Latin America: Farewell from the Wise Men

To make the Alliance for Progress more than a one-way street for American aid, its 20 members appointed a panel of nine Latin American economists to study the best manner of achieving mutual interdependent development. Trouble was that the “nine wise men” lacked any real power; so a more influential Inter-American Committee (CIAP) was created. Last March in Buenos Aires, the Alliance voted to trim the nine wise men to five, and put them under CIAP as a technical committee. Last week the whole nine-man panel resigned, firing broadsides at the Alliance as they went.

Some panel members charged that the Alliance was drifting back toward bilateral “program” aid, which helps a country balance its budget or pay for imports. Though such aid ostensibly frees a nation’s own resources for development projects, it may, in the end, develop nothing more than big, private bank accounts. Washington experts flatly denied such policy shifts, writing off the charges as an attempt by the panel to salve its injured pride. “Nine wise men?” snapped one Washington hand. “Ridiculous. Call them nine wise guys.”