Padilla, the who was briefly imprisoned for ideological back in 1971, left Cuba on a three year exit visa. I was told by the director, Santiago Alvarez, who was in London recent•ly, that specifically requested to be allowed to return to Cuba, and the agreed.
This shows that Cuba does not usually attempt to prevent people leaving, porarily or right to leave Cuba is not the issue Wiln tne recently crammed Peruvian embassy In Havana -to the capitalist press, 3,000 according to the Cubans.
Last January, at the time of the first few incidents around the Peruvian embassy, tne AmMassacor issued a that was published in Granma (the Cuban 'Pravda') saying: 'We are not a travel agency'.
However, such statements cannot hide the fact that more than one the Peruvian, political asylum to people who can hardly be described as entitled to it.
Before the present problems with Peru the main offender had been case the issue is part of the wider problem of Venezuelan conflict with Cuba over policy in Central America. For example, Venezuela's Democral accused of giving assistance to the Cuban poet offences Latin America Cuban film Padilla had government had the chief cause.
either tem- of El Salvador. permanently. The Venezuela to withdraw other's ambassadors. people who the compound - 10,000 according migrants grounds that they those statement in Havana.
the Embassy month. including was killed.
sales Other Venezuela. In this be socialists.
Christian government stands military Christian that have been sweeping through the West.
The several thousand people who have invaded the Peruvian Embassy in Havana, claiming status as political refugees, have been used to smear both Cuba in particular and communism in general, especially in Peru, in the midst of an election campaign, has used the arrival of Cuban refugees in the country as a ploy against Hugo Blanco and other revolutionaries standing in the elections. 'They want to create another Cuba here, and people just want to get out of Castro's Cuba,' they say It cannot be denied that a large number of people want to leave Cuba at the present time, but, contrary to what the capitalist press would have us believe, the repressive nature of the Castro regime is probabaly not In this article, MICHAEL CHANAN, a frequent visitor to Cuba, gives his view of what lies behind the situation.
Democrats in the government This kind of who conflict recently led Cuba and each The USA has refused to accept a number of would-be imCuba on the were common criminals. It is clear that the same is true of many of now jammed into the Peruvian embassy compound The trouble started around the Peruvian Embassy when six people crashed a bus through gates early this Cuban guards changed shots and one of them Following this incident the Cubans removed their own guards from the embass!
people wanting leave Cuba are largely attempting to do so in response to a speech by Fidel Castro in which he said that Cuba didn't want people who weren't willing to He meant Cuba didn't want people who weren't prepared to accept and share the hardships as well as the benefits of a plan- the that ned economy. Some of those want to leave are discouraged by the country's current economic ditticulties arCe The hardships suffered in Cuba are nothing compared to the sufferings of the popular classes in virtually every other Latin American country. Cuba has rationing, but this is mainly due to the economic blockade of the country kept up by the USA for the last 20 years. The main aim of the rationing is to ensure an equitable distribution of food and other goods that are in short supply.
The capitalist press never fails to mention the rationing but somehow forgets to mention the blockade.
In the last few months Cuba has lost considerably through damage to its coffee, tobacco and to a lesser extent sugar The culprit disease, but the losses in strict economic terms are likely to be recouped by the recent rise in world sugar prices.
Whichever way you look at it there has been considerable of economic disruption in Cuba, but nothing like the crisis that Western press has been talking about. Castro's speech indicated that these problems required greater vigilance and discipline from socialists. • This is precisely what many of those people inside the Peruvian embassy want to avoid.
Reports Havana reveal that many Cubans testify people from. . their own districts who have run to the Peruvian embassy are antielements individualists who refuse to adapt themselves to the collective values of socialism.
Foreign correspondents who have visited the embassy, that a sizedble group among these people fits that description: minor criminals running for cover. They are using the situation as an excuse.
If the Cubans have refused to cooperate with the UN High Commissione for Refugees this is because, first, they quite reasonably do consider these people refugees. Nobody needs to flee illegally. Everyone can leave who gets an entry visa to another country. Therefore secondly, they regard the pro. blem as one of bilateral relations with Peru.
Thirdly, they have " themselves provided facilities to alleviate the discomfort in the compound. as well as sate conduct passes to enable people leave, later.
and go home, and return Reuter has reported that many in the com pound do not wish to themselves of these facilities.
Reports explain that they don't want to run the gauntlet their neighbours, while pressure from some of the more aggressive of them prevents others from accepting.
1968, Hungarian reaction. revolution, he published an ex-