CUBA TODAY - FIFTH OF A SERIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP66B00403R000200170046-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2005
• Sequence Number: 46
• Publication Date: June 25, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN

1961
Cuba
V
lON OF R1;MARKS
or
HQN. _PAUL G. ROGERS
OF FLORIDA
IN THE Ilov,SE OF S EPRESENTATIVES
-`hurssiay June 25, 1964
ease 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP66B00403 b0200170046-0
MRESSTONAL RECORD - APPENDIX
powerful there. They are responsible only
to Mr. Castro, and are acknowledged to be
second, only to him in succession of strength,
even ahead of the brilliant, ubiquitous
Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
They are Ramiro Valdes, Minister of the
Interior, and Jose Matar, chief of the dread-
ed Committee for the Defense of the Revolu-
tion (CDR).
INCLUDES G-2
The Minister of the Interior Includes 0-2,
the counter-intelligence department. Not
even Mr. Castro can free a prisoner held by
G-2 until the prisoner's guilt or innocence
has been determined. 0-2 is concerned
mainly with espionage and armed insurrec-
tion.
The CDR is the organization charged with
keeping the civilian population in line, and
the one which most affects the lives of every-
day Cubans. It is a pyramid which descends
from Havana into each province, each city,
each town, each village, each hamlet, each
block, each street, each house. No one makes
a move, no matter how inconsequential, that
is not known to the CDR.
KNOWN AS SADIST
Mr. `ttdG %$' of Florida. Mr.
Speaker, ' under leave to insert in the
RECORD, I ask that the fifth installment
of "Cuba Today," published by the
Washington Star be included in order
that it _may receive the widest possible
circulation:
This installment deals with ' Castro
efforts to overthrow the Government of
Spain, and points up even further the
need for ridding this hemisphere of com-
munism in Cuba.
The article follows:,
CUBA TODAY: CASTRO MOVES TO SUBVERT .SPAIN
(By Bruce Taylor)
Fidel Castro is preparing to extend his
sphere of subversion to Spain.
He has agreed to train Spanish Commu-
nists in, guerrilla warfare, and will supply
them With arms for a revolt against the re-
gime of Generalissimo Francisco?F'ranco.
The plan, until now, has been top secret.
Cuba enjoys good relations with Spain and
is, in fact, negotiating to Increase its trade
with the European nation.
But Communist members, of the Spanish
underground now in Cuba have been As-
sured by Castro he will support them man
attempted ' overthrow of Franco.
NO. I EXPORT,`
Subversion has become Cuba's No. 1 ex-
port. The chaos it has created `in Latin
America already has ruptured diplomatic re-
lations with all but four members of the
Organization of American States.
Latest to out ties was Brazil, . ,Diplomats
In Cuba ,be1ieye, Uruguay may be next.
Mexico,_phile, and Bolivia would be the only
OAS members with ambassadors in Cuba.
Opinion is fairly unanimous In Havana
that the continuing deterioration of rela-
tions between Cuba and the OAS indicates
an Invasion of-,the island may be in the
works.
Brazil, prior to the coup which deposed
the Goulart government, had-like Mexico,
Chile, Bolivia, and Uruguay-resisted all ef-
forts to be pressured into. adopting a hard
-ARMED ACTION POSSIBLE
But now that Brazil has severed relations,
and with Uruguay expected to follow suit,
tremendous pressure Is being applied 'to the
three of ear Q4 embers still in Cuba to
reappraise their policies. Eventual armed
action against Mr. Castro is considered a dis-
tinct possibility.
It is generally believed that such action
would coa e upplethe guise of the com-
bined OA55 Ti e, excuse would be Mr. Cas-
tro`s Conti ruing export o
M of subversion,
Mr. Castro ie aware O.the risk he is run
ning. But he has dedicated himself, he says,
"to the liberation of, all of Latin America,"
and he caI~ , stA,p now.
Who is this Iri, who, pan create such tur-
moil?
l A9sQ2tT E itULEA
He Is, first , and the
absolute
ruler of ki
i lotion ?Recurring, and widely
acceptedreportsthat he is merely the pup-
pet of the other men about him are just so
much holst}m, Mr. Castro's word is law.,,
The task of l eeping his police state in
order falls' to two highly trusted subordi-
nates, "'T'heir names are little known outside
Cuba, but they are becoming tremendously
Today-Fifth of a Series
CDR members cannot make an arrest, but
they can order one by the simple expedient
of denouncing the person they want picked
up. People are denounced for all manner of
things.
