Back to the Sierra Maestro

Sixteen months ago, gun in hand, Fidel Castro came out of the Sierra Maestra range in eastern Cuba and liberated the island from dictatorship. Last week, gun in hand, Castro returned to the Sierra. This time he was the hunter.

The prey was Captain Manuel Beaton, one of the growing number of officers in Castro's army who think that Communists have perverted and appropriated Castro's revolution. Beaton popped up on the Sierra's southern slope a fortnight ago, leading a band of 60 to 80 men. He reached an army garrison, captured arms.

To smash him, Castro sent a small combined unit of militia and regulars under the command of a major. Instead, Beaton killed the major. Out from Havana on the run hurried an alarmed Fidel with his army chief, Juan Almeida, and his Armed Forces Minister, Brother Raul, at his side. Pelted by spring rains, they slogged last week through calf-deep red mud seeking out the new rebel.

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