The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1960-11-25

including atomic submarines, the base
| no longer has the strategic Importance
it once enjoyed as a defense outpost
for the Panama Canal. Today is is
chiefly a vacation paradise for tired
Marines and top brass sand, as U. S.
| Navy spokesman have indicated, a
point from which the United States
can seek to dominate the political life
of the Caribbean people.
The manner in which the base
was originally obtained-by means
of the bayonet-imposed Platt
Acknowledgment would be
out of date in this era of universal
national emancipation.
And for use of this fair spot
wrested from the Cubans, the United
States has been paying the generoa Us
sum of $4,000 in gold annually to the
Cuban government-less than the
apartment rent of some of our State
Department officials. lin contrast to
this rental figure, Cuban official
estimates that personnel on the base
have cleared at least 81 million in
black-market money operations since
Castro came into power. 1t was
through this back door. Raul Castro
believes, that Sergio Carlo, publisher
of LA PRENSA DIBRE, was able to
get over 100000 out-of the country
before skipping out.l
What the Cubans most fear is a
fake assault on the u. S. Guantanamo
base as pretext for armed interven-
ton. The Cuban militia has ringed
the base not in order to attack it, but
to try to prevent any such trick
maneuver by land. But the air is
something the Cubans cannot con-
troll. They consider the u. S. news re-
ports that Cuba has been painting
some of it's own planes with U. S. in
sigma very sinister matter. Acting
Foreign Minister Carlos Olivares
Sanchez, replying to U. S. protest,
declared the report "malevolent and
false" revealing a criminal espion-
age activity" aimed at embarrassing
the Cuban regime. On its side, the
State Department has told the press
it fears that the Cubans are deliber-
ately trying to provoke an American
Whatever the truth, the Gu
bans really fear that the United
States is maneuvering to use Guam
,anamo as a pretext for invasion.
BLOCKADE WOULD HEIGHTEN
DANGER OF WAR
Even if an attack occurred, the
Jubans may be wrong in believing
hat immediate armed intervention
would follow. A state of quasi-bellig-
srency between the two countries
would permit the United States to
blockade the island and starve the
Cuban people into submission. There
ire indications that a clique in Wash
ngton, chiefly military, wishes to
et up such blockade and seize all
hipments from iron curtain coun-
rmed clashes with the Soviets, who
night attempt to protect their ship
ing with warships and submarines.
Besides threatening world con-
flict, our Cuban policy has broken
the New World. front. Each hour
that our punitive blows hit Cuba,
we lose support from the people of
Latin America; and even the sup
port of '1oyap governments grows
shaky. Peru, to which we offered
a fair-sized loan to induce it to
initiate the recent San Jose con-
ference of American states, has
now refused to accept the money;
instead, the Peruvian Congress is
considering four laws for seizure
of American oil property. d
Nor does Latin America feel easy t
yer our attempt to cut off Cuba's c
'ade with the Soviet bloc. Many of g
lr sister republics have extensive "
ade deals with Communist coun- il
les. Brazil has set up a 5000 million o
ade deal to get rid of surplus cof- tt
'e. Argentina made a 500 million d
sal in return for which Russia OBJ p
ined oil exploration and drilling tt
gifts. Uruguay has been selling tt
ird of her national product to East 81
n Europe. Chile has been negotiat- c