IF...

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

The recent rapid recognition by the United States of the infant Cuban government of Manuel Urrutia gives rise to an interesting if hypothetical problem:

Suppose that ex-president Batista, foreseeing the events that were to come, had provided himself with a relatively impregnable fortress on some small island off the Cuban coast. Suppose again that, when the pot finally boiled over, he had fled to this island, set up shop and declared that his and only his government represented his people.

Given this situation, would the United States have recognized Urrutia's government? If not, how would the Administration have justified the support of a dictator who obviously lacked the support of his countrymen? If recognition had been extended, what would have been the essential difference between this situation and a similar one now in effect in the East China Sea? James R. Fisher '62