Word: batista
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...best to bring about the downfall of the Castro government . . ." Jules Dubois. chairman of the I.A.P.A. Press Freedom committee, reminded Matthews that the I.A.P.A. had fought equally hard against Dictator Juan Perón of Argentina. Marcos Pérez Jiménez of Venezuela, and Fulgencio Batista of Cuba. Matthews appeared before the convention in an attempt to explain himself. "We are not supporting [ Castro ], we are opposing him." said Matthews. "We have a different concept of the historic phenomenon taking place in Cuba than most of you have...
...February night four years ago in Cuba's Oriente province. Led there by intermediaries. Matthews sat for three 'hours with a bearded and gabby young guerrilla leader named Fidel Castro, puffing Havana cigars and discussing, in whispers, Castro's plans to overthrow the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. The rendezvous with Castro did indeed produce an impressive scoop. Until Matthews' three-part series appeared in the Times, much of the world had been led to believe Castro dead, his rebel movement aborted. In Matthews' glowing, uncritical account. Castro came back to life looking...
Once in power. Castro promptly confirmed the suspicions that had bothered many reporters-but not Herb Matthews. After bathing Cuba in blood-551 drumhead executions in four months-Castro edged steadily leftward, toward the shadow of Moscow. What had been a tyranny under Batista remained one under Castro. But even as other newsmen, among them Ruby Hart Phillips, the Times's Havana correspondent for 24 years, reported these facts, Matthews stuck by his adopted rebel. Castro "insists he wants friendship" with the U.S., wrote Matthews in March 1959, "While welcoming American investments, he says he would prefer American loans...
With Matthews, however, journalistic participation preceded commitment. As the New York Times correspondent whose interview with Fidel in February, 1957, established the fact that the guerilla leader was still alive, and as the editorial writer who martialed the forces in opposition to Batista, Matthews indeed turned out to be the equivalent of an army division to Castro. Since the Revolution has not developed in Matthews' image; it would be simple to say that The Cuban Story has been written from a posture of disillusion; but it would also be inaccurate...
...Cuba, five members of the defeated invasion force that landed last April were sentenced to death and quickly executed; nine others got 30-year sentences. Technically, the 14 were tried for crimes they committed before the invasion. Ramon Calvino, a police corporal during the regime of Dictator Fulgencio Batista, was accused of killing and torturing prisoners: George King Yun, was accused of killing a port guard last year while he was stealing a boat. Nine hours after the trials began, verdicts were in, sentences pronounced, and appeals denied...