States fear tiny

By LANCE SAMSON (British Daily

WM Th a

Why does mighty United

Cuba?

Worker)

Why is the mighty United States waging economic war — and threatening hot

war — against its little island neighbor Cuba?

Because the mighty US.
sugar and oil firms have de-
ereed it.

helped to plot attacks on Cuba,
were aliowed to use the nearby
|Florida airfields for incendiary
They hate the Cuban bomb attacks on Cuba’s fields
ernment’s land. reform aking of sugar cane.
away their vast estates. | Dictator Trujilio in the Do-
|minican Republic was encour-
_ 3 ee ee aged to try an invasion of
Castro before ne can take OV | Cuipg, “American preparations
‘ |for direct intervention, or sup-

nsolidate thé take-over of | : :
Be rites | port ofan invasion by others,
she-oil refineries.

! went ahead too.

gov-

‘They want to oust Premier

Above all, these firms and
their State Department in
Washington hate and fear the
whole Cuban attempt to build

a land independent economi- |

cally and politically, breaking
60 years of U.S. domination.

And. as Premier Fidel Cas-
tro told a great May Day rally
in Havana this year: “They
can’t tolerate the example we
are giving to the rest of Latin
America.”

For nearly 30 years this
paradise for American capital
was ruled by dictator Batista.

His overthrow at the begin-
ming of last year was hailed
throughout Latin America and
bx. democrats throughout the
world.

Tt came with the victory of
the people’s army led by Fidel

astro, originally a lawyer,
which was supported by the
workers in the sugar mills
and on the land, by Cuba’s in-
tellectuals and most of the
middle class.

While the fighting was still
at its height, the leaders of the
anti-Batista forces issued a law
proclaiming the right of the
peasants to the land.

The new Cuba met from the
Start with nothing but veiled
hostility-from the U.S.

, Batista supporters w ere
given shelter in America; were
IN THE PENTAGON
RESEARCH DEPT.

*A 1most invisible;, but it
seems to me it’s “prestigius
americanus” (American
prestige).

—From the Rumanian newspaper
i “Paese”

|
| The big American naval base

jat Guantanamo, in East Cuba
|—annual rent £1,210— was
|hurriedly equipped with moun-
tain artillery, for use in the
mountainous eastern provinces.

But the six million people
of Cuba were undeterred by
these threats and plots.

They went ahead with the
promised land reform. All
holdings bigger than 66 acres,
whether Cuban or foreign-
owned, are being taken over,
over eight million acres having
already been expropriated.

Compensation was paid in
the form of -20-year bonds
bearing 4 per cent interest,
and over ten million dollars
($3,500,000) has been paid in
outright purchases.

Hundreds of co-operatives
of former small peasants and
landless agricultural workers
have been formed: with help
from the government’s Nation-
al Agrarian Reform. Institute.

Over 1215 new schools have
been started—some in former
army barracks—since the new
government took power.

The land reform is to be fol-
lowed by industrialization and
the enlargement of the State
sector of the economy.

All this brought the “Oust
Castro” lobby in Washington
to boiling point. Their anger
was all the greater when, early
this year, they saw | their
chances of bringing Cuba to
heel. by economic pressure
slipping away.

For Cuba’s trade agreement
with the Soviet Union ensured
an alternative market for Cu-

million credit for buying ma-
chinery, and was followed by
an agreement to supply Cuba
with Soviet crude oil. © :
This was the signal for ac-
tion by the Americans. They
mounted a two-pronged -econ-
omic bloeKade; the U.S. oil re-
fineries, in concert with Shell,
refused to refine the Soviet oil;
and the U.S. Congress rushed
through a Bill to cut drastic-
ally Cuba’s quota of the Amer-
ican sugar tharket. ;
The Press arid some Con-

ba’s sugar, gave Cuba a, £35*

gressmen began to scream for
|invasion of Cuba, and the Cu-
[ban Government was vilified
| as “an outpost of. international
; Communism,’

intimidated: the Government
took over the running of the
oil refineries, started moves to
get an oil agreement with
friendly Venezuela, and with
Mexica, to augment the Soviet
{ oil.

