The Talk & the Act

In moments when he is noi haranguing Cubans in person, Fidel Castro passes the word through the columns of his mouthpiece newspaper, Revolution. Last week, in a Page One Revolution editorial, Castro gave the first real sign that he might heed the mounting chorus against his "war criminal" circus trials and grisly firing squads. "It is necessary," declared the editorial, "to put a quick end to the proceedings. The executions should be stopped."

Castro made it clear that no rule of law was involved; his bloody vengeance was fully justified. The trouble was the way "enemies" used it to "slander" Cuba. "Never has such an intense and violent campaign of discredit against Cuba been waged throughout the Americas. We must deprive the enemy of his principal weapon of attack." When would "the proceedings" end? Not, apparently, last week. Before Castro's firing squads went another 28 Batista men, bringing the grand total to 451. Among the new dead: the first judge, Aristides Perez Andreu, president of Batista's Pinar del Rio Urgency Tribunal.

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