14-00000 o . =? ~ e : . aed eo: wi ie the Cuban rtp te International Suger Council..I was ‘able. a observe. at 8 some of + blems fae the. Gib : Some observations follow! a acing an sugar industry.” : Intestin dona i .  H is well known thet: ‘all -eoutries that diport or produee ugar ang . efforta towards reaching a long-term: Sugar Agreemsnt that. would eotabL lize solve the critical situation in the world market of over-gupply and low price, ‘Castro's. stand to that respect haa been to boycott and undermine such efforts. This has been clearly reflected in Castro's refusal to participate in the | varievs work groups that have been created for that purpose under the sponsor= | ahip. of the Secretary General of WeTaD, Dr. Raul Prebish. co ne 2 a a eee en ome _— oo. - Castro believes -that by not participeting in efforts to reach a Sugar f= |  * greenant he can cause the collapse of the sugar industries in the less efficient | an _ producer éountries. in ‘order to bring economic hardship to those countries in La= . . tin America to which sugar exports are important. Castro's ultimte end, of ta course, ie to. canse internal digturbances in these countries and ‘thus to ripen. : them for Castro-comuiist subversion; “This has béen a boomerang to Cuba, The a hoped-for econanic disaster in the Latin American nations hag not oscured, Ine ; stead, 1% is occurring in Cuba, Tha régime ia unable to méet ite announcéd — goals (the geal for the sugar year 1966 was 6,500,000 tons whereas 4,455,255 = were actually harvested), To move its sugar, Cuba has been forced to grant spe~ . - Cial discounts, for exatiple to Japan, and to Great Britain. This further com an pounds the shaotic | éconémic situation in Cuba as the country ébtaingd even less os per pound that. the current low price of 2014 , _ Bet, The ‘blows received ‘by Cuba's sugar economy from the ‘hurricanes and droughte -_ wre Tee are nothing compared. to the damage caused by the improvisation and incompetensy = ~~. -.- - of those who today mismanage our country's affairs. The shortage of manpower - ~ for cutting the cane, the enlistment of. inexperience? *yelunteer" cané cutters, . the failure of .coibine mehines from the USSR, and the deteriorating situation in the transportation of the cane crown the existing economic anarchy. ‘ foo The régime hae ‘been committed by Castro to preduce 10,009,000 tons of sugar _ : _,. - 4a 1970, which figure sugar economists in and out of Cuba agree is most unlikely, mo - However, the attempt to‘reach this goal is resulting in activities that amount Po *. to economic suicide. Cuba is buying generators in England costing more than one ae million dollars which will be used to provide power for the "Centres de Acepioe® Ses (reception centers), The concept of these centers was tried many years ago in oe Cuba ani discarded as both inefficient and uneconomical, There is no reason te ae believe that anything has happened that will change this. So, what todo with i. _ the generators? Qne might conclude a discussion of Cubata sugar problems with the observa- : tion that nevar before in Cuba's economie history has so mch discussion, so : many speeches, and so mich activity resulted in such a loss of effectivenssa. Dy
14-00000 2, L & sg thy aie Coniuniste. due to lack of fertilizers and the necessary Cares | - such a specialized work, -, Industrial. lanes: , ; 7 7 ae - - . essary aging. brands have been changed and altered, ~ &£ @ TOBACCO - = I was associated with the tobacco exporting enterprise (Empresa CUBATAB A= CO) for four years ittclucing three yoars as Assistant “anager. I am happy te mike ny first hand knowledge ‘available. ’ Thig. Apdustry ke another example of ‘the adnintetrative clumsinese of the Cnce the-second industry of Cuba, and the source. of great prestige ~..... - for our couritry, it seems to be doomed to total destruction since the Communist régime took control of it. Leaf tobacco production has declined by over 30% comparing the 1965 figure (32,000 M.T.) with the traditional production of over 45,000 M.T. yearly, bast tobacco ficlds of the famed Vuelta jbajo zone, which gave the best wrapper in the world, have experienced a sharp decline of over 706 in yield ar quality, . +e ene Martd vases L About 208 of the plantations are affected by the bug, as the fields and : ~ curing sheds are not sprayed. The INR\ polley of very low prices paid and lack , of incentives givén to the most efficient producers has forced the producers to divert their lands. to less risky and more profitable crops. This is particular ly true. of the Remed tos and Cabaigudn zones, Peasants trained in tobacco graw= ing have. been absorbéd - by cane groving areas in order to remedy the critical minpover situation in the latter, but at the expense of inflicting