CROSSROADS OF THE AMERICAS: COLOMBIA

[Music] [Music] i want you to meet some of the nine million people who live in the republic of colombia our first neighbor to the south of the panama canal today these people are united with us in a common course the defense of the western hemisphere and the development of education and a better life for everyone about a third of the colombian people are a pure spanish blood about five percent are negroes and pure indians account for another five percent the remaining 55 percent are of mixed spanish and indian origin among these groups there are sharp divisions in wealth and education yet colombia is the most democratic of the 10 south american republics colombians are far more tolerant of division than we are in this their specific aspects of their national culture they may well serve as an example to their north american neighbors colombia is the only country in the americas today named for christopher columbus but for many years it was called new grenada on more than one voyage between 1492 and 1520 the explorers who followed columbus mapped the coast of this land and by 1538 had pented and explored the mighty peaks and valleys of the andes columbia lying as it does between the panama canal and the equator automatically becomes the crossroads of the western hemisphere its principal ports are barranquilla cartagena and buena ventura all very close to the canal while further inland the cities of medellin kali and bogota are only three hours distant by air from panama thus from the standpoint of both military and trade and peace colombia is an important neighbor it is fourth in size among the south american countries with broad mountain ranges and outland river valleys fertile highlands and deep jungles comprising more than enough territory to take in both texas and california [Music] the colombian people live mostly in the mountains three great fingers of the andes known as the western central and eastern courtiers standing feature of colombia's geography in the southern part of the cordillera valleys rise two great rivers the cauca whose populous valley contains many cities and the magdalena colombia's greatest waterway the cauca flows into the magna about 200 miles from the sea the latter river colombia's main artery of transport for three centuries enters the caribbean near barangay the majority of colombia's population live in these three great mountain ranges which reach an altitude of nearly 19 000 feet above sea level beginning at an altitude of 2000 feet and up to 10 000 we find a temperate climate and vegetation that supports more than nine tenths of the people of columbia but the great lowland plains two-thirds of the country's area are hot tropical jungles the roman catholic church today is in the past is a very important on the life of the colombian people it is the oldest visible sign of the past the first spaniards who came to this region were explorers looking for gold but whenever they settled down to stay they built churches the chiefta indians they found here were too gentle and peaceable to fight for their indian way of life they too became spanish-speaking catholics for the faith that is simple and devout [Music] every town has its own religious fiesta which means feast day held on the special day of the town's patron saint the fiesta summons to the church thousands of country people who come the mountains on foot by borough and in trucks to take part in the ceremonies but every fiesta has its lighter side usually there's a bull fight for like other spanish americans the colombian people preserve this custom of old space and fiesta days the indians dance their old folk dances and in many ways the whole fiesta is very much like a county fair [Applause] [Music] the educated upper classes are also very largely catholic today in colombia church and state are separated but this is still strong in social life the head of the church is the archbishop of bogota perhaps no longer the most powerful political figure in the nation but still a great dignitary who entertains the ministers of foreign powers the present archbishop and the liberal regime now in power have established harmonious relations the center of national life is bogota a modern city of more than three hundred thousand inhabitants perched eight thousand six hundred feet high up in the andes on a great plateau or grassy plain because of this high altitude the climate is cool and damp the year round and travelers have named bogota the grey city [Music] it is a strongly religious city whose educated upper classes business and professional people have never broken with their traditional faith [Music] and it is also a city of smart shops and modern buildings with several theaters and nightclubs and a score of movie houses which exhibit the same hollywood pictures that are popular in the united states there are more bookshops than restaurants in bogota by actual count colombians are highly intellectual and presidents and cabinet ministers are likely to be scholars or poets yet the intimate life of the educated upper classes is hard to penetrate for example you have to be a friend to enter such a home as this one belonging to the ramires family like all large colombian houses it faces inward upon a court or patio an arrangement which expresses the privacy and reserve of home life in every latin american country even the garden is inside the walls of the house because it is not for the passer by but for the family and its friends social conventions are still very strict in latin america and while the head of the family and his grown sons spend much of their time in business or at their clubs the wife and her unmarried daughters live gracefully secluded lives [Music] social life is marked by courtesy and charming hospitality and at such a party as this at el chico once he's gathered together many of the notable figures of bogota here on the right is alfonso lopez the dynamic liberal statesman who was president from 1934 to 1938 and was re-elected in 1942 