Success at San Jos

By the thousands and scores of thousands, they gave a cha cha cha rhythm to their chant of his name: "Kenn-e-dee! Kenn-e-dee!'' Women swooned while sighing "El macho divino" ("The divine he-man"). Carried away by his presence at Mass in San Jose Cathedral, the organist thumped out The Star-Spangled Banner, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, The Stars and Stripes Forever, and Yankee Doodle. Even the fact that his nose, after a weekend in Palm Beach, was pink and peeling, seemed to add to his appeal. Cried a teen-age girl in ecstasy: "Tiene la nariz roja!" ("He has a red nose!").

So greeted, President Kennedy last week visited San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica, to confer with six Central American Presidents. Estimates of the crowd lining the streets upon his arrival ranged up to 250,000--more than the total population of San Jose (200.000). and about one out of every five citizens of the entire nation.

Of the crowd, at least 1,000 were security personnel--agents and troops, conspicuous in their efforts to appear inconspicuous, on hand to protect the lives of the seven Presidents.

A Lot of Carefulness. With everyone mindful of the troublemaking potential of Castro's Communist Cuba, the security arrangements were indeed remarkable. Some 50 U.S. Secret Service men were there; a U.S. Army company moved in from the Canal Zone; the carrier Wasp, its jet fighters just three minutes away, cruised offshore. Some of the food for Kennedy's private meals was flown into San Jose from the Wasp. Preparatory to it all, the U.S. had requested and received from Costa Rica the right to screen all visa requests for entry into the little country. Among those who applied and were refused: Cuban Exile Leader Jose Miro Cardona (TIME cover, April 28, 1961), on the ground that the U.S. did not care to turn the occasion into a propaganda festival for anti-Castro Cubans.

Ostensibly, the chief purpose of the meeting was to discuss Central American economic problems. Central America already has a common market, of sorts. Since July 1961, the U.S. has committed about $117 million to bolster the area's economy. Of that amount, about $47 million remains unspent. With U.S. pledges made last week, and with additional funds from the Inter-American Bank and other sources, Central America will soon have about $100 million to spend on a vast variety of development projects. There are those who fear that this is more than Central America can, at the moment, use either wisely or efficiently.

A Vote of Confidence. But always, despite the serious intention of talking about economics, that pesky problem of Cuba kept popping up. Arriving in San Jose the day before Kennedy. El Salva dor's President Julio Rivera spoke to his greeters with a grim quip: "Let us first have a minute of silence for me. Castro said I would be dead by now." In his first statement to the Presidents, Kennedy eloquently reiterated the anti-Castro theme: "At the very time that newly independent nations rise in the Caribbean, the people of Cuba have been forcibly compelled to submit to a new imperialism, more ruthless, more powerful and more deadly in its pursuit of power than any this hemisphere has known. We will build a wall around Cuba--not a wall of mortar or brick or barbed wire, but a wall of dedicated men determined to protect their freedom and sovereignty."

Formally, the seven Presidents agreed to send top representatives to an April meeting in Nicaragua. The aim: "To develop and put into immediate effect common measures to restrict the movement of [subversive] nationals to and from Cuba, and the flow of materials, propaganda and funds from that country." The sessions will seek ways of cutting Cuba's subversive airlift (see THE HEMISPHERE).

The representatives will also try to draw plans for stepping up air and sea surveillance of shipping between Cuba and other Latin American ports.

In closed-door sessions, Kennedy pretty much convinced his presidential peers that: 1) the U.S. is keeping close watch on vessels outbound from Cuba to other Latin American ports; 2) the U.S. will interfere with any such ships carrying arms or troops; 3) the U.S. will send, to any Central American nations that request it, enough military force to combat Communist subversion.

A lot of the specifics about such policies were left unexplained. But Kennedy did seem to satisfy the Central American Presidents, some of whom have been for far stronger action against Castro than the U.S. has ever suggested. Said Guatemala's President Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes. 67, after talking to Kennedy: "This young man seems to know what he wants and where he is going."

Thus, when he returned to the U.S.. to be met at Andrews Air Force Base by Wife Jackie, the President of the U.S. had earned a vote of confidence.

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