Revolutionary Upsurge

From tip to tip, Cuba was scorched by revolutionary violence last week. Saboteurs burned a hotel, tobacco-curing sheds, warehouses with $2,500,000 worth of sugar. A train was derailed. And, in one explosive day, President Fulgencio Batista's troops fought two separate battles against rebel forces in the eastern province of Oriente just as a bomb blast in a main electric cable conduit paralyzed downtown Havana.

One army-rebel clash followed a new Oriente coast invasion by 150 supporters of ex-President Carlos Prio Socarras bent on horning into the revolution begun by Rebel Chieftain Fidel Castro more than five months ago. Pursuing the invaders, the army caught them at the edge of the rugged Sierra del Cristal, killed 16. Castro chose that moment for a double show of force. From his sanctuary in the high Sierra Maestra his 100-odd men swooped down on the army garrison of the tiny Oriente town of Uvero, killing eleven of Batista's soldiers and wounding 18. In Havana, Castro supporters who had tunneled under a street to a vital power cable set off 50 sticks of dynamite and crippled the capital for 57 hours.

To end the island-wide sabotage, the government made reprisals, e.g., in Havana, the bodies of two men were found hanging with bombs at their feet. Protesting, Santiago's Roman Catholic archbishop said he viewed the rebel violence and the reprisals "with disgust." The local Rotary Club joined in to deplore the case of "four youths, arrested by individuals identifying themselves as members of the Security Corps, who were later found murdered."

Once again, Batista's staying power was in question. For a few months the strong-man was able to keep Castro's revolution from catching on. But Castro's open display of fight and organization was an outright challenge. From Havana, orders went out for an all-out attack on the rebels.

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