The Party of Labour of Albania funded the whole world for 23 years From the secret archives, here is the complete history of the “Solidarity Fund” The archives are opening; an important illumination of our history FATOS BAXHAKU TIRANA — Over 27 years, the Albanian Party of Labour paid more than 3 million dollars to foreign Marxist-Leninist parties and groups. This emerges from other documents discovered in the secret archive of the Party of Labour of Albania. The distribution of the “famous” solidarity fund is becoming increasingly clear. From the almost complete documents available to the newspaper, it emerges that from 1964 to 1991 the the Marxist-Leninist movement across the globe. Many parties, groups, and individuals benefited for nearly 30 years from Albania's poverty. They ranged from the Netherlands and Denmark to the United States of America and even to faraway, almost unknown countries of the Third World, such as the Malagasy Republic and Guadeloupe. The documents are a series of decisions, taken mainly in the first months of each year, that make it possible to follow the geography of the journey made by considerable sums of money. The largest sums went to the Marxist-Leninists of Western Europe. The first beneficiaries were the Communist Parties (M.-L.) of Italy and France and even a Marxist organization in the Communist Line: the Marxist Party of Poland. For a long time, these received 25,000 dollars a year. The Italian Marxists alone received around 200,000 dollars up to 1977, when they practically ended their relations with Tirana. In the documents concerning funding for Italy, those listed as recipients of the money are sometimes the Communist Party (M.-L.), sometimes the Political Committee of the newspaper “Nuova Unità,” and sometimes the enigmatic correspondents of the Party of Labour's principal publication. Other parties in Europe received much smaller amounts. The Marxist-Leninist party of Switzerland, for example, received 3,000 dollars in 1969 to carry out the proletarian revolution. Among Third World countries, Brazil seems to have been the most favored: in 1974 it was allocated a sum larger than that given to all the other parties, 50,000 dollars. But the parties of Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Australia, and New Zealand also received considerable subsidies over the years. The documents often mention individuals who received money from Albania. One example: in May 1977, the Secretariat of the Central Committee decided to give the French Marxist publicist Patrick Kessel 20,000 dollars to promote in France “the publications of the Party of Labour of Albania and the International Marxist-Leninist Movement.” It seems that after the break with China, the Party was forced to reduce the payments it gave to its foreign collaborators. In the 1980s, the solidarity fund began to shrink, although the sums remained considerable. In 1984, six Marxist-Leninist parties from Brazil, Peru, Turkey, Colombia, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic received 55,000 dollars from Albania, which had begun to experience its first economic difficulties. Planning for the distribution of the solidarity fund continued until the beginning of 1991, even as the country was seething with the democratic movement. The last document is dated 15 March 1991 and specifies how the 50,000 dollars available to the Party that year would be divided. It no longer names any parties or groups; it says only that the money would be used for travel expenses, propaganda activities, and “special cases” to be decided by the Secretariat. The solidarity fund's final service: in April 1991, 10,000 dollars was made available to New Zealander Ron Taylor so that he could leave the country and return home. Taylor had translated all of Enver Hoxha's principal works into English. “This assistance is being granted in view of the difficulties Ron Taylor faces in ensuring the safety and livelihood of his friends at an advanced age (71), as well as his contribution to translating Party of Labour of Albania materials over 23 years,” says the decision of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour. Thus ends, with an elderly man leaving for distant Oceania, the story of an institution that for nearly 30 years never stopped paying contributors around the world for an idea destined to remain a root among the walls of totalitarian states. The building that housed the Party's Central Committee

