Evening star., 1951-03-18
Reds Stir Up Latin Labor
Political Unrest, Widespread Riotine
Reported; U. S. Is Blasted as Usual
By Edword TomIinson


labor and political unrest, in sew
eral instances punctuated by vio-
lent rioting and even bloodshed
has broken out in a number of
the Latin American countries
Some of it is merely the result
of old difficulties, aggravated by
the rising cost of living and other
local economic problems. A good
deal, and certainly the worst of
1t. has been deliberately provoked
by Communist propaganda and
agitation. All Of 1t plays directly
into the hands of the Red ele-
mentS. AS usual, Uncle Sam has
been one of the principal whip
ping boys.
In the little-known, but i'm
portant city of Sac Luiz, capital
Of the far northern state of
Maranhao. Brazil, a large por-
;tion of the population, represent
ing nearly all classes of the COM
,munity and the majority of the
political parties, has been des-
perately protesting the Inaugural
ton of the new Governor, Eugenio
de BarroS. In spite of the pres
ence of several battalions of the
federal army, there have been
serious riots and a number of
killings in the main public square
of the city. At the time this is
written general strike has been
in progress for over two months.
Spokesman for the protesting
citizens insist that the majority
of the voters cast their ballots for
one gubernatorial candidate, while
the local electoral tribunal pro-
nounced the victory and ruled in
favor Of another. AS usual the
Reds have been on hand to profit
by the disorders. According to
some eyewitness reports, most of
the violence has been melted by
Communist agents. During one
Of the mass meetings well-known
leftist, Senhorita Maria Aragao,
a prominent physician, who is
strongly suspected of being the
actual Communist leader of the
state, mounted park bench and
exhorted the people to rebel
against the domination of
Brazil by the United States"
Members of the outlawed Com
munist Party, parading under
other business, have been attempt
ing to hold mass meetings in Rio
itself. So far police have pre-
vented violence and the crowds
have been unusually small, con-
sidering the former strength of
the party. AS one Brazilian OBJ
server puts it, apparently it is
their strategy to keep up agita-
tion until some unfortunate Incl
dent takes place, which would
arouse resentment among the
masses, for which they would be
able to blame the government or
somebody. At least they need
some new rallying cry in Brazil,
some new propaganda slogan"
Communists Blamed
The wave of strikes and labor
violence in Chile, that hared
first in the important northern
copper producing region several
weeks ago. has now spread
throughout that country. Govern
mental officials have charged that
many of the earlier walkouts
were the direct result of Com
.munist manipulations Of certain
labor unions. Despite the vigi-
lance of federal police, there
have been many acts of sabotage
against power companies, rail-
roads and other utilities. In a sin
gle day during the first week in
March there were what the local
newspapers called three differ
ent criminal attacks" on passen-
ger trains in the Santiago area
alone.
Leftist labor elements have ap-
parently launched a campaign to
force the naturalization of the
multimillion-do United States
owned-and-operated copper in
dustry. For that matter, because
mining and governmental officials
have not been able to agree on
sharp rise in the price of the
vital metal, practically all of
which is now being shipped to
this country, the idea Of more di-
rect governmental control has
been seriously discussed in some
high political circles.
According to one report, Gin case
Of the failure of the price discus
sions, Standardization might
be proposed. with the present
owners being permitted to remain
at the head of their mines, which
however. would have the category
Of Chilean companies. But they
would be unable to sell their cop