CUBA

Having failed to crush Rebel Fidel Castro in the hills, President Fulgencio Batista turned to politics to break the stalemate. Last week his Progressive Action Party designated a candidate for the June 1 elections; barring a Castro military victory or some other upset, Batista's man is virtually certain of election.

He is Prime Minister Andres Rivero Aguero, an old pal of the boss but also a shrewd politico with ideas of his own. A onetime plowboy who became a topflight lawyer, Rivero professes strong loyalty to Batista but obviously plans to campaign as a Great Compromiser, appealing to the majority that is fed up with both sides. Said he: "If I am elected President I will immediately ask Congress for a general political amnesty." He made it clear that this would apply to Castro. The rebels' reply was a renewed pledge to boycott the elections -- and renewed violence. They set bombs popping from Havana to Santiago, 500 miles away, fired buses, killed two policemen, sent mysterious light planes over cane fields dropping thousands of incendiary tubes that burned upwards of 125 million lbs. of sugar cane.

So far Rivero's calming words were showing little effect in the long run they might prove to be potent arguments. While most Cubans opposed Batista, many of them were also tiring of Castro's bootless unremitting violence.