GRIMLY CUBA STRUGGLES TO FIND PEACE: Depression, Effects of Machado's ... By RUSSELL B. PORTER New York Times (1923-Current file); Mar 24, 1935; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times pg. SM8
GRI:MLY CUBA STRUGGLES TO FIND PEACE
Depression. Effects of Machado's RegiIne and Atnerican I tion only tbe two most prominent NE sunny afternoon in Ha caso.·-or at the fallure of tboa. Ovana, a year and a halt' 800'0, Financial Interests Are Factors in Her Troubles , powerful nation. to $Olve their white-sulted Cubans were s1t problems Without recurrent Inter tin~ quietly on the bench.... nal troubles. Wby should tbey b. lD Central Park. in the middle of surprised or confounded by the the city. Suddenly there wa.9' e. fallure of the Cubans to govern muffled sound in tbe distance. as of themselves well under similar or a body of men moving. Tben ea.me worSe circumstances? a tew sharp cracks. the unmistaka In this writer'. beUef. It would ble sound of army rifles. Machine be more logtoal to b. surprised guns began to stutter tbeir death that a small and weak country caU. The crowd jumped to their Uke Cuba sbould bave made the feet. """ttered fanwise across the valiant efforts she has to solve her park. and disappeared In the door problems without cutting the Gor ways and aU sartB of nooks and diaD knot. Democracy h.... b.en put to a severe lest In Cuba, and cl'lmnies. I In a few moments the soldiers Its fundamental principles have completed their "demonstration" been suepended 80 often as to make against CommuD:ist agitators. and Its bold on the ~untry very tenu \"3,nished from the scene. Out of OUB. but .t this writing It has not their boles immediately came the been finally aliandoned for either people of the park benches. They fascism or communism. There have """red around, saw and heard no been killing!! by the armed forcc. signs of trouble. and casually aaun and by the rovoluttonlsla tn clvU tered back to their places. Five disturbances, atlacks by terrorists minutes later life in the park was and relallatlon by the soldIer•. gomg on again just as before. abuaes by the government and re This in~ldent. in a rough way. I taliation by Its opponents; but a. may be regarded a; a symbol Of tbls I. writ len there hill! been nO Cuba's recun-ent revolutionary dis- i Hitler blood-purge and none ot the turbances.· Just recenUy the Wings Soviet's widespread execution or of death have fluttered again over oppositioniSts Ha'\ .' progressive-' strikes to an at- I the worst years or the economic de tempted general strike, accompa· I pression In Cuba, trom 1925 to 1933. ni~d by sniping from the bousetops: coincided with the tyranny. oppre.· and fighting in the streets. appar-I sian and bloodshed of Pr•• ldent enUl' bas been successfully put Machado, who ruthlessly suppreaaed do ...·n by the determined attitude of I all tnanltea!atlons of discontent, it PIesident Carlos Mendieta, backed I. all the more surprising thaI the reaction was not more- vtolent than by the guns of Colonel Fulgencia I Batista. army cbief of stafr. I It was alter the country's pent·up social unrest WaR rele""ed by the Every now and then America Is I' startled by one of these political or abdication and night of Machado social eruptions in the litUe island It Is true th8.t for a few days after off the coasl of Florida. As a rule. Machado tell there ...... condition when the trouble is oy-er, the Cuban of virtual anarchy. in which Ma chado's porristas, or members of people resume their former posi his .secret police. wen" hUnted down tions. like Ihe crowd of idlers in and killed like anlmaj,g in thp street.H Central Park. and life goes on as of Havana, and In which the hom •• before, It almost seems, some- of wealthy Machadlslas wpre looted times. as if these disturhances and burned. Bul Ihe"" were acL, the.mse]\·u were an indispensable: ot mobs and Individual. laking re part of normal life in what the Cu- ' venge tor the torture and murder bans delight to call "Tbe Pearl of or students and other antl~Mach8 .. the Antilles," and "aat their for dislaa by the secret police, and fot Iller Spanish masters knew as '-the the looting of Ih. public treasury t'ver-falthtul isle. ,. by Ma~do official.. They took place because the new govemDJent view of these repeated dissen WB.!'I too weak to stop them, but they rsions. it is no wonder that some ceased as the revolutionary govern Amerlce.D8' speak Of Cuba as ment gathered strength They were 'Ihe land of troubles." But wby not the acts of a government. do these conditions persist? That Is a que.stinn to which one may ob- O the Cuban revoluUon cannot taln many answers. If you ask the Sbe blamed fot any such bloodS ordinary American citi%en, be pro'ir eXces""s Ill! the SovIet revolu ably ...ill say: "Oh. those people, tlOD, for in!ltance. or the historic down there don't know how to gov-I French Revolutton. There hae been ern themselves, anyway." In Cuba. no Danton or Robesplerre in the the \-iolent natJonaJi.st would put Cuban revolution; neither baa t~e blame on the United States. ""-) there been an Ogpu. But the serting that. even sJnce the abroga repercussions 01 the Machado lion of the Platt Amendment. Wall' regime still persist in Cuba, consti Street banks and the State Depart tuting a aecond important factor ment at Washington dominate the for her conUnued trouble8. There Cuban Government and make trou will be no lastln~ peace in Cuba blE' inevitable. Business men, Am€:r· until the tlnal remnants of the Ma iean and Cuban both. would lay It Agaid the Flag of Rc'Volt: Is Unfurled in. Cuba.