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Thursday, October 10, 1974
University Daily Kansan
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPECIAL FOCUS
Manuals
Sugar is Cuba's past, future
"MAYBE HE'S TRYING TO LET IN SOME LIGHT."
By JIM KENDELL Contributing Writer
"The can grow in thick, tight clumps of about 10 or 20 stalks growing from a mound of soil. The stalks look a lot like
bamboo, jointed and colored green, yellow and red in a way that is quite beautiful. Toward the top the stalk turns into long fibrous green leaves, like giant grass."
That description of Cuban sugar cane was written by a young American cane cutter in 1970.
He and hundreds of other members of the Venceremos Driages group look at the most important during their unofficial visit,
eight hours a day, five and a half days a week.
And if "normalization" of relations with Cuba means anything, it means sugar.
Sugar was certainly on the minds of Sen. Jacob K. Javits, R-N.Y., and Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., when they went to Cuba recently on an official visit.
For the past 150 years sugar has been the dominant force in the Cuban economy. Understanding sugar is the key to understanding Cuban society and foreign relations.
Sugar has led to the domination of Cuba first by Spain, then by the United States and now by China. The world's economy holds
A five-pound sack of sugar is selling for $2 in the East; the price of sugar on the world market is over 30 cents a pound.
But without large amounts of capital, an adequate labor supply and official encouragement, sugar didn't assume any importance in the 18th century, according to Jaime Sachicki's "Cuba," published earlier this year.
Cuba was discovered by Columbus on his first voyage to America. Barely 30 years later the financing of a sugar mill.
and now by the Soviet Union.
If the world's economy holds
together Cuba may have the first chance in centuries to break that domination, to be free at last.
The time has finally come for the United States to admit that the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles off the Florida coast, isn't the foreboding menace that it once was.
This country severed diplomatic ties with the regime of Fidel Castro in 1961 and economic relations in 1962. Those policies were attempts to isolate and economically strangle the Communist menace lurking but a short distance from our shores.
Menace of Castro declining
As with the isolations of the Soviet Union and China, it has taken the diplomats in Washington quite a while to realize that their moves have failed.
In the 18th century the industry was hampered by lack of markets, by the difficulty and cost of bringing in slaves and by being forced to sell sugar to one Spanish company.
True, nonrecognition has hurt Cuba, but not as extensively as was hoped. Help from the Soviet Union has been crucial with economic powers such as Canada and Jordan has offset the attempt by the United States.
Because detente is the prevailing foreign policy philosophy at this time, it would seem inconsistent not to recognize Cuba in light of the recognition of China and the Soviet Union. But then again, U.S. foreign policy always has been marked by inconsistencies.
Castro has accomplished far more in helping his people than Batista ever did. His accomplishments in national health, education and sports activity are worth noting.
During the late '50s, when Castro was fighting for power, the United States backed Fulgencio Batista, one of the most corrupt dictators in history.
But the memories of the Cuban missile crisis still hang over relations between the two nations.
The argument that having relations with the
United States will help Cuba export guerrilla warfare isn't sound. Since the death of Che Guevara in 1967, Cuba hasn't really been involved in the conflict. America—at least they haven't been exposed.
But during the '60s and '70s, the United States seems to have been involved—the Bay of Pigs invasion, the invasion of the Dominican Republic and the involvement of the CIA in Chile.
In mid-November, the Organization of American States will meet to discuss the possible lifting of the political and economic blockade imposed in 1964 by a resolution of the organization.
Let's hope the Ford administration's delegation will take the lead in ending the blockade. But don't be surprised if the United States follows the lead of some other country.
There are two stumbling blocks that must be overcome before any U.S.-Cuban agreement can be reached. Those are the millions of dollars of American investments that were nationalized by Castro in the '60s and the future of the Guantanamo Bay military post.
If agreement can be reached on these issues an accord is possible.
But as Castro indicated in his speech Sunday, don't expect Cuba to bend over backwards to reach an agreement with Washington. They've never without it for many years and it's not a necessity.
For an agreement to be reached, both countries are going to have to give in. And as Castro indicated Sunday, relations won't be warm, they will be merely formal. -Gerald Ewing
Gerald Ewing Contributing Writer
Spain prevented trade with other nations, but couldn't absorb Cuban sugar all by itself. The American Revolution, the English occupation of Cuba in 176243 and the slave revolts in Haiti in the 1790s finally threw Cuba open to trade.
