JPRS ID: 8562 LATIN AMERICA REPORT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: JPRS
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00850R000100070007-6
• Release Decision: RIP
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 28
• Document Creation Date: November 1, 2016
• Sequence Number: 7
• Content Type: REPORTS

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9 JULY ~ ~ i vF - i
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JPF~S L/8562
9 July 1979
- CFOUO 8/79~
Lati n America Re ort
p
- FB~$ FOREICR~ BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE.
FOR OFFICiAL USE ONLY
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NOTE
JPR5 publtc~tions contain inform~tion prim~ri:y fr~m foreign
- newspapers, pertodicals and books, but alsd from news ~gency
trnnsmissions and brondcasts. *tate:ial~ Erom forei~n-l~nguuge
sourres are translated; tnnse from En~lish-l~ngu~ge s~urces
are transr,ribed or reprinted, wi:h the original phrasir.g and
other ct~uracteris~ics retained.
Headlines, editorial repores, and material enclosed in brt?ckets
(j are supplied by JPK5. pr~cessing indicators su~h as (Text)
or (~xcerpt) in the �irst line of e~ch item~ or following the
last line of a brief, tndicate'~w the ortginal information was
pcocessed. ~,fiere no processing indicatnr is given~ the infor-
mation was sunmarized or extr~cCed.
Unfamili~r names rendered phoneticolly nr transliterated are
enclosed in parentheses. Word, or names preceded by a ques-
[ion ~ark and enclased in parentheses were not clcar in the
original but have becn supplied as appropriatr in context.
Other unattributed parenthetical notes ~'itt~in the body of an
ttem originate with the source. Times Within items are as
given by source. ~
Thc contents ~f chis puolication in no way represent the poli-
cies, views or attitudes of [he C.5. Cavernr~ent.
' ~~or f~irthc~r infcrm~tion o~ report content
catl ~i~3t 3~t-2h43.
COPYRIGHT LA',S5 ~t.'D REGUI.ATIOtiS GOVER^iItiG 04T~~'ERSHIP OF
A`ATE7IALS REP~OD_'C~D ficREl:: REQL'If~ TE'.~T DISSE;tItiATION
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JPRS L/8562
9 July 1979
LATIN AMERICA REPORT
(FOUO 8/79)
, CONTENTS PAGE
aRnztc.
Briefs
Amazon Aluminum Pro~ect 1
CUBA ~
Cuban Writere in 'Tropical Culag': Valladares Case
(Carlos Alberto Montaner; CAMBIO 16, 13 MAy 19)........ 2
ECUAUOR
Briefs
Antiship Missiles ;urchased 6
vICARt1GUA
Madrid Weekly Interviews President Somoza
(Anastasio So~~oza Interview; CAMSIO 16, 20 May 79)...... 7
PERU
PDC Congress Takes Progreasive Social Reform Stand
(PREI.A, 10 May 19) 16
URUGUAY
Studc~nt Leader Writes on Political Arrests, Repression, Economy
(Jorge Landinelli; CORRIERE DELLA SERA, 5 Apr 79)....... 18
VENEZUELA
Douglas Bravo Discusses Revolutionary Movement
(~7o~sglas Bravo Interview; CAIrBIO 16, 27 May 79) . . . . . . . . . 20
- a - (III - LA - 144 FOUO~
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F'U!t UH i~ [C IAI. USL UN1,Y -
I~RAZIL
BRIEFS
AMA'LON ALUMINUM PttOJ~CT--Japan and Brazil forn:ally launched a joint pro ject
to build the world's largeat integrated plant for aluminum and alumina at
the mouth of the Amazon River, with Amazon Aluminum of Japen and two Brazil-
ian firms aigning a 1979 loan contract on 12 June in Tokyo. Under [his
contract, Amazon Alum~.num of Jap$n w~ll loan 5.7 billion yen to the Brazil-
ian firma. The funda will be provid,ed by a consortium composed of Japan
Export-Import Bank and 23 other banks. The loan will extend over a 10-year
period; actual conetruction will begin in 1 year, with the approval of the
Japanese an~ Brazilian governm~n:s. The pro~ected plant will produce 320,000
tons of aluminum and 800,000 tons of alumina annually uaing low-coat liydro-
electxicity from the Amazon tributaries. (Tokyo ASAHI SHIMBUN in Japanese
13 Jun 79 Morning Edition p 8 OWJ
CSO: 4105
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CIJBA
CUBAN WRITERS IN 'TROPICAL GULAG': VALLADARES CASE _
Mndrid CAMBI~ 16 in ~panish 13 May 79 pp 101-102
(Article by Carlos Alberto Montaner; passnges within slantlines italicizedj _
(Text~ Armando Valladares~ poet and painter~ diseident,
in a wheelchair, prostrated by torture, reveals from the
Cuban prison~ in which he haa been for 19 years, what could
be a new hardening of the Castr,~ regime.
A few months before Fidel officially visits Spain, Cuban officials seem to
have given another turn to the wheel of torments for 15,000 political pris-
oners who still remain in Cuban prisons, among them, Commandant Einy
Gutierrez Menoyo, Madrilenian, a hero of the revolution condemned to 60
years in prison in two trials for being a"counterrevolutionary." ,
The lateat news from Castro's prisons is that the penitentiary regime is
becoming harder. Favorite victims of the new situation seem to be the
intellectuals, writers and or.her diasident artiets.
One of these testimonies is that of Armando Valladarea, 43-year-old painter
and poet, sentenced in 1960 to 30 years in prison by the La Cabana revolu- -
tionary tribunals, in Havana Province. Valladares is an invalid who cannot
stand up due to a"deficiency polyneuritis" produced by the hunger torture -
to which he was sub~ected between 24 June and 12 August 1974.
"I am writing this letter to you in a hurry. I do not have much time,"
the poet tells his friend, writer Carlos Alberto Montaiter (in a l~tter taken
out of the island last month). "As ~ou may know, since last October I have
been in a hospital for physical rehabilitation. It is true that until the -
end of February I was receiving ma~nificent assistance and medical atten- -
tion, not only from the scientific point of view but also from the psycho-
logical point of view, which is fundamet?tal for cases like mine, where the
patient cannot have any worries and must be in good apirits. /It is not
so any longer./"
In the month of November it was learned that Armando Valladares was being
subjected to intensive recovery treaCment. Many of his friends and
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collengues in exile~ believing Fidel Castro's promises, thought Chnt freedom
was et the door fo: the poet and that these attentiona were directed to elimi-
nnting the signs of torture.
It is not so nny lon~er. "On 18 February~ gravely itl, I wns returned to
the miliCary hospital; I wns accompanied by a military eacort and n nurse,
I only know her name is Gudelia. During all the trip she was helping me ~
to breathe nnd giving me support. You cnn imagine my condition upon arrivnl
at the military t~ospital, they had to use the "Mark-8" artificial resusci- -
totor with oxygen ~?t positive pressure and provide artificial respirdtion~
medicntions through intravenous transfusion, etc. Upon my return to the
hospital, the one where I am now, the nurse was scolded and criticixed for
having gone with me, which she declar,~d si;~ had done for humane reasons..."
