Sp

Witjepyy,

By ALF DEWHURST

U
BA Signs Contract For 500

‘Ore Buses From British

Maj States. a Globe and
| mt, *eadtine for June 23, It is
ha €ly Canada could have

Pee bus order. It would

@
4 total of asa order. So far,

A buses,
A bid f

Ten
> Sou:
high in nd

: have . ;
Ig these n° Hesitation in mak-

Very © assertions, | had the
Weeke ee fortune to spend two

Uba at the time of
‘ a Celebrations. Dur-
Were © weeks my days
lalks, towded With visits and

Canadian firm
ave fallen on bar-
» for Canada stands
uban esteem.

C
ing ps I talkeq with, includ-
Party oF ment and United
tion Off the Socialist Revolu-
Cials, Workers, farmers,
ae and students all
n ow righ regard for
et ¢eovernment policy in
uba. I saw many
Uba; 4, Cf our trade with
Vestock, poultry, car
yee cd used cars. Cu-
plea of our products are
thases Sed with their pur-
*Y Want to buy more
articularly is’ this

~~ In y
“binery pect to car. and ma-

e
Nad;

is |.
learned from official

Cuban woman packs cigars for export.

—
ime

fe parts, machinery, cars, livestock

Let's sell more

sources. At this time Cuba is
more interested in buying from
us than in selling to us. Per-
haps later on they will want to
sell to us. But at the present
they have a guaranteed market
for all the sugar they can pro-
duce. They are just developing
the beef and fishing industries
which in the near fyture will
be export products.

The basic stock of machin-
ery, implements, instruments,
cars, trucks and tractors is of
U.S. origin, a heritage from
pre-revolutionary days. ‘This
stock needs to be kept in re-
pair. Parts to do this are pro-
duced in Canada. Our cars and
machines are American type
with which Cubans are fami-
lier. These factors are favor-
able for more sales of these
products to Cuba by Canada.

These favorable conditions
will not last too long. I saw
huge stockpiles of Soviet. and
Czech trucks, tractors and farm
machinery in Havana. Once the
basic stock of Cuban industrial
and farm machinery is conver-
ted to a Soviet and Czech base
what could be a good market
will be lost to Canada.

The British are looking _to
the future. They are going
ahead with their dealings with
the Cubans despite U.S. pres-
sure to end them. Canada must
do the same. If the Americans

WG OW Ty)

si 6 Bae

revolutionary government.

don’t want to trade with Cuba
that’s their business. But. we
mustn’t allow them to make
their business our business too.

Of course, the reluctance of
the Canadian government to
really normalize our relations
with Cuba is the fear of US.
economic retaliation. This is

, accompanied by speculation in,

respect to the durability of the
Cuban regime.
The fear of U.S. retaliation
arises out of a question bigger
than our relations with Cuba.
It has to do with our sovereign
right to have our own inde-
‘ pendent relations with any
country: to buy and sell, to
have exchanges of all sorts,
and diplomatic relations. This
we will settle in the course of
doing business with countries
like Cuba.
‘What is the state of Cuban
revolution? Is it durable? I use
the term “revolution” advisedly
for no other phrase can des-
cribe the situation there. Every-
body I talked to in Cuba spoke
about “our revolution.” All
were not of. the same mind
about how the revolution was
going to achieve its aims. But
all were involved, physically

. and spiritually, in the revolu-

tion.

May Day was a tremendous
demonstration of the revolu-
tionary ardor gripping the
Cuban people. One million peo-
ple massed in the blazing sun
were hanging on to Fidel Cas-
tro’s words. They roared their
approval when he declared
Cuba wants peace in order that
socialism can. be constructed.
But, he said, that peace would
not be the peace of capitulation
to U.S. imperialism. :

Smee a eae TE OE | | i | |

A. view of Havana, capital of Cuba and seat of her stable

The great crowd roared its
approval again when he declar-

‘ed that U.S.-backed mercena-

ries would receive a “warm”

‘welcome should they attempt

to carry out their boasts to
land on Cuban soil.

Castro separated the dif-
ferences between Cuba and the
U.S. into three parts.

The first, and most pressing,
are the U2 overflights. They
constitute flagrant aggression
against Cuba’s_ sovereignty.
They will be stopped, he said,
for Cuba has the backing of
the Soviet Union and alf social-
ist states in this just demand;
as well as the sympathy of a
large number of other coun-
tries. Cuba, he said, will take
this issue to the U.N. bringing
it before the nations of the
world for settlement. x

The U.S. base at Guantana-
mo was of a different category.
Despite the crude provocations
of the U.S. at the base more
time could be taken in securing
its removal. The aim of the
Cuban government is to ac-
complish this through negotia-
tions.

The pirate attacks of the
U.S.-backed mercenaries will be
repulsed, Cuba now has a re-
gular army well trained and
well armed. Universal military
service is in operation: A feat-
ure of the May Day parade was
a contingent of the first -draf-
tees marching arm in arm with
their mothers.

‘Another feature of the May
Day parade was a large con-
tingent of workers. who, illi-
terate before the revohation,
had just received their sixth
grade diplomas. The aim of the

fo Cuba

government is to bring all for-
mer illiterates up to sixth grade
standards, for the revolution is
cultural as well as political and
economic. Sl

* bs *

Cuban leaders with whom I
spoke drew to my. attention that
Cuba is a living example of the
fundamental change in the bal-
ance of forces-on a world scale
brought about by the ascendary
of the socialist system over the
imperialist. This, they said, is
basic to the Cuban revolution,

The government is taking
firm and realistic steps to place
the socialist- economy of the
country on a sound footing.
Cuba. is turning ‘to -the cultiva-
tion of sugar with renewed
vigor. They have a contract
with the Soviet Union for sugar
that is most advantageous to
Cuba. The fixed price assures a
reliable income for the main
product of the island. Sugar is
not only important to the food
industry but grows increasing-
ly valuable to the chemical in-
dustry.

Cuba has also a great poten-
tial for growing beef. It is ex-
tending its fishing industry. The.
government is conducting large
experiments in grass and other
fodder cultivation searching for
those types which will respond
best to the land’s climatic con-
ditions (roughly six months of
the year with. little rainfall).
The expansion in fishing is tied
to an extensive boat-building
program for fishing vessels out-
fitted with modern fishing’ gear.

On the basis of the foregoing
the government is proceeding
with steady industrialization of
the country. This industrializa-
tion is not at a forced pace but
rests on the country’s produc-
tion of commercial agriculture
and food products. It is geared
to advance the agro-food in-
dustry and will expand into

‘other fields as the economy and

needs warrant. This is the gov-
ernment’s;economic policy.
nek * *

The Canadian people, gov-
ernment and industrialists can
rest assured that the Cuban
economy is stable and the re-
volution durable. It will be

sound business to increase our
trade with that country. It will
be good for Canadian

and Cu-
ban workers alike. aes

~

sketched by
during bis visit.

July 17, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page §