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