New York Times
January 17, 1958. p. 10.
Government Cash is
Seized in Raid on Oriente Coast—Arrests in Havana
Special to The New York
Times
HAVANA, Jan. 16—A group of about 200 rebels attacked Veguita, on the south coast of Oriente Province, today, according to reports from that district.
Veguita is fifteen miles from Manzanilla on the main highway to Bayamo, in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra, the stronghold of Fidel Castro, rebel leader.
The rebels carried off the funds of the Government telegraph office. In the skirmish between the rebels and fifteen members of the Rural Guard post stationed in Veguita many business places and homes were damaged by the gunfire. Arrival of army reinforcements from Bayamo forced the rebels to withdraw.
Five soldiers were reported killed and a number wounded. There were no official figures.
It was the second attack on Veguita in a month. The previous time the rebels carried off four truckloads of food and clothing.
Soldiers killed Bebo Lombera the second in command of the youthful band of insurgents operating in Las Villas Province last week when he visited his home in Quemada de Guines, according to a report from there. Acting on information, soldiers surrounded the home of Señor Lombera’s father, a dairyman, and ordered the surrender of his son. After a brief attack the solders ordered the family to leave the house and they did so.
Two soldiers were wounded and the younger Lombera was killed in the ensuing gun fight.
In Havana the police announce the arrest of twenty three persons, most of them in the teens and twenties. Among the prisoners were five women, two of whom were pharmacists and a 14-year-old boy.
Eight bombs exploded in Havana tonight, causing damage but no casualties. This was the first outbreak of bombs since New Year’s Eve.
Since Jan. 1 visitors to Havana decreased by about 25 per cent from the total for the corresponding period last year. Hotel and transportation company representatives said the cold, unseasonable weather was the main reason.
However, the normal winter season in Havana begins about Jan. 20 and hotels are looking forward to excellent business.
Special to The New York
Times
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16—Earl E. T. Smith, Ambassador to Cuba, said today that the United States hoped the Batista regime would restore full constitutional guarantees on Jan. 27 as promised.
Afterward, Mr. Smith said the United States hopes that elections “acceptable to the people of Cuba” will go ahead June 1 as scheduled.
His remarks amounted to an expression of United States hope that Cuba’s internal political troubles would be settled peaceably between the regime of Gen. Fulgencio Batista and the four legal Opposition parties. Mr. Smith’s statement contained no hint of United States sympathy for the rebel movement of Señor Castro.
Mr. Smith said he was in Washington to report on the Cuban economic and political situation. He denied some press reports that he was about to resign.