CUBA: The Cardinal's Forehead

When a nervous regime slaps a rigid censorship on the press, as Fulgencio Batista's government did after July's unsuccessful revolt (TIME, Aug. 10), the normal flow of news slackens and nightmare rumors fly ten times faster. One day last month Batista's propaganda ministry announced cryptically that Manuel Cardinal Arteaga, 73, Archbishop of Havana and Roman Catholic primate of Cuba, had been injured in a fall in his rooms. That was news that Havana's papers and radio stations would normally have reported in detail, but under censorship they gave only the bare bones of the announcement.

Cubans naturally found the official...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!