INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS OF VENEZUELAN COMMUNISM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-02771R000500120005-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 33
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 30, 1998
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: January 1, 1959
• Content Type: IR

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INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS OF VENEZUELAN COMMUNISM
vas
January 1959
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INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS OF VENEZUELAN COMMUNISM
25X1A8a
Prepared by
Prepared for o WH
Case number K-5769
Date of completion. 22 January 1959
25X1A9a
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INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS OF VENEZUELAN COMMUNISM
I.
Party Ties and Relationships Page
1
A.
Beginnings of Venezuelan Communism
1
B.
Disunity and Unity
3
C.
The Caribbean Bureau
4
PCV-Bloc Diplomatic Contacts
5
E.
PCV and Soviet Espionage
6
F.
Conference of Northern Zone Communist Parties
7
G.
Other PCV-Soviet Contacts
8
II.
International Communist Labor Ties
10
A.
Confederacion Sindical Latino Americana
10
B.
Confederacion de Trabajadores de America Latina
10
C.
Jesus Faria
12
III.
Front Organizations
14
A. Anti-Imperialist League
B. Venezuelan-Soviet Cultural Institute
C. Pro-Peace Committee
D. Democratic Lawyers Association
E. Youth Groups
IV. Ties With Individual Communist Parties
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V. Guatemalan Leftist Contacts With Venezuelans Page 22
A. Juan Jose Arevalo
B. Jose Manuel Fortuny
C. Other Contacts
APPENDIX Io Abbreviations Used
APPENDIX II: Sources
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23
24
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INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS OF VENEZUELAN COMMUNISM
The Problem
To present data on the international connections of Vene-
zuelan Communists, 25X1C10b
25X1C10b
Scope and Limitations
The data in this paper have been presented under four
main heads: (1) ties between tbbe Party as a party and the
international Communist movement, as evidenced by its repre-
sentation at international meetings and in Soviet-oriented
activities; (2) participation by leading Party members in
Communist-directed labor activities on the international
level; (3) links between Venezuelan front groups and Soviet-
controlled international front groups; and (4) links between
the Party and various individual Communist Parties (CP) in
other countries, whatever the name under which they may mas-
querade. A fifth section provides certain information on
links between Guatemalan leftists and prominent Venezuelan
figures.
Although Moscow's direction and control of Communists
and CP"s everywhere is an incontrovertible fact--and, in-
deed, the acceptance of Soviet leadership (international
proletarianism) is a cardinal principle of every existing
CP save only that of Yugoslavia--it is not easy to document
that relationship completely satisfactorily in the case of
any particular Party. For the most part, the evidence is
to be found in a Party's faithful adherence to the twists
and turns of the Kremlin line, in the Party?s denunciation
of whatever Moscow denounces and praise of whatever Moscow
praises, in its participation in international front activi-
ties, in its representation at international Communist meet-
ings, etc.
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The conspiratorial nature of the Communist movement makes
this reliance on inference and conclusion rather than solid
fact (i.e., data showing clear lines of command and specific
channels of transmission of orders and funds from Moscow to
a particular Party) inevitable. It is true especially as re-
gards Venezuela, where the Party, during its years of exist-
ence., has enjoyed legal status for only a relatively short
period. As a result, the data presented in this paper tend
to be incomplete and episodic in character.
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INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS OF VENEZUELAN COMMUNISM
Party Ties and Relationships
A. Beginnings of Venezuelan Communism
Moscow's direction and control of Communist agitation
and organization in Venezuela began even before a Party had
been established there. In 1927 a large number of Communist
and leftist trade unionists were invited to Moscow in con-
nection with the Xth Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution,
One of them was Ricardo MARTINEZ, an exiled Venezuelan, who
was destined to be the principal Moscow agent of Venezuelan
Communism until 1941, when he finally returned to his own
country,
During the sojourn in Moscow of these leaders (Eudosio
RAVINES, Armando BAZAN and Julio PORTOCARRERA of Peru,
Victoria CODOVILLA of Argentina, Astrogildo PEREYRA and
KARRICK of Brazil, German LIST Arzubide of Mexico, Julio
Antonio MELLA of Cuba, and?MARTINEZ), they participated
in a meeting, also attended 1y A1erander Lozovsky and
Humbert-Droz of the Comintern, at which plans were made
regarding strategy for the spread of Communism in Latin
America.
After the VIth Congress of the Comintern in 1928,
the Comintern's South American Secretariat was moved from
Moscow to BuenosAires, The Secretariat controlled the
operations and policies of all Latin American CP's, aid also
supervised the activities of all peripheral organizations
established by local Parties, such as branches of the In-
ternational Red Aid, Communist Youth International, Anti-
Imperialist League, etc,
The Secretariatt's first major 1-emispheric activity
appears to have been the convoking of the First Conference
of Latin American CPTs, held in Buepos Aires on 1-12 June
1929. In attendance were 38 delegates representing the
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Parties of Argentina (CODOVILLA), Bolivia, Brazil (GABRINETTI),
Colombia (MAHECHA), Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador,Guatemala
(VILLALBA), Mexico (SUAREZ), Panama, Paraguay,. Peru (SACO),
Uruguay, and Venezuela (MARTINEZ). Also present were repre-
sentatives of the Comintern, the Buenos Aires Bureau (Guralsky)
the Young Communist International (Ghitor and Peters), and the
CP of the United States.
The exact extent of authority wielded by the Buenos Aires
Bureau is not known, but it apparently was not complete. During
the 1920ts and early 1930's, for example, the CP's in the Carib-
bean area are said to have received all or part of their in-
structions through New York, and the US.Communist leader Joseph
Zach Kornfeder was active in Party affairs in Colombia and Vene-
zuela during this period. A/
The Venezuelan CP reportedly was first organized formally
in 1931 by students who had participated in the 1928 general
strike against GdMEZ. Another exile student group headed by
Gustavo MACHADO Morales formed at about the same time a Partido
Revolucionario Venezolano, which became part of the Communists'
continental "Anti-Imperialist League." During the early
1930ts Venezuelan Communists were represented at various inter-
national gatherings, but it was not until the VIIth Comintern
Congress in 1935 (which MARTINEZ and RIBAS (fnu) attended) that
the Venezuelan Communist Party, previously recognized only as
a "sympathetic" party, was admitted to full Comintern member-
ship.
