MOSCOW SAYS STORY ABOUT "ULTIMATUM" TO-CUBA IS FABRICATION
The Soviet news agency Tass on October 24 denied a widespread report that the countries adhering to Comecon were about to serve an "ultimatum" on Castro. "The report is a false provocation from beginning to end, having no other aim than to cast a shadow on the relations between Cuba and the USSR and the other member countries of the 'Comecon,'" the dispatch declared,
Tass reaffirmed the Soviet Unionts firm support of Cuba, "the isle of liberty," and announced a series of relief measures for the victims of the hurricane,
The false report, referred to by Tass, appeared in the October 10 issue of The Financial Times of London, It was a feature article signed "By Our Soviet Correspondent,"
According to this source, "A 'tshowdown! is unofficially but reliably reported to be taking place in Prague between Cuba and the Comecon coun= tries, led by the Soviet Union, which have become tired of pouring huge sums of-aid into the Caribbean island, all to no effect.
"An ultimatum is to be presented to Cuba, according to which Cuba will have to receive a powerful economic commission from Eastern Europe which will reform her economy (and some of her political system), or else cease receiving the East European aid which has been running at a rate of #1. 6 million a day in the past year. . "These developments have been coming out of a meeting which opened in Prague on October 7," ;
The abicle made a number of allegations which gave it the appearance of having been written by someone with inside connections,
For example: the Soviet delegate stated bluntly that Cuba could not expect any great food subsidies from the Comecon countries, Because of the bad harvest, the Comecon countries would have to buy grain in the West, tand we dontt earn our export dollars to drop them into the Havana sewers. im
Another example: "The Czechoslovak delegate accused the Cubans. of favouring Chinese poliey and dismissing Cubans favourable to the Soviet line.
If there was any basis to the report at all, it would appear that wiser heads have reconsidered, <A bureaucratic crackdown on the Cubans because of their independent views would not pay off at the moment, In the Soviet bloc countries the Cuban revolutionists are extremely popular figures.
KHRUSHCHEV