New York Times
March 11, 1935. p. 1,3.
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Mendieta Declares State of War After Labor Supports Revolutionary
Walkout.
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More Than 1,000 Arrested
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Police and Troops Active as Havana Traffic Halts After Night of Terror.
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Bombs Alarm Populace
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Six Killed, Eleven Wounded—Two Radicals Thought Victims of ‘Law of
Flight’
By J. D. Phillips
Special Cable to The New York Times
HAVANA, Monday, March 11. – The Mendieta government declared a state of war throughout Cuba early this morning after another day and night of sporadic violence that followed Saturday’s night of terror.
This step was preceded by strong measures taken by the government to curb the threatened revolutionary general strike set for today. Saturday, President Carlos Medieta had proclaimed a state of siege in Havana Province, and yesterday this was extended to Camaguey Province.
With labor rapidly throwing its support behind the revolutionary strike and with the reiterated intention of the government to break the backbone of the movement by the use of its armed forces, the Cuban public viewed the situation with intense alarm.
The Railway Brotherhood of the United Railways walked out during the afternoon, tying up all traffic at this end of the island. Taxi drivers had already staged a strike in the morning, leaving Havana without transportation except for a few street cars and omnibuses manned by soldiers and police.
Theatre employees and joined the strike. Employees of all industries, factories, shops and commercial houses are scheduled to quit their jobs this morning. Drivers of milk, ice and beer trucks advised their clients they were making their last deliveries. Leaders of the movement hope to bring about a walk-out of more than 80,000 workers by today.
More than 1,000 persons are reported to have been arrested, and although many of them were later released after questioning, the police and military continue to detain large numbers of suspects.
A group of unidentified men raided the offices of the Medical Federation during the night, smashed the furniture, destroyed the files and tossed them into the street. Considerable shooting followed, but the raiders escaped.
The federation is supporting the strike movement, doctors belonging to their organization having walked out of all government, municipal and private hospitals.
The military issued an order to the authorities of the city of Santiago prohibiting movements of pedestrians or vehicles of all classes in the streets.
Twenty-three unions in Santiago, including that of the Bacardi Company’s employees, were ordered to walk out at midnight, according to a dispatch from there.
Workers of the Guantanamo Railway Company, American owned, were expected to join the movement, also at midnight. A strike on this railway will tie up ten sugar mills now grinding in that zone.
A bomb explosion in Guanabacoa, across the bay from Havana, interrupted light service for several minutes. During this period soldiers and sailors kept up an intense fire throughout the town.
The firs application of the dreaded ley de fuga (law of flight) under the Mendieta administration came to light with the discovery yesterday of the bodies of Miguel Roque Fraga, chief of the miscellaneous tax bureau at the City Hall, and his son-in-law, Armando Fieto, a prominent student leader during the Machado régime and also an employee of the municipality.
One Not Under Arrest.
The family asserted Señores Fraga and Feito were taken from their home after midnight by soldiers and five plainclothes men.
Señor Fraga, members of the family said, was not under arrest but asked permission to accompany his son-in-law in order that he might return to advise the family as to where the young man was lodged in prison and the charges on which he was held. The soldiers acceded to the request. Police deny any knowledge of these killings. The bodies were later found in the Miramar residential section.
Two other bodies were reported to have been found, riddled by bullets in the back as were Señores Fraga and Feito, and in the same section of the city. The names of these reported victims have not yet been learned.
Two of nine persons wounded by bullets or bombs have died.
An assault on the Tenth Street police station, which is situated in a strategic position in the city, was repulsed early in the morning, according to the police version. There was intense firing in the district.
A bomb exploded late in the afternoon in a café, but little damage and no casualties were reported. Sporadic shooting occurred throughout the city, but no one was reported as wounded. The streets are practically deserted, with scarcely any vehicular traffic. What few private cars are circulating affix two brooms to the bumpers to clear tacks, nails and staples from their path.
Police and military authorities rounded up many students, laborers and government workers. They refuse to give the names of any of those detained or any information concerning the activities of the armed forces.
The student strike committee this afternoon issued mimeographed manifestoes appealing to the Cuban people to join the general strike at midnight “against administrative armed forces.”
In a conference with commercial and industrial representatives, who visited President Carlos Mendieta in alarm because of the present situation, the Chief Executive reiterated he would not resign and that the government was sufficiently strong to put down this movement. Pearl L. Bergoff, professional strike-breakers, cabled to Señor Mendieta from New York offering to send 10,000 men immediately to break the strike. Bergoff reminded the President he was in Havana in 1916 with 1,000 men and broke a tram strike.
