GUATEMALAN
GUERRILLAS USE NEW METHODS
{The following interview with César Montes, one of the main leaders of the Guatemalan guerrilla movement, appeared in the July 30 issue of the Havana daily, El Mundo.
{One of the points of particular interest in Montes' discussion of the struggle against the ferocious repression which the government has mounted against all political opposition is the organization of the campesinos along trade-union lines. This is occurring parallel to the guerrilla struggle.
(The possibility and even the necessity of organizing the campesinos in mass formations, the main demands of which are economic demands, was developed in Peru by Hugo Blanco, the peasant leader now being held in the notorious El Front6n prison. It was held by many to be a "Trotskyist" innovation. That the same pattern is now developing at least to some degree in Guatemala shows that Hugo Blanco's contribution has possibilities of rather wide application in the Latin- American struggle for emancipation. ]
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MONTEVIDEO, July 29 (PL) -- The conditions facing the indigenous population and its growing sympathy for the guerrilla movement in Guatemala were deliniated in an interview granted by the commander in chief of the Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes [FAR -- Armed Rebel Forces], César Montes, to the Uruguayan journalist Eduardo Galeano.
In his exclusive account for Prensa Latina, Galeano referred especially to the poverty of the indigenous Guatemalan population, noting that despite the opinion of certain American anthropologists who exhibit all the vices of electronic computers, "the Indians participate in the country's overall economy -- they participate as victims, but they participate.
In response to a question from the Uruguayan journalist on the means by which the FAR gets in contact with the Indians, Montes said:
"The struggle can develop in several ways. And not only through a guerrilla front like the one we have set up in Zacapa. These Indians have met our people who told them about the series of struggles which the campesinos south of San cos and in Suchitepequez, Retalhuleu, Escuintla and Santa Rosa were able to maintain.
"When the Indians become integrated into the economic life of these
Places, they realize that there are new
demands that can be won."
In this respect, Montes said that
the campesinos in these areas are cheated.
Offered a certain daily wage, they are
paid less; offered so many days work, it
turns out less.
"Trade unionism, here among the
campesinos, is proscribed by the govern-
ment. Everything is so backward in this
country that any kind of union, organized
to defend strictly economic rights, is
labeled 'Communist,'" the Guatemalan guer-
rilla leader emphasized.
Galeano points out that throughout
the interview, Montes repeated that "as
the counterrevolution advances, the revolu-
tion develops."
"And in fact," said the Uruguayan
journalist, "the military campaign of
"search and destroy' and the ferocious
terrorism unleashed by the Army through
its white guards has resulted in a tac-
tical retreat by the guerrillas in their
usual zones of operations and the exten-
sion of the struggle into new zones."
He added that along with this the
guerrillas had put new methods into prac-—
tice and had deepened their understanding
of the characteristics of each region and
sector of the population.
"Work in the purely Indian zones,"
he noted, has to be "patient work, care-
ful work."
In connection with this, the com-
mander in chief of the Guatemalan FAR
listed the difficulties, spoke about the
intervention of U.S. forces under the mask
of the "Peace Corps" and the religious
missions of various kinds that have been
in the region a long time, warping the out-
look of the Indians in order to keep them
from engaging in political struggles.
Later the Uruguayan journalist
noted in commenting on his interview with
Montes that the Indians are obliged to
leave their homes to perform military
service.
"Many soldiers have deserted and
joined the ranks of the opposition. Be-
cause, as Montes says, 'you can fool part
of the people all the time, and all of the
people part of the time, but you can't
fool all the people all the time.'"
In another part of his account,
the reporter cited a number of statements
by César Montes concerning the integra-
tion of the Indians into different facets
of the national life.