Angling for a friendly reaction in the U.S., Rebel Raúl Castro's men freed the rest of their U.S. hostages last week "because of the Lebanese situation." U.S. Navy helicopters flew to a meadow near the eastern Cuban mountain town of Puriales and on four successive days brought out the eleven marines and 18 sailors kidnaped three weeks ago on a bus outside the Guantánamo naval base. The play for U.S. good will was frank. Said the rebel commander in Puriales: "If the admiral wants to send you into battle in Lebanon we don't want to hold you back."

The freed men were not nearly so carefree as some of those released earlier. They had fought off hordes of flies, had slept on the ground or in hammocks made from dirty burlap bags, more than half had dysentery from the uncertain diet. But they kept up military discipline and set their own order of release: married men first, then men with the lowest rank. As the last helicopter departed, the rebels turned their attention back to the business at hand: a rumored offensive by Dictator Fulgencio Batista.