Italian Socialist ("Nenni" ) party, accuses the Un ited States of preparing a new invasion of Cuba, _ Sergio De Santis, the journal's Latin-American specialist, charges that a systematic build up has begun for another counterrevolutionary attack on the island, .
The preparations were signalled, he says, by the landing of some fifty mercenaries in Las Villas province on June 20, According to De Santis this involved a direct CIA operation, rather than a foray under leadership of Cuban counterrevolutionaries,
He points out that the dispute between Miro Cardona, head of the Guban counterrevolutionary forces, and the Kennedy administration was not over whether or not another invasion should be prepared but over who should have final commana. iliro Cardona lost out in the dispute; the CIA since the .June 20 landing, the following incidents have occurred:
-- August 17. Bombing of the Bolivia sugar plant in Camaguey
-- August 20. Foray in Casilde harbor.
v- August 20, Firing of naval shells at Pinar del Rio installations,
-- Beginning of September. “Opérations by counterrevolutionary bands in Las Villas province. .
-- September 8, Bombing of Brasil sugar refinery at Canaguey.
-~ September 9, Forays of planes over Santiago de Cuba and Santa Clara,
These aggressive acts have been directed mainly at industrial objectives, Their aim, apparently, was to cut small arteries in the Cuban economy, already under extreme tension due to the imperialist blockade. At the same time they recall similar military forays in the summer and fen of 1962 which sought to probe and dislocate Cuban defensive potentia
"But to dislocate it for what purpose?" asks De. Santis. "In all. probability with a new invasion by mercenaries in mind, at present being prepared in various Central American countries like Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras,"
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“De Santis calls attention to the following facts:
(1) Nicaragua: This time the bulk of the counterrevolutionary forces — appear to be under training in Nicaragua rather than Guatemala, The site © is the province of Managua (both on the coast and on the beaches of the lake), and Jinotega. There is also great activity at the harbor of Puerto Cabezas, where Brigade 2506 took off during the 1961 invasion that was _ defeated at Playa Girdén,.. Tacho Somoza,. son of Nicaragua's notorious late dictator, appears to be in personal command, He is in constant consultation with anti-Castro Cuban leaders,
(2) Guatemala: The notorious Finca Helvetia, a former principal training ground, has not been put into operation. Some 400 "marines" are in training on the Pacific Coast, a couple of miles from San José harbor, In the tropical forests of Petén 1,000 counterrevolutionaries are training in guerrilla warfare. .
(3) Honduras: Counterrevolutionary forces are being trained in the Zamorano valley anc at Juticalpa as well as El Pariso.
(4) Costa Rica: Preparations here are less open, Training sites are located at EI Murcielago, a 30,000-acre hacienda owned by Tacho Somoza near the Nicaraguan border. A special camp for training in the use of military aircraft has been set up on a hacienda, El Viejo, owned by Hubert Federsfield, chief of the fascist Movimiento Costa Rica Libre,
(5) Dominican Republic: The military triumvirate that overthew the~liberal-bourgéois Bosch government has queried the CIA semiofficially about putting some territory at the disposal of Cuban counterrevolutionary com- mandos, Up to now the CIA does not appear to have responded.
Logistic support for another invasion also appears to be in active preparation in Panama and Puerto Rico,
. Some people argue that these preparations are being undertaken against the will of the Kennedy administration, This is not very likely, De Santis holds, The State Department, the Pentagon and the CIA would scarcely permit a group of exiles to carry on such activities unless they were regarded benevolently. Secondly, the governments involved are well-known — satellites of U.S. imperialism who would hesitate about such operations unless they saw a green light in Washington, Finally, the preparations fit in with the need of the Democratic party in next yearts election to counter Republican propaganda about "softness on Cuba,"
De Santis concludes as follows:
- "Cuba is going through the most critical period of its existence today, especially after the erratic course of hurricane Flora which in four days took innumerable victims and caused hundreds of millions of. dollars worth of damage. It is not realistic to believe that humanitarian considerations would keep the counterrevolutionaries or the U.S. government (which has already refused to ease the blockade) from trying to exploit this situation in order to strike what in its eyes must look like a finishing blow. It is just possible that the tragic situation would cause the
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CIA to somehow postpone an operation which today would put the 'glorious freedom fighters! in the position of jackals amid ruins, But what about the situation some months from now when the unstable memory of public opinion begins to forget the desperate situation in which Flora plunged the island? Some voices say that the date for the attack (the first half of 1964) has already been irremediably set by the United States, But the outcome of the operation cannot be foreseen by the White Eouse with great certainty because it will depend above all upon the Cubans themselves, ~ upon. help from the socialist camp and upon the capacity of the peoples of . the whole world to react," a