Castro Defiant

The fourth anniversary of Fidel Castro's rule in Cuba was celebrated with the inevitable parade and even more inevitable speech. The parade at least was better than usual, if less fun: gone were the baggy pants and nonchalant waves to bystanders. Now it was all crisp creases, steel helmets and eyes staring mechanically front. As tight arrowhead formations of Soviet-built MIG jets thundered overhead, Cubans got their first glimpse of Russian missiles: the bulky surface-to-surface variety carried by coastal patrol boats, and the grey, sharp-nosed SA-2 antiaircraft rockets that presumably shot down a U-2 reconnaissance plane two months ago. As the missiles rolled by a Cuban TV announcer gloated: "These weapons can destroy an enemy plane at its highest flight ceiling.''

Though the Russians have removed their bombers and nuclear rockets, they are apparently still pumping "defensive"' arms into Castro's island fortress. A new estimate by the U.S.:

sbMore than 100 MIG jet fighters, including 39 supersonic, late-model MIG 21s. At the time of the Cuban crisis in October, Castro had only two or three MIG 21s.

sb500 SA-2 missiles for 144 launchers at 24 antiaircraft rocket sites.

sb40 coastal defense missiles at four or five sites, plus twelve coastal patrol boats, each equipped with two ship-to-ship missiles apiece.

sbAbout 350 Soviet medium and heavy tanks.

sbSome 75 self-propelled assault guns. and more than 2,000 fieldpieces, including 152-mm. howitzers.

Guatemala's President Miguel Ydigoras has been the most vigorous opponent of Castro among all Latin American leaders. The Bay of Pigs invasion brigade trained on Guatemalan soil, and Ydigoras even offered to let anti-Castro Cubans form a government in exile there. But last week, facing strong pressure from the left and right, Ydigoras ordered all anti-Castro Cubans rounded up and expelled from Guatemala. "It is time,'' he said, "for other Latin American countries to do their part." As for the U.S., he told a reporter, "I would like to live in Florida, but at the pace Castro is meddling in U.S. matters, possibly when I finish my presidency Florida will already be a Communist state."

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