Remarkable photo shows Mao, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, meeting the leaders of the fraternal Parties of 12 Latin American countries, March 3, 1959 in Zhengzhou, People's Republic of China.
Present were: Luis Corvalan, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Chile: Pompeyo Marquez, member of the secretariat. Pedro Ortega and Alonzo Ojeda, members of the Political Bureau and Guillermo Guardia. member of the Central committee of the Communist Party of Venezuela, Gilberto Vieira, General Secretary, and Joaquin Moreno, member of the Political Bureau, of the Communist Party of Colombia: Raul Acosta, General Secretary and Jorge Del Prado, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Peru: Elias Munoz, member of the Executive Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ecuador: Humberto Ramirez, member of the Political Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bolivia: Felipe Bezrodnik, Secretary of the Commission of the Treasury of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Argentina: Wilfredo Velazquez, Party Organiser of the Protincial Committee of Las Villas of the Popular Socialist Party of Cuba and representatives of the Communist Party of Brazil, the Communist Party of Paraguay. the Popular Vanguard Party of Costa Rica and the Popular Union of Panama.
From a Chinese report at the time:
ON March 3 at Zhengzhou, Mao Tse-tung, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, met the leaders of the fraternal Parties of 12 Latin American countries now visiting China.
Chairman Mao and the leaders of the fraternal Parties ex-changed views on the current international situation. They expressed the common view that the current international situation is extremely favourable to the struggle of the peoples of all countries for peace, independence, democracy and social progress; that the reactionary forces headed by U.S. imperialism are disintegrating; that the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union, the revolutionary forces of the peoples of the world and the forces of peace and democracy are continuously surging forward; and that provided the people of all countries continue to maintain their unity and vigilance and wage their active struggles, the imperialists will certainly meet with ignominious defeat if they should launch an aggressive world war.
Recently there has been an unprecedented growth in the patriotic sentiments of the people in various countries in Latin America; it is an irresistible historical inevitability that the Latin American peoples will rid themselves of the domination of U.S. imperialism and obtain complete independence. Chairman Mao expressed his warm sympathy and support for the resolute struggle of the peoples of the Latin American countries to oppose U.S. imperialism, defend national independence, and strive for democracy and freedom. He extended his heartfelt congratulations to the Cuban people on their recent revolutionary victory in overthrowing the reactionary pro-U.S. despotic government.
The leaders of the Latin American fraternal Parties viewed China's great achievements in building socialism as contributing tremendously to the struggles of the Latin American peoples for independence, democracy, social progress and peace. They expressed the sympathy and support of the Latin American people for the Chinese people.