The President cabled Bergoff that he “appreciated the offer but the common sense of Cuban labor with a desire to work would not permit me to accept. However, if it is necessary to use your men, I will advise you.”
Workers installing a new radio antenna were fired on by soldiers and marines posted in adjoining buildings who claimed they thought the laborers were snipers. No one was hit.
Reports of killings and intense firing in all districts and numerous explosions of bombs have caused the public to become fearful as to the outcome of the strike movement. It is freely predicted the coming week will be a dangerous one, owing to the stand taken by the government with a large army backing it and the desperate aims of the strikers.
Students and radical labor elements as well as known political factions of opposing the government and working for a general strike reiterate the movement is directed primarily against Colonel Fulgencio Batista and his armed forces rather than at President Mendieta.
While a passive resistance strike cannot hope to oust the government, it can place the administration in a highly difficulty position, cutting off revenue and breaking down the administrative machinery. It will be practically impossible to staff the government offices owing to lack of technical personnel available and to terroristic activities and coercive methods being used by the strikers.
Dr. Rafael Lorie, Secretary of Health, presented his resignation to Señor Mendieta and it was immediately accepted. Dr. Aurelio Ituarte, Chief Health Officer of Havana, was named to fill the vacancy.
By The Associated Press.
HAVANA, March 10, -- Hundreds of soldiers moved into Havana tonight as darkness fell, but sporadic bombings and rifle fire increased the city’s tension. The explosions heightened fears of a repetition of the last twenty-four hours’ disorders which left six dead and eleven wounded.
A 2-year-old baby was wounded by a bullet when unidentified persons fired on a bus. A bomb explosion in the town of Regla, across Havana bay, injured two persons.
The troops moved into the capital by trucks from Camp Columbia, on the edge of Havana. Three bombs, latest of a series during the day, exploded just after dark in the Principe Prison section and another in the Vedado section, in midtown.
Authorities arrested Rodolfo Mendez Peñate was Secretary of Labor early in the Mendieta régime. His brother committed suicide a year ago while serving in the Cabinet.
The government was moving swiftly in its efforts to block the strike movement. Citizens were warned there would be no half-way measures. President Carlos Mendieta issued this statement:
“The government takes its place to defend lives and property and to give security. This government is strong, and has the resistance to meet all problems, regardless of their size.”
After declaring that the government had not indulged in acts of violence, Señor Mendieta said:
“The republic must win, because there is nothing more unjust than what is happening in these moments. If the campaign now confronting us was directed only against the government we could meet it with that attitude, but it is being directed against wealth and property, peace and order, and even the Cuban family.”
There were no theatres or cinemas and few cafés open in the city. Late this afternoon Colonel Fulgencio Batista, head of the army, sent seven of his fighting planes over the center of Havana and staged a mimic combat, presumably to work on the morale of militant-minded revolutionaries.
The government gained some strength when the Marianista party, headed by former Mayor Miguel Mariano Gomez of Havana, issued a statement condemning government employees for joining the strike.
Government officials declared suspension of the Constitution was total and that President Mendieta was given full power to dictate any measures he deemed necessary to military governors in other provinces, holding the same powers as in Havana Province.
A decree was issued prohibiting persons from going to the rooftops, presumably to check sniping.
HAVANA, March 10 – American and foreign business men have received anonymous warnings to “close up and leave the country within three days,” it was reported today.
At the University of Havana, members of the faculty and students held a mass meeting, to adopt a program to be presented to the Mendieta government as a conciliatory measure. It includes the creation of a legislative Assembly and the installation of a “non-political and non-military government” to govern the island until general elections can be held.
In defending his government, President Carlos Mendieta pointed to the abrogation of the Platt Amendment, the signing of the reciprocity treaty with the United States and other “patriotic measures,” saying that “this good work cannot and will not be interrupted by small groups composed of enemies of peace and order.”
He did not comment on the proposal of the students and professors’ council, which apparently has the approval of other opposition groups, including adherents of former President Mario Menocal and the ABC, revolutionary secret society.
The new “united front” includes practically the same political factions that were represented on the New York revolutionary junta during the activities against the Machado régime. The provisional government proposed under the plan would be semi-parliamentary, with a Premier who would be responsible to the Assembly.