Return of the Firing Squad

The U.S. went before the United Na tions last week to set the record straight on Fidel Castro's "malicious innuendoes and distortions of history" in his 4 1/2-hour harangue before the world body last month. In a 10,000-word paper, each of Castro's 19 major complaints was thoroughly answered. To Castro's charge that the capitalist U.S. "cannot propose a plan for public investment," the U.S. replied that it "contributes more to economic development of other countries than any other government in the world . . ." To his complaint that the U.S. shelters war criminals, it answered that great numbers have indeed fled Castro's Cuba, but "they do not enjoy protection against criminal charges of murder or any other extraditable crime."

Trial by Night. As the U.S. answered Castro's shrill accusations, it got some backing from an unexpected source. In Manhattan, Ambassador Teresa Casuso, a longtime friend of Castro's, and Cuba's alternate U.N. delegate, announced bitterly that she had resigned. Said Casuso: "Castro talks in the name of liberating us, but he is a dictator."

The words gained special force last week in the news from Cuba itself. In Santiago, Antonio Zarba, 28, of Somerville, Mass., and 20 Cubans captured after landing on the northeast coast of Oriente province (see map) went on trial before an army tribunal. The next morning Zarba and seven men were dead, gunned down on an army rifle range near San Juan Hill. The remaining 13 drew prison terms up to 30 years. In Santa Clara another 200 rebels, rounded up in the Sierra Escambray, got an equally swift trial: less than five minutes per man. Verdicts: death for five, jail terms up to 30 years for most of the rest. At week's end two more U.S. survivors of the Oriente landing were captured.

Castro's capture of the 200-odd oppositionists will hurt but will probably not destroy anti-Castro resistance in Cuba. For nearly a year, disillusioned rebels have been drifting back to the hills. They are still unorganized, have no unified chain of command. But last week 500 to 800 men were still in the Escambray, operating in loose guerrilla fashion. And there are other, smaller groups in Pinar del Rio, in Matanzas and in Las Villas provinces.

Morro Flight. The dozen underground civic resistance groups of a few months ago are only now beginning to shake down into two major movements: the Democratic Revolutionary Front, headed by oldtime Autentico Politico Manuel ("Tony") Varona, and the younger, more aggressive People's Revolutionary Movement (MRP) of Manolo Ray, 34, Castro's former Public Works Minister. The Front operates from Miami. But the MRP is headquartered in Havana, where Ray, who went underground Aug. 23, is setting up an organization. A few weeks ago he put his engineer's brain to planning a jailbreak from Havana's Morro Castle of 15 imprisoned followers of Major Huber Matos, himself in jail for outspoken antiCommunism. It came off perfectly; last week the 15 made it to Key West.

As Castro's troubles increased, the U.S. pondered ways to put a crimp in the Castro war machine. The U.S. plans an embargo on certain exports, in the name of "economic self-defense." Specifically, the U.S. is increasingly concerned at the vast arms depots (mostly from Belgium and Czechoslovakia) collecting in Cuba, far more than necessary for the island's own self-defense. It therefore wants to limit Cuba's access to such paramilitary items as auto and aircraft parts, tires, tools, special chemicals, oil-cracking catalysts, etc. It will not issue a blanket embargo (food and medicines will be exempt), but will draw up a list of restricted items, hoping by that means to discourage Castro from launching or backing any further Communist-style adventures in the Caribbean.

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