True, Oli. And, it raises another question: Had Michael decided, during his Havana sojourn, to give up on Cuba forever?
Everyone except Batista knew, in December 1958, that Batista was finished. But, there was no reason at the time to believe that gambling also would be finished. Tourism, with gambling at its center, was Cuba's third biggest industry, after mining and agriculture. Castro hadn't declared himself a Marxist, and had even reopened the casinos after the hotel and casino workers demonstrated against him. Michael was obsessed with getting Roth's Havana gaming empire, which probably would have made him the biggest legit gambling operator in the Western Hemisphere. I just can't see him walking away and never turning back.
What other option did Michael have but to walk away?
Even if Fidel kept the casinos open, Roth was clearly Batista's guy. There's no way he would have been allowed to keep control of the casinos under Castro.
Michael would also have been perceived as aligned with the Batista regime, if he was known at all. Even if he was not on Castro's radar, there was no indication he had any avenues through which to ingratiate himself with the new regime and get himself a piece of the pie.
With Batista's abdication, all paths to the Havana gambling empire were closed Michael, at least for the time being.
