Cuba: Down with Imperialism--12,000 Miles Away

• Share

Cubans have long been accustomed to their Maximum Leader's vicious verbal attacks on the U.S. Last week they were delighted when he shifted his biting invective to a surprise target: Red China. In Havana's Communist daily Granma,* Fidel Castro spelled out the whole ugly story of how Peking had not only "committed a criminal act of economic aggression" by reducing its 1966 rice shipments to Cuba, but had also sent huge amounts of propaganda material into the country in an attempt to enlist the army for Peking's espionage purposes. "We have liberated ourselves from imperialism 90 miles from our shore," declared Fidel. "We are not willing to allow another powerful state 12,000 miles away to impose similar practices on us."

Soviet Switch. The first public inkling of Castro's split with Peking came on the eve of last month's Tri-Conti-nental Solidarity Conference in Havana, where 612 assorted "revolutionists" gathered for twelve days to map plans for upheaval in Africa, Asia and Latin America. On the surface, it seemed that Red China, with its "wars of national liberation," would command the most support among the hotheaded delegates. Russia, which has been soft-pedaling violent revolution and has openly favored the via pacifica in Latin America, seemed a poor second.

Castro upset these calculations by criticizing Red China for cutting its rice shipments to Cuba, thus reducing the average Cuban's monthly rice ration from six to three pounds. Peking's parsimony did not sit well with delegates from other hungry, have-not countries. Meanwhile, the Soviets adroitly outflanked the Chinese with a pledge to support wars of liberation in Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and Guatemala. Moscow handed out $3,000,000 to Latin American delegates, and even promised Russian advisers for a worldwide "liberation committee."

Castro's Loss. Piqued by the setback, Peking called Castro a liar and accused him of unfairly juggling trade figures. Castro hit back last week with charges of "grand hypocrisy" and "contempt for smaller peoples." The feud could well lead to a break in diplomatic relations, has already gone far enough to impair Red China's hold on its one major base for espionage and subversion in the Western Hemisphere.

But Castro had lost something too.

By siding with the Soviets against Peking, he relinquished the role he had relished as a self-styled arbiter between the two Communist giants. He was now less his own man than ever.