DN MAY 17

®nnel in Cuba. This personnel —
\ similar numbers — had been
Rre for 17 years and every
Merican president knew it. Pres-
lent Carter used the false ‘‘dis-
Avery”, however, as a pretext to
* up a special military unit to
Alice the Caribbean.
“Also in line with the same
Mlectives, the White House has
n trying to isolate Cuba from
& rest of Latin America. It has
n using the Venezuelan and
Puvian governments for this.
he Venezuelan government —
Nich recently granted a $20-mil-
%a credit to the Salvadoran junta
Nchering the people of that
Nuntry — has yet to punish those
ponsible for the October 1976
bing of a Cuban plane, which
Ashed near Barbados, killing all
people on board.
“As for Peru, in 1977, that coun-
?’s navy — at the time furiously
hupport of the Pinochet regime
While — sank two Cuban fishing
tts in the port of Callao.
)° EMBASSY EPISODE
hyhe latest provocations at the
+an embassy are not without
Be odents For some time,
‘ Venezuela and Peru had
ten following a policy of giving
Xsylum’’ to anti-social types —
Mae of them victims of political
t-secution — who forced their
Ry into embassies. At the same
Ne, they consistently refused
Aas to anyone requesting them
a peaceful and legal manner.
Cuban government repeat-
y warmed the two gover-
nts, in private, through dip-
Mnatic channels, that these prac-
Nes would only encourage the
'e of violence, and could have
‘tious CONsequences.
On April 1, Cuban guard Pedro
iz Cabrera was killed trying to.
A\fend the Peruvian embassy dur-

ing one of these forced entries.
This was the straw that broke the
camel’s back. An official note ap-
peared on the front page of the
Cuban Communist Party daily,
Granma, saying that due to the
Peruvian authorities’ unwilling-
ness to cooperate in the protec-
tion of their own premises, the
Cuban guard at the Peruvian em-
bassy was being removed. Cuba
would not have more of its valu-
able combatants killed in this
way. It would not have its reputa-
tion as having one of the safest
capitals in the world for foreign
diplomats destroyed. Those who
had forced their way into the em-
bassy would not be given safe
conducts to leave the country.
CUBA’S POSITION

As was expected, the day after
the guard was removed, several
thousand anti-social types and
criminals entered the embassy
grounds wanting to leave for more
propitious territory to carry out
their activities. The Cuban posi-
tion was complete freedom of
emigration. Anyone wanting to
leave was free to do so, as long as
they received a visa from the
country they wanted to go to.

CRIMINAL ACTS

As no one made any rush to
take them — both wanting to
maintain a potentially explosive
pressure point in Cuba and be-
cause of internal problems, such
as over 50% unemployment and
underemployment in Peru — the
situation inside the embassy
grounds deteriorated. An ‘‘order
committee’” was set up by the
criminals there, taking charge of
beating anyone trying to
leave. One 14 year-old boy,
brought by his parents, managed
to escape on his third attempt,

TRIBUNE PHOTO — EDYA WEIR

games in the Caribbean.

Others were denied food as the
biggest thus grabbed up all
supplies sent in by the Cuban au-
thorities, including the milk piped
in for the children.

Reports of at least six rapes in
the embassy grounds in the first
week, including that of an 10-
year-old girl, contrasted sharply
with a 55% reduction in robberies
in the rest of Havana in the same
period.

The Cuban authorities suc-
ceeded in controlling this situa-
tion by announcing that all those
who went home, accepting the
safe conducts and passports they
issued, would be given priority to
leave the country first. And, as
the first groups began leaving for
abroad, Cuba quickly quashed a
new manoeuvre. All those who
left, regardless of the country of
their destination, were being piled
up in a camp in Costa Rica. For
what purpose, the Cuban au-
thorities asked. And they warned:
there would be no more depar-
tures, until the flights went direct-
ly to their final destinations.

THE FLOTILLA

In the meantime, boats began
arriving in the port of Mariel —
west of Havana—from Florida, to
pick up people who had been in
the embassy, and relatives of Cu-
bans living in the United States.

after leaving his shoes and ID They were welcomed, and the

behind and jumping the fence.

