Workers belonging to the Sri Lanka Freedom party (the leftbourgeois party) joined the strike almost to a man although their ‘union leaders are opposed to the strike. _ an
U.8. ‘HALTS ATID TO CEYLON : David E. Bell, administrator of the U.S. "Agency of International Development" announced February 8 that the U.S. government had decided to suspend current aid to Ceylon. A grant of $800,000 and a development loan of more than $3,000,000 are involved for the | fiscal year of 1963. The decision was made because the Ceylon
iGee
government, according to Bell, did not take "appropriate steps" to insure "prompt payment” for 83 service stations belonging to Isso Standard and Caltex which it nationalized in 1962.°. °°. ~~
aa Just in case the Ceylon government did not get the import of ~ Bell's message, Esso Standard issued a statement to the press in New York expressing the "hope" that the suspension of American ald "will encourage the government of Ceylon to quickly pay equitable indemnities for the expropriated properties," Ee x
The Ceylonese government nas stated its readiness to pay the oil outfits and has sought to negotiate a settlement. When the news came of Uncle Sam's high-pressure effort to collect the bill claimed by the oil kings, the cabinet went into emergency session. ~
The Ceylon government then issued a communique stating that it had learned that reliance on foreign aid could entail some surrendering of its own internal freedom of action. It called off negotiations wi the two American companies and asked its.citizens to rely on’ the countr; own resources. The 83 service stations remain nationalized.
The incident points up once again a basic contradiction which Washington faces. It woos the colonial bourgeoisie with hand-outs in the newly independent countries. But how do you do that and still keep companies like Isso Standard and Caltex in good humor?
ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESS FOR WHOM?
A complete overhaul of the "Alliance for Progress" was demanded Feb. 3 in a report placed before U.S. Secretary of Commerce: Luther H. pocees by some of the key figures of America's sixty ruling families, ;
The