Evening star., 1933-08-12
STRANGEST SIEGE
ENVEL0PS Havana
Closed Shops Defenders as
Machado Works for Submis-
Gion by Starvation.
Continued From First Page.)


Law.
Police may force the opening of a
shop, but whan the police go fear closes
it again No eaxis are available at any
price. Private ears may run, if they
can get gasoline. The whispered rumors
when no newspapers are published in
tensify uncannily the alert apprehension
People may get on without personal
transit and without shops which do not
sell immediate nccessaries, but not
without food supply, even in this hid
den war of fear against fear which ex-
tends the length and breadth OF Cuba,
duplicating Havana's condition in every
city.
Fear Shipping Shot.
Petrolling police, eyeing sharply every
open window and door for a possible
sniping shot, take swift vengeance for
any active resistance and there is an
undercover vendetta which results in
an occasional casualty.
In this new type of siege warfare, the
conditions Of old are reversed. Presi-
dent Machado can feed his soldiers and
police by force Of their arms. He would
starve out the besiegers. His supporters
see hunger and desire for the end OF
fear and a return to normal conditions
eventually winning and thus restoring
peace and order after salutary lesson
! But so far there is no definite sign OF
the ending of the strikes and the pas
Sive resistance.
What makes the situation stranger
still is the siege within siege with the
chief of one camp the heavy jaweo
| Machado, in the presidential palace and
Sumner Welles, chief of the other. in
the American embassy. President Ma
chados followers are proud he proved
Cuba need not bow to Americas nod
as it did in the days of American high
prosperity and power when America
bought hugely of Cuban products and
American capitalists expansively and
eagerly spent money in the promotion
of Cuban enterprises.
An Economic Siege.
Every word heard, everything saw
confirmed my impression that this siege
is economic-that it is caused by eco
nomics and uses economic arms. AL
the complex plays of Cuban politics
! battling mediation are only an express
sion of the Cuban depression from the
capitalists and the middle class to
laborers on roads, docks and canefields
The Cubans want at least the hope ano
promise of the N. l. r. A.. and reports
of the returning prosperity In the
United States only increase the unrest
President Machado is seen by the be-
siegers as the personification OF the de-
preston. Their bitterness regarding
what they call his misrule is too deep
set to be mistaken for passing stage
Of volatile emotion in tropic land.
The Presidents supporters insist
he is a victim of the depression and
! that he is an essentially strong man
whose removal would mean worse chaos
under weaker regime.
Count Heavily on Welles.
Slender Sumner Welles, sympa-
thetic, and understanding Cuban pride
and sensibilities also. has a strong jaw
as we'll as the tact and experience OF
trained diplomat To him newspaper
men dash for the latest word of his con-
ferences when the one great piece OF
news is "Machado Is Going" To the
latest rumors he answers that is an
| interesting statement" and keeps on
at the front. The conspicuous per-
sonal part which has become his may
have been some handicap to his
diplomacy.
No note is struck from the embassy
except that Cuba should find her SOlu-
tion as an escape from an intolerable
regime.
An American official told me today
he is not going to his club because there
he Is surrounded instantly by indignant
fellow members. American resident.
here see intervention as the only way
out because whoever is President Ma
chado's SUCCESSOR the abuses must con-
tinue until Cuba is again started afresf
On the right path under American
counsel.
The British especially, and the Span
ish less outspokenly, in this city where
so many foreigners are residents anc
the land represents such vast foreign in
vestments, protest that America Is fail.
ing in her responsibility under the Plat
amendment.
Cubans not generally, but the props
erty holders and some of the intelli.
geutsia who take no part in politics. will
welcome any definite action toward re-
lief and do not object to Intervention.
Copyright. 1893. By North American News