-DATE-
19590817
-YEAR-
1959
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
CASTRO GIVES DETAIL OF COUNTERREVOLUTION
-PLACE-
HAVANA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA RADIO PROGRESO
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19590817
-TEXT-
C U B A
Aug. 17, 1959
CASTRO GIVES DETAILS OF COUNTERREVOLUTION
Havana, Radio Progreso, in Spanish to Cuba, Aug. 15, 1959, 0255 GMT--E
(Live broadcast of Fidel Castro press conference on counterrevolutionary
plot)
(Editorial Report) In a press conference in which he explained the details
of the counterrevolutionary plot, Premier Fidel Castro said that he had not
made a report on the matter sooner because he would have been forced to
explain only part of it. He said that the government was now dutybound not
to delay the report a while longer, "you can be sure that we would not only
have captured the weapons and the planes, but we would also have captured
all the war criminals. We would have captured the legion; the army of
Trujillo, and even Trujillo, right here." He continued that it was his
feeling that the people had to be informed, and, "therefore, we had to be
satisfied with what could be achieved during the week which began with the
arrests of the plotters and ended yesterday when the arms-laden plane with
10 crew members fell into our hands at the Trinidad airport."
After declaring that the counterrevolutionary conspiracy began soon after
the fall of the Batista regime, Premier Castro said that any successful
revolution, like the Cuban revolution, was always opposed by certain
interests. The elements that fled Cuba landed into Santo Domingo, he said.
After pointing out that the Dominican Government had refused to return four
Cuban planes, he stressed that Trujillo hated "not only the revolutionary
government, but the country." Dr. Castro then declared that "from the
first moment Trujillo began to maneuver and plot against us."
After noting that Trujillo either "buy" or "murders" his enemies, Premier
Castro declared that Trujillo did not limit himself to contacting Batista
elements, but invited Commander William Morgan of the second front of
Escambray into the plot, as well as Commanders Menoyo and Carrera. These
men, he said, reported the proposal to the high command, which ordered them
to accept. Castro said that in those days there were several groups,
including the Rosa Blanca group, which were beginning to mobilize against
the revolution, and that Trujillo tried to organize them.
"Naturally," he said, "Trujillo was the most influential person in the
counterrevolution, for he had more money than the others as well as a
center of operations with all the needed facilities."
The revolutionary plan of infiltrating the counterrevolutionary elements,
Castro said, began to achieve success when William Morgan accepted their
proposal. Within three months, Castro declared, William Morgan, Menoyo
Carrera, (Fleta.), and all the Escambray commanders were in the plot. The
plotters became so confident that they even went to live in William
Morgan's house, and "Trujillo appointed William Morgan the leader of the
counterrevolutionary." Castro said that William Morgan "displaced Pedraza,
Batista, Ventura, (Carrataraz?); in fact he displaced the entire Batista
group."
Asked whom Trujillo used to make contact with William Morgan and the others
Premier Castro said that his contact men included the consul in Miami, "who
was one of his principal agents in the conspiracy," and a Spanish priest,
Velazco, who lives in Santo Domingo, and in whom "Trujillo has great
confidence." This priest, Castro said, went to Havana three times. He
"brought 10 bazookas and a large quantity of weapons on one of his trips.
Castro declared? "We possess the details of all the incidents because we
had 12 of our comrades spend three months living with the
counterrevolutionary elements. Their ability was so great that in three
months they committed no indiscretion whatsoever. In short, all men in key
positions were our comrades."
Castro continued that as the organization of the counterrevolution
progressed, "Trujillo sacrificed Nunez Portuondo." He added that "the
principal candidate of the 'Rosa Blanca' was Nunez Portuondo." Castro said
that the organizers of the plot tried to find a leader for the
counterrevolutionary who was in the country and who had had little
connection with Batista.
Primer Castro declared that "All this is part of a great plot. This is not
only the work of Trujillo. Trujillo is just one phase of the giant
conspiracy against the revolution." The conspiracy against the Cuban
revolution includes vested interests, "of which, unfortunately, many are
foreign interests. This makes our struggle more difficult because it is
not only the national elements which oppose our aims, but also foreign
interests, powerful interests which have an influence in certain political
circles in other countries, which influence the press in other for the
countries, influence information agencies; interests that have the ability
to do great harm, to discredit, picture us in the worse way, slander,
confuse, and give the impression that this is a debacle, and that the most
terrible things are done here.
"In short, large groups of vested interests are engaged in this maneuver.
