Cuba: Whipping the Troops into Shape

It was Fidel Castro's angriest performance since 1970, when Cuba's sugar harvest fell disastrously short of its goal. Addressing 1,800 delegates to the Cuban Communist Party's third congress, including representatives from 100 socialist countries, he vigorously and theatrically attacked rampant waste, mismanagement and indiscipline in Cuba's faltering economic system, still heavily dependent on Soviet subsidies. After two hours of a 5-hr. 40-min. marathon, Castro, 59, called an unusual half-hour recess. Precisely 30 minutes later, the Cuban dictator, who often wears two watches to be sure he is on time, strode onto the podium to continue his speech.

He found the hall in the modern Havana convention center half empty. As many of the Cuban delegates milled in the foyer, drinking coffee and chatting, a fuming Castro grabbed the microphone and snapped, "We were just talking about discipline, and now some of the comrades are not even in their seats yet." Stung by the rebuke from their leader, the delegates began streaming back in, but it was an additional five minutes before Castro could renew his denunciations of government inefficiency.