THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1966
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
rAt E SEVEN
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1,19(18 TUE MICHIGAN DAILY PAC~ ~J!vK?'J
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South Viet Nam's
Army Desertions
To Decrease As Result of Ky Law
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SAIGON (A) - Desertions from
South Viet Nam's 705,000-man
armed forces are running nearly
20 per cent ahead of last year. A
total of 67,000 members of the
regular army, regional and pop-
ular forces walked out in the
first six months of 1966.
Premier Nguyen Cao Ky's gov-
ernment expects, however, to re-
duce desertions through a new
law imposing severe punishment
and other measures improving the
lot of the Vietnamese serviceman.
If the desertions continue at
the same rate in the second half
of the year, the total number will
be 21,000 more than the 1965 fig-
ure of 113,000.
The biggest single brake on de-
sertions is expected to be Decree
Law 15, which was put into effect
Aug. 1. Officials say the impact
of the stringent new decree should
be known by November.
It imposs a minimum punish-
ment of five years at hard labor
for ordinary desertion. Depend-
ing upon the circumstances, a de-
serter could be given up to a life
sentence at hard lebar and, if he
deserts in the face of the enemy
or to the Communist side, his sen-
tence would be death.
A man will be declared a desert-
er after he has been absent from
his unit for 15 days-compared
with 30 days in the U.S. Army.
Even before the new decree went
into effect, official figures showed
a sizable drop in the desertion
rate in July. Authorities refused
to speculate whether the drop
was a seasonal one or a trend.
The rate reached a peak of 23.5
desertions per 1000 men in the
regular army last March at the
height of unrest in the northern
provinces. It dropped to 12.6 deser-
tions per 1000 in July.
Prodded by U.S. advisors, South
Vietnamese officials attacked the
desertion problem by trying to
improve morale.
In July, the government grant-
ed a 30 per cent pay increase to
servicemen to cope with the rising
cost of living. More recently, it
stepped up the rate of promotions,
incrased the ration allowance
and began improving medical, pos-
tal, school and post exchange serv-
ices.
One step considered a major
breakthrough is commissioning of-
ficers from the ranks. The South
Vietnamese army expects to pro-
mote 250 non-commissioned men
to officer rank by the end of this
year,
Military authoritis concede that
some deserters go over to the Viet
Cong but insist that the major-
ity return home or seek better
paid civilian jobs.
Regulations have been tight-
ened to prevent deserters or draft
dodgers from being employed by
civilian American contractors or
by the U.S. and Vietnamese gov-
ernments.
Deserters from the regional forc-
es often return to the war afe
a visit with their families.
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YOUTHS PRIME TARGET:
Castro Regime Enticing Tour
Visitors, Boost Public Image
HAVANA (P)-The Fidel Castro
regime ais actively courting non-
Communist visitors to this Com-
munist island, offering them ex-
pense-paid tours and red-carpet
treatment.
It'is getting a lot of takers,
Technical experts, intellectuals,
college students, teachers, show-
business personalities, newspaper-
men and organized groups from
Western countries are invited here
for special events or one of num-
erous conferences and celebrations.
Theyare "given the opportunity
to learn about Cuba and its peo-
ple," in the words of government
officials.I
Invited guests get the best of
hospitality. Thy travel in air-con-
ditioned cars or special airplanes
to the interior of the country and
are meticulously shown achieve-
ments in education, public health,
industry, agriculture' and other
fields.
Visiting newsmen are given spe-
cial audiences with Castro and
other officials. These men rarely
receive resident foreign corres-
pondents.
The government minces no
words about its principal aim:
good publicity.
Castro's propaganda machine
exploits to the full every word of
gratitude and praise uttered by
the "friendly foreigner."
Cuba also has its own share of
travelers, too.
It has 2100 "becarios" or schol-
arship studnts studying in six
Communist countries, some for as
long as five or six years. Students
and "hero workers," such as out-
standing cutters of sugar cane,
are rewarded with trips to East
European countries for short study
periods or vacations.
Ministry of Education statistics
show that the scholarship stu-
dents, divided into collectives, are
studying, in the Soviet Union,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland,
East Grmany and Bulgaria.
About 650 recently arrived home
on vacation after two years of
study. They've been undergoing in-
doctrination on their behavior and
attitude overseas.
They were told at a Havana con-
ference that "construction" of the
Young Communists Union would
begin within their, ranks during
the coming school year.
The Young Communists' head,
Jaime Crombet, criticized some of
the students for "incorrect com-
portment," saying they had "com-
mitted serious errors such as copy-
ing in examinations; maintaining
aloofness; exaggerating; and man-
ifsting extravagance, superficiality
and favoritism."
He also accused some of them
of "philosophically defending neg-
ative conceptions, unworthy of a
revolutionary youth who repre-
sents a country such as Cuba in
a foreign land."
WELCOME
Cuban Vigilantes Active
In Community Areas
Uof
M.
Students
HAVANA (m}--Cuba's once-fear-
ed neighborhood vigilante com-
mittees are active now in propa-
ganda, public health, education
and rent collection campaigns.
The Committee for the Defense
of the Revolution, said to com-
pris about one-fourth of Cuba's
more than 7% million people, has
taken on many of the revolution's
"housekeeping" Jobs.a
During the Fidel Castro regime's
incubation period, they were re-
sponsible for sending many of
their neighbors to death before
firing squads by fingering them.
With a committee in virtually
every block in every community,
they still keep track of every resi-
dent, do guard duty night and
day, and keep an eye on any ac-
tivity, unusual movement, or vis-
itor.
But over the years they've in-
creasingly assumed the more pro-
saic duties of distributing ration
books, conducting evening classes
for the illiterate, turning out peo-
pie for inoculation campaigns,
goading citizens into paying their
rent, supervising "volunteer" farm
work on Sundays and generally
carrying the revolution's propa-
ganda messages.
The organization was founded
by Prime Minister Castro as "a
system of collective vigilance to
keep the country safe from its
attacks."
Now the committees are instru-
mental, by their very presence, in
keeping down any type of orga-
nized resistance to the regime.
They direct citywide cleanup and
beautifying campaigns and con-
struction of children's play-
grounds. They take charge of blood
donation drives, enroll children in
school and drum up interest in
Communist rallies-all the while
busily recruiting nw members.
MICH IGAN'S Wolverines - Michigan's
famous Marching Band-The.
Victors-
State Street-The
League-The Union
DIAMOND RINGS
~schan2derer
AD 1 A SO. tHI4Ar4
--all
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traditions of
a great
University.
GREENE'S CLEANERS is a tradition,
too. For
forty - one
years
GREENE'S CLEANERS have
given the best in dry cleaning and shirt launder-
ing to thousands of Michigan students. In fact,
many alumni around the country still send gar-
ments to us for special cleaning services.
In Ann Arbor, GREEN E'S have four convenient
locations and six routes to service the quad-
MI.
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You can SEE The Michigan Daily
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You can GET a five-cent Coke
At:
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Tuesday, September 6, 4:15 P.M.
or Wednesday, September 7, 4:15 P.M.
420 Maynard Street
(behind the Administration Building)
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rangles,
apartments and rooming houses. At the infor-
mation desks in all quads and dorms you will
find a GREENE'S card to fill out and attach to
dormitories, ,sororities, fraternities
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ind a place to
daily pick-up
service. There is no additional charge for pick-up
and delivery.
THE PICK-UP AND DELIVERY SERVICE on dry
cleaning and shirt lanudering takes three days.
For same-day service, take your garments to any
of GREENE'S cleaning plants.
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