State Historical Society of Iowa
Courtesy of the American Presidency Project, "Kennedy's Message to the Inter-American Economic and Social Conference at Punta del Este," August 5, 1961
In August, 1961, at Punta del Este, Uruguay, Robert A. Conrads, Assistant Secretary General of the Conference delivered a message from President Kennedy to the assembled delegates at the Inter-American Economic and Social Council. In the message Kennedy stressed that the Alliance aimed to include all members of society workers and farmers to business leaders. At this meeting, the United States and all Latin American states except Cuba endorsed the Charter of Punta del Este, promoting land and tax reform, democratic government and economic modernization.
The president compared the Alliance to the Marshall Plan but, at the same time, he knew that Congress would never appropriate funds comparable to the Marshall Plan. In addition, American business interests continued to be more concerned about the safety of their private investments in Latin America and than social and political reform. The Alliance needed private investments and American business interests did not share the president's contempt for the corrupt elites that controlled the economies and governments of Latin America. Alliance funds were also used to create counterinsurgency programs and to train paramilitary forces to counter the spread of communist influence in Latin America. As a result, many Latin Americans remained deeply skeptical of American motives, although there was also widespread admiration throughout the hemisphere for JFK's energetic championing of the Alliance's goals.
John F. Kennedy, Message to the Inter-American Economic and Social Conference at Punta del Este, Uruguay. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley. Courtesy of The American Presidency Project Courtesy of Library of Congress
