Retro Raunch Revisit

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the publication debut of JAGUAR magazine (1964). The final print issue was Apr 1979.



DECEMBER 1964 ON THE WORLD STAGE Major Ernersto 'Che' Guevara, a top lieutenant of Premier Fidel Castro's cabinet, charged in the UN General Assembly today that the United States, helped by Latin neighbors, was preparing aggression against Cuba. The incendiary claim was promptly rejected by the accused Central American nations and by American Ambassador to the UN, Adlai E. Stevenson who said, "We are taking every step necessary to insure that raids are not launched, manned or equipped from U.S. territory." As Guevara spoke, windows in the Secretariat skyscraper on the East River were shaken by the detonation of a rocket-launcher shell believed to have been set off by Cuban exiles. Police said the projectile was an anti-tank ammuntion round fired from a bazooka. The weapon was found on a street in Queens in a weed-strewn lot "mounted beneath a Cuban flag." The shell harmlessly smashed 200 yards short from shore of the intended UN Building, instead landing in the East River where it exploded sending up a geyser of water. Noisy pickets took place outside the UN buildings with angry demonstrators chanting "Guevara carnicero!" -- "Guevara butcher!" One hysterical woman wearing a leather jacket was brandishing a 7inch blade hunting knife, attempted to pull down the Cuban flag in front of the headquarters building, and tried to force her way into the front entrance. She was restrained by police who quoted her as saying she wanted to assassinate Guevara. With a languid wave of his cigar, he said of the rocket incident (in regards to his high-profile appearance) that it "has given the whole thing more flavor." The police however saw no humor and said had the attack succeeded in crashing against glass & concrete, "there almost certainly would have been casulaties." Delegates in the Assembly paid no heed to the developments outdoors and they listened intently to Che's speech. Many agreed later that its significance was not that it offered new ideas but that it emphasized colonialism & racism, issues preoccupying the Asian and African nations. Much of what Che said was applauded lustily by groups of African listeners while Russian Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko expressed the Communist bloc's approval of Che's attacks on U.S. policy. From the gallery, a large contingent in reserved seats shouted in agreement when the Cuban speaker proclaimed the revolutionary motto "Patria o muerte!" -- "Fatherland or death!", and they responded with "Venceremos!" -- "We will win!" Che added, "It must be clearly established and made known that in the area of the Caribbean, maneuvers & preparations for aggression against Cuba are taking place - off the coast of Nicaragua and above all, in Costa Rica, in the Panama Canal Zone, in the Vieques Islands of Puerto Rico, in Florida & possibly in other parts of the territory of the United States. And also perhaps in Honduras, Cuban mercenaries are training, as well as mercenaries of other nationalities with a purpose that cannot be peaceful." This inflammatory blasting (which included severe criticism of the disastrous failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion in Apr 1961), brought denials from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Venezuela but he nevertheless lambasted the U.S. for its "imperialist" treatment of Latin America and the inequality shown its own minorities, where he denounced, "How can those who do this consider themselves guardians of freedom?" Che, who is Cuba's Minister of Industry, was almost subdued in delivery as he stood at the rostrum in a green fatigue uniform. His provocative attack on the United States was far-reaching as he charged that millions of human beings in Southeast Asia are threatened & subject to "the whim of the United States invader." He also stated that The Soviet Union and Communist China have given serious warning to the U.S. about Asia, that Cambodia was suffering brutal attacks from "Yankee bases" in South Vietnam, that Laos was another target of imperialists, and that American warmongers with their indiscriminate bombing campaigns were to extend the Vietnamese war by attacking the North. From talk of Asia, he turned his attentiom to Africa and the "white imperialist" war in the Congo (where he condemned the assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in Jan 1961, also castigating the United Nations’ role in the Congo Crisis), expressed greetings for the non-whites of South Africa and Rhodesia (and attacking each country for their apartheid regime), and for the Arabs of Palestine - an addition to the list of peoples for whom Castro's Government has spoken. Che also revived Cuban demands that the United States abandon its naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, charging that there had been 1,323 incidents in the last year (along the military grounds and the rest of the country) ranging from shootings, offenses against the Cuban flag, and "acts of sexual exhibitionism by Americans of both sexes." He did not elaborate other than to say "A gigantic flock of 200 million Latin Americans is giving a warning note to the Yankee imperialists. The hour of vindication is being pointed to with precision." At still another point, Che voiced sympathy for the people of the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique saying that they crave autonomy and that their "state of affairs must not continue." More forcefully, he proclaimed Cuban support for Puerto Rico saying the citizens have been used by the U.S. as "cannon fodder in imperialist wars" such as the one in Korea. Mr. Stevenson concentrated his reply on the charges of aggression but also noted that fewer than 3 per cent of the Puerto Rican voters favored separation from the United States. The Ambassador then inquired whether Cubans "oppressed by the betrayers of their revolution" had been given the same right to choose, to which Dr. Aquilino Boyd of Panama summarized that Cuba had become "a small camp of Moscow."