvement in the living conditions of our peoples.
In very few cases is the national product of the coun-
tries of Latin America growing at a rate equal or superior
to that of the increase in population; export, consisting
principally of raw materials, have increased less than the
population and therefore provide resources considerably under
those required for the acquisition of equipment and manufac-
tured articles indispensable for development.
As depositories of a concept of life based on Christia-
nity and Western tradition, we uphold the supremacy of spi-
ritual values that constitute the dignity of man. In hours
critical for the world and for our countries, we lid not
hesitate to abandon all attachment to material -wealth in
defense of that which is vital for mankind.
But in the present crisis of Latin America, these values
are threatened by the disturbances and frustrations caused
our people by their inadequate incomes, which means economic
insecurity and, for many comaunities, malnutrition, disease,
and ignorance.
I have had repeated occasion to point out that the
vicious circle of poverty and under-development calls for
vigorous solutions. In present world conditions, political
as well as economic, no under-develoTped country can formu-
late such solutions within the framework of a democratic
regime, without the cooperation of the developed countries.
Moreover, I should like to emphasize to Your Excellency
that the problem of under-development is a grave question not
only in situations of extreme poverty; it is not only a ques-
tion of overcoming the problems of hunger, contageous disea-
ses or illiteracy; people in the middle of the twentieth cen-
tury aspire to levels of well-being appropriate to this age
and not simply to the material necessities of life. Their
aspirations encompass not only the biological needs but also
what at this point in civilization and world progress is a
full life, in a material and cultural sense and in a physi-
cal and spiritual sense. Rural man aspires to become more
informed and to be heard, democratically, in the making of
national decisions which will effect him; this means educa-
tional,transportation and communications facilities, elec-
trification and rural sanitation, equitable commercial treat-
ment; industrial workers who have acquired the skills to
operate the complex machinery in the factories aspire to high-
er cultural levels, to a higher social position, to a state
of well-being commensurate with the level of productivity made
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Professional and technical people and intellectuals also
aspire to be respected in their professions and to achieve
in the communities to which they belong positions of respon..
sibility commensurate with their capabilities.
This implies not only adequate income levels, but also
laboratory and educational facilities, and, above all, recog-
nition by society of their aptitudes and capabilities.
The history of this century indicates that tensions of
this type, perhaps even more than those created by extreme
poverty, offer fertile soil for the germination of nihilist
movements that can open the door to the irruption of communist
totalitarianism.
In your message to Congress on the subject of the Inter-
national Cooperation programs of the United States, Your Excel-
lency pointed out with great clarity that these programs are
not limited to a passive struggle of mere opposition to com-
munism but have the dynamic aim of demonstrating historically
that in the twentieth century rapid economic growth can be
achieved within the framework of our democratic institutions,
Apart from the Marshall Plan for Europe, in the years
following the last world war there has been carried on a vast
work of international cooperation in the economic and techni-
cal fields in which the United States has had the most impor-
tant role, including that of genuine leadership. However,
despite the considerable extent of the effort, from an abso-
lute standpoint, and the positive results obtained, if that
effort is measured in relation to the magnitude of the needs
of the under-developed countries, it is insufficient in com-
parison with the urgency of existing problems and tensions.
In an exceptional act of statesmanship immediately after
your assumption of the high national and global responsibi-
lity of the Presidency of the United States, Your Excellency
revived the best traditions of a great nation by taking an
initiative commensurate with importance and urgency of the
problem.
For that reason, I have not been content to limit my-
self to merely offering my congratulations, however warm they
may be.
In this question, our destiny as free nations and our
responsibility as leaders are at stake. In the name of that
responsibility, I wish to say today to Your Excellency that
my Government unreservedly commits itself to the joint
cooperative effort of the Alliance for Progress that you have
opened to all the nations of the Americas. This is a deci-
sion dictated by the irreversible course I chose for my coun-
try when I became head of the Government three years ago.
