Evening star., 1962-10-01
BY CLARE BOOTHE LUCE
(Copyright, 1862, by North American
Newspaper Alliance, Inc.)

4NG" SASAAI Wv.
President Kennedy repeatedly
feels that Fidel CaStro's Cuba
is "a bone in his throat" The
"bone" has grown sharper
and more dangerous to him
and to the Nstion-with
every passing hour.
Political expediency re-
quires the President to be-
little it's size on the eve Of
the congressional elections.
So far, he has not entirely
succeeded. The American peo-
pie are pressing the Cuban
question hard: How, short
of war, they demand, can
the Cuban bone be removed?
Or, to put the question an
other way: What has been
done so far to dislodge it?
Such economic sanctions as
the United States can uni
laterally apply to Cuba are
already in effect: American
shipments to Cuba now con-
sist almost entirely of medi-
cal supplies and food. Cuba's
trade with our allies has nose
dived also, but this is less
because of their unwilling
ness to sell than because of
Cuba's inability to buy.
About Is per cent of Cuba's
trade is still with non-Soviet
bloc nations, including NATO
members. Cuba has been re-
ceiving machinery, electrical
goods and engines from Can
ada, and certain vital i'm
ports from England, Japan,
Norway, France, Germany
and other NATO countries.
Many of the Presidents
critics insist that some way
can be found to stop this
trade, as well as Soviet trade
including strategic war
material-carried in vessels
chartered from allied nations.
Want Profitable Trade
Just last week Secretary
of State Rusk stepped UP ef-
forts TO persuade our allies
to abandon their profitable
Sso-Cuban charters. Sig
nificantly the response was
less than enthusiastic.
A hard-nosed amendment
to the foreign aid bill
rammed through the House
on September 20 prohibits
economic aid to any country
sending goods of any kind to
Communist Cuba. Chances
are it will not pass the Sem
ate. The attempt to enforce
this provision would throw
the whole foreign aid pro-
gram into a state of admin
istrative chaos
Moreover, to punish demo-
cratic, allied and neutral gov
ernments for the activities of
private businessmen and
shippers is manifestly unfair,
And even if successful, the
final result would be to tie
Cuba's military, political and
economic lifeline more closely
to Moscow.
Although the effort would
be a big one, Premier Khru-
shchev can probably make
good his boast that Soviet
bloc countries can supply ALI
Cuba's economic needs and,
if necessary, in their own
bottoms.
Can the administration,
then, working through the
Organization of American
States, achieve anything
more than it has already
achieved-which is practic-
ally nothing to collapse
Mr.. Castro and exclude Rus
sian power from this hemis-
phere?
OAS Still Intellectual
So far, the Organization of
American States has proved
to be a futile piece of ma
chinery for coping with Mr..
Castro. There is considerable
sentiment on the part of
some Latin American govern
ments supporting United
States military intervention
in Cuba in the hemisphere's
interest.
Many who would condemn
such action publicly, pri-
vately would applaud it. But
there isn't a prayer that the
OAS will undertake multi
lateral action of any effec-
tive kind against Mr.. Castro.
OAS nations have not even
imposed economic sanctions,
although their total trade
with Cuba comes to a mere
$40 million a year.
The informal conference of