Raul Castro, Fidel's younger brother and
his Minister of Defense, Is fairly strong in
his own right, but has nowhere near the
power of Mr. Valdes and Mr. Matar. Raul
is known in Cuba as something of a sadist.
Mr. Guevara, Minister of Industry, remains
at the top of the hierarchy and is generally
considered to possess one of its keenest
minds. He is one of the very few men in key
posts who really knows what he is doing.
His speeches, unlike the propaganda drivel
spouted by the others, including Mr, Castro,
are intelligent and always interesting to
listen to.
Mr. Guevara is the one government leader
who is not afraid to lay the facts of life
squarely on the line. Mr. Castro and the
others tell the Cubans utopia is on the way.
Mr. Guevara tells them they will get nothing
without hard work,
He is intensely loyal to Mr. Castro.
Mr. Castro has botched the job of giving
Cuba the utopia he talks about. And in-
stead of contenting himself with attempting
to rectify the situation, he has embarked
on his dangerous scheme to spread com-
munism through Latin America. He is a
fanatic, but he is also a sincere and cou-
rageous man, and his desire to improve the
lot of his people was not always touched
with madness. It began before he was 12
years old.
(Much of the following Information about
Mr. Castro's youth and the early days of his
revolution was hitherto unknown. It was
obtained in Havana from his sister Angelita,
49, who did not realize she was being inter-
viewed.)
Mr. Castro was born August 13, 1927, al-
though the world believes he is a year older.
His father, a Spaniard from Galizia, had been
married previously and had sired two chil-
dren, Lydia and Pedro Emile, He was 30
years older than Mr. Castro's mother, Lina
Ruza, a Cuban. They had seven children,
in this order: Angelita, Ramon, Fidel, Raul,
Quena, Emma and Auguistina.
ONE LIVES IN MOSCOW
Emma married a Mexican engineer and
has three children. They live in Mexico City.
Auguistina, now 22, became a Protestant
while studying in Zurich. She married a
Cuban pianist and they live in Moscow.
They have a daughter.
Mr. Castro was married and divorced. He
claimed he discovered his wife. was a relative
of Fulgencia Batista, the dictator he deposed
A3603
In 1959. Mr. Castro's son, nicknamed Fi-
delito (Little Fidel), is 14 and lives in Ha-
vana. Mr. Castro doesn't often see the boy,
but has lunch with him on occasion.
Mr.. Castro "grew up near Santiago, in
Oriente Province, at the eastern end of the
island. It was there he would launch his
revolution.
His father, a wealthy plantation owner,
was, a conservative. His mother was a fiery
revolutionist, and from her he inherited
much of his zeal.
RECALLS STATEMENT
Before he was 12, his sister recalls, he
announced to his family one day after re-
turning from a trip through the slum sec-
tion of Santiago: "When I am a man, I will
buy shoes and clothes for all the world."
From that moment on, she says, he be-
came interested in the problems of the poor,
and in his teens plunged into campus poli-
tics. His father warned him: "You must
be calm in a country like this. Don't get
mixed up in public affairs."
His mother, however, urged him on.
Mr. Castro went to Havana to win his de-
gree in law at the Catholic University there.
He `since has nationalized the school and
exiled its rector, Msgr. Masvidal, auxiliary
bishop of Havana.
The church plays no important role in the
general affairs of Cuba now.
WORKS IN SLUM
Mr. Castro could have begun practice in
the wealthy section of the city. Instead, he
and two other young men opened an office in
the Compostela slum area. They often
handled cases without charge.
Outraged beyond endurance by the mount-
ing atrocities of the Batista regime, he re-
turned to Santiago in 1953 to rally support
for a revolution.
On July 26, 1953--the day for which he
named his revolt-he and 149 other young
men, divided, into two bands of 75 each, left
a farmhouse 7 miles outside Santiago, where
they had stored arms, and attacked the Ba-
tista fortress of Moncado In the heart of the
city. It was the second largest stronghold
in Cuba, and Mr. Castro's men were routed,
but only after they had made their way
over its walls and very nearly captured the
machine gun that stopped their assault.
Mr. Castro and his brother Raul, who had
accompanied him on the raid, were found In
the mountains not long after and brought
to Santiago for trial. There was no death
penalty in Cuba then. They were each sen-
tenced to 15 years. But Batista wanted them
killed. He organized a plot to do so.
Several men, pretending to be Castro fol-
lowers, would smuggle him out of prison,
then shoot him for attempting to escape.
But a priest, Msgr. Perez Serantes, bishop of
Santiago, learned of the plot from a prison
guard. He convinced Batista not to go
through with it.
