ABSTRACT
247Fidel Castro has often said, "In a revolution there are no neutrals," One of the stickiest problems Cuba's revolutionary leaders have had to face is the question of what to do with the political prisoners and their families. By mid-1964, the number of men interned in government jails and prison camps for political crimes or "errors" was listed officially at over fifteen thousand. One year later, Castro indicated that the number was now closer to twenty thousand and still growing; this in spite of the fact that counterrevolutionary activity has been slackening gradually ever since the Missile Crisis. In proportion to the total population, this would be equivalent to having six hundred thousand men in jail for political reasons in the United States. Such a largè increment of able-bodied men out of circulation represents an extremely heavy burden upon the young Revolution, economically as well as morally.
