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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, August 28, 1979
Page 9
In the islands of the eastern
Caribbean, ferment among the tiny
independent island states is rising. And everywhere, Cuba's hand is in
the pot. Last March 13 a coup overthrew the government of Grenada and put
a self-proclaimed "radical-leftist" regime in control of that tiny
(population 106,000) republic.
Grenada's new �0vernment insists that it is neither Communist nor a Cuban
satellite. But, in a move that sent tremors through the White House and
State Department, it immediately turned to Havana for arms, military
advisors and other aid.
The newest island trouble spot is St. Lucia (population 120,000). Three
weeks ago, an election put the Labour Party in the driver's seat, ousting
the United Worker's Party, which had held power for over a decade. In one
of its first acts, the new left-wing government sent a group of 100 young
men for training by Cuban troops on Grenada. The recruits will serve as
the nucleus of a "people's revolutionary army."
While all this was going on, a Russian na·Jal task force was steaming toward
the
Caribbean.
The Russian objective, reported London's Daily Tele-
graph, "is to show the Russian flag in Cuba, in the Caribbean, and in
Central America at a time when Washington is showing increasing nervousness
in the aftermath of the Nicaraguan upheaval."
Senator Richard Stone, the Florida Democrat who keeps a constant watch on
Russian· influence in Cuba, said that the Russians have gradually stepp�d
up the number and changed the nature of their naval visits to Cuba. The
point has now been reached where these visits could not be seen as merely
"port calls," since they involve Soviet missile-carrying submarines staying
at Cienfuegos for up to two weeks. Reports on the latest Russian task
force say that it wilY-probably make calls at several Caribbean islands,
including Grenada.
Since last March, Soviet pilots have assumed responsibility for much of
Cuba's air defenses, freeing up Cuban pilots for service in Ethiopia,
Angola, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
In a few days, beginning September 3, Cuba will be hosting the sixth "non
aligned" summit conference in Havana--a "somber joke" reports the Daily
Telegraph's Robert Moss who adds that "Dr. Fidel Castro's Cuba is about as
non-aligned as a sign showing the direction of a one-way street. Moscow
has no more obedient or effective satellite."
Castro would like to swing the non-aligned countries--those in the third
world supposedly neutral between the West and the Soviet bloc--into firm
anti-U.S., anti-West posture.
Among the propaganda themes that figure high on the agenda are: Increased
support for the "liberation struggles" in southern Africa and the world
wide struggle against "Zionism, racism and imperialism;" full recognition
of the Palestine Liberation Organization; world disarmament (the code
word for unilateral Western disarmament); and condemnation bf the Egyptian
Israeli peace process and the expulsion of Egypt from the non-aligned move
ment.
In recent weeks the Cubans have distributed to all the delegations a basic
working document to be used for the non-aligned summit. The United States
and Western "imperialism" are condemned on page after page.