Running-Sore Revolt

At the Cuban army's Camp Columbia, near Havana. President Fulgencio Batista one day last week inspected seven old Sherman tanks, which the U.S. had just sold him under terms of a bilateral defense agreement. The tanks were plainly dear to his strongman's heart, but at a press conference later in the day, Batista mentioned their limitations. "The enormous strength of these tanks," he said, "makes it impossible to use them in internal conflict."

Months of Violence. His mind was obviously on Cuba's current, running-sore revolt. Though the dictator's army is well equipped, it so far has been ineffectual against the kind of "internal conflict" that has plagued the island for nearly three months. Bomb-bursts terrorize Havana almost nightly; the explosions often knock down power poles and black out parts of the city. Sugar cane fields are put to the torch with regularity. And in southeastern Cuba's rugged Sierra Maestra mountains, a band of wily, determined rebels is getting larger by the day.

Swashbuckling young Lawyer Fidel Castro set off the violence when he trained a group of irregulars in Mexico and landed with 81 of them, seasick but nervy, in Cuba's southern Oriente province (TIME, Dec. 10, et seq.). The Batista forces killed about 30 in confused skirmishes, but the rest fought and dodged their way through the army and into the tangled underbrush of the Sierra Maestra.

At this point, Batista miscalculated. He pulled back all but a thin circle of troops, and waited for the rebels to surrender or flee. Instead, new recruits slipped through into the mountains almost daily. In sharp skirmishes, the rebels captured rifles and machine guns. Currently, the guerrillas are living well on pork, chicken, fresh fruit and vegetables from nearby farms, which Castro buys with personally autographed IOUs, payable "when the revolution wins." Operating in platoons of 22 men each, they sleep in the open, and in a different spot every night. They can strike and then disappear into the trees.

Major Offensive. As the rebel force increased (it now numbers 500 men), Batista tried aerial bombing, strafing, napalm attacks and paratroop drops. They had little effect on Castro's hit-and-run platoons. A fortnight ago the strongman was forced to give up the waiting game and mount a major offensive. Commandeering civilian planes, he airlifted 1,100 men to ominous with no-nonsense orders to go in and get Castro's men. Meanwhile, terrorists in other parts of the country are being dealt with ruthlessly--when they are found. In Havana last week, two unexplained bodies turned up, one of them with an unexploded bomb in his hand.

Batista is well aware that the pint-sized revolt is hurting Cuba's two major crops: sugar and tourists. And if it keeps up long enough, the unrest might lead other 'army officers to ominous speculation about just who is the best man to lead the country.

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