11 Latin Rmerican Christians inthe Liberation Struggle

Since the Latin American Catholic Bishops the People's United Front. When this failed, due met in Medellin, Colombia in August and September to fragmentation and mistrust on the left and the 1968 to call for basic changes in the region, the repression exercised by the government, he joined Catholic Church has been increasingly polarized the National Liberation Army in the mountains. between those who heard their words from the He soon fell in a skirmish with government troops point of view of the suffering majorities and advised by U.S. counterinsurgency experts. those who heard them from the point of view of Camilo's option for violence has clearly affected the vested interests. The former found in the the attitudes of Latin American Christians, but Medellin documents, as in certain documents of so also has his attempt to build a United Front, the Second Vatican Council and the social ency- as we shall see in the Dominican piece which fol- clicals of Popes Paul VI and John XXIII, the lows. But more importantly, Camilo lent the fire legitimation of their struggles for justice and of committed love to the Christian forces for their condemnations of exploitation and struc- change around the continent. To Camilo it had tures of domination. The Latin American Bishops become apparent that the central meaning of his had hoped that their call published in Medellin Catholic commitment would only be found in the would be enough, all too hastily retreating from love of his neighbor. And he saw still more their public declarations when their implications clearly that love which does not find effective became apparent. expression is no more than a lie. Thus he came to argue that "the revolution is not only permis- Everywhere in Latin America today, including sible but obligatory for those Christians who see the Catholic Church, one hears a litany of the it as the only effective and far-reaching way to need for change. No one is saying things are as make the love of all people a reality."* they should be, not even the far right -- which The importance of Camilo in setting a new feels that things have gone entirely too far. standard of Christian commitment cannot be under- The breakdown occurs when it becomes a question estimated. of methods for achieving change, who are to be allies in the fight for change, and the type of Several splits in the ranks of Christian changes which are needed. Polarization takes the Democracy followed the Medellin deliberations of form then of options between Marxist and Devel- the Latin American hierarchy. The Christian opmentalist analyses of the social and economic Democracy's Chilean showcase -- an experiment in crisis of the region; between models of change which U.S. imperialism invested hundreds of mil- which are socialist and those which favor capi- lions of dollars in government-financed loans talist modernization; between violent and non- and technical assistance grants as well as pri- violent means of struggle; between confessional- vate investment -- had begun to show wide cracks ism in politics (i.e., providing "Christian po- by 1968, when it was apparent that the regime of litical alternatives") and militancy in secular Eduardo Frei Montalva was unable to satisfy the radical parties and movements. Some of these aspirations of the Chilean masses. In 1969 the diverging tendencies suggest polarization between first serious break in the ranks occurred with left and right, and in some cases they represent the withdrawal of an important sector of the tensions among left Christians themselves. party which then formed the United Popular Action Movement (MAPU), allying with the parties of the Two other important factors are to be ob- Marxist left in the Unidad Popular electoral served in the growth of the Christian left. One coalition which brought Salvador Allende to power is the importance of the example set by Camilo in 1970. Similar splits occurred elsewhere, and Torres, and the other is the widespread disen- they have continued to occur in Chile up to the chantment among politically radical Christians present time. with the Christian Democratic or Social Christian option. Both of these are to be found in the One of the questions which has arisen from Chilean and Dominican documents which follow this growing disenchantment with Christian Demo- (Numbers 1 and 2). cracy is whether it is wise and correct for Christians to form confessional parties of the Colombia's revolutionary priest, Camilo Torres, left, center or right. It is out of this ques- attempted to build a mass revolutionary movement tioning that "Christians for Socialism" was f ed in that country during 1965 under the banner of in Chile, which is reflected in the words of 12 Gonzalo Arroyo in the second of the documents which follow. In fact this group has increasingly identified itself not as Christians who are ready to cooperate with Marxists, but as Christian These materials on Christians in the Latin Marxists. If there is any novelty in the Chris- American liberation struggle represent part tian left in Latin America it is this: beyond the of a NACLA pamphlet to be published later in Marxist-Christian dialogue, beyond cooperation, the spring. The publication, produced by there are now Marxist Christians (or Christian NACLA's Church Research Project, will in- Marxists) who are steadily gathering forces clude articles on the role of missionaries throughout the continent. (See page 16.) in the U.S. penetration of the Third World, the churches and the U.S. power structure Rick Edwards and documents and articles on religious groups in the struggle for liberation. * John Gerassi (ed.), Revolutionary Priest: The Complete Writings and Messages of Camilo Torres (New York: Vintage, 1971), p. 368. 1.Camilista Underground in Santo Domingo

As the following report by Carlos Maria Gutierrez makes clear, the Dominican Camilista Movement stresses student work, organization of peasants and industrial workers and the search for unity on the left. Since Gutierrez interviewed the Camilista leader ten months ago, these projects have continued as the Movement has gained more and more adherents.

In its strategy v-is-a-vis CASC, the Catholic labor federation, Camilismo suffered a setback in February of this year when its allies forming the Unity and Change slate failed to unseat the conserv- ative union leadership (the latter employed highly questionable tactics to assure its hold on the organization). But the Unity and Change group still control some of the unions which make up the federation.

Given the continued resistance of reformist PRD leader Juan Bosch to unity on the left, the Camilista efforts in this direction face great difficulties. In fact, however, work has been inten- sified and has enjoyed some progress through Camilismo's rapprochement with other forces of left Catholic inspiration which are strong in rural areas. Success in this alliance would mean a movement with combined effectiveness among urban and rural workers, as well as high school and university students.

Camilismo, perhaps because of its Christian identity, has not suffered so severely from the ex- tremely violent repression exercised by the youthful right-wing terrorists of La Banda, only recently restrained after increasing domestic and foreign criticism. The repression has killed, injured, jailed or forced to flee some of the best leadership in the Dominican left. Most hard-hit in this respect has been the MPD, an openly Marxist-Leninist group. [For more on Dominican repression see the NACLA Newsletter, Vol. 5, No. 4 (July-August 1971), pp. 7, 21; Vol. 5, No. 2 (April 1971), pp. 19-31; Vol. 4, No. 7 (November 1970), p. 8.]

The following report will appear in slightly revised form in a book by Gutierrez called The Dominican Republic: Rebellion and Repression, to be published in the fall of 1972 by Monthly Review Press. Translated by Richard E. Edwards.

