Varela, Alfredo

Born Sept. 24, 1914, in Buenos Aires. Argentine writer and public figure. Joined the Communist Party of Argentina (CPA) in 1934. Became a member of the Central Committee of the CPA in 1963.

Varela was one of the organizers of the Partisans of Peace movement; he has been a member of the World Council of Peace since its inception and has served since 1956 as a member of the council’s bureau and since 1969 as secretary of the council. Varela is vice-president of the Argentine Peace Council and one of the organizers of the movement for solidarity with the fighting people of Vietnam. He has been arrested several times. Varela’s novel Dark River (1943; Russian translation, 1946) is devoted to the life and revolutionary struggle of the farm laborers. In 1948 he wrote the book An Argentine Journalist in the Soviet Union. He is the author of the documentary novellas Guemes and the Gaucho War (1944) and Jorge Calvo, Heroic Youth (1952). Varela’s many-sided journalism is devoted to the struggle for peace, socialism, and progressive culture. He has translated the works of B. Brecht and N. Hikmet into Spanish.