CUBA: Dictator with the People

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One dazzling day last week, the 40-year-old gunboat Cuba steamed out of Havana harbor, coasting close under the grey, weathered walls of Morro Castle, and set course northeast through the blue Atlantic. At her foremast flew a pennant the Cuban breezes had not played with for seven years: the blue, white, red, yellow and green personal banner of General Fulgencio Batista. Aboard the Cuba was the general himself. He was headed for an Easter weekend holiday with his family on palm-lined Varadero Beach.

Relaxing on the awning deck in shorts, the...

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