POLITICAL AND LABOR GROUPS MENTIONED IN ARTICLE MPD, the Dominican People's Movement: Marx- cludes peasants, workers, middle class. ist-Leninist in orientation, has been CASC, the Autonomous Confederation of Christian the principal focus of official repres- Trade Unions, Santo Domingo's branch of sion and suffered attacks also from CLASC, the Latin American Confederation of Joaquin Balaguer. Christian Trade Unions. This movement PSP, the Popular Socialist Party: predecessor has taken anti-U.S. and anti-communist of the Dominican Communist Party, but positions in Latin American labor still exists in its own right. Moscow struggles, operating as the labor front recognizes both parties. of the Christian Democratic parties. PDC, the Dominican Communist Party. COPEI, is the Venezuelan version of Christian PRD, The Dominican Revolutionary Party: led Democracy. The initials stand for by Juan Bosch, it is the only mass party Committee for Independent Political and in the country. Leadership is in the Electoral Organization. nationalist bourgeoisie; following in- 13 In the Dominican Republic, the Revolutionary In the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo I Social Christian Party (PRSC) is in the middle of a interviewed a member of the national leadership of profound crisis which may lead to its disappearance. Camilismo, whose name cannot be published because In 1965 the PRSC possessed enough vitality to sign of the clandestine nature of his work. In the the insurrectionary Rio Piedras Pact with Juan Bosch conversation which follows, the leader - a university and to participate directly in the April youth - defines the most outstanding aspects of the Constitutionalist rebellion that year.* Today, Movement and outlines an analysis of the Dominican infected by the decomposition of the Dominican political situation. political milieu, it presents the appearance of an GUTIERREZ: What were the motives which led artificial party sustained either as an ornamental you to break with the Social Christian party? opposition to Balaguerism or simply to maintain an LEADER: A group of youth withdrew from the affiliate of the world Christian Democratic movement PRSC because we found, on analyzing the Social in the country. Christian positions, that Christian Democracy does The PRSC has been accused by its own members of not respond to Latin American reality. It has neither being financially subordinate to Venezuelan Christian a methodology nor a strategy viable for the solution Democracy. That charge, which appeared in the of the problems. The group then allied itself with the Dominican press without provoking any denial, held related university/student sector whose vanguard was that the Venezuelan COPEI party has been paying the BRUC, and provided this organization with a new PRSC two thousand dollars a month since 1970. In vision. The rupture occured in February 1969 during addition, it provides a monthly subsidy to PRSC head the Third Congress of University Students. There we Alfonso Moreno Martinez and to the party's argued for an opening toward the principles of secretary, Luis Estrella; the two receive 800 and 350 Camilo Torres and their later development in the dollars a month respectively. The accusation added tendencies fostered in Colombia by the Golconda another significant fact: group.** We also picked up lines of interpretation applied in Chile by MAPU (Unified Popular Action In 1970, President Balaguer authorized the Movement) in its dissent from Frei's Christian PRSC, with no funds in the bank and Moreno Democracy. Then a broad movement was developed, Martinez as its presidential candidate, to draw framed in the position of Camilo Torres. This also checks on the Reserve Banks totalling thirty had an impact on the high school students organized thousand dollars to finance the campaign. by the JRSC. Then there was a rupture between In this way, it was reported, Balaguer Camilismo and the JRSC and the present movement obtained PRSC participation in the elections, was formed. After organizing the university and high but the Social Christian leader emphatically school students, we proceeded to work in the labor denied that the PRSC had received the sum of unions and in the popular neighborhoods. The Camilo one hundred thousand dollars for this purpose, Torres Revolutionary Committees were created at as had been speculated. this point as agencies for work among the people. The informant admitted that Balaguer's GUTIERREZ: Concretely, how do you differ government provides maintenance for a large from the programmatic positions of the PRSC? majority of the party's activists in their work, on LEADER: The rupture was not just a structural the condition that the party support his break; it was primarily ideological. We evaluated administration. He added, "It is the only way we European Christian Democracy from the time of its can keep alive. If we lose this support, we will first appearance as well as its adjustment to Latin disappear." America. We also reviewed the Chilean Christian Democratic experience and that of similar movements At present, the PRSC has almost fallen into all over Latin America. We saw that Christian disrepair. Of its ten executive committee members Democracy did not have a position consistent with designated in 1970, only three are still active. And Latin American reality. It had appeared here as a the "hard-line" wing headed by Antonio Rosario has response to Marxism-Leninism, although it did not united with the Revolutionary Social Christian Youth formally support the United States. Then it strived to (JRSC, Juventud Revolucionaria Social Cristiana),the be a sort of third position, defining itself against youth branch of the party, in demanding the something, but not really representing a creative expulsion of Moreno Martinez and the purification of attitude so much as an average of solutions. It was a the group. mechanical transplant of what had been done in But the most interesting phenomenon among the Europe. So we came to the conclusion that ideology left Catholics has been the appearance of a direct is not something given in advance, but rather a action movement known as the Camilo Torres constant search for theoretical arguments in contact Revolutionary Committees (CORECATO, Comites with a reality, with a praxis. Revolucionarios Camilo Torres), also called the GUTIERREZ: In what respect does the thought Camilista Movement. With a revolutionary position of Camilo Torres influence you most? that rejects equally the electoral action of the PRSC LEADER: His principles of the United Front. We and the positions sustained by CASC on labor believe that in political matters, the Dominican and matters, CORECATO has opted for a clandestine task Latin American revolutions require unity among the of popular mobilization and indoctrination. Harshly revolutionary and progressive sectors which advocate repressed by the regime, Dominican Camilismo is the seizuere of power. The Camilista United Front principally active in the urban areas (though it has idea is one of our fundamental points. Also, his also extended its Committees into certain peasant position on work in the popular base and in student communities) and the majority of its leadership is groups. made up of university youths. One of its most solid GUTIERREZ: Camilo Torres arrived at his bases of action seems to be the BRUC (Bloque conception of the United Front by means of Marxist Revolucionario Unitario Cristiano, or United class analysis - unity of the strata or classes which Christian Revolutionary Bloc). Previously, BRUC was are in contradiction with imperialism or with the controlled by the PRSC through its youth wing. capitalist system. Are you also applying an analysis of 14 the Marxist type? The Camilo Torres Revolutionary Committees, LEADER: When we speak of the United Front we however, are clandestine from the base to the include here all the popular organizations which have leadership. been moving toward a rupture with the established GUTIERREZ: What agency orients the analysis order, that is, with the dependent relation vis-a-vis and tactics of the Movement? imperialism. We accept as valid the Marxist LEADER: There is a national steering committee interpretation of social classes. But that theoretical which exercises the coordination of the different outline must be compared with our reality in order to sectors and which of course is also clandestine. arrive at an adequate and well-founded solution. In our GUTIERREZ: Does the Movement operate among country neither a bourgeoisie nor a proletariat exist the peasantry? as such. Sixty-seven percent of the country's LEADER: We are developing work in that sector, enterprises are concentrated in the hands of the state; but we cannot say that it is effective, given the level there are barely 150,000 workers and more than of repression being applied in the countryside. It is 500,000 unemployed. That reality cannot be difficult to get to the peasants; the policy of the understood in the light of a classical interpretation of agencies of repression is to make it impossible for the the Marxist position; it is totally distinct from the urban revolutionary groups to reach the rural areas. class analysis of a European society. But we believe GUTIERREZ: Have you taken positions favoring that for us what Marx said about "the class in itself" unity, for the purpose of political action with other and "the class for itself" continues to, be valid. We groups? also accept Mao's argument on fundamental and LEADER: Yes, we have. And we can say that we secondary contradictions. Finally, we believe in the are the ones who have worked most effectively to necessity of destroying the bourgeois State and develop the politics of unity - with the PDC in the establishing anew a workers' State. University and with the PDC and the PRD in the labor unions. There have been several very good experiences. MOTIVES FOR A UNITED FRONT In his Platform of the United Front of the Colombian People, Camilo Torres listed seven "motives" for the formation of a United Front. Since the Dominican Camilista Movement uses Camilo's United Front principles as one of its key reference points, NACLA reproduces here the seven motives: 1. The decisions that are indispensable for Colombian politics to be oriented for the benefit of the majorities, not the minorities, must be made by those who hold power. 