Batista's Sinking Ship
ALBA, VICTOR
By Victor Alba Batista's Sinking Ship Cuban naval revolf marks anofher setback for dictator Havana When my friend Professor M. heard that the garrison of the Cienfuegos naval base had revolted,...
...For Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista is a very devious man, quite capable of staging an uprising against himself if he thought it would serve his purposes...
...Clearly, Batista's position is becoming more and more difficult...
...We want to owe nothing to the military," several of my informants told me...
...however, it became apparent that the uprising had been a genuine one...
...As the details started coming in...
...The rats are abandoning the ship...
...Their purpose was not so much to aid the sailors as to replace them...
...This is precisely what the people of Cuba fear most...
...A fake revolution might be one means of rescuing him from his dilemma...
...After conversations with friends and with several of the rebels who are now in hiding, I have been able to reconstruct the general course of events...
...No doubt, more than one of the old democratic politicians, their prestige destroyed by the corruption of the pre-Batista administrations, would not hesitate to seek aid from the armed forces in returning to power...
...On the contrary, they now feel free of the threat of being aided by the military...
...But the basic problem remains: No one is in sight to form a new government, and the Cuban people has no confidence in Batista's sincerity in announcing elections for 1958...
...This remark is the key to what happened at Cienfuegos...
...But its worst feature is that it causes the armed forces to meddle in politics...
...The people do not regard the suppression of the uprising as a defeat...
...Said my friend: "A military dictatorship like ours is bad in many ways...
...This attitude was what caused the Cienfuegos revolt to go on for several hours...
...Thus, the latter constitute a special mercenary caste, without links with the people...
...The Cienfuegos sailors had hardly risen in revolt, therefore, when civilian opposition groups—students and some sugar workers and dockers— rushed into the street...
...By Victor Alba Batista's Sinking Ship Cuban naval revolf marks anofher setback for dictator Havana When my friend Professor M. heard that the garrison of the Cienfuegos naval base had revolted, his reaction was: "It's probably a Batista trick...
...Batista has satisfied all their "class" demands, and they have never before enjoyed such privileges and material well-being...
...Cuba's biggest problem today is that Batista is anxious to step down provided his life and property are guaranteed, but he cannot obtain such a guarantee because no one in Cuban political life wants to take over national power...
...If a substantial group of Navy personnel has now turned against Batista, it is because they feel he will be unable to protect them much longer and are trying to win the favor of his enemies...
...He may replace them in their jobs from time to time, but they always continue to enjoy influence at the seats of power...
...Left alone, the sailors would probably have surrendered as soon as they saw that Batista was throwing the full force of his mercenary troops against them...
...Yet, it was one of Batista's former ministers, with continuing entree to the Presidential Palace, who led the Cienfuegos outbreak (following which he left by plane for Miami, the center for Cuban exiles...
...If the revolt succeeded, it would be as much a civilian as a military victory, so that the armed forces could not pose as the nation's savior and present their bill for services rendered...
...But the man in the street, the students and young workers who have spontaneously formed anti-Government terrorist groups or aligned themselves with guerrilla leader Fidel Castro, have no intention of halting their struggle in order to give the armed forces a mortgage on Cuba's political future...
...Batista never breaks with his friends and collaborators...
...In any case, Cienfuegos has had several results: It has created a nucleus of guerrillas in southern Cuba, reinforced the popularity of Fidel Castro, further weakened Batista— though temporarily strengthening his grip on the armed forces—and given the situation in Cuba international publicity...
...Poverty-stricken peasants, idle youths and other rootless types tend to gravitate to the armed forces...
...We Cubans do not want that, even if it is to overthrow the dictator...
...We are certain," they say, "that the future government of our country will be civilian...
...Cuban military personnel is recruited by voluntary enlistment...
...This point is underlined by the fact that the former minister found supporters among the sailors at Cienfuegos...
Vol. 40 • September 1957 • No. 38
