(See Cover)
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 Strong Man was in his best bluff humor. Once again he was undisputed dictator of Cuba. In an almost bloodless coup last month, the tough ex-sergeant had toppled President Carlos Prío. Now Prío was in Miami exile; his powerful labor movement had knuckled under to the new ruler; Congress was suspended (on full pay), and Batista was dictator and "Provisional President" under a brand-new set of "statutes" he himself had proclaimed to the Cuban people. Nobody seemed perturbed by the coup, and throngs of other Cubans followed their boss's lead by flocking off to their own carefree weekends, as though they had never had it better in their lives.
The prize Batista recaptured is a lush green tropical treasure island, producing record amounts of sugar and an annual governmental income of some $350 million. Its exuberant Havana is one of the world's fabled fleshpots. The whole world dances to its sexy rumbas and mambos. Its socialites dine off gold plate, and its sumptuous casinos are snowed under by the pesos of sugar-rich playboys. The "dance of the millions" that Cuba knew in its brief post-World War I sugar boom is going again full blast. Batista brought off his coup at the top of Cuba's market.
Power and prestige are two things Batista understands and values. It has been said of him that he has limitless ambition, plenty of ability and no respect for his fellow men. With those who do not cross him, he can be pleasant and even jovial. At 51, he is a hairy, muscular man's man, with the swarthy brow and barrel chest of a smaller Max Schmeling. He revels in the authority he has won back.
His return followed the classic pattern of Latin American "revolutions." Every traditional element was present: a bold, shrewd Strong Man, a hard core of army malcontents, a weak government. Similar combinations have brought armymen to power in many other Latin countries (see box). In this case, it remained only for Batista & friends to write in the characteristically Cuban touches.