MEDDLING IN BRAZIL - THE CIA BUNGLES ON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000100320002-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 12, 2004
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: February 9, 1968
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

Approved For Release 2V4/1-8II2o8:.:rC DR8 80 13,1A
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With the approach of the first anniversary of the revela-
tion of ClA)nvolvement in scores of private organizations
conies news from Brazil of new CIA meddling in trade
union activity there, through the use of an American.
union as conduit and cover. Interestingly, the exposure
was headline news in Brazil, but it has been completely
blacked out of the American press.
The pattern is the familiar one of a nominally private
organization---in this case the International Federation, of
Petroleum and Chemical Workers (IFPCW), an Amer!
can union-buying influence and intelligence with CIA
money. The story comes complete with documentation in
the form of a list of payoffs.
The two spheresr most congenial for the CIA's system
of using private organizations as fronts have been inter-
which is attempting to evolve a larger social perspective
than the simple meat-and-potatoes philosophy of North
American labor leaders. IFPCW's activity has been the
principal cause of the failure. of Brazil's 16 petroleum
unions to unite in a National Federation of Petroleum
Workers. The unions have remained fragmented largely
because of IFPCW interference. (On the other han(i,
Brazilian locals are warmly encouraged to affiliate with
ORIT, the Interamerican Regional Organization of
Workers, a creation of the. AFL-CIO in Latin America,
which also promotes apolitical unionism North Ameri-
can style.)
The ATFLD was' the prime mover behind the drive to
affiliate the Brazilians with the IFPCIV through the use
of financial loans to favored unions, Earlier allegations of
national student and international labor activity. They CIA involvement led the petroleum unions to decide
provide the Agency with an entree to leftist, activist for- against affiliation in late October, 1967.
cign organizations that often arc the focal points of ac- Then, in December, documentation, was uncovered by
tivity hostile to American interests. in the case of the a S5o Paulo trade union leader, rgisto Demonieali. This
student operation, the system was blown wide open, was in the form of a complete list o' payoffs and other
larftely because NSA had a guilty conscience and toll all. expenditures prepared for Alberto I amos, the IFPC%V
Labor, on the,. Other h:nnd, which has been a much biefler representative in Brazil, and a note-from Ramos to Alcy
operation, made poker-faced denials, and has continued Nogucira, of the Sao Paulo office. It talcs:
to function, The liaison between the American Institute "I have with me 45,000,000 crux'iros ($16,(66.67)
of Free Labor Development (AIFLD) and the CIA has for you to distribute to the unions for campaigns in ac-
been exposed many tinges, but AIFLD has not been put cordance with our plans. If you are of availal;biu before
Out of business. It continues to function as one of the tomorrow, then arrange to be here oil Wednesday since
pet projects of Jay Lovestonc, Geort!e Meany's Cont-
nrlrnisnl expert.
The international Federation of Petroleum and Chemi-
cal Workers was one of those traced to the CIA through
the NSA revelations: According to its own financial re-
port, it received $30,00(1 from the Andrew Hamilton
Foundation, a CIA front. Since 1965, it and the AlFLD
have been active in Brazil to encourage Brazil's petro-
chemical unions to atliliatc with their North American
counterpart. ']'his is part of the CIA's continuing effort, to
influence Latin American trade'unions to be primarily
apolitical craft guilds, on the assumption that the politics
of Latin unions will be anti-U.S. Apolitical unionism,
though traditional in the U.S., runs counter to the whole
tradition of the Latin American trade union movement,
Approved For Release 2004/10/2
I will be in Rio conversing with Vclasqucz about other
trips to the U.S." Attached was an iterjnized expense, sheet,
implicating high level government otlcials, labor leaders,
newsmen, a general, in accepting bribes. Services rendered
ranged from petty favors to the rigging of union elections.
Samples:
13onus to Jose Ahud for his collaboration ....$156.25
Special payment for Dr. Jorge M. Fiiho
of Labor Ministry .....................S S7 5.00
Trip for Mr. (ilaimhorc Guirnasaes, our
informer at Fegundcs St. .... ....... S 56.2:7
Photocopies of hooks and documents of
Petroleum I''ederation ...... .......'. 5100.00
Assistance to Gucdcs and lufrasio to
defeat Luis Furtado of the Suzano Union . .$14.64
:1 " TArRdift 61314R000100320002-8