Two Latin American ambassadors failed to appear at a discussion of Latin American political problems Friday night. Enrique Tejera of Venezuela and Gonzalo Facio of Costa Rica remained in Washington to attend a special reception for Thomas Mann, new Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America.

Instead of discussing politics, Dean Williams S. Barnes, director of Inter-American Studies, billed the conversation which 60 Faculty members and students attended as "a chance for some of us to say good-bye to Professor Figueres."

Jose Figueres, visiting professor of Government, only introduced the conversation with some general remarks on Latin America. Dean Barnes then directed the discussion to the specialties of other faculty members present.

Juan Marichal, acting chairman of the committee on Latin American studies, talked about South American literature. Jean Mayer, associate professor of Nutrition, discussed health problems.

Dean Barnes then called upon Hector C. Ingrao, lecturer on Astronomy, who discussed the difficulties and rewards of studying the stars from the southern continent. Milton Katx, director of international legal studies at the Law School, stressed the common ground the inter-disciplinary study had revealed.

Kats claimed that the evening's remarks demonstrated Latin American studies were getting more attention in widely diverse fields at the University than most students supposed

The discussion was part of a program set up for the visit of Monroe C. Gutman, a senior partner at Lehman Brothers, who endowed the chair in Latin American studies Figueres occupied this full.