Armando Valladares is not n unique case. Iii situations simil~r to his~
though mdybe not as dramatic, are Angel Cuac'.ra, 48 years old, in a concen-
tration camp since 1977--before, he had been in prison from 1967 to 1976--
:?nd Ernesto Uiaz Rodriguez, 40 years old, arrested tn 1968 and condemned to
40 years in prison.
The list of dissidents who ~~re wilting away in Fidel Castro's "tropical
_ gulag" is long, but the names of these poets have ~ust been introduced to
Spanish readers in the book "Written in Cuba. Five Dissident Poets," pub-
lished recently by Editorial Playor, of Madrid, with a foreword by Ramon J.
5ender. The other two, Heberto Padilla and Miguel Sales, have had better
_ 1~!~k [han their friends: the former lives in liberty, but cannot leave the
island and the latter wag set free a few months ago.
"There i5 less liberty in Cuba than in Europe during the Middle Ages. Less
than in Spain under the inquisition," writes Sender in his foreword to the
book and something very similar to medieval torture is what Armando Valladares
is endurir.g now: "Every morning they bring me envelopea with the medicines
and a piece of cardboard telling me how and when to administer these medi-
cines," he says in his let[er. "Since I am asthma[ic, they gave me an oxygen
bottle and an atomizer, physiological serum ampules and antiasthma liquids
in order that whenever a crisis arises I might prepare the aerosol myself
and adcr~tnister it myself. You can imagine how this works when I am awakened
in the middle of the night with a strong crisis, and among stertors and _
rushes of air, asphyxiating, im?alid, I have to start breaking ampules and,
by gi~.esswork, since I cannot measure the quantity of the liquid, prepare the
aerosol, handle the oxygen valves, etc."
Valladares married in prison. His wife, Martha Lopez, met him while visiting
her father, a fellow-prisoner of the poet. The wedding took place in the
_ office of the La Cabana prison director, on 28 October 1969. They were
allowed to be cogether only 15 minutes. Today, Martha, 33 years old, travels
around the world in search of help to free her husband and to make his poems
known in the book "From My Wheelchair," clandestinely taken out of Cuba.
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To I~is tnr+nec~ts, Armnncto ~dds hi~ fears C}IaC Che c~mmuniat c~fficials might
take retaliation ugainst t~is relativeA: "My family was told," he says~
"by tt State Security oEfic~.al that if I were to leave Ch~ hoapitgl now,
they would be forbidden ~o leave the country, I know that the reprieals
will come now. I do not know where they are gning to tnke me, you know iC
doea not worry me, bu~ I am prep~red for rhe worst. I would ?ike you to ~
- make public the fact that ~ wheelchair sent to me by the Dutch Red Cross
last June througti the Cuban Red Cross has no~ been delivered to me and the
Cub~n Red Crosa impudence goes so far as to inform those who sent me the
chair thnt it was delivered, /Thnt is a lie/ and I need it. t~ine belonga
to tlie Atate, it is broken, rusty, worka bndly and loses a wheel. My
mother wns threatened that if I keep on asking for the chair, it would be
considered as a counterrevolutionary t~ctivity.
r
"Now they will say thnt I refuse medical treatment. This is why I am
explaining the situation to you. And I will say no more. I do not think
I will be set free. I became convinced of tt~is a long time ago."
[Poem by VallndaresJ . ~
And !:y Bars Bloom
"To my unforgettable wife"
Fifteen years ago today ~
they surrounded me with barbed wire,
bayonets and bolts.
They forbade me
Jtime and space
lignc
sun
air.
For fifteen years
gun butt blows and kicks
have known my body by heart
and the maddening range
of psychic tortures
have shaken each cell
within my brain.
Today
- in the darkest corner
of my 15 years in isolation
I close my eyes
and I have sun then
and happiness and love
and my bars bloom with tenderness ~
for I have you.
December 1915
Armando Valladares
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Cuba, Prisonera and Blackmail ~
Silen~re: Zt muat not be eaid that Huber[ Matos, Mnrtha Frayde nnd aome
8,000 other Cub~n political prisaners remnin imprisoned, liumilittte~' and mie-
trentecl, becnu~e Fidel Caetro, through his diplomnta, though "kind" travelere
- and even directly hnve made it known that any p~blic accusation will be `
detrimental to the prisoners. If I say, for example, that there are no
w~rranties that the invnlid poet Armando Valladarea will be freed, a prisoner.
of conscience, protected by Amnesty International, it is probable rhat the
- medical treatment he is undergoing will be withdrawn. Or it is poseible ~
tN~at he might be returned to the contaminated cell where he lost movement
of his lega. Or thnt he be placed in solitary confinement. Or thaC he I-
will never be freed.
If I say that Castro ridiculed Adolfo Suarez by declaring, after the premier
had left, Che lie that Spain had wiChdrawn the petition for Gutierrez Menoyo's
freedom, it might harm the legendary prisoner. It must n~t be said that
Havana does not care about th~~ Socialist P~rty's request in Gutierrez Menoyo's
favor. And much less coming trom Felipe Gonzalez, whase friendship with .
Romulo Betancourt, has earned him Castro's dislike. And it must not be
said because it might harm Menoyo. Maybe he will be kicked again, like the
time he was lefC with one eye. Maybe because of this writing, he will be .
prohibited from receiving mail. Maybe something monstrous will happen to him.
Maria Luisa Matos, Hubert's unselfish wife, ie afraid for her husband. 5he
does not want him to be talked about, becauae the accusations, maybe, could
prolong his unjust imprisonment. Sara, Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo's sister,
trembles when she sees her brother's name in print. Martha Valladares,
Armando's wife, fruitlessly moved heaven and earth to stop the French pub-
lishing house, Grasset, from publiahing her husband's painful poeme.
The revolution has achieved its ob~ectives: to frighten the poor women who
have become old in grief, in distance and in solitude. The revolution has
succeeded in terroriz{ng the sons who have grown without seeing their parents.
Sometimes without even knowing them and without being able to recognize their
voices. The revolution tries to subject all to the moat painful silence:
cc,mpulsory silence, the one that is kept with tight lips and under blackmail
that if we talk there will never be a reunion. If the relatives do not keep
silent, never, in any airport, will they embrace, crying, the c:ushed political
prisoners. This is what the government makes known.
There, in that unfortunate cou~~try, you have to suffer and die in silence.
_ You have to swallow the kicks and the abuses without shouting, without
anybody knowing about it, without internaticnal organizations taking note.
Without the press echoing it. In Cuba yo~: have to die of madness, alone and
in the dark because, even if it seems imposaible, it could be worae. It ~an
be worse. �
COPYRIGHT: 1979 Infdrmacion y Publicaci~nea, S.A.
