Friday, Nov. 11, 1960 University Daily Kansan
Page 9
We Saw Fidel
By Richard Val
(Editor's Note: This is the concluding article in a series by a KU graduate student who visited Cuba last summer.)
"With Jews we fought our revolution; Jews brought our victory, Jews will defend our revolution against imperialism." Fidel Castro told a meeting of students. We were shocked to hear this. Later we discovered that Castro mispronounced 'youth' as 'Jew,' in trying to speak English.
Nothing is stronger than necessity. Guatemala's "mene, tekel, upharsin," the nightmare of the Cuban leaders is a reality. Spanish pride, hurt because of the Platt Amendment, is not important in their decision-making.
Everyone sees the Cuban revolution through his own personality. We almost adopted the philosophy that man is what he reads.
We met a young man from the Midwest returning home — to safety, he said mysteriously. One boy was afraid to speak English and covered his nationality by speaking Spanish. One lady said she saw a communist in every Cuban; another lady saw a counter-revolutionary in every Cuban. In Cuba this summer, there were all types of people.
Cubans told us to tell the American people that they are ready to die for Castro. Everyone we met tried to be ambassadors or propagandists of the revolution on their own. Only three were anti-Castro.
The Spartan attitudes, new morality and puritanism are real or supposed features of the revolution. Many Castro supporters expressed their aversion to Communism.
People not able to discriminate between Marxism, Leninism Socialism and Communism, asked Castro naive questions such as: "Are you a Communist?" Instead of what his future nationalization goals were, and what type of co-operatives will prevail.
The preacher of rebellion from North Carolina, a Mr. Williams, strolled up and down in the Sierra Maestra carrying a poster with the words, "FREEDOM FOR AMERICAN NEGROES RIGHT AWAY" on it. Two boys from California were working on Cuban propaganda movies.
Our group proudly proclaimed that we were "Yankees," and everywhere were greeted with open arms and friendliness. Old ladies offered us their seats on buses. We came back from Cuba spoiled children.
We think the tragedy is that Cuba now has no other choice than to accept full Russian support.
The Soviet bloc is in a position to make a "show window" of Cuba. To raise the standard of all Latin America is a costly, complex and difficult task for the U.S. Communists don't only export propaganda; they offer concrete programs. Industrialization in terms of heavy industry and agricultural reforms come first. Light industry is second. The USSR and Czechoslovakia are now sending materials for 57 factories to Cuba.
The revolution must now show what is being done for the poor people. We saw happy faces of peasants who lived in mud bohios before the revolution. Now they are in new houses. Communists will not invest so unproductively. In Los Pinos we saw homes for the workers, but there were no roofs over the machinery. Each house is different, unlike the sterile plans of Eastern European countries. The walls were hung with pictures of Castro and Christ.
By redistribution of land, Castro is creating a class of small land owners, and an anti-communist of the future. But this same policy is creating communistic state farms. Which will prevail in the future is the important question. This is an attempt to avoid the Mexican mistake of land atomization.
We didn't get permission to observe the Latin American Youth Congress, which was red and pinkish. Only an organized U.S. group was accepted but Trotskyites were rejected. A leftist group from New York soon showed the physical strain of supporting the revolution vocally and were unable to participate in uninhibited enthusiasm. Puerto Rican delegates showed photos of GIs in action against the nationalist revolt in Puerto Rico.
On newspaper stands there are TIME, LIFE, NEW YORK TIMES, two Cuban non-Castro newspapers and Red Chinese magazines, side by side. But we didn't see any pictures of Lenin, Khrushchev, or the hammer and sickle.
We found that many correspondents in Havana are not well qualified. But even sophisticated French and German reporters on our train found it difficult to evaluate the ideological meaning of agrarian reform. They admitted their confusion about the economic features of the revolution.
Wild rumors are not present in Cuba. All such stories come from our press. This writing amuses Cubans, who proclaim that the U.S. papers cheat readers and strengthen Cubans' anti-American bias, and also their faith in Castro.
The Communist propaganda is skillful. We saw a faked copy of the READER'S DIGEST. It attempted to ridicule by exaggerating the advertising, sensationalism, and interest in psychoanalysis in the United States.
It is even difficult to understand the psychology of the revolution unless we accept that emotional, all-or-nothing philosophy contained in Churchill's promise of "blood, sweat and tears" as the best prevention for fear: "130% enthusiasm," as Governor Long would say.
We read that Americans trying to participate in the Youth Congress were arrested. Maybe we were arrested in absentia.
Slogans such as "Fatherland or Death" leave no room for doubts, anxiety and rumors among the people.
Here at home, we read that three bombs exploded in Havana. Maybe they did we didn't hear them.
The question remains: Is Cuba an acute symptom of a chronic disease which plagues the Caribbean?
Quo Vadis, America Latina?
Cuban Revolution For Export, Too
A contented Fidel Castro watches the militiamen march before him in the Sierra Maestra in heat that made the heads of less dedicated observers swim.
Full face, Castro looks well-fed, plump. His profile is more soldier-like, more angular.
Castro's citizens' army carried banners pledging "Patria o Muerte," Country or Death, which were photographed by teams of cameramen for distribution throughout Latin America where the campesinos have demonstrated sympathy for the Cuban Revolution.
Movies, television films and photographs are shown to the Latin landless at meetings of the Amigos de la Revolución Cubana in Central and South America