Norma lizing
Us.
- Cubo
the
relations:
Castro,
Cab dn
Robin
Hood
By PAUL O'DONNELL
AIX-EN-PROVENCE, FRANCE:
"Poor Mexico," goes an oft-quoted Lat-
ing American proverb, "so far from
God and so close to the United States."
This sad statement about America's
southern neighbor could be applied, and
perhaps with greater significance, to
Cuba, the forbidden island nation ninety
miles south of Florida. Just as Mexico
has often during its history suffered
the consequences of her powerful neigh-
bor's territorial expansion (wars, terri-
torial losses), Cuba has long felt the
effects of American economic influence
and military intervention in L a t i n
America.
In the past decade, the most import-
ant economic measure taken against
Cuba is the trade embargo and diplo-
matic isolation imposed upon the small
island nation over ten years ago. This
measure was adapted by most Latin
American nations at the time, and has
been observed by most of the involved
nations until relatively recently. Over
the past year, and especially since Nix-
on's departure, numerous indications
have been given by both Washington
and Havanna that the economic and dip-
lomatic rift between the two nations
is about to end.
The Bitish historian Hugh Thomas sees
all of Cuban history as a "struggle for
freedom": against slavery, agaisnt col-
onialism, against economic domination
by the U.S., and against cruel and cor-
rupt dictators. Fidel Castro, the Cuban
lawyer who took arms against the dic-
tator Fulgencio Batista, was one of those
who, like Jose Marti, risked his life for
the freedom and dignity of the Cuban
people. Fidel, it must be remembered,
was not always a symbol of international
communism and an enemy of America.
In the early days of his struggle, he
was supported by a large part of the
American public and sectors of the
American liberal press; a decisive factor
in his success was the help of the Cuban
middle classes who were ready to over-
throw a corrupt regime.
THE EVOLUTION of Cuban-American
relations between the time when he was
considered a kind of Cuban Robin Hood,
fighting in the tropical jungles to estab-
lish democracy in dictatorial Cuba, and
the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, offers
an interesting background to the cur-
rent situation: thirteen years after the
CIA-planned invasioin, the two nations
seem ready for some kind of reconcilia-
tion.
Cuba under Batista
In 1944, Fulgencio Batista, a profes-
sional military man with connections in
the American underworld, lost his bid
for the Cuban presidency and retired
from politics by moving to Florida. His
absence from the Cuban political scene
wasn't long, however, in 1952, he deposed
the elected president by a military coup
and took over, to the satisfaction of
many economic interests. Some histor-
ians describe pre-revolutionary Cuba as
the vice capital of Latin America; one
Spaniard who was on the scene described
the situation more bluntly: "Havanna
was," he said, "the whorehouse of the
Caribbean." Statistics show that before
the revolution Havana offered 270 official
whorehouses and thousands of bars whose
waitresses specialized in occasional pros-
titution. On a political level, Havana
was perhaps even more sordid: the re-
gime's police were experts in torture,
castration, and execution. The aforemen-
tioned Spanish observer had these com-
ments: "there were times when y o u
could see cadavers lined up on the side-
walks of Havana, killed by Batista's
police . . . everybody knew a change had
to come."
THESE WERE the conditions in which
Fidel Castro began his guerilla w a r
against the dictatorship. There were,
however, other interests who wished to
control economy, and other reasons for
Cuba's misery besides Batista's corrup-
tion. In 1958, American businessmen con-
trolled 90 per cent of the country's
mines, 40 per cent of the sugar industry,
80 per cent of the public services, and
50 per cent of the railroad industry. Cas-
for his cause, Castro, with the help of
'Che" Guevara, landed with a small
guerilla army (the Granma expedition)
and began the struggle which will end
two years later by a revolutionary vic-
tory.
DURING THIS time, Fidel and his
supporters were visited by American
journalist Herbert Matthews whose arti-
cles appeared in the New York Times
and in Paris-Match. During the f i r s t
week of 1959, after the departure of
Batista, Castro, Che and the revolution-
ary forces made their triumphial en-
try into Havana. From this time on,
U.S.-Cuban relations began to change;
in the course of this period between
Fidel's victory and the Bay of Pigs
invasion, the bearded revolutionary
changes in the eyes of the American
public from being a Cuban Robin Hood
and defender of democracy, into a Com-
munist dictator.