9341
CSO: 3010 5
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ECUADOR
BRIEFS
ANTISHIP MI3SILES PURCHASED--The Ecuadorean Navy has decided to order aome
"Exocet" A4i 40 long-range anti~ship misailes from Aeroapatiale (France) to .
arm the new corvettes which it has ordered from the Italian Navy shipyards~
Cantieri Naveli del Tirreno e Riuniti. [Text] [Paris AIR & COSMOS in
French 5 May 79 p 51]
CSO: 3100
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NICARAGUA
k
MADRYD WEEKLY INTERVTEWS PRES~DENT SOMOZA
Madrid CAMBTO 16 in Spanish 20 May 79 pp 68-69, 71, 73-74 . ;
/Interview with President Anastasio Somoza at "Montelimar," Somoza's
country estate north of Managua, by Jose Luis Gutierrez; date not given;
passages in slantlines are in italics in original/
,[Text/ Anastasio Somoza, in Nicaragua, is almost
like God. He controls the political and economic
life of the country and the most vital of the ai-med
fo~-~ces: the National Guard. In spite of all this,
the Sandinist Front insists that if he lasts 2 more
months, it will be a long time. He says, however,
that all that is pure braggadocio. And he remains.
- The highway north from Managua winds among sugarcane fields. It is a narrow
and poorly paved road, which makes the tires screech around the curves. The
automobile radio is tiresomely Yankee: all the U.S. "hits" are played over
it, without regard for anyone, even Julio Iglesias, th~ Spanish superstar
in Latin America. And the commercials: "Lobo Jack Discotheque. ~isco
dancing. The discotheque with �ee-e-e-e-ling; for ni-i-i-ce people. Managua."
But Managua is not for "nice people," or for discotheques with "feeling."
Beneath the humid sunshine which caresses tls green hills, there is fear
and silence. The mountains hide the guerrillas, and the people cross them-
selves when they hear talk of Esteli or Leon. There are deaths every day,
and the Managua newspaper LA PRENSA is like an obituary bulletin, with its
daily account of murders at the hands of the "bloody Somozist dictatorship." ;
And now it is almost September, with the bodies in the sun and the dogs
devouring them; or the slaughter at Esteli in April. Now it is Leon, 100
kilocneters from Managua. A Guard plane bombs the houses of Leon, looking
for guerrilla fighers, and the bishop o� that city writes to the president,
imploring him to stop "snuffing out the lives of the youth of Leon."
~ SuddenL~y the highway widens and a clearing appears, with an impeccable
airport. The air is heavy, and the sea is rough, and the beach close to
which the estate nestles is very clean, blue and solitary. The place is '
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called "Monteli,ma~:" and it was constructed 40 years ago by the firet of Che
Somnza dynasty, don Anastasio, and ia now uaed occasi~nally by Anaetasio
Somoza Debayle--"Tacho"-~president of Nicaragua and head of Che dynasty.
Episcopal supplications apparently do not reach thi~ beautiful place. The
house is quiet anG old, constructed of wood that has a fragrance of perfumed
resin. It is decorated as if for a creole viacount. Un the porch, officeas
of the power~ul National Guard and other high officials await the arrival of
President Anastasio Somoza.
There iy tl~e so~~nd of helicopter blades, and the preaident arrives. Iil a
yellow shirt and blue pants, tall and with a walk reminiacent of John Wayne,
Anastasio Somoza, 53 years old, has lost several kilos because of the strict
diet he fol2ts~t~, Recent surgery took him almost to death's door. But who ia
this man with the sallow complexion and polaroid sunglasaes, whom the .
international press describes as the feudal lord of Nicaragua? _
AmnesCy International has denounced him for the torture, assassination and
systematic ilisappearance of Nicaraguan political leaders; his fortune is
said to be in the millions of dollars, and he is only overcome--they say-- -
by his desire to acquire even more; president of the governmenC in a country
which is theoretically democratic, however, his image as murderer, torturer,
perpetrator of genocide and dictator make Pinochet and Videla look like
sisters bf inercy.
Nis family, the "Somoza clan," has ruled the destinies of the country (2.5
_ million inhabitants, 130,000 square kilometers) since 1933, and among the
latest "favors" ascribed to it are the assassination of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro,
a newspaperman and editor of the opposition daily, LA PRENSA, and the con-
tinuing murder of innocent Nicaraguans in Somoza's campaign against the
Sandinist Front guerrillas.
Yet those who know him, however, insist that he is a"liberal," irreproachable,
~ an a�fable, "relaxed," "easy-going" man (definitions: relaxed, easy-going)...
to whom 40 years of absolute power have given an almost "divine" security in
the legitimacy of Somozism. -
For many, the secret of Somozism is in a scrupulously democratic political
- scheme, quick to manipulate from the power position the diverse sociological
_ constants of Latin America, like illiteracy and the near absence of any
political formation among the people, also encouraged �rom the power position. -
- He receives the press with dialogue and flexibility, with spirit. Someone
says that is Che result of strict orders from one o� the Madison Ave., New -
York, image-makers who adv3.se him. And so he talks with Jose Luis Gutierrez,
of CA*~IO 16.
A tense docility, it being only a short time since the freeing of Alfonso Ro~o,
a DIARIO 16 newsman who was arrested by the National Guard in Esteli, inter-
rogated and verbally mistreated for several hours by Somoza~s men. A tiny
office, its decor out of date, welcomes the dialog. A table of atrocious
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design, which might well have belonged to Gold~inger, with a telephone, a
television, a magnetophone and other i.tems on it, i~ mute witnese to Che
dialog, along w~1.th the press secretary, Rafael 0~ Cano. Above the table ie -
a big wooden helicopter with gilded blades.
There is a trade of tropical weariness in his worda, pronounced in a Spanieh
which is somewhat more deficient Lhan the irreproachable English which he =
uses from time to time. After all, he wae educated aC West Point and profesaea
to be an "admirer and friend o� the American people."
/Anastasio Somoza/ The situation? The situation is under control. The
_ dialog with Che opposition failed, and the guerrillas, who belie~e~ they
were in control of the situaCion, have failed in a big way, except for
those isalated murders which they commit against defenseless persona.
We are settling the economic situation, whose deterioration was caused by
the strike o� the business firms and above all by the attitude of the United
States in the Tnternational Monetary Fund, an attitude whicY, served to
strengthen the Ni.~raguan opposition.
- Somoza had asked for a"standby" credit of $40 million from the IMF, that
is, conditional on compliance with an economic austerity plan superviaed by
the IMF. The United States did not support the grant, and the credit was
= deferred, which has caused a 44 percent devaluation of the cordova, ttie
national currency.
' "Even Spain voted against us," Somoza adds, "which surprised us very much~
because of the unusual way in which it was done. Spain usually s~lla goods
and equipment to a country like Nicaragua for the conetruction of highway~s
or dwellings. If the oppoetion believes that thia ia againat the people,
I am not surprised that they are losing so diastrously." .
