THE BIG PICTURE

this is the alto benny region of bolivia in south america site of a land colonization project it is literally a new frontier it is one of many new frontiers unfolding today in our sister republics to the south frontiers springing from the same needs the same hopes the same aspirations which once beckoned pioneers to our own far west and here is on that earlier older american frontier of another era the united states army has a role to play and a mission to accomplish my name is ray morgan most americans are aware of the united states army's role in the development of our own west a saga which began with exploration in the days of thomas jefferson and ended with the cavalry charging over the hill to protect wagon trains from indian raids in the days following the civil war we are familiar too with the continuing work of the army's corps of engineers in such crucial enterprises as flood control this is the background which your army today is bringing in the form of technical advice and experience to the armed forces of latin america in their own efforts to serve as well as to defend their own countries the program is called civic action this is la paz the city of peace some 13 000 feet up in the bolivian andes it has been said that airplanes do not land in la pass they merely fly along and stop so rarefied is the air in this capital city of the altiplano the high plateau region of the andes that new arrivals must often resort to oxygen masks during their first few days to the residents however it is a healthy climate cool and inviting and one in which are sometimes performed awesome feats of human endurance for well over half of bolivia's population the thin cool air of the altiplano is the ideal place to live and this is a bolivian problem for the indian farmer who makes up the majority of bolivia's population has for centuries lived a precarious existence on a dry almost sterile overpopulated soil clinging to the mountains of his birth while vast regions of fertile lowlands remain untouched by human hands abandoned to lush and useless jungle for centuries only a small portion of bolivia's arable land has been under cultivation despite the existence of millions of landless peasants in other parts of the country until 1960 this was part of bolivia's unused inaccessible jungle what has happened since here in the altobani region through the joint efforts of the bolivian and american governments is perhaps the best example in south america of what a civic action program can really accomplish i'm captain alfredo luro of bolivia the area about which mr morgan speaks the alto benny is a rich valley lying along the benny river some 250 kilometers from la paz our capital city in 1959 some 35 000 acres of this rich land was set aside by our government for colonization by families of the imara indians a people who for centuries have suffered deprivations of life on the harsh altiplano first with help and technical advice from the united states aid mission a road was cut through the jungle connecting the area with the nearest town karanabhi 76 kilometers away meanwhile families were being carefully screened for their suitability to develop the colony physical examinations were given medical attention and immunization shots were needed you must understand that for one who has grown up on the high lands of the altiplano moving to the low hot regions of a valley like the alto benny is like moving to a strange land which has a totally different climate yet they did come thousands of them coming from the cold altiprano their clothing is unsuited to the tropical climate of the altobeni and in most cases they are too poor to buy even the simplest clothing and so the hero beach family is issued a pair of work trousers two shirts a hat sandals for most of these men the simplest form of factory-made hoe or shovel is a modern tool of agriculture since these are farmers there is also animal life each family receives three chickens one rooster and two hands all from purebred stock also each community has available a purebred bore for breeding with sows owned by the new settlers but the real reward is land 30 acres of it 30 acres of land and a house not much of a house a temporary structure but it will last until the settler can build his own permanent dwelling of the 30 acres awarded to each family five have been cleared in advance by men of the bolivian army two and a half acres have been planted in crops that will provide the immediate needs of the family for fresh food the other two and a half acres of cleared fields may be used by the settler to plant any crop of its choice by agreement the remaining 25 acres belonging to each family must be planted in crops determined by agricultural experts to be most suited to the land and most in demand in the marketplace some parts of our new community might seem strange to north american eyes or clear fields for instance with the tree stumps still standing but since cultivation is done by hand not by machines the stumps are no problem in this climate they will soon rot away helping to enrich this virgin already fertile soil the houses too are clustered together in communities the plan was to have each family's house in the midst of its own fields but it quickly became apparent that the indians used to the tribal custom of living closely together became lonely when separated and so we change the plan to fit the people there are 16 houses in each community and five communities in the project alto beni is only the first of such projects as fast as the bolivian army and the technical advisers from the military assistance program here in bolivia can build new roads clear fields and build the houses other fertile valleys will be opened up to settlers giving them an opportunity to attain through their own hard work a far better way of life than they are their ancestors have ever known the altobani resettlement program is the largest presently working as part of the united states aid program for latin america a pilot program for others to follow it is already making possible a new life for people who until just a short time ago had no future beyond their existence we share our hemisphere with many such people the 200 million citizens of latin america occupy a potentially rich land mass more than two and one half times the size of the united states yet more than half suffer from infectious or dietary disease and more than half have never slept in a bed perhaps the main problem the obstacle which stands in the way of solution for so many others is illiteracy in many parts of latin america as many as three citizens out of four cannot read or write without education development of a modern industrial nation is obviously impossible in the latin american republic of colombia the illiteracy rate is such that the average army recruit spends much of his time in service simply learning to read and write this situation has now been recognized as a perfect opportunity for the emerging concept of army civic action civic action in colombia as elsewhere in latin america is a way of using the organization and technical skills of the nation's army to attack pressing social problems civilian and military officials of the government working with various forms of united states assistance and technical advice have inaugurated here an integrated intensive program of teaching people to read and write beginning with the young army recruit who will eventually take this knowledge back to his home community i am emilio rojas a lieutenant in the colombian army this is the little town of oscar high up in the rugged mountains of the colombian andes cynically it is beautiful but one does not live on a scenery and for foster's few thousand inhabitants life is often hard this is how army civic action first came to fosca on a recent sunday officially designated civic action day civic action day in phoska as in other towns throughout the nation was a kind of an announcement an advertisement to tell the local population that something new was about to happen it was an occasion for farmers