TIME

March 21, 1960 12:00 AM GMT-5

Before dawn one day last week, a company of Panamanian soldiers hopped into landing craft and hit the beach on the Pacific coast of the U.S. Canal Zone. Just after sunup, a company of Brazilian paratroopers tumbled out of U.S. Air Force turboprop transports over the zone after a 500-mile flight from Bogotá, Colombia. Next came 1,175 men of the crack U.S. 82nd Airborne and a planeload of Colombian soldiers. Chilean and Peruvian F-80 jets joined U.S. F-100 Super Sabres to provide air support. For the first time, in “Exercise Banyan Tree II,” Latin nations were joining the U.S. in a peacetime maneuver.

Designed to test the concept of a “remote” defense of the Canal Zone, under which outside troops are rushed in to counter surprise attack, the maneuver showed that Latin America has used its $493 million in U.S. military aid since 1950 to train and equip at least the beginnings of a tough, expert force that can move fast. The performance of the Latin soldiers and flyers was uniformly good, and the Brazilians were so impressive that 82nd Airborne officers talked of picking up some of their techniques. This week, the U.S. will top off Operation Banyan with “Operation Big Slam,” airlifting 22,000 troops from all over the U.S. to Puerto Rico. As might be expected, the Cuban press denounced the maneuvers as “provocative war games,” but the Latin troops went home pleased and proud about a new form of peacetime cooperation among American nations.

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