2. Those now in power constitute an economic minority which makes all the fundamental decisions of national policy. 3. This minority will never be able to make a decision adversely affecting its own interests or the foreign interests to which it is bound. 4. The decisions required for the socioeconomic development of the country beneficial to the majorities and to national independence necessarily affect the interests of the economic minority. 5. These circumstances make it indispensable to change the political power structure so that the majorities can make the decisions. 6. At present the majorities reject the political parties and reject the present system but do not have a political apparatus suitable to seize power. 7. The political apparatus to be organized should seek the greatest possible support of the masses, should have a technical planning component, and should be organized around principles of action rather than around a leader to avoid the danger of cliques, demagoguery and personality cult. SOURCES: Gerassi, John, Ed., Revolutionary Priest: The Complete Writings and Messages of Camilo Torres (New Camilo Torres York: Vintage, 1971), pp. 306-307. Camilo Torres: Obras Escogidas (Montevideo: Editorial Provincias Unidas, 1968), p. 173. GUTIERREZ: Do you maintain contact with CASC? GUTIERREZ: Does the Movement function both LEADER: Yes, but not at the top leadership level, legally and illegally? since we are an excluded group. CASC has a LEADER: Our university student group functions completely conservative line with programs of the legally in the University, like all the rest. The Latin American Confederation (CLASC), which do secondary school group functions illegally in the high not reflect a revolutionary strategy. It has pacifist schools. But the mass backing it receives there allows politics, and is trade-unionism striving for purely it to make itself heard - in fact, it operates openly. economic demands. 15 GUTIERREZ: Aside from working with other LEADER: Because of our country's geographical groups in specific sectors, have you posed the position, its territory and population, the proximity question of national political unity? of Haiti and our general location in the area, we LEADER: There have been contacts with the PRD cannot talk of an independent solution. All Latin which is advocating a national political front also, and American countries have to plan a way out that is these are continuing. Professor Bosch holds that the coordinated within a global strategy. conditions still are not ripe, owing to the multiplicity GUTIERREZ: Does the precedent of Colonel and the fragmentation of the Dominican left. But Francisco Caamano in 1965 permit us to think that a there has been some progress in this respect. Peruvian-type phenomenon might also occur here? GUTIERREZ: Toward a front with the PRD only, LEADER: The Dominican Republic does not have or also with other groups? a tradition of military culture or of a socio-political LEADER: We have talked with the PRD, but we formation of the officers. The Dominican military also made similar proposals to the PCD, the PSP, and man is unlikely to have a university education. The the MPD in order to establish a political front with officers probably could not exercise the government socialist objectives. When I speak of socialism, let me with a sense of social development, or would not make myself clear, I am not referring to a schematic understand the factors at work in that sense. Here the socialism, but to a socialism which by its very concept under which the military services have been dynamic points out all the possibilities of uniting the organized places a priority on national security and social organism through an independent formula. We control of the population and the revolutionary are not thinking about a rigid, unimaginative forces in the name of constituted authority. There is socialism. no military group which could assume management GUTIERREZ: In Latin America there are now of the economy, politics and the whole social process. two examples of socialist processes: the Chilean - a GUTIERREZ: How does CORECATO define the socialism sought through the institutional routes - composition of the present regime with respect to the and the Cuban, achieved by the violent, revolutionary sectors it represents and to foreign influences? route. Which of the two do you believe is viable for the Dominican Republic? LEADER: Experience shows us that not one group in the Dominican left, from the most radical all the way over to the one most in accord with the system of power, is arguing for the institutional route. The military intervention in 1965, the fraudulent elections of 1966 and 1970, as well as the control which the United States exercises here, do not permit talk of a legal route. Chile, on the other hand, possessed a thirty-year tradition of institutionality within a formal democracy; the Communist and Socialist parties were legal. Here not one leftist group is able to function legally. We cannot visualize how we could gain power by the institutional route. They wouldn't let us. GUTIERREZ: What immediate possibilities are there for the insurrectional or violent route? LEADER: When we rejected the peaceful route The Autonomous University of Santo Domingo. we did not bind ourselves to a single tactic. We believe that the historical process, the development of the social forces with the accompanying effects of LEADER: The Dominican Republic does not imperialism, proceed to give the society an internal escape the Latin American phenomenon of dynamic. Until 1965, no one here had ever talked dependence. So in order to analyze the internal about armed uprisings in the urban zone. And composition of its leadership, we necessarily have to nonetheless they occurred; they took the left as much think in terms of the variable, "U.S. Imperialism." by surprise as they did the right. Therefore, You cannot speak of the regime's composition assimilating the experience of 1965, we do not talk according to a class stratification, nor even talk of a especially about tactics for the time being but simply bourgeois class, because we don't have it here. What about violent means. It may ultimately be a process exists is a combination of power groups: military initiated by a general strike leading through a series of officers that sustain the government as they sustained stages to the seizure of power. Or it may initially be the Trujillo apparatus before; an incipient oligarchy, an armed foco which then provokes a popular that although at times does not agree with Balaguer uprising, as occurred when Trujillo fell ... What is supports him anyway to keep its privileges... The important is that - as we see things - conditions whole phenomenon of power in this country is exist. We are organizing a mass answer which can be complex in its internal aspects, but everything is of use no matter what opportunity presents itself. To always referred directly to the United States. confront the imperialist policy of the United States, * For background and a description of the 1965 U.S. the dominant class and the repressive groups, you military intervention in the Dominican Republic, see Fred cannot think about a peaceful route. But the way of Goff and Michael Locker, "The Violence of Domination: U.S. violence also has a wide range of alternatives. Power and the Dominican Republic," published in I.L. GUTIERREZ: In thinking of the Camilista Horowitz, J. DeCastro and J. Gerassi (eds.), Latin American Movement, does the process of insurrectional struggle Radicalism (New York, 1969) pp. 249-291. (Ed.) for the seizure of power depend on the situation in the Caribbean, on whether other countries have been * See NACLA Newsletter, Vol. II, No. 8 (December 1968); liberated, or is it a question of exclusively national Vol. III, No. 10 (February 1970); Vol. IV, No. 1 (March phenomena? 1970), for background on Golconda. (Ed.) 16 2.Rrroyo on Chle's Christians for Socalism