They have taken an oath to oppose our revolution to the death, to try to
isolate us from all other countries, to try and create within and without
our country, political and economic, national and international, that is,
all kinds of problems for us. This foreign ministers conference is only a
part of the conspiracy against our country. In short, these (word
indistinct) of events which strangely coincide with the foreign ministers
conference again show that all this is only a conspiracy, that all this is
only an evil attempt against our country and our revolution."
Castro said: "When I asked a Spaniard of the Trujillo legion who had
become our prisoner why he came, the first thing he said was that he had
been told that we were communists and that he was an enemy of communists."
Castro then said that this was the work of those who went abroad to speak
against us, such as Diaz Lanz.
Declaring that the revolution and the people would never admit defeat,
Castro said that in the first place the conspirators should have realized
this before making absurd plans against the majority in the Cuban nation.
He added that he was surprised that the enemies of the revolution thought
that the revolution would abandon the struggle and permit itself to be
overthrown. "They must overthrow us if it is possible to overthrow a united
people. They may overthrow us if an entire nation can be liquidated," he
said. He then said he wondered how it would be possible to govern the
people without an army if they did not have any public support, when
Batista had to maintain power by force of arms. He said that thousands of
men would go off to the mountains with their weapons to fight against the
reestablishment of the Batista regime.
Speaking of the corruption during the Batista regime, Castro said that the
revolutionary government inherited nothing but debts and that the country
had only 70 million pesos in reserve. He declared that in these
circumstances the most the government could do is to speed up the agrarian
reform, tourist plans, and other plans to give employment to everyone as
soon as possible, and to develop an economy that will maintain the Cuban
people.
A reporter asked Castro what Trujillo's "legion," which Castro had
mentioned, was. Castro replied: We have a Spanish member of the legion
here. He can tell you about it; where he contracted for it, who did it,
how much he was offered, and what he was told. His contract ended when he
was taken prisoner. "He no longer has any agreement with Trujillo, because
he is a prisoner."
If the reporters want to, we invite you to ask him anything here on
television. Castro suggested that the questions be asked later.
Castro then stated that the prisoners had been treated according to
international law; that they might be tried in court, but never tortured or
otherwise mistreated by the revolutionary government.
Castro suggested the reporters question William Morgan and Guiterrez
Manoyo, and a reporter asked if there was any effort being made to mobilize
the pro-Cuban feeling that he was certain existed among non-Cubans, as
shown by the activities of William Morgan. Castro replied: "Morgan is a
Cuban. He married a Cuban; he is not a North American." Castro then said
that there was no organized effort to mobilize this pro-Cuban feeling
abroad, but that it had to be done. He noted that movements in support of
the Cuban revolution did exist, as could be seen in Latin America while the
foreign ministers conference was in progress. "This has not been the
product of a methodical effort," he claimed.
Castro then volunteered a statement on the alleged invasion of Haiti by a
group of Cuban revolutionaries. He said that several days ago an
(Algerian?) man, "an adventurer who was a rebel in Las Villas," enlisted a
group of 25 or 30 rebels and left in a boat from the northern part of
Oriente Province. "This was something planned by those elements which are
conspiring against Cuba," he said. He continued that it seemed that they
landed in Haiti. He said that capturing 30 Cubans on an invasion of Haiti,
a country whose language and terrain is foreign, must have been a plan to
embarrass us at the foreign ministers conference. He went on to say that
this has "forced us to make the regretable decision to apply very severe
measures against these actions, which are intolerable."
Speaking of the conference of foreign ministers, Castro said that "the
logical thing" for it to discuss was "the economic problems of Latin
America, not interventions or expeditions." He said that "apart from the
efforts of our delegation and of the Venezuelan delegation the conference
is a farce." He said that Cuba did not want to be defended by an
international organization, and that "we cannot and will not hope for
foreign aid in defense of our revolution." Dictators usually hope for and
get international aid. He said that Cuba did not need OAS aid, and that
the conference had coincided with four invasions of Cuba, "one from the
united States and three from Santo Domingo." He said that "two planes had
arrived simultaneously at the Trinidad airport, but one did not dare to
land."
One of the planes came from Santo Domingo and one from Florida, he said,
and wondered if, with all the coast guarding resources at the command of
the United States, those planes could leave without the "complicity of
officials." "I asked myself if it was logical for us to be accused of
those things from abroad while during the foreign ministers conference arms
shipments were arriving here from the United States and from Santo Domingo?