We faced without flinching the difficult task of conso-
lidating our institutions, the free exercise of rights
guaranteed by our constitution and social peace and at the
same time we initiated an economic policy designed to re-
organize and stabilize our finances and to promote on these
bases a process of rapid national development.
Under extremely difficult conditions, our faith in the
traditional ideals of the West enabled us with the support
of the people, to demonstrate clearly that the most fitting
and most direct road to economic well-being and the progress
can be constructed within the framework of democracy and
freedom, affirming the exercise of manes highest spiritual
qualities.
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The instruments of government intervention that have
previously interfered with the economic life of the nation
were removed: we furnished an adequate and definite solu-
tion to the manyfold national and international problems
with which our country had been burdened for several decades;
we call for heavy sacrifice in the nature of austerity on
the part of our people to curb the disintegrating process
of inflation and to rehabilitate our finances, and we ini-
tiated a program of sound development.
Of course, this undertaking would have been impossible
of realization if we had not had the valuable cooperation
of the nations of Western Europe to which we are bound by
traditional ties, and above all, of the United States, your
great country, which from the start showed great under-
standing of the critical importance of the undertaking we
were launching.
This cooperation has strengthened the bonds that unite
our two countries in a practical and concrete form that is
without precedent in our history.
The efforts of my government have had important and
favorable results, but have also enceuntered strong obsta-
cles that have brought about negative results as well. But
we persevere in them because we know that they constitute ,a
long-range effort which must be continued by those who follow
us.
For this reason, MI-. President, I state to you today -
that, as President of the Argentines, I consider myself
irrevocably a participant in the Alliance for Progress, aware
of all the other members of the American Community, but also
certain that only through this effort can we fulfill the
historic destiny of America in this century charged with
anxiety and promise.
The Alliance for Progress is a joing undertaking imply-
ing responsibilities for all as a condition for the achieve-
ment of objectives that will benefit all.
As Your Excellency has pointed out, it is a question of
undertaking in this decade a decisive effort to place the
American peoples on the road to a rapid economic development
that will enable them to raise their standards of living and
to overcome the social tensions brought about ly,T these living
standards.
This program must be properly organized and oriented, in
order that the necessarily limited resources may be utilized
in the most efficient manner; in spite of the groat amount of
cooperation envisaged by Your Excellency and the magnitude of
the contribution resulting from the efforts of all our coun-
tries themselves, it will always be limited in the relation
to the vastness of the objectives to be achieved.
For this reason I believe it necessary to concentrate the
initial impetus on the establishment and strategic expansion
of the basic industries and services that will, in turn, per-
mit the acceleration of industrialization and the mechaniza-
tion of agriculture, and thereb7 rapidly raise the producti-
vity of our economies.
The magnitude of this undertaking also brings up the
question that my government raised on several occasions over
a year ago, and that has also been given attention by Your
Excellency: it is that of the participation of countries
of 17estern Europe, bound by close traditional ties to Latin
America, in this effort at cooperation for its development.
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The development of the program presented by Your Excel-
lency will require close contact and exchange of ideas and
initiative among all the participating countries. It will
also be necessary to utilize existing institutions to the
maximum extent, especially the new Inter-American Develop-
ment Bank. The studies which have been carried out by the
Economic Coelmission for Latin America and the work done by
the C.A.'S., which culminated in a conference held in accord-
ance with the Act of Bogotb., will also be of great utility.
Nevertheless, I should like to point out to Your Excel-
lency, that I believe the magnitude of the task implicit in
. the Alliance for Progress will require machinery for coope-
ration, which, while permitting the most effective use of
the aforementioned instutitions, will have the flexibility
and efficiency that will, for example, permit active parti-
cipction in the program by the countries of "Testern Europe
and will assure efficient channqling of the cooperative
effort toward the basic sectors mentioned above. This ques-
tion, raised by my government long before the announcement
of the program formulated by Your Excellency, now acquires,
in our opinion, a much greater timeliness and importance.
My advisors and I myself are prepared to hold consul-
tations with Your Excellency and all the American govern-
ments in order to consider the means necessary for giving
the Alliance for Progress dynamic reality.
