OLAS CONFERENCE Solidarity and differences patie Minister Fidel Castro of th e€ recent first conference Si Organization of Latin Bical Baezity (OLAS) “a great eo But he added, mean at agreements reached without. an Meulogiegl € Cuban leader spoke to son of the OLAS con- en na on August 10. The Pak begun on July 31, and 827 Pike delegates repre- Me Caribbean. of Latin America entaeeating as observers were Rs and f from = the socialist tions. 14 international or- ly te well as a number of ’ Of the €d guests from various PT the ae: Covering the event 7) “ents from Press were 105 corres- me of 8 countries. Of aly we conference was: “The tion.» *volutionaries is to make p Dlenar, addition to opening and TY sessions, the work of fren, ; fone: Was divided into four losing im Pantin: <<: :. inT ePetialist revolutionary Msition tin America; t the ae common action ang. Mtical-military interven- Rtion cONOmic and ideological 0 sae 8 @ — lmperialism in Latin Be S0lig..: eopjag Catity of the Latin Ameri- eration” the struggles for na- tutes ; Ameri the Organization of Onfere Olidarity. ” of fone adopted resolutions Pa icula Sur points, plus a total Subleq’ resolutions relat- sions, of the second and . Ve of fs he depth of discussion © was the fact that the working time of the commissions, and therefore of the conference itself, was extended by two days beyond the ori- ginal time set. In addition to the reso- lutions mentioned, the conference also adopted a General Declaration. This stated that to “confront the global counter-revolutionary strategy of im- perialism and the national oligar- chies,” the main aim of the conference had been “‘to tighten the ties of mili- tant solidarity among anti-imperialist fighters of Latin America and to work out the fundamental lines for the de- velopment of the continental revolu- etion: =, In a 20-point summary of this posi- tion, the Declaration included these objectives: e That making the revolution con- stitutes a right and a duty of the peo- ples of Latin America. e That the essential content of the Revolution in Latin America is to be found in its confrontation with im- perialism and the bourgeois and land- owner oligarchies. Consequently, the character of the Revolution is the strug- gle for national independence, emanci- pation from the oligarchies, and the socialist road for its complete econo- mic and social development. e That armed revolutionary strug- gle constitutes the fundamental course of the Revolution in Latin America. All other forms of struggle must serve to advance, not retard, development of this fundamental course, which is the immediate task of the majority of the countries of the continent. Those coun- tries in which this task has not yet been undertaken will nevertheless re- gard it as an inevitable sequence in the development of revolutionary struggle in their countries. e That the guerrilla is the nucleus of the liberation armies, and guerrilla warfare constitutes the most effective method of initiating and developing the revolutionary struggle in most of the countries. e That the most effective solidarity that the revolutionary movements may practice among themselves is the fur- thering and the culmination of their own struggle in their respective coun- tries. e The Cuban Revolution, as a sym- bol of triumph of the armed revolu- tionary movement, constitutes the van- guard of the Latin American anti- imperialist movement. The Second De- claration of Havana constitutes a docu- ment outlining the program of the Latin American Revolution. The principles of Marxism-Leninism, the General Declaration further as- serted, suide the revolutionary move- ment of Latin America. In his closing spéech, referring to the conference discussion and _ the General Declaration, Castro said: “Were the opinions unanimous? Or the support of the Declaration read here, was it unanimous? Yes, it was unani- mous. Does it represent unanimous criteria? No, it does not represent una- nimous criteria. In various aspects, some of the delegations here present had some reservations, and they ex- pressed their reservations.” Later in his speech, he returned to this question, and declared: “In OLAS a latent ideological struggle has been reflected. Should we conceal it? No. What is gained by concealing it? Did OLAS intend to crush anyone, to harm anyone? No. That is not a revolution- ary method, that does not agree with the conscience of revolutionaries. Let's be clear about this—true_ revolu- tionaries.”” And _ still later, Castro continued: “Different words have been used; if the road is the only one, if the road is not the only one, if it is excluding, if it is not excluding. And the conference has been very clear in this respect. It does not say only road, although it might be said only road; it says fundamental road, and the other forms of struggle must be subordinated to it and, in the long run, the only road. “To use the word “only’—even though the sense of the word is under- stood and even if it were true, might