We would really be in a fix if we had to depend on those international
organizations for our defense," he said, "because the peoples have never
received even minimum aid from those organizations. The foreign ministers
never met in a foreign ministers conference for the benefit of peoples, but
they meet now as an instrument to maneuver against a country that has
liberated itself from tyranny."
"What could the goal of that conference be when Trujillo was represented at
the conference? The same Trujillo, who (is trying?) to plot a
counterrevolution.
"What more proof is necessary than the recordings of broadcasts of La Voz
Dominicana at the conference to know whether we can consider as a serious
event that conference of foreign ministers which was convoked by Trujillo
himself?"
"While this conference is going on--a conference called through the
intrigue of Trujillo--a counterrevolution is attempted in our country, to
disturb the peace, to send plane loads of arms and machineguns, to start a
revolution here. All of this simply means that, up to now,
unfortunately,they are playing that dictatorship's game, because Trujillo
would not worry us one bit--if we knew that we had only to worry about him
as a means of provocation. This would also be true if we had to have a
fight between the people of Cuba and the Santo Domingo dictatorship.
"This," continued Castro, "would not be a problem for us, because we know
that the Cubans have enough qualities and have enough energy to liquidate
the Trujillo regime in two weeks, if necessary. Trujillo, however, is
sheltered by this international organism. He is sheltered in all his
international provocative actions and we remain here with our arms crossed,
tolerating the Trujillo planes that (fly?) over our coasts, tolerating the
Trujillo planes that threaten to bomb us, and tolerating that Trujillo
theft of the planes in which the war criminals fled. We have to allow him
to organize attempts against our embassies and be constantly exposed to his
provocations."
Castro continued: "We have to go on tolerating Trujillo and we have to be
exposed to the stupidity and madness of this man, the son of intervention
and the protege of international agencies, of the consortium of
international interests which keep him in power.
"We have our delegation in Chile to explain all these truths. Yet to
create more problems for us and to obstruct us, to prevent Cuba from
explaining her position at the Santiago conference, counterrevolutions are
hatched--counterrevolutions that practically coincide with the foreign
ministers conference."
Castro blamed Trujillo for inciting some 30 Cubans to provoke, hurt, and
demoralize Cuba. "These are the things," he said, "that should open the
people's eyes and prove to them that a revolution is not an easy thing,
that it is not a little stroll. The people should know that we have to
defend ourselves very tenaciously, very intelligently, and very firmly,
since we can count on no one else but ourselves, our own resources, and the
sympathy of the people. Nothing more than this, because generally the
oligarchies and the vested interests in other countries do nothing else but
play the game and abet the enemies of this revolution."
Castro then reminded his listeners of life under Batista, when children
were tortured and all sorts of crimes were committed. But, he said, news
of this kind was never published by the UPI and other international news
agencies. Therefore the Cubans are alone in defending themselves.
At this point, Castro was asked to explain about a report in a newspaper
saying that the counterrevolutionaries had three bases in Florida from
which to fight against Cuba. Would it not be possible, a reporter asked,
for the government to take steps against this and have the friendly
government of the United States help them?
"Well," Castro replied, "why waste time? They have taken in the war
criminals up there; the bodies of five compatriots were received there;
both political and military elements are hiding behind a mask of
respectability up there; planes with arms and pamphlets by criminals have
left there. Therefore, it is possible that if the U.S. officials did not
want a single plane to take off from there to drop pamphlets here and
gather war criminals they could stop them."
Castro then said that Maj. William Morgan was offered 40 50-caliber
machineguns by Dominican agents. "You can imagine what 40 50-caliber
machineguns mean. During the hardest fighting of the Sierra Maestra
campaign when we were fighting against all the battalions of the
dictatorship last summer we had only two 50-caliber machineguns." In other
words, he said, this Dominican gentlemen had had no trouble in acquiring
guns and the officials of the state of Florida pretended they knew nothing
about it. Yet, when the Cubans were fighting for a just cause, they had to
overcome many obstacles--obstacles that the war criminals do not have to
contend with.
A reporters asked whether Castro would personally attend the Santiago
conference in order to denounce the entire Trujillo plot. Castro replied:
"The foreign Ministers conference ends Sunday morning and there is no time
for me to attend the end of the conference. Because of the things
happening here, we thought it our duty to remain here. Moreover, we have a
good representative at the conference in the person of Dr. Raul Roa." The
cabinet, he continued, thought that I should remain here as much as
possible and try to attend the conference during its later stage. Things
took longer than we expected and today is Friday. I could not leave
without giving the nation an explanation of the events that have occurred.