/Question/ Losing the guerrilla war, Mr President: It appears that ~ust
the opposite is true. The cap~tsre of Esteli, the escape from the siege,
aircraft shot down by the guerrillas, as LA PRENSA reported, with ~
photographs....
/Answer/ For those who are sitting in their homes and who only talk, any
sacrifice of lives in Nicaragua appears to be a succesa. They look at it
that way, because it is not their lives. But the organizations which are ~
fighting for power live by counting the deaChs, and the guerrillas have had _
the worst of it. And when one is getting the worat of it, one does not
attract volunteers. As for Esteli, it was a strategic defeat. One does -
not try to take a city without having a l~.ne of supply. They had no way to
get trai.ned men or equipment. Those who ordered the guerrilla fightere to
take Esteli sent them to th~ir deaths.
/Question/ Not everyone, however, is of that opinion. Reliable sources
tell how the guerrillas, after 7 days in the city, succeeded in breaking -
the siege of almost 3,000 guardsmen and fleeing to the mountains, with no
casualties.
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/qnyw~~r/ geoke ttie aiege? 'Chae~ are fairy tale~ told by foreign cnrre~,~nndent~~
, It wa~~even n propaganda def~at for them. Thc~y wanted to get the pe~ple up
in arms during Holy Week. And Nicaraguang dnn't even wanC to wnrk, tpUClt 1~tlg
fi~ht, an t~olidaya.
/Wt~en 5nmoza speakq of foreign press rorregpondenC~, he do~~ sn with conteined
anger, almoef wlth conCempt./
/c~uestion/ Are you ~ware of your internation~l image? Tyrent, gs~aggin~
oluody ci~ictgtor are some of che ndmes you are celled,..and it ig ~diffic:ult
to think ~:hat a~ll thi~ ie th~ product of sdme ill-intentinned new~men, eg
you ~ay it iA.
- LAnsWer/ ~irat, I wili tell you thet there i~ bro~d freedom of the p~ese
here; what is t~app~ning ig that the newgpaperg don't publish the good thing~
about Nicaragua. '~he reporcera are sent here by cnuntried interestcd in
destrdying tliig government~ predieposed to look onlg~ for the bed nnd ndt fnr
the good. In September the internaCional prees was given total fre~dom to
do as thcy pl~ased. And they did it. They presented such a bad im~ge nf
Nicaragua Chat the insurance companiea refueed to pay the poor people Whose
houses had been destroyed by the Sandiniets, saying thttc it wae a civil war.
Civi1 warl I'd li.ke to see what a civil w~r would be in thi~ countryl There
is no press policy which would have any vglue againat the general pre~udice
of newsmen ageinst Soc~ozism. Yo~. go and talk with the opposition, and the
newsman wil.l be more interested in the morbid side than in what is actually
happening. :~obody mentions the velfare programe, nor the fact that in the
last 10 years we have doubled the per capita income of che Nicaraguan people. ~
LQuestion/ It appears ~ bic exaggerated to call neWepapers like LE MOND~
and the N~W YORK TI"~S (NY'f) as a~orbid or sensationalist....
LAnswer/ The NEW YORK TIMES? The TIMES is the most sensationalist newspaper
there is. In addition, I believe its corresponden[ here, Alan Rayvy, is a
Marxist sympathizer....
1Question/ Well, then, you will have to explain why Alfonso Rojo~ the
Spanfsh correspondent of DIARIO 16, was arrested.,..
LAnswer/ Md why should it be explained?
~,Question/ Because, according to you, there is freedom of the press here.
Md because Ro~o is a friend of mine, whosc arrest occasioned a good deal
of concern in Spain....
LAnsver/ Very well, then. According to official information I received,
:ir Rojo was found on the other side of the lines, with the guerrillas~ and
when he was arrested they [t~rew him out of the country.
/Question/ They waited ~ long time to throw him out. Seven hours of harsh
interrogation of a pro~essional who is always "where the action is," or as
you would say, "where the fight is~" whose photographs and address book were
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,~Angwer/ We h~ve a:ight to detain any p~redn for 24 houre. Sev~n hourg ig
not so~lnng, and for a foreigner, an ind~finite time.
/Fvr a moment he la~eg his ct~mposure, end a ehadow of irritation cro~g~~ hig
I face./
7
~ Ydu people ttiink there ~re no lawg her~. Li~ten, I know all about your degr
Spain, my friend. In the ra$e of Fto~o~ it heppened that h~ bypegs~~d the
- government and went [n the guerrillag without eon~ulting the euthoritiee,
~nd he paid thc price. If you warrt~to g~, I'll give you a sgfeconduct. But
what would hnve h~ppened if itojo had b~en shot? -
_ /We talk again of his image, a subj~ce which doee nor apppar tn concern him
gr~atly./
We have that bad image because we are nationalists, and we put Nicarggudn
ir~terest ahegd of those of others. We ~re against capital which exploits.
t~e have been in power for 50 years, and the opposition would like to get it
for nothing....
/That abou[ the "capital which exploits" he says wi[h comple[e conviction~ _
wittiout even blushing. :Vever mind the hundreds of businesaes he awns; never
- mind that curious legal office, pompously entitled the "Office of Overeight
and Control of the Propertip~ of General Anastasio Somaza Debayle," nar
that hair-raising figure quoted by the ~1lcaraguan opposition media: The
Somozas control 40 percene of che country's economy; nor the large blocks
of stock in Pan Am and other foreign companiea./
/Question/ But, listen, if you own half the country...Nicaragua is one of
your estates.
lAnswerJ Tt~ac is not crue. But let me tell you that we use our money to
stimulate ~he country's economic development. Now, if that is wrong, let
them condemn me. That shows the faith I have in the Nicaraguan people.
Othezs would keep their money elsewhere.
. LQuestion/ You also have sotne....
1Answer/ No~ that is not true. I am not ashamed that they accuse me of
owning businesses in `icaragua, because I am stimulating new sources of
employc~ent. And che day Z die, or leave here, I am not going to take them
with me. '
/Question/ And isn't it true that you are a sort of "money addict?"
LAnswer/ Hos~'s that again? Look: I see the possibilities of this country
because I am an engineer. And I go ahead and develop them~ that is all.
~ l~uestion/ And why don't you 1'et others do it? Why not through state-owned
enterprises'!
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~,Angwer/ 'Chey don't w~nt: to do it; the busi.ne~~m~n her~ dnn't w~nt ro ~~in _
me fdr �~~r nf the politi.cal risk in doing go ~veryone ie Conc~rned gbout
unemployment and deno~~nCe~e it, but nobndy dde~ anything to ell~viae~ it. i~
on the oth~r hand, ~inc~ last S~ptember have creatpd 2~000 ~ob~. Uo you Call
ch~t b~ing ~ mnn~y ndcfict?
Lc~uestion/ ~~t do you ch~.nk that it ig normal, even half-way geri~~us, to be
- a busi,,eg~mnn ~nd pr~sider,t of the republic at the eame time? Uoed 1t nnt
~pp~~r ~ bid unnrthodnx te yeu?
