Speech #980046487

If the Communist revolutionaries are allowed to prevail in El Salvador. Mexico will be their next target. The potential problems which would accompany an influx into the United States of refugees from Mexico fleeing revolution are alone enough to satisfy the Presidents concern over the Caribbean. Mr. President. just this lunch hour I had the opportunity to be briefed by AmbassadoratLarge Eugene Douglas. the U.S. Coordinator for Refugee Affairs. and he spelled out to many of us the potential refugee problem from the countries in Central America. If we go by the averages of what has happened to other countries that have gone Communist at 10 percent. from Costa Rica we would expect 240.000 refugees. from El Salvador 470.000 refugees. from Guatemala 750.000 refugees. from Honduras 410.000 refugees. from Nicaragua 260.000 refugees. from Panama 200.000 refugees. for a total of 2.300.000 refugees from those countries if they are allowed to go Communist. and if we add Mexico to that. which is another 70 million people. we can add another 7 million. So we are talking about nearly 10 million people. The cost in terms of human disruption to those lives is enormous. and I think for us to sit by idly we simply cannot do so and the cost in terms of just what is fair to our fellow human beings from a humanitarian standpoint should tell us we must do at least as much if not more than what the President called for us to do in order to assure that we have a victory in Central America and maintain good relations with those countries and see that the Communists are not successful in communizing Central America and then Mexico.