Evening star., 1945-07-22
Army Rule Broken in Cuba
AS Grau Pushes Reforms
Faced by. Hostile Congress-, Islands Sixteenth
President Seeks to Develop Education
and Democratic Principles
By Philip Clarke

The annual national defense budget
has been pared from $4,000 900 to s3,-
100000, and the education budget in
creased to more than 100000. And,
says Grau, the $3,OOO,0Oo will be spent
in real national defense"
The once-cocky army of Gen. Batista
is shadow of its former self. The new
high command, Grau insists, takes orders
from the government instead of giving
them.
In March troops swooped down on a
secluded farmhouse, came up with
former Col. Jose Eleuterio Pedraza,
former army chief and strong man under
Batista. and number of other high
ranking ex-army and air force officers.
special court heard charges that
Pedraza had slipped into Cuba from
Mexican exile, rounded up other deposed
military men together with a large
cache of arms and ammunition, and
planned on March 18 to seize control
OF the government in daring swoop
on the palace
PedraZa and five alleged accomplices
each received one years imprisonment.
Thirty-five others were acquitted. Said
Pedraza as the Jail doors Changed shut:
How times change!"
In December, Brig. Gen. Francisco
Tabernilla and four other high army
officers had been stripped of their ranks
in connection with another alleged con-
spiracy.
Curbs Firearms Use.
Still unsolved is the gangsterlike
assassination of Grau's chief of palace
police, Enrique Enriquez, in April.
There were other killings of policemen
before Grau clamped down on terrorism,
organized an effective antibomb police
detail, Cancelled firearm permits and re-
Stricted issuance of new ones
Cubas future is obscured by the in
tentions of the still powerful Batista,
who remains an enigma, having delayed
by months his return home from an in
spection of the Western Hemisphere
which began when Grau took Office.
There will be no revenge" declared
Grau, but he steadfastly declines to say
whether charges of graft and malfeas-
dIlCe VIII De pressed.
Another question mark is Grau's atti-
tude toward the Communist-directed
| Confederation of Laborers (CTC), with
a half million well-organized members
under the skillful management of Lazaro
Pena, 38-year-old former laborer. A
government grant of $4,000 to the CTC
toward construction of new 1900 900
! workers palace brought cries Of Com
munist sell out" from the opposition.
Cuba has been called the Caribbean
crossroads of communism" But DR..
| Juan Marinello, Socialista Popular
fCommunist) Senator, disclaims any at
tempt to sway the Grau government.
However. Marinellos followers are
booming him for the presidency in 1913.
Sugar Crop Hard Hit.
Nonpolitical problems facing the
youthful democracy are headed by the
drought, imitation, food and education.
Cuba already has lost an estimated
s1oo,000,oo0 on the 1916 sugar crop alone
due to drought. Food scarcities have
pinched all consumers and the Office of
/ Price Control and Sterilization, Cuba's
5oO-man counterpart of OPA, has bat
tied Intellectually against runaway
prices block-long lines of hungry con-
sumers and spreading black market.
Paradoxically, hungry Cuba is tre-
mendously wealthy. Exports last year
tripled the value of goods shipped from
Cuba in 1899 and the favorable balance
of trade has piled millions in bank
vaults. Treasury officials are desper-
ately fighting imitation
Yet 100000 children of school age still
walk the streets, says Minister of Edu-
cation Luis Perez Espinos.
But President Grau still has an opti-
miStic smile for the future.
He explains: Democracy is new to
Cuba's 100000 citizens but it will work
because the people voted for it. Natu-
rally, there will be some bewilderment.
People not accustomed to honest gov
ernment must gain experience. That
| will take time"
distributed by Associated Press.)