Despots Three

Gomez of Venezuela, President.

Leguia of Peru, President.

Saavedra of Bolivia, President.

According to an apparently authoritative article in Current History, these three Presidents are three despots, double-dyed villains, low-born knaves, blood-sucking tyrants, enemies of light. Their points of similarity are:

a) They usurped power.

b) They send their political rivals to jail, to mid-ocean islands or to Australia, whence, if lucky, they escape to New York.

c) They suppress newspapers.

d) They dismiss parliaments.

e) They disarm the army if necessary.

f) They get money from "Wall Street " to continue their business.

But Gomez, a pure-blooded Indian, who has played the despot game longest, is unique in having built a family caste. The two vice presidents of Venezuela are Gomez frere and Gomez fils.

Leguia, the handsomest, is Spanish. At one point in his career he acquired European culture, and by advocating new and clean government he secured his election as President of Peru. But for some unexplained reason he found it necessary to seize power by a revolution only a week before his predecessor's term would have legally expired.

Leguia has entered into a villainous alliance with Saavedra of Bolivia. They exchange their enemies for torture, so that malcontents in either country experience physical torture in both.

Saavedra's claim to distinction rests with his importation of a German general and other officers (in spite of the Versailles Treaty). These officers put the entire Bolivian army under the guard of armed irregular forces. They also established a nationwide system of espionage which is said to be a wonder of perfection.

All three countries are predominantly Catholic. The existence of these tyrants is a challenge to the effectiveness of Catholicism when it is almost solely responsible for the moral fibre of a nation.

And the charge that these tyrants are backed by Wall Street raises the old questions: Does money recognize any morality? When a banker steps into his bank, does he leave his conscience on the sidewalk?

Possibly the editors of Current History will receive letters of protest this week and next.