Exiled Cubans Active in Miami

Oppositionists Find Refuge in City, Center of Plotting Against Batista Regime

Special to The New York Times

MIAMI, Sept. 28 – After the uprising of Cuban naval personnel at Cienfuegos last Sept. 5, President Fulgencio Batista made an accusation that had a familiar ring to observers of Cuba’s political turmoil.

The attack, President Batista said, was the result of the “criminal persistence of Prio and his accomplices.”

The “Prio” whom General Batista saw no need to identify further is Dr. Carlos Prio Socarras, former President now living in exile at Miami Beach.

President Batista points an accusing finger at Dr. Prio, and consequently at Miami, whenever any anti-government violence erupts in Cuba. How often the finger is pointed correctly is uncertain, but it would be safe to say that occasionally, at least, President Batista is right.

Since President Batista took Cuba by force in 1952 and ousted Dr. Prio from the Presidency, Miami has been center of revolutionary activity.

Here are some incidents that occurred within the last few months:

¶ Seizure by the police and customs agents of a $50,000 arms cache bounded for Cuba, including 500 rifles, 50,000 rounds of ammunition, machine guns, anti-tank guns and grenades, and the arrest of two Cubans.

¶ Departure from a berth on the Miami River and subsequent landing at Carbonico Bay, Cuba, of the yacht Corinthia, carrying twenty-seven rebels, sixteen of whom were shot or hanged by the Cuban police after capture.

¶ Departure from the airport at nearby Fort Lauderdale of a plane under suspicion by United States authorities as the one that dropped fire bombs on Cuban sugar fields as part of rebel harassment program; the safe landing and deliberate burning of a plane on a highway near Havana and the escape of five rebel passengers.

¶ Beating of Dr. Rolando Pozo Jimenez, 30 years old, son of Justo Luis del Pozo, Havana’s Mayor, who is a close associate of President Batista, by three men who admitted being revolutionists.

Meetings primarily of members of the 26^th of July group, which support Fidel Castro, rebel leader, are held frequently.

These are marked by impassioned oratory lasting two to three hours, a collection for Señor Castro’s embattled army in the Sierra Maestra of Cuba and the distributing of propaganda leaflets to keep the feeling against President Batista at fever pitch.

Cuba’s colony here, including United States citizens, is calculated at 40,000, or about half the Latin population of the city. Joseph Savoretti, United States Immigration Office director, estimates that the exiles numbered 20,000 and that 200 claim political asylum. Mr. Savoretti said about four or five a month were deported to Cuba for immigration law violations.

There are three active groups: the Directorio Revolucionario, whose members staged the March 13 attack on the Cuban Presidential palace; the Organizacion Autentica, which, although no one can prove it, is most probably headed by Dr. Prio; and the 26^th of July Association.

The Immigration Department keeps the closest watch on the Cubans. Agents can usually be found at any of the rebels public meetings, leaders are called in for “conferences” and it was recently suggested to Dr. Prio that he minimize his activity or face violation of his political asylum grant.

One hotbed of rebel activity here is the Trade Winds Apartment Hotel on Miami Beach owned by José Aleman, 26-year-old millionaire, whose late father was a Cabinet officer under Dr. Prio.

Señor Aleman, who owns Miami Stadium and other properties here, plus two cattle farms in Cuba that he will not see unless President Batista falls is a member of the Directorio Revolucionario and gives his own asylum to fellow-members of the Directorio who get in trouble in Cuba.

Batista Is Commuting Doom of 3 Navy Men

Special to The New York Times

HAVANA, Sept. 28 – President Fulgencio Batista will commute the death sentences of three Cuban Navy men to life imprisonment, the President’s office said tonight.

Cuban law limits life imprisonment to thirty years.

The Convicted men, Lieut. José Ramon Quesada, Cpl. Luis Alsea Ezquerra and Raul Arquat Calana, were sentenced by a court-martial this week to face a firing squad for their part in the Sept. 5 revolt at Cienfuegos. The Navy appealed to the President in their behalf.