Following the death of GOMEZ in 1935, Venezuelan leftists
of all complexions united to form the Partido Democratico
National (PDN). Internal dissension soon arose, however, when
non-Communists led by Romulo BETANCOURT insisted that the PDN's
Communist members sever all ties with Moscow. The Communists'
refusal to do this led to a split in 1937, at which time the
Communists left the PDN to form their own CP. Although various
splits have occurred and numerous factions formed within Com-
munist ranks since 1938, the present (1959) Partido Comunista
Venezolano (PCV) can be considered to stem directly from this
move.
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Throughout the years the Venezuelan Communists have faith-
fully followed every twist and turn of the international Commu-
nist line--perhaps the best possible indicator of their sub-
servience to, and direction by, Moscow. As with other Parties,
World War II provides the most striking illustration of this.
During the early part of the war, the Venezuelan Communists
denounced the conflict as "imperialist," and Communist members
of the Venezuelan Students Federation withdrew rather than sign
an-anti-fascist manifesto which the Federation issued. But
with the German attack on the Soviet Union, the Venezuelan
Communists dutifully changed their attitude and became the
most violent opponents of the Axis.
Another guide is the adulation accorded Stalin in his
later years by Parties everywhere. Upon his death the PCV
emulated other CP's in lamenting his loss. A manifesto pub-
lished and circulated by the PCVYS Zulia. section, for example,
contained such phrases as "Glory to the Great Stalin, Standard
Bearer of Peace," "Long live the Glorious Party of Lenin and
Stalin," "'Long live the USSR," and other typical Communist
slogans,/
B. Disunity and Unity
In 1944 a split occurred within the PCV between a faction
led by Juan Bautista FUENMAYOR and one headed by Gustavo
MACHADO and Luis MIQUELENA (the Machamiques) over the issue
of support for the MEDINA government. Both factions sent
delegations to neighboring countries, especially to Cuba,
then the center of Caribbean Communist activities, to so-
licit the support of the international Communist movement;
and both groups also besieged the newly arrived Soviet Am-
bassador to Caracas Moscow',s certification of the FUEN-
MAYOR faction as the approved party in Venezuela was car-
ried out by the publication in Vicente LOMBARDO Toledano's
paper, El Popular, and in the Cuban Communist monthly Funda-
mentos ? an Open Letter to Venezuelan communists," written
by 7U Communist leader William Z. Foster, which expressed'
support for the FUENMAYOR group,
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This split was finally healed at a Unity Conference held
in Caracas in November 1946, at which the FUENMAYOR group,
the independent Communists and a part of the Machamiques
united to form what was recognized by the Communist movement
as the PCV. As in the previous case, recognition was extend-
ed through the device of a letter written by Foster. Dated
23 June 1947, the letter was addressed to FUENMAYOR, MACHADO
and Luis Emiro ARRIETA, whom it congratulated for "the histor-
ical conquest you have achieved by establishing a united Com-
munist movement in Venezuela,"
Also participating in this Unity Conference were frater-
nal delegates of the CP' s of the U3S, Spain, Mexico, Cuba
(Partido Socialista Popular--PSP), Dominican Republic, Colom-
bia, and Chile. 10 One off' the principal such fraternal dele-
gates was Dionis o ENCINA Rodriguez, Secretary General of the
CP of Mexico (PCM), who played an active role in bringing the
divergent factions together. During his stay he lived at the
home of PCV leader Hernani PORTOCARRERA,
The most important fraternal delegate, however, was
Eladio Ladislao GONZALEZ Carvajal Delgado, Secretary of Re-
lations on the National Executive Committee of the Cuban
PSP, who had been in Venezuela since 9 May 1946 as the
house guest of Miguel OTERO Silva, then a leader of the inde-
pendent Communists. GONZALEZ reportedly had been sent to
Venezuela by the Buro del Caribe, the Comintern's regional
arm, for the specific purpose of bringing about unity. He
appears to have been largely instrumental in bringing the
conference to a successful conclusion; and before his return
to Cuba, he was given a public note of appreciation and gra-
titude by the PCV for his assistance. ll
Co The Caribbean Bureau
The Buro del Caribe reportedly was established at an un-
known date as a regional branch of the Comintern. Its task
was to coordinate the activities of the various CP's in the
Caribbean area and to administer Comintern affairs, as well
as to handle the distribution of Communist propaganda. Its
headquarters were, successively, in Bogota, Caracas, and
Havana. The Bureau was said to be directed by Gustavo MACHADO
and Salvador DE LA PLAZA of Venezuela, Gilberto VIEIRA of
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Colombia, Bias RQCA of Cuba, and the general secretaries of
the area Parties. MACHADO, for example, was reportedly author-
ized to intervene in any Communist organization in Colombia,
Venezuela and Ecuador. 12
Although the Buro is believed to have become inactive by
1948, its functions had been. assumed by the Circulo del Caribe,
an office of the Buro Political Sud Americano with headquarters
in Havana. This Buro Political is believed to have had respon-
sibility for Soviet political, propaganda, social, labor and
intelligence activities throughout Latin America. The Circulo
itself had the same leadership as the defunct Buro del Caribe.
13
The relationship of the Burg Political and its Circulo del
Caribe to the Cominform is not known, but Latin American
Communists appear to have had some links with that organiza-
tion. One report, for example, identifies Miguel OTERO Silva
as a leading Cominform agent, 1.4 while Eduardo MACHADO is
reported to have attended a Cominform meeting in Bucharest
in February 1948. 15.
D. PCV-Block Diplomatic Contacts
As might be expected, personal contacts between Venezuelan
Communists and Bloc diplomatic personnel were quite frequent
during the period when Venezuela maintained diplomatic rela-
tions with certain Bloc countries. Similarly, these Commun-
ists, during their years of exile, maintained relations with
the Bloc diplomats accredited to the country in which they were
residing. The MACHADO brothers, for example, are known to have
had extremely close contacts with Bloc diplomats in Mexico. 16
While such contacts could possibly be explained away in large
part as the normal social association of persons sharing
similar political ideas, some of these contacts are known
to have been more than this.
