Presidential Thanks

In his struggle to pull Bolivia's economy back from the brink of ruin. President Hernan Siles Zuazo has had solid cash backing from the U.S. One day last week, surrounded by members of his Cabinet. Siles strolled through the sunshine from the presidential palace to the Congress building. There, in the first state-of-the-nation speech since his inauguration a year ago, President Siles made the unusual gesture of giving heartfelt public thanks to the U.S.

Siles gave full credit to Bolivia's economic-stabilization program (based on the recommendations of U.S. Economist George Jackson Eder) for saving the country "from disaster." He pointed to the help that Bolivia is getting in U.S. technical cooperation for health, education, agriculture and roads. Siles put U.S. dollar help at more than $23 million for the fiscal year--plus an emergency $2,000,000 for Bolivia's drought-parched farm areas. He praised the "evident spirit of international cooperation" demonstrated by the $25 million currency-stabilization loan granted last December by the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. International Cooperation Administration, pointing to the boliviano's climb (from 13,000 to the dollar to 8,400).

In Siles, the U.S. is backing a battler. To keep his program from being junked or sidetracked. Siles has gone on a hunger strike, threatened to resign, taken to the road to talk down an impending general strike. Much of his trouble has been spawned by left-wing elements in his own Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (M.N.R.). led by Labor Boss Juan Lechin, who has helped turn Bolivia's biggest dollar earner, tin mining, into a mismanaged, worn-out featherbed for his followers. But last month Siles pushed Lechin to the sidelines by dissolving the leftist-dominated ruling body of the M.N.R. and firing four pro-Lechin Cabinet members. A fortnight ago, 70 mining experts representing both government and labor recommended that the government spend $8,000,000 on a tin-industry face lifting. With Lechin out of the way, the labor representatives also agreed to take disputes to court instead of striking on the spot, even approved the firing of unneeded miners, provided that jobs are found for them elsewhere.

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