KENNEDY TO LIFT BLOCKADE BECAUSE OF HURRICANE
In a three-hour radio speech October 21, Fidel Castro appealed to the Kennedy Administration to lift the economic blockade on Cuba for reasons of humanity so that the devastated country can turn to the staggering job of reconstruction after the worst hurricane in history.
Castro did not ask for assistance from the United States, "What we. only ask," he said, "is that they cease a blockade on a country which has suffered a disaster of this kind,"
Castro said that the number of known dead was l, 157, He revealed that "starvation killed as many persons as floods" following the hurricane,
'‘hverywhere there is utter destruction" the Cuban revolutionary leader continued, "Virtually every family in Oriente Province has lost someone. Almost all roads and railroads there are destroyed.
"The amount of damage is not. known, A census is under way to determine it, Highty per cent of the fruit in the stricken area was lost. Livestock losses have not been determined, Entire herds perished, Half the coffee crop was lost, Sugar cane was damaged greatly. Cotton suffered greatly." oo
A total of 11,105 homes were destroyed, 21,248 others damaged,
In appealing to Washington to lift the blockade exercized by the _ world's richest, strongest and most arrogant country against the tiny, stricken island, Castro spoke with great moral authority. Despite the difference in economic systems, his government was the first to rally to the help of Chile when that country was devastated a few years ago by a series of earthquakes. The Cubans sent millions of dollars worth of sup-~ plies to the éarthquake victims.
Kennedy did not wait long to display how well a pious Christian imperialist statesman knows how to respond to an appeal to humanitarian feelings. On October 23 an obscure State Department spokesman was assigned to release a statement to the press:
. "Qur policies toward the Castro regime have been determined by its Communist character, its hostility toward the United States, and its efforts to overthrow other governments in the hemisphere .by violence, terror and subversion, As long as the Cuban Government chooses to follow this aggressive course, it leaves us no choice but to maintain our present economic controls,
The brutal statement, turning down Castro's appeal, also reminded the press that the American Red Cross had made an offer of disaster relief after the hurricane which was rejected by the Cuban government.
(When the Red Gross offer was publicized, Castro made the following statement: "The aid that we have refused is the aid of the Yankee imperialists., This was unhappy for them, because they would have liked to appear generous, offering a little mercurochrome to the country in which they have provoked damage infinitely above that of the hurricane Flora, They have not yet paid the $10,000,000 they owe in indemnification for the prisoners of Playa Girén.")
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The Cuban embassy in Paris has issued the following statement: “A11 persons or institutions desiring to send help to the victims in Cuba can use the following address: Harold Gramatges, compt bancaire au profit des sinistrés de Cuba, No, 4675, Banque Commerciale pour ltHurope du Nord, 21 rue de ltarcade, Paris 8."
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