THE WALLS COME TUMBLING DOWN: Suddenly, one crisis after another is erupting all over the Caribbean basin. It all spells big trouble for the United States, which once had little to fear from the "manana cultures" to the south.
In a recent Pastor General's Report we examined the revolution in Nicaragua and its future impact upon neighboring countries in Central America. Suffice it to add here that the wealthy landowners in El Salvador and Guatemala — sensing the gathering storm — are sending their money out of their countries as well as buying up property in Miami. In El Salvador, leftist guerrillas, following the Sandinista rulebook, are kidnapping foreign diplomats and businessmen, financing their operations through ransom money.
In the islands of the eastern Caribbean, ferment among the tiny independent island states is rising. And everywhere, Cuba's hand is in the pot. Last March 13 a coup overthrew the government of Grenada and put a self-proclaimed "radical-leftist" regime in control of that tiny (population 106,000) republic.
Grenada's new 5avernment insists that it is neither Communist nor a Cuban satellite. But, in a move that sent tremors through the White House and State Department, it immediately turned to Havana for arms, military advisors and other aid.
The newest island trouble spot is St. Lucia (population 120,000). Three weeks ago, an election put the Labour Party in the driver's seat, ousting the United Worker's Party, which had held power for over a decade. In one of its first acts, the new left-wing government sent a group of 100 young men for training by Cuban troops on Grenada. The recruits will serve as the nucleus of a "people's revolutionary army."
While all this was going on, a Russian naval task force was steaming toward the Caribbean. The Russian objective, reported London's Daily Telegraph, "is to show the Russian flag in Cuba, in the Caribbean, and in Central America at a time when Washington is showing increasing nervousness in the aftermath of the Nicaraguan upheaval."
Senator Richard Stone, the Florida Democrat who keeps a constant watch on Russian influence in Cuba, said that the Russians have gradually stepped up the number and changed the nature of their naval visits to Cuba. The point has now been reached where these visits could not be seen as merely "port calls," since they involve Soviet missile-carrying submarines staying at Cienfuegos for up to two weeks. Reports on the latest Russian task force say that it will probably make calls at several Caribbean islands, including Grenada.
Since last March, Soviet pilots have assumed responsibility for much of Cuba's air defenses, freeing up Cuban pilots for service in Ethiopia, Angola, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
In a few days, beginning September 3, Cuba will be hosting the sixth "nonaligned" summit conference in Havana — a "somber joke" reports the Daily
Telegraph's Robert Moss who adds that "Dr. Fidel Castro's Cuba is about as non-aligned as a sign showing the direction of a one-way street. Moscow has no more obedient or effective satellite."
Castro would like to swing the non-aligned countries — those in the third world supposedly neutral between the West and the Soviet bloc — into firm anti-U.S., anti-West posture.
Among the propaganda themes that figure high on the agenda are: Increased support for the "liberation struggles" in southern Africa and the worldwide struggle against "Zionism, racism and imperialism;" full recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization; world disarmament (the code word for unilateral Western disarmament); and condemnation of the Egyptian-Israeli peace process and the expulsion of Egypt from the non-aligned movement.
In recent weeks the Cubans have distributed to all the delegations a basic working document to be used for the non-aligned summit. The United States and Western "imperialism" are condemned on page after page.
America's enemies, large and small (Cuba has less than 10 million people!) are becoming bolder than ever before as God's protection is progressively removed from His people, due to their sins.
Psalms 89, verses 38 through 43 reads (RSV): "But now thou hast cast off and rejected, thou art full of wrath against thy anointed. Thou hast renounced the covenant with thy servant: thou hast defiled his crown in the dust. Thou hast breached all his walls: thou hast laid his strongholds in ruins. All that pass by despoil him: he has become the scorn of his neighbors. Thou hast exalted the right hand of his foes: thou hast made all his enemies rejoice. Yea, thou hast turned back the edge of his sword, and thou hast not made him stand in battle."
ON THE WORLD SCENE
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