Inside the Family

Only five republics (including the U.S.) had accepted. Most of the others said no, or had reservations to the Uruguayan proposal on intervention (TIME, Dec. 3). But the point last week was whether to discuss the proposal at the Inter-American Conference at Rio next spring. To do so would raise the hot issue of Argentine violations of the basic rights of man. This was exactly what the U.S. wanted.

Last week, as some republics still shied at the idea, U.S. officials talked about bringing up the topic of Argentina in the world assembly by invoking Article II of the United Nations Charter (which permits the UNO Assembly to discuss any problem relating to the maintenance of peace). The threat of such a global airing of regional matters might do much to induce sensitive Latin republics to handle their scandals inside the family.

Power and Leadership. The forthright new U.S.-Latin American policy was voiced more clearly than ever last week in speeches by Assistant Secretary of State Spruille Braden in New Haven and Manhattan. "The problem we face is not how to avoid using our power," said hard-hitting Spruille Braden. "We cannot possibly avoid using it, for it weighs in the balance just as much even when we do not deliberately apply it or when we deliberately seek to avoid applying it. . . . If a nation has great power, as we have it in abundance, it cannot shun the obligation to exercise commensurate leadership . . . positively on behalf of human rights."

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