Cuba: Deadly Witness

Fidel Castro's obsession is absolute mastery over his Red island. When things do not go as he wants them to, the result is uncontrolled fury. Two weeks ago Castro stormed into Cuba's Supreme Court chambers as a "witness" in a trial that he felt had not been handled his way.

The case in point involved a longstanding, half-hidden dispute between Cuba's Communist old guard and Castro's newer crowd. It centered around Marcos Armando Rodriguez, who, although only 26, was a member of the old guard (he started early). At the beginning of Castro's revolution, Rodriguez had little to do with Fidel and was accused of informing against four of Fidel's allies. After living abroad for years, Rodriguez was virtually ordered back to Cuba by Castro's men, placed on trial on the old charges last month. But during the trial, damaging rumors spread that other high party officials had sought to cover up for Rodriguez. Furious, Castro ordered another trial, insisting that "pseudo-revolutionaries" must be taught a lesson. Then he took the stand himself and ranted for nearly five hours against Rodriguez and anyone who had helped him.

Two of the men so fingered by "Witness" Castro were the editor of the newspaper Revolucion and the vice minister of the armed forces. The editor lost his job, and the vice minister obediently made a public breast-beating confession of his errors. To Castrologists, all this meant that Castro was making sure that the old-guard Communists knew who was boss.

Meanwhile, what of Defendant Rodriguez? In court, he only mumbled: "Do what you must." Last week he was ordered shot.