De Michelis and officials of the Italian Foreign Ministry are under investigation Rome / “Levant.Co.” also on trial CARLO BOLLINO TIRANA — Italian aid in Albania is at the center of a scandal. After months of investigations, the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office yesterday issued twelve notices of investigation (allowing those under investigation to remain at liberty), that is, measures notifying them of the charges. Among those accused are the current Minister of the Environment, Valdo Spini (Socialist); parliamentarian Claudio Vitalone (Christian Democrat); former Foreign Minister Gianni De Michelis (Socialist); and the person in charge of Italian Cooperation, Ambassador Giuseppe Santoro. Also named are Giuseppe Perniola, legal representative of the Bari company “Levant. Co.”, Iolanda Brunetti, responsible for the technical side of Cooperation, and six other officials from the Italian Foreign Ministry: Pasqualino Procacci, Giuseppe Caso, Aldo Sicignano, Vincenzo Altamura, Giuseppe Fini and others. The identities of at least two of those under investigation have not been disclosed. The secrecy requested by investigators has so far prevented clarification of the role played by the people currently accused in the Italian-Albanian scandal. Spini and Vitalone are certainly accused in connection with their work as former deputy secretaries of the Foreign Ministry, with special responsibility for Albania. As for De Michelis and Santoro (the latter has been in prison since 25 March), they have been implicated in the Italian Cooperation scandal, which also concerns many other developing countries. The investigation by Prosecutor Canale is based on a series of complaints accusing Bari-based “Levant. Co.”—which was tasked with supplying aid to Albania in 1990—of having delivered food and medical supplies to Albania while charging the Italian government prices higher than the market rate. The contracts currently under investigation are worth more than twenty billion. Many questions have been raised on this matter in Parliament. Interviewed by “Gazeta,” Giuseppe Perniola, head of “Levant. Co.,” has always denied any responsibility, claiming that a smear campaign alone has been launched against him. Valdo Spini, appointed minister only a few days ago in the Ciampi government, has said he is willing to submit his resignation.

The Italian company evades taxes; “Alb-Italia Boshtovë” owes 7 million lekë KAVAJË (Ed. La) — The Italian-Albanian joint venture “Alb-Italia” Boshtovë has unpaid liabilities of 70,000 dollars and has failed to comply with its contract. The inspection by the Financial Police of the Kavajë district, which uncovered this, is not yet complete. So far, only 485,585 lekë have been seized. “The inspection was carried out immediately after the dismissive attitude of the director of ‘Alb-Italia,’ Alberto Rançini, toward the head of the Kavajë Tax Office,” states an official document from the city's Financial Police. Unpaid obligations dating from 1992 were identified in respect of social insurance, social assistance, customs duties, turnover tax, and payroll tax. In addition to these liabilities, the company also failed to comply with the Council of Ministers' decision on providing food compensation to its employees. A further inspection was requested to examine the company's status, since verbal information available to the Financial Police indicated that the Albanian representatives approved to manage its activities had almost been removed from their posts. Faced with these problems, administrative director Alberto Rançini was forced to inform President Enxo Di Simone. The meeting requested by the Albanian authorities has also been postponed so far. The Italian party, called “Società Agricola Italiana di Investimenti,” with an address at 55 Rruga “Aldo Moro,” headquarters in Brindisi and a current account at “San Paolo” Bank, has also carried out secondary activities in Albania, trading in clothing and household electrical appliances. The Presidency of the Kavajë Council and the village head of Boshtovë are also aware of all these irregularities. Administrative director Rançini is expected to arrive from Italy. Further suspicions have been raised about “Alb-Italia.” The Kavajë Financial Police Department has sought assistance from its superiors in Tirana. The matter concerns the export of this company's agricultural products to the Italian firm “Latina Eksport.” It is known only that the sale price of cauliflower is 500 lire, a price considered extremely low for the European market to which it is actually destined. According to the suspicions of the Kavajë Financial Police, these products have in fact ended up in Stuttgart, Germany. An effort is therefore being made to verify the actual relationship between “Latina Eksport” and “Società Agricola Italiana di Investimenti.”

SHKODËR — New prospects for cooperation between Shkodër and Italy. This was discussed a few days ago on the occasion of the Italian Ambassador's first official visit to the city of Shkodër. Paolo Foresti met with the Mayor and the Head of the District's Public Order Department. Foresti then met with the city's Archbishopric, visited the recently renovated Cathedral and the premises of the former Italian consulate, currently occupied by the Salesians. Ambassador Foresti was very optimistic about prospects for cooperation, also recalling the long-standing ties between Shkodër and Italy.

