(2 of 2)
The wire services justify keeping men in Cuba on two main grounds. In the first place, Havana makes a compelling dateline; in the second place, the government may fall some day or some year, and in that contingency it will be nice to have a man on the spot. There is also, of course, that inevitable day when their man in Havana runs afoul of the authorities for the last time and is sent home. Then, perhaps, he may have quite a story to spin.
But by letting the Western newsmen stay, Fidel Castro may be getting the best of the bargain. Incoming wire service copy makes a useful window to the West. There are A. P. tickers in the Foreign Relations Ministry, the Union of Young Communists, the United Party of the Socialist Revolution and in many other government offices. Prensa Latina, the Castroite wire service that peddles propaganda free to any taker, might go out of business without its A.P. wires; much of what comes in is trimmed to Castro's line and sent right out again.