The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-03-09
FRIDAY. MARCH 9. 1894
KEEP OUT OF CUBA
o. STRAIGHTFORWARD NEWsPAPERl

EUBANS are preparing for another revolu-
- ton. And, true to the stupidity Of reac-
tionary governments down through history,
the Havana regime is trying to put out the
fire with gasoline If there were no threat
Of revolt the latest DEGREES of President Men
dieta would create it.
Indeed, Mendieta is on the way to making
himself as hated by the Cuban people as the
tyrant Machado. The revolution against Ma
ehado was long delayed because Of his IN
holy alliance with Wall street and Wash
fngton With the change Of administration
in Washington. the new American envoy, Mr..
Welles, became friendly with the group which
replaced Machado with the more respectable
Conservative De Cespedes-in fact Cubans
charged that Mr. Welles picked him. But in
the face of popular hostility Des CespedeS
quickly got out and was followed by the more
liberal President Grau. Washington helped
to drive out Grau simply by withholding
American recognition-without which no
Cuban government can survive, apparently.
Washington's excuse for withholding recog-
milton of Grau was that it could not be sure
he could preserve stable government-though
he had done we'll under obstacles for four
months In contrast, Washington took only
four days to recognize the conservative old
line politician Mendieta after the liberal Grau
had been unseated.
This reminder of recent Cuban history is
necessary to understand why the Cuban people
and foreign governments are inclined to look
upon Mendieta as Washingtons man. Whether
this is the whole truth or not, we have no
way of knowing. But on the open record there
is enough truth in it to put the Washington
government in a very uncomfortable spot to-
day.
For if the United States is underwriting
Mendieta it is underwriting dictatorship and
the destruction of Cuban civil liberties in vio-
lation of our treaty.
Under the new Mendieta DEGREES the rights
Of free speech, press. and free assenblage are
suspended; censorship is established; citizens
may be arrested and held without charges, or
deported, or imprisoned by special courts for
alleged violation of arbitrary DEGREES against
promoting successive and progressive strikes"
or spreading political. social. racial or prole-
tartan propaganda in schools or colleges" or
belonging to associations breaking these de-
creeS.
Obviously it is easy to destroy all labor
unions and to punish all political opposition
to the dictatorship by these Hitlerian edicts.
Such tyranny doubtless will provoke revo-
luton in the end, even though it may not come
as soon as expected by Mendieta, who now is
hurriedly arming his palace with machine
guns against the people.
1t is important that the United States not
be drawn deeper into the internal affairs of
Cuba in any event, and certainly not in behalf
of dictatorship Before the Roosevelt adminis-
tration gets itself more involved with Men
dieta-as the Hoover administration got tied
to Machado to its later sorrow-the Washing
ton government publicly should disavow any
meddling or intervention in Cuba's domestic
affairs and revise the Platt amendment to
conform