Castro the "Commie"
One historical debate which remains
unresolved is whether or not Castro
was a Marxist, and whether or not he
had even read Marx, when he began his
guerrilla war against Batista. Spanish
journalist Jaume Miravitlles, who claims
to have "lived very close to the pro-
cess of the Cuban revolution," gives this
perspective about Fidel: "In an inter-
view with New York Times writer Her-
bert Matthews, whom I met as a fore-
ign correspondent in Barcelona during
the Spanish Civil War, Fidel declared
that his three heroes were Jesus Christ,
Lincoln, and Roosevelt . . . (Later), I
participated in the organization of Cas-
tro's visit to New York. They had to
rent huge rooms, because the confer-
ence room of the (Overseas Press) Club
was too small for the number of people
who wished at attend (. . .) In his
speech, Castro reaffirmed the democrat-
ic essence of his political leanings and
his friendship with the United States
(. . .) The honeymoon lasted only a
few months . . . the island's interior
situation deteriorated rapidly due to
Castro's lack of political program, not
due to America's economic boycott,
which did not then exist (. . .) The
Communist Party adopted a new posi-
tion: convinced that the people were
with Castro, they gave him their full
support and tried to radicalize his pro-
gram. It was then that Castro rejected
Christ, Lincoln, and Roosevelt, and de-
clared that ever since his childhood he
had been a fan of Marx."
I MAINTAIN, however, that it is not
just a case of a man who, as historian
Hugh Thomas put it, 'betrayed his revo-
lution, like Lenin and so many others,"
Sources more favorable to Castro look
at it differently: "The program present-
ed by Castro in his "History will acquit
me" speech stayed within the frame-
work of democratic demands (. . .) but
every reform clashed with the Ameri-
can economic interests, and was rooted
in a tradition of national struggle sym-
bolized by the two wars for independ-
ence." The original revolutionary pro-
gram, which envisioned total ag'rarian
reform and nationalization, was destin-
ed to conflict with multinational corpora-
tions and international capitalism. The
broad premises of this program were
socialist in concept, if not in name.
An examination of certain events which
took place between Fidel's victory in
January, 1959, and January, 1961, when
Cuba and America broke off their dip-
lomatic relations, provides a more con-
crete picture of the "collision course"
between Fidel's program and American
financial interests.
1959
January 1-7: Batista flees, Che, Camil-
io Cienfuegos, and Fidel enter Havana
at the head of their armies.
January 17: Fidel becomes Prime Min-
ister.
April: Fidel visits New York and
Washington, and declares "We are not
Communists," and reaffirms his friend-
See CASTRO'S, Page 9
Paul O'Donnell is a European Corres-
pondent for The Daily. He is studying in
Aix-en-Provence, France.
AP Photo
DURING A PERIOD of Soviet Union-Cuban rapprochement in 1961, Fidel Castro
greets first Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin at a reception in Havana in honor of
the Russian visitor. Castro and Gagarin swapped hats for this picture.
tro's attempts to end his country's eco-
nomic dependence on the U.S. would
be one of the causes of the U.S.-Cuban
conflict which began shortly after Cas-
tro's victory.
After the famous attack of Moncada
military base (Santiago-de-Cuba, July 26,
1953) which marked the beginning of
the revolution, Fidel was taken prison-
er. At his trial, he acted as his own
lawyer: the result was the historic
"History will acquit me" speeh, in
which Fidel exposed his origigal plan
for the revolution. On the basis of this
speech, which as one Spanish writer
put it "borrowed much from chemically
pure liberal thought and very little from
Karl Marx," many historians base their
claim that Castro was not a communist
when he began the revolution. Whe-
ther he was Marxist or not, his capac-
ities were underestimated by the Cuban
dictator Batista, who granted F i d e l
amnesty after less than two gears in
prison. Immediately after his release,
he left for Mexico where he prepared
for another attack. In 1956, after a trip
to the United States to collect funds
Eighty-four years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
.Animals thriving,
people
starving
I reed shortage as basically a poliical
Tuesday, December 10, 1974
News Phone: 764-0552
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104
By JERRY NANNINGA
WHAT STARTED out as feed-
ing the birds on Thanks-
giving, ended up as a shocking
discovery of the United States'
role in easing the world f o o d
shortage.
sAs I was feeding the birds,
I wondered to myself how many
people in the world were starv-
ing becase of food going to feed
pets. To answer this question,
I discovered that there are an
estimated 705 million pets in
this country.
