Colombian | labyrinth.
UNITED ELECTORAL SLATE OF THE LEFT
For the first time in the history of
Colombia, the main organizations of the workers movement are presenting a single candidate in the upcoming presidential
ORED
GERARDO
MOLINA
APTIDO elections in May 1982. Gerardo Molina, a writer, university teacher and leader of the FIRMES movement, will be the candi- DESPASST date of a coalition set up by his own movement; the PSR (Revolutionary Socialist Party), Colombian section of the Fourth International; the PTC (Colombian Labor Party), a Maoist organization; and the PCC (Communist Party of Colombia) which is pro-Moscow.
The candidacy of Gerardo Molina was put forward by FIRMES in June 1981 and was accepted without difficulty by the PSR and PTC. The PCC did hesitate before deciding because it would have preferred to support a popular-front candidate such as liberal Luis Carlos Galan. It only joined the other three organizations after Ricardo Galan rejected any kind of agreement with it.
Gerardo Molina has published a series of studies on the history of political thought in Colombia, including Synthesis of Politicical Ideas. He stands for socialism. In 1978, he was one of the founders of the FIRMES movement which is socialist-oriented. In April 1948, he was part of the Central Revolutionary Junta organized by supporters of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, the populist leader whose assassination in 1953 set off insurrectionary movements which were crushed by repression.
The candidacy of Gerardo Molina was formally ratified during a national gathering at the end of November 1981; it was also decided to name the four-party coalition, the "Union Democratica" (Democratic Union).
Jovenes Gerardo Holina
NINOS TEN
AALLE
LI MUERTE RECUPE
PSR Demonstration. (DR)
In the speech he gave at that time, Gerardo Molina stated: "In the economic field, the party will not be content with demanding a control over monopolies, as do the liberals; experience shows the monopolies pay no attention to controls. Our policy is different; we want to wrest the ownership and management of the country's basic industries from the private sector and transfer them to the control of the nation.
Concerning civil peace in Colombia, Molina said: "We are convinced that the current clashes between the army and the armed struggle groups cannot be ended by the victory of either of the sides involved. We recognize the need for honorable negotiations which will allow our compatriots who opted for armed struggle to return to civilian life. A general amnesty should be adopted. "
"The state of siege should be lifted and the laws that restrict civil liberties should be rescinded. " Gerardo Molina also spoke
HONA
Jim os out for the right of the peoples of Central America to self-determination. As for the border dispute between Colombia and Venezuela, he proposed that a conference of people's organizations of both countries be convened to discuss the issue.
The election campaign will be coordinated by a national committee which will include three members from each organization. In the department of Bogota, Carlos Bula, the FIRMES leader, will head the slate for the Chamber of Deputies; Socorro Ramirez, the PSR leader, will head the slate for the regional assembly; and Abel Rodriguez, the PTC leader, will head the slate for the municipal council.
The following interviews with representatives of the major components of the Unidad Democratica coalition were obtained by Angel Munoz in Bogota in the final week of February. They have been translated by IV.
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Interview with Socorro Ramirez, PSR
Question. On the eve of the elections, how would you describe the situation in the workers movement and more generally in the mass movement?