Mr. President: Please receive these lengthy comments
that I have taken the liberty of expressing as the most
direct homage to the lofty spirit that has inspired your
transcendent act of statesmanship.
From them you may have gathered the fact that I already
consider the Alliance for Progress as a reality that is on
the march, and T am certain that this opinion is held by all
the American governments.
In the coarse of this march, as we advance toward the
conquest of our future, the threat of any attempt from
abroad to create disturbances will be removed from this
hemisphere, and prosperity attained within the framework of
respect for liberty and the rule of justice will be definite-
ly affirmed.
Cordial greetings,
ARTURO FROND=
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President of Argentina
Delivers a Message
Human beings can only attain their full development
in a society built on the guiding principle of freedom.
Without freedom, that is to say, without being free of
unfair coercions, man limits his existence to simple
vegetation. To live in
freedom means that man
should not be enslaved by
poverty, ignorance or
fear. It means that the
shaping of his conscience
should be protected from
the tyrannic interference
of the power of the state
and from the abusive
pressures of the political,
economic and ideologic
circles.
The full achievement of
that freedom or aggregate
of freedoms, is the main
aim in the age in which
man lives. The removal of
the obstacles preventing
this attainment raises the
most serious problems of
ARTURO FRONDIZI government. Such is the
President of Argentina case, not only for the
economically and socially
underdeveloped countries, but also for those countries
who have reached high standards of living and who,
therefore, must carry on the development of their
cultural and spiritual life to the benefit of all their in-
habitants.
Co-operation among all nations has thus become
imperative to an extent unknown before. Never has
actual and definite interdependence among countries
been so emphasized as today. The backward communi-
ties struggle to divest themselves of the ties which
prevent self-determination and this process of national
assertion cannot be arrested now.
The scientific and technical advancements are quickly
known in the remotest parts of the earth, and the back-
ward communities are fully conscious that they cannot
enjoy them in spite of their contributions, Which are
similar to those of the communities who benefit 'fully
anti rapidly from those advancements.
In the present world, men realize that their national
sovereignty, their social peace. and their common wel-
fare cannot be ensured without economic development.
Underdevelopment disturbs the institutional organization,
makes social victories appear deceptive and keeps alive
the rancor leading to fratricidal wars.
Therefore, the forms of international co-operation
should be urgently and substantially altered. Leaders
of nations must recognize the compulsory and unavoid-
able nature of such co-operation. There is no longer a
place for theoretical debates on the subject. The coun-
tries .who are economically and socially underdeveloped
have their destiny at stake in the fight against poverty,
illness and ignorance. In their turn; the advanced
countries will not be able to peacefully maintain the
standard of national development if they do not expand
their trade and the areas of their capital investment
and technical advancement. But these aims cannot be
reached without expanding the purchasing power of the
nations who have not yet attained their full development.
These facts, "hard facts," leave no room for doubt,
hesitation or intermediate solutions. They mark the
historic course for the present world, particularly in the
Western Hemisphere. The struggle of the peoples of the
world for their better welfare, without impairing their
freedom and their respect for human dignity, depends
on the real understanding of this struggle by the leaders
of the world.
ARTURO FRONDIZI
President of Argentina
New Argentine
Port Planned
Argentina is reportedly
planning a major port in the
Province of Rio Negro at San
Antonio Bay,. near the estuary
of the Rio Negro.
A. final study of the port
was slated after preliminary
reports indicated that about
450,000 tons of farm products
could be shipped at present,
with the volume rising to al- I
most 900,000 tons annually
within toe years.
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Joins in President Kennedy's Enunciation
Alliance of Progress Hopes
Lifted
By 401IN HOOVER
Pan American Day
takes on a new signifi-
cance this year with the
enunciation of President
Kennedy's Alliance for
Progress as one of the
two or three major foun-
dation stones of U. S.
foreign policy.
