A communiqué received from the Second Front, "Frank País," announces the possibility that the Nicaro zone, where a United States nickel plant is located, will become a battlefield.

Three days ago the dictatorship, surprisingly, without any military reason, withdrew the troops that had been stationed at that point. Following the usual tactics, the rebel forces immediately took the territory abandoned by the enemy, offering the employees and functionaries of the installation full guarantees to continue operating. Then today, the Rebel Command intercepted an order from Colonel Ugalde Carrillo ordering his forces to land again at Nicaro, which inevitably will produce an armed clash.

All this forms part of a Batista maneuver, in complicity with Ambassador Earl E. T. Smith and high officials of the United States Department of State, to precipitate the intervention of the United States in the civil war in Cuba.

The dictatorship, in its despair, is trying to produce a grave incident between the rebels and the United States.

The first attempt took place in July, when the General Staff of the dictatorship, in agreement with Mr. Smith, withdrew its troops from the Yateritas aqueduct, which supplies water to the United States Naval Base at Caimanera (Guantánamo), and solicited from the authorities there soldiers to be sent to that point of our national territory to protect the aqueduct.

Batista and Mr. Smith sought to cause a clash between the North American Marines and the rebels. A great campaign of public opinion in all of America, the responsible attitude of the rebel forces in the face of that evident provocation, and the negotiations of the Civic Revolutionary Front permitted a diplomatic solution to the matter.

The North American Marines were withdrawn without incident.

An unimportant event that occurred a few days ago accidentally encouraged the intrigue of the North American embassy and the Batista dictatorship against the sovereignty of our country.

Two North Americans and seven Cubans working at the Texaco plant fell into an ambush of Cuban patriots who awaited the advance of enemy forces. Due to strict security, for the employees as well as for our own forces, the men traveling in the vehicle were detained and moved to a safe place. This was done not because they were North Americans or Cubans, but simply because when an ambush is discovered by civilians and they do not immediately announce it to the forces of the tyranny to prevent their falling into the ambush, the dictatorship takes reprisals against them. If, on the contrary, the civilians announce our position, it could be surrounded by superior forces and attacked. That is why in these cases civilians are detained in a safe place for reasons of security, theirs as well as that of our troops, and for as long as the operation may last.

This act cannot be called kidnaping. No one wanted to detain them from their jobs, absolutely nothing was demanded in exchange for their freedom, and they were treated with all consideration. This was simply what happened, and they were freed as soon as the commander of the column withdrew our forces from the road.

Then, immediately taking advantage of this incident, seeking the smallest pretext to interfere in the internal affairs of Cuba, Lincoln White, spokesman of the North American State Department, made insulting declarations about the Cuban patriots, which contained a clear threat to the integrity of our territory and the sovereignty of our people.

The Batista dictatorship has murdered more than one North American citizen, on a number of occasions has attacked and even murdered newspapermen from other countries, but the State Department has remained silent with regard to those events, not informing North American public opinion about them.

What then is the reason for Lincoln White to hurl a series of threats and accusations against the 26th of July Movement because of a simple incident?

Simultaneously the town of Nicaro was abandoned by the forces of the dictatorship and, three days later, when the patriots had occupied the territory, the dictatorship ordered its troops to land again.

Now it is planning to make that place, where the nickel plants of the United States government are to be found, the scene of a battle so material damages to the plants can be caused and then a pretext found for sending North American troops to our national territory. It is a plan similar to the one hatched for the Yateritas aqueduct. It is the worst betrayal that a government could make of its own fatherland.

We want to denounce these acts to the public of the United States and Latin America.

Why did the forces of the dictatorship abandon the nickel plants if they were not attacked by the rebels? Why was a new landing of troops ordered there? What is the relationship between these events and the aggressive declaration of Lincoln White?

The Rebel Command never has been moved by unfriendly or hostile sentiments toward the United States. When a group of North American citizens was held in the north of Oriente Province so that they could witness and contemplate the effects of the bombardment of the peasant population with bombs and planes of U.S. origin, this command, as soon as it heard of the matter, ordered the immediate return of those citizens to the authorities of their country because we considered that they should not be molested because of the mistakes of their government.

When I gave that order, a North American newspaperman was in the Sierra Maestra and he immediately transmitted it to the wire services.

The latest incident with those two North Americans was purely a matter of chance and a consequence of the reasons we have mentioned already. The presence of the seven Cubans held with them is proof that a question of nationality was not involved.

If Lincoln White classifies as an assault on civilized standards the detention of two of his compatriots who were treated with decency and freed as soon as the danger for them and for our soldiers had passed, how do we classify the death of so many helpless Cuban civilians, killed by the bombs and planes that the North American government has sold to dictator Batista?

Mr. White, Cuban citizens are human beings like North American citizens; however, not a single North American has ever died by Cuban bombs and planes. You cannot accuse Cuban patriots of those deeds, but we can accuse you and your government.

The war that our fatherland is now suffering causes losses and inconveniences, not only to the citizens of your country, but to all the residents of Cuba as well. This war is not the fault of Cubans who want to recover our democratic system and our freedom, but the fault of the tyranny that has been oppressing our fatherland for six years and that has counted on the support of North American ambassadors.

Our conduct is open to public scrutiny. In the territory liberated by our forces, there is no censorship of the press. North American newspapermen have visited us on a number of occasions, and they can do so as many times as they want to freely inform the public opinion of their country of our activities. The only accounting that we value of our acts, of our free determination, is that of public opinion, of the opinion of our people and the world.

It is proper to observe that Cuba is a free and sovereign nation; we want to maintain the best friendly relations with the United States. We do not wish any conflict to arise between Cuba and the United States that could not be solved through reason and the right of the peoples. But if the North American State Department continues to allow itself to be dragged into the intrigues of Mr. Smith and Batista, and incurs the unjustifiable mistake of forcing that country to commit an act of aggression against our sovereignty, then be sure that we shall know how to defend ourselves with honor.

There are duties toward our fatherland that cannot be left unfulfilled, cost what they may. A large and powerful country like the United States cannot be honored by the words and threats made in your recent statements. Threats are useful against cowardly and submissive people but are useless against men who are willing to die in defense of their people.

                                                                                                                                                                Fidel Castro