Batista Declares He Won’t Run To Succeed Himself as President

Special to The New York Times

HAVANA, Sept. 13 – President Fulgencio Batista, whose regime has been battling revolt for almost a year, has announced that he will not be a candidate for re-election next June 1.

The President, who is constitutionally forbidden to succeed himself, made the announcement in a recorded interview with a reporter of the National Broadcasting Company. The recording, made several weeks ago in the Presidential palace here, was heard in the United States tonight on a network news broadcast.

In another development, the Batista regime proclaimed the suspension of constitutional guaranties for another forty-five days.

The suspension decreed Aug. 1 ends at midnight tomorrow. At that time, the President is to sign the new decree. Under it, censorship of the press, radio and television and the dispatches of foreign correspondents is to continue.

In the interview, General Batista admitted that some of his military units had participated in the uprising at Cienfuegos Sept. 5.

A “few dissident, illicit men in the Navy,” the President said, joined forces with rebel bands dominated by former President Carlos Prio Socarras and the insurgent leader, Fidel Castro. General Batista added that no more than 100 men had started the fighting.

The Cienfuegos revolt was possibly a significant factor in the general’s decision not to stand again for the Presidency. The former Army sergeant, who has ruled Cuban for all but eight of the last twenty-four years, last obtained the Presidency five years ago through a military coup.

The revolt at Cienfuegos, crushed by Army tanks and aircraft, apparently marked the first time that elements of the military had joined in revolutionary activity against the Batista regime. This activity has appeared as open warfare in the eastern end of the island and as demonstrations, both peaceful and terroristic, elsewhere.

President Batista repeated in the interview a charge that his political enemies were being used by Communists to stir up unrest in the country. He also maintained that his Government ruled along democratic lines.

The new suspension of constitutional guarantees will be the fifth since last Dec. 2, when Señor Castro landed on the south coast of Oriente Province with an armed expedition. Only from April 15 to Aug. 1 have the Cuban people enjoyed constitutional rights.

The suspension, brought about by the violent political situation, places the island under the control of the armed forces, suspends habeas corpus procedures and many other rights.