~Answer/ Louk, it ie difft.eult td be like that. Perhapg in a d~v~loped
snCiety it would nnt be normel, but here in Ni~aragu~ it ig. Be~ideg, I em
not ayham~d oi being a Capitalist, or a capitaliat politician. Thet gnswers
all your qu~~tinns--tl~is �ui~s th4t you've been making.
/On 10 January 1979, lawyer ~3nd newepaperman Pedro Joaquin Chamnrro~ editor
of the npposition morning newspaper LA PRENSA~ aae machine-gunned tn death -
in ~lanagua. Chamorro, a leader of great personal prestige, wae deCera?ined
to fo rm a Common front with the oppo~ition to Somoza. Shortly afterward,
the police arrested Narold Cedeno, who admitted the crime, along with
Domungo Acevedo Garcia, his son, Raroon, and Silvin Pena~ all of them directly
or indirectly ronnected with SCmoza's National Cuard. However, the principal
conspirator, Dr Pedro Ramos, according to the confessions of thoge arreated,
fled to Minmi. Ramos, a Cuban physician, financed the attack, they said.
Ramo~ has proven connections with Snmozn. He was the director of
PLAS~IAf~R~5IS, a Dracula-esque firm s~hich purchased blood from Nicaraguans, -
proc~ssed it into plasma and expor~ed it to the United States. Chnmorro's
widow and sons accused Somoza nf bAing the moral a~thor of the nssnssination~
while 5umoza appears co be an associate of Romag in PLASMAFERESIS. In
addition, just a few days ago, two leaders of the moderate opposition
organization FAO (Broad Opposition Front), members of the financial bourgeoiaie
and opponents of Somoza, were arrested. They are Alfonso Robelo and
Rafael Cordoba./
LQuestion/ Have you heard the saying before, Mr President, that if power
corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely?
/Answer/ Awar~ of that saying, we have already had 29 yPars of systematic
opposition in the Congress, the Senate, the Supreme Court and th~ Court of
Appeals.
LQuestion/ The crouble is that now the opposition no longer exists...
,~M swer/ That is not [rouble, my friend~ that is the good part. We have
done so much good for the coun[ry that we have taken the people away from
the opposition.
/Question/ Among those "good things," do you count imprisonment, phyaical
elimination and th~ murder of its leaders?
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`Answer/ No. I~ you gre t~lking about Ch~nw rrn~~ a~eaaain~tion, ie wgg n
vendetta ag~in~t him ng ediCor oP rhe new~paper. Anyon~ who say~ I~m
r~gpon~ibl~e is mistaken. I wag in the nrmed force~ of thig country for 30
yearg, nnd T arregted P~drn Joaquin Chamorro four tim~~. He eould ~u~t
~g ~~si1y have died then.
- /Quewrian/ And what nbout your relatinnship with Dr Remne? Re wed gn
~asociate df yours, wnsn'c h~?
~ LAnywer/ No, no; he wa~ the director of PLASMAF~Et~5I5. The Somoaa femily
rented~him the land ~nd the sites for the compeny, that is all. Be~ideg,
you ~ny that rhis still hasn't been explained. No, ~ir. IC hae been
explained. Ag for it~mos' extradition, thia ig som~times delayed because the
negotiati~ne t~ke so long. It wag several years before th~ Letelier
~ssgssinatinn was cleared up.
lQuestion/ Returning to the JUb~OCC of the oppogition~ it appears that lerge
sectors of the people are not represented in Che preaent politic~l forcea,
ehat is, in your Liberal Party and in the Conservative Party. For example~
the very considerable Sandiniat force. Has it not occurred to you that
perhaps you nre paying now for 40 years of Somoziet dictatorship, and that
the Sandinists may have had recourse to ormed atruggle as the only m~ans of
political expresaion?
LAnswer/ In [he first place, the Sandinists were Marxist-Leninist, outlawed
legally by [he Nicaraguan Constitution. Now they do not have the electornl
force to be registered. When the founder of the front, Carloa Fonseca Amador~
died, the democratic forces wanted to steal the name of Sandinist Front.
Now there are non-~larxist elemen[s~ but if they persist in violence they
won't ~et anywhere.
LQuestion/ Thc opposition to Somozism is total and ferocious, from the most
moderate to the guerrSlla fighters. Your political isolation is complete.
Wn~t do you feel about this?
/Answer/ Yes, opposition to the Liberal Party has been activated. But we
are the c~ajority party. We know our strength. Nothing the newspapers say
bothers me.
/And then there is the subject of the Church. Espinoso. Only recently the
pas[oral lettcr of the bishop of Leon and.president of the Nicaraguan Bf.ahoos'
Conference, Manuel Salazar, denounced the massacres by ehe National Guard.
A few days later the bishop's house was machine-gunned by unknown persons./
"What is hanpening with the Church," begins Somoza, "is that we were the
ones who separated it from the state. About 10 years ago, our Constitution
was laicir.ed. What is happening is that the Nicaraguan Church, like that
in other parts of the world, has become politicized. But most of the people
of ~icaragua are liberal, and they know which side the sun shines on..."
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/'Ch~n A1,1A9tAg~n ~omnxa talks abdut the "M~rxise congpl.rACy" agninet him~ o�
the cnuntrieg which ~upport the Sandini.et ~rnnt gu~rril]a~ again~C him. N~
talk~ about Omar Torri~o~~ Carlog Andre~ Perex, Coeta W.ca..~./
"'I'he conapirgcy atarted with Caetro'a rise to power, from 1960 on. We had
~o nsk Che whqt hE meant b;~ sending peopl~ from Cuba ro Hondurae to invadp
our country,"
/When hr me4~tioned Torri~os, hie voice showed a alight tone of enger for the
first time./
"Torri3os~ in my opinion, i~ a tratiro. I helped h~m in the matCer of the
Canal~ and now he has turned his back an me becauge he thinks I am nnt
po~ulnr with the communista. I b~lieve he is A manipulator. Np visits
Cegtro, ~o that they don't rie~ up against him in Panama, and ~v~n flirte
with him. And what h~ is doing is d~livering Penama up to communigm. Md
Carlos Andres Perez was just like him. He pr~ssed for the lifting of the
embargo against Cuba, for fear that the communists would ruin hia administra-
tion. How comc rhe country that asked for the blockade against Cub~ is now -
demanding its suspension? And Carlos Andres wae the one principally responaible,
as minister of the interior~ which he was then.
~,Question/ And democrary in Nicaragua? It appeara that under the guise of
formal democracy, all there is ig a aystem dominated in every facet by you,
thanks to tihe National Guard, a few corrupt ,judges and phony elections~ in
which the newborn and the dead vote, and always for your Liberal Party~ it
is clear...
