INSIDE REPORT: BOBBY AND THE LATINS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000300180001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 25, 1998
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 9, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

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INSIDE 1"EPODT:
CPY ,%T1a- nd Evans and Robert Novak -
CPYRGHT
and fhp. Yjnau,s,
-
ohn F. Kennedy's Alli:inco for Progress revived U. S.
ti ,
satins to believe Uncle Sam would hail them out of
heir troubles.- The switch to a harder line demanding
elf-help by the -Latins under President Johnson (which
vas in the wind even before the assassination) has cooled
S.-Latin relations the last two years.
Under-Secretary of State Thomas Mann, principal
. A.
An official of the Venezuelan government contacted
the State Department the other day to suggest that Sen.'
Robert F. Kennedy visit the infamous Central Univer-
sity in Caracas.
What makes this so remarkable is the fact that the
Venezuelan called to encourage-not discourage - the
visit. Central is a hot-bed for over-aged Communist "stu-
dents" and a staging-ground for Red terrorist bands.
Venezuelan authorities usually don't want a touring
United States Senator within shouting distance of the
University. But Kennedy, they feel, could cope with the
Leftist students as he did in Japan and might actually
get through to those not committed to communism.
Whether or not Kennedy actually visits Central Uni-
versity, this story illustrates that his five-nation (Peru,
Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela) 20-day tour of South
America beginning Wednesday Is no ordinary Senatorial
junket. As the heir to the legacy of John F. Kennedy,
he enjoys an absolutely unique popularity throughout
Latin America-even among the student Left.
Accordingly, nobody in the State Department writes
off the Kennedy, trip as routine. But depending on whom,
you. ask, there is a difference of opinion how it will af-
ect U. S. hemispheric policy.
To understand why one Senatorial junket looms so
arge, a little recent history Is essential. While President
tionary his enemies paint him.. But he Is incapable of
the romantic posturing so dearly loved by the Latin. And
then, cooling U.S.-Latin relations even further were the
Dominican intervention and the Selden resolution in the
House endorsing future interventions.
Into this atmosphere steps Bobby Kennedy, a symbol
to the Latins of those golden days of the early Alliance
for Progress. He inherits the full measure of Latin
American sentiment for John F. Kennedy,'who is even
more popular among the Latins in death than in life.
Consequently, it is predictable that he will draw unprece-
dented street crowds-larger than any world figure.
To some of the hard-line State Department officials,
this is a matter for apprehension. They fear that the
romantically-inclined Latin mind will view Kennedy as
a sort of government-in-exile who will give them what
Tom Mann won't-thereby undercutting U. S. policy.
Giving rise to these fears is the presence in Ken-
nedy's traveling party of the brilliant, abrasive Richard
Goodwin, ex-speechwriter for President Johnson who re-
cently left the government. A chief Latin-American
policy maker In the early Kennedy months, Goodwin is
anathema to the pro-Mann Foreign Service officers. It
does not ease their concerns that he is ostensibly
traveling with Kennedy as a friend rather than a staffer.
But many other State Department officials see the
Kennedy trip as a diplomatic asset of enormous pot^n-
tial coming at a low point in U. S.-Latin American- friend-
ship. Because the Latin does not live by bread alone,
a skillful Kennedy performance could do wonders in
making Uncle Sam more simpatico-particularly among
Latin youth. '
.Moreover, in private conversation with friends, Ken-.
nedy has stressed he will not voice reservations about ,l?Ir.
Johnson's Dominican policy. And although he feels pri-
vately that U. S. aid should be higher than it now is, it's
unthinkable that he'll use his trip to brow-beat President
Johnson about it. Although he's not going to travel
about the continent singing Tom Mann's praises, he's
not gohig to blast him either.
11 But none of Kennedy's intimates and probably not
even the Senator himself know exactly what he will do
and say on this trip. The long, uncharted journey has the
potential for real accomplishments-or blunders. It Is,
in fact, another major test In the political career of
Bobby Ketinedy, who wlu celebrate his 40th birthday
with the Latins next week.
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