Helping Fidel Britain's Cuba policy is becoming increasingly absurd. It
is supposed to be axiomatic of British foreign policy that we grant recognition to atiy government which is reasonably in control of its
-1, territory. Our policy is therefore different from that of the United States. Accordingly we recog- nised the Castro rdgime very early. But apart from the affair of the Leyland buses, which is now history, where has it led us? Recognising a country presumably means taking some notice of it and attempting to have the best possible re- lations with it. British policy, however, has turned into a pretence of not recognising it other than on strictly diplomatic terms. Cuba is now trying, by whatever roundabout means, to find her way back into the Latin American fold. She is en- couraged in this by the Russians who under- standably find the task of supporting a Com- munist satellite so many thousands of miles from base rather hard. The Russians would like to set 1113 a sort of international aid consortium to Cuba Partly to relieve the burden on themselves. But if Britain and Western Europe miss an oppor- tunity like this, in which they might in time even begin to take the lead, when do they think such a chance will come again?
QHOODLE
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