As I have said, Castro continued, the foreign ministers conference was
called through the intrigue of Trujillo. We have proof of it. What shall
we propose? Shall we propose that the conference scold Trujillo? Trujillo
does not care about any of this. He is supporting the foreign legion; he
does not care about public opinion in Santo Domingo; he does not care about
public opinion on the continent. We know that the great international
interests are not interested in getting Trujillo out of the Dominican
Republic but in getting rid of the revolutionary government in Cuba.
"You understand," Castro went on "that what the conference is interested in
is to destroy the national government. We are not going there to concoct a
plan that will work against us. All we can do there, at this international
conference, is to ask that Cuba's sovereignty be respected and that the
Cuban nation be respected. What else can we hope for?" For example, he
continued, we know of the plan of campaign against Cuba. We know that these
powerful agencies with their monopoly on information intervene in the
problems of our country place obstacles in the path of tourism, and create
many problems for us. They let the conspirators loose against us.
At this point a reporter asked Castro about the plot that has just been
smashed in Cuba. Castro replied that it had vast ramifications. He said
that the plotters abroad counted on the help of military elements in the
country and on help from within. "Our plan to foil the invasion," he said,
"included four points; namely, to seize the plotters, to seize the money
that the landholders and Trujillo had given to the counterrevolution, to
seize the arms (received from the United States?), and to destroy the
elements that landed here. The plans were realized. All the conspirators
were seized. Not a single one of them escaped. The money given by the
landholders was also seized. The money was seized for the land reform. Of
course, we did not take as much as we had wanted to but we seized some
78,000 dollars."
"It was understood," said Castro, "that at the moment of the uprising in
Cuba Trujillo would send his legion. All the sectional leaders of the
revolt were given their briefing on Saturday morning; one group was to act
in Pinar del Rio and another on Isla de Pinas. The aim of the latter
action was to free all the prisoners on the Isla de Pinas. Another group
was to take over the Sierra de Escambray and there receive the legion."
The chief of the Pinar del Rio and Isla de Pinas, Castro continued, failed
to get a seat on the plane and thus failed to mobilize the Isla de Pinas
group. He was arrested by Major Menoyo in Morgan's house. All the leaders
of the movement were to meet in Morgan's house and receive instructions.
Major Menoyo and a group of comrades were living there. When all plans had
been made, they were arrested.
It so happened, he continued, that one of the plotters in Morgan's house
telephoned a Major Carrera in another house, where a group of Cainas
Milanes' landholder conspirators was located. Others were to meet with
Hernandez Tellaheche and his group. For some reason or other, Hernandez
Tellacheche had lost his confidence and had not held this meeting.
However, the group that was to meet with Cainas Milanes did meet and they
were arrested at the moment he arrived.
On the next day all the members of the former armed forces still in service
were put under preventive arrest. Almost all of them have now been freed.
"Naturally," Castro added, "we tried to maintain the greatest secrecy about
the plot, to make sure that we could smash it. It was impossible, though,
to keep the secret forever and the cables began to go out and, with them,
all sorts of rumors. I, for example, am a very hardy soul with the UPI.
They kill me when I am waging a revolution against someone else and they
also kill me when someone else is waging a revolution against me. They
always kill me."
The foreign news agencies said that Elcuterio Pedraza and Portuondo
directed the invading forces. They had the counterrevolutionaries in
control of Santiago de Cuba, Castro continued. They also said that Castro
has not appeared in public and has not appeared on television for four
days. "He is not seen any place, and it is supposed that he has been
murdered." The cables made things look black for me. Everything I said
was propaganda and I was wrong.
"Morgan was in contact with Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, meantime,
and he convinced Trujillo that everything was in order. On Wednesday night
a plane landed in Trinidad with a certain priest, Velazquez, abroad.
Fifteen cases containing bazooka ammunition were landed, as were nine
bazookas, five portable radios, another case with four bazooka shells, 28
cases of 50-caliber shells, 45 cases of 30-caliber shells, and 11 more
cases with 50-caliber shells."
The landing of the plane was a real picture: Almost all the comrades at
the airport were dressed in civilian clothes; those that disembarked from
the plane were shouting "Long live Trujillo!" There were embraces. After
landing the supplies and the men, the plane flew back to Santo
Domingo,which could not contain its joy because the revolution was going
well. We were supposed to be completely demoralized because there was no
reaction against the Trujillo planes on our part. In the meantime,
Trujillo's intelligence chief continued giving instructions by radio.
