Castro Threat

Trujillo Girds for 'Storm'

This
is another in a series of columns by Paul Coates, based on a trip to
the Dominican Republic, where he interviewed ousted dictators Juan
Peron andFulgencio Batista.

BY PAUL V. COATES
Mirror News Columnist

CIUDAD
TRUJILLO, Dominican Republic, April 7. It's not the hurricane season
down here, but the Dominicans will tell you they smell one in the air.

They've labeled it "Hurricane Fidel" in anticipation of Fidel Castro's threatened invasion of this island.

Nobody
here seems to doubt that Castro will sooner or later attempt an
invasion of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. By the same token, nobody
here seems to doubt that the invasion will be a complete failure
because of the military strength of Trujillo's government.

However, the storm warning flags are up.

The generalissimo has raised them everywhere.

In a skillfully planned and executed campaign, he is making his people aware of the Castro "threat."

The nation's newspapers run a daily front-page box score of Cuban executions, which, according to them topped 500 this week.

Stooge Role

 Editorial cartoons constantly attack the "Communist duet" of Khrushchev and Castro. Occasionally, they turn it into a quartet by tossing in Trujillo's other enemies, President Betancourt of Venezuela and the former head of Costa Rica, ex-President Figures.

Figures
is pictured in the Dominican press as Castro's stooge in the alleged
Cuban scheme to create a Nasser-type nationalism in the Caribbean.

The effort to tear down Castro extends beyond newspaper propaganda, and in some instances is not without touches of humor.

Crazy in Calypso

The
current joke in Ciudad Trujillo is that no intelligent citizen would go
around wearing a beard, and that even the generalissimo's son Ramfis
(who last year paid a spectacular visit to L.A.) has shaved off his
mustache.

Calypso bands, not native to the Dominican Republic,
but apparently imported for the benefit of tourists, bring with them a
selection of songs picturing Castro as "The crazymon, with the growing beard and the growing ambition."

Patriotic Dominicans have only two choices in referring to Castro. They can either call him "Communist" or "crazy."

Visitors to the city's racetrack are given crudely printed handbills with a poem by the Republic's apparent poet laureate, Teofila
Pena. It is dedicated to Fidel, and as near as I could determine it was
titled: "The Red Color of His Ambition Will Kill the Rat."

Castro Judas

Traditionally,
in most Latin countries, Judas is burned in effigy on the day before
Easter Sunday. This year, Judas was replaced all through the island
with effigies of Castro.

One amusing sidelight:

The society pages of the Dominican Herald ran an article yesterday on whether it was still de rigueur for proper Dominicans to wear red sport shirts with black slacks (the 26 of July colors). They concluded, however, that it probably was.

Trujillo
has been flexing his muscles with frequent military parades. I saw one
of them here the other day when the generalissimo reviewed a brigade of
infantry, artillery and air force.

It was an impressive sight that made me realize this is no musical comedy kingdom Trujillo has set up for himself.

His troops are well trained and well equipped, using the latest tanks, jeeps and artillery.

When it was over, one of his generals told me:

"We
hold these parades because we're sure Fidel has his intelligence agents
watching. We hope he does. If he does not, we're just wasting time and
gasoline."