grave damage to the tobacto . economy,. This has brought the incorporation of "volunteer" worke =~ = 7 [ ers to the cropping of the leaf, which workers, due to their inexperience in break the leaf, with. the resulting damage to its quale Sat ; . <r eater ity. a 7 Pete RN Seon we . . k ’ The industrial phase of the tobacco Sodustey has not been better off, and: in our opinion 4t has been the one that has suffered most from the inconpetency - of the régine, The guality, presentation, and production volume of Cuban cigars ~ has been seriously affected, not only as fer as production for national consump. tdori is concerned, but also as regards the portion designed for export. It would ‘be endless to ‘list the wronge that have been done, but they may be outlined thus? 1) Loss of quality due to the use of raw leaf tobacco and without the ‘De6~ -2) Failure to deliver to foreign customers due to thé lack of internsdiate materiale to finish the product, such as? aluminum tubes for Packaging these cigars, aluminum cases, holders, rings, cedar boxes, ete. 3) Continuous complaints are received from foreign taporters, eve to the detection of high percentage of wormed cigars. TH sine eran calnaeere cos agecaeonen gt mmr cemanens saa 4) The traditional blends that gave charactor to each of the traditional which has resulted in the imaginable loss of quality and prestige. & X
14-00000 in the. bietery of our “country. institute progeedings to recover-damages from the Poles. {50,000 which was accepted. - $= 5) Incorpsration of inexperienced personnel to the. preparation of nate "Regalia", (top-quality, hand-made) cigars, which affects the finish of the hande ierafting cigars-with the result that undersized, oversized, or too- heavy ofgare: ’ afe produced. These- and. tany other irregularitios take place ‘today in our tidustey, without. failing. te -mention that tho climax of all this eltuation is caused -by the lack-of cigars fer national - ‘consumption, The Cuban Communist régime faces -groat difficulties in.its offorte to mke " dollars through tobacco exports, and come of them have boen pointed out already. Nevertheless, I believe that tho chief trouble io represonted by the-mre ket linitatione euffered by Cuban tobacco today. Castro has been unable to con= vines hig Iren Curtain "{rienda".to purchase the volume that was formerly ab-. a6rbed by the U.f.. He has only persuaded the USSR, Czechoslovakia, and East Gornany .to tuy a tote] of approximately 5,000 M.T.. Tho truth, however, ia that these exports have been mde with distrust, as thore have’been reports that Cue ba's "friends", after buying this tobacco, . re-export it to hard-currenoy ooune - t tries at. lover ’ prices than those established aby the "Emprésa CUBATABACO* | for the ; free world market. I iiay elte: a specific Anstance of thie, Late in 1962, “tho Polish enters. prise “ROLTIPEK © bought approximately 600 tons of tobacco, The contract specific=— ally prohibited re-oxportation by the Poles, and provided that any legal diffie culties that night arise would be submitted for arbitration. lished by the Cuban exporting enterprise in its eale of tobacoo to Free Europe. At first, it vas thought that this was ofly a maneuver for lover prices. by the European importers, but, as tine passed and CUBATAB.CO could not place any salea, the reporta, which were still coming in, were given more credence. As a result of this, I was sent. to:conduct an on-the-spot investigation in Europe, and, sure. enough, I discovered that the Poles were indeed re-exporting our tobacco, with - complete disregard or their Signéd agreement with Cuba, The. violation waa ree ted to the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Trade, which instructed CUBATABACG te | Cuba sued for 1 mile having being caught red-handed, offered a settlement of The payment was made in dollars, out of. the Polishe Cuban clearing. - , Thda "international solidarity" practiced by Communist countries kept Cuba. for a long tine. (1962-1963) from entering Western Luropean narkete, Dumping as practiced by these countries, the lack of adecquate atocka for the Europeans’ taste, difficulties and delays in deliveries (due to shortage of lion and the Poles, ; ships) "have made the Europeans shy avay from buying larger quantities of Cuban leaf, and, many European importors have learned that Cuba As not a reliable source of supply. La Due to the above stated reasous, the Communist régime can barely place 2,000 M.T. in Weetern Europe, for an arnual revenue of about US$1, 500, 000. some thing definitely unprecedented Aftor the deliver= . ies vere mde to ROLIMPEX, reports: hegan to arrive from the Freo Européan market — ‘that Cuban tobacco leaf vas ‘being offered at a mach lower price than that estaba v RMER LE ein + = Aap eR et