Broken down, the pets are 40
million cats, 40 million dogs, 10
million other warm-blooded ani-
mals, and 600 million fish. In
1972, more than $4 billion was
spent on these pets. Of this
amount, $1.6 billion was spent on
pet food.
That amount deemed small to
me when compared to the an-
nual profits of Exxon, but then
I compared the $1.6 billion to
other food costs.
PET FOOD accounted for two
per cent of all grocery store
sales and four cents out of every
food dollar in 1972. United States
Agricultural Secretary Butz was
reported in the June 17th New
York Times as saying that the
U.S. expects to spend one bil-
lion dollars for aid to p ocer
nations this year. The monsy is
-
handled through the 20-year-old
Food Aid Program.
I found it hard to beli,:ve that
Americans could spend four
times more on pets than to feed
starving nations, so I looked up
some facts. According to the
Wall Street Tribune, the pet
food supply industry is grow ng
at a rate of 12 per cent each
year.
The total 1974 pet food sales
for Hartz Mountain, one of the
Firgest pet supply manufactur-
ers, is estimated at $2 21 bil-
lion.
I decided to check how these
figures held on the local 1rvel.
To do this, I talked to Howard
Weaver, owner of the Ann Arbor
Pet Supply at 1200 Packard.
WHEN I ASKED Mr. Weaver
how his pet food profits com-
pared to the 12 per cent na-
tionally he said, "It's gone up at
least that much."
Mr. Weaver did f el that n-
flation and the food shortage
have an affect on his sales, but
not necessarily a bad one.
"In the past year, the price of
dog food has doubled," said Mr.
Weaver.
When I asked Mr. Weaver if
this higher price affec'ed Fales,
he said, "I haven't Po'iced that
any fewer people are buying
dog food, but this may be be-
cause the sales reflect the high-
SENIOR CITIZENS'
ARTME
(ijo os oi
°E A +E.
~y
er prices."
The higher prices mean that
his store now sells about $300
of pet food a day. Mr. Weaver
was quick to point out, however,
that the majority of pet food is
sold in grocery stores. Pet foods
were a minor part of hi: busi-
ness.
MR. WEAVER told me that of
the pet food he did sell, it was
all nutritious. I followed this
up by checking the labels of both
dog food and human food.
Laws and regulations being
what they are, a hot dog that
meets federal requirements for
humans may not pass the stand-
ards for dogs. Ralph Nader
claims that there is less protein
and more fat in today's hot cog
than in those of the depression
35 years ago.
The law allows hot dogs to
include esophagi, lips, snouts
and ears. Sodium nitrike, which
is used to make the hot dog
look red, has been found to im-
pair the ability of an infant's
blood to carry oxygen. It is also
credited with causing cancer.
Traces of the 4-D animals
(dead, dying, diseased, and dis-
abled) are also to be found in
hot dogs.
Not only is dog food be:ter
for people than many of toe
foods humans eat, It is more ex-
pensive. I asked Mr. Weaver if
man ~ p . -
he thought inflation
had
people to eat dog fond. Ife re-
plied, "Not really. I think peo-
ple can find food cheaper in
the supermarkets."
I FOUND it hard to swaliow
that we give our dogs and
cats more expensive and nutri-
tious food than we feed ourselv-
es. What about all of those coun-
tries where people do not even
get a hot dog to eat?
Last March, Rockefeller Foun-
dation President Dr. J o h n
Knowles said that among the
2.5 billion people living in the
world's underdeveloped coun-
tries 60 per cent are malnour-
ished and 20 per cent are be-
lieved to be starving.
The Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace studied the
1973 relief efforts by the Unit-
ed States to help the Sahara
drought victims.
The study claims that gross
neglect and outright failures ac-
counted for the .leaths of more
than 100,000 people.