Gonzalo Arroyo, whose interview by Julio Huasi of Prensa Latina is printed below, is a leading spokesman for "Christians for Socialism," a Chilean movement of Marxist Christians which will celebrate its first birthday on April 16.

Political Christians in Chile operate in a context quite different from that of their confreres in the Dominican Republic or.Argentina. Chile is governed by the Unidad Popular, a coalition of leftist parties elected in 1970, which include the Communist and Socialist parties as well as two Christian parties, the United Popular Action Movement (MAPU) and the more confessional organization called the Christian Left (IC). Each of these parties represents a schism from the older Christian Democratic Party, MAPU having been formed in 1969 and IC in 1971.

Christians for Socialism differs from the IC in identifying itself clearly with the aspirations of the working class and with Marxism as a method for the analysis and transformation of social reality. The movement rejects the notion of confessional politics, arguing rather for Christian participation in secular political and labor organizations so as to avoid undermining working class unity. From this point of view Christians for Socialism criticized IC as anti-Marxist and a "throwback to Christian Democracy. "*

Fidel Castro spent an hour and a half, during his recent Chilean visit, in conversation with the 140 priests and nuns who formed the nucleus of Christians for Socialism as of December 1971. It was in this setting that he made his now well-known remarks, "I tell you without hesitation: we see revolutionary Christians as strategic allies of the revolution. Not fellow-travelers -- nothing of that sort. . . . We have to construct socialism with revolutionary Christians. Without Christians any revolution in Latin America will be partial.**

* Joe Collins, "The Evolution of Christian Marxists in Chile" (MS), pp. 12-13. ** Quoted in Collins, op. cit., p. 1.

Both the right and leftwing press mentioned him participate in the socialist construction of a country by name when public opinion became aware of the now in the first stage of much needed revolutionary work and activities of eighty Catholic priests who met transformations. When the pro-United States press in the Vicaria Sur of the Santiago Church in April, attempted to get the Church hierarchy to take 1971, under the basic slogan of "Christian corrective measures separating these priests from the Participation in Socialist Construction." The Jesuit vast Christian community in Chile, the effort priest, Gonzalo Arroyo, raised everybody's boomeranged. expections. One detail suggests the spirit of the eighty A professor in the Catholic University and resident Catholic priests who met to found this of a working-class district, Arroyo could be one test movement-the substitution of a single word which in of the contradictions in Chilean politics today. The essence illustrates a change in conduct and aims. Church is under seige, perhaps belatedly, by the new Initially, these priestly contributions were discreetly winds of change blowing over Latin America-a programmed under the theme of "Christian continent where, thanks to the Cuban Revolution, collaboration." After public and obviously fraternal the word "liberation" is no longer a mystical debate, the phrase was changed into "Christian aspiration "for some day in the future." participation.' Arroyo's thinking was made known to PRENSA Father Gonzalo Arroyo, tall, slender, "with the LATINA in long conversations, as well as his articles face of a typical priest" as one journalist has written, and actions. But we prefer to let Arroyo speak for won fame years ago for his intensive work in agencies himself through his answers to some questions put to created by the Christian Democrats. Now in his him by PRENSA LATINA. The radicalization process forties, he was ordained in the "Society of Jesus" which Arroyo represents is winning over an increasing after graduation as an agronomist from the Catholic number of Chilean Catholics, laymen as well as University of Chile. Later a diligent and devout clergy, who are ministers of a centuries-old institution student at Louvain University* in Belgium, this that cannot escape the inexorable tremors of history. unusual priest was the target of many rightwing press attacks and received much attention from the U.S. PL: What can you tell us about the meeting of the press agencies. eighty worker-priests, their objectives and prospects? Anything can happen in today's Chile, even a Arroyo: Study circles on "Christian participation meeting of nearly one hundred practicing in socialist construction" took place from April 14th priests--considered the best qualified of the 2,000 to the 16th [1971] in Santiago with the attendance now in Chile. They have actively propagated their of eighty priests, most of whom function in faith and are widely publicizing their decision to working-class districts, or among the peasantry and 17 low-income social groups. Thus, these priests have caution, and ultimately, resistance and passivity been able to feel in dramatic form the exploitation of among the people." the working class, the malnutrition of vast sectors of This, in short, is the declaration of the priests, who the population, the shortage of housing, do belong to the Church. We don't intend to create a unemployment, lack of culture, all of which is the new and separate movement but we want to labor result of the capitalist system, the result of the together with the working class world to make an domination of foreign imperialism which has been efficacious contribution to the objectives that have maintained until now by this country's ruling classes. been traced out in favor of the workers. That is why these priests declared: "This system, PL: Can you give us a summary of the reaction characterized by private ownership of the means of this attitude has caused among Christians? production and by growing inequality in the Arroyo: Undoubtedly, our taking up of these distribution of income, converts the worker into a positions caused a much greater impact than we mere pawn of the productive system and promotes expected. Since they were published we've been the irrational use of economic resources and the constantly approached by the press, radio and incorrect transfer of surpluses to foreign countries. television, as well as by the trade unions, youth All this leads to stagnation and prevents the country groups, and others, to explain our position. The from developing." Church, which apparently had nothing much to say The priests also declared: "the installation of a about the political process now being carried out in popular government and its activities in favor of the Chile, has also begun an internal analysis to revise construction of socialism bring great hope to the obsolete positions. Theologians and priests, both for people. The people are not wrong in feeling this and against us, have taken part in debates, and the hope." Therefore, the priests feel themselves bishops signed a declaration which, according to an committed to "this process now being carried out and opposition weekly, is a mild reprimand of the eighty want to contribute to its success." They do this priests whose good faith nobody denies except the precisely because they are Christians and priests: ultra-right sectors. "The deep reason behind this commitment is our Nevertheless, one part of the press has attacked us faith in Jesus Christ, which depends, renews itself and systematically, especially that part related to takes flesh according to the historical circumstances. institutions of Christian inspiration. We think that all To participate at present in Chile is to participate in this has been very useful: an awakening of the historic project which the people are engaged in." consciousness for many Christians, sometimes a They understand that "socialism is not only a new painful one, which could even create division inside type of economic system, it also generates new values the Church, but one which carries the strength of the which allow for the appearance of a more fraternal Gospel: "If salt becomes tasteless ... it is good for society where the worker assumes with dignity the nothing but to be thrown away." Without a doubt role that is his." Christians have new apostolic prospects open before The press communique issued by the priests has them, because today they are accepted as Christians had great political effect both in Chile and in a revolutionary process where together with internationally. Its import does not rest only in the non-believers they can work for the construction of a priests' open declaration in favor of socialism, a more just and more humane society. position already taken publicly by other Latin PL: How did you come to have this class vision of American priests and even by some individual Chilean and Latin American reality? members of the hierarchy. The Chilean priests have Arroyo: After long years of study abroad I also taken a position regarding the relationship returned to Chile in 1964. My first contact with the between Marxism and Christianity. They stated workers and peasants was through technical courses clearly that it is necessary to "destroy prejudices, the and posts. At the same time I began to give courses in mistrust that exists between Christians and Marxists." the universities which made me witness the To do this we must overcome the Church's radicalization of groups of Christian students more condemnation of communism as "intrinsically evil" closely. In 1969 I went to live in a working-class and the aphorism that "religion is the opiate of the district - the San Miguel district south of Santiago - people." The priests are aware of the problems because I understood that it was not enough to talk between Christians and Marxists based on past history of solidarity with the workers but that I had to live as which today is dead in Chile. What is important is a priest and share the problems, the injustices, the common action in the historic project which the exploitation they had to live under. Since then, country is now engaged in. Collaboration between without abandoning my intellectual work, but now both, say the priests, "will be facilitated in the stimulated by my proletarian experience, I have measure that Marxism becomes more and more an continued to make contacts with and commit myself instrument of analysis and transformation of society to the working class and trade union struggle, here, in and in the measure that Christians purge their faith of the proletarian zone of Greater Santiago. everything that prevents them from assuming a real PL: Was the awakening of your consciousness and efficacious commitment." purely intellectual or was it a product of the crises or But what concerns us most of all is that now in conflicts that took place in your. personal life? Chile "there are large groups of workers who are in Arroyo: What I just said shows that it was not an favor of changes but who have not joined on a awakening of consciousness on the purely intellectual mass-scale the present process in favor of socialism. plane. I suffered more than one personal crisis This process has led to strong resistance on the part because of my growing social commitments. of those who have privileges and for this reason it is Sometimes I came up against ideological - not absolutely necessary to mobilize the people. With personal - divergencies with my fellow priests. certain preocupation we observe that this has still not ogether with lay professors and the entire been attained. The lack of class consciousness of a graduating class of ILADES (Latin American Institute part of the working class is promoted by the ruling of Doctrine and Social Studies), I had to resign from classes, especially through the mass media and my post in 1969.**In spite of this crisis I have never through certain right-wing action which sows fear, had doubts about my membership in the Society of 18 Jesus or in the Church, although I was aware that my project, that is, one capable of replacing dependent adhesion to a Church which many times worked capitalism by socialism. together with the oppressors demanded a fidelity to PL: What do you think of Cuba? the Gospel and sufficient strength to consistently Arroyo: Undoubtedly, the Cuban Revolution has denounce its conduct when it institutionalized itself had considerable influence in radicalizing the youth in capitalist society. Fortunately, I had understanding and in increasing the political awakening of the superiors who supported me in my way of life, in my working class. The figures of Fidel Castro and Che understanding of what a priest should be today: Guevara are clearly linked in the true independence somebody committed to the desires, hopes and movement that Latin America has begun in the last sufferings of the proletariat. decade. I've never been in socialist Cuba; I spent a PL: What elements - subtle or otherwise - awoke few days on the island during the Batista regime and I your consciousness regarding Latin American history could see the contrast of the beauty of Havana and its and that of the Third World? luxurious life at that time against the exploitation of Arroyo: When I was a professor at ILADES I the workers and peasants. travelled to different Latin American countries to PL: What do you think of Viet Nam? speak to students and workers who were applying for Arroyo: The sacrifices of the Vietnamese people scholarships to that Institute. Thus I came to know have enabled me to understand that the U.S. is not an the exploitation of the Indian in the Bolivian invincible military power. Mao's words concerning

