of the UN with which Cuba has cooperated. WHO has many projects in Cuba, dealing with communicable disease control (special projects for lessening malaria, smallpox, tuberculosis, and venereal disease occurrence are underway); sanitation, water supplies, eradication of the yellow fever mosquito, health and laboratory services, nutrition, industrial hygiene, training of health personnel, and medical, public health, sanitary engineering, and veterinary medicine education.

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UNESCO's regional center for the Western hemisphere is located in Havana. UNESCO-Cuban relations have involved, among other things, an evaluation of the 1961 Cuban literacy campaign, which in one year transformed the island nation into a "territory free from illiteracy." The UNESCO evaluating team summarized the Cuban effort as one which "offers general ideas and examples which can inspire the teaching of reading and writing to adults and adult education. The Campaign was not a miracle, but rather a difficult conquest obtained through work, technique, and organization."

Two other UN bodies with which Cuba has worked closely are the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Such multinational sources of aid have been necessary to Cuba because, as Castro noted in the 1960 speech (and as a UN economic report documents), private investment capital goes preferably to the more industrialized countries where it finds greater security rather than to the countries where it is most needed for basic industry. Such a fact of international life makes nonprivate multinational sources of assistance necessary.

Cuba and UNCTAD

UNCTAD provides a forum for negotiation among nations regarding tariffs and trade. Her, as in other areas, the more powerful nations exert much control. Raul Prebisch, former Sertary-General of UNCTAD, attributed what he called the "very limited positive results" of UNCTAD's second seccion to the fact that the developed Countrie dii lile to meet the legiti

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Cuba's election resulted from support outside the Latin American community. Twelve members were to be elected to the governing council from five geo-. graphic regions, and each region had one or more candidates agreed upon in advance. The Latin American group sponsored Mexico and Argentina for their two places on the governing council; Mexico and Cuba were elected. The election, conducted by secret ballot, was a breach of the unwritten rule that UN bodies accept candidates backed by other countries in their own geographical region.

The significance of the action, according to the June 7, 1969, New York Times, was that "the election of Cuba not only broke the boycott her neighbors have imposed on her under U.S. influence but indicated that no election can be comfortably fixed in the future."

UNDP funds come mainly from the U.S. but many other countries also contribute. As is to be expected, pressures are exerted on the development agency from all sides, "but they are secondary in the decision-making process."

UNDP officials are enthusiastic about the work of their organization in Cuba. The biggest problem they face there, according to one administrator, is one common to many developing countries: a lack of trained human resources. Thus in many projects the UNDP experts must begin "with the ABC's" but the hard work pays off, since "Cubans are enthusiastic and willing to study day and night," in the administrator's words.

All UNDP projects are financed jointly by UNDP and the cooperating country, and UNDP has found that the Cuban government provides a larger share of the costs of projects than most countries. The Cuban people are effective and cooperative and fulfill all their obligations, so UNDP does not have many of the problems there that they encounter in other countries. "Where we need one person, they put two or more. They're using well the assistance we give them," commented the UNDP spokesman. He attrib

uted ruch of the Cuban people's progress in the development field to their strong national spirit, which manifests itself in such things as home wall charts showing the nation's progress in their sugar harvest.

Because of this performance, Cuba gets more UNDP projects than the average country. When UNDP experts phase out the projects they have begun, "Cubans take over with little difficulty, UNDP has found."

Cuba has been living through a revolution, according to UNDP, and "although you may ask questions of their objectives, the indisputable fact is that they are achieving them.

...

The Cuban performance in UNDP is not surprising when considered in the light of their philosophy of development put before the General Assembly in 1965. The real keys to "political freedom and the improvement of living conditions," said the Cuban delegate, "are to be found in the effective exercise of sovereignty over... natural resources, on the independent development of mies, and on unconditional international cooperation and free trade, carried on with mutual benefit and without discrimination." The United Nations and related agencies have listened to that philosophy and are cooperating with the people who espouse it.

PHOTOS: P. 1

econo

Courtesy of the United Nations. 12/11/64 General Assembly debate. Cuban delegation, headed by Dr. Fernando Alverez Tabio (r). To his right, Mr. Ernesto Guevara, Minister of Industries.

p. 3 Premier Fidel Castro addressing the 15th General Assembly, 9/26/70.

On an afternoon of 36 degrees, while the sound of cane cutting made us raise our voices to be able to understand each other, we assembled in the shade of some palm trees, settling down upon some fallen palm leaves, to converse about volunteer work and life in the camp. It did not happen often: A dozen Protestant ministers, supporters of the revolution, had asked to be incorporated into the volunteer group in the province of Matanzas. For three or four hours we took time off from productive work to talk while the tape recorder registered all the details of the encounter.

"I am very glad that you have come here," said Javier Naranjo Toledo, theology student at the Evangelical (Protestant) Seminary at Matanzas, and pastor of the Presbyterian church in Cardenas. "We are happy that you are doing this interview without benefit of air conditioning, better yet, in the heat of the cane fields, so that you can feel the environment and know well the companions who are sacrificing themselves and are carrying through the harvest."

