WORLD

Latin America challenges U.S. policy in region

New initiatives for peace
seen in Central America

By A. ALARD

The declaration signed in
Guatemala, Jan. 14 during the
inauguration ceremony for the
new President Vinicio Cerezo,
expresses the support of the
Central American countries for
the resolution approved before in
Carballeda, Venezuela in which
the Contadora countries (Mexico,
Columbia, Panama, Venezuela)
and the Support Group of Lima
(Argentina, Peru, Brazil, and
Uruguay) proposed to adopt a
new plan of action for peace in
Central America. Along with the
support of the five Central Ameri-
can countries, this document re-
news hope that the Contadora
peace process will no longer be
continually blocked and that its
base of support will grow in the
world community.

A veteran diplomat has expres-
sed that ‘‘it was confirmed in
Guatemala that the Contadora
Group will be an instrument of
enormous value for peace.’’ The
White House now has a great
responsibility for what will fol-
low. Latin America has under-
taken a process which shows that
relations between their countries
and their neighbor to the north
cannot be as they were in the old
days. That means there is a hard

_ lesson to be learned by Wash-
ington.

The Guatemala declaration al-
lows for ‘‘a new beginning”
according to Spain’s Minister of

Foreign Affairs, Francisco Fer-
nandez Ordonez. Many Latin
American foreign ministers have
concurred that the agreement
achieved in Guatemala shows
that ‘‘Contadora has been buried
but is not yet dead.’’ Nicaraguan
Foreign Minister Miguel D’Es-
coto declared that ‘‘Contadora
never died. Now it is possible to
put an end to the blockade.

‘Everything is going to depend on

whether or not the U.S. agrees
with this.”’

But it would appear that the de-
claration has not met with the ap-
proval of Washington. Recently
its ambassador in Guatemala,
Cuban exile Alberto Martinez
Piedra, said when he was in-
formed that Nicaragua has signed
the declaration: ‘‘This is only a
trifle. What Ortega has to do is
have free elections like there were
here in Guatemala.”

The Caraballeda message calls
for a series of steps including ces-
sation of support for contra
forces, removal of all foreign mili-
tary advisers from Central
America, suspension of foreign
military manoeuvres and respect
for self-determination and terri-
torial integrity of each country.

On Feb. 11, in what has been
called the most formidable dip-
lomatic challenge to the United
States in its anti-Nicaraguan
campaign, eight Latin American
Foreign Ministers bluntly told
U.S. Secretary of State Shultz,

the U.S. should stop its efforts to
overthrow the Sandinista
government and resume bilateral
talks it broke off last year.

This document, signed by 13
Latin American countries and
backed by the European commu-
nity and Japan, underlines their
desire for peace and stability. It
reaffirms Contadora and exerts
pressure on the United States
especially now that President
Reagan is asking for $100-million
aid for the ‘‘Somoza contras’’.
Spain’s Minister of External Af-
fairs, who took advantage of his
visit to Central America to lend
more support to Spanish media-
tion between the Sandinista
government and the opposition in
Nicaragua, encouraged the op-
position to seek out a dialogue
with the Sandinistas. He de-
fended democratic pluralism and
a mixed economy and repudiated
any intent of other countries to

intervene in Nicaragua. The min-

ister met with members of the op-
position Parties which have rep-
resentation in the National As-
sembly and held interviews with
President Ortega and Minister
D’Escoto.

What remains clear is that
‘The Declaration of Guatemala”’
is a step forward in the prospects
for Contadora and a blow to the
aspirations of Reagan and his ef-
forts to annihilate the Sandinista

revolution.

' workers at the Centro Nacional

Canada’s communists
_greet Cuban congress

Greeting the 3rd Cuban Com-
munist Party congress on behalf
of the Communist Party of Cana-
da, Geoff DaSilva, member of the
CPC Central Executive Com-
mittee, paid tribute to the Cuban
revolution which, ‘‘over the last
three decades has inspired people
around the world, particularly
people of this hemisphere.”’

‘In less than three decades,”
DaSilva said, ““Cuba has ended
unemployment, illiteracy, back-
wardness and all the evils of Yan-
kee dependence. Our ~Party
shares your pride in your
achievements in building a social-
ist economy and democratic life.”’

DaSilva spoke to some 250

DASILVA: “We share youl

de Sanidad Agropecuaria, a mod- Pride in your achieveme

ern complex outside Havana
which carries out research on animal diseases. al

‘Canadians are increasingly making the connection betw
the struggles for peace and solidarity with the movements {0
social and national liberation,’’ DaSilva said. ‘‘In both areas
imperialism, and in the first place U.S. imperialism, is being se@
as the enemy of progress. 7

‘‘We express our full support for the initiatives of Fidel Cast!®
to develop a coordinated fightback by those countries wh
people’s future are mortgaged to imperialist banking circ
including big Canadian institutions, and whose lives are be
choked by that notorious agency of imperialism, the Internatio
Monetary Fund.”