Gonzalo Arroyo (center). highlands and the dictatorships in Nicaragua and the "paper tiger" are being proved right by the heroic Haiti. I knew the Church whose hierarchy sided with struggle of this self-sacrificing people in favor of all the powerful who kept silence over the injustices other underdeveloped countries. committed against the people and the tortures PL: And Camilo Torres? applied to revolutionaries, among whom were also Arroyo: Camilo Torres is the prototype of a priest many Christians. But, without doubt, certain events who thought that only in the revolutionary struggle are more influential than others. For example, the of the people "can you practice love of your hope aroused by plans which are announced as neighbor." He opened a new road of political revolutionary and which later frustrate the people, or alternatives for all priests, that is, he publicly joined a the progressive consciousness at the forefront of a revolutionary movement. This road is not so new as working class which is becoming more and more would seem at first glance, since there have been aware of Latin American liberation, of the fact that many cases in the history of the Church in Europe, only it can be the agent which can get rid of especially before the First Vatican Council[1871], imperialism, dependence and underdevelopment. I and also in Chile and other Latin American countries, refer especially to the failure of the "revolution in where priests in the past had a great influence at liberty" [of Eduardo Frei's Christian Democratic decisive historic moments. Party] - not its partial reforms which must be We shouldn't ask if it is right or wrong for a priest recognized as positive - but as a revolutionary to take part in politics; the question should be what 19 way is best for him to do so. The reason is that the personal advantages. Church is also an institution inserted in society and For the ordinary mentality of Christians, especially cannot help but have an effect on politics. There is no in certain countries where the process of such thing as apoliticism because this also is a secularization has advanced suffciently, militancy in a political position and sometimes it is a hypocritical political party is rejected by broad sectors of the way to support the status quo. Incorrect forms of Church and therefore could be counter-productive Church participation in politics are rightwing especially when the persons involved hold executive clericalisms, the prime example of which is the priestly posts. Undoubtedly the criteria used to reject colonial Church, and the confessional conservative or accept this type of political action which stems parties, as well as leftwing clericalism which tries to from a faith in the liberation promised by Christ use the Church for partisan purposes. The latter, should fit the political situation of the country in although they may 'have the best of revolutionary question. intentions, fail to achieve their objectives in the long run because they are incapable of mobilizing all Christians on a mass scale. Another form of political FOOTNOTES FOR ARTICLE ON CHILE action, not in a party sense but in the task of de-ideologicalization - which is important when the * This is where many Latin American clerics have been people are alienated by bourgeoisie ideologies - is trained since World War II, including the revolutionary priest, Camilo Torres (Colombia) and the notorious anticommunist today practiced by progressive sectors of the Latin strategist of Eduardo Frei's 1964 presidential campaign in American Church and by some movements such as Chile, Roger Vekemans, S.J. (Belgian). (Ed.) Priests for the Third World in Argentina and ONIS [National Organization for Social Information] ** ILADES, a research and training institute, was founded in in Peru. They are not separated from the hierarchical 1966 by Cardinal Silva of Santiago, the Latin American Church which supports them in some of their Bishops' Conference (CELAM) and the Jesuit Center for initiatives which in certain circumstances could be Research and Social Action (CIAS), with the blessings of much more efficacious. Chile's Christian Democrat president Eduardo Frei. Funds The type of political action consisting of directly came from the German Catholic bishops through the Misereor joining a political movement - as is the case of and Adveniat Foundations. ILADES was designed to train Camilo Torres and the Frente Unido [United Front] young Christian leaders from all over Latin America for social - cannot be considered to be the usual for a priest. In action along anti-Communist, Christian Democratic lines. Disputes between a Marxist majority of faculty and students order for it to be legitimate it should be a real and the dominant anti-Marxist minority tore the institute commitment to the people, one which requires a apart, the Marxists withdrawing in 1970 and becoming active political dimension to be efficacious. The priest's in support of Unidad Popular. For an excellent treatment of participation in a political party should in no way this subject, see Yves Vaillancourt, "Crisis in ILADES," include the holding of important posts or mask LADOC, December 1971. (Ed.)