Two important meetings of high-ranking Communists were
held in Caracas on 17-18 February 1948, attended by Pedro
BEROES (PCV member and an activist of the Instituto Cultural
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Venezolano-Sovietico--ICVS), Victor GUERERE (liaison between
the ICVS and the Soviet Embassy), Rodolfo QUINTERO, Salvador
DE LA PLAZA, Juan FUENMAYOR, Gustavo MACHADO, Hector MARCANO,
Jan Drohojowski (Polish Minister to Venezuela), Lev Krylov
(Second Secretary and Cultural Attache of the Soviet Embassy)
and Jorge Martin BEC (a Hun arian of Spanish citizenship and
a traveling Communist agent). The meeting discussed BEC's
plans to gain control of Hungarian organizations throughout
Latin America as well as the possibility of taking measures
to insure the inclusion of a large percentage of Communists
among the Czechs, Hungarians, Poles and Yugoslavs brought
to Venezuela as immigrants. 17
In the summer of 1952 the Venezuelan Government severed
relations with Bloc countries, charging that the Soviet and
Polish embassies had been involved in shipments of contra-
band arms received by Venezuelan Communists from Czechoslo-
vakia. The government further charged that the Soviet Embassy
in Mexico had been cooperating openly by giving financial aid
to Venezuelan Communist groups plotting the overthrow of the
government. lb
Following the break PCV leader Pompeyo MARQUEZ published
in the clandestine PCV organ Cuadernos de Educacion an article
in which he lamented that "the severing of r el.a#ions this past
June with the Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak People's Re-
public severely hindered the clandestine work of the Party.1119
This could only be interpreted as a tacit admission that the
Bloc embassies had, in Fact, been secretly aiding the PCV as
the government charged.
E. PCV and Soviet Espionage
Soviet intelligence activities in Venezuela appear to be
carried out both by the PCV as a part and by individual mem-
bers. Jesus FARIA, the present (1959) Secretary General, was
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reported (but not confirmed) to have been appointed in May 1944
as chief of all Communist intelligence activities in Venezuela.
Gustavo MACHADO, nominal head of the PCV and one of the three
members of its National Secretariat, was also reportedly re-
cruited by Russian Intelligence (NKGB) in 194+ in Bogota through
the agency of his first wife, Maria Ida LUCAS de Machado, also
an intelligence agent. 20
During its underground period the PCV continued to serve
Soviet intelligence. According to one report, a PCV Politburo
meeting was held at Maracay on 28 February 1953 -Co discuss
instructions brought from Moscow by an unidentified European,
who also attended the meeting. These instructions included
orders for the PCV to send to Moscow (1) a quarterly report
on Venezuelan policies towards the U. S., (2) a quarterly
report on oil and iron production, with figures, (3) a tech-
nical and graphical study on the dredging of the Orinoco River
and progress of the construction of Puerto Ordaz, (4-) a carto-
graphic study of the Orinoco and its tributaries and of the
Caribbean coast, and (5) studies of plans and measures to
foster oil and iron nationalization. 21 During this same period
the Pro-Peace movement in Venezuela was also reported to be
collecting intelligence for the Soviets. 2L2/
At the present time Eduardo MACHADO is believed to be the
key Soviet agent in Venezuela. During his exile in Mexico,
he, as well as his brother Gustavo, was in constant contact
with Jacobo HURWITZ Zender, a long-time Comintern agent. 23
On 26 April 1957, for example, he requested Juan Jose MEZA
Amador, a pro-Communist Nicaraguan exile, to provide him
with "tall the latest information" on Nicaragua "to send to
Prague."
F. Conference of Northern Zone Communist Parties
In November 1957 Latin American Communists who were in
Moscow to attend the celebration of the kOth anniversary of
the Bolshevik Revolution met under the chairmanship of the
CPSU?s Latin American specialist Sivolov (probably Sivobolov),
and approved an action program calling for increased coor-
dination and fraternal support among Latin American Parties.
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Sivolov called for a "Conference of the North," and preparations
for such a meeting were undertaken immediately after the return
to Mexico of top Cuban and Mexican Party leaders. A PCV offer
to hold the meeting in Venezuela was not accepted. 25
The Conference of Northern Zone Communist Parties was held
at Cuernavaca, Mexico, on 26-27 March 1958. Present at the
meeting were Dionisio ENCINA, Juan Pablo SAINZ Aguilar and
J. Encarnacion VALDEZ. Ochoa of Mexico; Hugo BARRIOS Klee,
Victor Manuel GUTIERREZ and Carlos ALVARADO Jerez of Guate-
mala; Rodolfo GUZMAN Rodriguez of Costa Rica; Jorge ARIAS
Gomez of ElSalvador; Eduardo MACHADO of Venezuela; Joaquin
ORDOQUI, Nib Risquet de Jesus VALDEZ Saldanas and Carlos
Rafael RODRIGUEZ of Cuba; and Jose Rafael HILL Sanchez of
Panama. The CP's of Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic
and Haiti were not represented, although both the Nicaraguan
and Honduran Parties sent written reports.
According to HILL Sanchez' report to the Comite Ejecutivo
National (CEN) of the Partido del Pueblo (PDP), the expenses of
the meeting were paid almost entirely by the CPts of Cuba and
Venezuela. The meeting agreed on the need for increased inter-
party contacts and for the larger Parties to aid the small ones.
To this end it voted to establish an office in Mexico to which
each of the Northern Zone CP's could send Party reports and
observations for circulation,without comment, to the other
Parties. All copies of reports presented to the conference
were destroyed except one which was retained by ENCINA for
(probably) forwarding to the Soviet Union. 26
G. Other PCV-Soviet Contacts
On 25 May 1958, Jesus FARIA and Eduardo MACHADO left Caracas
for Mexico City where Machado met with Georgiy Bobrov, the motion
picture representative in the Soviet Embassy's commercial. office.
Faria also visited the Embassy. Both men also visited the home
of PCM Secretary General ENCINA, made contact with Roberto
BEREDECI.O, a Bolivian Communist with various international
contacts in Mexico, and met with numerous Guatemalan and Mexi-
can Party leaders.
The two men left Mexico on 1 June for Moscow, where they
reportedly were scheduled to report to Soviet officials on
conditions in Venezuela and to present the PCV's recommenda-
tions on actions Moscow should take to secure reestablishment
of diplomatic and commercial relations with Venezuela. 27
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MACHADO returned to. Caracas in about a month, but FARIA did not
return until 10 September, having spent time in Czechoslovakia,
a month's medical rest in the Soviet Union, and a month in China
as a guest of the Chinese CP. 28/
In September 1958, members of a PCV cell in El Tigre, State
of Anzoategui, were informed that a group of members were currently
being trained in the USSR and would soon return to Venezuela. After
their return, the PCV would begin a campaign to achieve re-establishment
of Venezuelan-Soviet diplomatic relations. 29
During an interview in late October with a correspondent of the
West German magazine Der Spiegel, Gustavo MACHADO said that he
would be invited to Moscow for the next CPSU congress and that
although he would pay his way there, Moscow would stand the
expense of his return trip. (Together with Hernani PORTOCARRERA,
MACHADO, under the pseudonym of Felipe BOLANOS, also attended the
XIXth CPSU Congress in December 1952 as the PCV's official repre-
sentative. j0 J) He also stated that the PCV was being used by
Moscow as an experiment in self-sufficiency so that the PCV at
that moment was not receiving any outside financial help, 31
thus clearly acknowledging that Moscow had previously been
assisting the PCV financially.
