THE CUBA R E \" I E W 



Migiul Liome;:, ?on of 

 A President Gomez, and Con- 



Shoot'mg gressman Armando Andres. 

 Affray editor of EI Dia, an anti- 

 administration newspaper, 

 were the principals in a pistol duel on 

 August loth, and were both arrested, being 

 later released. 



Gomez confessed, according to the po- 

 lice, that he had attempted to kill Andres 

 in revenge for the latter's editorial at- 

 tacks upon his father and himself. Andres 

 is a bitter opponent politically of President 

 Gomez and recently established El Dia. 

 which has since conducted an energetic 

 campaign against the administration and 

 also assailed personally the integrity of 

 the chief executive. 



The paper asserted next da}- after the 

 shooting that many friends accompanying 

 young Gomez rired on the editor, indicat- 

 ing that the president's son was the leader 

 of a band of assassins. 



Xo one was hurt except a coachman 

 waiting near b}". Wlien searched the 

 president's son was found to be armed 

 with two automatic revolvers of the 

 heaviest calibre. 



On August 19th both were indicted for 

 discharging firearms. The president's son 

 was held in S400 bail and the congressman 

 released without bail, being a representa- 

 tive and therefore immune. 



President Gomez, upon being informed 

 of the shooting, sent word to his son by 

 Secretary of Justice Barraque that he 

 wanted his son to declare the truth re- 

 gardless of consequences. Thereupon 

 young Mr. Gomez acknowledged that he 

 was the aggressor. 



President Gomez recently 

 P resident accorded a lengthy inter- 

 Defeiids view to a Xeu' York Aiiier- 

 Ciiba icon representative, during 



which the following ques- 

 tion among many was asked. The answer 

 w-as comprehensive and was in fact a re- 

 view of Cuba's present conditions and fu- 

 ture development. 



"The opponents of your administration 

 have criticized the concessions granted by 

 the Cuban government : would you care to 

 reply to these critics?" 



■"Certainly," he answered with alacrity. 

 "The trouble with these critics is that they 

 do not think every concession granted has 

 been for the good of Cuba. There are 

 five concessions alone that have brought 

 $30,000,000 of outside capital to Cuba. I 

 refer to the arsenal railroad subsidies, the 

 Scovel dock concession and to the Port 

 Improvement Law. 



"The world is just beginning to realize," 

 continued the president, "that Cuba is one 



of tlie richest countries in the world. Its 

 mineral resources alone are staggeringly 

 enormous. There is enough iron in the 

 Xipe Bay district, in Oriente Province, to 

 supply the world for a century. 



"Cuba is the youngest, but richest, of 

 nations. It has copper, gold and other 

 metals. Her sugar industry alone is 

 enough to make any nation proud. We 

 can suppjy nearly enough sugar for the 

 entire Xorth .American continent even 

 now. although the development of the 

 sugar industry is still in its infancy. 



"Please remember. Cuba is only nine 

 years old: she is the baby of the nations 

 and yet she is the richest nation on earth, 

 calculating the wealth on the per capita 

 basis. 



"Cuba has macadamized highways ex- 

 tending across the island, modern rail- 

 roads, stable industries, solid financial in- 

 stitutions. Fifteen years ago Havana was 

 a plague spot, to-day it is one of the 

 healthiest cities of the world, with a 

 waterworks system second to none, an 

 excellent street car system, paved streets, 

 and has under way one of the most ex- 

 tensive sewerage system ever attempted by 

 any cit\-. 



"^^ e still lack many things, it is true, 

 but no country- has ever developed more 

 rapidh". We lack manufactories. We 

 need them. When they come they will 

 furnish emploj-ment and contentment to 

 many who now seek public office, and who 

 harbor dissatisfaction because the^- cannot 

 secure places to which they feel their 

 talents and education entitle them. But 

 how shortsighted is their policy I How 

 shortsighted also the policy of those 

 Americans who endeavor to launch false- 

 hoods that cannot but retard Cuban 

 growth ! 



"Your interests and Cuban interests are 

 intertwined. Cuban prosperity must pay 

 its willing and golden toll to the United 

 States. Your prosperity- must bathe us 

 in its light. We are friends and neigh- 

 bors bound together by an indissoluble 

 bond. Cuba is grateful to the United 

 States for the part taken by that countrj^ 

 in assisting us to liberty- and -ndependence. 



"Individual Americans at times remind 

 us that we are obligated, but the American 

 nation as a whole does not. We of Cuba 

 need no reminders. We are not un- 

 grateful. 



"Let us, in all fairness, maintain those 

 brotherly relations that are so essential 

 to mutual well-being, and let the people 

 of the. L'nited States, in the goodness of 

 their common sense, bear in mind that 

 Cuba is a calm, peaceful, prospering 

 country that suffers from the rash of 

 perturbation occasionally, the same as 

 other lands." 