FIRST LATIN AMERICAN ENCOUNTER OF CHRISTIANS FOR SOCIALISM April 23 - 30 Santiago de Chile

r iThe objective of this Encounter is to bring together for the first time Christian groups of priests, pastors, and lay people, both Catholics and Protestants, who try to follow the call of Christ "to proclaim liberation to the captives, sight to the blind and to free the oppressed" (Luke 4:18), by committing themselves to the Latin American people's revolutionary process of liberation from economic dependency on capitalist imperialism and the underdevelopment it engenders. The Organizing Committee was able to meet in December with priests belonging to the Third World Movement, ONIS, Golconda, ISAL, etc., who were en route through Santiago. It was judged neces- sary and urgent to undertake an analysis of the different political experiences of Latin American peoples on the way to liberation, to evaluate the role Christians have played and must play in this process in the future, to reflect on it theologically and to advance possible forms of co- ordination and support for a more effective action in each country and throughout the continent.

Gonzalo Arroyo letter January 11, 1972

The ideological character -- in the pejorative sense of the term -- of the manifestations of "sociological Christianity" can be unmasked only through the analysis of the functions it exer- cises within the modes of production and socio-economic formations. Only in this way will it be possible to understand the frequent castration of the original liberating dynamic of Chritianity, analyzing historically the mechanisms of attraction and introjection of the social systems. Only { in this way does it become possible to go beyond a simple tactical utilization of Christian ele- ments in the revolutionary struggle. Working Document for the q Conference, p. 5.

!M_1____W ______~~M______- -____ AJ_ 20 3. rgentinas Third World Priests Called to Frms

Both the senders and the receivers of the following letter are prime targets for the Argentine military dictatorship's repressive apparatus. The government's fear of the Peronist Armed Forces (FAP), among the most effective of the country's revolutionary urban guerrilla organizations, is not hard to understand -- the two major guerrilla fronts, one Peronist and one Marxist, comprise between 3,300 and 7,500 militants. In 1970 alone, the dictatorship imported $200 million in equipment to fight them.

The Priests for the Third World -- some 400 in number, though membership fluctuates somewhat -- were also targeted for repression in a document dated April 13, 1971, prepared by the Argentine infor- mation services and made public by the Cuban magazine Bohemia.* Repression took the form of detention of a number of priests active in the organization (at one point last year some 47 priests were jailed after a march in support of political prisoners) and -- significantly -- the October shutdown of the closely allied magazine Cristianismo y Revolucion. Founded by Juan Garcia Elorrio, a former seminar- ian and follower of Camilo Torres, the magazine was the only legal voice of the militant left in Argentina. In the two years prior to its being closed down, its circulation had grown from 4,000 to 20,000 and it claimed 100,000 readers. Garcia Elorrio was killed musteriously in a hit and run accident and his widow was arrested last December.

Many but not all the Tercermundistas are allies of Peronism. One group, based in the city of Mendoza, declared last July that their alliance with Peronism represented a decision "not . . . for a political party, but an option between social forces." They said that "nobody can be revolutionary and anti-Peronist at the same time."** Peronism, at the time of Juan D. Peron's overthrow in 1955, was extremely antagonistic toward the Catholic hierarchy, but this antagonism has not interfered with relations with priests and active Catholics in working class neighborhoods.

The document as presented here represents about one half of the original. Our version is based on a translation by the Documentation Center of the World Student Christian Federation, 35 Quai Wilson, Geneva, Switzerland and the Spanish original which appeared in Cristianismo y Revolucion, (Buenos Aires) Ano IV, No. 26 (November-December 1970), pp. 15-20.

* Enrique Lopez Oliva, "Control y espionaje militar sobre la Iglesia Catolica," Bohemia, Ano 63, No. 24 (June 11, 1971), pp. 34-43. **