-A Scene Fron:::l. 't:he Recent Uprisin.g. chado regime. and the whole sys to radical Rgitation. and tbe Com tem of oppression ana exploitation munists would a.ttribute it to the for which It stOOd, has been wiped breakdown of the capitalist system. out by sweeping relonns. former President Gerardo MaChado skirts tbe city Is dilapidated. Tbe ductlon of sugar. All other bUSiness i In between these extremes one The! brings us to a tblrd fa.tor to produce a political, economic aDd , beautiful Prado, With Its doubl~ row or industry, even tobacco, is either I may find as many differences of the relatJon between [he United social crisis tbat bas not yet been I of lovely SpaniSh laurels, Is des<> tributary or secondary to sugar. opinion as shades of color among I States and Cuba as an element In solved, and perhaps will not be I la.te and lonely. There are pieces ot In 1920 a collapse of sugar prices. I Cuba's 4.000.000 inhabitants be the Cuban domestic problem. The solved for many tortuous years. light artillery pointed at the beart after a period of fantastle overpt-O- I tween the pure-white SpanJards at abrogation of lhe Platt Amendtnent It Is rather bud to Identity solDe I of the University of Havana, bot duction and speculation, ruined the I lhe tor- of Ibe scale and the coal of these factors. for Cuba.. once the bed of revolt. Machine guns and , native BUgal' barons. stripped them snd the granting ot a new commer black Negroes at the bottom. Winter playground of tourists. Is rilles brtstle everywhere. Over of their possessions, and left their cial treat¥ to Cuba by the Roosevelt While none of these explanations now the year-rouod playground of I everything bangs a fog of uncer ovennortgaged mliJs and estates In i ,administration ba ve been a great would consUtute the whole truth, propagandists, wbose function, like tainty and bewilderment. Only the the ownership ar control of Amer· I belp to Cuba, politically and eco none would be entirely ...,.ong, In that of a clever defense lawyer, 1 beauties of nature remain, the lean banking Interests. In 1925 a I , nomloally, but have not ruily satis tbe View of aD objective seeker al seems to be to contuse rather than bright blue sky and the datk blue second collapse. tram whieh the tn fied the nationalistic ambitions of ter the truth. The Cuban problem to clarify. Havana, where life was ocean, the warm Bun and the cool dustry haa not yet recovered. com SOlne of the Most active sectors of .s not simple, but exceedingly com gay and color1'tll, bas hecome the ing breeze. to help one see things pleted. the: ecol1oulic destructlon of the Cuban revolution. Even if Cuba. In the clear light of reaoon. the Istand. From 1929 to 1933. of plex. Without the proper qualifl scene of a continuing battle In now tbat Ihe Platt Amendment no course, Cuba ahared fully In the cations, it might be a misleading whi~b manifestoes. programs and longer exists, Is at las( a really tree ET us look at some or the most misery produced by the succe88lve oversimplification merely to pose other statements from this or that T and Independent nation politically. Important ot these factors re- strokes of deflation In the world the question why Cuba is the "land political faction cloud the sky by L she is atill. It Is argued, under the sponsible for Cuba's continued depression. of troubles." This migbt lead the day; in wblch the secret act11Jitles economic domination of the big !rouhles. By far the primary rea- Wben people ~.annol work and of terrorists make the nlgbts red. Wall Street banks and tbe holding reader to belieVe tbal there is some 30n tor Cuba's dHficultJes, In this cannot eat-evcn an ordinarily do<: thing strange about Cuba's contin and jo which open insurrection companies whleh cOllltol ber sugar flares up froID time to time. writer'. opinion. is the wotld-wlde \Ie people Ilk. the CUhans-they re ued troubles. The (act Is that they Industry. her railroads and her pub Morro castle, at the entrance to economic breakdown leading to so volt. Tbllt ean be regarded as a lic utilities. ate a perfectly natural development the harbor, looks less like a historic cial unrest whl~ followed the Jaw of nature. AInerlcans are no from all the factors out of Cuban, Dlonument than a gloomy forebod World War. Cuba suffered earlier longer surprised at the revoluUl)ns Cuba bas suttered nol only the American and world history which Ing of disaster. The famous Male and more than most countries. She whleh oceurred after the war In abuses of financial exploltstlon and combined during the dictatorsblp of' con, or ocean boulevard, which I Is a land of one Industry-the pro- Russia and in Germany-to mt!n- boldlng-company control suen as Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. have been seen In the United States, It is charged, but also has felt these In combination with the eflects ot an absentee ownership which has bled the country as white as the sugar which Americana "se on their tables. The benefits to the Bugar indu.try under the new treaty, It Is alleged, go chiefly to Americans, not to Cubans. In reality. tbese tbree foregoing factors are linked together In the minds of Cuban revolutionists. The economic depression. the Machado tyranny and' the domlnaUon of American business and financial interests all bave interrelaUonsblps. Tbere Is a IJngering smart ot re sentment on the part of those who believe that money lent by Ameri can banks enabled the Machado regime to oppress them. and that In turn Machado tyrannIcally taxed them to their last penny In order to pay ott American bondholders while Cubans starved.. . . F course, there are other fac O tors in making Cuba the "land of troubles." There Ia a Cuban tradition of misgovernment. cor ruption in public ottice and tyr anny that dates back to tbe three centuries wheD the . 