New York Times
Dec. 9, 1957. p. 24.
Army Reports Arms Seized – Ex-President’s Nephew Tells of
Being Kidnapped
Special to The New York
Times
HAVANA, Dec. 8 – Government troops killed two rebels in an encounter at Santo Domngo, near Bayamo, Oriente Province, Camp Columbia Army Headquarters here announced late last night.
A large amount of arms and ammunition was captured, headquarters said, and troops continued to pursue the remaining rebels.
Bayamo is the field headquarters of Government troops now attempting to kill or capture Fidel Castro, the rebel leader, and his insurgents operating in the southern part of Oriente Province.
President Fulgencio Batista has issued a decree permitting all sugar mills of the island to start the sugar harvest between Dec. 5 and Jan. 10. This is about a month in advance of the usual harvest. Every year the Government sets the date for beginning the sugar harvest and decrees the amount to be produced, in agreement with the sugar industry. It is expected that the size of the crop will be fixed within the next few weeks.
The advancement of the harvest is a result of the burning of cane fields by insurgents and followers of Señor Castro, who have threatened to destroy the entire sugar crop of Cuba this year.
Many of the sugar mills in Oriente Province and some in the five other provinces have suffered losses of cane. There are no official figures concerning the actual amount of cane burned thus far but it is considered that no serious damage to the crop has yet occurred.
The Niquero Sugar Mill, situated in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra, began grinding today in an effort to use the large amount of its cane that had been set afire by the rebels. According to sugar growers, cane that has been burned can be ground within a week since the stalk, which is full of juice, is not completely destroyed by fire. However, the sugar content is greatly reduced.
Other sugar mills in Oriente Province are making a great effort to finish repairs and start grinding. However, in some of the other provinces much of the cane is not yet ready to grind, according to reports.
In Havana, Manuel Hevia, 24-year-old nephew of former President Carlos Hevia, said that he was kidnapped last Monday by a group of persons who inflicted serious burns on his body.
According to Señor Hevia, he was walking in Linea Street in the Vedado residential section at 11 P.M. when an automobile occupied by three men and a woman stopped beside him. Two of the men jumped out, revolvers in hand, and forced him into the car. He was taken to a house, kicked and burned with cigarettes, he declared.
The woman, Señor Hevia said, poured benzine over his left arm and lighted it with a match, inflicting a serous burn. After two hours of torture he was thrown into an automobile and later dumped out in a vacant lot in the fashionable Miramar district.
Recovering in his ancestral home in Vedado, Señor Hevia exhibited many burns. He said his assailants, whom he had never seen before, gave no reason for their action other than to advise him “to keep out of things.”
His father, Manuel Hevia, is a brother of former President Hevia, who is now believed living in Miami in exile. Young Manuel attended the Taft School in Connecticut and Lehigh University when it closed in November, 1956.