On Thursday we sent Trujillo a false message in the name of Morgan telling
him that fighting was taking place at six different points of Cuba.
Another false message was sent him saying we need many officers and
technicians, as well as soldiers and machineguns. The message added that
we needed between 200 and 300 experts experienced in the ways of
disorganizing the enemy, which was withdrawing. The message said that
reinforcement were needed at once, however, and that we could not do
everything by ourselves.
Trujillo replied through his chief of intelligence that everything would be
done. Sure enough, another plane arrived with 10 men abroad. They were
impressed. The town of Trinidad had been blacked out and a simulated
battle was being staged nearby to impress the visitors. The latter
explained that the two bombers would come the next day and they asked where
we wanted them to bomb. We decided to seize the group. There was
resistance, of course, and two men on our side were killed and several
wounded. The wounded on both sides were taken to the hospital and given
every medical attention.
(At this point Castro quotes some of the news reported by La Voz Dominicana
on his alleged defeat--Ed.) La Voz Dominicana announced that Fidel Castro
had been killed and that Santiago de Cuba and many other Cuban towns were
in the hands of the counterrevolutionaries. The station then appealed to
"Henry" to continue fighting, for the fate of Cuba was in his hands. He,
alone, was responsible for wiping communism from Marti's island. Of course
"Henry" was the alleged Dominican agent whom we know as William Morgan, our
man. Maj. Gutierrez Menoyo was also supposed to be a Dominican agent,
another lie.
A reporter suggested that Dr. Castro had enough information available
against Trujillo to produce a "white book" that would convince Trujillo's
adherents. Castro replied that on the first day, forty 50-caliber
machineguns, twelve-30-caliber machineguns, and many shells were seized
from a boat. The second shipment consisted of 100 light 50-caliber
machineguns that were parachuted to Cuba. The third shipment consisted of
100 bazookas and parts for bazookas, radios, and so forth. The last
shipment consisted of 90 Thompson machineguns, 76 Springfields,
seventy-four 50-caliber machineguns and many cases of shells, and other
arms. "I tell you," said Castro, "that if we had received all this in the
Sierra Maestra I am sure that we would have won the war in a few months."
Trujillo is against us, against Venezuela, and against anyone who sees in
him a dictator. He respects the citizens of no country. He has not
respected the University of Columbia, from which he kidnaped a professor
and later murdered him. He has friends; he has the international situation
in his favor. If it were up to us to take care of him, he would not last
two weeks. He can thank the international situation prevailing in our
continent.
Castro then accused Trujillo of dozens of other crimes, saying that he once
killed 10,000 Haitians and that the Haitian Government is under his wing.
"The best thing that could be done would be to settle accounts with
Trujillo. But as things are, we must remain here on the defensive. We
must keep waiting for his legion to come, for his planes and arms to come.
The international situation keeps our hands tied and we can only wait for
Trujillo's provocations."
A reporter asked: "Dr. Castro, to call a spade a spade, do you think that
the United States is mainly responsible for Trujillo's permanence and the
present situation existing in the Caribbean? Do you think that, since the
United States is a country where public opinion prevails,and with the proof
that the Cuban Government has, that U.S. opinion will be mobilized and
bring about a change in the stupid policy pursued by the State Department
in Trujillo's case?"
U.S. public opinion must bring about a change in policy with respect to
Trujillo, Castro answered. Public opinion in the United States is against
Trujillo. The U.S. State Department has to resolve the problem. Part of
the difficulty stems from the fact that the OAS had been ineffective in its
efforts to preserve human rights. "The worst of the OAS is that it can be
converted into an instrument against a revolutionary government such as
ours."
Our republics are a group of poor nations. They should all extend a hand to
one another to resolve the very grave economic crises.
We should cooperate and not be victims of competition. Only in this way
can the nations of Latin America develop. Cuba is being blamed for
existing problems, but the one who should have been blamed for the past 30
years is Trujillo, gentlemen. "We see the possibility that the OAS can be
converted into an instrument against the Cuban revolution and we cannot
promote or accept in any way a policy which aims at resolving through
intervention the problem of Cuba and that of Santo Domingo." Santo Domingo
could be used to involve Cuba also in a conflagration. Cuba is not to be
blamed; Cuba is a victim. Trujillo is a gangster and the OAS can do
nothing. The OAS is paying the consequences of its neglect of peoples, of
its forgetfulness of human rights. All of America is paying for the
consequences of its errors. We have no other ally but that of public
opinion on the continent. The natural ally of our revolution is public
opinion. We have no other alternative but to let everyone know that we are
ready to defend the revolution and to defend the nation with all the
necessary means."
