CUBA ON WITH THE SHOW

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400130053-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 29, 2004
• Sequence Number: 53
• Publication Date: August 7, 1964
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2005/01/12: CIA-RDP88-01315R00040013005
CUBA
On with the Show
There he was, looking like a refugee
from the House of David in his bushy
black beard. "I have bad control," Fidel
Castro apologized to the catcher as he
lobbed a few warmup pitches across the
plate for dear old Oriente province. And
covering second base was brother Raul,
head of Cuba's armed forces. Then it
was batter-up, and whiff-whiff-whiff, the
boys were breaking their backs trying
to hit that roundhouse curve. By the
end of the first inning, it was Fidel's
team 14, the opposition 0. Moments
later, the game dissolved.
Castro was in Santiago de Cuba to
celebrate the July 26, 1953 attack on
Moncada Barracks that signaled t;.?
start of his revolution against Dictator
Fulgencio Batista. He was determined
to put on a show for the 30 U.S. news-
men invited over to view the proceed-
ings, and so he did. Carpenters had
nailed together triple-deck bunks and
thrown up small tent cities to handle
the 100,000 campesinos trucked in for
the occasion. Streets were hung with
posters and gaily colored banners. All
day and night, reported TIME Corre-
spordcnt Edwin Reingold, streets were
clogged with peasants in gay carnival
hats, sipping a glass of beer or munch
ing hungrily on roast-pig sandwiches.
Ballot of Baseball. At Santiago's
"Sports City" stadium, two days after
Fidel's appearance at the plate, some
1,000 boys and girls in dazzling white Panama, and another to invade an armed
n r 'iSP'Flu
snaked their way through tortuous drills,
finally spelling out "July 26." Then, in-
a hilarious pantomime, 640 youngsters
filed onto the field to symbolize beisbol
as it is under the dread imperialist yoke
-going through the motions of batting,
pitching and running in agonizing slow
motion. But wait! Now came the revo-
lution-and the youths were happily
scampering around like Little Lea-tiers.
"The sport of yesterday was commer-
cial and a means of making money,"
explained the program notes. "The ex-
ploitation of man by man on all fronts.
In sports today, it is wholesome and
pure." Then came 400 soldiers in olive
green and East German helmets to snap
through the U.S. manual of arms before
goosestepping, in the best Soviet tra-
dition, past Castro.
Next day, the mood changed. A grim,
unsmiling Castro stood on a platform,
joined by Raul, President Osvaldo Dor-
ticds and Minister of Industries Che
Guevara. Castro gave the enthusiastic
crowd of 100,000 a brief wave, un-
strapped his ever-present .45 automatic,
and stood through the introductions
with nervous, twitching fingers. The Or-
ganization of American States had just
voted diplomatic and economic sanc-
tions against Cuba, and Castro was
eager to strike back. "The OAS is gar-
bage, a Yankee ministry of colonies,"
he railed. "The people of Cuba repudi-
ate the insolent threats of armed aggres-
sion. It is one thing to fire without risk
on unarmed people, as happened in
nation where the people are prepared
to shed their last drop of blood in de-
fense of their country."
Woke Up, Rculi For 3 hours is
went on, while Brother Rafil kept doz-
ing off on the platform, only to he
nudged awake by an amused Che Gue-
vara. In sputtering defiance of the OAS.
Castro issued his own "Declaration of
Santiago de Cuba," accusing the U.S.
of subverting Cuba 'and threatening tc
continue his attempts to foment revoiu-'
tion around Latin America. "Unless
there is an end' to the pirate attacks
from the U.S. and other countries," he
cried, "the people of Cuba will feel they
have an equal right to help, , with all
resources available to them, the revo-
lutionary movements in all countries
that practice such interference in our
country's domestic affairs." The U.S.
embargo? Why, the Europeans have
made it a mockery. "It is foolish to
believe," said Castro, "that the coun-
tries of Europe, whose markets the, U.S.
wants to take away, will go along with
this ridiculous proposal."
At a press conference for visiting'
newsmen, Castro kept it up-this time
about the U.S. naval base at Guanta-
namo. For two weeks, the Cubans have
claimed U.S. marines shot and killed a
Cuban sentry on the other side of the
fence. The U.S. has flatly denied it.
A group of Cubans suddenly fired a
volley in the direction of a Marine
guard post. Following orders, the mar-
rines squeezed off two warning shots
over the heads of the Cubans
No one
.
was hit, says Washington, but an ambu-
lance and a photographer immediately
appeared on the Cuban side-and Cas-
tro was soon shouting murder. To judge
from the way he sounded last week,
Castro may intend to stage further inci-
dents in hopes of provoking the U.S.
into something drastic, which woula :ve
him a further propaganda chance to pro-
Approved For Release 2005/01/12 : CIA-RDP88-0131 04&bd65 ?rc8'or."