WORLD _ 3rd CONGRESS OF CUBA’S COMMUNISTS | ‘Our Party is stronger, By TOM MORRIS VeRAWANA — Held in the new Con- cof centre, the 3rd Congress of the i mmunist Party of Cuba, Feb. 4-7, was pees affirmation of the’*tremendous _*’*Slige of the party and unity of the e ntire Cuban people behind the goals of ir revolution. ae Party has arrived at our 3rd Con- ‘ied th Tonger, more united and organ- - ae €ver,’’ Cuban leader Fidel Cas- than Re 1,784 delegates and more Pevests. 1; national and international | hours. 1s main report, which took six a economic guidelines for With ach: ve-year plan and dealt in detail achievements and shortcomings in ~~ Period since the 2nd Congress. as Section on the revolutionary d ae and defence of the home- “achieve ay : reported that Cuba _ had Bourse a “significant enrichment of a eee of the war of all the people,”’ Bis ae ~ entire nation has streamlined * S tor times of war on the basis of New concepts. “‘The enemy will ~ Rot find us disorgani : ganized, unarmed or un- Prepared,” he said. | € country reflected the Congress: 4 gress: 4 hes colorful posters and banners timed the slogans of the Congress | “We fae advance and defence”’, intérnasi e always been and will remain sessio Onalists’’. Television carried all aS and ‘delegates’ comments as ote Interviewing citizens on the S and in the workplace. More organized, more United than ever’ — Fidel and shortcomings, the Cuban leader was openly frank. Section by section, indus- try by industry and region by region, he outlined where improvements were needed. This section of his report, which followed the section on Cuba’s many achievements and was itself followed by the 1986-1990 plan, was picked up on immediately by the western media. The next day Fidel referred to those reports by challenging Reagan to do the same — to frankly and openly discuss America’s problems and set before the American people the path to build a genuine and truly democratic society for all. Further indications of the openness of Congress discussions was seen in a ver- bal report Castro delivered when an- nouncing the election of the Party’s new- ly-elected Central Committee and Poli- tical Bureau. In detail Castro explained the Party’s political determination to advance more women, Blacks and youth to top bodies to more fully reflect the Party’s and coun- try’s composition. He paid tribute to the many comrades with long experience and dedication to the revolution, many by name to loud applause, who stepped’ aside to permit new cadres to take up leading roles. In the final count, almost one-third of the new leadership was elected for the first time. On the streets, in taxis and restaurants —wherever this reporter and other press people went — we were impressed by the keen interest in the Congress. There was no doubt that every Cuban felt a real part 4, + Mn, st Here no one is afraid of your “greetings”. of the decisions; that the issues being debated were how the average Cuban saw them. One construction worker told me: ‘“‘We not only see that the Con- gress is taking place at the Convention centre, but here you are in our neighbor- hood talking with us and listening to our -opinions.”’ Cuba is revolutionary history, and citizens of all ages take pride in the lead- ers who fought the battles decades ago. This year will mark two important dates: the 30th anniversary of the landing of the Granma and the attack on the dictator- ship which led eventually to liberation in 1959, as well as the 25th anniversary of the U.S.-organized mercenary attack | and defeat at the Bay of Pigs. And the internationalism of the Cuban people and party, a thread that ran throughout the Congress, was seen in speeches by many of the 179 foreign Communist and Workers’ parties and revolutionary movements present as guests. In fact, time allotted to greetings was such that Castro suggested the 4th Congress should add another day to en- sure completion of all the work before it. It was a marvelous event. On the sec- ond day, Raul Castro reported to dele- gates that a U.S. SR-71 supersonic spy plane had just flown across Cuban air- space. ‘‘Perhaps they are greeting our Congress,’ he quipped. Later, Fidel re- turned to the subject: ‘“As Reagan greets us with his SR-71, the Haitian people sent him greetings by overthrowing the Duvalier dynasty,’ he said to heavy applause. : * OK * A full report on the work and decisions of the Congress will appear next issue. the 12 pages devoted to deficiencies “i -———__ INTERNATIONAL FOCUS Tom Morris | He fits in s | he White House we | om weeks ago, U.S. tele- A 1 aaee Showed ultra- Servative mind-benders oth : not | regraring to snow elected rep- ih : ale under with a slick, 7. air ie ree 7. Propapands of pro-Savimbi 5 ‘ ' os their modern compu- a) | pre anks, the ultras were ae poote for the visit to Wash- fh | Nn of Angolan traitor and , oe con of | gressmen and fF | meters to back a call for sat aving {2d weapons for oh ee. imbi Ss army. : at Rage remember, is one of ntl | N's four “‘hot spots” gh | me with Ethiopia, Nica- ce ghanistan) target- ih | qa forfurther U.S. attacks and dP aibilization, at |. aVimbi. j : cs ov th 1, indeed, did visit of / © U.S. He was received as a h ‘Stan of state by Secretary of ae Defence Secret- hi mberger and Reagan Bihset He was cheered at a ape vative convention and tel ared on three nationally- “vised talk shows. Ten years after its liberation, Angola faces mounting attacks by UNITA gangs backed by Washington and Pretoria. 1976 graphic: First anniversary of the victory over FNLA, UNITA and South African troops. ‘*Aid’’ packages of $27-mil- lion and $41-million are being advanced to arm Savimbi’s army in its murderous war. One catch is Savimbi’s love for the apartheid regime in South Africa. “I consider Botha my friend if it shocks you or not,” he told a U.S. reporter bluntly. He then of- fered to give up South African backing for U.S. aid, to avoid embarrassing Reagan. With scruples like this, Savimbi and Reagan got on famously. Just how they report The Toronto Globe & Mail, Feb. 13 editorially raps Fidel Castro for his ‘‘mammoth dis- _ sertation’’ to the Cuban Party Congress last week. The paper points out he “‘rumbled along” for six hours. I was there and didn’t notice a Globe reporter present. Had that newspaper covered the Congress and heard the report by Fidel which covered Cuban life since the last Congress five years ago and projected Cu- ba’s social and economic goals until 1990, it may have been more forgiving. It was a lengthy report (split into four parts). And it was de- tailed — hiding nothing, deal- ing with achievements, prob- lems and projections. Castro reported, for example, that Cuba’s gross social product grew by an average of 7.3 per cent, industrial production by 8.8 per cent; that average wages rose by 26.4 per cent. If Mulroney honestly re- ported on the same subject, he would tell us we have 1.5 mil- lion jobless, that wages have lagged behind inflation and that the country’s economy is stag- nant. His speech would have been shorter than Castro’s. Castro reporting to 3rd Cuban Communist Party Congress: a list of victories and challenges. Reagan gave his State of the Union address last week, one day after Fidel spoke in Hava- na. It, too, was shorter. It was heavy on military spending — projecting a $33- billion boost for weapons. It called for a $23-billion cut in social service spending: $775-million from child nutri- tion programs, $313-million from food stamp programs, elimination of federal low-cost housing, 15 per cent cut in job training schemes, $2.6-billion cut in education and elimina- tion of loans to one million col- lege students. Lucky for beleaguered America Reagan didn’t speak longer. The Globe’s snide remarks about Castro’s speech seek to > ~ hide its content. It’s designed to sneer rather than inform. It’s cheap journalism. Why report on medical achievements, education achievements, rising living standards, a Geveloping econ- omy, no unemployment when you can talk about ‘‘rumbling along’? Might it be that Canadians would compare? PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 19, 1986 « 9 a . .