JAMAICA HOST FOR A FESTIVAL OF THE YOUNG

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100500063-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 63
• Publication Date: April 14, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/09: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100500063-6
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NEW YORK TIMES
14 April, 1985
Jamaica Host
For' a Festival
Of the Ydung
By' JOSEPH B. T?REASTER?
Spedual to The New York Times
KINGSTON, Jamaica, April 10 -
There was an Afghan rebel in a camou-
flage jacket and turban, three Cambo-
dian exiles, a handful of Young Repub-
licans and a teen-ager representing the
4-H clubs of America.
Altogether, nearly 1,100 people were
drawn here from about 100 countries to
attend the International Youth Confer-
ence designed as a "free world" coun-
terpoint to the Soviet youth festival to
be held this year in Moscow.
For several days, delegates met late
into the night, haggling over the fine
points of a statement of democratic
priniZI ' les that they called the Declara-
tion o ton and applauding pas-
sionate speeches praising democracy
and condemning Communism and
dictatorships.
When the conference ended shortly
after 4 A.M. today, the delegates, many
in their late 20's and early 30's and
some even in their 40's and 50's, had
agreed that the work begun hereshould
be continued. And it seemed likely that
another convocation of the world's
democratic youth, or at least those in-
terested In youth affairs, was in the
making so n where down the road.
Jamaican Official Pleased
aged early oil by Washington. I who is widely regarded as President
One of the most dramatic momentsReagan's closest ally in the Caribbean.
of .the conference came in the final i The lone guest speaker was Vladimir
hours, well after midnight, when 10 to Bukovsky, a 41-year-old former Soviet
15 American conservatives and repre-. dissident who came to the West in 1976. ?
sentatives of about a dozen European,
and Latin American countries stalked
out to protest an overwhelming ma-
jority vote to postpone indefinitely
elections to replace the arbitrarily ap- ,
pointed organizing Secretariat.
tunity to break the Russians' "monop-
oly on youth politits" and was encour-
How, the protesters asked, could
anyone support a conference on democ-
racy that failed to elect its own leaders
democratically? Inexplicably, the or-
ganizers had not included an election in
the conference schedule. Those who
vutea to postpone balloting argued that
a hastily organized election would have
been a fiasco.
Walkout Is Criticized
Mr. Anderson called the walkout "ar-
rogant" and "undemocratic." But he
said he did not think that it had spoiled
'the overall impression of unity among
f
i
zers o
-non-Communists that the organ
the conference had sought to project.
Some of the Americans - said they
were disappointed that the conference
seemed `to have been dominated by
what they regarded as slightly -left of
center and pentrist delegates. But
later, like almost everyone else, includ-
ing Joyce Nichols, a 19-year-old .4-H
member from Bean Station, Tenn.,
they said they felt they had benefited
from mingling and exchanging ideas
with people from countries some of
them may have only vaguely heard of.
For the Afghans and the Cambo-
dians, the conference was a chance to
show. videotapes and photographs of,
the hardships in their countries. A Chil-
ean lawyer said it was "a blessing" for
him to be able to meet with people who
lived under less repressive regimes.
President Reagan, whose Adminis-
tration provided half of the S2 million in
contributions that financed the confer-
ence, sent a message of support. So did
Prime Minister Margaret. Thatcher,
whose British Government chose not to
lend any financial assistance.
Some Nations Stay Away
But most governments kept their dis-
against the conference, some delegates
showed handbills that they said had
been circulated in Europe. The fliers
warned, incorrectly, that acquired im-
mune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS,.
was rampant in Jamaica.
Some members of the Polish union
movement Solidarity said their delega-
tion would have been larger had it, not
been for police interference in Warsaw.
The conference adopted it resolution
expressing outrage at the action.
Only a handful of staff correspond-
ents of independent news organizations
attended the conference.
tance. Besides the United. States and
Jamaica, only West Germany and
Canada gave cash, $150,000 by the West
Germans and 527,000 by the Canadians,
Mr. Anderson said. The Jamaican or-
ganizers had hoped some heads of Itate
would address the conference, but none
came.
The also was trouble getting interna-
tionally known entertainers to perform
at the arts festival that ran concur-
rently with the conference. At one
point, officials in Washington con-
firmed, President Reagan personally
telephoned Michael Jackson to ask him
to perform here. But even that did not
pn.
-
been such a gatheruig m e n
work-
munist world. He said he saw an oppor- onl national leader to address
he got the idea several years ago when
he learned that the United Nations was
designating 1985 as International
Youth Yearand that neither the United
Nations nor any country was planning
a major commemorative event.
He said that he knew the Russians
had been holding occasional interna-
tional youth festivals for years, but-that
as best he could tell there had never
Cpm
th
Errol Anderson, Jamaica's former
Minister of Youth, who first conceived
of the event and served as its chair-
man, proclaimed the conference a
"tremendous success."
Mr. Anderson, 45 years old, who is
now the Minister of Public Works, said
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/09: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100500063-6 I
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the conference was the Jamaican