Alarums

Round the edges of the Spanish Main, fires of revolt burned dimly last week, battles subsided, alarums were frequent.

Honduras. After a Government victory at Chamelecon, loyal troops beat the bush where Rebel General Gregorio Ferrera and his insurgents were hiding, promised a decisive battle from day to day. In Congress at Tegucigalpa, Representative

Plutarco Munoz announced that the Honduran rebels were backed by Nicaragua's Augusto Sandino, and "Communists," these from Havana.

Nicaragua, U. S. citizens and other aliens in the little towns along the Mosquito Coast waited breathlessly for a repetition of the bandit raids which caused the slaughter at Logtown fortnight ago (TIME, April 27). In Washington Secretary Stimson stood firm under the lashings of Big Stick Advocates. The new Hoover-Stimson Nicaraguan policy was backed up by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Henderson with an announcement to the effect that Britain, too, will not attempt to protect her nationals in Nicaragua's interior.

Panama. President Ricardo Alfaro sighed with relief when a timely police raid netted 40 rifles and a case of ammunition in the home of Chief of Police Alejandro Ramos of Los Santos Province, bud-nipping a revolution in Los Santos and Veragua Provinces.

Cuba. Newspapers suddenly charged last week that a Major Arsenic Ortiz, former military supervisor of Oriente Province, and Lieut. Felipe Valle and Corporal Jose Heredia were responsible for the assassination of 44 political prisoners at Santiago in recent months. Soldiers saved the life of Corporal Heredia from a riotous mob. Lieutenant Valle either committed suicide or was murdered. He left a note which approaches the height of understatement for a 44-fold assassin: "In a moment of weakness I have done things I am ashamed of."

Persistent newspaper pressure forced President Machado to order Major Ortiz before a court-martial. Meanwhile the fiery major showered Havana editors with challenges to duels. Editor Pizzi de Porras accepted "when and if the major's legal status is cleared." Prudent Editor Jose Ignacio Rivero replied to the major's seconds:

"Dear Sirs . . . My words 'uniformed asses,' 'Attila's horse,' 'official bandit' and others similar to that ... do not refer to Major Arsenio Ortiz but are intended for whomever shall be found guilty of the horrible deaths inflicted on citizens of Santiago de Cuba. . . ."

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