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II. International Communist Labor Ties
A. Confederacion Sindical Latino Americana
From the beginnings of Venezuelan Communism, the labor move-
ment has been a constant source of contact between Venezuelan
Communists and international Communism. The Latin American trade
unionists who were in Moscow in 1927 in connection with the
anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution (See Section IA), met
and approved preliminary plans for establishing the first hemi-
spheric labor organization. The meeting, which was presided over
by Alexander Lozovsky, then head of the Red International of
Labor Unions (RILU, or Profintern), selected Ricardo MARTINEZ
of Venezuela as the resident Latin American representative at
RILU's Moscow headquarters. 32
The actual manifesto convoking a Latin American labor con-
gress was addressed "To the Workers' Organizations of Latin
America and to the Proletariat in General," and was issued by
a second meeting of Latin American trade unionists held in
Moscow in April 1928. Those present signed the manifesto as
representatives of Communist-controlled labor organizations
in Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay,
Argentina and Venezuela (Union Obrera Revolueionaria).
The conference met in Montevideo in May 1928 attended by
Communist representatives from 1,5 countries: Argentina, Bolivia,
Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guate-
mala, Mexico (David A. SIQUEIROS, Elias BARRIOS, Samuel RODRI-
GUEZ Cerilla), Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela
(MARTINEZ representing the Agrupaciones Sindicales Revolu-
cionarias, The result of the meeting was the formal estab-
lishment of the Confederacion Sindical Latino Americana (CSLA)
as the hemispheric affiliate of RILU0 MARTINEZ served as a
member of CSLA's Secretariat or General Council as well as
CSLA's representative on RILU's Executive Committee. 33
B. Confederacton de Trabajadores de America Latina
The CSLA was never very effective and it ceased to exist
in 1936. On 8 September 1938, a hemispheric labor conference
was convoked by Mexico's Vicente LOMBARDO Toledano, which was
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attended by 37 delegates from 12 countries, Out of the conference
emerged a new Communist front organization, Confederacion de Tra-
bajadores de America Latina (CTAL), which is today the hemispheric
branch of the Moscow-controlled World Federation of Trade Unions
(WFTU). The 1938 meeting elected LOMBARDO Secretary General of
the new organization, a post he still holds. 34
Aside from the Communistic nature of its affiliated unions
and of its officers and members, CTAL's role as an integral part
of the international Communist movement is evidenced by the fact
that it was a major subject of discussion at the Conference of
Northern Zone CP's (see Section IF). That conference considered,
as the second item on its agenda, a report prepared by Lazaro
PEN.A, a Cuban official of CTAL and WFTUo After discussion of
the report, the conference decided that (1) CTAL headquarters
should continue to be in Mexico; (2) CTAL, despite its faults,
must continue as the focus of the revolutionary union movement
in opposition to ORIT, the hemispheric arm of ICFTU, and (3)
there must be more discussion and coordination among Latin
American CFYs in order to revitalize and strenghten the CTALO 35
In Venevuela the leading affiliate has been the Federacion
de Trabajadores del Distrito Federal y Estado Miranda (FTDFEM),
controlled by the Black (dissident) Communist group, Partido
Revo.lucionario del Proletariado (Communista)--PRPc. Rodolfo
QUINTERO, long the leading member of FTDFEM, represented that
organization at CTAL conferences in 1946, 1948 and 1953 and, at
the latter (4th Congress, Santiago, Chile), was elected to a
3-year term on CTAL's Central Committee. QUINTERO also has
attended WFTU meetings in 1951 (Budapest), 1953 (Vienna--along
with Luis CIANO Cerezo) and 1954, and has served as a member of
the administrative committee of WFTU's Trade Union International
of Oil, Chemical and Allied Workers. After the 1951 congress in
Budapest, he toured Hungary as a guest of the Hungarian trade
unions. 36
As an. FTDFEM leader and head of its largest affiliate, the
Waiters' Union, Rafael BRACCA has, like QUINTERO, been associated
with WFTU and CTRL. In March 1953 he attended the CTAL congress
in Santiago, and in September 1955 he was present at the 2nd
International Conference of Food and Tobacco Industry Workers,
Hotel, Cafe and Restaurant Employees, which was held under WFTU
auspices at Sofia. In 19'57 he was a member of the WFTU General
Council, with Jose Rosario DIAZ serving as Venezuela's deputy
member. 37
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SE
In 1957 Oscar T. MERCHANT, then president of FTDFEM, was the
Venezuelan delegate to WF'I`U's. 4th Congress, held in Leipzig on
4-14 October. Before the Congress, Rodrigo ROJAS Andrade, a
Chilean Communist labor leader, was delegated by WFTU-CTAL to
visit Venezuela and Colombia to arouse interest in the congress.
38
In 1953, the FTDFEM maintained contact with the WFTU through
Enrique AGUERO Gorrin., a Caracas lawyer. AGUERO would send
correspondence to his brother Leonardo in Milan, while WFTU
correspondence for QUINTERO or FTDFEM would be sent by Leonardo
to his brother or mother. 39/
C. Jesus Faria
The connections of Venezuelan Communism with the interna-
tional Communist labor movement are well illustrated by the
career of Jesus FARIA, the present PCV Secretary General and
long its specialist on union affairs. FARIA attended CTAL
congresses in 1942 (Mexico City), 1944 (Cali, Colombia), 1948
Mexico City), and 1950 (Montevideo). At the latter meeting
27 March-1 April), LOMBARDO announced that the CTAL had approved
a plan for creating regional committees; and the Caribbean Re-
gional Committee, covering Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti and
Venezuela, was placed under the direction of FARIA together with
Lazaro PENA and Faustino CALCENES of Cuba. 4
At CTAL's 1953 congress in Santiago, FARIA, although confined
to a Venezuelan jail at the time, was elected a member of the CTAL
Executive Committee. He managed to send a message to the congress,
in which he expounded a straight Moscow line: denunciation of
Yankee imperialistic exploitation of Venezuela through Standard
Oil Company and condemnation of America's war-mongering policies.
Ll/ Earlier, in 1945, FARIA. had been sent by the MEDINA govern-
ment as an observer to an ILO conference in Paris; he took
advantage of the trip to attend a WFTU conference in Toulouse
on 28 October. 42
In 1949 FARIA made the pilgrimage to Moscow as a guest of
the Soviet trade union organization. There he attended the Xth
Soviet Trade Union Congress, to which he delivered an attack on
""North American Imperialism." Radio Moscow, on 13 May 1949,
beamed to Latin America part of a FARIA article entitled "North
American Imperialism in Venezuela," which castigated the ruling
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military junta as a lackey of the U. S. and which apparently was
an adaptation of his speech. During his stay in Moscow, he sent
back to Tribuna Po ular, the PCV organ, a series of articles
relating hoc eglories c the Soviet Union and the enviable posi-
tion of the Soviet worker.
