Evening star., 1961-04-21

menL is SClll awaited, ana JHe
fate of Saturdays landings in
Oriente and Pinar del Rio prov
inces was unknown.
The atmosphere in Havana,
and apparently in provincial
cities. is one of tension under
lying a surface calm.
There was no overt iubilation
in the streets here when the
Castro regime announced vic
tory early yesterday. The man
in the street appeared to be in
a daze. feeling out of touch with
news Of the fighting.
Much Shooting at Dawn
A series of small parades
watched by sparse crowds
wound through Havana's old
town before dawn, but there
was no music. For the most
part the informal parades con-
sisted of horn-tooting trucks
filled with soldiers or militia
waving Cuban flags.
A noiSier celebration was a
dawn shooting party" when
militia at Camp Libertad fired
off machine guns and anti
aircraft shells.
The city was quiet again last
night and there was no sign of
a big rally which American
reports said had been planned
for 9 pm.
Up to last night there was no
word on the whereabouts of
Fidel Castro, and nothing had
been heard of a Miami report
that bomb dropped last Mon
day had "incapacitated" the
prime minister physically or
mentally"
His voice has not been heard
here since he appeared on tele-
vision last Sunday to speak at
the funeral of seven victims of
Saturdays air raid. Reoprts
have circulated that he was out
OF the city personally directing
operations against the anti
Castro forces.
Press and radio here have
been making much of the COM
ing May Day parade. saying it
would be "Castro's victory
parade"
Review Would Be Normal
1t would be normal for the
bearded leader to make a public
appearance to review the pa
rade, but there has been no
announcement TO that effect so
far.
There has been no air activ-
ity over Havana since the orig
inal landings except for Tues
days intruSions which drew
antiaircraft fire. The Castro
regime said these attackers
bombed an air base south of
the capital.
British diplomats have been
in touch with the Foreign Office
in London for some time despite
the general communication
blackout clamped on the island,
but even this contact is now
reported to have been inter-
rupted again.
A baby girl born Friday to
Mrs. Grace Soler, English wife
Of a Cuban businessman, is re-
ported to be doing fine. Mrs.
Soler was arrested Monday and
held in the dungeons of Moro
Castle, below sea level. until
Wednesday.
Then she was released and
taken to a maternity hospital.
Her husband, an agent for the
Austin Motor Car Co., still was
detained last night.
A British newspaper CORE
spondent and three other
Britons have been taken into
custody.
The entrance to the building
housing the British Embassy
here was guarded last night by
a Castro mlitiaman standing
by a machinegun behind a
sandbag emplacement.
Other militiamen with ma
chineguns were on the roof of
the 10-story building. The EN-
baSsy occupies the eighth and
ninth floors.
The United States Embassy,
now stated by Swiss person
mel who have been represent
ing Washington since United
States-Cuban diplomatic rela-
tions were broken off in Jan
uary. was not guarded. The
Swiss flag flies from it and
there have been no incidents
there.
18 Americans Detained
The Swiss Embassy said it
knew Of 18 Americans detained.
but it was believed there might
in fact be twice that number
in custody.
Staffs of the American news
agencies last night were de-
tanned or in asylum. Mrs. Ruby
Hart Phillips of the New York
Times was reported taken into
custody yesterday. Charges
against the American corre-
spondents were not known.
This correspondent has been
free to travel in Havana with
no harassment. but until this
dispatch was phoned to New
York the total blackout of
cables and other communica-
tions had prevented the filing
of any messages. There was no
censorship as such - just the
communication barrier.
Correspondents trying in vain
to file stories have taken their
copy to the cable office, where
1T was politely accepted-but it
got no further.
In the same way when a
correspondent placed a tele-
phone call outside the country.
the order was politely accepted
and the operator told him
there would be some delay. The
operator did not call back.
MjScaIcuIatiOn Seen