REFERENCE MATERIALS, , 1939-1979

Reference materials documenting Latin American countries, focusing on profiles of leaders, politics, political exiles, and human rights issues. Document types include newspaper and magazine clippings, press releases, pamphlets, bulletins, and correspondence. Contains some Latin American government publications as well as newspapers published by various revolutionary, pro-democracy and human rights groups.

Of particular interest is the case of Dr. Jesús de Galíndez, a prominent IADF member, which is documented in the Dominican Republic files. His 1956 disappearance and subsequent assassination by Trujillo, as well as memorial dinners in his honor, are documented here in news clippings, press releases and speeches.

A large portion of this series is devoted to Venezuela, with the focus on two periods, 1948-1958, under the regime of dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez, and 1958-1969, under the constitutional governments of Rómulo Betancourt and Raúl Leoni. The first period includes various issues of clandestine newspapers (e.g. Venezuela Democrática and Informaciones Venezolanas) and publications, mainly produced by the Acción Democrática party in exile as well as publications from the later powerful Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela (C.T.V.), in exile. Key documents from this period include speeches and writings of Rómulo Gallegos and Rómulo Betancourt, correspondence between Frances Grant and politicians Luis Augusto Dubuc and Valmore Rodríguez, and material documenting an alleged terrorist plot against Pérez Jiménez by Acción Democrática.

The second period documents the post-dictatorship era in Venezuela. Of particular interest and importance are documentation of the second conference of the IADF, which took place in Maracay, Venezuela in 1960, and addresses and publications by Betancourt and his supporters. Included here also are issues of some publications of note, including a special issue of the popular magazine Elite, which discusses an assassination attempt against Betancourt in 1960, Confidencial, in which the government published confidential documents about the growing Communist guerrilla movement in Venezuela, and CARIB, a publication of the Caribbean Anti-Communist Research and Intelligence Bureau, essentially a piece of propaganda directed against Betancourt and his contacts in the IADF, including Frances Grant.

Oversize items stored separately include newspapers and magazines.

See also: newspaper box 86.