Cuba: End of the Water War

As a PT boat commander in World War II, John D. Bulkeley rescued General Douglas MacArthur from Corregidor and won a Congressional Medal of Honor for “extraordinary heroism.” A rear admiral now and C.O. of the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Bulkeley, 52, is not the sort to take any guff from Fidel Castro. Last week, when Castro accused the base of using suction pumps to draw off on the sly some 114,000 gallons of Cuban water daily, Bulkeley replied: “Hogwash.” Guantanamo was using its own water — the mains from Cuban territory were shut tight. “Castro is calling me a liar,” said the admiral, “and I’m mad.” Bulkeley then ordered workmen with saws and acetylene torches to the scene, watched as they cut the two pipes leading into the base from Cuba, thus shutting off Castro’s water once and for all. Said Bulkeley: “That’s it, and to hell with it.” In Key West, meanwhile, the Cuban fishermen who had touched off the whole incident by illegally entering U.S. waters went on trial before a Florida judge. The 25 crewmen were declared innocent since they were acting under orders. But the four captains of the fishing boats were found guilty of poaching, were each fined $500 (paid by the Czech embassy in Washington), and given suspended six-month jail terms. They were then put aboard their boats and sent home to Cuba with a warning not to return.