The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1963-07-12


claiming the administration S
firm intention to continue to $50
late the Red-ruled Island, the
Presidents inner council of poll
cy advisers is privately pursu-
ing an exactly opposite course
Without a single protest, these
White House authorities are per
hitting large quantities Of oil
from Western and Communist
countries to flow into Cuba to
keep Castro's sagging economy
op er t i n G and his Soviet
equipped ard dominated mill
tary machine running.
The Presidents assistants are
even proceeding with closely
guarded plan to resume diplo-
matte relations with Castro by
sending charge d'affaires to
Havana.
The carefully-masked face of
the administrations Cuban poll
cy is clearly reflected in Navy
reports on the steadily increas-
ing volume Of Western and Com
munist shipping to Cuba, sur
veys by the Maritime Admins
tration, and highly significant
discussions among top admins
tration officials.
Naval Intelligence's latest re-
ports disclose that 429 Russian
satellite ard 2O5 Western vessels
arrived in Cuba in the first six
months of 1868. The Maritime
Administration, which lacks Ger
tain c ande slime infOrma-
ton available to the Navy,
states that lat least 1867 free
world ships d locked in Cuba
since January /, 1853"
According to the Navy's I'M
published estimate, SO OF the
Russian satellite vessels were
tankers carrying vital supplies
Of oil, kerosene and aviation
gasoline to Soviet and Castro
military forces.
Both of these official reports
also reveal the disturbing fact
that in the past three months an
increasing number of ships fly
ing free-World flags have been
showing up in Cuban ports, I'M
der contract to Soviet bloc coun-
tries.
Most of t h e e ships t39 ir
April, AZ in May and 50 ir
June are Of British registry, al
though many actually are owned
by nationals Of Greece, Italy anc
Norway.
THE OIL TRAFFIC - Of the
Western ships plying the Cubar
trade, 81 are tankers. 10 d
them flying the British flag
Three other tankers are Greek
three Norwegian and two italian
In overall tonnage, these tank
ers represent nearly on-fourtt
of the 1901 SIT tons Of Western
shipping now serving Cuba.
These western tankers aver
aged two trips to Cuba in the
first six months, according tc
the Navy, indicating the vessels
are regularly assigred to trans
porting Western oil there.
AS administration policy is tc
blacklist only individual ships
and not the entire fleet of ar
owner, these foreign operators
find it highly profitable WV and
safe = to assign certain vessels
to the Cuban trade.
This glaring loophole makes
utterly meaningless the loudly
ballyhooed blacklist, the only
concrete measure SO far taker
to curb Western shipping.
Repeated efforts by congress
sional leaders to put teeth into
t he administration shipping
blacklist have been disregardeC
by the President ard his policy
advisers. They claim tiff e
measures would lead to vehem
ent objections by U. S. allies
particularly Britain.
Significantly. these ten
White House lieutenants are sup
pressing Defense Intelligence
Agency report indicating thai
considerable quantities Of stra
tegic lubricatirg oil, processee
IN the US. and used in ground
to-air missile sy tie m 5, have
turned up in Cuba after being
transshipped from thel
country.
This same report also reveals
that Venezuelan oil is finding its
way to Cuba by transshipmen
through European and Latir
American firms.
! SHIFTING POLICY ~ AS re
ported in this column on june
10, President Kennedy is serious
ly considering a State Depart
ment proposal to resume diplo
matte ties with Castro.
AS a first step, the President
is contemplating reopening the
U. S. embassy in Havana By
S n ding a charge d'affaires
there. Under the plan, this woule
take place in September. Al
present. the Swiss are handling
U. S. affairs in Cuba.
l