Instead of sending milk for the
starving children, tne U.3. sent
sorgum which was fit for cattle
feed. The United Sates knew a
drought was developing for five
years, yet no contingency plats
were drawn.
UNITED NATIONS Secretary
General Kurt Waldheim, after
visiting African last spring, says
thousands of people are dying
and the "worst is definitely not
over."
Last January, the U.N.'s
World Food Program set its
budget for thernext two years
at $440 million. Rev. Arthur Si-
mon, chairman of Aread for the
World, said that in terms of
food, the amount is less than
the previous period.
"Once again we face the irony
that cutbacks in food assistance
accompany the worst food short-
ages in two decades," he slid.
The United Nations finally de-
cided that the problem was so
bad that it held the World Food
Conference in Rome last mowh.
To find out the impact of this
conference, I talked to Peggy
Ravich, coordinator of U. of
M.'s Food Action Coalition.
Peggy feels that th World
Food Conference was good in
focsing attention on the food
problem, but will proe.ahssy he
ineffective. She sees the flod
problem.
"THE CONFERENCE was a
big power trip," 'Peggy said.
"To solve the problem, you'd
have to overturn all of t h e
countries. If the food was ds-
tributed equitably, there would
probably be enough."
Sometimes, disastrous results
happen when a government tries
to help a developing country.
"Developing countries a r e
taught to grow cash crops. That
gives them money, but no food
to buy with it," said Ms. Ra-
vich.
Just trying to control the pop-
ulation will not solve the prob-
lem either, Peggy feels. "In In-
dia, the people won't stop hav-
ing children until they arag iv-
en a guaranteetthat all of their
children will live. The mortality
rate has gone down, but the
impact of the mortality rate has
not affected the culture yet,"
she said.
Ms. Ravich feels that w3 must
first solve the national prob-
lems which affect the food sit-
uation. A variety of solutions
must then be integrated to solve
the problem.
THE FOOD ACTION Coalition
is participating in the national
Food Day next March to help
solve the food shortages.
Peggy pointed out the purpose
of Food Day to be to "bring
people with different ideas to-
gether. They rill ba able to talk
to each other."
Another purpose of Food Day
is to focus attention on the prob-
lem and educate reple on the
subject.
After speaking to Ms. Ravich,
I was reminded of a friend of
mine who is feeding birds as
part of an art project. Does
feeding the world lean stifng
art and nature? if An, what
would be the point in sawvng
people's lives?
Jerry Nanninga is a staff
writer for the Editorial dage,
and head honcho of the alleged
Gargoyle humor magazine. Any-
one who thinks they write fun-
ny is urged to contact him at
The Daily.
Photo by JAN BERRIS
Bring the propaganda home
ROBBEN FLEMING PROBABLY
doesn't know how funny he is.
The shock and dismay he expressed
at the political nature of the educa-
tion system in China must be tongue
in cheek, but he left unexploited all
the humorous potential of his mater-
ial.
Our own Cold Warrior is evidently
so out of touch with American edu-
cation that he does not realize that
many of the injustices of which he
complains are standard operating
procedure in every public school in
the continental U.S. and - dare I
say it?-at the Harvard of the West.
To wit: Mr. Fleming said prospec-
tive Chinese students "cannot get an
education unless they subscribe to
their (the government's) political
philosophy." In our country, is is
called Citizenship and we get grad-
ed in it in public school; later, it plays
a subtle, subjective role in academic
wind up losing temporary jobs in car
washes because they are "overeduca-
ted."
ANOTHER GEM from the Phlegm:
They "are told to study in 'X'
areas . . . with the primary function
of serving the people . . . at the end
of three years they are assigned a
job." Tragic. Students in America, on
the other hand, are told and counsel-
ed to study in certain areas; we call
this Tracking, or choosing a major.
Unfortunately, the primary function
of our study is to learn to sit still
and do busywork eight hours a day,
with indefinitely delayed gratifica-
tion; there is no gainful employment
waiting at the other end.
Perhaps the main reason I find Mr.
Fleming's remarks so snickerable is
a personal one; when I felt I was be-
ing denied a teaching certificate be-
cause of my vocal opposition to the
Vietnammwa rI r T mald to Mr. Flem-
40
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