Fidel's Answer

Fidel Castro could have pretended to ignore the anti-Cuban resolution written in Costa Rica by OAS diplomats, because it did not specify Cuba by name. Instead he chose to strike his favorite defiant, heroic pose and staged a whirlwind week of speeches, each more frenzied and more sinister than the last. The climax was a massive demagogic stunt: an invitation to all Cubans (who have no representative government) to take part in a "People's Assembly" in Havana's Civic Plaza, where, in the style of the French revolutionary terror, they could roar approval of proposed new measures.

At noonday all Havana closed down. Supporters were trucked in from the countryside to join Habaneras who were given a half-holiday for a "Date with the Fatherland." After the standard delay, during which the crowd of 300,000 sharpened its appetite by shouting "Fidel, give it to the Yankees," Castro arrived. He shouted to the mob, which he called "this free and sovereign assembly," that "no nation of Latin America tas dared to have diplomatic relations with the Popular Republic of [Communist] China. The Revolutionary Government wishes to ask the people if it wants to establish relations." The chant rose: "Si, si, si." Said Castro: "We herewith break relations with the puppet regime of Chiang Kai-shek."

Clapping a floppy peasant straw hat on his head, Castro made a pass at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo, saying that if the U.S. continues trying to "ruin our economy we will demand withdrawal of their forces." But he added that since the "dou ble dealing" State Department was looking for "a pretext to bloody our homeland" his government "will never attack the base." In the wake of Cuba's newest seizures of U.S. property, including the 13-store, $5,000,000 Minimax supermarket chain and three rubber plants worth $25 million under way, Castro announced that the remaining U.S. holdings (valued at $275 million) would be held in reserve for expropriation in case of "future U.S. economic aggression."

For a climax, Castro held up a copy of the 1952 Cuba-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty. He roared that "by the sovereign will of the Cuban people, this treaty is annulled." Then, while the mob bawled its approval, he tore it up. For good measure he ripped in two a copy of the week-old Costa Rican declaration. From Russia came support. Said Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko: "The Soviet people are enthusiastic about the courageous struggle the Cuban peopie are waging."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.