The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. "Luceo Non Uro." WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1933. VIOLENCE IN CUBA

Southland Times, Issue 22202, 20 December 1933, Page 6

The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. "Luceo Non Uro." WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1933. VIOLENCE IN CUBA

Cuba’s new troubles are not unexpected, because the removal of the strong hand of Machado let loose the bonds which had kept the country in order, and until some strong government can be installed these disorders will continue. Throughout this business the Americans have been blundering, not realizing that the Cubans resent anything suggestive of dictation from Washington. The United States Ambassador, Mr Welles, was the cause of Machado’s downfall. He made an arrangement with the dictator for a constitutional retirement, but at the last moment Machado backed down. The officers of the Army turned against him and Dr. Cespedes was made the head of the provisional government with the approval of Mr Welles. This approval was fatal. The various groups in the revolutionary party, the students, the rank and file of the army and the extreme radicals objected to a government which appeared to be the subordinate of the American Government, and a junta, headed by Dr. Grau San Martin, and including Sergeant Fulgencio Batista and Jose M. Irizarri; a young lawyer, convinced Cespedes that he had to resign. This was followed by the revolt of the army officers who, unfortunately, used as their headquarters the hotel in which Mr Welles was lodging. After a brief, vicious siege they were suppressed, and the new revolutionary government under Dr. Grau was installed. American warships were in force in Cuba waters; but after this change Washington was at great pains to make it clear that intervention was not contemplated in spite of the invitation from the moderate Cuban groups to the United States to intervene under the Platt Amendment. The unpopularity of the Americans in Cuba was pronounced before Mr Welles tried to straighten out the tangle. For some years the American sugar interests have been paramount in the island, and the Cuban people look on the Am-

ericans as the prime causers of their economic troubles. The United States tariff, coupled with the world depression, ruined the market for Cuban sugar, the island’s principal industry, and the distress following the collapse of the country’s trade threw on to Machado forces which he could not combat. Whatever chance he had of weathering the storm, already intensified by the American tariffs and domestic manipulations, were shattered when Mr Welles intervened. Machado escaped, but with the knowledge that the radical elements on the island will exact a bitter vengeance whenever the opportunity offers. Back in Cuba, the revolution has let loose the radical elements, and the new governments are finding that they cannot cure the economic ills quickly. The people want quick action —as revolutionary crowds invariably do—and that is the explanation of the continued violence in the island. On the one side of Dr. Grau are the conservative and business elements anxious for constitutional action; on the other side of him are the radicals and the Left wing of the students, calling for the social revolution which the provisional president knows will make conditions worse. Dr. Grau is not regarded as a strong man. The youth of Cuba are in arms, and anything can happen if some strong hand does" not grasp the situation. In the meantime, it is obvious that Cuba is in a state of flux, and that the most effective restraint on the revolutionaries is the doubt about the length to which the United States will let them go. That fear does not increase the popularity of Americans, but it does assist the more moderate elements seeking to give Cuba a sound, democratic government, and to proceed with reconstruction without blind haste.