FAMINE THREAT

Taranaki Daily News, 13 March 1935, Page 5

FAMINE THREAT

CUBAN STRIFE GROWS FURTHER DEATHS OCCUR PARALYSIS OF BUSINESS RUMOURS OF MASSACRE PENALTY WITHOUT TRIAL By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Rec. 5.5 p.m. Havana, March 11. » The revolutionary general strike against President Mendieta's administration became virtually complete today when electrical workers stopped work late in the afternoon. So far ten violent deaths have been recorded, most apparently as the result of the Government’s drastic enforcement of the state of war, which provides a death penalty without trial. Among the bodies found to-day was that of Enrique Fernandez, a high official of the former administration of Grau Martin. While the military kept vital services such as electric power partially operative, all business was paralysed. Shops were kept open under Government order, but there were no clerks or customers. Food, milk and ice deliveries are at a standstill, with a growing menace of famine. All public transportation has been halted and there is scarcely anyone in the streets excepting soldiers and police, President Mendieta’s only defence against overthrow. Another message states that Cuba has been caught between the lines in a fight to a finish between the Government and the radicals of Havana, and the entire island is suffering almost total paralysis under the state of war declared by President Mendieta. Disorders occurred throughout most of the island, but there was little actual disorder at Havana on Monday. A message from Miami, Florida, states that Carlos Hevia, who held the Presidency of Cuba for three days in 1934, fled there by aeroplane. He alleged that about 200 persons have been massacred since Saturday morning, and stated that the wildest confusion prevails over the island. “They are finding bodies everywhere,” he said. “Men are being taken from their homes, presumably for prison, and later their bodies are found.”