Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-04-13

happy about the outlook.
What one sensed was not so
anti Batista one. The Havana
hotel man and the others whose
livelihood depended most on the
tourist trade Just wanted to get
things settled so the tourists
would return.
. Cab drivers, who even In the
police state Cuba has become were
still vocal, seemed to resent most
the censorship that kept them
from finding out what was going
on. Members Of religious, profess
sional. fraternal and other groups
who had petitioned Batista to get
out-and had seen their petition
fail-were shaken by the latest
set of DEGREES from Batista's
puppet cabinet.
Constitutional guarantees had
been suspended for the eighth time
in Is months. Censorship was in
full force. Police were empowered
to make arrests without warrants
and hold prisoners without charge
and the prisons were nlling fast.
AL mass meetings had been
banned, which had put q halt to
campaigning for the June / presi-
dental election even before Batista
postponed it to November.
Now. the new set Of DEGREES had
been issued. The get-tough policy
hae been succeeded by q shoot-to-
kill regime. Gen. Batista, too. was
edgy.
Run on the Bonks
One emergency order authorized
Gen. Batista to use bank funds to
help the national defense II neces-
sary. When people started pulling
out their savings accounts. Batista
broadcast assurances that he
would not tamper with their
funds. That did it. Nervous Cubans
began a run on the banks.
In this atmosphere Of day
to-day, minute -to-minute uncer-
tainty, the hotel man was assuring
me that all was close to normal
in Havana when his secretary
burst in.
Did you hear all that shooting
last night?" she asked. 1T was
right in the next block"
She saw me. excused herself
and left.
Some crazy kids" said the
hotel man. They 60 after the
police cars. It's very foolish. They
all get killed"
He was telling me that the night
clubs were all operating normally
when I recalled that there had
been q last-minute change in the
scheduled night club tour. The
Montznartre would not be on the
tour. What about the Mont
martre?
"Oh that" he replied. The
chief Of the Army intelligence
service was killed inside the place.
So it closed"
He likened Gen. Batista's latest
DEGREES to the fine print on the
sign on q hotel room door-tech-
meal provisions that would never
be employed.
There was. Of course. q reason
for the hotel mans eagerness to
minimize Cuba's difficulties. The
tourist trade had been hit hard.
At the newly opened Havana Hill
ton, 70 guests were registered
in space for more than 1000. At
the Havana Riviera. only o few
months older. IS guests were
lodged in the $50 rooms. Obvi-
ously tourists were being scared
out Of Havana.
Cob Passengers Checked
A cab driver confided that he
didn't much like driving Q cab in
Havana any more.
IF you have -four people in the
cab" he explained. "they stop you
and search for guns. I've been
stopped every night since this has
been going on. Makes me uncom-
Portable"
The hotel man had thought
there wouldn't be q Havana re-
Spouse to CaStros call for a gen.
eral strike because the people
weren't hungry. The cab driver
thought the shoot to-kill order
would keep the buses running.
Actually, few soldiers or even
police were identifiable on the
street, but I was told they move
around in plainclothes-and that
the people know them. That. !
was told. was why one never saw
more than two or three people
talking together and why even
they drifted apart when strangers