Sugar benefitted immensely from the close commercial relations that developed bet-ween the United States and Cuba.
From 1762 to 1865 the number of sugar mills doubled. By 1827 it doubled again and by 1860 redoubled, to 2,000 mills.
In the 1840s a ruinous decline in the world coffee price and the introduction of railroads led to even more production of sugar.
though cane is grown throughout the country.
The wars in the period bankrupted many of the Cuban and Spanish plantations and were a major factor in the subsequent sugar interests.
The cane sinks itself in deep, red, fertile soil and thrives in Cuba's tropical climate.
In 1886 slaves were emancipated and in 1898 American domination of the island began. In 1899, the Spanish-American War.
The wars for independence in the last decade of the 19th century slowed the growth of a new capitalist force for a new infusion of capital.
At the same time a large stratum of landless peasants developed—the rural proletariat to serve the sugar group, and the sugar group developed, which served the sugar industry seasonally.
The growth of the sugar industry has increased in social society. The number slaves increased, so that blacks outnumbered whites on the field.
Cuban cane was well on its way to taking the two-thirds of the cultivated land it takes today. About one-third of Cuba's cane industry is employed in the sugar industry and many more serve it indirectly.
The Platt Amendment to the Cuban constitution in 1901 established U.S. supervision of political developments in Cuba. The following year cuba became a republic and in 1903 preferential trade agreement with sugar with the United States.
Despite the vision of an independent Cuba promoted by Cuban nationalists, the centralization of the sugar industry grew, a rural middle class failed to develop and the rural proletariat grew, under the domination of foreign capital.
About a quarter of Cuba is mountainous and plains cover two-thirds of the country. The capital is Cienfuegos, in the eastern, Oriental Province,
In the 1930s the Depression spurred labor organizing in the sugar fields, which was made possible by the centralization of the industry.
cording to San Jose State economist, James O'Connor.
In 1934 the U.S. Congress passed a Sugar Act, which set
From 1949 to 1958 about 30 percent of the gross national product was generated by the sugar sector. At the same time industry is heavily dependent on imports of American manufactured goods.
About 75 per cent of Cuba's imports came from the United States. About 65 per cent of the imports went to the United States.
Despite labor organization in the countryside, a 1966 study showed 17 per cent unemployed and 13 per cent underemployed.
The need to export sugar led to the rationing of sugar in Cuba. The country's leadership justified the rationing as a way to score a more equal share and as a way to speed development.
Cuba became increasingly dependent on the Soviet Union economically. Soviet aid reached a million dollars a day.
At the same time Castro was promoting guerilla warfare throughout Latin America, much to the embarrassment of Moscow. Castro also attacked the Latin American Communist
The world price of sugar is four times what it was last year. Cuba stands to rake in $1 billion to $1.3 billion of much needed capitalist currency.
Adult literacy was 43 per cent; 60 per cent of the island's rural families lived in dwellings with earth floors and roofs of palm leaves; two-thirds of the rural houses had no running water or latrines; one in 14 had a toilet; 14 per cent of the people had hibernated one-third had intestinal parasites.
O'Connor states that the volatility of the world sugar market on which Cuba depends on the pervasive malting industry which shaped the outlook of urban dwellers.
For the past 150 years sugar has been the dominant force in the Cuban economy. Understanding sugar is the key to understanding Cuban society and foreign relations.
import quotas. The Act had a tremendous effect on the Cuban economy.
Only 22 per cent of the Cuban sugar was allowed to enter the United States in a refined state, which hindered the development of the refining industry in Cuba.
The Act also gave the U.S. administration the power to arbitrarily modify quotas.
In 1982 the United States lowered its quota of sugar for Cuba, which led to a decline in U.S. sugar imports. Cuban national income, ac-
During this period the "Cubanization" of the sugar industry finally began. In 1969 Cuban capital had 54 sugar mills, which produced 22 percent of the total capacity. In 1970, 35 percent of Cubans accounted for 55 percent of total sugar production.
After the Cuban Revolution in 1959 the government moved slowly at first in agriculture. The first agricultural reform law expropriated all large holdings in May 1959.
