Voice of Opposition

"Rascals. Cynics. Men without shame," raged Prime Minister Fidel Castro, back on TV and so agitated that the pencil he uses for a baton in his harangues went Hying across the room. The targets of his newest attack were the conservative Havana dailies, Avance (circ. 22,000) and Diario de la Marina (circ. 28,000), which up to now have supported Castro, but are growing restive under his highhanded rule. Last week the papers sounded a loud, clear voice of opposition in Cuba, and the Prime Minister was infuriated. "They play the game for vested interests," cried Castro, "for the enemies of Cuba, for the Trujillos, the war criminals, the monopolies. They have minds of three centuries ago."

Avance and Diario had committed the error of strong but well-reasoned arguments against a new Castro decree boosting import duties to 100% in some cases; the effect, noted the papers, may well be to reduce Cuba to the levels of undeveloped Asian and African nations.

The papers did not back down when Castro turned his wrath on them; they countered with the harshest criticism Castro has met since taking office. "We are already very tired of so many threats," said Diario in a front-page editorial, "of so many unjust and gratuitous accusations." Diario went on to a withering analysis of freedom under Castro: "Public figures may say one thing in private but on the speaker's stand they say something else. That is not freedom of expression but terror and adulation . . . The idea has been created that everyone who disagrees is an undesirable element." This kind of liberty, said Diario, is like a garden with the sign: "Enter--but beware of dogs." Added Avance Columnist Agustin Tamargo: "You do not want newspapermen. Commander Castro; you want a record player."

Cuba had been waiting for just such straight talk. Diario sold out all over Havana, and congratulatory calls from across the island jammed the paper's switchboard. Editor Jose I. Rivero went home to find the place flooded with flowers from well-wishers. One group of women offered to sit in front of the Diario building to guard it against any attack. Editor Rivero, ringing up 6,000 new subscriptions, followed through with four more columns of editorials and a little box noting the subscriptions with the headline: THANK YOU, FIDEL.

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