Cuba needs support as
U.S. intensifies attacks

By GEORGE HEWISON

George Hewison, general secretary of the Communist
Party of Canada, filed this report of his trip to Cuba in early
August.

I went to Cuba for two reasons: to express solidarity and
strengthen the ties of our party with the Cuban revolution,
and to deepen our understanding of the processes at work
there and in the rest of Latin America.

We have been conscious of a stepped-up attack on Cuba
by the U.S. administration, especially since the elections in
Nicaragua, the invasion of Panama and the rapid changes in
eastern Europe. As the first successful socialist revolution in
our hemisphere, Cuba is on the front line and must be
supported.

Cuba is a poor country, an underdeveloped country, suf-
fering from generations of colonialism and neo-colonialism.
Thirty-one years of revolution has only begun to address
these issues.

Mistakes made in the course of building the revolution
. have hurt Cuba. One of the most serious, according to our
Cuban hosts, was copying the East European “model” of
socialism. This set back development at least 10 years, they
said, and necessitated the widely-publicized “rectification”
campaign to begin to develop the distinctly Cuban model of
socialism. Still, not all the lessons of Eastern Europe have
been fully studied, our hosts acknowledged.

Nevertheless, many important gains, especially in the
field of social services, have been made, accomplishments
which could not have happened without socialism. A look at
the rest of Latin America and the rest of the underdeveloped
world is proof that Cuba has come a long way from 1959.

The ever remaining reality facing Cuba is the U.S. block-
ade which has taken its toll in a number of critical ways. Now
the U.S. is tightening the screws even further.

Cuba’s trade with most of its traditional partners in East-
em Europe, with the exception of the Soviet Union, has dried
to a trickle. Even here, there is pressure: George Bush tried
to win agreement at the Houston summit of the G-7 countries
to tie economic aid for the Soviet Union to cutting assistance
to Cuba.

US. distaste for Cuba is well-established, but there are
several new features Washington is deploying in its “low
intensity” war. Most important is Bush’s “Initiative for the
Americas.” It contains sweeping proposals to build on the
Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreementand extend it throughout
the entire hemisphere. It is a second Monroe Doctrine, to
keep all of the Americas as an exclusive preserve of the U.S.

World

The existing lessons of “free trade” oc-
cupied the lion’s share of my two-hour
meeting with Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Many Latin American countries, stagger-
ing under a crippling debt load, appear to
be grasping at Bush’s plan as a drowning
person grabs for a life preserver. Not Fidel.
He is warning his compatriots of the con-
sequences of hemispheric free trade.

The low intensity war is designed to
generate increased dissatisfaction within
Cuba. This is to be reinforced with intense
ideological pressure, by outlets such as
Radio Marti, for Cubans to abandon inde-
pendence and socialism for the “good and
free” life of North America.

Military intervention against Cuba can-
not be ruled out if the lessons of Nicaragua
and Panama mean anything. There is a
large contra force in Miami, backed by the
military might of the U.S. What is lacking
so far is the political climate inside Cuba
for a successful military solution.

Another important feature of the U.S.
campaign against Cuba is the attempt to
isolate it from the rest of the world. Here
the “human rights” campaign and the
events at the embassies are especially im-
portant. These events are intended to institute a diplomatic
quarantine as a prelude to enhanced economic pressure with
a view to effecting a transition in Cuba, and rubbing out the
Cuban example in Latin America.

Important facts have not been covered in the media
around the occupation of several foreign embassies in Hav-
ana by Cubans seeking exit visas. Cubans can leave the
country legally, however the U.S. is only issuing visas for
Cuban nationals abroad, but will issue no visas for those
living in Cuba. Such is the case with other countries.

To. allow a situation where visas are granted only where
embassies are stormed could create a dangerous crisis, such
as the “Freedom Flotilla” of 1980. If the U.S. or any other
country wishes to admit Cuban emigres, they have but to
issue the visas.

The second fact not publicized is that well-known dissi-
dents appeared on national Cuban television a few weeks
ago, angered that the U.S. reneged on promises to issue them
visas. They exposed a web of intrigue dating back to March

PRESCHOOLERS IN HAVANA ...
example in el America.

* PRINCIPE.
~ WRKIEATE

the U.S. wants to wipe out the Cuban

and the International United Nations Conference on Human
Rights in Geneva. (Canadian, Czech, Spanish and West
German diplomats were involved.) The U.S. told them they
had to remain in Cuba to fight for change. -

This prompted the decision by those feeling betrayed to

go public and expose their links to certain diplomats.

Cubans have fought long and hard for independence.
They fought the Spaniards, nascent U.S. imperialism, and
the infamous Platt Amendment to the Cuban Constitution
which gave the U.S. the right to intervene in intemal Cuban
affairs when its interests were perceived to be threatened.