LAnswer/ That is because you do not know our electoral law. Becauae if
the dead and the newborn vote, it is the fault of the opposition, who do
not have enough people t~ cover all the inspection posts, and then Chey
throw a fie. Aa for the ~udiciary, there have been some bad things, but
we corrected them. These thinga happen everywhere. And the Guard, I muat
say that it started with half of the officers being Liberals and the other
half Conservatives, and the opposition tried to use them to overthrow the
government. It didn't work, and because the Cuard didn't take part in the
coup d'etat, like other national guards in Ameri~ca, it is reviled...
jQuestion/ How were they supposed to participate, when you are the lord and
master of Nicaragua's armies? _
1Answer/ And why shouldn't I be, when I was one of its best training officers?
/And he denies the massscres by "his boys" in Esteli, Leon, etc./
"I['s possible that there have been unfortunate mistakes. We have accepted
this, but we have a very well-trained force which knows how to choose its
objectives; we don't destroy cities totally, but rather selectively."
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. /Is Somoxg W~ehingtdn~~ m~n? Not ex~ctly~ gnd le~~ g0 at thi~ time. Ak
lengt he i~ noC thie admini~trntion'e man./
"I am ~ fri,~nd," he s~yg, o~ th~ Ameriran peopl~. Wh~t is happ~ning ig
th~t the adminiatretian h~g f811en inro the h~nd~ of p@opl~ who ar~ not
gymp~thetiC Co me, and that could happen to anybody...."
/A cle~r ~llusion to Presid~nt Carter~ whom he hgs ~ust fnrm~lly aacused
nf gtraeking Nienr~gua economie~lly. Cart~r~ a serupuloue defender of
hum~n rights, believes th~t rh~se are gyat~matically violated in Nicaragu~~/
- LQu~stion/ Listen, why don't yo~ step down? All the violencp, all the
murders i~ your country appear to have one catalyst: Anastasio Somoza~
N~ve you not thought about st~pping down in order to put an end to them?
Aren't you afraid the sam~ thing will happen to you thnC h~p~pn~d tn thp
Sheh?
lAn~wer/ We politicians are all expo~ed to reversea. But seeking the
sit~ation, I believe that what happened to the Shah ig not going to happen
to me. The difference is that I wag elected by the people, and I have a
commitmPnt to them until 1981. Then I will lenve, when my presidentinl
mandate ends. Who will succeed me? Whoever the peo~le elect. Who is
going to b~ my candidate? That is not yet decided. My son cannot be;
the peopl~ don't know that, but the Constitution prohibits it....
LQuestion/ The Sandinistg sny you will fall in 2 or 3 months.
LAnsw~:r/ 'They've been saying that for ye~rs. They think that because they
have the people terrorized that the people side with them. And they haven"t
done anything for the people except kill and rob them, atta~k banks and try
to destroy an entire system which has been good for this country.
/Ne rises courteausly and says gondbye, with a suave handshake and a faint
smile./ _
COPYRICHT: CA~*~IO 16, :N~drid. 1979
8~35
CSO: 3110
?
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~OR d~FICrAL US~ ONI,Y
URUGUAY
STUD~NT LI~:AnER WttITES ON POLITICAL ARRE5T5, REPR~SSION, ECONOMY
Milnn CORRI~It~ DELLA SERA in It~lian 5 Apr 79 p 5
(Arttcle by Jorge Landinelli, secretary general of the FEW (Federation of
University Student~ of Uruguay): "A Prison Named Uruguay"]
(TextJ The fnscist regime in Uruguay has launched another brutal represaive -
campaign. Some 300 democrats have been jailed in recent weeka, bringing to -
- 7,000 the number of those filling 3ails and barracka in our country. The de-
" tention of those 300, taken from their homea by forcea of the SID (Military
Intelligence Service), has not been made public, and thia makes one fear
for their lives~ We denounce the fact that many of them are sub~ected t~
fierce torCures in army and navy units. The firat names of Che detainees are
known: Ruben Abrines, Carlos Gomez, Tomas Rivero, Juan Giacuboni,Miriam Rus-
somanda, Cesar Comez, Raul Larraya, Robertn Rivero and other workers, trade
union leaders and univeraity atudents.
Uruguay today is a huge ~ail. Not only for the 7,000 political prisonera,
for thoae who have disappeared, for their families, for the thoueands of exiles
~ and banned peraons, but also for the vast ma~ority of the people. The armed
forces, which are behaving like an occupation army, constitute the world's
largest army in proportion to the population. The entire nation is an immense
prison.
Police cotttrol begins at the age of 5 in the schoola and conCinues Chroughout
one's liftime. From the time one starta to go to school one is listed in
the electronic brain of the Military Intelligence Service. From that moment
- on every activity and movement will be recorded. To obtain a driver's li-
cense or enrollment at a university, to be able to work in a factory or par-
ticipate in any association--involving sports, blood donation or cooperative
aceivity--a permit is required from the secret servicea.
The armed forces control the press, television, the courts, the schools, the
university, the telephone services; every aepect of civilian life, however
insignificant it may be, is under their strict contral. But another elea~ent
ahould be noted: hundreda of officers, generals and colonels are in ~ail gnd
have been torCured for their oppositfon to the dictatorship. One eymbol of -
that reality ia Gen Liber Seregni, president of the Broad Front.
- 18
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= A11 this is G~king plttce in a country with a long democratic CrgdiCion, wiCh
a people ChaC for 15 dnys etruck and occupied Che factories, Cha echoole and
the universiey ~t Che eime of ehe coup d'erar on 27 June 1973 gnd which
eince Chen has nev~r neased stru~gling against fascigm.
The Uruguayan regime only nppe~rs to be sCrong buC is instead very weak; itg
isoLation in the country i~ compleCe. There is not a social or polltical
sector Chat supporCs it. The Catholic Church, the part3ea nf the left, the
Christian Demncratic PnrCy and even the National (White) Parey and the main
wings of the Colorado P~rty (the two parties with Che largeat number of elec~
tion votes) h~ave expressed their opposition. Theae forces have refuaed any
support for the plun that Che dictatorship is seeking to carry out in order
. to "wnsh iCs face"nnd which provide~ for elecCions wiCh n single candidate
in 1981.
Internationally, the dictatorship has reached the apex of its isolaCion. The
countless condemnations by international bodies, the United Nationa, OAS, MCE,
ILO and others, by parliaments and the protests by governmenta are a clear de-
monstration of rhe worldwide condemnation of the dictatorehip.
mhe economic crisis is hitCing the entire population except for the small sect-
ors linked to the large banking capital, to cattle export and to the meat
packing industry. The annual inflation raCe ia over 50 percent, wages have
- lost over 40 percent of their purchasing power in the past 5 years. The farm-
ers, nntional industry and commerce are undergoing the worst crisie in the
country's history. Whereas 54 percent of the national b~idgeC--which has a
deficit of more than 30 percen~--is allocated to the repressive apparatus,
scarcely 2.3 percent is devoted to the educational sector.