Times are changed, and the
U.S. knows that it will incur
the opposition of the entire
Latin -American continent —
and many countries besides—
if it stages an intervention in
Cuba.

But that knowledge may not
prevent the expropriated oil
and sugar interests from get-
ting the U.S. Government in
this election year, to try it on.

But Cuba was still not to be ©

_ Recently a Vancouver wo-
man broke the windows of a
downtown bank to draw atien-
tion to the desperate plight of
her children. The following is
written by a friend of this wo-
man,
&
By J. B.

Barbara Turner; a little wo-
man weighing less than a hun-
dred pounds, waiting the pass-
ing of a city police patrol car,
drew attention to the near
starvation of her three young
boys, by smashing a bank win-
dow with a baseball bat.

This mother with her hus-
band and boys came to Van-
couver from Alberta four
years ago, her husband shortly
after his arrival here, was ad-
mitted to hospital with ad-
vanced tuberculosis. Mrs. Tur-
ner found work, but with lit-
tle training the only job avail-
able to her was in a hospital.

This meant.shift work which
left her boys in the care of
neighbors and friends with
only partial responsibility for
their welfare. So, as most chil-
dren without supervision, the
boys were on the streets too
much, bad habits and company
resulted..This became a. con-
stant worry to the. mother, her
health also was effected.

The husband, released from
hospital, found part time work
but again became ill and pass-
ed away in March of this year.

Now. the widowed mother

|looked for work that would

provide a better living for her

Starving children. v

family, but again there was
only shift work to be had.
With her boys getting out of
hand and fast becoming delin-
quent the mother decided to
stay at home. She applied for
social assistance. But the
wheels turn slowly and weeks
passed. Hunger cannot wait,
especially the hunger of grow-
ing boys. When the first small
cheque of $77 arrived it was
gone in a backlog of debts and
near starvation.

Again there was another
week to wait for the next
cheque, with only a loaf of
bread, a little milk and three
cans of food left. The mother,
distraught by constant worry,
took action. She drew atten
tion to the plight of her family
in the only way she could
think of. :

How many such experiences
could the working class tell, of
mothers. and fathers driven to
mental breakdown, of children
half starved, becoming delin-
quent because of the _ short-
sightedness of our governments
at all levels?

Had this mother been helped

by finding her suitable work:

and allowing a subsidy to her
earning by providing a house-
keeper, or better still, allow-
ance large enough to enable
her to stay home with her fam-
ily, this family would now be
together. Instead the boys will
be placed in foster homes and
$80 a month will be paid for
each child. The mother will
have to be provided for either

s armaments

in Oakalla, or a mental intsitu-
tion at another $150 or more.
And the result is a broken
family and heartbreak at a cost
now of $390 or more to the
public.

Where is the money to come
from? This is the cry heard
from government leaders when
decent conditions of life are
demanded. There is no money
to save a family, or provide
the needy, but there is $240
million for Bomarcs, arms and
horrible weapons of destruc-
tion such as germs and poison —
gas.

Use this money for the real
values of life—to provide con-
structive work for our unem
ployed, to up the grants for
mothers on pension, social as-
sistance, and provide super ,
vised recreation and sports.

More and more the working .

people of Canada will have to
unite tc compel our govern”
ments to change its ways and
place human needs first.

A Vancouver Committee
on Human Rights has
been formed to fight the
case of Barbara Turner}?
and other social injustices
which will come up in the
future. Next meeting °
the committee is Wednes-
day, July 13, 8 p.m., at
the home. of Mrs. Y>
Thomasen, 475 E. 57th-
Everyone is welcome. For}:
information phone FA:
5-4034 or RE 8-5853.

July 15, 1960—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Paseé “i