LONDON gt

How lon

m § Were you in Cuba and

Places did you visit?
a : :
ce We were in Cuba close
oan nth, We visited Havana of
nd we visited some places out-

le q
avana a ee .
Dvince. nd we visited Oriente

What were
| chan
€ lif
st ej

your main impressions
: Di that have taken place in
of the people of Cuba in the
ght years?

Magnuson: :
ange eae think a magnificent

ken place i

e n the life of
Miele: They have abolished pov-
People are well-dressed. They

€ in the
le process of doi
Mstruction. The ec ele. aon of

ae course wit
B Of the socia]
ed doubled the
tt Cuba. The
ty thousand of
ve in Ontario.

Brudy- : :
Irs, ae Also, in regard to the doc-
Ie big Y are not all concentrated in
Dread ae like Havana. They are
€ small throughout the villages and
untry a towns and villages of the
tient . €y have a tremendous out-

ee. developed where now
Im or Teceive medical aid of one
din nother both in the hospitals
oe their homes.
“Magn has happened to housing?

ing BRE anere, is a lot of housing
; Project in uba. We visited a hous-

h assistance from
ist countries. They
number of hospital
y have more doctors
population: than we

Nicaro, which is the
autifyl ing and smeltermen. There
ructed Ree ements are being con-
drooms a one, two and three
ermen wi ‘ch the miners and smel-
. If

Wn of mini

Brud :
aw, that Ys Were also told, and we
furnishea of these homes were
fe ae It's not only free rent,
ould ove ts in this mining town
hc Into an apartment that
vithout chee epictely furnished, also
© city of ge. It Was interesting in
V Olguin where we spoke
Mplained 4 the leading officials who
us how they began to

: e 4
Ystematic suate 80ing about it in a
Mt moving ner — building homes

S an :
IStricts “eee housing into these new
fas a See Cuilding up the city cen-
»ice centre for the commu-

_ Program for both hous-
ise ge ication of the city
€ th ; PP tee tt
rural aS housing conditions in
4, of course, was le
ye , ett
Nf rural a of extreme poverty in
: ee While there are still
fF Side, we ae homes in the coun-
MES. Most aw plans for replacing
ot these would be private.
Hate Ree no who is used to a
Milt to Sie have new homes
| Since yo his desires and his needs.
‘lebrationg were there over the Jan. 1
FE from otp ood Must have met peo-
“8. Could €r countries of Latin Am-
hat you hen, S8Y something about
BEles j ard or discussed about the
these countries?

{hile in Cuba PE had the opportunity

tive. © meet with represen-
Aber t jovements of Seople ae
it h ne ae American countries,
tO Rico nezuela, Guatemala and
pout the si and we heard something
‘eu 'tuation in Colombia, Nica-

>A
' "8entina and Chile. The con-

onomy is advanc-.

quite a well thought out »

Here is the text of that interview.

CUBA:

eight years after

At the turn of the year, a three-man delegation of the Communist
Party of Canada visited Cuba. Members of the delegation were: Bruce
Magnuson, the porty’s Ontario leader, Norman Brudy, the party’s Metro
Toronto organizer, and Charles-Henri Lutz, editor of the French Cana-
dian weekly newspaper, Combat. They participated in the celebrations
of the 8th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, held discussions with
leaders of the Cuban Communist Party and government ond acquainted
themselves with the life of the Cuban people.

Following the delegation’s return the Tribune interviewed two of
its members, asking them fo pass along some of their impressions.

ditions in some of these countries is
now rather miserable for the people.
People of these countries are confron-
ted with conditions which have made
them take up arms in many cases in
defense of their rights. They are fac-
ing armed resistence by their own gov-
ernments, aided by American im-
perialism.

Insofar as the problems in Latin
America are concerned, they are fairly
general but I believe that one of the
most complicated situations exists to-
day in countries like Guatemala or

Venezuela. There is perhaps in this: -

situation a tendency to be one-sided
in the appraisal of conditions ‘one way.
or the other, but one must recognize
that in Latin America conditions will

have to change. If the people are not
-going to be able to change the condi-

tions by peaceful means they will
adopt other methods.

Brudy: One thing is clear: the ex-
ample that Cuba is setting for all of
Latin America is catching on. The
knowledge that a group of people on
a small island have been able to re-
construct their life in a short period of
time, which has given them by far the
highest standard of living of any coun-
try in Latin America and also guaran-
tees them a much brighter future, has
a very powerful impact and influence
on the thinking of most Latin Ameri-
can people.

