PAJARITO" MORALES LOSES HIS SHIRT
In his speech last July 26, commemorating the tenth anniversary of the attack on the Moncada Barracks, Fidel Castro pointed to the growing strength of the Cuban Revolution in face of all the predictions that it would soon collapse. To illustrate his point, he told the following story:
‘and there is no lack of things to make you laugh, such as the case of a gentleman also known as !President! but who goes more commonly by the name of 'Pajarito! Morales -- and donit think that I invented that adjective ['Pajarito,' a small bird, has an uncomplimentary connotation. ] because that's the name of this gentleman,. said to be the president of Honduras. This gentleman had the brilliant idea of making a bet with Marshal Montgomery last year that the Cuban Revolutionary Government would not last until 1963. And Marshal Montgomery, who is very nice and in favor . of peace, won the bet naturally.
"But it seems that this gentleman did not learn his lesson. He bet again that the Revolution would not last until 1964, What a pity that he
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doesntt want to bet with us! What a pity there aren't more of these bettors because we could convert these bets into a magnificent source of foreign exchange!"
This story got a big laugh out of the immense crowd. The final kicker did not come, however, until later. On October 3 Honduran army chiefs pulled a coup d'état on the liberal Morales. It was just ten days ~ before the next election and three months before the end of the president's term -- and two months and eight days after Castro revealed his propensity to bet on how long the Cuban Revolution would last.
Latin-American revolutionists, who are laughing about this, are also noting how accurate Fidel Castro was in his July 26 speech about the alternative facing the Latin-American people. Basically, he said, they have no choice but to follow the example of the Cuban Revolution or suffer new military coups d'état and the continued unbearable rule of the oligarchy in alliance with imperialism.
CASTRO