SOLIDARITY, CUBAN STYLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000400690002-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2013
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: August 11, 1967
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

3TAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Relea?sei-15(Yr:2.013/12/19 : CIA-RDP73-00475R0004006900027
AUG 11 1957
The chaotic windup of the Organi-
zation of Latin American Solidarity
s-- conference in Havana has made one
. thing clear: If there were no United
? States to hate, the Latin American
Communists would have to invent one.
? Otherwise, they could never agree on
anything.
Of course, the hateful figure of the
imperialist Yankee nation is 99 percent
'fiction. And as every good Latin revo-
lutionary knows, this straw man with
the high hat, the chin whiskers and the
pockets full of corrupting cash is
? responsible for all that is amiss in North
and South America.
Except for the unanimous acclaim
. for this wonderfully satisfying substi-
tute for progress and effective govern-
? ment at home, the .27 national delega-
tions to Castro's convention were not
exactly the model of solidarity. Two
factions?the old-line Communists and
the new. breed of Castroesque revolu-
tionaries?were at each other's throats
? from the word go. As the conference
? ? neared conclusion it looked for a while
as if the old guard might .walkout,
split-
tilig the united front down the middle.
The issue was the Cuban-inspired
move to condemn: Russia for her policy
of trade with non-Communist ?nation.
?
?
In the .end, after 4.2 hours of acrimo-
nious debate, 15 delegations voted in
the resolutions committee to join Castro
in the curious exercise of biting the
hand that hands out.
Clearly, the life of a Latin revolu-
tionary is not an easy one. And it could
get a lot harder in a hurry if 'Castro
persists in his habit of giving the Rus-
sians the back of his hand at every
opportunity. So perhaps we should not
begrudge the Cubans and their fellow
travelers on the rocky road to revolution
their small pleasures. Let them Doracle
the former Negro leader, Stokely Car-
michael, and let them make the most
ofThis paranoid anti-Americanism. Let
them label the Organization of American
5.'-ates as "the putrid Yankee deriart-
ment of colonies." Let them ? ful,--qate
about the CIA and. American "penetra-
tion, intervention, subversion, occupa-
tion and political and economic hegemo-
ny!' Let them threaten "to seize power
through armed struggle" throughout the
hemisphere.
It is, after all, understandable that
the Cubans should try to blame every-
thing on the United States. The alterna-
tive would be for Castro to face up to his
own shortcomings. And that's more than
anyone should be asked to do.
t/
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/19: CIA-RDP73-00475R000400690002-7