A LETTER FROM THE F.A.P. TO THE PRIESTS people's reality, when not actually opposed to the FOR THE THIRD WORLD people, and comfortably situated in the system which oppresses the people. While in his sincere conscience, the gospel message brings him to confront the system, The brutal reality of the Third World, with its to draw nearer to the people, to transform the stream of injustices, hunger and pain, turned into Church, this institution imposes a limit on him, conscience in a people that rebels, has spilled over opposes change. A people that suffers and that is into the Church, has by far surpassed the Church. alienated from the Church; a dehumanizing system; a Its old structures, mental as well as ritual and Gospel which is the life of the individual and of the pastoral, have proved themselves useless, incapable of people, a ritualistic and Manichaean hierarchy that is transmitting an intelligible message and a life that is involved in the anti-Christian system-all these things in communion with the life and rebellious suffering fill a priest's path with doubts, inner conflicts and of the people. search for truth. The priest of the Third World, of our own country, We who feel profoundly that we are the Church, is torn and in conflict over these two realities to the people of God, also felt the tearing of indecision which he owes his being: the Church and the people. in a search for the way. This led us to take up arms, These should be one reality, but the priest sees them to confront the regime and to liberate the individual diverging and opposing one another more and more and the people as a whole. Today, from jail, we each day. would like our thoughts and our vision of the way to Facing the reality of a people that suffers, stifled reach you: this concerns the role of the priest and of by an inhuman and anti-Christian system, the priest the Church in the revolutionary process we are finds himself in an institution alienated from the experiencing. 21 I. THE CHURCH IN THE THIRD WORLD change this structure as soon as possible. In other words, the incarnation and witness which brought us to a commitment to the suffering man are no longer sufficient. We have the formidable responsibility of being revolutionaries, as a prior d) Religious Reality: condition to being Men, People, Christians, Church. For the priest who is in living contact with the And here forceful arguments and factors come into people, the reality of misery, moral degeneration and play which put a priest up against the wall, because at war creates an impact of conscience upon his faith, his level of commitment he not only absolutely upon his decision as a man and as a Christian. His opposes the ecclesiastical institution, but he opposes apostolic zeal as messenger carrying the good news is his own priestly conscience as well. suddenly brutally shaken and he is forced to make In an effort to resolve the dilemma, the priest radical decisions when confronted with the religious clings to the "method" of "non-violence" to achieve panorama that surrounds him. the structural change demanded by his conscience This is sad. Although our people have faith and the and yet to be able to continue "within the Christian heritage forms part of their national being, ecclesiastical institution." Nevertheless, here and our people have almost completely lost their faith in now, non-violence regrettably cannot be the method the Church, its work, its sacramental signs, its for achieving the necessary change. We say ministers and hierarchies. You know this well, yet "regrettably," because as Christians and Peronists, we one may be deceived by sporadic ritualistic are not violent. For fifteen years, non-violent demonstrations void of significance. This reaction is methods of denunciations, strikes, demonstrations not only due to anti-clericalism - understandable and elections have been systematically crushed by the because of the clerical position against the Peronist violence of armed repression that defends and people in 1955, because of the easy life the priests sustains the system. lead, because of the Church-system alliance - but The commitment of the priest to the people on also because the Church, its representatives, its word their way to liberation should not limit itself to and its signs, are something empty and useless, which denunciation, to words, to demonstrations, to does not respond to concrete human problems, which involvement in the slums or at work, but must also be has nothing to do with the people's struggle nor their present in the vanguard of the people that faces the war waged against the monster with whom, as they violence of egoism with the violence of love. The see it, the Church identifies. The Church is "on the cause of the committed priest's indecision is very other side." And the priest almost always sees an complex; we want to analyze it in greater depth egoistic faith in the "faithful", in those who go to because we feel this is fundamental in order to Church; a Manichaean Christianity for their personal succeed in our struggle and to save the Church, use, when it is not a mere social manifestation. This giving it a new form that will pull it from the chaos attitude turns the priest into a bureaucrat, who puts in which it now is. "individual passports" in order, without the slightest The transition between a bourgeois Church and a influence upon the rotten and anti-Christian values of revolutionary Church is a "leap" which breaks with these lives. too many historical, theological, psychological, The plight of the Church is not that it exists in a economical and political ties; in practice, the mass of world of violence, injustice, struggle and change, but the hierarchy, the clergy and the curias cannot accept that its profoundly Manichaean doctrine as well as its it. This leap can only be made by a young minority. institutional structure (rooted in the power and The fear of risking one's life and leaving one's "values" of the system with which it peacefully "status" is the fundamental motive which causes coexists) and its ministerial expression (a mixture of many self-styled revolutionaries-in spite of their individualism and social expression of power) place ambitious declarations-to content themselves, in the Church outside the pain and struggle of the practice, with such non-violent methods as people in their march towards justice. And in the newspapers, denunciations, demonstrations, fights for process, these elements void the Church of certain concessions, which are positive but today are significance as light and catalyst. ineffective by themselves, and which do not lead to The priest lives inserted in this enormous confrontation with forces that sustain the regime. So machinery of power, and hearing the call of the these "revolutionaries" talk of lack of objective or people who are debating along their difficult way, can subjective conditions, of formation of cadres, of no longer accept the role of mere bureaucratic conscientization, of organization, etc. Nevertheless, dispenser of an empty word and lifeless signs. though this motive also powerfully influences the priest, the principal cause is not to be found so much II. A NEW CHURCH ARISES in the fear of losing a certain form of life as in the fear of breaking with the Church--a tie upon which his whole priestly being depends. Though he is involved with the people, the reality of his c) Revolutionary Commitment: engagement with the Church keeps the remnants of a To the degree that the priest, like the militant, black-and-white, Manichaean, sectarian-and-clerical engages himself in the struggle, he experiences what idea of the Church from being erased (for this has he already knew: as long as the system continues, pierced very deeply, even as deep as the subconscious, the isolated kind of struggle is ineffective, useless. after so many years of being faithful to the And this ineffectiveness also becomes a problem of ecclesiastical institution). He justifies this attitude by conscience. One cannot afford to be ineffective when trying to deny what is evident to all those who, like the very destiny of man is at stake, when desperation himself, are marching with the people: the is the daily bread in millions of homes! This suffering indispensable necessity of armed revolutionary falls upon our shoulders with the weight of the struggle. Or if not, he negates the evangelical licitness gospel's message and obliges us to do our utmost to of violence, or shields himself in a priestly 22

