Mot, ©, No, 7 February 14, 1964
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(Civil Rights in the U.S.) -=- By Evelyn Sell. . Meee ulcide? . ...«.«see«¢see ee wp ewes
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THE NEW CRISIS OVER CUBA
By Joseph Hansen
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This time-the crisis did not escalate over rockets capable of carrying nuclear warheads, All that was involved was four small fishing boats working the waters of the Gulf of Mexico,
Yet the Johnson administration frothed at the mouth as if the fate of American capitalism hinged on what the Cubans might happen to hook.
On February 1 the Cape Knox sighted the four Cuban boats and let them proceed into what the captain held were American territorial waters although the fishermen were a good seven and a half miles oute side the three-mi le Limit off the Dry Tortugas,
On the following day, bolstered by reinforcements, the naval vessel ordered the Cubans to
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proceed to Key West. There they were intensively interrogated by federal authorities for three whole days, Nothing could be found against them,
Instead of releasing the Cubans, however, as roquired by international law, the federal agents turned them over to Florida authorities who at once charged them with "fishing without a license" in "Florida waters." The alleged infraction concerns a law passed last year specifically against the Cubans, since it bars them from obtaining the demanded licenses,
The arbitrariness of the whole procedure is sufficiently exposed by the fact that Florida claims its territorial waters extend beyond those of the United States It thus challenges the sovereignty of the federal government,
In face of this flagrant breach of international law, the Cuban government announced it would no longer supply water to the Guantanamo naval base, Washington then chose to interpret this as a provocation and virtual threat to engage in war with the United States,
What has put the nerves of the Johnson administration so much on edge? . Is it just election maneuvers?
The correct answer is to be found in the bankruptcy of the policy of seeking to bring down the Castro government by an economic blockade. The blockade was never successful, A month ago it was dealt a major blow when a British bus manufacturer decided to sell 1,450 buses, plus spare parts, to the Cuban government, The deal went through despite angry pressure from the State Department on the British government, [See World Outlook January 17.]
The nice piece of change in sight for the stockholders of the Leland Motor Corp. whetted other appetites. French industrialists complained to de Gaulle that the British had beaten them out of needed sales because of French insistence on cash. De Gaulle was responsive and the French government advanced credits to meet the competition, As a result Berliet sold Cuba 300 heavy trucks for $10,000,000. Another important order was won by Continental for caterpillar-type tractors, ‘In addition, Le Monde [February 9-10] reported that twenty or thirty heavy-duty Diesel electric locomotives will be sold to Cuba, Other - contracts are being negotiated. Even the Spanish capitalists are showing impatience over restraints on their selling fishing boats to Cuba.
The Cubans are actively following up this opening, They are teportedly establishing an important economic mission in Brussels.
Was Johnson's course simply a display of petulant rage? In Texas style did he turn on the weak Cubans because the European competitors of Wall Street have grown bolder about hunting for markets for surplus products since the U.S. began selling surplus wheat to the USSR? Or was it a sinister move toward again tightening military pressures on the valiant Cubans? We will not have long to wait for the answer.
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8,000 PHEASANTS SEIZE LAND IN PERU
A thirty-day "state of siege" was declared in Cuzco province February 5 when local authorities failed to oust some 8,000 peasants from ancestral lands they occupied at Sicuani on January ot
On February, 4, it was reported, 17 persons were killed and 27 wounded. when some 40 police sought to dispossess the peasants. Most of the victims were women, according to Lima newspapers,
A February 6 dispatch from Lima said that the Belarinde government was rushing: troops to the area,
An official communiqué, February 6, claimed that the police were moving into the properties involved, when they were “attdcked" by thousands of peasants who went after the government forces with rocks and sticks. The police suffered 17 wounded. They then opened fire on the peasants, Some 30 persons were arrested and held for military trial,
The government claimed that the movement of the peasants onto the land and their resistance to the police "were part of a plan in the province of Cuzco, plotted and directed completely by extremist Com-~ munist elements to disturb law and order and create chaos,”
Minister of State Juan Languasco also said that guns made in Czechoslovakia, sold by military authorities in Bolivia, had been found in the hands of rebels at Puno, Six or seven persons, he said, had been arrested in connection with the affair.
The disturbances in the Andes offer fresh testimony to the rise in unrest smong the peasants of Peru; ~ ~~
Recently they organized a one-day general strike in Cuzco, Peruts second city, as a demonstration to back the demand for the release of Hugo Blanco, the Trotskyist peasant leader held in prison, at Arequipa. [See World dut look January 3.1