CUBA IN GRIP OF PARALYSIS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20056, 13 March 1935, Page 9

CUBA IN GRIP OF PARALYSIS

RAPID EXTENSION OF STRIKES

ALLEGATION OF ARMED BRUTALITY •

United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright (Received March 12, 5.5 p.m.) HAVANA, March 11. The revolutionary general strike against President Mendiata’s administration became virtually complete today when the electrical workers stopped work late in the afternoon. So far ten deaths by violence have been recorded, inost apparently as the result of the Government’s drastic enforcement of a “state of war,” which provides for the death penalty without trial. Among the bodies found to-day was that of Enrique Femandos, a high official of the former Administration of Grau Martin.

While the military forces kept the 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 the growing menace of famine. All public transportation has been halted and scarcely anyone can be seen in the streets, excepting the soldiers and police, which are President Mendiata’s only defence against overthrow. Another message states that Cuba is caught between the lines in a fight to the finish between the Government and radicals in Havana, and the entire island is suffering almost total paralysis under the “state of war” declared by President Mendiata.

Disorders have occurred throughout most of the island but there was little actual disorder in Havana on Monday. ALLEGATIONS OF SLAUGHTER WILDEST CONFUSION SAID TO PREVAIL United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright (Received March 12, 5.5 p.m.) NEW YORK, March 11. 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 he stated that the wildest confusion prevails over the island. They are finding bodies everywhere. 'Men are being taken from their homes, presumably for prison, and their bodies are found later. President Mendiata vigorously denied General HeviaJs statement made at Miami that 200 had been killed. The President declared that there has not been three deaths from the fire of public forces.