His dramatic announce-
ment before the assembled
Latin American diplomats a
couple of weeks ago has been
received with cautious ap-
proval by our sister republics
who remember with out-
raged frustration how their
needs have been shunted
aside while Uncle Sam
poured billions of dollars into
Western Europe and South-
east Asia for economic and
social development.
But one endorsement?di-
rect and unequivocal?was
of particular importance tho
it went almost unnoticed in
the North ,!American press.
Administration sources have
indicated tltey are very much
excited and pleased by it.
(I statement
This was the lengthy state-
ment Argentine Presi(' a nt
Arturo Frondizi made in the
form of a personal letter of
congratulations to President
Kennedy.
"My government unreserv-
edly commits itself to the
joint co-operative efforts of
the Alliance for Progress
that you have opened to all
the nations of the Ameri-
cas," President Frondizi
said.
"As president of the Ar-
gentine, I consider myself ir-
revocably a participant . ? .
certain that only thru this
effort can we fulfill the
historic destiny of. America
in this century charged with
anxiety and promise."
This statement for the first
time in history ties the two
major countries of the hem-
isphere together in a com-
mon policy.
Argentina, rich and cul-
tivated, jealotis of its position
of leadership in South
American ffairs, had, even
during !Ile Roosevelt era of
good nekhborliness, withheld
Its enoiEnotis prestige from
collective inter-American ac-
tivity under United States
leadership.
(I First Break
President Frondizi's first
break with tradition came
when he sought foreign aid
to hell) his country recover"
from the economic chaos It
inherited from the Peron dic-
tatorship. Ile tied foreign aid
to a program of austerity
and has been rewarded for
his tremendous political cour-
age by seeing the foreshadow
of prosperity.
One recommendation to
President Kennedy reflects
his own experience:
"I believe It necessary to
concentrate the initial impe-
tus on the establishment and
strategic expansion of the
basic industries and services
that will, in turn, permit the
acceleration of industrializa-
tion and the mechanization
of our economy," President
Frondizi said.
I Means, Not End
ApproviesEVEMITithAl%LImit2 : attflADP80B01676R00
by Frondizi Support
terialistic program was a
means, not an end:
"Many of our peoples have
been successful in establish-
ing the democratic institu-
tions essential to the respect
for our traditional values,
for human dignity, and for
an economic regime based
on social justice, private en-
terprise, and respect for pri-
vate property.
"Nevertheless, t h e Latin
American nations are trou-
bled by a serious, disturbing
factor which hinders our
progress . . . threatens our
social stability in the face of
the corrosive activity of dis-
ruptive demagogery and pro-
paganda; this negative factor
. . is that of underdevelop-
ment.
". . . The vicious circle of
poverty and undervelopment
calls for vigorous solutions.
In present world conditions,
political as well as eco-
nomic, no underdeveloped
country can formulate such
solution within the frame-
work of a democratic regime
without the co-operation of
the developed countries.
"Moreover . . . it is not
only a question of overcom-
ing problems of hunger, con-
tagious diseases, or illiteracy;
people in the middle of the
20th century aspire to levels
of well-being appropriate to
this age ... Their aspirations
encompass . . . a full life, in
a material and cultural sense
and in a physical and spirit-
ual sense.
"Rural man aspires to be-
come more informed and to
be heard . . . in the making
of national decisions Which
will affect him; . . ? indus-
trial workers . . . aspire to
higher cultural levels, to a
higher social position . . .
professional and technical
people and intellectuals also
aspire to be respected in
their professions . . . and to
achieve positions of respon-
sibility . . .
"The history of this cen-
tury indicates that tensions
of this type, perhaps even
more than those created by
extreme poverty, offer fer-
tile soil for the germination
of nihilist movements that
can opeh the door to com-
munist totalitarianism."
ff Pledge
President Frondizi closed
.his letter with the pledge:
"My advisors and I myself
are prepared to hold con-
sultation with your Excel-
lency and all the American
governments in order to con-
sider the means necessary
for giving the Alliance for
Progress dynamic,reality ..."