(There was a pause as prisoners were brought in for questioning.) The
prisoners were asked how they came to join the counterrevolution and if
they realized Trujillo was an international criminal. One prisoner was
asked if he could see any signs of communism since he came to Cuba or did
he now believe he had been deceived. He replied that he saw no indication
of communism in Cuba. Questioned on the composition of the Trujillo
foreign legion to which he was affiliated, a prisoner replied that it
consisted mostly of Spaniards but that other Europeans were also included.
The next prisoner questioned, a Cuban, said his name was Pedro Rivero
Moreno. He was asked if he was willing to reply to questions and replies
in the affirmative. He said that some Cubans and Spaniards were involved
in the plot. He was a former army officer. He was in the foreign legion in
the Dominican Republic and never thought of coming to Cuba. There are
perhaps two or three Cubans in the Dominican army, he said. It was not his
decision to come to Cuba, but he was told to take some weapons to Commander
William Morgan and that he was to go as a technician; he made several trips
of this nature.
Information concerning the foreign legion followed. Rivero Moreno said
that it was a separate unit having its own uniform and was not commanded by
Dominican army officers. He said that he was chief of the security service
but that no one knows Trujillo's plans. They are secret.
Another Cuban prisoner questioned said that he was willingly giving
information. He said that he had had some political experience, and that
he felt that he could have a political future in Cuba again since he had
never done anything bad.
He said there were 25,000 men in the foreign legion. Asked about how much
has been spent in propaganda and in weapons to be used against the present
Cuban Government, he said that very few had contributed to it. He said
that Masferrer was plotting against Cuba.
Castro then summed up that the rebel army had done well. Imagine, it has
been working on this for three months and did not make a single mistake.
Its action was quite intelligent, and it maintained the same moral
principles of the war. The prisoners were treated well. When it was
necessary to act, every one of the conspirators was captured. There was no
violence, and this shows that to defend the revolution it is possible to
use what one may call rebel proceedings. These are absolutely clean and
legal and lead to the discovery of everything. Most of the prisoners have
been seized. It would be impossible to try them all. Only the leaders
will be tried. The others will be deferred as soon as possible to the
ordinary courts.
Castro concluded that the revolution is so strong that the country can
remain calm in the face of any threat or plot. We shall use the means at
our disposal to repel any attack. Cruelty, violence, and humiliations are
not necessary. Only correct investigating methods are needed and these
have given the best results.
CUBAN
HAVANA (AP)-PREMIER FIDEL CASTRO SAID TODAY CUBA LACKS THE RESOURCES TO
MEET ALL ITS NEEDS. HE URGED CUBANS TO USE NATIONALLY PRODUCED INSTEAD OF
FOREIGN PRODUCTS.
CASTRO SAID CUBA IS UNDERDEVELOPED, HAS MANY SHORTAGES, MUCH
UNEMPLOYMENT, AND MUST NOT DEPEND ON OTHERS TO SEE IT THROUGH TROUBLED
TIMES.
"WE CAN DO IT OURSELVES EVEN IF IT TAKES A FEW YEARS LONGER," HE
DECLARED.
CASTRO MADE THE REMARKS IN TWO SPEECHES--ONE BEFORE A NATIONAL
EDUCATORS' CONFERENCE, THE OTHER BEFORE AN INDUSTRIALISTS' BANQUET.
CASTRO'S WORDS IMPLIED THAT THE REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT SEES A PERIOD
OF AUSTERITY AHEAD.
"EITHER WE ALL TRIUMPH OR WE ALL SINK," HE SAID.
CASTRO PROPOSED THAT THE TEACHERS TAKE A SALARY CUT IN ORDER THAT
GOVERNMENT FUNDS MAY BE SPENT ON AN ADDITIONAL 10,000 SCHOOLS. THE
REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT ALREADY HAS BUILT 5,000 NEW SCHOOLS, HE SAID,
ADDING THAT A HALF MILLION CUBAN CHILDREN ARE GROWING UP WITHOUT AN
EDUCATION.
JK153PED 8/28
LISBON, PORTUGAL, AUG. 28-(REUTERS)-MARTA BATISTA, WIFE OF EXILED CUBAN
DICTATOR FULGENCIO BATISTA, ARRIVED HERE BY AIR TODAY FROM NEW YORK TO JOIN
HER HUSBAND.
-END-
LANIC |