CUBA: Gibara

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Near the city of Cienfuegos a Federal patrol swooped on a little drugstore and dragged out one more leader of the revolution from his burrow beneath the counter. He was Col. Aurelio Hevia, a successor to the imprisoned General Mario Menocal. U. S. Ambassador Harry Frank Guggenheim notified the State Department, perhaps a little prematurely, that with the failure of the Gibara filibuster and the capture of the most prominent leaders of the revolution, President Machado's troubles were as good as over.

Biltmore Junta. In Manhattan's Biltmore Hotel, at least, the revolution went on bravely. As in 1895 the revolutionists established propaganda headquarters in New York to drum up U. S. sympathy, collect U. S. dollars. Head of the Biltmore junta was an elderly, pachydermal gentleman named Dr. Domingo Mendez Capote, who blushingly denied reports that if & when the revolution was successful he might possibly be chosen President of Cuba. The Capote family and the other members of the Biltmore junta were not downhearted. To a steady accompaniment of ringing telephones and banging doors they stayed at their posts, denouncing Machado the Tyrant, issuing clarions for Cuba Libre, pouring tea for the Press.

The Porra. Early one morning firing broke out in Havana itself. Havana householders and U. S. reporters stayed prudently in their beds. It was difficult to learn fust what had happened. Most reliable reports said that a group of revolutionary sympathizers had been waylaid by a gang of the "Porra" and shot. Only one body was found. The "Porra" ranks high among the various things for which Cubans curse Gerardo Machado. It is a band of criminals who have been pardoned, let out of jail and armed to help put down the revolution. Cubans spoke of the "Porra" last week as Irishmen spoke of the Black & Tans in 1920.

Machado's Return. By the week's end warfare had quieted enough for Gerardo Machado' to return to Havana with his chief of staff and right-hand man General Alberto Herrera, the man who more than any other squashed the rebellion. Havana police were on their toes to prevent an outbreak from rebellious students in

Havana. Crowds were forbidden. Anyone who "gossiped against the Government" was liable to 15 days in jail, & a $50 fine, as was anyone who appeared in the streets bareheaded and wearing a beard. Police had discovered that a bristling beard and a bare head were being adopted by young Cubans as badge of revolutionary sympathy.