World

~

Cuba’s ICAP making
new world contacts

As Cuba celebrates the 30th anniversary
of its revolution, its very survival, and the
changing world situation, have brought
about new opportunities to develop friend-
ship and diplomatic relations with the rest
of the world. One of the Cubans intensely
involved in this process is Reinaldo Gon-
zalez, the vice-president of the Cuban Insti-
tute for Friendship With The Peoples,
better known by its acronym ICAP.

Gonzalez was in Canada at the invitation

of the Canadian-Cuban Friendship Associ-
ation to speak at an event celebrating the
30th anniversary of the Cuban revolution.

For Gonzalez, who has been involved.in
friendship and solidarity work with ICAP

Cut apartheid
ties, says CP

In the wake of the Harare, Zim-
babwe meeting of Commonwealth
foreign ministers, chaired by Cana-
dian External Affairs Minister Joe
Clark, international criticism of Can-
ada’s growing corporate and financial
links with the apartheid regime is
mounting. In 1985, Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney promised on the
stage of the United Nations that Can-
ada would impose mandatory sanc-
tions against South Africa if the
human rights situation did not
improve.

Four years later, a loan from.the
Bank of Nova Scotia to a South Afri-
can conglomerate reveals how close
those links are becoming. The $600-
million loan is to the Minorco SA of
London, part of the Oppenheimer
family empire, which is the apartheid
regime’s leading resource company.
Anti-apartheid activists are charging
that the Scotiabank financing is part
of a joint Anglo-government strategy
to create corporate structures to coun-
ter the threat of future boycotts or
sanctions against South Africa.

‘‘What one sees is doubletalk and
deception”, the Communist Party of
Canada said in a recently released
statement.

“The question must be asked _—
what kind of game is the government
playing? Why has it retreated from the
two pledges it made to the world? U.S.
and British interests don’t want sanc-
tions imposed on South Africa, and
neither do monopoly interests in
Canada.”

The CP statement charged that the
Mulroney government, rather than
listening to the sentiments of Canadi-
ans, who have overwhelmingly expres-
sed their disgust with apartheid, is
listening only to the voices of monop-
oly.

“World-wide sanctions have wea-
kened the South African regime.
Mandatory sanctions — economic,
military, cultural and diplomatic —
imposed now could bring about the
defeat of apartheid.

“The labour and progressive move-
ments in Canada, which have been up
front in support of the struggle against
apartheid, now should tell the
government in no uncertain terms
that rather than retreating, it must
implement its pledges of mandatory
sanctions and the severing of diplo-
matic relations with the South Afri-
can regime,” it said.

since 1978, the present situation is one that
provides increasing opportunities to build
links with the international community,
with exchanges back and forth, primarily in
the cultural field. The work of ICAP has
been a factor in the rise to world stature of
events like the yearly Havana Film Festival.
It is now recognized as one of the world’s
top cinema gatherings, and attracts film
workers from around the world, including
prominent American actors and directors
who have chosen to ignore the long-
standing US. boycott of Cuba.

It is a busy time for Gonzalez. The cele-
brations of the 30th anniversary have seen
an unprecedented number of guests Visiting

_ the island, with all the problems that follow

on already strained resources.

“Cuba is still an underdeveloped coun-
try,” Gonzalez told the Tribune. “We have
many problems — that’s a fact and we
don’t try to hide it from the world. But at
the very least, we’re doing our very utmost
to try and meet the requirements of all those
people who are coming to Cuba — for
whatever reason — to see were we’ve come
after 30 years.

“Our plans are always to build and
strengthen relations with people all over the
world,” he said, adding that Canada holdsa
special place in the hearts of Cubans.

(err eT aE

6 We'll never forget that in the
early days of the revolution,
when Cuba was being isolated
on the American continent, the
only two countries on the
continent that didn’t break
relations with us were Canada
and Mexico. 9

(SSSI on truer are REE

“We'll never forget that in the early days
of the revolution, when Cuba was being
isolated on the American continent, the
only two countries on the continent that
didn’t break relations with us were Canada
and Mexico.”

Those links have continued to the pres-
ent. Currently 26 per cent of all tourists to
Cuba are Canadian. That figure is rising,
playing an Important economic role during
a time of falling sugar prices and an unstable
world economic situation which has placed
a strain on the Cuban economy.

One of the more fascinating develop-
ments for Gonzalez, who works with both
Canada and the US., are the developing
contacts with the emigre Cuban communi-
ties in the U.S., primarily the large Cuban
centres in Miami and New York.

Despite pressure from the vocal and
active right-wing elements of the Cuban
community to stop any contact with their
home country, groups of Cubans who wish
to develop broader contacts with Cuba, or
at least maintain some connection with fam-
ily and friends, are being formed despite
internal threats from the community.

“They’ve been working for a long time,
and the possibilities of building relations are
increasing,” Gonzalez said. “The time has
come, more of them are starting to feel, to
end confrontation.