he tackled with a special seriousness the many grave economic and social problems of colombia colombia's wealth is inner minerals and farm products there is much oil and gold and platinum are found in large quantities together emeralds are still mined in commercial amounts bananas are the second most important crop cattle and their hides are important and rubber now raised in small quantities may become vastly more important in the future and of course there is coffee the principal export crop of the country as well as numerous products raised only for home consumption one of such crops is sugar although not much is exported sugar cane is raised in every section of the country from sea level up to seven thousand feet on large finches or ranches owned by wealthy land owners these peasants are working a day labor on such a sugar finger for four or five days work they are paid a little spot cash and for the rest of the week they are free to work for themselves on a small plot of land allotted to them [Applause] most of the sugar is made from the cane in small domestic refineries [Applause] [Music] process is crude and simple and even after boiling the sugar is still coarse and brown rather like the brown sugar we used to buy it is poured out into molds to harden into small cubes known as panela which the people buy at the village market on market days [Music] on his little plot the peasant raises corn and beans for himself and his large family his house is small and sparsely furnished and his clothing is poor and scandy very often he needs a doctor when he can't afford one but the soil is rich and he does not start another peasant will own his own farm a small one from 1 to 20 acres in size which he cultivates with slow and clumsy tools he has little property of course and nothing much laid by for a rainy day so as oxen are his capital his servants and his friends nowhere is the primitive character of colombian agriculture revealed so clearly as in the threshing of wheat for these people are threshing in exactly the way our forefathers did 3 000 years ago in recent years however the government has done much to assist the small farmer with subsidies for better homes and tools and encouragement for native industries one of these home industries is the spinning and weaving of hemp out of which the people make bags of all kinds sill bags grain bags and especially coffee bags [Music] coffee is by far the most important crop of colombia raised everywhere in the mountainous regions but especially in antioquia the department whose capital is medellin coffee comprises two thirds of colombia's export trade all through the hills you find these large coffee farms next to brazil colombia is the world's largest coffee producer and their workers are tending this year more than 250 million coffee trees these beautiful white blossoms which have a delicate fragrance last only a few days but the tree blooms briefly several times a year and a coffee field in full bloom is a marvelous site with green leaves and white buds stretching for miles colombian coffee is mild and delicate in flavor trees are trimmed at four or five feet and shaded from too much sun by tall trees nearby each coffee berry contains two beans which are removed by soaking the berries in bats and then dried and polished the berries are ripe for picking when they shrivel [Music] most of the coffee crop is shipped from barangay the most important colombian seaport on the caribbean sea according to the coffee agreement of 1940 columbia sells almost 4 million bags yearly to the united states and another 3 million bags to all other countries bankia has always been the terminal point for boat traffic up and down the magdalena river it is up the river several miles and until recently the river mouth was blocked to ocean vessels freight was shipped 18 miles overland by rail [Applause] now great ocean vessels are able to dock here exchanging their cargos with river boats from the interior since the river mouth has been dredged in 1939 colombia exported 101 million dollars worth of minerals and farm products more than half of which went to the united states she imported 105 million dollars worth of goods mostly machines and other manufactured articles which she does not make herself she buys nearly sixty percent of these industrial products from the united states every year then kia has canal such little dugouts carry farm produce and small purchases to and from the country the magdalena river for 800 miles is columbia's cheap highway good roads are few and the whole country has only about 1400 miles of railroad not quite the distance from new york to chicago and back so the river still provides most of the long distance transportation though throughout the mountains and lowland plains the sturdy patient borough who doesn't need good roads still carries most of the traffic in recent years the government has constructed many good roads in spite of tremendous geographical difficulties and small budgets so that today there are eight thousand miles of motor highway in the country not much as we look at it but a good start a regularly travel motor highway extends from venezuela to ecuador passing through bogota while other secondary roads within colombia connect many of the small towns and cities transportation was the problem when the oil fields of the barco concession were leased by an american company in 1930 at barranca another american company was operating with its pipeline to the sea and the problem at barco was to lay a similar pipeline across 200 miles of mountains and jungle this jungle is a vast lowland plain largest texas hot moist and full of fever and rank beautiful vegetation moreover the barco region is inhabited by wild indians a completely savage tribe call them moti loneys who live in large tribal houses like this one more than 50 feet long and repel all intruders with bow and arrow the barco fields could be reached by airplane of course for since 1919 the airlines of colombia have provided this country