lead to errors about the imminence of the struggle. “That is why we under- stand that the Declaration, by calling it the fundamental road, the road that must be taken in the long run, is the correct formulation.” The various resolutions adopted by the conference were highlighted by those expressing solidarity with: the fight of the Vietnamese people; the fight of the Negro people of, the Unit- ed States (Stokely Carmichael was an honorary delegate to the conference); the Cuban Revolution; and- the guer- rilla movements in Venezuela, Colom- bia, Guatemala and Bolivia. A special message was approved to Che Guevara, whom the conference pronounced the first citizen of Latin America. In a motion of greeting to the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the conference said _ it “warmly greets the Great October Re- volution guided by Lenin’s genius.” Headquarters of the Organization of Latin American Solidarity ‘were estab- lished in Cuba, and Cuba was given the post of secretary-general. A per- manent committee, to. direct the or- ganization’s work between confer- ences, will be made up of representa-~ tives from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, - Peru, Trinidad-Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela. Conferences will be held every two years. i) ty DNC to Uncle Sam Steg _°d States is inter- "Latin « 8iving “sincere ies y. Merican and other tor py, comes as the Al- "€8S completes its \tountg ration. The re- 0 ¥, Th t Washington's Moy 8COnon;,, NOt done Ment qmic difficulties, Mi Prices and Xican ate Progra VSPaper, Dia, dy? Allin @™ to lost illu. ee to ance or Braces, , (0 en advanced bill- ‘ ih Lan dust the develop- Ving tin and agricul- tage Stanga nica and raise ta’ So Na Of the com- “dt a ® Alliance ,"* y eve a single "Nez Ue na that th Paper, Pano- ‘ ‘tin, rOBrags ’ Aa has er than ALLIANCE IS A FAILURE the agrarian Latin American eco- nomy. Here is a characteristic ex- ample, is cited by the Chilean foreign minister, Valdez: under the Alliance for Progress pro- gram, the USA gives about 100 million dollars annually. At the same time it pumps out twice that amount due to the non- equivalent trade policy, Ameri- can aid takes the form of loans carrying interest amounting to 570 million. dollars per year. Washington also forced depen- dent states to spend huge sums on military weapons — about 1700 millions dollars annually— according to Time magazine. U.S. monopolies extract tre- mendous profits from their ex- ploitation of the mineral wealth of Latin America where they receive 20 to 30 percent interest on their investments. They rake in the profits also from large weapons sales to Argentina, Bra- zil, Colombia and other coun- tries. _A comparison of “aid” with what the United States gives, shows that they receive five dollars for every dollar given. The result is heavy fin- ancial strain on the economy of the recipient countries. Most of these economies are stag- nant, show signs of crisis, in- flation and deficits in their bal- ance of payments. This strikes first of all at the working people, the majority. of whom live in poverty, have no land and work as farm hands and croppers for the big land- owners. In Ecuador, for example, 230 families own 90 percent of. all land. In Argentina, 100,000 sharecroppers are threatened with the loss of the land be- cause they cannot buy out their plots. Sponsors of the Alliance for Progress claimed that every Latin American child would re- ceive a six year education by 1970. But the pitiful sums doled out make it clear that this pro- mise could not be carried in hundreds of years. Official sta- tistics show that every other It’s pretty, sir, but what model of tractor is it? Latin American can neither’read nor write. The fact is, Washington could not care less if the Alliance for Progress develops industry, agri- culture and education in Latin America. Indeed, within the framework of the _ Alliance, money goes to those countries willing to accept American eco- nomic and military orders. The main aim is to preserve Latin America as a private Klondike for U.S. monopolies. These are the reasons why Washington places such stress on the sup- pression of the national libera- tion forces in these countries. The. Argentine newspaper, Presna, says that talks -are un- der way at Washington’s initia- tive for the “purpose of organiz- ing common, armed forces for the anti-guerrila struggle.” This would be an_ inter-American police force in which the U.S. marines would play first fiddle. Just to show what equality will exist within this inter-American army, the U.S. State Depart- ment has announced that the U.S. might give military aid to any Latin American country without receiving its sanctions. Past and present activities by ’ the United States in using every means it has to keep control over the rich continent to the south, shows up the Alliance for Progress for what it is-——another Trojan horse. September 15, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7