WHEREAS:

The American republics at the Ninth International Conference of American States declared that international communism, by its antidemocratic nature and its interventionist tendency, is incompatible with the concept of American freedom and resolved to adopt within their respective territories the measures necessary to eradicate and prevent subversive activities;

The Fourth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs recognized that, in addition to adequate internal measures in each state, a high degree of international cooperation is required to eradicate the danger which the subversive activities of international communism pose for the American States; and

The aggressive character of the international communist movement continues to constitute, in the context of world affairs, a special and immediate threat to the national institutions and the peace and security of the American States, and to the right of each state to develop its cultural, political, and economic life freely and naturally without intervention in its internal or external affairs by other States,

The Tenth Inter-American Conference

CONDEMNS:

The activities of the international communist movement as constituting intervention in American aiffairs;

EXPRESSES:

The determination of the American States to take the necessary measures to protect their political independence against the intervention of international communism, acting in the interests of an alien despotism;

REITERATES:

The faith of the peoples of America in the effective exercise of representative democracy as the best means to promote their social and poetical progress; and

DECLARES:

That the domination or control of the political institutions of any American State by the international communist movement extending to this Hemisphere the political system of an extra continental power, would constitute a threat to the sovereignty and political independence of the American States, endangering the peace of America, and would call for a meeting of consultation to consider the adoption of appropriate action In accordance with existing treaties.

II

RECOMMENDS:

That without prejudice to such other measures as they may consider desirable, special attention be given by each of the American governments to the following steps for the purpose of counteracting the subversive activities of the international communist movement within their respective jurisdictions:

1. Measures to require disclosure of the identity, activities, and sources of funds, of those who are spreading propaganda of the international communist movement or who travel in the interests of that movement, and of those who act as its agents or in its behalf; and

2. The exchange of information among governments to assist in fulfilling the purpose of the resolutions adopted by the Inter-American Conferences and Meetings of Ministers of Foreign Affairs regarding international communism.

III

This declaration of foreign policy made by the American republics in relation to dangers originating outside this hemisphere is designed to protect and not to impair the inalienable right of each American State freely to choose its own form of government and economic system and to live its own social and cultural life.

(1) Declaration of Solidarity for the Preservation of the Political Integrity of the American States Against International Communist Intervention Adopted by the Tenth Inter-American Conference, March 28. 1954. The Tenth Inter-American Conference, meeting at Caracas, Venezuela, March 1-28, 1954, adopted 117 resolutions and 3 conventions. On the Caracas Declaration of Solidarity, 17 voted In favor, Mexico and Argentina abstaining, and Guatemala voted against; Costa Rica subsequently notified the United States of its support of the resolution. Back