On his return trip FARIA visited Sofia to attend the funeral
of Georgi Dimitrov, and also participated in a WFTU meeting in
Milan, where he was named one of three members of a committee
(the others were from the USSR and Rumania) to prepare and
disseminate a report on the accomplishments of oil workers
throughout the worlds FARIA later became Latin America director
of the Trade Union International of Chemical, Oil and Allied
Workers, whose organization was decided upon at the Milan
meeting.
The previous year (1948) FARIA had led a delegation of
Venezuelan Communist (Theodora GUZMAN Landaeta, Manuel TABORDA,
Maximo GUTIERREZ, Porfirio MARVAL, and Antonio GARCIA) to the
Congress of Latin American Petroleum Workers, held in Tampico,
Mexico, on 22-26 September. The Congress named FARIA a member
of the Committee for the Defense of Latin American Petroleum
Workers ,/
During his long imprisonment from May 1950 until January
1958, FARIA served international Communism well as a symbol
of martyrdom and a subject for propaganda. The CTAL was
especially active in this regard, and in 1954 LOMBAR.DO issued
orders to all affiliates that December 195+ was to be observed
as "Crusade to Free Jesus Faria't month. The idea reportedly
originated in the headquarters of WFTU's Trade Union Interna-
tional of Chemical, Oil and Allied Workers. Radio Moscow
dedicated various radio programs to him (for example, on
5 July 1955). In late 1956 the WFTU Executive Council, meet-
ing in Sofia, approved a resolution "to send messages demandin
the release from jail of Faria" to the Venezuelan Government. L6/
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III. Front Organizations
A. Anti-Imperialist League
The Anti-Imperialist League was founded by the Anti-
Imperialist Congress, which met in Brussels in February 1927 at
the call of Willy Muenzenberg, the well-known. Comintern agent.
The Latin American delegates included Gustavo MACHADO, as well
as Julio Antonio MELLA (Cuba) and Eudocio RAVINES (Peru). A
Continental Committee of the League was set up in Mexico with
MELLA as its prime mover and MACHADO as a member. 47
Following the Comintern's Vlth Congress in 1928, at which
a resolution praising the SANDINO revolt in Nicaragua was
adopted, Latin American Communists associated with the League
organized a "Hands Off Nicaragua" Committee (Manor Fuera de
Nicaragua--Mafuenic), which undertook to raise funds for
SANDINO. The $1,000 that was raised was sent to SANIZINO by
means of MACHADO. 48.
B. Venezuelan-Soviet Cultural Institute
The Instituto Cultural Venezolano-Sovietico (ICVS) was
organized on 24 April 1946 and came to an end on 13 June 1952
when it was closed by police a few hours after Venezuela broke
off diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. During its
existence, ICVS functioned primarily as a channel for the
distribution of Communist propaganda. Its Boletin de Information
reportedly was published by the Soviet Embassy. The Institute
also distributed Cultura Sovietica, published by the Instituto
de Intereaxnbio Cu aura Mex cano-.uso in Mexico City. Lqj In
1948 the Soviet Embassy was said also to be subsidizing through
the ICVS the then pro-Communist Caracas daily tabloid Ultimas
Noticias. 50
Throughout its lifetime, the Institute's leading figure and
director was Carlos Augusto LEON Arocha, who was then and is
today a prominent member of the PCV. LEON reportedly was paid
for his services by the Soviet Embassy and acted as go-between
and front man in matters concerning ICVS for Lev Krylov, Soviet
cultural. attache in Caracas until 1948. 51
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LEON has traveled abroad both as a PCV agent and as a
representative of other front groups. In 1952 he visited
Prague and reportedly continued on to Moscow to attend the
World Economic Conference (April 1952) as a delegate of the
Venezuelan Pro-Peace movement. 52 In 1953 he attended both
Stalin's funeral and the 3rd World Youth Congress in Bucharest,
25-30 July. During this trip behind the Iron Curtain he main-
tained contact with the West through Jonas MILLAN Boadas, who
also attended the youth congress. In Moscow LEON is said to
have met with CPSU cultural officials and also persons in charge
of Communist agitation in the Americas, to whom he explained the
serious financial and tactical problems then facing the PCV. 53
A second prominent member of ICVS was Gabriel Oscar BRACHO
Montiel, who served as its last president. A well-known painter.,
humorist, editor-publisher and odontologist from the State of
Zulia, BRACHO, a member of the PCV, was also a founding member
of the Pro-Peace Committee, which he represented at the Con-
tinental Cultural Congress in Santiago, Chile, 27 April 1953.
In late 1952 or early 1953 BRACHO reportedly had contacts with
the now defunct Peruvian pro-Communist magazine 1953. 54+
Eduardo FRANCIS, a sculptor and painter, was another active
member. He assisted in the organization of the Institute and,
in 1.950, served as one of its officers. In January 1947, he
reportedly was given 10,150 bolivars by Krylov to be used in
financing union activities.
FRANCIS was expelled from Venezuela in 1929, at which time
he went to Moscow where he attended various Party schools. Later
he was sent by the CPSU to various. European capitals to study
Communist agitation and sabotage methods. When he. returned to
Venezuela in 1936 he held membership in both the PCV and CPSU.
He returned to Moscow upon being exiled a second time (date
unknown) and, during World War II, reportedly served as the
CPSU's official Spanish translator. On his return to Vene-
zuela, again following the October 1945 coup d'etat, he allegedly
brought with him from Moscow instructions for the PCV. In the
USSR., where he has spent a total of 13 years, FRANCIS belongs,
in addition to the CPSU, to the Association of Sculptors of the
Soviet Union and the Artists' Cooperative of the Soviet Union. 55
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C. Pro-Peace Committee
The Comite Venezolano Por la Paz y la Democracia, an
affiliate of the World Peace Council, was founded on 17 November
1948 by General Jose Rafael GABALDON, Mario BRICENO Iragorry,
Jose Antonio MARTURET, Lucila PALACIOS, Rafael ANGARITA Arvelo,
and Luis VILLALBA Villalba. Other prominent members are Miguel.