“They are struggling within the Cuban
community — they have to deal with those
who are very reactionary. The right-wing of
the Cuban community in places like Miami
are much stronger economically, and
backed the Reagan administration all the
way. They are doing all they can to stop any
talks or contacts with Cuba.”

ANC body speaks out

on Mandela football

club controversy

Fuelled by sensationai police accounts,
news reports from South Africa over the
last two weeks have focussed on the Man-
dela United Football Club, which acts as
the personal bodyguard for Winnie Man-
dela, and club members’ possible role in
the death of 14-year-old Stompie Moe-
ketsi Seipei, an anti-apartheid activist.

The case has been deliberately exploited
by the South African press and police to
undermine the opposition to the apartheid
regime and to impugn the reputation of
Jailed African National Congress leader
Nelson Mandela. And according to the
ANC, the club was very likely infiltrated
by the police, a charge given some cre-
dence by the fact that one of its leaders,
Jerry Richardson, was a former police-
man.

But the con-
troversy over the
football club has
also created a fur-
ore within the anti-
apartheid move-
ment which has
called on Winnie
Mandela to dis-
band whatever is
left of it and to ea
disavow its acti- ae
vities. MANDELA

Winnie Mandela announced Sunday
that she had disbanded the remaining
members of the club and reiterated her
earlier statements that she had no knowl-
edge of the activities of the club.

The previous day, the ANC’s national

executive committee issued a formal

statement on the issue. The following is
that statement.

Recently there have been serious
developments pertaining to the activities
of the group known as the Mandela
Football Club which have raised great
concern within the mass democratic
movement and struggling people as a
whole. The ANC shares the concern of
the people and has all the time tried to
intervene to find an amicable solution to
the problem.

In the light of reports about its activi-
ties in the recent past, our organization
complemented the initiatives of leading
personalities of the mass democratic
movement and tried to use its influence
to bring about the disbanding of the
group. Unfortunately, our counsel was
not heeded by Comrade Winnie Man-
dela. The situation has been further
complicated by the fact that she did not
belong to any structures and therefore
did not benefit from the discipline, coun-
selling and collectivity of the mass demo-
cratic movement.

Under these circumstances she was left
open and vulnerable to committing mis-
takes which the enemy exploited. One
such instance relates to the so-called
Mandela Football Club. In the course of
time, the club engaged in unbecoming
activities which have angered the com-
munity.

We fully understand the anger of the
people and their organizations towards
this club. We have every reason to
believe that the club was infiltrated by

the enemy and that most of its activities
were guided by the hand of the enemy for
the purpose of causing disunity within
the community and discrediting the
name of Nelson Mandela and the organ-
ization of which he is the leader.

Our people should not allow this. The
ANC calls on our people to close ranks
and exercise maximum vigilance against
the vile machinations of the enemy.

Our position is that the problem aris-
ing from the activities of the Mandela
Football Club can and must be resolved
within the ambit of the democratic
movement as a whole, both at local and
national levels. This must be done in the
shortest possible time.

To realize this, it is necessary that
Comrade Winnie Mandela is helped to
find her way into the structures and dis-
cipline of the mass democratic move-
ment. It will be of paranrount importance
that she co-operate with all those
involved in the resolution of the prob-
lem. We are confident that the mass
democratic movement will open its
doors to her in the interests of our people
and the struggle.

There is a need to create a climate in
which all those problems facing the
community, including the unfortunate
death of Stompie Moeketsi Seipei (a
committed young lion who had made an
immense contribution in the mobiliza-
tion of our youth and people in the
struggle) will be discussed to foster unity
rather than let the enemy use them to
achieve its ends. The ANC takes this
opportunity to convey heartfelt condo-
lences to the parents, relatives and com-
munity of Stompie Moeketsi Seipei.

It is with a feeling of terrible sadness
that we consider it necessary to express
our reservations about Winnie Mande-
la’s judgement in relation to the Mandela
Football Club. But we should not forget
what Comrade Winnie Mandela has
gone through and her immense contribu-
tion to the liberation struggle. She has
not only suffered the anguish of a quarter
of a century of separation from her hus-
band, but has also experienced unending
persecution at the hands of the regime,
such as banishment, imprisonment, tor-
ture and sustained harassment over a
period of more than two decades.

Bearing the name of Mandela, and in
her own right, she increasingly became
one of the symbols of resistance to racist
tyranny both at home and abroad. We
firmly believe, albeit without prejudging
all the issues which have been raised in
relation to the problem, that whatever
mistakes were made should be viewed
against the background of her overall
contribution on the one hand and the
activities of the enemy on the other.
Viewed in this light we consider it impor-
tant that the movement as a whole
should adopt a balanced approach to the
problems that have arisen.

The ANC for its part will continue to
work for the unity of our people and we
have no doubt that all those who have
participated in the attempts to solve this
problem have done so in the best inter-
ests of the struggle.

eh ee OO Oo we UE Re TONE RCA OR TR a ee

Pacific Tribune, February 27, 1989 « 9

ey