BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS AND MARTÍN KOPPEL
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - Political parties from around Latin America and the Caribbean gathered here May 25-28 for the fifth meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum. The first such gathering was held in 1990 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, at the initiative of the Workers Party in that country.
The previous conference of the Sao Paulo Forum was held two years ago in Havana, hosted by the Communist Party of Cuba. Meetings were also held in 1991 in Mexico City and in 1992 in Managua, Nicaragua.
About 160 delegates and observers participated in this year's gathering, including representatives of 73 organizations from 15 Latin American and Caribbean countries; a third of these participants were from Argentina. Among the 32 observers from other parts of the world were several from parties in western Europe and Australia, as well as representatives of the Kurdish Workers Party and of the governing parties in Vietnam, North Korea, and Libya. Representatives from Sinn Fein of Ireland attended for the first time. Two organizations from North America, the Socialist Workers Party and Solidarity, were also present as observers.
The presence of two representatives of the Basque nationalist party Herri Batasuna sparked a great deal of publicity in the Uruguayan media because of an ongoing controversy here over the extradition last year of three Basque political activists accused of "terrorism" by the Spanish government. Trials are now pending against several people who were arrested last August in Montevideo during a series of rallies demanding asylum for the three refugees. The cops fatally shot one demonstrator during those actions. The Communist Party of Spain decided not to send its representatives to the meeting once the attendance of Herri Batasuna was confirmed.
This year's meeting was smaller than previous gatherings. Delegates from Guadeloupe and Puerto Rico noted that, unlike the Havana conference, which was 400-strong, there was no one present from the English-speaking Caribbean. Also absent were organizations such as the Revolutionary Democratic Party of Panama and the Lavalas movement of Haiti, both of which are now in government.
Two distinct political courses
Since the last meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum, one of the
biggest developments in the Americas has been the economic
catastrophe in Mexico following the devaluation of the peso
last December. The shock waves have shaken countries
throughout the continent. This crisis was the backdrop for
the discussion at the conference on what organizers termed
"the struggle against neoliberalism," referring to
capitalist government policies that remove protectionist
measures and open up semicolonial economies to freer
imperialist investment.
As with the previous conferences, two distinct political courses were presented in the discussion - one oriented to seeking reforms in the capitalist system through electoral politics, and the other a socialist perspective.
The clearest and most forceful voice advocating a revolutionary course was the Cuban Communist Party. In a major speech at a public meeting inaugurating the conference, Abel Prieto, a member of the party's Political Bureau, stated that to some, "it seems to be in bad taste to speak about imperialism today."
Prieto went on to describe some of the devastating consequences that the capitalist economic crisis and imperialist pillage has meant for working people in the continent: growing unemployment, impoverishment, disease, malnutrition, and social polarization. He denounced "the implacable weapon of the foreign debt," through which Washington and other imperialist powers squeeze workers and farmers. The foreign debt stood at $534 billion by the end of 1994.
In face of these conditions, "social explosions are multiplying" throughout the region, Prieto underlined. "Never before has there been such a need for a clear anti- imperialist consciousness." In clear reference to the U.S. invasion of Haiti, he added, "the imposition of economic and financial demands is accompanied by the use of the United Nations to give a legal face to intervention and to establish the concept of limited sovereignty."
In contrast, Prieto explained, revolutionary Cuba has met its current economic problems with "dignity and resistance." He pointed out that "in 1995, the voices of the prophets of the fall of Cuban socialism have been muffled."
To confront the current economic crisis, "we have had to postpone advances toward our goal of building socialism," he said, citing a number of recent economic measures taken by the Cuban government such as opening up agricultural markets at unregulated prices and allowing foreign investments in tourism, oil, mining, and other sectors of the economy. "But these must not be confused with the restoration of capitalism" in Cuba, Prieto said. He explained how millions of working people on the island had taken part in "workers parliaments" in their workplaces to discuss and express their opinions on these economic measures when they were proposed-"a true example of democracy."
Cuba, Prieto concluded, "will emerge victorious with a vigorous socialism based on the ideas of Martí, Che, Fidel, Marx, Engels, and Lenin."
Prieto received an enthusiastic ovation from the audience at the public meeting, reflecting the enormous prestige and attraction of the Cuban revolution in Latin America and around the world.
During discussion at the plenary sessions and workshops, a few other delegates, such as the representative of the New Independence Movement (formerly the Puerto Rican Socialist Party), cited the Cuban revolution as an example, and many denounced the U.S. trade embargo against the island.
Procapitalist forces
The procapitalist forces, however, continued to gain
predominance in the Forum. Much of the discussion centered
on their efforts to get elected into capitalist governments.
These forces were led by the Party of the Democratic
Revolution (PRD) of Mexico and the Broad Front of Uruguay.
The elections held in 14 Latin American countries in the past two years represented "the best overall achievements of the left in the history of Latin America," stated Marco Aurélio Garcia, international relations secretary of the Workers Party (PT) of Brazil, at the first plenary session. The Final Declaration adopted by the conference highlighted the fact that member parties of the Sao Paulo Forum now have more than 360 members of parliament and dozens of mayors, governors, and city council members in office throughout the continent.