NUEZ IN CUBA S1t (HAVANA) universality which has long since lost its meaning. hierarchy, which they oblige to unmask itself before It is therefore important, in the light of the the people; and with the regime, that classes them encounter with the people, to revise the concepts and among its enemies. This kind of denunciation and practices of what the Church, evangelization, the confrontation indubitably make a great contribution sacraments, grace and the word are, and to the liberation of the people. But, in spite of the consequently, of what the priesthood is. positive action you are carrying out-we cannot be less than sincere, and with the trust which your lives submerged among the people inspires in us-we resolve to tell you what you yourselves have lived: IV. THE REVOLUTIONARY PRIESTHOOD that this limited involvement is not sufficient; that the people's struggle for liberation demands a rapid a) The Revolutionary Dimension of the Priesthood: and effective Revolution that abolishes the structures From this reality of two Churches, the role of the that now drown it. And this Revolution is possible priest acquires new dimensions and wide horizons. He only by way of violence, by a positive, creative, can no longer transmit a word and a ministry that are constructive, giving and loving violence. rejected. Nor can he transmit life, as the people already live long before he comes to teach them. b) Importance of the Presence of the Priest In the Neither is it his work to be a bridge between the Revolutionary War: Church-as-institution and the poeple, because owing 1) For the Priest: to enter into this process is to the Church-as-institution's mistakes this is as required by his conscience. As a man who sees men useless as it is impossible. Nor can he orient his suffer, he cannot, without dehumanizing himself, let efforts "inwards," trying to influence this arthritic so much pain pass by him and not use all possible structure, for in doing so he abandons the people of means to return to man his human face. As a God in their struggle. Christian this requirement is the axis about which the The role of the priest in the Third World is that of entire Christian life and message turn. The Christian being God's witness in the forward march of the cannot content himself with any old way of "loving people; of assuming a commitment to the people to his neighbor" but must demand the most total and the very end-to their suffering, to their effective way, though this may cost him his life. liberation-shoulder to shoulder with the militant That is why those who are luke-warm can never be who has long been risking his life to save his people. Christians! As a priest his obligation is to represent By this commitment, by his presence-which will with his life that human-Christian devotion to the always have a religious (not clerical) value-he will man who suffers; in order to be a bridge between God gradually take on the Christian values that the people and man he must immerse himself in the people as are living, and fill his religious life with real content. they march toward God via the revolutionary process He will discover the signs that express the explicitly to construct a more human, and thus a more divine Christian meaning of that popular reality; at the same society. time, by the testimony of his life (more than of his 2) For the Church Itself: The best, most effective, words) he will answer the questions about life, most radical (and perhaps the only) way to change suffering, history and death that have explicit the Church, to restore its vitality, its Gospel strength, expression only in Christ's resurrection, which sheds is to change totally the corrupt and anti-Christian light on what he who gives his life for justice system in which the Church is rooted and which has existentially intuits. transformed it into an anti-sign. For the explicit force of the revelation to be a It is useless to force a religious structure to evolve leaven in the masses, the priests must take on this when it is integrated into a political-economic historic role and Christians must live it with dedicated structure that is its negation. This effort has lives. With this force the Church-as-people of God embittered more than one life; it has no meaning orients its march toward liberation with greater when at our side the true Church-as-people of God strength and more precision on all levels of the demands that we fight with all our might to save it construction of the New Man of which Christ so from misery and hunger; it is not only the corporal often spoke and to whom he so often testified. but also the human that is systematically destroyed. We are sure that the Church-as-institution will fall On the other hand, the priest's presence in the with the system in which it is sustained and from revolutionary process is also the presence of the which it gets its strength. In its place, the Christian explicit continuity of the Church and of the religiosity of the people will be fermented to form a construction of the "new Church" that will respond new kind of Church-as-people for all those priests and to the "new" reality of the society that the people Christians who, during the hard march, risked want to create. The Church-as-people of God needs themselves for a new society, a new man, and thus for the explicit faith and the sign with which to express a new Church ... its content, which is rich in life, truth and justice. We follow with growing interest the struggle that the Priests for the Third World are carrying out c) For the Success of the Struggle: within the Church in favor of a commitment to The fact that priests are being incorporated into justice. We see the growing confrontation with the the people's war is of great importance to the latter. 23 The priest who struggles is a living example of what regime in the Peronist Movement is the only Christianity and the Church should be. His witness is possibility of effectively reaching the sought-after the most forceful denunciation of the anti-Christian goal of a total change of structures. In face of the character of the regime, and dispels the latter's force of this reality, the real or fictitious difficulties argument that subversion is atheist and Marxist. The found for avoiding political involvement in the priest forcefully unmasks the false cover-up of Peronist Movement are valueless. The concrete form "Christian civilization." of this involvement may vary, but one thing is The priest in the struggle is like a powerful magnet certain: isolated or exclusively ecclesiastical that attracts all undiscovered Christian militancy, as confrontations, though positive, lose a large part of well as the young priests who are torn between their effectiveness for change because they are not castration and rebellion. At the same time, he accuses linked to a coherent plan made within the Peronist the Church of being what it should not be, and revolutionary forces. corrodes the institution. A joint action must be planned with the militant The priest who struggles attracts his people who, in Peronist groups whose strategy contemplates a admiration of his attitude so contrary to that of the progressive development of the revolutionary process. institution, come to respect him profoundly. Thus The formation of revolutionary and combatant cadres they move him to adhere more fully and effectively must be stimulated. The detachments of fighting to the war that, with the Christian aspect his presence Peronists must decisively be integrated. gives, they feel is more their own. That is how the revolution was understood by our companions from the Church, Gerardo Ferrari and d) The Priest-Revolution and Peronism: Arturo Ferre. Through Peronism they found the All the people's yearning for liberation, all their answer to the same question that you are asking: how hopes for a better society, all the strength of their to find the concrete path by which to realize the march is not something vague and nameless. It has the priestly ideal of serving as God's catalyst among a very concrete name of Peronism. When the priest people who struggle to be human and more divine. In joins the people he finds a Peronist phenomenon their search for God through man, they left the which surprises him. He knew Peronism only through peaceful life of the seminary. They worked as books, newspapers, union leaders, etc., but he was laborers in factories; they lived in slums; they fought unaware of the throbbing reality that makes the in the labor movement and the Peronist Youth. Their WHOLE people, en masse, not only Peronist in the authenticity led their Christian witness to see the sense of belonging to a party, but in the sense of what need for armed struggle-they joined the FAP. being a Peronist requires of them: a conception of life Gerardo Ferrari died in combat. Arturo Ferre is and of man; a thirst for liberty, justice and equality with us, a prisoner of the dictatorship. The life of that is not theory, but rather the nostalgic image of one, the freedom of the other are the hard sacraments concrete facts ... In our country 1 the values by which grace is flowing into and giving life to this (generosity, solidarity, risking oneself for justice, New Church that is a-borning. humanitarianism) that mean the historical continuity Friends, Priests for the Third World: Each day you of Christianity and that form the content of the new drink the blood of Christ. Your priestly hearts are implicit Church, have a concrete name: Peronism. marked with the blood that Christ sheds for his And it is also this Peronist reality that expressed the people. You know your priesthood has only one people's march, all its militant sacrifice, all its possibility of being authentic: the struggle with the generous blood that pushes history forward. To the people. You know this struggle is violent, despite the priest who seeks to integrate himself in the people's wish. And you know the struggle is Peronist. revolutionary process, Peronism is important not only Because of this we are confident that you will not because it involves the immense majority of the back off when faced with this demand that your country, but also because its doctrine responds fully conscience makes of you as men, as Christians and as to what a Christian can aspire to as a goal for justice priests. We know you will give all your love, every and for society. As a method, full of humanism, it effective service, and that we will soon meet on the can progressively surmount the obstacles the people road of the people's war, which your lives will bear will encounter in order that they may gain their total witness to your faith in God and in man. liberation. "Fall who must fall and whatever the cost." All of you know this Peronist reality well. You VENCEREMOS! know that to be Peronist means to be of the people; The Montonero "17 of October" Detachment that to be a Peronist militant means to be atthe of the Fuerzas Armadas Peronistas vanguard of the people; that to fight against the (in jail)

(continued from p. 24) officers on the payroll of Aero- in response to questions from proves them (or disapproves trade. Representative Moorhead that them) under munitions control The Congressionalpanael was the United States was provid- regulations," it added. 'In the informed about this training ing no military assistance to case of Hiti, we have ap- program in a letter dated Jan. proved modest sales aa Letter Sent to Committee 19 from the Assistant Secre- 1t, it aid,"theHaitianGov ments by these private dealers The officials said, in response tary of State for Congressional ernment has privately contract- over the past year." to questions, that most of the Relations, David M. Ashire, to ed with a United States cm- State Department officials military equipment purchased Representative William S. pany for training of its armed said the "U.S. company" men- here was given to the Leopards, Moorhead, Democrat of Penn- forces and has been purchasing tioned in Mr. Abshire's letter who have replaced the Tonton arms, ammunition and military :was Aerotrade. They said the Macoute militia- that served sylvania and chairman of the matrel, in limited quantities, Haitian Government last year under the elder Duvalier as a House Subcommittee on For- from private dealers in the' delivered a formal communica- private security police force. eign. Operations. and Govel United States." tion to the State Department The Leopards are being ment Information. "The Department of State re- designating Aerotrade as its trained by a group that the arms in, State Department said consisted The letter, a copy of which views these purchases on purchasing agent for 'of "a half dozen" foremen has now been made available case-by-case b.iss prd r- the IUnited States. Marine Corps noncommissioned to The New York Times, said THE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY MARCH 16. 1972