-DATE- 19600629 -YEAR- 1960 -DOCUMENT_TYPE- SPEECH -AUTHOR- F. CASTRO -HEADLINE- REGIONAL MEETING OF SUGAR WORKERS -PLACE- ARTEMISA -SOURCE- -REPORT_NBR- FBIS -REPORT_DATE- 19600629 -TEXT- CASTRO THREATENS TO SEIZE SUGAR MILLS (Editor's Note--F) Fidel Castro spoke on June 29, 1960, from 0415 to 0635 GMT, at the close of the regional meeting of sugar workers in Artemisa, Pina del Rio. After a routine introduction, Castro mentioned the bill approved by the U.S. House Agricultural Committee, and saying that it was a "Draconian law that violates the international treaties." He said that only a decadent government could ignore its mistakes and the hatred of the world for its policies. Be said that the U.S. policy toward Cuba was the policy of a government whose president and vice president were jeered and stoned in Latin America and of a government whose president could not visit Japan. The U.S. leaders, said Castro, have not had time to recover from their ridiculous setback at the summit conference, the stoning of Nixon in the streets of Caracas, and the repudiation of their president by the Asians when they turn against Cuba and try to put pressure on it. Castro promised that the Cubans would never yield and that they would go on fighting until that "empire of trash and extortion falls apart, the victim of its own stupidities." Castro then said that if the Cubans had to starve because of the U.S. economic aggression, it would not be the same as before when only the poor starved. This time, he said, poor and the rich will starve alike and perhaps the rich more than the poor. Castro also promised retaliation for the U.S. economic aggression, saying that a U.S. sugar mill would be seized for every pound of sugar dropped from the quota, that every cent lost because of the cut in the quota would be made up from the U.S. investments in Cuba. "The 'Yankees,'" he said, "will not have the nails of their shoes left to them." Castro added that the diversification of crops would be speeded up so that the Cubans would not have to rely on one crop and so that they would not have to starve. Each cooperative is going to have a dairy. With or without quota, he said, we are going ahead and improve the standard of living of the people. He said that Cuba would fight against any economic or military aggression and that it would win because the Cubans would be defending their soil. They may come here, said Castro, but they will leave in a hurry. If they come, it will not be the first time their bombs have fallen on our people, that their Napalm bombs have killed our people, and that their planes have machine gunned our children. They should know, said Castro, that Cuba is going to fight and that it is going to win. We say these things, Castro west on, so that they know what to expect and so that they respect our country because, if they do not respect it, "they will taste the bitter pill of defeat." FIDEL NAMED ACTING ARMED FORCES MINISTER Havana, Radio Centro, in Spanish to Cuba, June 28, 1960, 1200 GMT--E (Test) President Dorticos has signed a decree appointing Premier Fidel Castro minister of the revolutionary armed forces during the absence of Minister Raul Castro, who is in Czechoslovakia heading a special mission which will also visit the United Arab Republic. This special mission will represent the Cuban Government at the celebration of the Sparticus games in Prague. Later it will go to the United Arab Republic to attend the ceremonies commemorating the nationalization of the Suez Canal. The mission includes Majors Efigenio Almeijeiras, Ramiro Valdes Menendez, Guilermo Carcia (Frias,) Felix (Lugone?) Ramirez, Belarmino Castillo Mas, and Captains Felipe Guerra Matos, Juan Luis Rodriguez Infante, Marcel Sanchez Diaz, Diocles Torralba, and Juan Bautista Perez. U.S. AGGRESSION NOT TO GO UNANSWERED Havana, Radio Centro, in Spanish to Cuba, June 28, 1960, 1200 GMT--E (Test) Cepero Bonilla, minister of trade and director of the Cuban Sugar Stabilization Institute, ICEA, declared that the sugar bill approved by the U.S. House Agriculture Committee is a "declaration of economic war against Cuba" and an attack on its national economy and sovereignty. Cepero Bonilla warned that this aggression will not go unanswered, as Premier Fidel Castro declared in a recent televised interview. Cepero Bonilla said that this bill leaves Cuba without a quota, pointing out that President Eisenhower, who is given authority to set the amount of sugar which is to be brought from Cuba, will decide "arbitrarily and capriciously." The commerce minister declared that the intention of attacking Cuba economically has not been disguised. -END-