Argentina: Existence of a registered Communist Party; names of Party leaders and address of its offices in Mendoza (1999 - April 2001)
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 25 April 2001 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | ARG37060.E |
| Reference | 2 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Argentina: Existence of a registered Communist Party; names of Party leaders and address of its offices in Mendoza (1999 - April 2001), 25 April 2001, ARG37060.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3df4be0c8.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
The Communist Party of Argentina (Partido Comunista de Argentina, PCA), founded in 1918, reportedly has as many as 76,000 members (Europa World Year Book 2000 2000). According to the Political Handbook of the World, the PCA secretary general is Patricio Echegaray; other leaders include Organizational Secretary Jorge Pereyra, Luis Heller and Ernesto Salgado (1999). Echegaray remained PCA secretary general as recently as February 2001 (Diario Granma 23 Feb. 2001).
The Political Handbook of the World further stated that
Although a registered party, the PCA backed the Peronist slate in the 1983 balloting ... In June 1987 the PCA joined with the Humanist Party (Partido Humanista – PH) and ten other small groups to form the Broad Front of Liberation (Frente Amplio de Liberación – FRAL) as an electoral alternative to the UCR and Peronists. For the 1989 campaign, FRAL, in turn, joined a number of other leftist formations in a United Left (Izquierda Unida – IU), led by Néstor Vicente (1999).
The PCA also participated in the 1999 elections as a member of the United Left (Izquierda Unida, IU), a coalition encompassing a number of groups, including the Socialist Workers Movement (Movimiento Socialista de los Trabajadores, MST) (Movimiento Socialista de los Trabajadores 1999; Mivoto n.d.a). Patricia Walsh and Rogelio Di Leonardo, IU candidates for president and vice-president respectively, received 158,028 votes in 1999 (ibid. n.d.b). In Mendoza, IU candidates Marcia Gisela Marianetti and Gabriel Osvaldo Solá, the latter a member of the PCA (Nuestra Propuesta 21 Dec. 2000), won 5,255 votes in the gubernatorial election of October 1999 (ibid. n.d.c).
Very little information on PCA leaders or activities in Mendoza could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. However, according to the Mendoza newspaper Diario Los Andes, Luisa Sánz, a "militant" of the San Rafael chapter of the PCA, was asked by the Party's central committee to provide assistance to Luis Bordón following the disappearance of his son, Sebastián, in Mendoza in 1997 (26 Oct. 2000).
No mention of the address of the PCA's headquarters in Mendoza could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
Diario Granma [Havana]. 23 February 2001. "Fidel Castro tiene razón, dicen los comunistas argentinos."
Diario Los Andes [Mendoza]. 26 October 2000. Rolando López. "Los testigos de ayer dejaron demasiadas preguntas sin responder."
The Europa World Year Book 2000. 2000. 41th ed. Vol. 1. London: Europa Publications Limited.
Mivoto. n.d.a. "Patricia Walsh - Hernán Schiller."
_____. n.d.b. "Elección presidencial 1999."
_____. n.d.c. "Elección del gobernador del 24/10/99."
Movement (Movimiento Socialista de los Trabajadores. 1999. "Izquierda Unida."
Nuestra Propuesta [Buenos Aires]. 22 December 2000. No. 522. "Mendoza."
Political Handbook of the World 1999. 1999. Edited by Arthur S. Banks. Binghamton, NY: CSA Publications.
Additional Sources Consulted
IRB databases.
Partido Comunista de Argentina, Buenos Aires.
Secretaría Electoral de la Provincia de Mendoza.
Unsuccessful attempts to contact Partido Comunista de Argentina, Mendoza.
Internet sites including:
Canal 9 Televida [Mendoza]. Sintesis de noticias. Aug. 2000-Apr. 2001.
Clarín [Buenos Aires]. 1999-2001.
Diario Los Andes [Mendoza]. Feb.-May; Sept. 2000-Apr. 2001.
Elecciones'99.
Gobernación de Mendoza.
La Nación [Buenos Aires]. 1999-2001.
Nuestra Propuesta [Buenos Aires]. May 2000-Mar. 2001.
Partido Comunista de Argentina.