Democratic International

The Democratic International was a 1985 meeting of right-wing insurgents, held at the headquarters of UNITA in Jamba, in the Angolan bush.

Background and organization
Jack Abramoff played a key role in organizing the event. According to an affectionate profile of Abramoff in The Weekly Standard,


 * "In the summer of 1985 Abramoff helped plan and organize an event that, as Abramoff told me, inspired Red Scorpion. Abramoff joined forces with Jack Wheeler, another anti-Communist activist, to create the "Jamboree in Jamba"--known more formally as the Democratic International. The pair approached Lewis Lehrman, a conservative benefactor who made a fortune off his Rite-Aid drugstores, with the idea: For years the Soviets had been sponsoring what amounted to supervillain summits, where Sandinistas, African Communist insurgents, and representatives of the PLO and Cuba convened presumably to stroke their fluffy white cats and update their arms-dealer Rolodexes.


 * "Abramoff convinced Lehrman that this put the "good guys" at a comparative disadvantage--the Nicaraguan contras, the Afghan mujahedeen, Savimbi's rebels in Angola, and other freedom fighters needed a meeting of their own. Congress was in the process of cutting off aid to the contras, and anything that could be done to bolster the group's public reputation would be politically helpful to Reagan. Lehrman agreed to fund it, and (Dana) Rohrabacher was brought in to help muster support from inside the White House. Abramoff and Wheeler would handle the details on the ground.


 * "According to Abramoff, the event was a goat rodeo from the start. Hardly a government in the world was enamored of the idea, and simply deciding where to hold the event was no small affair. Only two governments were publicly supportive: South Africa and Israel, and for PR reasons it was quickly decided that neither country was a suitable venue.


 * "So they settled on Jamba, Angola, the home base of Savimbi's UNITA movement (National Union of Total Independence for Angola), which was fighting the Cuban troops that propped up the Soviet-backed Angolan government. Not exactly the most hospitable locale.


 * "Logistically, the event was a nightmare. Simply trying to get the attendees into the Angolan hinterland provoked international incidents. Pakistan blocked some Afghan rebels from leaving, and skittish Thai officials almost stopped Laotian anti-Communist leader Pa Kao Her from departing Bangkok.


 * "...The jamboree itself ended up being largely ceremonial. Everyone pledged to share intelligence, and Lehrman read a letter Rohrabacher had drafted on Reagan's behalf, expressing solidarity with those struggling against the Soviet empire. The Time reporter on the scene concluded that the meeting marked the beginning of "a new lobby to urge Congress to support the Nicaraguan contras and other anti-Communist guerrillas." Considering the improbability of the thing coming together at all, everyone involved considered it a success."

American

 * Jack Abramoff
 * Jack Wheeler
 * Lewis E. Lehrman

Insurgents

 * Jonas Savimbi, UNITA
 * Ghulam Wardak, Afghan Mujahedeen
 * Pa Kao Her, Ethnics Liberation Organization of Laos
 * Adolfo Calero Portocarrero, Nicaraguan Democratic Force

SourceWatch resources

 * Angola
 * Dana Rohrabacher
 * International Freedom Foundation
 * Jack Abramoff
 * Jack Wheeler