The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1927-02-28
By Chester NJ. Wright

English Language Secretary of the Pan
American Federation of Labor.
WASHINGTON. Feb. ga whis-
pering terror spreads over the re-
public of Cuba today, the result of
more than a year of despotic repres-
sion, assassination. Imprisonment,
deportation and corruption.
President Gerardo Machado, hav-
ing proclaimed his ambition, first to
crush and eradicate organized labor.
and second, to make himself the
Mussolini of the island republic, is
making good both aspirations.
How this condition has been kept
from the knowledge of the world
is a mystery only until conditions in
Cuba are examined on the ground
and the power of the National Gov
eminent seen as it is in operation.
/ am, believe, the first American
to follow the trail of murder and
brutality that has been laid from
Havana on through the rich interior
of the island, leaving homes Desc
late, and a population practically in
articulate.
Voices flushed
For days I met men in secret,
talked in undertones, went to outly-
ing places to see those who would
under no circumstances be seen
with me in any public place, finding
in all that time only three Cubans
who dared sit in public and discuss
the condition Of things.
do not know how many men
have been slain as the result of this
war on labor unions during the past
year. how many are missing nor
how many have been exiled and de-
ported
The number killed is variously
fixed at from $50 to 400. The effort
to throw fear into worl1ingmen has
gone beyond the destruction of
unions, and the assassination of Of
fcers and leaders. 1t has Included
measures obviously designed to Gre
ate mass fear. There have been wan
ton murders of workers who knew
nothing Of organization, the most
amazing instance having BEEN in the
slaughter of sixty plantation work
ers--a matter of common knowledge
in Cuba, which will be discussed fur
her later.
In the same manner there have
ben assassinations for political pur-
poses. Lese majesty is one Of the
high crimes in Cuba today.
1t is impossible to know how
many murders there have been, or
how many imprisonments and depor- \
tations. That there have been many
is certain. The very terror itself
makes inquiry difficult and definite
totals impossible to secure. 1t is not
possible to go to public officers and
secure statistics. Facts must be OBJ
tanned by seeking out individuals,
one here, one there. To complete
the story it would be necessary to
get from town to town, throughout
cuba, seeing hundreds of men, learn
ing from them who of their friends
have gone, and how, and where.
100 Known Sayings
To my own satisfaction I have
established approximately 100 cases
of assassination and disappearance,
nearly all of these having been Off
GERS or leaders of labor unions.
! have the testimony of unusually
reliable and credible witnesses that
PA former employees of the Cuba
railroad, ali union men, have
dropped from sight and that money
remains due them from the company
in sums ranging from IS to $50 per
man.
No worker in Cuba today leaves
money uncollected voluntarily.
These disappearance came in the
month following the railroad strike
of a year ago. In addition, sixteen
officers of the railroad brotherhood
We're imprisoned in the district, of
which Camaguey is the center. A
number of disappearances among
these men / verified as undoubted
assassinations.
AS far as labor unions are con-
cerned, not a single union is func-
tioning freely, fully and normally in
Cuba today.
Following an almost general pro-
scription, unions are shadowy organ
izations, where they exist at all. Not
single organization dares make
demand Of any kind. Union men told
me that as recently as three weeks
ago they were warned in the Office
of the secretary of gobernacion lin
terior) Strike, and you die"
No one voices criticism publicly.