TO GET OUT OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT

"Make yourselves comfortable and talk about whatever is necessary. The comañeros can go back to work afterwards," said the man in charge of the group, and he left the interviewer with his questions and the group of ministers with their answers in the shelter of the shade.

Why are you here? Why have you decided to do volunteer work?

René Castellanos (50 years), pastor of the church in Sagua and professor at the seminary in Matanzas responded first: "I believe that one of the biggest obligations which we Christians have is that of participating in the world in which we live, in the activities, the preoccupations, the interests of the society. For me, volunteer work has at least four motivations: First, to identify myself with the people of Cuba, the society which does not form part of the church and is interested in attaining the 10 million tons harvest; second, it is an opportunity to identify myself with the members of the church who are also in this work; third, I feel the great responsibility of cooperating in some way to produce what will later be employed to take away hunger in so many places of the world where there is no sugar. That is, when I cut cane I feel that I am cooperating in giving food to the children, to the women and to the men of India, of China, of England or of any place in the world where sugar is needed; and, lastly, I cannot turn my back on that great preoccupation of our government, attaining the 10 million tons. We feel upon us this same responsibility, we want Cuba to attain this goal. Those are the four fundamental reasons why I feel I must do volunteer work---which, you know, we do not feel obligated to do. The government is not demanding anything of us, but we do it gladly."

2

Javier Naranjo (3 years) looks at us from beneath his guajiro hat. He is wearing, like his companions, the clothes of the cane field. "I am doing volunteer work because I am a citizen of the

Island of Cuba," he says. "Also, because I understand that a minister should not turn his back on reality but should be innersed in the society in which he exercises his ministry. What witness can we make if we remain in our parishes preaching, or in the seminary studying? Lastly, I am here because my conscience tells me that I should be in the volunteer corps. The country, as you know, is bent on increasing the production of sugar and other products since it is the only way which we have of getting out of underdevelopment." Carlos Manuel Piedra (30 years) concurs with his companion Naranjo. "At the present time," he says, "I am pastor of the circuit ministry of Encrucijada, in Las Villas, and also director of the magazine "Su Voz" (His Voice)."

"In the Abel Santamaria Center. I believe that explains why I am here, cutting cane voluntarily. We feel the necessity of identifying ourselves not by words, but by deeds, with the reality that Cuba is living. We have the absolute certainty also that our country has been subjected during centuries to the most terrible underdevelopment and that the only way of getting out of it is by working. Of course, we have a religious job, but we understand that we must complete that labor with social work of a secular kind. That is why we are here."

THE MODESTY OF REMAINING SILENT

The sudden, accelerated change that the Island of Cuba is living through shakes the whole society. From the previous idleness of the dominant groups to the present collec

necessary."

Pastor Narejo goes further: "Look" - he affirms "The only way that poor countries have of getting out of underdevelopment is through a socialist revolution. Because if you consider seriously the problem of the underdevelopment of a great part of humanity this is the only serious and promising hope that the peoples have."

In the group is Sergio Arce, rector of the seminary at Matanzas, doctor in Philosophy and Letters of the University of La Habana and a graduate in theology of Princeton University in the United States. He has remained silent, listening to his companions, as if attracted by the human avalanche very near by that is cutting cane. "I believe that Marxism"--he now says--"Is basically a science, that is, a scientific method for analyzing reality to solve problems which society presents to us. Well, if it is the science of society, why not use it? Do we do without medical science when we are sick? That is, Marxism is a science and as such we accept it. То emerge from underdevelopment we have to have recourse to this science. In that I do not believe that there is any misgiving on our part."

"Permit me to explain myself in the sim-
plest terms", responds Pastor Naranjo.
"You know that before the Revolution
governments gave significance to reli-
gious elements. Today, the Revolution

in which we live is Marxist-Leninist.
But the problem is not that of terminology
but of facts. We are immersed in a reality
which we cannot disavow. The old regimes
did not occupy themselves with the well-
being of the people. This one does occupy
itself with the people and with forming
a new ran. For me, a new man -- and I
utilize the phrase of Brunel is a life
that is radically sacrificed for others.
I believe that if we were able to choose

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L...C we should choose

this system because, in a certain way, it is pushing in the social order all the objectives that the church was unable to attain in our country."

Only Pastor René Castellanos, the oldest of the group, seems to maintain some reservations. "I cannot affirm that socialism is the only possibility for the true liberation of underdeveloped countries. I can say that, thus far, experience has shown us only that. But I hope that there can emerge some other form to take these peoples of Asia, of Africa and of Latin America out of underdevelopment. It can happen. What occurs in Perú is very interesting. I believe though that in the long run, whatever be the road, it will have to be violent, radical and revolutionary as have been the Marxist-Leninist revolutions. And I am firmly convinced that the contribution of Christian witness is necessary, and that is the responsibility that we feel within this revolution."