Detente spreading south to Cuba
By RICHARD PAXSON
The visit by two U.S. senators to Castro's Cuba last week gave rise to widespread speculation that the United States would have diplomatic relations with the government it attempted to overthrow through the Bay of Pigs in 1968. San Javier Jacvis, H.N.V.
This intimately outburst left many wondering whether Castro was really interested in detente with the United States. Recent Cuban foreign policy does indicate that Castro is positioned in ending the isolation of his Caribbean nation.
KANSAN analysis
and Sen. Clabairone Dell, P.R.I., travelled there as the first public American overture toward a normalization of relations between the two countries. But in the midst of their visit, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro issued a letter to the documentation of President Ford's defense of the CIA's involvement in toppling the Marxist regime of President Salvador Alenade in Chile. Castro blamed the United States for the world economic crisis and urged Ford for blaming the crisis on the oilexporting nations.
In the summer of 1972, Cuba and Peru established trade and diplomatic relations. The Peruvian military had just overthrown the Belaunde government and violently repressed a strike by labor and students.
Cuba has nearly abandoned one of the major tenets of its 1960s foreign policy—the exporting of revolution to other nations, especially in Latin America. Castro has ended his support of the Venezuela Venezuelan government; Venezuela has joined Costa Rica in Colombia in calling for the end of the trade sanctions against Cuba by the Organization of American States (OAS).
Castro may be just as willing to pay American compensation claims, although the process will probably be complicated by Cuban counterclaims for economic damages resulting from the trade embargo imposed by the United States.
It is ironic that Venezuela should be among the first to call for Cuba's return to the Western hemisphere, as an economic community. The discovery of an arms shipment from Cuba intended for guerrillas on a Venezuelan beach could be the direct cause of the sanctions.
Even the popular election of Allende in Chile left some Cuban officials dissatisfied. A Marxist government had come before him and elected rather than through armed class warfare as traditional revolutionary forces nevertheless established diplomatic relations with Chile in 1971. Castro then visited Chile on a sojourn that intermittently covered world headlines for 40 days.
The revolution in Peru could hardly be called a major victory for international Socialist solidarity. The military takeover has given even greater advantage to rich Peruvian natives and foreign investors. The government usually doctrinaire position to engage in some European-style "reallpolitik."
Castro has made a number of public overtures for rapprochement with the United States since the 1962 missile crisis. Just before Castro went to the Soviet Union in the spring of 1963 and in response to President Kennedy's assassination, Cuban exiles in America, he made a speech indicating that Cuba would act reasonably in all areas of foreign affairs. He invited trade and diplomatic relations with all nations and
This untimely outburst left many wondering whether Castro was really interested in detente with the United States. Recent Cuban foreign policy does indicate that Castro is interested in ending the isolation of his Caribbean nation.
Other examples of Cuba's willingness to make practical sacrifices of dogma include
Castro's support of Velasco Barrera's repressive government in Ecuador and considerable trade with that bastion of socialism, the Franco government in Spain.
Castro also appears ready to pay compensation in such cases. Germany, Switzerland 18,039,000 Swiss francs over an eight-year period that began in March of 1967. Germany has also compensated the Swiss food-
Two weeks later, Cuba and France signed a treaty under which Cuba agreed to pay France 10,861,532 French francs in return for payment of full compensation of French losses through the nationalization.
Many believe this curtailment of international rabble-rousing was the first prerequisite for obtaining the United States. The other prerequisite is the payment of compensation to U.S. businesses whose property was taken in 1980 after Castro came to power.
processing industry which suffered heavy losses in the nationalization. Cuba also set up a system for the recognition and compensation of other Swiss claims.
A somewhat vague diplomatic commune from Cuba to the United States in the fall of 1963 suggested indirectly that diplomatic relations might be reestablished. In April of 1965 Castro responded favorably to Sen. William Fulbright's call for illumination relations with Cuba. Castro again wanted renewed trade
said compensation could be negotiated.
There is reason to believe that
and offered compensation for nationalized property.
The latest incident came in the summer of 1967, when
Castro isn't oblivious to what happened in Hungary and Czechoslovakia and would like to have other powerful friends
Castro would also like to have full diplomatic relations for solving some functional problems, such as return of aircraft hijackers., return of American prisoners held in Cuba and help in tracking hurricanes.
parties allied with the Soviet Union.