Cubans are not likely to give up their hard-won inde-
pendence. And to the extent that it is socialism which has
guaranteed their independence, it is most unlikely that
Cubans will opt for a return to capitalism.

Canadians can understand a fight for independence. In
this sense, the struggle of Cuba and the struggle of Canadians
are very much joined.

it

Coalition of centre to contest Haiti’s elections

By NORMAN FARIA
Tribune Caribbean Correspondent

FORT DE FRANCE, Martinique —
The emergence of a united front of major
Opposition parties on the Haitian political
scene could well serve to deliver the coup
de grace for Duvalierist forces in upcom-
ing general elections scheduled for Nov-
ember. ;

Deputy leader of the National Progres-
sive Haitian Party PANPRA), Amold An-
tonin, said all systems are go for the poll,
although he noted the possibility of “backs
against the wall violence” from die-hard
followers of former dictator Francois
“Papa Doc” Duvalier and his son “Baby
Doc” Duvalier.

“We think the election will take place
and the national will of the people will be
expressed. The transition to democracy is
inevitable,” Antonin, a 46-year-old film-
maker and economist at the Haitian Uni-
versity in the capital Port au Prince, in-
sisted.

“The main obstacle is that the Duval-
ierists, who do not want any fundamental
change in Haiti, could try something vio-
lent and try to terrorize Haitians into not
voting. But one feels the situation has
changed in favour of the democratic forces
which are more united now,” he said.

Antonin and PANPRA political leader

Serges Gilles are part of a small but sig-
nificant grouping called the National Al-
liance for Democracy and Progress. It also
includes the Marc Bazin-led Movement
for the Establishment of Democracy in
Haiti (MIDH) and the National Movement
of November 28th. Bazin will be the presi-
dential candidate.

Observers say its centrist political
orientation could well serve to rally other
opposition forces on the left such as the
influential Communist Party led by Rene
Theodore. The latter had told the Assoc-
iated Press last March that his party ap-
proved of the movement toward elections.
“What’s happening now is what should
have happened when (Jean Pierre) Duval-
ier left. Atthat time, the people’s revolution
was confiscated. (There has been) a re-
covery, for the time being,” he told the U.S.
news agency.

Traditionally, as has been the case in

Trinidad and Tobago, coalitions have
tumed out to be unstable political animals

prone to break-up. Antonin, who retumed —

to Haiti after 20 years of exile in Italy,
France, and Venezuela, is optimistic about
the Haitian development.

Although he says he doesn’t want to
throw cold water on the apparent moves
towards more opposition unity, general
secretary of the Barbados-based Carib-

bean Conference of Churches (CCC), Rev.
Allan Kirton, feels the tendencies of “one
manism” in Haiti’s body politic could well
be the proverbial wrench in the works.

“Tt is a welcome development but
whether it makes that kind of difference in
the political landscape in Haiti remains to
be seen. It’s anybody’s guess how it will
pan out,” Rev. Kirton, who is just back
from Haiti to hold discussions with church
leaders there among other tasks, remarked
in an interview with the Tribune.

“Some kind of accommodation among
the anti-Duvalierist forces is necessary.
There are what could be described as pos-
sibilities on the national level — not only
in the House of Assembly.”

Rev. Kirton also disclosed that plans are
well in hand for the sending of a CCC-in-
itiated 24-person Caribbean observer mis-
sion to the Nov. 4 poll. Other missions from
such international and regional bodies as
the United Nations and the Organization of
American States will also be there.

Rev. Kirton says the presence of such

- observers is a must, a view shared by An-
‘tonin who was in Martinique to attend the

2nd Caribbean Film Festival in June.

The Socialist International-aligned
PANPRA spokesperson noted: “We ap-
preciate the help of our neighbours in the
English-speaking Caribbean. We can learn

from your political traditions. We feel Haiti
must build closer links with the Common-
wealth Caribbean, for example in trading
matters.”

The worry about pre-election violence
from rump-end Duvalierists is under-
standable. In November 1987 some 34
voters were massacred at the polling sta-
tions by gunmen. Ominously, two former
Duvalierist government officials accused
of murder and torture have recently come
back to Haiti.

The presence of former “Baby Doc”
interior minister Roger Lafontant and ex-
Haitian army general William Regala has
been condemned by the country’s Elec-
toral Council and Bazin among others.

Times continue to be rough for the or-
dinary working person in the poorest coun-
try in the Western Hemisphere. Addressing
a conference on the Abolition of the Third
World Debt held in Martinique last June,
Joseph Manucy-Pierre of the Popular
Movement of Autonomous Workers
pointed to government money being put
into non-productive sectors. At the same

time, “horse medicine,” as Manucy-Pierre

described it, is being imposed by interna-
tional financial institutions on the debt-rid-

-den Haitian economy where approximate-

ly 75 per cent of factory workers are
women earning $ 3.30 US per day.

6 + Pacific Tribune, August 20, 1990