Bomb Week

Not one bomb burst in the President's palace in Havana all last week. But Cubans exploded bombs in three cities of the island.

In Santa Clara, public buildings were rattled by petty explosions. Five government officials were arrested.

In Matanzas, bombs shattered furniture in the homes of Senators Horacio Diaz Pardo and Manuel Vera Vedura. Six conspirators were arrested.

Reporters trying to keep track of the week's explosions in Havana announced varying totals, reported six bombs exploded on one day, five the day after. Strangely, all this blasting killed nobody. But Angel Quintana, 14-year-old messenger boy, was seriously wounded when the "freshly made" bomb that he was delivering to a customer slipped from his grasp.

Busiest of Cubans were Lieut.-Colonel Erasmo Delgado, the Great Detective who nearly solved the mystery of the bomb that wrecked the bathroom of President Machado's son-in-law fortnight ago, and Lieut. Miguel A. Calvo, chief of the Bomb Squad of the National Police. Still convinced that the real villain back of the bathroom bombing was none other than ex-Mayor Miguel Mariano Gomez, Great Detective Delgado raided La Purisma Market, formerly operated by the municipal administration of Senor Gomez, discovered a complete bomb factory, 200 pounds of dynamite, fuses, tin cans, other impedimenta, not counting piles of rifles and revolvers. Lieut. Calvo did even better. He found a bomb factory and arrested the operators. Scouring the cliffs above Havana along the Almendares River intrepid Lieut. Calvo popped into a cave, pulled out one Andres Niebla Torres, one Luis Mutiz and 129 bombs each containing eight pounds of dynamite. Handy were 25 cans of powdered dynamite, several barrow-loads of iron odds & ends.

At the police station the firm of Torres & Mutiz confessed that they took orders for several types of bomb: noise bombs, tear bombs, gas bombs, and large dynamite bombs for effective execution. Most important, they named as one of their customers Manuel Triana, Liberal leader of Matanzas, whom President Machado has long considered one of his best friends.

In the midst of all this uproar, President Machado last week signed a decree allowing all suppressed Cuban newspapers and magazines to resume publication.

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