OTERO Silva, Luis Esteban REY, Vicente and Jose GERBASI, Antonio
MARQUEZ Salas, Carlos IRAZABAL, Isido.ro VALLES, Eduardo GALLEGOS
Mancera, Jose Maria SANCHEZ Mijares (its Secretary General),
Gabriel BRACHO, and Dr. J. F. REYES Baena (ICVS Vice President
from September 19+9 until its closure in May 1952). 56 Most
of the persons mentioned are also prominent PCV members, although
a few are only fellow travelers.
One such fellow traveler is GABALDON, the Committee's presi-
dent. In 1951-, he was invited to visit the Soviet Union for two
months, according to El Nacional of 4 June 1954. In 1958, to-
gether with LEON Arocha and SANCHEZ Mijares, he headed the 20
Venezuelan delegates to the Stockholm Disarmament. Congress,
16-22 July. 57
In February 1953, a source, basing his remarks on informa-
tion obtained by him from SANCHEZ Mijares, claimed that the
Committee was acting as a Soviet intelligence organization,
furnishing Moscow with such information as it might be requested
to collect. According to the source, the Soviets were using the
Venezuelan group, as well as similar organizations in other coun-
tries, to supplement information obtained through local CPes.
The information thus collected was believed to be channeled to
Moscow through the Paris headquarters of the Pro-Peace Movement
or through the Mexican Committee. The source claimed that the
Venezuelan committee had already furnished Moscow with papers
prepared by such figures as Federico BRITO Figueroa, GALLEGOS
Mancera, LEON Arocha, IRAZABAL, OTERO Silva, Humberto RIVAS
Mijares, Vicente GERBA$I, Augusto MARQUEZ Canizales, and
Dr. Felix AGUERO, 58
D. Democratic Lawyeers,Association
The Venezuelan Association.of Democratic Lawyers was organi-
zed In Caracas on 1 September 1949 as an affiliate of the Inter-
national Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL). Its members
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consist of a handful of lawyers controlled by the P"CVO As of
1953 its President was Octavio ANDRADE Delgado and its Secretary
of Relations Pedro BARRIOS Guzman, both of them also members of
the PCV's National Labor Commission for the Federal District.
One prominent Association member is Dr9 Arturo CARD ZQ, also
active in ICVS and the Pro-Peace Committee and reportedly a PCV
member. CARDOZO was a delegate to the International Jurists
Congress in Rio de Janeiro in November 1952 and a signer in
January 1952 of the "Convocatoria" for the American Continental
Congress for Peace. 60
E. Youth Groups
The Liga de Juventud Trabajadora de Venezuela (LJTV) was
organized in 1952 as a PCV front group. A -1--page open letter
addressed to "Young, Petroleum Workers of all Countries" and sent
to contacts in Bogota and Buenos Aires indicated that the LJTV
was probabl associated with the World Federation of Democratic
Youth (WFDY). It also corresponded with the International.
Preparatory Committee of the Conference for the Defense of
the Rights of Youth (Vienna). 61
Also associated with the WFDY is the Juyentud Comunista
(JCy), established in 1947 as the official youth arm of the PCV.
One of its early leaders, Guillermo GARCIA Ponce (now PCV repre-
sentative on the Junta Patriotica and a PCV Central Committee
member), was a delegate to the Latin American Youth Conferences
held in Mexico City in 1943 and 1948. These conferences reportedly
were sponsored by the WFDY and its associated,yo.uth.organizations,
the International Union of Students and the Conference of American
Youth. ,62 Another JCV leader, Juvenal HERRERA, was a delegate
to the 3rd World Festival for Youth, held in Berlin in 1951. 63
Jonas MILLAN Boadas, a member of JCV's National Executive
Committee until his departure, left Caracas for Switzerland on
2 April 1953. In July, together with LEON Arocha, he attended
the Youth Congress in Bucharest. MILLAN reportedly went to
Europe as a PCV emissary with the task of maintaining liaison
with the Cominform. He was also to maintain contact with
Ricardo GONZALEZ, a Venezuelan student then living in Geneva,
who was serving as a:PCV liaison agent in Europe for the pro-
curement of propaganda materials. MILLAN's mail contact in
Venezuela was said to be Dr. Eduardo GALLEGOS Mancera. ~LV
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00#00""M PIN-11"M
IV. Ties With Individual Communist Parties
In addition to the previously cited contacts between
Venezuelan Communists and various components of the interna-
tional Communist movement, some data can also be adduced to
show specific contacts with individual CP's in various coun-
tries. The data available are not sufficiently complete or
conclusive to reveal the full extent of these relationships,
but they do provide additional evidence of the PCV's links
abroad.
Brazil: In 1953 a PCV leader disclosed that the CP of
Brazi CB), which he described as having lots of funds, was
showing a willingness to aid the then outlawed PCV. According
to him, PCV members were being invited to participate in PCB
activities, and the PCV was expecting to receive material
support from the Brazilian Party. (See also Section VB.)
Chile: The Chilean CP was reported in 1950 to be using
regular mail sent to various cover addresses in communicating
with other Latin American CP's. The known cover address for
Venezuela was: Miguel OTERO Silva, El Nacional, Caracas. 66
China: Representatives from 10 Latin American countries
were present at the 8th Congress of the Chinese CP in September
1956. Delegates from Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador,
and Uruguay addressed the Congress, while fraternal messages
were read from the CP's of Brazil, Guatemala, Costa Rica,
Paraguay (although no delegates were present), Bolivia and
Venezuela. 67 During 1958PCV Secretary General Jesus FARIA
spent a month in China as a guest of the Chinese CP. 6`
Colombia: A direct and close link between the PCV and the
Colombian CP (PCC) exists in the person of PCV leader Gustavo
MACHADO, who became an honorary member of the PCC during his
exile there. 69. During the 1948 oil strike in Colombia,
the Communist-controlled Venezuelan Federation of Labor secretly
sent the Confederacion de Trabajadores de Colombia 11,000 pesos
through Exito Films, a Bogota distributor for Soviet Artkino
Films, which MACHADO and his brother Eduardo founded in July
1944. 70
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Between.January and mid-May 1958, Guillermo VARGAS
Saavedra of the FCC went to Venezuela to aid the PCV and to act
as a liaison channel between it and his own party. Later in the
year, the PCV officially invited Gilberto VIEIRA White, PCC Sec-
retary General, to visit Caracas. 71
Cuba: PCV relations with the Cuban CP (i.e., PSP) have
been quite extensive, as previous references in this paper have
indicated. The earliest contact probably dates from 1924 when
Gustavo MACHADO, then working in. Cuba for a sugar company,
founded Venezuela Libre in association with Jose Antonio MELLA,
Ruben MAR. M:Z Vil.en and Juan MARINELLO. 72 Later, it will
be recalled, MACHADO was again associated with MELLA on the
Continental Committee of the Anti-Imperialist League (see
Section TINA).
