"The Freedom You Breathe"

"All through Latin America, people tend to think that Puerto Ricans are vassals of the United States," said Costa Rican President Jose ("Don Pepe") Figueres, on a state visit last week to San Juan. "Well, that's simply not true. The freedom that you breathe here is the same freedom that you breathe in any Anglo-Saxon country. That's what Puerto Rico has to put across to Latin Americans who look upon anything North American through jaundiced eyes, who simply cannot forget the slogans about Yankee imperialism and dollar diplomacy, and so do not understand the transformation of Puerto Rico."

As his visit with his old friend, Governor Luis Munoz Marin, went on, Figueres' enthusiasm for the "free, associated commonwealth" of the U.S. grew steadily. In a speech to a joint session of the legislature, he suggested the eventual political and economic integration of all the Americas. As an immediate economic step, he pleaded for what amounted to U.S. crop supports for Latin American agricultural products (coffee, sugar, bananas). "Three years ago," he recalled, "Costa Rica was persuaded to cultivate more cocoa, then selling for $65. So we planted more cocoa, using our own modest purse. Now cocoa sells for $25, and whole provinces of Costa Rica are suffering." In a TV talk at week's end, he returned to his main theme. "Puerto Rico's destiny," he said, "is to serve as a link between North and South America. Costa Rica's destiny is, perhaps, to help Puerto Rico increase understanding between the two Americas."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.