Cuba: Christmas in July

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All over Cuba, posters proclaim TEN MILLION IN '70—a reminder that Fidel Castro is counting on an unprecedented harvest of 10 million tons of sugar next year. What makes that goal remarkable is that this year's crop will probably total no more than 4,500,000 tons. Nonetheless, despite drought, shoddy Soviet machinery and Cuba's inefficient armies of "volunteer" cane cutters, the Maximum Leader is confident of success. And why not? To achieve his target, Fidel is stretching the calendar.

In pre-Castro days, the harvest period ran from January to March. As productivity has declined, the cane cutting has become more and more prolonged. Castro began his so-called 1970 harvest this July, and he plans to press on for almost a full year, even though he will have to cut immature cane—thus jeopardizing the 1971 crop—and throw as many as 1,000,000 of Cuba's 8,200,000 people into the effort.

Taking no chances that year-end frivolity will get in the way of his scheme. Castro is delaying Christmas, New Year's and the Jan. 2 anniversary of the revolution. Celebrations would only "interrupt the harvest," he explained last week. So, he said: "We will save our suckling pig and Christmas Eve beans, Bacardi rum and beer for July." What if the 1970 harvest falls short, as outside experts predict? Who knows? Perhaps in that case the Bearded One will hold off the other bearded one, Santa Claus, a while longer.