Off to Punta del Este

In a Uruguayan seaside resort called Punta del Este, 21 nations of the Western Hemisphere gather this week to decide whether to censure Castro, crowd him with sanctions, or merely live in discomfort with him. Castro himself is taking the meeting seriously. Heading Cuba's 40-man delegation to the hemispheric foreign ministers' meeting is his puppet President, Osvaldo Dorticos, a traveler to Moscow who ran for local office on the Communist ticket as far back as 1948. At his elbow as the delegation's "adviser" is Carlos Rafael Rodriguez, editor of Cuba's Communist daily Hoy.

From all signs, they would peddle a soft coexistence line, arguing that Cuba's Marxist course is its own, and that it has no designs on other countries, and thus should not be ostracized. For weeks Castro's pitchmen have been haunting Latin American foreign ministries, berating the U.S. and stressing Cuba's traditional ties with its neighbors.

But also before the house will be a report issued last week by the five-nation Organization of American States Inter-American Peace Committee. The committee accused Cuba of converting itself into a Red satellite, of attempting to subvert its neighbors, of violating human rights by executing and imprisoning political dissenters. It would be a hard report to ignore for those Latin American nations which want only a mild reproof for Cuba and no sanctions.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.