CUBAN DEVELOPMENTS

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00132773
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: May 21, 2019
• Case Number: F-2018-00136
• Publication Date: August 25, 1960

Approved for Release: 2019/05/07 C00132773
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY REVIEW
25 August 1960
CUBAN DEVELOPMENTS
Cuban leaders have been
vitriolic in their condemnation
of the United States and its
"lackeys" at the OAS foreign
ministers' meetings in Costa
Rica, but inside Cuba the pro-
ceedings of the eighth national
congress of the Communists'
Popular Socialist party (PSP)
have vied with OAS developments
in the press and other propa-
ganda media.
The PSP congress, which
opened on 16 August and ended
on 22 August, featured the ex-
pected violent attacks on US
"imperialism," almost unreserved
praise for Fidel Castro and his
conduct of the revolution, and
IA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM
RELEASE AS SANITIZED
1997
pleas for unity among the forces
backing the Cuban revolution.
PSP Secretary General Bias Roca,
in a 12-hour report to the con-
gress, stressed the "unity" theme
in his call for the "coordina-
tion, cooperation, and fusion
of all the conscious and radical
Cuban revolutionary forces into
a single revolutionary movement
under the leadership of Fidel
Castro."
In the report to the con-
gress on the PSP program, it
was emphasized that much remls
to be done, including the
tervention" of remaining US
property, ouster of the United
States from the Guantanamo Naval
PART I OF IMMEDIATE INTEREST
PART II NOTES AND COMMENTS
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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY REVIEW
25 August 1960
Base, and completion of the re-
modeling of the government on
the Communist pattern, eliminat-
ing separate judicial, adtid-
istrative, and legislative
branches.
The PSP congress was at-
tended by at least 65 "fraternary
delegates from 31 Communist
parties. Many Latin American
parties were represented, as
well as most Sino-S6viet bloc
parties, who sent relatively
high-level offidials. The So-
viet party, however, was apr
parently not represented by a
central committee member and no
mention has been made of a So-
viet delegate. The French Com-
munist party was represented by
Jacques Duclos, second-ranking
party leader, and the Italian
party by a member of the party
central committee.
Chinese Communist party
central committee member General
Wu Hsiu-chuan addressed the con-
gress on 20 August, praising
Cuba for giving Latin Americans
a "brilliant example" in the
struggle for "emancipation from
US domination." Other speakers
criticized Cuba's continued lack
of diplomatic relations with
Communist China.
On the domestic front,
there are some signs of open,
although still uncoordinated
and sporadic, opposition to
the regime. A thorough purge
of the Cuban Navy is now ap-
parently under way, following
the reported discovery of a
plot among naval personnel on
17 August. Although the govern-
ment is maintaining tight see-
crecy. on naval developments,
there appears no doubt that the
purge is eliminating the last
stronghold of moderate elements
in the Cuban bureaucracy.
Anti-Castro guerrilla
groups have stepped up their
activity in the mountains and
PART I
PART II
foothills of Las Villas and
Camaguey provinces. Small guer-
rilla bands have attacked
militia units and in some cases
small army garrisons, seizin
their weapons.
r:pore. .e disarming
o several militia members by
a guerrilla group in Las Villas,
and other instances are known
to have occurred, some resulting'
in casualties. The government's
concern is evident in its efforts
to eliminate the guerrilla bands.
crease governm n r
ance on the civilian militia
for guard duty, for carrying
out government action against
seized private properties, and,
in some instances, for action
against antiregime groups. The
militia, which all Cubans are
regularly being urged to join,
now may have reached a total
strength of 200,000. Castro
addressed 2,000 newly graduated
militiamen in Pinar del Rio
Province on 21 August, declaring
that a "people armed to the
teeth" is Cuba's answer to "the
intrigues and maneuvers of im-
perialism" against Cuba.
Church-state friction is
rising, and church officials
are convinced that the regime
is inspiring and directing the
frequent demonstrations against
churchgoers. The wounding and
arrest of a, Jesuit priest by
Cuban G-2 agents on 19 August
may lead to new violence as news
of the incident spreads.
Fidel Castro's remarks in
a long speech before a meeting
of Cuban women on 23 August
probably forecast Cuba's posi-
tion of support for the Sovietf
Union on all issues at the UN
General Assembly session which
opens on 20 September, including
support for the admission of
Communist China. He said;
"The imperialists must know. . .
OF IMMEDIATE INTEREST
NOTES AND COMMENTS
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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY REVIEW
25 August 1960
that Cuba will no longer vote
in the UN at the bidding of
their index finger. We shall
be the friends of the USSR and
of the Chinese People's Republic
because they have proved to be
our friends, while the imperi-
PART I
PART II
alists attack us and want to
destroy us." Last year Cuba
was the first Latin American
nation to abstain on the issue
of Chinese Communist resen-
tation in the UN.
OF IMMEDIATE INTEREST
NOTES AND. COMMENTS
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