Captivated by the electronic screen, they end up in prison EDMOND LAÇI TIRANA — They are the first Albanian victims of computing. Computers, among other things, were snatched from his rich world, and captured the minds of four teenagers in Tirana. [?] A story born long after their passionate obsession with computers began. They had a dream, but no money to make it come true. And so one day they could no longer resist the temptation. In March 1991 they stole a computer from the second floor of the University of Tirana, and another in September 1992 from the Faculty of Geology and Mining. And they are happy. They work late into the night, developing an Albanian version of the well-known game Tetris (the famous game with bricks), and create a screen-visualization program using their disorderly keystrokes. Then they lay out the pages of the Albanian Youth Congress. They create the computer association “Saturn,” but while waiting for it to be legalized, they end up in a cell at Tirana Prison. Their belongings—2 “Olivetti” computers, another “ARC,” and two “Epson” printers—are confiscated. Their long-standing correspondence with the Irish society IPE is also interrupted. The computers they had been unable to buy had taken them into the harsh world of prison, at an age when they were still so young. On May 18 they will be released. That is the decision of the Tirana Court. But Renis, Besniku, Andi, and Ardjani, all 18 years old, may one day write this story on their own computers as well. University of Tirana, another in September 1992 at at Tirana Prison.

(c. bo.) At last, the gates of the archives open in two installments, and a bright light spreads across the whole country. It is the light of history. Dictatorships everywhere in the world have produced only dark years, and so it is up to democracies to illuminate their past. Albania is doing so too, and must help itself assume responsibility for its history and before the world. This is the most important meaning of the documents that, little by little, day after day, emerge covered in dust from the trunks in which they were locked away. Their contents represent fragments of a mosaic that we all have the right to reconstruct and understand. Without censorship and without prejudice. This is the past, and it must be preserved so that distant events can be recounted with the necessary composure. Albania is moving forward and entering the world. And now—as every civilized country does—it has begun to face this delicate and painful task: rewriting its own history.

Italy responds to Serbian threats Andreotti to be investigated for ties to the Mafia A park in Barile named Gjirokastër

My name is Orlando, I am from Tirana. With my greeting, I want to send my best wishes to my dear friend Chiara Giannuzzi in Castellano Grotte, Bari. “Dearest friend Chiara di Castellana Grotte: Happy birthday and much success in life. I miss you and hope to see you again as soon as possible. With affection, Orlando”. (Orlando — Tirana) The family of Sulejman Çullaku in Tirana wishes a happy birthday to their son Arjan Çollaku, who has been in Italy for two years, in Vestrano — Como. They also say that it has been a long time since they heard from him and his relatives in Albania, and they are giving him a telephone number too (that of a neighbor). The number is 324 33 (the Kërpu family). (Sulejman Çollaku — Tirana) The family of Bashkim Hoxha from the Fier district sends greetings to Fi(t)ura and Dritan in Italy. They send their wishes from afar. With much longing and love, Zana, the little sister, Beqiri, and all their relatives send their greetings. They thank them for their photographs and gifts. We invite them at the end of June for Kujtim’s wedding. Hoping that you will read our message, we wish you happiness and good fortune once again. (Bashkim Hoxha — Fier) I am Bari from Elbasan. I am writing to my brother Genci in Brindisi, Italy. Since New Year’s Day we have known nothing about him; we have neither his new address nor his telephone number. We call the old number, but they answer that they know nothing. If his friends read these lines, please, please let us know through the newspaper where he is. Every day we hear all kinds of news about this or that refugee who is in prison for theft or murder. We pray to God that he is well and does not have such troubles. So, if A relative, a friend, or a loved one far away, across the sea? Would you like to reach them with a greeting, a message, or simply a wish? This space is yours: use it; they will read it. If you are in Italy, you can write to this address: GAZETA SHQIPTARE, Viale Scipione l’Africano 264, 70100 BARI — If you live in Albania, you can write to this address: GAZETA SHQIPTARE, Rruga Bajram Curri 370, Tirana. anyone knows any news, we would be grateful if they would reply. With much hope. (Barie Hasa — Elbasan) My name is Drita Gjika. I am a grandmother from Korçë. Through this letter I want to send greetings to my two twin grandsons in Foggia, Italy, who will turn four on May 17. But I want to tell them that their grandmother cannot come to where you are because it is very far away; but I want to tell them that I kiss them very, very much and miss them terribly. I want to tell them that the house seems empty without them, that now there is no one to make a mess and no one to fill my home with laughter. You have grown up now, but I remember you and miss you very much; it has been 18 months since I last saw you. I kiss you very much, your mother and the little one. I also greet Luli, the teacher, and Ardi, my son. (Drita Gjika — Korçë)