BY SETH GALINSKY

MIAMI - In spite of winds of 80 miles an hour, with some blasts as high as 124, not one human being was killed during Hurricane Lili's sweep through Cuba October 18. The storm, however, demolished thousands of homes and caused severe damage to some of the island's main crops.

"Every life saved is a victory," noted a headline in the weekly edition of Granma International, a newspaper published by the Communist Party of Cuba.

The hurricane completely destroyed 5,640 houses and damaged 84,000. Hardest hit was the province of Cienfuegos in southern Cuba, which was battered for seven hours when the storm seemed almost to stand in one place.

Damage to agriculture was extensive, but Cuba's mobilization of 73,000 members of the Civil Defense to evacuate 247,000 people in 9 of the island's 14 provinces in just 48 hours prevented loss of life. Of 62,000 evacuated from their homes in Havana, 22,000 were housed in shelters set up by the state.

Citrus, sugar cane, tobacco, and banana crops suffered heavy losses. Some 145,000 tons of oranges and grapefruits were damaged in Matanzas and the Isle of Youth, along with 22,500 tons of coffee, 35,000 hectares of bananas, and 523,770 hectares of sugar cane, much of it flooded [1 hectare = 2.47 acres]. Thirty sugar mills were damaged, mostly with torn roofs.

Cuban president Fidel Castro immediately toured some of the hardest hit areas. "To truly comprehend what this monster has done, you have to see it for yourself," Castro said. Cuban gov't requests aid
On October 21, the Cuban government requested that the United Nations send aid to the hurricane victims.

"With a high level of urgency and as a number one priority, providing food for large numbers of people affected is necessary," stated Roberto Robaina, Cuba's Minister of Foreign Relations in a letter to the United Nations.

In response to Cuba's request, the European Union approved sending $800,000 worth or emergency aid, mostly antibiotics and other medicine. OXFAM-Cuba, a charity organization, donated $36,000.

Hurricane aid to Cuba sparked a controversy that reflected continuing divisions among rightists in Miami.

At the request of the Catholic Archdiocese, right-wing Spanish-language radio station La Cubanísima appealed to Cuban- Americans here to donate food, which would be distributed by Caritas, the Catholic relief agency that has offices in Cuba. Thousands responded, bringing aid to the station's offices in Little Havana. Other right-wing stations, including Radio Mambi and WCMQ viciously attacked La Cubanísima for "betraying" the struggle.

In an attempt to use the difficulties of the storm damage and "humanitarian" aid to further the struggle against the Cuban revolution, right-wing volunteers at La Cubanísima and other locations wrote anti-revolution slogans on the outside of some of the aid packages collected.

Many Cuban-Americans were uncomfortable with this act. A Cuban worker at Marino, a Miami sewing plant organized by the United Steelworkers of America, told fellow unionist Rollande Girard that she had planned to send three bags of food, after hearing the radio appeal. "But when she found out they were writing political slogans on the aid packages, she decided to send it some other way," Girard said in an interview. "Instead of giving it to La Cubanísima, she gave the aid to the Alliance of Cuban Workers in the Community (ATC)," a group of Cuban- Americans in Miami who oppose the U.S. embargo of the island. ATC is also sending hurricane relief. Havana returns provocative packages
While the Cuban government accepted most of the 75,000 tons of aid in the first shipment, it returned to Caritas about one fourth of the packages, which were covered with the most blatant counterrevolutionary slogans.

The Miami Herald and its Spanish-language edition El Nuevo Herald tried to paint the slogans as innocuous. "The boxes were marked by the contributors with the word `exile' and the phrase `Love can do anything,'" El Nuevo Herald claimed.

But Francisco Aruca, a radio commentator who opposes the U.S. embargo, exposed the truth on his daily program on WOCN. Aruca explained that many of the packages were marked PAL, the initials for Pan, Amor, y Libertad (Bread, Love, and Liberty) the slogan of an alliance of Brothers to the Rescue, the Association of Cuban American Veterans, and the Alliance of Young Cubans. These three groups organize activities aimed at overthrowing Cuba's revolutionary government. Brothers to the Rescue organized repeated provocations through illegal flights violating Cuba's airspace, leading to the downing of two of its planes by the Cuban air force in February.

"The darkness of Castro-communism has passed," said one of the leaflets packed in with the aid. "Now, together as brothers, we will make a new future."

José Ciro González, president of Caritas Cuba, told foreign reporters in Cuba November 6 that "it is not correct, prudent, or logical to make a donation and put on the labels provocative and even offensive phrases."

Even some of the right-wingers in Miami had to concede on this point.

"It was a mistake to send the donations labeled with political messages," admitted Francisco Santana, a Catholic priest who was one of the main organizers of the aid sent from Miami. "This time we're going to make sure that boxes marked with PAL will not be sent to Cuba."

In response to the right-wing maneuver, a November 2 editorial was published in daily Granma under the heading, "Our people will not accept anything that wounds their dignity."

The paper pointed out that the right-wingers in Miami, "played games with those people in the Cuban community, who with a truly humanitarian spirit, sent their spontaneous aid."

Granma noted that even though "this cooperation from the United States is practically insignificant in relation to the resources and enormous efforts" that people in Cuba are carrying out "with their own efforts" and some foreign assistance, the Cuban government did not want to reject the aid from Miami "so as to not hurt the feelings of many people who in good faith made modest, but noble, contributions." Cubans mobilize to repair damage
Thousands of Cubans took to the streets October 20 to clean up debris and remove fallen branches and trees, while government organized brigades worked around the clock to restore electricity.

Plans to repair the hurricane damage in the sugar industry, one of Cuba's key sources of hard currency, were implemented almost immediately. According to the October 30 Granma International, "repair of the sugar mills is already functioning at a normal pace." Sugar industry minister Nelson Torres told the paper that the key task now is to get the water out of the cane fields, so that the moisture does no do any more damage.

While in Chile, Cuban president Castro stated that in spite of the recent problems, he anticipates 7 percent growth of the country's gross domestic product this year.

Seth Galinsky is a member of United Transportation Union Local 1138 in Miami.  
 
 
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