EYE ON CUBA

The advent of the revolution of Fidel Castro has produced a surge of books, most of them anecdotal rather than analytical. Few in the former category have made a lasting impression and regrettably, Mr. Tetlow's work is no exception. The author is a veteran correspondent with a decade of interest in Latin American matters. Being British, he assumes the role of the uninvolved witness to the decline and ruin of the old superior-inferior, U.S.-Cuban relationship that reached its consumptive bloom under the dictator Batista. Tetlow may come armed with detachment but he lacks the sense of style usually attributed to British journalism. His thesis is a moderate one. Rather than a disciplined Communist, Castro is actually an immature adventurer. The split between the U.S. and Cuba need not have been irreparable. The net result of Castro's revolution has been a few pluses but mostly minuses. The environment surrounding Mr. Tetlow's thesis is- in the main- inconsequential chit-chat on the order of Ruby Hart Phillips' Cuban Dilemma (1963). There are some insights on Castro himself, but Theodore Draper (Castro's Revolution- 1962 and Castroism- 1965) is still the man to read when it's time to turn to Cuban affairs.