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# CONFLICT IN CUBAGAINS IN VIOLENCEArmy Reports WidespreadClashes-Thirty Rebels,Listed as CapturedSpecial to The New York TTHE NEW YORK TIMES, TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1958.# CONFLICT IN CUBAGAINS IN VIOLENCEby former President Carlos Prios Socarras.Michigan Students FreedHAVANA, April 7 (UP)-TwoUniversity of Michigan student newspaper men arrested because they were suspected of making contact with Cuban rebels were released today in Santiago de Cuba.Continued From Page 1and trucks, eleven rifles and some ammunition had been seized.Skirmish in MajaguaHAVANA, April 7-Fighting between Governcient troops and rebels under the command of Fidel Castro has intensified in Oriente Province in the last forty-eight hours. official sources said today.Government forces also reported a skirmish in the Majagua district near Sarr Luis, near Santiago de Cuba. The army said the troops killed two rebels and seized three jeeps and some arme and ammunition. One sol- dier was wounded.James Elsman and Barton Hathwaite, who had been picked jup at their hotel yesterday by fermy intelligence officers, were freed when Park Fields Wollam, United States consul in Santiago, intervened.A Cuban Army communique said seven rebels under the cominand of Raul Castro, a younger brother of the reveiwar chief, were killed in a clash in northern Oriente Province. The communiqué said thirty of the insurgent band were captured and the others were scattered and cut off from the main body of rebels in the Sierra MaestraSeñor Castro declared "total war" on the Government of President Fulgencio Batista starting April 1. The rebel chief has said he would call a general revolutionary strike at the "opportune" moment. So far no strike has occurred.The two youths, correspond- ents of The Michigan Daily, a student publication, had arrived in Santiago from Havana a few hours before their arrest.President Batista told news- men yesterday he was confiden: that his forces would defeat the rebels, but he conceded it couló be a, long struggle.# Miami Newsman ArrestedMIAMI, April 7 (UP)-Televi- sion station WCKT reported today that Ben Silver, one of its newsmen, missing in Cuba since Saturday, had been reported under arrest at Santiago de Cuba.This was the first announce ment by the army of the capture of any rebels. It is be lieved here that the army has been following, a policy of tak- ing no prisoners.Meanwhile, rebel sources ir. Havana declared an announce ment by army headquarters Saturday that a rebel band led by Señor Castro had been cut off from the Sierra Maestra vas without foundation. These sources said that Señor Castro's officers had decided more than three months ago that he should lot lead any guerrilla expedi- fors but should remain in his leadquarters in the Sierra Mae-Genė Strul, news director of the station, said the United States Embassy had found after an investigation that Mr. Silver was "safe." The embassy said he would he released ar.d re- turned to Havana tomorrow.Army Reports Plane DownedArmy headquarters also re- ported that troops had shot down a C-46 plane carrying arms and ammunition to the rebels. The announcement said the plane crashed and burned killing the pilot and crewmen. Some unburned arms were found in the wreckage, the army said.An official of the Consolidated Railway Company of Ca- maguey, which serves tha east- rn half of the island, also de- ied reports that the railroad's mployes had gone out n strike. The official said the ebels had burned so many rail- tay bridges in the eastern part: Camaguey Province that it. as impossible to maintain pain service.[A rebel announcement said insurgent forces had burned a disabled plane Friday near Manzanillo after it had landed with reinforcements and arms for Señor Castro's men, The Associated Press reported, The announcement did not say where the plane had come from.]In Havana, the police an- bunced the arrest of eighteen buths accused of terrorism and Itempts to provoke a general ike. Authorities said some o he youths were Communists nd others were members of the uthentic organization headed!Another clash between Gov- ernment troops and rebels oc- curred Sunday at Dos Palmas near Santiago de Cuba. The army, asserted that a number of rebels had been killed or wounded and that seven jeeps.Continued ea Page 8. Columa 5> [Figure] SECLUDED ARMS SHOP: In this enclosure in Cuba's Sierra Maestra, so remote that even mules cannot reach it, weapons are repaired for forces of Fidel Castro.> ![enclosure in Cuba's Sierra Maestra] This photograph depicts a secluded arms shop in Cuba's Sierra Maestra. The shop is located in a remote area that is difficult to access. Weapons are being repaired for the forces of Fidel Castro inside the shop.