Tractors (Contd.)

Into Havana last week flew four representatives of the Tractors for Freedom Committee. They were there to offer Castro 500 small tractors, worth about $2,500,000, in exchange for 1,214 Cuban rebels he held prisoner. Inevitably, and in the classic tradition of the extortionist, Castro upped his demands.

The visit started out pleasantly enough.

The team was met at the airport by polite government officials, whisked to the luxurious Havana Riviera Hotel in two Cadillacs, put up in plush, free suites overlooking the gulf. The visitors chatted amiably for more than two hours with President Osvaldo Dorticos, reported things were going well.

But then came the meeting with Castro.

Instead of the 500 tractors, he insisted the U.S. committee turn over at least $28 million worth of tractors. And he cut the number of prisoners he would yield to 1,173. Three invasion leaders, Manuel Artime, Roberto San Roman and Rafael Oliva, could only be swapped for three prisoners held in the U.S. and Puerto Rico: Child Slayer Francisco ("The Hook") Molina, former U.S. Communist Party Secretary Henry Winston, and Puerto Rican Rebel Pedro Albizu Campos.

Such a deal was beyond the power of the technical experts to negotiate. So at week's end they hurried back to Washington to report privately to Committee Leaders Eleanor Roosevelt, Walter Reuther and Joseph M. Dodge (a fourth leader, Milton Eisenhower, was absent).

In a Detroit post office, box, envelopes containing contributions to the tractor fund were still piling up and, since they were unopened, the committee had no notion of how much money had been raised so far. But there was plenty of doubt that it could raise $28 million by public subscription--and even if it did, there was no reason to suppose that Fidel Castro would not again up the ante.

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