Evening star., 1933-09-03
CUBA REVOLUTION PASSES
ALL PRELIMINARY STAGES
Period of Reconstruction Begun From
Clean Slate, as Machado Reforms
Are OverthrOwn.

fall would never have been more than
an overwhelming, but unfulhlled, aspi-
ration Of the Cuban people.
This may not have been . typical
example Of q change Of government
by sheer violence, but 1t certainly had
most OF the characteristics Of one. The
only difference was the method en-
ployed Diplomacy and discretion
minimized the element Of force. but not
10 the extent that it could not have
been distinguished by the most casual
observer of the Cuban situation. Just
as force had been the means through
which he had maintained his regime
against the will Of the Cuban people,
Machado. Violent rebellion from his
own people, military imposition from
his army, diplomatic pressure from the
north; force from within and force
from without.
Why, then, attempt to disguise the
revolutionary government Of Provisional
President Cespedes with a constitu-
tional status-a constitutional status
within the constitution sanctioned by
Machado and repudiated by the people?
Until some years ago, this concern
for constitutional methods was absent
from Latin American coups d'etat The
ouCSCooAuA IctOluIlOIliSUS QlQ IlOL CONCEAL
their swords. They had altered the
existing order Of things and ousted its
authorities by force, and by force they
were to maintain a transitory regime,
until the people had an opportunity to
select their new and freely chosen lead
ers They were, from the beginning,
governments de facto, which had come
to being. precisely. because all legal
and constitutional means all poesibili-
ties Of a peaceful change, had been
suppressed by the dictators who pre-
ceded them
Wilson's Attitude.
But. three decades ago, Theodore
Roosevelt and other American states
men Of the big stick" and the big
brother" school began to reprimand
the Latin republics for their lack of
governmental stability and to denounce
their revolutionary habit as a sign Of
backwardness In a peaceful and con-
servative world. Although today, when
most of the leading nations on earth
have undergone changes of government
by violence following a World War,
which speaks not too well for civiliza-
ton. the charge Of Latin American
dislike for constitutional and peaceful
means may sound strange, at that time
Az "oo IoACi1 4llIC lOtlSly, anu
doubtedly it impressed the inhabitants
Of the Southern Hemisphere.
Then, some years later, President
Wilson, with sincere humanitarian
spirit, but with little regard for the
sovereignty of the Latin American
states, devised his theory Of non-rec-
ignition Of revolutionary governments,
He believed that by denying the rec
ognition OF the United States-some-
thing quite essential to the success Of
any new government beyond the Rio
Grande-to any regime born of non
constitutional means he could check
the revolutionary tendency of his Latin
neighbors.
As result although the Latin Amer
leans resented bitterly this paternalisttc
attitude. which amounted to denying
them the right to revolt against their
own authorities a denial of
their righ to f-government-they I'M
med1ately began to look for ways and
means with which to cover their revolu-
tlonary changes and give them an ap-
pearance Of legitimacy They must have
constitutional" changes, even II st the
point Of bayonets
Thus began the constitutional reyo-
lutions" in Latin America. Although
the term itself is a paradox, it means
OiaI LIE REVOLUTIONARY leaders have,
somehow or other, found a way to
comply with the provisions Of the
magma charta in substituting the per-
sonnel of the government. OF course,
the magma charta had nothing to say
about the resignation Of q president
under the threat of his Life or any kind
OF armed pressure but so long as the
deposed chief executive had been made
TO sign on the dotted line and had been,
carefully. directed to appoint, before
lesigning, the choice of the revolutions
lists as his legal" successor, the con-
stitution had been respected, and it was
much easier to secure the recognition
Of the United States.
Even today, when the State Depart
ment has partially abandoned the policy
OF non-recognition. the crave of Latin
American revolutionaries for legitimate.
'legalized" coups d'etat is still evident.
as was shown in the Dominican Re-
public, In Bolivia, Peru and Argentina.
In 1880; in Panama, Guatemala. Ecua-
dor and Chile, in 1881, and, only last
month, in Cuba.
II the latest Cuban decree acknowl-
edg1ng the revolutionary status of the
present regime is going to contribute
to the discouragement Of paradoxical
de jure" governments de facto in Latin
America, it will have served q great
purpose.
tcopyrisht 1ess.)