URUGUAYAN NATIONAL PRO-PEACE CONFERENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R009200150001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 23, 1999
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 7, 1951
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 1.999/09/09 : CIA-RDP82-00457R009200150001-7
INFORMATION AEPORT
CENTRALI L
CLASSIFICATION iCR&'T
COUNTRY Uruguay
SUBJECT
25X1A
Uruguayan National Pro-Peace Conference
REPORT NO.
CD NO,
DATE DISTR. 7 November 1951
NO. OF PAGES 2
0. OF ENCLS.
DATE OF
INFO.
Prior to 23 October 1951 DO NOT CIRCULATE SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
1. The Uruguayan National Pro -0eace Conference held in Montevideo on 12-13
October 1951, although considered by local Communists to be a success
from a propaganda standpoint, failed to develop the interest which the
Communists had counted on. Approximately thirty' delegates instead of
seventy from the interior of Uruguay, and only four foreign representatives
from other Latin American countries attended the conference. At a closed
meeting held on the afternoon of 13 October., the assembled members proposed
that the Conference of Latin American Intellectuals be held in Montevideo
:rsome time during November 19511t,*
2. Local delegates, primarily Jose Luis Massera, Secretary General of the
Pro'-eeace group, and Armando Gonzalez, were highly desirous of having
the congress in Montevideo in November. However, due to arrangements now
being undertaken in Santiago, Chile, for holding it in that city,, the
leaders were somewhat in doubt about the final outcome of their offer to
hold the meeting in Montevideo. Despite this indecision, Communist leaders
have definitely announced that the congress will be held in Montevideo.
Energetic fund-raising campaigns will be initiated within a short period
of time to provide funds to cover the expenses of the congress,
3. The public inaugural session of the local confe,ence commenced in the
Dine Stella with an estimated 500-600 peopld, many of Slavic extraction,
in attendance. Ostensibly the meeting was in charge of Mario J rddaberre,
a director of a liceo in Carmelo; however, Massera maintained a firm control
over the congress atall times,
4. Those accorded s_.eeial seats of honor were Frederic Joliot Curie (in
absentia); Venancio Lozaya; Jose Bergamin, Spanish Correnunist in Uruguay;
Dr. Leonor Aguiar Vasquez, of Argentina; Pedro 1tbtta Lima, of Brazil;
Juan Lamatta**, of Chile; and Fedrico Tater, of Paraguay. Massera delivered
the principal address, which contained noth ng different from the usual
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"Tfl.EN TIA
attacks on the United States by the Conmunist press of Uruguay,
5s Upon the completion of Maaeera's speech, the Federacion Isrealita Juvenil
Uruguaya (Jewish Cosmunist Youth Group) choir, under the direction of
Sonia Goldstein, sang several songs which ware first sung at the Youth
Congress in Berlin, ugeni Petit Munoz followed with a short speech
requesting a change in Uruguayan laws which would make all persona who
were in favor of war subject to arrest, The meeting was closed with a
lengthy address by Jose Bergamin, the Communist writer, Bergamiin said
that there was a slatderous campaign being conducted by the anti.-Commmmist
Uruguayan press which was denouncing him for being a Communist (an honorable
accusation according to Bergamin) even though he was a Catholics However,
he stated that he did not care if this were necessary in order that he be
identified on the "side of truth", He spoke of his great respect for the
Soviet Government in heading such a campaign (of peace) and bitterly
criticized the U,Sa Government for its persecutions of the "lovers of peace",
6. From the Cine Stella, the entire group went to the esplanaoa in front of
the municipal building, where he Communists had planned a huge outdoor
demonstration. Although the mmunist press mentioned that 15,000 persons
attended the meeting, source's most generous estimates were 3,,000,
7o At the afternoon sessions on'13 October,, which only authorized members
were permitted to attend, Armando Gonzalez told the assembly that the
Latin American Congress of Intellectuals was to be held in Montevideo
and that all plans were being made locally for that possibility. He said
that the Chileans had great interest in the congress,, and'that when it
was held, it would be headed by Gabriela Mistral, the Chilean poetess and
Nobel prize winner. He did not inform the delegates of the fact that
Santiago is a possible congress site, Massera also urged that the Uruguayan
members continue their all-out efforts for financial cor ibutions to
defray the expenses of holding the congress in Montevideo,,
S. The meeting closed with the group's approval of the folio ing resolutions
adopted earlier in the afternoon:
a. Intensify the campaign against U.S. war mangers,
bo Neutralize the effects of the imperialist-controlled press in Uruguay.,
co Create new"Pro-Paz"" groups which would be used to spread propaganda,
d. Establish special auxiliary committees of women and university
students to petition the government, which is now following U.S. war
policies,
9. Delegates from the interior who took an active pert in the conference
sessions were:
Harold, Esquivel - Young (Rio Neg )
Fabian Silvera and Manuel Arias . De Melo (Cerro Largo)
Washington Do Lars, - Salto
Mario Bordaberre - Carmelo (Colonia)
Leoncio Perez - San Jose
Irma Do Lucas - Paysandu
Oscar Rubbo and Juan Antonio Rubbo ,, Villa La Paz (Canelonea )
Luis Anchieri Perez, Maria Castellanos de Puchet, Carlos Scaffo - Durazno
25X1A Comment: Chilean deleget l..sma=,TK.. along with Massora and
other Uruguayan Communist renor. tediy met with Salvador Ocampos
Pastenese Chilean Communises c3~1~u~y~ during his one day stopover in
Approved For Release 1999/09/09 : CIA-RDP82-00457R009200150001-7