MEXICO'S JACKAL PRESS UNLEASHED ON CUBA
By Manolo Sarmiento
MEXICO, DF. -- The declarations made here by the sister of Fidel Castro, * who went into voluntary exile, bode no good for the revolutionary island, The Mexican press has been unleashed in one of the most vicious campaigns yet undertaken against the Cuban Revolution,
The tremendous publicity given the incident compelled the Mexican government to affirm through a spokesman of the Foreign Relations office that "Mexico holds no rigia position in relation to Cuba,
The truly reactionary character of the "declarations" made by Juana Castro indicates that she was prompted by the U.S,State Department through its agents in the embassy here,
Fidel replied, exposing the Machiavellian aims of the State Department maneuver, It was another attempt to sell Latin-American opinion on the idea that the Cuban Revolution is so "monstrous" ‘that it breaks up the “immemorial ‘and holy institution" of the family. Imperialism did not want to miss playing this card.
It is rumored that Juana Castro may even go to the July 21 meeting of the OAS {Organization of American States], where Mexico will be under increased pressure to break relations with Cuba, The imperialist and national.press are in strange and unanimous agree~ ment that "this is the worst blow yet suffered by Castro." The yellow press is even more. hysterical than in May when the projected invasion by Artime and Ray was: supposed to take place,
Before next November (the U.S, elections are in November), Johnson will present the head of Fidel to the American electorate, the reactionaries are predicting with one voice,
This is the ‘atmosphere in which the State Department will seek the total isolation of Cuba at the July 21 hemispheric oonfer~ ence of foreign ministers, Mexico, Bolivia, Chile and Uruguay are being pressured to break relations "with Cuba.
It. is Mexico above all that. will decide this question. The government of Lépez Mateos resisted the pressure for five years, and he evidently wished to leave the: office without having buckled to the State Department on this issue, He began office with reformist ambitions but had to give up his projects one after the other under the heat from Washington, watering them down to mere topics for speech-making, Only the diplomatic tie with Cuba remains.
Diaz Ordaz, the new president, who is highly approved by the imperialists, seems almost certain to concede this,
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If.Mexico breaks relations, Cubats isolation from the ocontinent will be virtually complete, since Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile, © even if they maintain. relations, are far away. And the State Department will still not remain content. Everything that happens to Cuba particularly. affects the political situation in Chile, just as events in. Chile echo in Cuba, State Department pressure will be heavy an Chile, in.Uruguay, in Bolivia, »
Yet great events are looming on the Latin-American horizon, events that can prove decisive for the development of the revolution throughout the; continent. North American imperialism is aware of this.and hence will do its utmost to deal a finishing blow to ‘the Revolution which the heroic Cuban people dared to. start.
The defense of the first workers republic of the Americas thus. becomes a most vital matter. This holds not only for the men and women in the Cuban militia armed with machine guns. . And not only for the peoples of Latin America. . Today the defense of Cuba: is a world-wide duty, Today the fate of Cuba can determine the fate of international. socialism for a long time. The revolutionary capital of Cuba. belongs. to revolutionists everywhere. In Cuba the fate of mankind oan, be. decided, ,
Every revolutionist in the world must be conscious of the | fact that a mortal peril faces the island called the "pearl of the Antilles," the vanguard island of the world: socialist revolution.
FRENCH-CANADAtS. “RIN
By R, Brook
MONTREAL -- The most likely contender for leadership of the left. in Québec at present would appear to be the mass separatist party, Le Rassemblement pour 1' Indépendance Nationale [RIN]..
Although only four years old, the Movement. shows vitality. At the annual congress in Québec city at the end of May, the RIN elected as president a 3l-year-old socialist-minded journalist, Pierre Bourgault,. They decided to run candidates in all 95 consti-~ _tuencies in the next Québec election (expected in 1966), and set out to convert their Movement into a disciplined. political party determined to take power in Québec, The official membership is 7,000; and the preiphery at least as large again.
The RIN plans a. programmatic congress next February in preparation for the coming elections, -The present program, adopted in October 1962 is similar to the program of the federal New Demooratic party, including its faults as well: as good points.
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The planning it advocates would be’ worked out: through a "council of economic orientation" composed of “representatives of “commerce and industry" as well as farm, labor, and consumers! spokesmen, Planks include opposition to nuclear arms, encourage~ ment of union organization, support of the right to strike among civil servants, medicare, equal rights for women, free university education, nationalization of public services, and encouragement of producers! and consumers! co-operatives.
~ The RIN developed in Québec parallel to the New Democratio party. Founded in September 1960 by about thirty persons led by > ‘André dtAllemagne, a former Ottawa civil servant, and the well-known Dr, Marcel .Chaput, the new formation at first simply advocated the idea of independence,
"However," says d!Allemagne, now a national director, "the movement evolved over time, and within eighteen months, we had adopted a party orientation."
Chaput and his more conservative ‘ tendency split to form the right-wing Parti Républicain du Québec, which was later dissolved, "Chaput," according to dtAllemagne, "wanted our accent to be exclusively on independence =~ for example, he took issue with the RINts espousal of neutral [nonconfessional] schools, and for 'strategio and politicalt reasons omitted such from the PRQ's program,"
The RIN has an efficient organization, represented in almost every county, It holds annual conventions, has changed presidents each year, At the beginning its membership was mainly intellectuals, students and civil servants, DtAllemagne estimates that the present composition is about. one-third youth (students and workers), one-third intellectuals and professionals, and one-third manual work ers, housewives, etc,
He claims that although at first workers tended to look | askance at separatism, being more interested in "bread and butter" issues, they are now taking greater interest in RIN's objectives, At the’ recent Victoria Day mally, many dock workers were noted among the domonstrators,
The fact is that the daily working-class issues tend to oonverge with national independence aims, Most capital in