Less Than Total War

In the week that was supposed to open Fidel Castro's battle for Cuba, his ragged rebel army showed clearly enough what it could and could not do against the well-armed troops of Dictator Fulgencio Batista. Disorder spread through Oriente province as five rebel columns, totaling about a thousand men, roamed almost at will, blockading highways, cutting overhead wires, hacking down telephone poles. But when Castro dared close with the army in battle, the rebels were slaughtered.

Clumsiness v. Caution. One raiding force of rebels staged a clumsy daylight attack outside Manzanillo, planning to lure Batista's armor out from the big city garrison, pile it up by triggering a homemade mine in the road, and then pick off the soldiers with rifle fire. The armor did not come out, but truckloads of soldiers did. The mine was a dud. Coordinated ground fire and strafing planes caught the rebels in an open field, and at least half of the 21-man force was wiped out. The government reported that twelve more rebels were killed when they stormed the courthouse and post office in Embarcadero de Cauto.

For most of the week, the army holed up in its fortified bases--Manzanillo, Bayamo and Santiago--and the rebels took over the countryside, cutting off Oriente from the rest of Cuba. Fidel's brother, Raul, led his 150 men out of the Sierra del Cristal, 100 miles northeast of the main rebel strongholds. One night at Moa Bay they held the Freeport Sulphur Co.'s $75 million nickel mining project for twelve hours before pulling out. With no traffic moving in or out of Santiago, residents began dipping into hoarded food supplies. The rebels admitted that they were not yet ready to take Santiago by armed assault, and the army seemed in no mood to leave the cities and go hunting in rebel country.

Death to Strikers. Castro hopes to turn this stalemate into victory by a general strike. Last week Batista served notice of just how bloody a strike would be. Using his emergency powers to govern by decree, he ruled that strikers would be fired, that employers who close shop would be jailed, and that loyal workers could carry arms. There would be no punishment, he decreed, for wounding or killing strikers. To make certain he has enough arms to pass around, Batista flew in 3,500 rifles from fellow Dictator Rafael Trujillo's Dominican Republic. The "Cristobal" rifles, manufactured in Trujilloland by refugee Hungarian gunsmiths, more than made up for a shipment of 1,950 Garands, bound from the U.S. last month under a mutual defense pact but embargoed at the last minute by the U.S. for the duration of hostilities.

As the harsh antistrike measures were announced, Rebel Faustino Perez, Castro's underground chief in Havana, rechecked his strength. The strike call, widely predicted for last week, did not come. "Wouldn't you think a long time?" asked one Cuban worker. "Batista's men will be shooting to kill." Habaneros hoarded food, staged a jittery run on the banks.

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