'ever-faithful i.le" was ruled by the Spanish cap tains general, with their ever ready guns and tax collectors. Some Cubans believe that their capacity for self-government hag been seriously weakened by the ~~'"oto uv -..v ..... 1J.-o.,.....- ='VC7I.n._~ ~'ro ... ··7'/.~ C,"'iu".,.. 0/ Cub .... -· l>u r,u-~"-,".o,, l:S4'" 1...... 'L_.pp ...... ot,_.J three decades ot the Pi!J.tt amend Ha'Vana Slurns--"The Collapse co'; Sugar Prices Brought: About: t:he Ec;e>noD1ic: Degcru.crion o£ t:he Island." ment, which made their country a virtual protectorate ot the United States and caused her leaders to should disappear In the future with look to Washington and Wall Street tyranny. some with oppression, That Mendieta is another Macha dency. For Mendieta to resign no" the gradual improvement 01 eco tor a solUtion of their problems in some with dishonesty. and some do, 8€!eklng as Maehado d!d to per would mean most likely that h. nomic conditions and the refonn of stend of working them out them with all ot these and more. All of petuate himself in oUlce by the UBe would expose Cuba to the danger old abuses. So also with Communist selves. Others believe it was a mle- them. as a group. are charged with of the army and by the murder of that he would be succeeded either agitation. which bas certainly been take to try to adapt the American a consistent subservience to Wash POlitical foes, as charged In some I by a military dictatorship of Batista a tactor lIf stirring up trouble, but ington aDd to American business Presidential and representative sys quarters, is incredible to this writ-I ,and bls soldiers. whicb mlgllt very has been overrated both by Com and financial interests. They are tem of government to Cuba when er. Such accusations have the ring ! well turn out to be truly another munist and anU-Communist propa regarded as men who were patriots she becsme a republic. The racial ot radical propaganda in some Macbado regime. or by cbaos and gandists as an element In the prob in the beginniDg, but who were so I cases. of disappointed hopes in oth I problem In CUba, producing diverse anarchy. The chances would seem lem. ! corrupted Or misled by professional 1 ers, and ot the outbursts ot imprac Inte~sts among whites, blacks and I to favor eventual chaos and an politics that they lost sight of tical Rnd uninformed sentimental mixed breeds, also complicates the archy, for BaUsta, althougb be bas MONG the leaders In Cuban i.their country's real interests, and i ists in other instances. lesson of selt-government. : the force to keep a government In A national lite today there are I failed to be prepared with any na- 'I It Is true that President Mendieta Again, tactlonal disputes and the' ! power, does not appear capablE> of those of the old order and :.tional progr-am to meet the chang has felt compelled to govern with a I governing by himself. The politle&1 perpetual LaUD-American wartare I those of the new order. President ; ing e<:onomic and social problems I strong hand. to suspend constitu ! opposition seems to be too widely of the "outs" against the "Ins" tor Mendieta. represents the beat, and which have (oHowed the World tional guarantee3. and to permit 'split be contro] of public office8 have their probably tbe last. of the old or War. Colonel Batista's army to exercise by factional differences to able to form a. stable government share ot responsibility tor CUba's der. I Except for Estrada Palma, the; powers over the civil authorities. troubles. Especially at a time when LIke General Machado, General tirst Presl Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. GRIMLY CUBA STRUGGLES ON Effects of the Machado RegiIne~ and Atnerican I Financial Interests~ Factors in Her Trouble (Continued from Page 9) I sweeping political, economic and ,social reforms. Ing Impatiently forward to the New There Is a great deal of vague- Cuba of their dreams, have joined Iness, confusion and difference of forces with various other factions I, opinion about these aJms. Dtfterent against President Mendieta. They • polltical factions are pulling this have demanded tbat he pusb for· way and that. trying to convince ward immediately with the recon· the general pubUc that one or the structlon of Cuba by reforms to end other particular reform or set of the abuses, oppressions and ex reforms is paramount. Meanwhile plOitations of the old system, where I the masses of people seem uncer as he has Insisted on waiting until I tain and bewildered and in need of the country has become sufficiently a breathing