How do the Cuban people and the
Cub-n government view the question

of relations between our country and
Cuba?

Magnuson: I think it is rather im-
portant that Canada improve its rela-
tions with Cuba. In so doing it will
also gain a greater influence in Latin
America. This is a year of great oppor-
tunity for improving relations between
Canada and Cuba, extending trade and
cultural relations, because of a num-
ber of events that are taking placing,
particularly Expo in Montreal and the
Pan-American Games in Winnipeg.
There will be a visit from a group of
Cuban artists to Expo which. will
certainly give the opportunity for
Canadians to see and hear some of the
tremendous things Cuba has to offer
in terms of cultural exchange.

It seems certain to me that this is
the time when we should put more
pressure on our government to find
ways and means of extending our rela-
tions with Cuba. Just one point here I
want to add: there apparently is now
an agreement between the Canadian
and Cuban governments to land planes
in Montreal and Ottawa for Expo. I
think it would be a good thing if this
could be extended to a commercial
service that would make it possible
for us to go directly from Canada to
Cuba without having to go in a round
about way, as we had to do, via Mexi-
co City. I think it is as important, and
most important in’ fact, that we have
this direct service between Canada and
Havana as we have between Canada

Imports of Canadian cattle has helped Cuban farmers to increase their
output of meat and dairy products. Photo shows some of these cattle on the
Rosario People’s Farm in the Pinar del Rio province.

and other countries in the Carribean.

How about trade?

Magnuson: There is no question
about the Cubans wanting to increase
their trade with Canada. I think thé
problem is here in our country. Cana-
da has done some trading with Cuba
particularly in ‘supplying her with
cattle. We were able to see some of
the Holstein bulls that had come from
Canada. They were very fine animals.
It is a very good thing that Canada
has done this and to that extent has
broken down the isolation the U.S. is
trying to impose on Cuba. I think this
could be extended quite appreciably
and I’m sure the Cuban people and
the Cuban government would certain-
ly welcome it.

Brudy: While we were in Cuba we
found that the climate’ makes it as
close. to a Garden of Eden as one
could possibly find. We were told that
it is possible, for instance, to grow 11
alfafa crops in one year. We saw huge
areas of land being prepared for plant-
ing of vegetables like tomatoes and
others that Canada imports in great
quantity. It is quite possible for Can-
ada to develop trade with Cuba on
this type of produce as well as fruit.
They also can and preserve fruit. They
are also the worlds largest producer of
raw sugar and there is no reason why.
there couldn’t be a trade agreement
with Cuba on sugar that would be
satisfactory to both of us, because the
Cuban people need many of the manu-
factured items we can produce in this
country. There is an open market for
trade. There is no limit.

Is there anything you wish to add
from what you saw and heard in Cuba?

Magnuson: Cuba is a country where
people are very gay, where they love
music. The Cubans are great show
people and we visited some marvelous
places there that had been transform-
ed from gambling casinos and other
racketeering joints into new night
clubs, which now serve the ordinary
people. One of the amazing things

- about the visit, as far as I’m con-

cerned, was how the people visited
restaurants where they served the best
food, and how ordinary working people
brought their families along with them.
This would indicate to me they were
quite prepared to pay as much as $8.
per meal per person, which indicated
to us that they weren’t broke. They
had money and they are prepared to
spend it.

Brudy: The social and moral be-
havior of the people impressed us quite
strongly. Havana had been a real rough
and tumble night club and gambling
‘city, with gangsters controlling most
of the hotels and with all sorts of gang-
ster warfare. It was a city of prostitu-
tion. Yet in the many days we spent
in Havana we never saw one person
drunk on the streets or anywhere. We
walked the streets of old Havana with-
out any fear of being molested, attack-
ed or robbed. This has been brought
about by the people themselves, main-
ly through the people’s militia, who
protect the order of their city and
their country.

Magnuson: There is one point to add
here. There are no poor people in Cuba.
There are no poorly dressed children.
There is a happiness that you can see
and feel wherever you go. There is
good organization. We saw, for ex-
ample, a New Year's dinner served to
some 186,000 people in the open. It
took 200 men and 2,000 trucks later
to remove the tables and chairs. There
is no question about it: the efficient
way this was carried out showed us
there is a -participation by people in
what is attempted, and what is being
done, that sometimes staggers the
imagination,

| February 10, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 9