On 8 January 1947, Pompeyo, MARQTJE,Z, then PCV Financial
Secretary, arrived in Havana; during his stay, he was a house
guest of GONZALEZ Carvajal. 73/ When Francisco OLIVO and Juan
PELLECER arrived in Havana onJanuary 1952 as emissaries of
the General Committee of the PCV, then in exile in Mexico,
they were guests of honor at a luncheon given by the PSP. 7
Ecuador.-- In. May 1958, Enrique GIL Gilbert, Secretary
Genera or the Guayas Provincial Committee of the Ecuadoran
CP (PCE), received a letter from the PCV, announcing the
shipment to the PCE of a number of copies of the latest issue
of Tribuna Popular. The PCE was requested to use the address
`Manuel aez, partado.5335, Este, Caracas", in writing to
the PCV. 75
France: Salvador DE LA PLAZA, long a prominent Venezue-
lan Communist, whom Manuel OTERO Silva once described as the
''most important Communist in the country," helped to organize
a Communist group. in France in 1923. Later he worked on behalf
of local parties in the U. S. (1926) and Cuba (1927). Forced
to leave Cuba, he went to Moscow where he spent many years,
broadcasting daily over a Moscow radio on the necessity and
desirability of Communism in Latin America. 76
Manuel Antonio CABALLERO Aguero was, according to Jesus
FARIA, Chief of the Latin American Section of the French CP
during his exile. Today he is a staff member of the Caracas
paper Elite and is slated to take over publication of Joyen
Guardia a Communist youth magazine. 77..
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Italy: In. February 1958 FARIA and Gustavo MACHADO report-
edly asked the Italian CP to place some trained cadres at the
disposal of the PCV. This request apparently was granted since
a PCV meeting on 28 September 1958, called to discuss prepara-
tions against a possible future military coup, was attended by
an Italian who claimed to be a veteran of the Maquis. A later
report on PCV plans to organize a guerrilla force to combat
coups identified one of the organizers of this force as (fnu)
Mantovani (pseudonym: Ulises), who was also described as a
former member of the Maquis, 7
Mexico: The center of PCV activity after the party was
outlawe Tby the PEREZ regime was in Mexico City, where many
PCV personalities went into exile. These included both Gustavo
and Eduardo MACHADQ., whose entrance into Mexico was spo.nsored
by LOMBARDO Toledano and Diego RIVERA. 79 The MACHADO-
LOMBARDO friendship later cooled because of PCV resentment
over the CTAL's refusal to break off relations with labor
leaders still in Venezuela who were cooperating with the
PEREZ regime. For his part, LOMBARDO, in July 1952, accused
Gustavo of plotting with Luis Carlos PRESTES (Brazil), Sal-
vador OCAMPO (Chile) and GONZALEZ Carvajal (Cuba) to replace
him as head of the CTRL with Cuban Communist labor leader
Lazaro .PENA.. 80
In May 1954 the Venezuelan Government learned that
the PCM was arranging meetings between PCV exiles and J.
Encarnacion PEREZ Gaytan, PCM leader, who had recently re-
turned from the USSR with "!precise instructions for the
functioning of Communist groups in Venezuela." 81_
In January 1955, Gustavo MACHADO was reported to
have become a member of the board of directors of a commit-
tee formed in Mexico City to aid Communist political refugees,
similar to the Socorro Rojo Internacional which had existed
in Guatemala and Cuba. Serving with him were LOMBARDO and
ENCINA.(Mexico), Horacio FUENTES and GONZALEZ Carvajal (Cuba),
and Eduardo MORA Valverde (Secretary General of the Costa
Rican CP, I. e., Partido Vanguardia Popular).
In mid-1958, Editorial Popular, A. C., a bookstore
owned and operated by the PCM, received an order for 2,000
copies of Como Ser un Buen Comunista by Liu Shao.-chi from
Distribuidora g i7"a maracas, whose intermediary in
Mexico City was Gustavo MACHADO. 83
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Panama: During the PEREZ ban on the PCV, many exiled
members en~oyed.the hospitality of the PDP. For example, at
a meeting of the Party's CEN on 24 August 1955, PDP leader
Miguel PORCE.LL Introduced Luis NAVARRETE, JCV member; Luis
Emiro ARRIETA Ugarte, PCV Politburo member; and Yolanda E.
VILLAPEREDA Tavar, member of the JCV and of the Venezuelan.
Preparatory Committee of the International Conference for
the Defense of the Rights of Youth (Vienna, March 1953).
CEN gave ARRIETA two addresses to send to the PCV, which its
members upon arriving in Panama, could use to contact the
PDP. EE/
At a later CEN meeting on, 1 November 1955, Nicolas
COLORADO Tovar, introduced as a member of PCV's National
Directorate, told the CEN that the PCV had decided to assign
a permanent representative to Panama. The PDP agreed to pay
for this agent's room and board. The PDP also exerted
itself to get jobs for PCV exiles who came to Panama. L6/
In early 1958, it was reported that the PCV, as well
as the CPSU, had promised material support to the PDP HILL
Sanchez, PDP Secretary for Organization, who attended the.
Conference of Northern Zone CP's (see Section IF), later
informed CEN that he had discussed the matter with Eduardo
MACHADO, the PCV delegate to the Conference, and that the
latter promised that the PCV would provide a printing press.
