REBELLION IN CUBA

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28554, 7 April 1958, Page 11

REBELLION IN CUBA

Army Claims Castro Being Pursued (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) NEW YORK, April 6. A rebel group led by the rebel leader, Fidel Castro, had been cut off from the main force and was being pursued into the mountains of Oriente Province, the rebel stronghold, the Cuban Army Chief of Staff said last night, the United Press reported from Havana. Lieutenant-General Pedro Rodriquez Avila Mid “the saboteurs” operating in the province had been broken up and that the body of troops led by Cutro himself had been isolated with Government forces hot in pursuit. The Apny announcement indicated a break in the Euter calm of the island, where Castro hu threatened “total war” to overthrow the Government of President Fulgencio Batista.

Havana was quiet throughout the day. Rodriquez Avila said Santiago de Cuba and Manzanillo, the main cities in Oriente Province and the main rebel targets, were completely quiet. No disturbances were reported anywhere else. Castro has said that he commands a fighting force of 2000 men. His IS-monih-old campaign against the Batista regime now appears to be reaching a climax. The belief was that his threatened “total war" would begin with a general strike, probably on Monday.

The Army's announcement about isolating Castro was received with scepticism among Cubans in Havana, the American Associated Press reported. Rebel sympathisers construed it as a smoke screen to cover up either attacks Castro might have launched or his preparatory moves for open civil war. The Army several times in the past has said that Castro was surrounded or isolated and was being hotly pursued by troops. But the bearded rebel leader has always escaped.