There have been warm
statements of 'approval from
the heads of other hemis-
phere governments.,, but none
have been so direct nor so
detailed in acceptance.
The President's chief ad-
visor on Latin American
affairs, Adolf Berle, added
details to Mr. Kennedy's pro-
gram in a speech before the
American Bar Association in
New York on Wednesday.
jf One Big Note
He noted that communists
and their Cuban allies are
denouncing the Alliance for
Progress just as the com-
munists and their Euro-
peans allies denounced the
Marshall Plan in 1947.
"But we must all remem-
ber that the primary strug-
gle now is not against that
obstacle," Mr. Berle said.
"Communist opposition is
merely one of the difficul-
ties we must overcome. Our
real struggle is to add
strength, organization and
resources to the tremendous
surge for life, instruction and
human improvement sweep-
ing Latin America today.
"Our ultimate enemies are
Ignorance and disease, blind-
ing poverty and insecurity,
lack of production and lack
of social justice?all legacies
of a discarded past."
The reassurance of that
statement plus the strong
backing of President Fron-
dizi should go a long way
towards making the Alliance
for, Progress a hemispheric
program.
rgentina's Wealth
Is Riches of Its Soil
Argentina ha s made
substantial progress in its
program aimed at the ex-
pansion of production and
general economic recovery.
Increased foreign invest-
ment and additional pri-
vate investment reflect
confidence in the long
range programs of the
government.
The wealth of Argentina is
varied and abundant ? but
mainly it is the riches held
In its fertile soil. The great
Pampa, which makes up a
quarter of the nation's land
and contains some of the most
fertile soil in the world, pro-
duces practically all of the
rountry's wheat, corn, flax
'and a large amount of the
livestock. In other' sectiOns
there are cotton, sugar, vine-
yards and dozens of other
products.
BEEF AND WHEAT
Beef, wheat and other rarm
and livestock products make
up about 90 per cent of the
total value of the nation's
export trade. Leading indus-
tries, employing the most per-
sons and in value of product-
ARGENTINA
Capital: Buenos Aires
Population: 22,000,000
Area (sq. mi.) 1,072,700
Main exports: beef,
lIon, are meatpacking and food
processing. Flour milling, su-
gar refining, linseed oil pro-
cessing rank high.
After the Peron regime was
toppled, the new government
launched a program of eco-
nomic rehabilitation. Policies
of extreme economic national-
ism were reversed. The state
trading agency was elimi-
nated. Most of the main man-
ufacturing enterprises were
returned to private owner-
ship. The results of the pro-
gram have been highly fa-
vorable.
Last year Argentina wit-
nessed a fast growth in the
oil industry; stepped up pro-
duction of steel, a booming
auto industry and manufac-
facture of plastic and chem-
ical products.
Among the new protects
scheduled for this year are
, changes in the railroad sys-
tem and huge private invest-
ments in hydroelectric power,
oil developments and steel
works.
,.
OIL PRODUCTION
- The production of oil has
been spurred in Argentina
and it is expected that domes-
tic production will equal the
total amount of consumption
by the end of this year.
1 Argentines are justifiably
proud of their capital city of
;Buenos Aires?the largest city
in South America and one of
meat capitals of the
aW6*-Ut cosmopolitan
' city, Buenos Aires has a touch
sorParis, a bit of old Spain?
lyet it is individualistic and
['apart from the other capitals
of the hemisphere.
A great tourist center,
Buenos Aires has outstanding
arestaurants, fashionable
shops, theaters, cafes, etc. All
this plus its cultural institu-
r tions and above all the busy
lactive Portenos, themselves,
rmake this an attractive live
t metropolis.
The standard of living in
kArgentina is high and health
?,conditions are generally ex-
cellent. The average life ex-
tpectancy is the highest in
South America and the infant
,mortality rate is one of the
lowest. The public health pro-
gram has been highly de-
veloped and some of the
world's leading physicians re-
side in ,Argentina.
Today Argentina presents a
vivid example of the economic
gains and social progress that
can be' accomplished in a free
society,