Latin America: Summit Benefits

Latin American Presidents are not, as a rule, a very chummy bunch; they have often preferred to go their separate ways. But such was the mood of camaraderie that marked the Punta del Este conference that they have already begun to communicate with each other in a way that bodes well for the goal of building a Latin American common market. After leaving Punta del Este, Panama's Marco Robles traveled last week with Argentina's Juan Carlos Ongania to Buenos Aires for a twelve-hour personal visit. On his way home to Bogota, Colombia's Carlos Lleras Restrepo stopped over in La Paz to deliver a message to President René Barrientos, who had boycotted the summit meeting. Lleras brought word from Chile's Eduardo Frei that he was willing to discuss with Barrientos the possibility of granting Bolivia access to the sea. Paraguay's Alfredo Stroessner plans to visit Ongania in Buenos Aires in July,

With the weariness born of too of ten seeing grandiose plans turn to dust, much of the hemisphere's press was openly skeptical about results of the conference, which Rio de Janeiro's Jornal do Brasil called "nothing but words, timid words." Even while complaining, though, many publications reflected the new mood of self-reliance and independence inspired by the Punta del Este talks. Said Confirmado, an Argentinian weekly: "Latin America has proved that it rejects dreams and prefers at last to go to work." Endorsing the common market, Saāo Paulo's O Estado declared: "Regional integration is an imperative of modern economic life."

Only the Score. Back home, the Latin American Presidents helped spread the message of self-help that Lyndon Johnson had so effectively implanted in the face-to-face sessions. Breaking his custom of addressing his countrymen only once a year, Mexico's Gustavo Diaz Ordaz went on the radio as soon as he returned home to stress that Latin America must bear the chief responsibility for its own future. Said President Fernando Belaunde Terry to his fellow Peruvians: "The declaration of Punta del Este is only the score. Success will depend on how we play it."

The first major step toward building a common market for Latin America will come in midsummer, when officials of the two existing markets—the eleven-nation Latin American Free Trade Association and the five-nation Central American Common Market— will meet to discuss plans for merging the two zones into one economic com munity. Meanwhile, the Latins will talk among themselves about multilateral plans for better education, health and communications. By autumn, the first details of Latin America's new direction should begin to take shape.