DaSilva pledged his Party’s support for the world call for a ne
international economic order to help overcome the inequity b&
tween the developing world and advanced capitalist states.

‘We salute your achievements and your goals. We stand wi
you in your heroic resistance to the unceasing efforts of Yan!
imperialism to reverse your gains and extinguish the beacon
free Cuba to the people of the Caribbean and Latin Americ
DaSilva concluded. a

‘ Sharp debate preceeds 27th CPSU Congress

MOSCOW — The recent interview given to the
French Communist Party paper, L’Humanite, by Soviet
leader Mikhail Gorbachev has aroused much interest,
both in France and in the Soviet Union.

When he was asked if the USSR has launched another
revolution, Gorbachev replied that what is taking place
is the acceleration of the revolutionary process which
began with the revolution of almost 70 years ago. The
Soviet leader stated that the major goal now is to
strengthen the economy, improve the relationship of the
workers to the production process, devise better man-
agement forms and to create a better style of Party and
state leadership.

In this process, millions of people will be involved in
the solution of production and social problems, with the
full utilization of their experience and creativity. In
short, there is to be an even further extension of socialist
democracy. ‘‘This’’, Gorbachev said, ‘‘is certainly a
revolutionary task.”’ :

The success of the bold economic and social program
for the next 15 years will depend on how well the Soviet
people cope with the problems which have arisen. There
is the shortage of labor, resulting from the fact that 20
million Soviet people perished in World War Two. Then
there is the arms race forced on the Soviet Union by
imperialism. Also, according to the Soviet leader, there
are difficulties ‘‘which have arisen through our own
fault.’

All this should explain, he continued, why the Soviet
people are being called upon to do a big job ina relatively
short space of time. Starting from a powerful economic
base, they must now take full advantage of the scientific
and technological revolution and improve management
and planning.

Here, unlike Canada, there are no contradictions be-
tween the ownership of the means of production and the

distribution of what has been produced by labor, be-

From Moscow
Jack Phillips

omy and guarantee of full employment. There will be a
vast increase in the quantity and quality of consumer

goods and services to people, medical care, education,

social security and cultural activities. There will also be
more housing for cities and villages and more rec-
reational and leisure facilities. ~

While citing objective factors which were beyond the
control of the Soviet people, Gorbachev also referred to
inertia, inability and at times the irresponsibility of some
officials, whole departments and organizations. “If you
read our newspapers’’, he said, ‘‘you will know that
many officials, including high ranking officials, are shar-
ply criticized. Now we have taken action to improve the
situation. It will take time and considerable efforts, but I
am sure we will achieve a substantial improvement.”

In explaining how the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union (CPSU) formulates policy, Gorbachev said that
both the objective situation and public opinion are taken
into account. Frequently, big policy questions of a na-
tional character are presented to the people for public
discussion before decisions are made. In that sense, the
pre-Congress discussion recently concluded was a pub-
lic debate of major importance. Key to the discussion
was the projection that a radical improvement in produc-
tion is the key to solving all other social problems and
guaranteeing the security of the country.

The CPSU continues to stress the unity of words
actions. That is why there is so much emphasis on
use of criticism and self criticism, coupled with publict
aimed at exposing all negative factors. The success of th
program advanced by the CPSU will mean that by
end of this century, socialism will prove its superio’
over capitalism for all to see, in terms of what it ©
provide for working people. _

Many leading Party figures have not been re-electees 4
local, district and regional Party conferences and @
Party congresses in the Soviet Republics. Many pro?
inent government figures, executives and administrat
have gone on pension or to other positions. Vadim
ladin, of the CPSU International Department, recem™,
described the process in this fashion: ‘“There shov™,
always be a correct balance between experience
long-standing leaders on the one hand, and more youl
ful cadres on the other.””.

Some of the criticism at Party meetings, as reported!
the news media here, has been very sharp and poin
Moreover, this has become the norm rather than
exception. In reply to those who fear that such frankn
will help the enemies of socialism in the West, the So
press has published the following quotation from Le
leader of the 1917 socialist revolution: ‘‘All
revolutionary parties that have perished so far, periS
because they became too conceited, because they fa
to see the source of their strength and feared to discl”,
their weakness. We, however, shall not perish, beca™)
we are not afraid to discuss our weaknesses and
learn to overcome them.”’

To achieve the maximum benefits for the people
world at peace — that will be the dominant theme of
27th Congress of the CPSU which opens February
This meeting will be the focus of attention for all So
people, and for many millions of people in every
the world, and for good reason.

— socialism reigns supreme, with its planned econ-

8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 26, 1986