According to HILL, MACHADO said that the PCV would conduct
a fund-raising campaign among its members in this connec-
tion. L7/
On 1 August 1958, Ruben Dario SOUZA, PDP Secretary
General, was visited by Jose Vicente IRO and Reina Mercedes
GOMEZ, both PCV members, who informed SOUZA that they were
on their way to Buenos.Aires for 6-months' training at the
Communist cadre school there. 88
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V. Guatemalan Leftist Contacts with Venezuelans
A. Juan Jose
Arevalo
While in Mexico City in late May 1958, Eduardo MACHADO and
Jesus FARIA told Victor Manuel GUTIERREZ, exiled Guatemalan
labor leader, that they could arrange residence in. Venezuela
for Jacobo ARBENZ and Juan Jose AREVALO, the two former Presi-
dents of Guatemala then living in exile in Montevideo.. 891
Very shortly thereafter, Juan David GARCIA Bacca, Dean. of the
School of Humanities of Caracas' Central University and re-
portedly an associate of Mexican and Panamanian Communists,
offered professorships to both men, although AREVALO had
already informed GARCIA that he was dubious about going to
Venezuela. 90
Apparently nothing came of this offer; but in October it
was reported that AREVALO had been invited to lecture at the
University by a group of professors and that he was inclined
to accept. However, an official of the Venezuelan Ministry of
the Interior stated on 14 November that AREVALO would not be
permitted to enter the country. 91:
In the past, AREVALO has also had contacts with Accion
Democratica leaders. During his tenure as Provisional Presi-
dent of Venezuela, Romulo BETANCO.URT was decorated by A.REVALC
(1946) with Guatemala's Grand Cross of the Order of Quetzal. 22/
In January 1951, Romulo GALLEGOS, former Venezuelan President,
visited Guatemala as an official guest of the government as the
result of an invitation extended by AREVALO. 93/
BETANCOURT was also associated with AREVALQ in the Inter-
American Conference for Democracy and Freedom, organized by
BETANCOURT, Jose FIGUERES and Juan BOSCH, and held in Havana
on 12-1l1. May 1950. 994/ In early 1951, BETANCOURT reportedly
was plotting with AREVALO, FIGUERES and Carlos PRIO Socarras
to effect a rebellion in Venezuela. BETANCOURT was said to
have purchased from the Argentine Government through the
intermediary of the Guatemalan Government $1,000,000 worth of
arms to be used to restore GALLEGOS to the Venezuelan Presidency.
Part of the arms were said to be stored in Guatemala and the
remainder on a FIGUERES property near San Jose. 22/
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SECRET
Another Venezuelan non-Communist leftist having contacts
with AREVALO Is General GABALDON, head of the Pro-Peace Com-
mittee. In October 1957, at least, GABALDON was corresponding
with Arevalo, although the extent of this correspondence is not
known. 96/
B. Jose. Manuel Fort.uny
At the Conference of Northern Zone CP's, the PCV through
its delegate, Eduardo MACHADO, agreed to a proposal that Jose
Manuel FORTUNY, exiled Guatemalan Communist leader, should go
to Venezuela from Moscow. 97 During their subsequent visit
to Mexico City in late May, ACHADO and Jesus FARIA told Guate-
malan exile leaders that Bernardo ALVARADO Monzon and his wife,
Irma CHAVEZ de Alvarado, as well as FORTUNY, were to be invited
to Venezuela. MACHADO promised that upon their arrival, the
PCV would concern itself with their security, procurement of
new documentation, and assistance to go elsewhere if they
should so desire. GUTIERREZ told MACHADO and FARIA to work
out travel arrangements with FORTUNY and the ALVARADOS without
delay once they reached Moscow.
In early June the three Guatemalans were reported to be
preparing to leave the USSR for Venezuela, and FC-RTUNY at
least actually did so. He appears to have gone from Moscow
to. Rio de Janeiro. On 7 August he traveled from there to
Montevideo in accordance with instructions from Mexico, re-
layed through Mario Fiorani, an Italian Communist, that he
go to the Uruguayan capital to contact PCV leader Eduardo
GALLEGOS Mancera. GALLEGOS gave him a letter of recommen-
dation to an official of the Venezuelan Embassy in Rio, as
well as Instructions to contact Jorge AMADO, a Stalin Prize
winner, who would help him during his stay in Brazil. FOR-
TUNY returned to Rio on 31 August, and was arrested there on
3 ,October fo.r having false papers. 99
During questioning by Brazilian police,. FORTUNY admitted
his contacts with AMADO and said that they resulted from
advice given him by GALLEGOS and Juan Bernardo ARISMENDI (also
a Venezuelan Communist). In FORTUNY's notebook were found the
names and addresses of GALLEGOS and of Osvaldo TREJO, First
Secretary of the Venezuelan Embassy in Rio and presumably the
addressee of GALLEGOS' letter of recommendation. 1?p
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This episode was not FORTUNY's first contact with Venezuelan
leftists. In 1950, for example, he was a delegate to the World
Peace Congress, which Miguel OTERO. Silva, Caracas publisher, and
Victor MARTINEZ, an oil worker, also attended. l01 Moreover,
just before that congress, the Paris Conference or-the World
Committee of Partisans for Peace appointed delegations to visit
various countries. The delegation named to visit Mexico and
Guatemala consisted of FORTUNY, Chilean poet Pablo. NERUDA, Jose
CARILLO Garcia (Vice President of the International. Teachers
Federation), and General GABALDON. lag
C. Other Contacts
In March 1953, Humberto. BARTOLI and J. A. MEDINA Sanchez,
exiled Union Republican.a Democratica (URD) deputies from Vene-
zuela, attended in Guatemala City one of a series of round-table
discussions arranged by Jaime DIAZ Rozzotto, Secretary General.
of the Presidency (i. e., to. Jacobo ARBENZ) and of the Par.tido
de Renovacion Nacional (PRN); Fernando DE LEON Porras, PRN
deputy and First Secretary of the Guatemalan Congress; and
Julio ESTRADA de la Hoz, former President of the Congress
and a Deputy of the Partido de Accion Revolucionaria. The
Guatemalans present at the meeting attended by BARTOL.I and
MEDINA were Carlos GONZALEZ Orellana, Secretary of Publicity
for Arbenz, Luis F. GALICH, and Julio SALVADO, director of
Guatemala's Neuropsychiatric Hospital. 103
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APPENDIX I
ABBREVIATIONS USED
AD - Accion.Democratica
CEN - Comite Ejecutivo Nacional (Panama)
CP - Communist Party
CPSU - Communist Party of the Soviet Union
CSLA - Confederacion Sindical Latino Americana
CTAL - Conferderacion de Trabajadores de America Latina
FTDFEM - Federacion de Trabajadores del Distrito Federal y
Estado Miranda
IADL - International Association of Democratic Lawyers
ICFTU - International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
ICVS - Institute Cultural Venezolano-Sovietico
ILO International Labor Organization
JCV - Juventud Comunista de Venezuela
LJTV - Liga.de Juventud Trabajadora de Venezuela
ORIT - Inter-American Regional Labor Organization
PCB - Partido Communista do Brasil
PCC - Partido Comunista de Colombia
PCE - Partido Comunista del Ecuador
PCM - Partido Comunista Mexicano
PCV - Partido Comunista Venezol.ano
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PDN
PDP
PRN
- Partido Democratico Nacional
- Partido del Pueblo (Panama)
- Partido de Renovacion Nacional (Guatemala)
PRPc - Partido Revolucionario del Proletariaclo (Comunista
PSP - Partido Socialista Popular (Cuba)
RILU - Red International of Labor Unions
WFDY - World Federation of Democratic Youth
WFTU - World Federation of Trade Unions
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