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