with fast service between regions separated by mountain and jungle but the actual territory between petroleum and the coast had to be explored on the ground before the pipeline could be laid and that meant building a road a road crawling through jungles sometimes 100 feet high or curving around mountains more than a mile high it was a tremendous task but the american engineers did it with caterpillar tractors axes and machetes they built the road and laid the pipe [Music] materials were brought by air to various points truck parts whereas ice food and equipment were landed in airports hacked out of a tropical jungle during construction the motilonis killed eight men and wounded many others they're still fighting and wounded men are treated in the company hospital at petroleum the pipeline goes over the river on this bridge then under the road which curves and drops through the mountains and then creeps through the jungle to petroleum the first successful well came in in may 1934 at petroleum it took two years and six thousand men to build the barco pipeline today it takes only fifteen hundred men to operate the fields under routine conditions most of the workers are native colombians whose working conditions are inspected by the colombian government the revenue from the concession is an important item in the national budget for by the end of 1939 the pipe was sending down more than 10 000 barrels of crude oil every day a small refinery was built for local use in the jungle to lay this 200-mile pipeline to build the road and to put into operation this project required an initial investment of more than 50 million dollars there's been a crooked shadow over colombia the same shadow that is a grim reality in europe in 1940 there were fewer than 3 000 germans in the whole country and a great many of these were solid business and professional people undoubtedly not nazis [Music] yet for several years via news from germany and similar german news agencies a flood of nazi propaganda has been pouring into colombia for example transocean the official german news agency has influenced a number of conservative columbia papers and other propaganda has entered the country by way of private males however the colombian government has broken off relations with germany italy and japan colombia's friendship and collaboration with the united states is increasing rapidly despite nazi propaganda to the effect that the united states has imperialist designs on south america the presence of outstanding american business firms is rigorous advantage and neighborly cooperation exists between the two governments an even firmer basis for friendship exists however in our common ideals of democracy and freedom ideals which become more inspiring in both countries as we face together the task of defending them and making them work simone bolivar and francesco a paolo santander colombia's national heroes fought for liberty and founded a government of liberty under law colombia's lawmakers a presentative group in the capital are elected by the people and they are inspired by the principles of free speech legal equality and the citizens right to vote and to protest to protest against hitler colombians are passionately interested in politics and even a local election reminds them of the basic issues of world politics the traditional flag of the liberals is unfurled again for alfanzo lopez fifth terms which explains why eduardo santos posing here for joe davidson the well-known american sculptor went out of office in august 1942 in his term he did much to benefit the farmers to promote real friendship with the united states and to advance the liberal program of public works public health and mass education dr nieto caballero until recently director of the national university was santos right-hand man in organizing the progressive educational program which made santos regime so popular with the masses the future of colombia he points out lies with the young people who must be trained to meet their real problems in real life upper class youngsters like these are taught according to the best progressive methods the same principle is beginning to be applied to the children of factory workers and farmers these children need instruction in health in diet and in the trades and the public schools are beginning to train them mother church is still a teacher too catholic instruction is still given in the old strict way in private schools although the state now has control of public schools the san jose hospital is one of the many fine institutions of public health in bogota in recent years colombia has grown more health conscious the bureau of rural sanitation is now working to eliminate yellow fever other diseases like malaria undermine the health of thousands especially in the lowlands the rockefeller foundation has greatly aided government research on yellow fever san jose is also a nurses training school but even so there is still a great shortage of nurses because only a few south american women have entered the professions but colombian women are proud of their growing freedom in art as well as the professions here are some of the recent paintings and wood carvings made by colombian women exhibited at the national library this fine new building houses the national library the national university is an even more vivid symbol of colombian progress alert modern vital in its contemporary emphasis founded in 1573 the university moved in 1936 to its fine new campus known as university they faculties of engineering of architecture science veterinary medicine and research in tropical diseases here three thousand students some of them women are being trained for leadership they strike the note of what colombia may and will become in the years of the future for colombia is important for her vast undeveloped wealth for her great history and most of all for these young people who stand today at the crossroads of our hemisphere and of history in these hands rest the future of pan-american democracy [Music] foreign