Castro made a speech asserting that he would be willing to establish diplomatic relations with many nations that respected Cuba.
Even with occasional ideological trides to the contrary, the evidence indicates that Castro is willing to establish diplomatic or consular relations with any nation, regardless of its political system.
There are several probable reasons for the warming-up of relations with the United States' tropical neighbor. Cuba would like to get in a better barring position with its primary economic and political supporter, the Soviet Union.
Relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union haven't always run smoothly. Castro accused the Soviet government of being no more than a trading partner of the imperialists in 1968. He ordered that there would be no Cuban celebration the Russian reveal that year, revealing the Soviets of plotting to overthrow him. The Soviet Union retaliated by reducing petroleum deliveries and forcing a renegotiation of their annual trade agreement.
With the world price for sugar at 1.5 cents a pound, Cuba had little choice but to fall in line.
Castro would also like to have full diplomatic relations for solving some functional problems, such as return of aircraft hijackers, return of American prisoners held in Cuba and help in tracking hurricanes.
Despite official Cuban denials, the embargo has upset the Cuban economy. Consumer goods are in extremely short supply and there are millions people. All bathrooms are built without toilet seats. All foodstuffs, even the sugar that is Cuba's principal product, is being imported and rationed. Men receive one shirt and two pairs of trousers a year.
By 1968 Moscow had had enough. It delayed negotiation of the yearly trade protocol and froze oil exports to Cuba.
If Cuba could trade with the United States, it could significantly reduce transportation costs, purchase replacement equipment and gain access to American, and international credit.
The reason most frequently cited for the thaw in American-Cuban relations isn't probably as important as its proponents suggest. Cuba is one of the world's least popular places at a time when sugar prices have risen sharply. Some observers maintain that the
See DETENTE Page 5
Of the 165 sugar mills on the island at the time of the revolution, were owned by 80 percent of the output, about 50 per cent of the output,
Some sugar fields were burned in 1960-61 in an effort to some oppose the revolution. In July 1960 all foreign-owned and privatized, and in April 1961 Castro proclaimed the socialist revolution.
Early in 1961 the United States cut off all imports of Cuban sugar. Cuba was forced to turn to the Soviet Union to sell its crop. To destroy the importation, Cuba tried. Cuba tried, not very successfully, to diversify its agricultural products.
In October 1963 the second agricultural reform act was passed. From that point on, 60 years later, the state is in the hands of the Cuban state.
Since 1968 Cuba has become increasingly organized along Soviet lines. The voluntary labor which cut the cane in the 1960s was replaced by wage different for differ amounts of work and other forms of "socialist competition." The National Hero of Work is the first man to cut 10,000,000 pounds of sugar cane, Juan Torrebillean.
In the early 1960s Cuba signed agreements with the Soviet Union to purchase all manufactured goods. The Soviet Union agreed to purchase a fixed amount of sugar and tobacco, slightly above the world price.
Cuba does retain worker participation in carrying out quotas, but the workers have not how large the quotas will be.
In 1970 Cuba attempted to produce 10 million tons of sugar. That effort was geared for the effort, only $8 million tons were produced. Yet that was far above the record million tons harvested in 1952.
The devotion of the country's entire effort to the sugar harvest distorted the economy and damaged theages of other vital commodities.
Moscow has urged Cuba to put its economic house in order and become a responsible member of the Soviet economic community. That means taking 10-million-ton harvests
Three factors are at the root of the worldwide increase in the sugar price, according to H. J. Roberts of the New York Times.
The world price of sugar is four times what it was last year. Besides easing Cuba's huge debt to Moscow, Cuba has one and a half to two million tons of oil. The world's largest stands to rake in $1 billion to $1.3 billion of much needed canatalist currency.
First, sugar is among the first luxuries poor people buy when their standard of living goes up. The Soviet Union used to sell sugar it bought from Cuba; now domestic needs absorb all it.
But the worldwide inflation in the price of sugar suddenly has put Cuba in an extraordinarily good position.
In the United States consumption of sugar is about 100 pounds a person each year; in China it is about 70 pounds. China it's about 10 pounds. If China only doubles its demand for sugar as it becomes more diverse, because the Cuban economy should have no trouble for many years.
See SUGAR Page 5
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