JAMAICA HOST FOR A FESTIVAL OF THE YOUNG

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706800004-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2011
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: April 14, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706800004-0
e ?, .:. NEW YORK TIMES
Y oK,fi,
"d
~ 14 April, 1985
Jamaica Host
For 'a Festival
Of the Ydung!
BT JOSEPH B. TREASTER,
Spedal to The New York Thos
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. were
Altogether, nearly 1,100 people
drawn here from about 100 countries to
attend the International Youth Confer-
ence designed as a "free world" cotm-
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
prind)?1es that they called the Declara-
tion off Xingston 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 afid 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 somewhere down the road.
Jamaican .Official Pleased
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
vuteo 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
-non-Communists that the organizers of
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 $2 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-
tance. Besides the United. States and
Jamaica, only West Germany and
Canada gave cash, $150,000 by the West
Germans and $27,000 by the Canadians;
Mr. Anderson said. The Jamaican or-
ganizers had hoped some beads of hate
would address the conference, but none
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
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 intern-::,
tional youth festivals for years, butthat
as best he could tell there had never
been such a gathering in the non-Com- ;
munist world. He said he saw an oppor-
tunity to break the Russians' "monop-
oly, on youth politits" and was encour-
aged early oil by Washington.
One of the most dramatic moments
of .the conference came in the final'
hours, well after midnight, when 10 to
15 American conservatives and repre-:
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.
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
work.
The only national leader to address
the conference was the Jamaican
Prime Minister, Edward P. G. Seaga,
who is widely regarded as President
Reagan's closest ally in the Caribbean.
The lone guest speaker was Vladimir
Bukovsky, a 41-year-old former Soviet
dissident who came to the West in 1976.
Russians Call It a C.I.A.
For months the Soviet i had
been attac tin t e con emnaMAL=r
tra me igence Agency plot "to split
As evidence of Soviet propaganda
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 a resolution
expressing outrage at the action.
Only a handful of staff correspond-
ents of independent news organizations
attended the conference.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706800004-0