“scum’”’, the name given by the

Torontonians march outside the U.S. consulate in support of Cuba’s independence and against U.S. military

people here to those leaving,
began heading directly to the im-
perialist heartland. Threats from
the U.S. State Department to fine
boat owners ‘“‘illegally’’ trans-
porting Cubans to the U.S., and
to limit Cuban immigration there
for the first time since the Revolu-
tion, have been ignored.

As for Washington’s outcry
that ‘‘Castro is sending us who-
ever he wants; he’s emptying the
prisons’’, it has been sarcastically
noted here that, for the first time
in 21 years, Washington can't tell
the difference between ‘‘dissi-
dents’’ and criminals. This is its
prize, Granma says, for its years
of aggression and threats against
the revolution.

Just prior to the events at the
Peruvian embassy, Cuba was,
suspiciously, affected, all at the
same time, by plagues in its sugar
and tobacco crops and an out-
break of African swine fever.
Chance? Perhaps. But it has been
noted here, officially, that this
would not be the first time the
CIA has had a hand in things of
this kind.

MILITARY THREAT

And, while the people here
were incensed at the West's at-
tempts to discredit the revolu-
tion, and its claims that the few
thousand individuals in the em-
bassy grounds represented the
Cuban people’s _ feelings,
Washington’s game became even
more dangerous. It announced
three-week military manoeuvres
to take place in the Caribbean.
They were to include the landing
of 2,000 marines and soldiers at
Guantanamo Naval Base, on
Cuban territory, illegally oc-
cupied by the United States by
virtue of a treaty imposed on

Cuba during its military occupa- -

tion of the island at the beginning
of the century.

The reaction in Cuba to the
news of the manoeuvres was one
of outrage. ‘‘A gross rehearsal, on
Cuban territory, for an invasion of
Cuba,’’ Granma called them.

A mammoth rally was called for
May Day, as a show of force, to
demonstrate to the United States
the Cuban people’s determination

“Good riddance to those living off
our sweat” says the banner of
these Cuban workers. Similar
expressions of support for the
revolution are seen throughout
the island.

to defend their country, should
the military manoeuvres turn into
anything else. And another giant
demonstration was scheduled for
May 8, the day the U.S. man-
oeuvres were set to begin.

This time, though, the March of
the Combative People would not
be limited just to Havana; the
force of the people was to be felt
throughout the country, with
simultaneous demonstrations set
for every city and town in Cuba.
And, the announcement warned,
Cuba would mobilize its friends
around the world to carry out
support and solidarity actions that
day.

At midnight, April 30, the news
was Officially released that Cuba's
Eastern Army would hold mili-
tary manoeuvres beginning May
7, for the duration of the U.S.
manouevres set to begin on the
eighth.

On May Day, Fidel Castro ad-
dressed the biggest, most deter-
mined rally in the history of the
revolution. And he announced
what was:a victory for the Cuban
people and international soli-
darity: the U.S. military man-
oeuvres in the Caribbean had
been called off. In return, the
Cuban manoeuvres were also
being cancelled. (Canadian press
reports that only the planned U.S.
military games at Guantanamo
were cancelled — Ed.)

‘NO SURRENDER’

But the March of the Comba-
tive People still goes. Because it
was not just against the man-
oeuvres, but also against the
U.S.'s illegal occupation of the
Guantanamo Naval Base, against
the criminal U.S. blockade
against Cuba, and against that
country’s spy flights over Cuban
territory.

And to let the imperialists know
what kind of resistance they
would confront if they tried to in-
vade Cuba, or to bring it to its
knees with a complete blockade.
As Fidel Castro said May Day:
We will never surrender!

The march will now be held
May 17. It is being called a battle
in defence of Cuba’s dignity and
sovereignty. As always, the
broadest international support,
with parallel marches and
demonstrations around the world
that day, will be a clear warning to
the militarists in Washington to
keep hands off Cuba!

The battle will be won.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 24, 1980—Page 7