The New York Times
January 28, 1958. p. 10.
By R. Hart Phillips
Special to The New York
Times
HAVANA, Jan. 27—A “second front” was reported to have been opened today by rebel forces against the Government of President Fulgencio Batista in the mountains of Las Villas Province.
Two hundred youths belonging to the Revolutionary Directorate of Havana attacked several small military posts in and around the mountains between Trinidad and Sancti Spiritus at daybreak, members of the organization said. Some arms and ammunition were captured.
A report this afternoon from Fomento, at the edge of the Trinidad Mountains said one rebel had been killed in an encounter with rural guars there. This was the first confirmation of the reports that small military posts had been attacked. Most of the posts were said to be in more or less isolated places in the mountains.
According to the Revolutionary Directorate, which is an organization of Havana University students and outside youths, preparations for this “second front” have been going on for months. Provisions and arms and ammunition have been transported into the mountains. Members of the rebel groups have undergone rigorous training and plans have been made for a long siege.
The mountains on the south coast around Trinidad are not the jungle-covered, almost-impenetrable type of the Sierra Maestra of Oriente Province, where Fidel Castro and his insurgents have been entrenched since he landed there with an eighty-two-man expedition Dec. 2, 1956.
The Trinidad Mountains cover about 500 to 600 square miles and are far more heavily populated than the Sierra Maestra, since hundreds of coffee plantations are situated there. A tuberculosis sanitarium built by President Batista is just above Trinidad. Nevertheless, small bands of rebels making lightning attacks can be expected to force the Government to concentrate a large number of troops in that district.
A report from Pinar del Rio Province, in western Cuba, said twelve youths had been arrested, accused of terrorism. Despite the lifting of censorship the authorities did not identify the youths, but only announced that the group had been sent to military intelligence headquarters in Havana for questioning.
While Pinar del Rio has been relatively quiet during the last few months, bombs have exploded at intervals in various towns, particularly in the capital city of Pinar del Rio. Some tobacco warehouses have been burned.
Seven prisoners escaped from the jail in Santiago de Cuba yesterday in a riot that resulted in the death of one convict and the wounding of another. Authorities denied that any political prisoners were involved in the incident.
A rebel band last night seized a truckload of merchandise on the highway near Peralejo, just outside Bayamo in Oriente Province, and burned it, according to a report from that district.
The Newspaper men’s association of Havana Province publicly protested today against the censorship imposed until recently on newspapers, radio and television. The association also declared its disapproval of the retention of censorship in Oriente Province, where constitutional guarantees are still suspended. The guarantees were restored Jan. 25 in the other five provinces.
The newspaper men’s association of Oriente Province also met in Santiago de Cuba to draw up a protest against the censorship to be presented to President Batista.
The guarantees were restored in the five provinces in preparation for general elections scheduled June 1. Under a suspension of guarantees the people lose such rights as habeas corpus, free assembly and free speech.