Several delegates held up the recent electoral gains of the Broad Front, which hosted the conference, as an example to follow. The Front, a coalition of mostly social- democratic and other parties that function in the workers movement of Uruguay, won 30 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections last year. Its slate also won the mayorship in the city of Montevideo, with about half of Uruguay's population of 3 million, for a second term. Conference participants attended a meeting at City Hall with Mayor Mariano Arana, who stated that the "classic socialist models" had failed and that, instead, the workers movement should fight for "democracy," "modernization," and "a better state and a better market."
The fifth meeting of the Forum, which had been scheduled to take place in Montevideo in 1994, was postponed until this year because of the election campaign in Uruguay.
In his address to the inaugural event, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, PRD candidate in last year's presidential elections in Mexico, said "orthodox neoliberalism" was to blame for the plunge of the peso and its repercussions.
To deal with the economic crisis, "the solution does not lie in crossing swords with the North," he emphasized, referring to Washington, "but in regional integration." This was described by Cárdenas and others at the conference as a Latin American trading bloc to compete with other commercial blocs in the world.
Schafik Handal, representing the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) of El Salvador, stated that the policies of the Salvadoran government "are only supported by the financial oligarchy," which he said exploits both peasants and big landowners. Handal called for an alliance "not only of working people but of sections of the middle and big businessmen."
The FMLN recently consummated a split. Some of its member organizations have formed the Democratic Party as a more openly capitalist party. The Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in Nicaragua, which has also continued to shift to the right, has likewise undergone a split.
Capitalism doesn't equal democracy
In one of the conference workshops, Roberto Regalado of
the Cuban CP answered the numerous delegates who spoke about
"strengthening the process of democratization" in the
Americas. "To deal with the problems in our region, it is
necessary to refute two fallacies," he said. "One is that
the subcontinent is advancing along the path of growth,
economic development, and social justice. The other is the
assertion that it is undergoing a consolidation of
democracy."
Regalado asked, "Can democracy exist in the middle of increasing inequality and injustice? Can there be democracy in countries that are increasingly more dependent and less sovereign?"
A few delegates spoke about the upturn in workers' and peasants' struggles in many countries of the region against the capitalists' attacks. The peasant revolt in Chiapas, Mexico, was frequently cited. Luis Puig of the People's Victory Party of Uruguay highlighted "the importance of the resistance to neoliberalism-in Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina. Left organizations cannot be divorced from these struggles."
As the conference took place, a major strike by oil workers in Brazil was unfolding (see article beginning on front page). PT leader Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva canceled his participation in the conference in order to help respond to that fight. Garcia of the PT spoke at the meeting about the struggle of the oil workers.
Earlier, thousands of teachers and other workers had carried out a general strike in Bolivia against the policies of the regime, which imposed a state of siege and arrested at least 300 unionists. In Argentina, several provinces have been swept by strikes and other demonstrations against wage cuts and layoffs.
A delegate from the Communist Party of Paraguay reported on a series of peasant land takeovers as well as a strike by telephone workers that forced the parliament there to grant a wage raise to the state employees.
Protests against government austerity measures have also been shaking Nicaragua. FSLN leader Daniel Ortega did not attend the meeting because of a major confrontation that broke out between the regime and trade unions.
Much of the debate at the Montevideo meeting became mired down by proposals by a few delegates to exclude certain parties from the Sao Paulo Forum. The Workers Party of Argentina made a motion to expel the Free Bolivia Movement (MBL) from membership in the Forum because it is part of the regime that unleashed the recent repression against the Bolivian labor movement. During the discussion, MBL representative Alfonso Alem Rojo defended his party's decision to join the government in 1993, as well as the imposition of the state of siege in April of this year, arguing that the unions had "provoked the government."
Several delegates expressed opposition to the proposed expulsion, saying it could lead to the breakup of the Forum, since other member parties occupy government positions and might also face demands for expulsion.
Similarly, a proposal was made by the Revolutionary Workers Party of Mexico and a few other groups to change the rules of the Forum in order to reject the request by the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to attend the meeting as an observer. In the end, the delegates voted overwhelmingly to reject the two motions.
A Final Declaration adopted at the end of the meeting said the delegates "solidarize with our Cuban brothers and condemn the criminal blockade imposed by the U.S. government" and denounced the Helms-Burton bill, which would tighten Washington's embargo.
The declaration, however, represented an overall retreat from anti-imperialist positions adopted at previous meetings of the Sao Paulo Forum. No mention was made of U.S. and French colonial rule in the Caribbean, or the U.S. invasion of Haiti.
While noting "the incompatibility of both paying the [foreign] debt under current conditions and recovering a sustained development," the statement called for "a joint renegotiation of the debt."
The conference elected a Working Group, and voted to establish a Permanent Secretariat with a small full-time staff based in Sao Paulo to coordinate Forum activities between conferences. It will be financed by $200 annual dues from member groups.
Delegates set the sixth meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum for July or August 1996 in San Salvador.