Harry Belafonte at the 2003 Letelier Moffit Human Rights Awards on September 23, 2003. Photo: IPS.
A March 1984 summary noted that Belafonte had recently visited Moscow with members of PAND. Belafonte stressedthe role of artists in the “struggle for peace” and regretted the “absence of cultural agreement between USA and USSR” (CIA’s paraphrase). The CIA was concerned that Belafonte spoke directly to the people, not elites, of the USSR, reminding them that they have common cause with the people of the USA; in this case, literal survival.