Deplorable You

The U.S. recognized the new government of Panama last week. But, as Secretary of State Dean Acheson implied at his press conference, this merely meant an admission by the U.S. that brazen Arnulfo Arias had caught the brass ring on Panama's political merry-go-round. "The act of recognition," said the Secretary, "does not constitute approval of the manner in which the present government came into power. We have, in fact, publicly deplored the means by which the political changes in Panama since Nov. 19 were effected."

Critics of the State Department's Latin American policy noted impatiently that its "recognize-and-deplore" formula had given little but cold comfort to democrats in Venezuela, Peru and Colombia. Acheson was aware of the criticism, but he applied the formula again, apparently in an effort to show that it can sometimes get results.

Using the verb "deplore" once more, Acheson aimed it at Dominican Dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, who had just asked his obedient congress for power to declare war on "any nation," i.e., Cuba, which he suspected of sheltering his foes. Said Acheson: "The government deplores the action of the Dominican Republic in having brought up the possibility of the use of armed force for the purpose of 'war.' It is our profound conviction that the use of this term is ... inappropriate."

The statement drew applause from other Latin nations. Even Trujillo's old ally, Nicaraguan Dictator "Tacho" Somoza, spoke up: "Nicaragua knows how to settle its problems with its neighbors through the inter-American peace machinery. It's a shame that the Dominican Republic can't handle its grievances that way." At week's end, Latin diplomats were laying odds that the point would not be lost on lonely Trujillo.

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