New York Times

May 12, 1957. p. 6.

Cuban Sentences 40 To Prison As Rebels

Special to The New York Times

HAVANA, May 11 – The urgency court of Santiago de Cuba sentenced forty youthful insurrectionists yesterday to prison terms of one to eight years. The 110 other defendants in the mass trial were freed.

Among those sentenced were twenty-two youths who landed with the expeditionary force of Fidel Castro, a rebel leader, on the south coast of Oriente Province last December and the later were captured by Government forces. They received six-year terms.

MIAMI, Fla., May 11 (AP) – A television newsman who spent two weeks with Fidel Castro in the mountains of Cuba said today that the rebel leader is ready to begin open war against the forces of President Fulgencio Batista.

Robert Taber of the Columbia Broadcasting System told newsmen he was convinced that Señor Castro eventually would overthrow the Batista Government.