The intensification of the repression in Uruguay these past few weeks (begun
soon after the appointment of General Queirolo as commander-in-chief of the
army--he had scarcely reCurned from his long misaion to the United States)
is an attempt by the dictatorship to cope with its deep crisis. While the
process of unification of the patriotic and democratic forces is making impor-
- tant strides forwnrd, the contradictions within the armed forces are becoming
more acuCe and the regime is being condemned by the broadcast aectors of world -
democratic opinion.
The brutal methods of the Uruguayan fascists, who are endangering the lives of
thousands of prisoners, necessitaCe that the solidariCy of our people be
strengthened. All those in Uruguay who are working tirelessly to regain free�-
dom and democra~y, for the freeing of the political prisoners and an end to
the tortures, for a wide-ranging political amnesty, are called on to join in
that solidarity. -
COPYRIGHT: 1979, Editoriale del "Corriere della Sera" s.a.s.
5346
CSO: 3104
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VEN~ZUELA
DOUCLAS BRAVO DISCUSSES REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
i~I~drid CAMBIO 16 in Spanieh 27 May 79 pp 55-56, 59
(Interview with Douglas Bravo, Venezuelan guerrilla leader, by Ricardo ,
Herren; date and place not givenj
[TexC] Douglas Bravo, "Venezuela's most wanted man" and, along with Che
Guevara, the most outstanding South American guerrilla leader of the 1960's,
is now 40 years old. He is thin, athletic in build, and calm. The son of
a family of landowners in the state of Falcon in western Venezuela, he is
refined in manner. He never gives orders, only indications, becauae he
knows that this is enough. He has a prodigioua memory. In the war, he
discovered that above all, being a revolutionary consists in developing a11
the possibilities of the human being to the maximum extent. "For ua Latins,
affection counts a great deal," he told Ricardo Herren from CAMBIO 16, who
interviewed Bravo before he resumed being ~uat another Caracas citizen and
lived with him in his hideout for 2 days.
(QuestionJ The arm~d path for instituting a socialist regime has suffered
a tremendou~ defeat in South America. There remain only a handful of
groups that are frequently confused with brigandage in Colombia. To what
do you attribute this failure?
_ ~
[AnswerJ It was truly a tremendous defeat that cost nearly 200,000 lives
all over thg continent. We made many serious mistakes, mainly political
in nature, perhaps, but they had an immediate effect on the military aspect.
In Latin America, we have always been ideologically not ~ust economically ~
dependent on the experience of other countries outside the continent. We
l~ave always.tried to repeat the schemes used in other places. We tried to
wage a revolutionary war for socialism patterned after foreign models. Based
~ on this mistaken planning, the whole concept was erroneous and had an effect
on the military aspect.
[Question] Could you be more specific about this mistaken planning?
[Answer] We used as a basis studies on Latin America that did not corres-
pond to the actual situation on the continent and we never learned the true
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economic situntion and the class sCructure of our nations. Consequently,
when we worked out ~ str~Cegy, we did so as if we were denling wiCh other
nations. Furthermore, we forgot Che most important fac~or: We did not
look ae Latin America's payt and we did not realiae Chat Che succese of Che
wars of independence c~me nbo~t through a widespread mobilization of peo-
ple's forces. We fe11 into the Crap of vanguardiem. Inaofar as we acted
c;s individuals trying to bring about a great mobilization of Che massea
Erom ttie outside, we isol~ted oureelves much more. Thnt isol~tion led to
eplits among us, the appearance of amall groups that were easily beaten by
the enemy becauae they did not have the supporr of the masses. Finally,
there were leftist revolutionary tendencies thaC ended up by conciliating
with the enemy because they were receiving ordera from other foreign power
centera, which determined when they had to fight and when Chey had to lay
down their arms. Vanguardism and the cnnciliation of rightists led Che
revolutionary movemenC to a great defeaC.
[Question] It wns a crushing defeat and it would not appear that there will
in the near future be the proper conditions rhat permitted the emergence of
uprisings on the continent. Why do you remain underground and why do you
not engage in political tasks within Che framework of democratic legality
that exists in Venezuela?
[An~wer] My conduct in receut years has placed me in this position of
persecution. A revolutionary movement ahould develop a clear, classist
policy that can evolve in any circumstances permitted by the class struggle,
whether legally or illegally. However, experience teachea us something very
important. In 1958, when we overthrew the dictatorship of Perez Jimenez, all
of us, together with the people, achieved a people's democratic legality.
It was not the product of a decree; it was a question of a fact and not of
law. Then came the defeat of the upriaing in the 1960's and governm~ntal
- decrees began to be issued releasing certain prisoners, while other leaders
who had been underground came out into the open. This is a case diametri-
cally opposed to the previous one: It was not the masses that won their
legality, but rather, the government which graciously granted it.
tde cannot deny the fact that there are former guerrilla leaders who now
walk the streets freely. What concerns us is that the laws are not being
used for the development of the people's movement, but rather, the opposite.
In order to maintain this legality bestowed by decree, an effort of con-
ciliation must be made because whenever one ~oins in with the workers'
movement, one runs the risk of losing it. It has happened that many revo-
lutionar~es, out of a fear of being jailed once again after regaining
their leb~l ttuation renounced their principles and conciliated.
Given the current crisis in Venezuelan society, when this year over 1,500
collective bargaining agreements will have to be negotiated, I am sure
that the government is going to begin a campaign of conciliation with the
leftist forces so that the new agreements will be favorable to the ruling
class and so r.hat the crisis will not have a revolutionary solution.
Rather, everything will be settled within the bourgeois institutional frame-
work.
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Furthermore, it ia not I who can decide peraonally whether or not I am Co
remain tinderground, Rnther, it is my party, based on the circumatances Chat
exiaC. For the time being, our illegality doea not prevenC us from having
effective political influence on the workera movement.
~Question] What is your position and that of your party on terroriam?
[Answer] A9 revolutionaries, in no way do we take the poaition of engaging
- tn individual terrorism, first of all, because such actiona are a sign of
weakness of the link between the revolutionary party and the masses. They
show that one does not trusC the mnsaes or believe that the people can rise
up in spectacular actions. Failing to believe in the masses and applying
a terrorigtic, vanguard policy is ~ust as harmful as not believing in the
maeses ~nd applying a policy of class conciliaCi.on. Both are harmful Co
the revolutionary movement. _
Coming Itevo~ution
Neverthelesa, it is necessary to clarify that moat terrorism comes from Che
bourgeois state, which has always used it to remain in power, resorting to
~ economic, psychological and police methods. In Venezuela, withouC need to _
aeek ~xamples elsewhere, during the administration of President Leoni, over
1,000 persohs disappeared and an equal number died under torture.
(Queationj What is your view of the situation of Latin Am2rica at a time
when the revolution as you see it is practically seen nowhere?
