Evening star., 1933-08-20

yelling viva and you never heard such
algeria Uoy) In your life.
"A mob collected in front of the
American embassy. Nothing would do
but that Ambassador Welles must speak
for an hour and also join in yelling
Viva Cuba libre' with the crowds there.
'"The Cuban populace now think that
Ambassador Welles is living wonder.
It Is remarkable the way the poor man
has worked, trying to persuade Ma
chado to get out and not stubbornly
persist until American troops would
have to be brought in and Americans
then appear as aggressors In the eyes
OF South American republics.
To-day, Monday, the Havana street
cars started running again. Free rides
for every one as part of the popular
celebration. The movies are free to-
night, too. But because there are still
many Porristas abroad and being con-
stantly hunted down and shot on sight
it is not safe to be in any crowd that
may unintentionally harbor one of these
gentry.
The Porristas are the dangerous ele-
ment to be contended with now. They
are all cruel criminals. They know that
If they are caught alive the best they
can expect Is life imprisonment, and so
they are frightfully dangerous and des-
perate characters.
During the approach to and the dura-
ton of the general rioting food simply
was not to be had. We did make up a
big factura the first of the month, but
after week of only rice and beans we
were tired Of that diet. There was no
milk to be had, not even canned milk.
Neither bread nor crackers.
Prices Shoot Higher
occasionally a country guajiro would
appear and walk quietly through the
streets without shouting his wares II
he had he would have had his head
cracked by the striking merchants If
they discovered him trying to sell any
food. I spied one of these peddlers and
bought from him four aguacates at 10
cents each and six eggs for 40 cents,
and mother got chicken for dollar
Chickens had been 20 cents and aqua
Gates three for a nickel before the revo-
luton.
There was no ice, no bottled water
We had to boil the tap water from the
abandoned aqueduct because the water
was foul.
I'VE have been promised milk by to-
morrow but there Is no telling when
meat and vegetables may be again avail
able.
These CubanS find song for every
thing. No sooner did Machado leave
than the rumbaS and danzones came
out with the usual choteo about him.
There's one that Is a prize. I don't
know all the words. But some of them
are 'AdioS sin verguenza, adios canalla,
NAL rayo te parta dondequiera que te
halla: adios bandido, adioS carnicero. ;
and SO on; That last word refers to
the fact that Machado used to be a
butcher The tune is like a comparsa,
and every little gamin in the streets is
shouting 1t with all his lungs
You can't imagine the algeria (oy)
the day that every one knew Machado
had left. Colored and whites were all
hugging each other on sight, and una
griteria por dondequiera tremenda.
Strangers all talking and shouting to
one another
Americans are just the apples Of
their eyes, because Ambassador Welles
worked so hard for the country. One
result is that every time I appear on
the streets every one yells Viva la
Americana
The day every one went wild I went
out on our balcony, and a patrulla de
gente on the street yelled Viva la
Americana! I was so excited myself
that I yelled back NADIA mas faltaba;
soy mas Guiana que usted, porque soy
de Oriente'
You never heard so much qua qua
qua Cha, ha, ha) and shouting and
viva in your life.
Even mother went momentarily
crazy. She dragged out her old Cuban
flag and waved it all over. Her white
hair was flying. I hailed her as Bar
bara Fritchie. But she was so excited
she yelled at me 'Dejata de Barbara
Thritchi. chica; 81 quiero regozar con
apron and was giving out 'Dios te ben
olga to every one. known and un-
known. Mother says she thought Inez
didn't know herself whom she was
blessing, but was filled with the general
algeria:
couldn't see anything but a lot of people
shouting in the street, and he kept look
ing and looking down on them from the
balcony. So finally I told him We were
happy because 'el coco sc fue.' He
looked up at me with his huge eyes and
said 'Si? Then I told him that the
coco (bogey-man) was named Machado.
Thereupon he ran out on the balcony
and waved and shouted with the grown
ups And when Diaz asked him what
he was so happy about he said Coco
Maaado sc fue.'
I'VE haven't had any mail for two
weeks, and are frantic to get ours. The
Havana post Office opened again today.
but it will be days later before they
finish sorting the piles Of accumulated
mail and a week later yet before they
can begin delivering it. All the news
we have had was cable from you at
Mexico City.
But cabling has been so unreliable
that we chanced this letter by airmall.
I managed to get Martinez from the
steamship office to call Tor the letter,
which he promised to take out to the
plane himself, along with important