Word: che
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...deals behind the Iron Curtain, Che got more than $100 million worth of promised Communist aid-much of it in the form of factories to produce such former U.S. imports as knives, radios, cameras, tubing, flour, cable, screwdrivers, electric motors, hinges, light bulbs, farm machines, printing presses, office equipment, medical instruments. The deal also included a barter exchange-sugar, the nation's major export, for oil, the major import. To refine the Russian crude, Che seized the three foreign refineries-Shell, Esso and Texaco-without compensation...
When the U.S. angrily reacted by virtually cutting off 1960 Cuban-sugar imports, Che got a Russian dividend-a threat by Premier Khrushchev to fire rockets at the U.S. if it intervened in Cuba. The gesture moved Che to call Cuba "a glorious island in the middle of the Caribbean, defended by the rockets of the greatest military power in history." Where tanning U.S. tourists and businessmen once sipped daiquiris on the brink of clear blue hotel pools, broad-cheeked Russian and impassive Red Chinese technicians now take their ease...
Acquisition of these powerful big brothers-who might or might not in a pinch come to Castro's aid-did not stop Che from training his first line of defense, a civilian militia reported to be 350,000 strong. Needing a guerrilla-warfare textbook for the militiamen, Che wrote one. Excerpts: "The great exasperation of the enemy army will be that of not finding anything solid to come up against; everything will be a gelatinous mass, moving, impenetrable, that goes on retreating and, while wounding on all sides, does not present a solid front...
...book, Che also talks of the effect of the Cuban revolution on the rest of Latin America: it "breaks down all of the barriers of the news agencies and spreads its truth like a blast of gunpowder among the American masses who are anxious for a better life." Cuban diplomats across the hemisphere are hard at work spreading Che's "truth" and Communist propaganda. Allied with anyone who will cooperate, from Communists to sincere social work ers, they organize July 26 movements, show films of revolutionary progress, lend a hand in subversive plots, campaign for support among the backland...
...prove ineffectual. Russia has promised to purchase the entire quota cut at only $24 million less than the artificially high price the U.S. used to pay. Communist China has promised to buy 500,000 tons more. But Communist bargains, involving overpriced goods, usually turn out to be poor bargains. Che has increased Cuba's foreign exchange reserves from $50 million to $196 million, largely by the simple device of refusing to pay his U.S. bills. The Soviets are keeping Cuba supplied with oil at prices running $14 million a year less than the price of the Venezuelan crude...