[Answer] Prospects have varied recently. It would appear that the contin-
ent is waking up and i firmly believe that the great defeat that we are
experiencing may find its limit, its final expression in the triumph of the
Argentine military dictatorship over the people's movement, It did not take
long for a new crisis to appear in Latin America, perhapa in the most un-
expected spot: Nicaragua. _
tlowever, I do not believe that the Latin American revolutionary movement
can be viewed as an isolated event in each counCry. Anyone who attempts
a revolutionary plan in Argentina, Venezuela, Chile or Mexico and does so
exclusively within national borders is doomed to failure. In order to be
successful, it has to be a combined movement. -
[Question] The experiencea of victorious socialist revolutiona in other
countries do not allow any spnsible, humanistic person Co be very optimistic
about the reaults. At least :Ln Europe, the idea of a"socialist regime" is
associated with the violation of human rights, imprisonment, deportation
or psychiatric confinement for critics and dissidents, elitism on the part _
of the ruling class and even the inability of the system to solve its eco- _
nomic problems. You speak of revolution, but for what purpose? What
kind of socieCy do you want to establish that will not be worse than thia
one?
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((~ueatianJ tiut Eor what neu quciety are you ~oit1K to fiKht !n Latin America?
In pr~~ctice, all the revoluci~~n~ have CnkAn plac~ with the people'~ pdrti-
c:ipation buc a bure~urratic elit~ hag chen enthrdned it~~lf in pouer ~nd
inati[uted a dictatorship, often a bloody one~ Whdt sensible perann ~dn
. be iritere9ted in ~ur.h a revolutionary progpectg?
(AnswerJ 'Chat is true. Any plan has to b~ ba~ed on a critirdl vi~w nf ahat
has happened lc~ the aurlcl. It ie not enouKh to gocialize th~ me~ng df pro-
- ductic~n iii order to create r~ocialism, Th~t ig an imporf~nt gt~p bpcdugC
- it polit;~ally and economicully diserme th~ ruling cla~ee5. NowevFr, it i~
indispen~~ble to take a~econd btep: to give re~l pouer o th~ great ma~aee
~~f the populution as the admi.nietrator and owner of c~pital good~ in nrder
tu prevent the ruling clgggey from being replaced by cliqueg~ dmall group~
that will cake over the people'g goods and turn inco aocial etr~ta dr
cl~sses while thc great m~jority continues as it wa~, dreaming about the
same ob~eCtives for Which the revolution took place. When the people arp
_ deprived of real pcn~+er over the mcuns of produccion~ then there ig just one
r~ore step before r~an begine to loee his freedoro nnd fall into the h~nd~ of '
a clique.
~reedor.,: One Conquest
(QuestionJ What place to you givc to individunl freedum in thi~ nea order -
~>f uhich you speak? To date~ we have vnly geen "dictatorshipa of the prn-
let;~riat" that rapidly turn in[o dictatorships of one person or of a new
oli;~archy that trampley hunan rights in order to secure pnaer.
(Answ~rJ The freedoma th,t mankind has achievpd Were noc decreed by che
bourgeoisie. It has had to coexisc c+ith chesc freedoms, taking them over
33 if t}~ey were ics ovn creacion~ but they a:e the conquest of all mankind.
f~'hen [he bourgeoisie becomes the owner of them, it manipula[es them. When
the bc~urgeoisie frees the serfs, it is without a doubt a atep fonrard. 6ut
it frces them in order to aend them into ttre factories nnd another form of
sl3very begins there. Ic is not a;uctdat~ental question of pregerving theee
conques[e, but rather, of disr~antling the entire economic, legnl, politi-
cal, social and military appar.~tus [hat has taken over [heee conquests and
then releasing the:~. within che bourgeais democratic frameWOrk. it is ~
impoqsible to seek to expand and develop these conquesta until the bourgeoie
power strutture is broken.
'i'he ~urocommuniats advance [he idea of expanding democracy aithin the
bourgeois system~ but this path has ~reat risks. it makes [he people in-
capable of having thc forces necess:~ry in order to impose, under a syst~m
~f direct de;~o~racy, ti~ese freedows. The argu.,~ent of gradually acquiring
powers, as proposed bf certain leftfsts in souchern Europe, doe~t have
its advantag~s. But [hey have gained poWer only insofar ae th~ rnurgeoigie
allows the revolutionary parties free space co act. This space is noc of
much incerest to the bourgeoisie because while ie grants gpace in the
_ parliamenty ~nd other insticutions, che sane insti[utions have lost their
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influence in the eolution nf prnblemg. 'There, the revolution~ry mov~ment ean
~valve fdr a very l~ng time, ~~Lieving th~t it i~ ~xp~nding damd~r~~y. gut -
ahfi~ it i~ dding i~ cre~ting u p~et thet allowe them to art in ~perific
~phefeN t~nd n~c in ~ther~, the E~nda~nental one~. It i~ the executive power
tl~nt make~ ~ll the ma,~nr deri~lone gnd no re~?rtutionary movement ie ever .
Kuing to arriv~ th~re.
Aq a regult, ~v~n if it ig not in very lvng-rnnge termg, any revnlutinnery
n:ov~m~nt hag eo prepare to t~k~2 paths ~ther ehgn the parliamentary path.
tQu~~einn~ D~~g rhnt mean eh~t you dd not ~ea any pc~ceful me~ng of trenai-
tion to ~ncigligm?
(Answerj ~rom the ttme of Marx up eo noW, a11 revolutiongriee have fireC
of all chosen tti~t patt~; it ie the fundemental objective we geek. BuC why
is it inevitnble ehat there will be a military confront~tinn between the `
CL~H9('_9 th~t w~nc tn preserve their privilegee and chose that want to destroy
them? It ig experienc~, higCory itself, that mekee it an. ~'rom the bourgeoia
revolucSong to the socialiee revolutiona~ ic hag not been poggible to get
aaay from ~rmed confrontations in the dispute over poWer, not becduee of
~n's it~dividual desires, but rather~ because the armed atruggle becomes
inevitable in the courge of politicnl etruggles~ even though it would be
much berter if one could avoid bloodghed.
(quesciunj When do you believe that the conditions aill be created for a
nea wave of armed confrontatione in Latin Amcrica.
[AnsWerJ Nicaragua is the first battle of the second great aaakening of the
continent in chis century. Leaving it along would mean poetponing revolu-
tionary possibilities even longer. But if Nicaragua ie not abandoned~
the possibilities aill be different. Cuatemala is in the midet of crisie.
5o are ~1 5alvador and Nonduras. Colombia has been in a continuing crisis
it cannot solve. Brazil ~nd the countries Ln the 5outhern Cone are going
through a very scrious economic criais. And the most "resplendent" of
them all, as seen from Europe: Venezuela, is filled aith artificial
things for export~ beset by tremendous contradictions and facing ttie end
of the "yeara of abundance" of the previous government of Carlos Andres
perez. There ts a general crisis on the American continent. The task of _
putting it on a"War footing" is not easy, but it is not impoeaible either.
~ven if we do nnt obt~in an fmmediate victory~ a continental uprising might
leave a pach marked out for the future and I believe it is WorthWhile to
embark upon our great utopian adventure.
COpYRICNT: 19~9, CAMBIO 16, Informaciones y Publicaciones, S.A.
11,464
CSO: 3110 END
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