spell In which they can pacified 80 that peaceful elections have peace and quiet to let them can be held for a Constitutional con· and the leaders they choose to sup vention. It should be remembered port determine what course to that Mendieta Is a provisional Pres follow. Ident, governing (when it Is not Thus the Cuban revolution Is to suspended) under a provisional be considered as one that Is still In Constitution and with decree·laws, progress and must continue until the old Constitution having been those of Its objectives which are abolished after the faIl ot Machado. sensible and practical are substan HIa attitude Is that reform should tially achieved. That Is part of its walt until the new Constitution. inevitability. ... His opponents of the New Order RESIDENT MENDIETA. hon also are Impatient at his fallure to est, patriotic, courageous and assert the civil authority over the P wise, does not share In the re military. They want Batista ousted, sponsibUity for the abuses of the 'and the supremacy of the civil Old, but at the same time he does [power established. 'I'his'ls reall:,' not think in the terms of the New Hnked with the previous issue, be· Order. U he can prevent extremlBts I cause they say that their reform$ 011 either the Right or the Left 'cannot be achieved until the mJli· from seizing power, if he can save tary is subordinated to the cMI Cuba from the Dantons and the power. When this is done, they say, RobesjlIerres on one hand or the especially the "Autenticos," that Hitiers and the Goerlngs on the the goal wl11 be "the economic lit.· other. he will have pertormed his eratlon" ot Cuba from American historic function. domination. Until this Is done, If he can keep things steady un they will teel that they, as the real til some measure of economic and revolutionists who risked their Hves social balance Is restored to Cuba and carried on the revolution as well as to the rest of the world, agalnsl Machado after the purely so that a constitutional convention political oppOSition surrendered, can be held in an atmosphere of at have been cheated ot the trults of least comparative peace and qUiet; their victory. he will have done his part In start· Ing Cuba on the way to the neces It. LTHOUGH the dlfferenlgroups sary reforms. 11 united against Mendieta, or But sooner or later he must give rather against Batista, they way to the New Order. The masses are split with factional differences of the Cuban people are patient In other respects. The tact that now. evidently having faith in hIm. they had not been able to agree believing that he Is right In going upon any unltled, constructive and slowly. and feeling that he Is justi detailed polltlcal program militated fied in using strong measures (up against the success ot their recent to a certain point) In defending revolutionary effort. It obviously his government from assaults that was partly the cause of their faU might if succeastut produce a con ure to get the support of the Cuban dition ot anarchy in Cuba. Al· masses, without which the general though they might accept a more strike was doomed to failure as a or less benign form of dictatorship revolutionary effort. (not a return to the Machado type ot regime) temporarily until things I In this respect the movement Bettle down, the Cuban masses in agalnst the Mendieta government is evitably will demand a new con I strikingly different trom the anti· stitutional form of government Machado revolution, which both the I which will give them the fruits of and the classes supported masses 'their victory over Machado. I whole-heartedly. That was clearly a great popular uprising, deeply When the students and young I rooted in long-eontlnued wrongs professors of the Autenticos and I committed Upon the people. There the young professional and busl I ness men of the A.B.C. reconolle I was something Inevitable about It their factional differences and The recent attempt to unseat Men \ unite upon a broad and construc· I dleta did not have this character. tlve program. or when theBe or On the contrary, smacked a great It some similar group representing 'deal of factiona.l disputes over the the new order gs.fn popular as I alms methods by which the ot' the cendancy, the picture of new Cuba '. anti-Machado revolution should be will become clearer. realized, and the ambitions of the , "outs" to replace the "ins" on the public payrol1. OW tor the outlook. What of the futUre In Cuba? PredIc Ntions are always dangerous, I but It appears certain that the future belongs to the New Order. The Mendieta government Is evi. dently a transition government, a Ilink between the old and the new. It must be realized that the Cuban revolution did not end with the fall I of Machado, any more than the French Revolution ended with the I faIl of the king, the Russian revo : lulion with the fall of the czar, or the Mexican revolution with the I fall of Dlaz. What many do not understand Is that the Cuban reVolution, al. I I though on a smaller r;caIe, belongs Ihistorically with these precedents. I[ It was rooted in simllar oppres I sions, and was made etfective with similar popular support. Although I its rums are different In degree and detail, they are like the aims ot I those revolutions In calling tor Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.