to bring their produce in for sale for everyone involved in the project including us advisors to meet and participate in a concerted demonstration of what civic action aims to accomplish stations were set up around the village square to which people with a problem might go for assistance a colombian army veterinarian for instance was in hand to take care of livestock problems for the pressing problems of the communities very poor there was a free food distribution from army commissary stores the aware move is for the children repair of household pots and pans for the mothers and shoe repairs for everybody they wear haircuts and free soft drinks there were medical examinations and medicine but the event was primarily an introduction for things to come a way of dramatizing this new program so that those for whom it is intended would be encouraged to come forth and make use of it better means of transportation by road and by air will itself do much to further colombia's economic advance here too civic action is extremely active this operation involving colombian army personnel and u.s technical advisors is designed to create an airstrip capable of handling larger cargo carrying aircraft near the town of melgar already at melgar a water purification plant has been constructed and is now regularly operated by colombian army personnel a measure of preventive hygiene it is typical of such programs planned for rural areas throughout colombia this is the tolima highway project when completed it will provide an all-weather road into an area which today is inaccessible except by mule or on foot working from opposite ends of the road to colombian army engineer units have so far completed about half of the 200 kilometers of roads and bridges during this project we have had the continuous assistance of experts from the united states army corps of engineers their work and advice has served as a valuable training program for our own military engineers in colombia the army represents today more than a means for national defense it is a repository of skills and technical knowledge which can be drawn upon by all our people trained personnel of the army are today bringing their skills to the immediate province of their countrymen while at the same time they endeavor to pass on those skills to coming generations that they may be better able to help themselves this in colombia is the meaning of civic action largest of the latin american civic action programs which might be described as putting armies to their maximum peacetime use is the civic action program of ecuador here in this andean nation which literally straddles the equator the united states department of defense has committed some one million eight hundred thousand dollars to the development of a civic action program as broad as the needs of a people struggling against the iron rule of inherited poverty i am guillermo diaz of the ecuadorian army this is our capital city of quito nestled in a valley sometimes called the avenue of volcanoes only 15 miles from the equator it's almost two miles above sea level so that days are warm and nights are cool in quito the past merges with the present centuries before modern quito was founded by the spaniards it was the capital of the indian kingdom of kitu later it bowed to the mighty incas who made the capital of their northern kingdom both in quito and in smaller cities scattered throughout the andean highlands indians are still a major part of the ecuadorian scene long before our country was settled by the spaniards indians were bringing their products to the village market to trade for products brought by other indians from as far off as the headwaters of the amazon early on saturday morning indians still come down from the hills to bring their words to the market their customs have changed little over the centuries their blankets and shoals are fine and durable and much in demand but they are true bargainers pictures as such scenes appear they must in time give way to more modern techniques we can no longer afford methods such as this for the drying of cocoa beans for example some of the world's most beautiful harvards here in ecuador are the site also of much poverty these tank trucks contain pure water which in parts of the country is a precious commodity the poor cannot afford recently civic action in ecuador has built 10 1000 gallon water tanks in a region where until now whole families were often left with only 25 gallons of water for an entire month five large tank trucks now hold water to key distribution centers which together serve some 60 000 people in a short time and at little cost the distribution system has raised the average family water supply to 100 gallons a day at a distribution point each family has its own 55-gallon drum in which to store water until it's taken home water a simple necessity of life is for these children of guayaquil a great and novel luxury demolition experts of the ecuadorian and the united states armies are also working to improve transportation between the highlands of the andes and the coastal lowlands lack of adequate means of transportation between these regions is still an economic handicap there has been much progress but in the highlands of the interior are still some of the most isolated inhabited portions of south america irrigation is another problem now under attack our army has the manpower for such essential projects as the digging of canals and we are putting that manpower to work both road building and irrigation programs are profiting from the use of united states equipment and technical advices from the united states military assistance program whether with cranes and bulldozers or simple hand tools progress is being made sometimes they might be easier ways but the easy way is not available and so it's done the hard way the important thing is that the word go forward and that everyone participate who has time and strength or skill there are more efficient ways to make logs into planks but where other means are liking it's surprising what can be done by hand work and determination civic action in ecuador begins with the army but it includes men and women from every walk of life this is a typical street building program in a provincial city the methods are sometimes slow and primitive but they work one must begin somewhere and the way to begin is begin military civic action in ecuador as elsewhere in latin america is only part of an overall program in which i involved many agencies of our own government the alliance for progress and the united nations as well as the military assistance program of the united states with so much to be done there is work for everyone today more than half of all the people of latin america are without sufficient food and most of them live other lives without medical attention of any kind these are problems which must be attacked from all sides with every resource around this fossil unless we are prepared to see poverty and disease of the body converted to a disease of the soul by the prophets of communism without doubt the most important object of all our efforts is education all latin america needs doctors engineers and technicians we must have educated men and women able to master scientific agriculture and the work of modern industrialization right now in latin america there are some 20 million children waiting to begin their education when they are well started when new generations have acquired the priceless gift of literacy many of our other problems will begin to solve themselves it was thomas jefferson who gave our own army a major responsibility for development of the american frontier beginning with the lewis and clark expedition of 1804 army explorers did much to open vast regions of the north american continent to settlement and civilization remembering jefferson's unfailing concern for the welfare of the common man it seems more than likely that he would be pleased to see the armies of the southern half of our hemisphere today assuming similar responsibilities in the program we call civic action you