Evening star., 1950-05-07

SHOWS IQdG lIuuIllSLl Is OLlCt
again becoming serious problem
in several of the Latin countries
Recent Communist inspired
riots in Brazil, renewed attempts
to overthrow the government o1
Bolivia. widespread arrests oi
Communists in Costa Rica, ano
extreme 1eftist activities among
the labor groups in Guatemala
Cuba, Chile and elsewhere, have
attracted little or no serious at.
tention in this country. In some
instances the governments are
openly battling these elements
several of them desperately. Ir
Guatemala and one or two other
countries, extreme leftiSt friends
of Moscow are actually in controI
of the political machinery.
Much Activity
Only a month ago the govern
ment of Bolivia outlawed the
Communist Party in that import
ant tin, lead and tungsten produc-
ing country. Half a dozen plots
against the administration OF
President Mamerto Urrolagoitia
had already been frustrated
Finally a series of strikes all but
paralyzed business activity in the
capital of La Paz and other i'm
portant cities. Even the govern
ment banks and financial institu-
tions were closed down. Suddenly
the army arrested half a hundred
labor leaders. Much propaganda
material was confiscated including
what officials called "a Communist
plan" to make 1850 "a decisive
year In South America" The Ma
tional School Teachers Associa-
ton. various student groups, ano
others were found to be hotbeds
Of Communist agitation.
In Brazil in the past month
there have been Communist-or
ganized demonstrations in various
cities and towns of that country
from Belem, Para, on the Amazor
to Porto Allegro on the Southern
frontier. This in spite of the fact
that the party, then the largest
in the hemisphere, was outlaweo
nearly two years ago. Once again
you find scrawled on fences and
walls in Belem and other cities
In the north, Communist denunci.
ations, such as Down with the
Yankee invaders" Two weeks age
Communists rioted and threw tai
bombs at the Spanish Embassy in
Rio, and raised the Spanish Re-
publican flag on the gateway.
Four hundred miles inland from
Rio, at the small town of Uber-
landia, an armed Communist mot
seized British owned fazenda, OF
plantation. Troops rushed to the
scene, rounded up the Red raid
ers and put them in jail. The
moment the soldiers withdrew,
another group of raiders seized
the Jail, freed their comrades and
locked up the guards. The Brazil
ian police have been intercepting
bombs and explosives being sent
through the mails to prominent
personages who have been active
against communism.
Busy in Costa Rica
Costa Rica, next door to the
Panama Canal, where a peoples S
revolution threw out a Communist
dominated government only Nwo
years ago, is again feverish with
Red activities. After peace had
been restored following the 1948
revolt, and new government was
installed. some of the Commu-
niSts were allowed to return to
their homeland. In the last few
weeks the police in San Jose have
been raiding secret meetings, most
OF them in private homes, led by
some of these very same returned
expatriates. Large quantities of
anti-government, and especially
anti-United States, literature have
been conf1scateo. There is new
agitation among the workers on
the big banana and coffee planta-
tions. Fear has been aroused over
the fact that the Costa Rican
courts have promptly released
most of those who have been ar
rested.
Although the Guatemalar
government continues to deny
and even denounce insistent re-
ports of Communistic influence ir
that country, high officials take
delight in welcoming well-knowr
Communists from other countries
The famed Chilean Communist
poet, Pablo Neruda, now out OF
favor in his own country, has just
been received with open arms III
Guatemala City. After a visit
to Russia and the satellite coun-
tries, where he was a guest of the
"artists and writer's of the Soviet
Republic, Neruda told the Guate-
malan press that in Poland and
Hungary he found absolutely nc
religious persecution.
Neruda also declared that in
spite of the fact the party has
been outlaWed there resistance in
Chile increased day by day." About
the same time the Red poet was
being welcomed in Guatemala
City a Communist t-organized DEM
onStration was taking place in
the Chilean capital at Santiago
In spite of police protection mob
attempted to break up a meeting
at which the Minister of Finance
was speaking. AS soldiers were
rounding them up the demon
Strators shouted epithets against
President Gonzales Videla, who at
the moment was being received by
President Truman in Washington.
Situation in Mexico
Meantime leftist labor elements,
Influenced by Communist agita-