New York Times
Dec. 1, 1957. p. 25.
Special to The New York Times
HAVANA, Nov 30 – For rebels who were trying to set fire to cane fields in Oriente Province were killed by Cuban Government troops today, Camp Columbia army headquarters here announced.
Two were killed on a cane plantation of the Marcane sugar mill near Holguin in the northern half of Oriente Province, the statement said. The two others were killed on a plantation close to the near-by town of Mayari.
This was the first official statement concerning attempts of the enemies of President Fulgencio Batista to burn cane in the easternmost Cuban province. Rebels have threatened to spread their torch offensive to all six Cuban provinces after Dec. 15 just prior to the harvest, when the cane will be dry and easily burned.
Most of the cane burned thus far has belonged to sugar mills that are close to the Sierra Maestra in the southern part of the province, where Fidel Castro and his armed insurgents are operating.
In Havana, authorities continue to round up youths of high school and university age, doctors, lawyers and other professionals accused of being followers of Señor Castro. Police stations where prisoners are taken for questioning, often for days, are said to be jammed. Some of these are released, and others are sent to Principe Fortress prison to be tried by the Urgency Courts.
The rebels struck a severe blow at the Government forces last Saturday in killing Col. Fermin Cowley, chief of the Hulguin military district.
Colonel Cowley, one of the most active officers in the attempt to eliminate the Castro forces, had repressed the rebels with Cromwellian severity in the last few months.
About 5,000 members of the Cuban Army, Navy and Air Force and rural guards have thrown a ring of steel around the 2,000-square-mile area of the Sierra Maestra.
Señor Castro landed on the southern coast of the province Dec. 2, 1956 and is now said to have almost 2,000 armed men under his command. His lightning raids on military posts and on Government detachments sent into the mountains are reported to have inflicted heavy casualties on Government troops.
However, it is not only there that bitter fighting is in progress. The undercover struggle between the Government and the youth of Oriente in every town and village of the province has cost hundreds of lives in the last year
Oriente Province today is an armed camp where the inhabitants live in an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. Thousands of soldiers, Marines, national policemen, rural guards, military and naval intelligence agents, judicial and secret police are stationed there.
In Santiago de Cuba, capital of the province and the second largest city of Cuba, soldiers and policemen armed with rifles and machine guns patrol twenty-four hours a day in squad cars. Detachments of soldiers guard all public buildings and military installations.
Despite the tight military control, bombs explode periodically, buildings are set afire, and soldiers are killed by bursts of gunfire. The armed forces retaliate, and Santiago awakens the next day to find bodies of youths hanging from trees in and near the city, or lying bullet-riddled on streets.
Business goes on during the day, but with nightfall, wHich occurs now at 6 P.M., the streets are deserted.
All highways in Oriente are controlled from military posts spaced several miles apart. On a trip from Santiago de Cuba to Bayamo on the Central Highway, a matter of an hour and forty-five minutes by bus, passengers are subjected to identification demands and a search three times. All automobiles are halted and searched.
Bayamo, which is on the northern edge of the Sierra Maestra, is the headquarters of the troops attempting to kill or capture Señor Castro and his insurgents. This town has been the scene of the bloodiest days of the present struggle.
They youthfulness of the Government troops being used against the insurgents has caused much comment. One man in Bayamo said that he had never seen any who were more than 25 years old and that the majority were between 18 and 23.
Hundreds of these youths have been recruited from other provinces in the last year. The army is offering maximum advantages to recruits, including prompt promotion, education, hospitalization for their families and additional campaign pay.
Government pilots are all youths trained in Cuba. Many have been promoted recently since many of the best trained and experienced pilots of the army were sentenced to prison last month. They had refused to bomb the city of Cienfuegos, in Las Villas Province, where navy personnel and rebels staged a short-lived revolt last Sept. 5.
Camp Columbia army headquarters in Havana maintains almost complete silence regarding military activities in Oriente Province. However, residents in the district say clashes are frequent.
Many inhabitants in and around the Sierra Maestra are reported to have been killed by soldiers who have mistaken them for rebels.
It was recently conceded even by Government supporters that little headway had been made in stamping out the growing rebellion of island youth, to whom Señor Castro has become a knight in white armor.
That this is a youth movement is undisputed. It was the students in Santiago de Cuba who opened hostilities Nov. 27, 1956, by attacking troops in that city. After a three-day street battle, many of the youths and some of the soldiers were killed but order was restored.
With the arrival of Señor Castro and his expedition, his youthful followers began a terroristic campaign throughout Oriente Province. It spread rapidly to the five other provinces.
Throughout 1957 bombs have exploded in towns and villages of Cuba, killing and wounding many and inflicting heavy property damage. Railway lines have been sabotaged, bridges blown up, telegraph and telephone lines cut, towns blacked out by power lines, tobacco barns, warehouses and business establishments burned.
Opposition political leaders assert that it is impossible to hold the elections scheduled by June 1 in the present violent atmosphere of the island.
The recent unification of the armed forces under a general staff of five officers is belleyed by many to be preparatory to the forming of a military junta to rule Cuba next year when President Batista’s term ends. It is considered certain here that General Batista will head the general staff when he steps out of the presidency.
Rebel sources freely admit that Señor Castro and his men do not yet have sufficient heavy weapons to make an effective campaign and occupy more of Oriente Province.
Despite all the violent events, Cuba still is prosperous, with plenty of money circulating, high wages and the best living conditions of its history. However, there are signs that the economy is beginning to feel the effects of this long period of violence.
Money is tightening, collections are becoming slower, merchants complain of the lack of business, and the fear of damage to the coming sugar crop has caused many capitalists to curtail investments. The tourist trade from the United States has suffered badly.
Capital, both local and foreign, is fast losing patience with the continual strife here, of which no end is in sight. The conclusion is being reached by many that no solution to the present political problems can be achieved without outside assistance from some international organization.