A conference of leading Latin American intellectuals and writers on the plight of Jews in Russia closed here today with the adoption of a resolution demanding that the Soviet Government grant Jews the same cultural and religious freedoms enjoyed by other ethnic groups in the USSR and that it honor the Dec. 3, 1966 pledge by Premier Alexei Kosygin in Paris that Russian Jews would be permitted to emigrate to be reunited with their families abroad.
The conference, which opened last Thursday, brought together 48 intellectuals from eight Latin American countries, among them a former President of Guatemala, leading academicians and editors and directors of some of the continent’s foremost newspapers and periodicals. It was the first gathering of its kind in Latin America devoted to the condition of Soviet Jewry and drew participants whose political philosophies ranged from the conservative to the extreme left-wing. Its impact on the orthodox Communist apparatus here was reflected in the local Communist daily, El Siglo, which condemned the gathering as an “anti-Communist, Zionist provocation.”
The resolution demanded that the Kremlin immediately cease all forms of discrimination against Jews and Judaism and return to Soviet Jewish citizens their rights guaranteed in the Soviet Constitution. It urged that Russian Jews be allowed to live their lives as they wished and to transmit their language, literature, tradition and historic culture to their children. Although the resolution was a strong indictment of Soviet treatment of the Jews, it was regarded by some participants as moderate. Sympathizers of Cuba’s Fidel Castro demanded a much stronger resolution.
The conference’s opening session was addressed by Dr. Jose Luis Romero, former rector of the University of Buenos Aires, among others. Other participants who spoke on succeeding days included Juan Jose Arevalo, a writer and former President of Guatemala; Jose Antonio Rial, director of the Venezuelan newspaper Universal; Jose Luis Borges, the conservative Argentinean author; Jose Revueltas, a Mexican writer of the extreme left; Luis Franco, of Argentina, a sympathizer of the Peking Communist regime, and Peruvian sociologist Dr. Hugo Pesces, a sympathizer of the Soviet Union. The nations represented at the conference by delegates were Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Ecuador, Venezuela and Mexico.
Prior to the opening, Mr. Borges held a press conference at which he told newsmen that he was attending the conference because whatever affected the Jewish people affected him personally. “I believe that two peoples are essential to our civilization,” he said, “the Greeks and the Hebrews. Without Plato, Socrates and the others, and without the Bible, our civilization would be inconceivable.” The conference was held in the auditorium of the National Library. Dr. Rojas was elected president of the conference, and Carlos Morand, secretary.
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