MATTHEWS AND CUBA

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Herbert Matthews' talk stimulated me to think a little about our policy towards Cuba.

My point of view is that of a person who dislikes Communism intensely as an anti-liberal perversion of social unrest and of a person who believes that enlightened American private enterprise has a creative role to play in Latin America. My conclusion is that our policy towards Cuba is stupid.

Our policy in Cuba is stupid because it makes it impossible for us to influence Cuba. We gain nothing by cutting her off from us. I do not think the Castro regime will fall because of our economic pressure. On the contrary. I rather think that our policy strengthens the Castro regime by giving it a powerful Yanqui enemy. I do not think that our policy in Cuba will deter revolutionaries elsewhere in Latin America by its threat of sanctions. On the contrary, I think our policy only confirms their expectations.

The effect of our policy is to maximize the influence in Cuba of Communism and of the USSR. By cutting off from us, we force her to depend on Russia for trade, aid, and protection, and on the Communist world for examples. The more dependent is Cuba on Russia, the stronger is the position of Cuban Communists. In Cuba we have left the field to the Communists.

But Cuba is in our natural sphere of influence, not in Russia's. By trading with Cuba, by investing in Cuba in so far we can, by educating Cubans, by permitting Cubans to travel to the United States and Americans to travel to Cuba, and in general by promoting contacts and ties between Cuba, and us, we can exert a strong influence on the development of Cuba even under Castro, and we can undermine an important basis of Communist strength there. Our policy unnaturally isolates Cuba from our powerful influenco. D. B. Life, 1L