Two years later, in 1955, Batista declared
amnesty for all political prisoners as the
prelude to a rigged election, and exiled them.
Fidel and Raul went to Mexico, where they
met Guevara, an Argentine Communist and
professional bombthrower. They rounded up
all the other Cuban exiles they could find
and began to learn about guerrilla warfare.
PATFIER DIES
On October 21, 1956, Mr. Castro's father
died on his Cuban plantation at the age of
82.
Two months later, Fidel, Raul, Che Gue-
vara, and .79 others, all armed to the teeth,
set sail for Cuba aboard a pleasure cruiser
called the Granma.
Their plan was to land at Colorado Beach
on Oriente Province's south coast, where the
Sierra Maestra mountains are closest (about
15 miles) to the water. The Granma was
spotted by a Cuban patrol boat just 2 miles
from its target, and was turned at once to
shore. The spot where Mr. Castro landed
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IjiX
was an incredible tangle of tropical growth
and waistdeep marsh alive with crabs.
Batista's commanders, alerted to the land-
ing by the patrol boat, sent troops and air-
craft into the area. The planes bombed and
strafed the rebels. Of the 82 who came
ashore, only 12-including Fidel. Raul and
Guevara-reached the mountains.
TAKE ON 50,000
The 12 set out to take on Batista's 60,000
soldiers.
Batista was ignorant of guerrilla fighting.
and never could launch an effective assault
on the rebels. W. Castro's will-o'-the-wisp
band, often near starvation, was constantly
on the move, never more than a few hours
In any one place.
The revolution would have ended one
night in 1957, but for one of those miracles
which always seem to save the Hitlers and
the Mussollnis-and the Castros-for bigger
things.
A small patrol led by a Batista captain
found Mr. Castro and several others, ex-
hausted after a long day's march, asleep
in a shelter made of branches.
MARVRLED AT CANDOR
The captain, completely unaware he had
discovered the rebel leader, woke the men.
Mr. Castro stood and faced him, and put his
hand on the captain's shoulder. "I am the
man you are looking for," he said. "I am
Fidel."
The captain marveled at Mr. Castro's can-
dor. He stared silently at the unkempt, fiery-
eyed rebel for several moments. Then he
asked, "Don't you know that it is my duty to
kill you?"
"Yes."
"And you are not afraid?"
",vor the others who are scattered through-
out tLe mountains?"
The captain shook his head. He turned to
his soldiers and told them, "Let these men
go. It will do no good to kill them. It Is
Impossible to kill an ideal."
A month later the captain defected from
Batista's army and joined Castro In the
mountains. Today he is aide-de-camp to
Cuban President Osvaldo Dorticos.
Mr. Castro's band grew. If one member of
a family joined him, the others went too for
fear of being tortured or shot. Children of
14 and 15, both boys and girls, became
guerrillas.
Whenever an unarmed person-and most
were unarmed-showed up to offer his serv-
ices, Castro would take him to the edge of a
clearing near a Batista patrol post and point
to it.
"These soldiers have guns," he would say.
"Go and get one. Then you can join us."
Men and women who fought with Castro
say his revolution was dedicated entirely
to social reform and the reversion of Iarge,
private landholding to the state, but they
insist he was In no way a Communist then,
or that he gave communism even serious
consideration.
They blame his embrace of communism
on the hatred he developed for the United
States when that Nation refused pointblank
to help him when he went there to seek fi-
nancial assistance shortly after be came to
power.
PAY VISIT TO FAMILY
In 1958, Fidel and Raul came down out of
the mountains to spend part of Christmas
with their family. They made their way past
the soldiers guarding the plantation, spent
several hours with their mother, their grand-
mother and sister Angellta.
Exactly 1 year and 1 week later, on New
Year's Day, 1959, Batista, still in command
of 30,000 soliders in Havana who had never
been sent into battle, fled Cuba.
Mr. Castro's mother who had Inspired him
to revolution, lived to see his victory. She
died last September at the age of 57.
Mr. Castro held a family reunion shortly
after be came to power. An uncle who trav-
eled to it from Buenos Aires made a speech.
He said: "1 am happy my family produced
a man who will liberate his people from dis-
crimination, corruption and bad govern-
ment."
Mr. Castro nodded.
"Ours was a revolution not to change a
man," he said, "but a system. I will begin
to make that change now. My system will
be one such as no Latin American nation
has ever had."
Pan American World Airways-47 Million
Jet Overhaul Facility in Miami, Fla.
EXTENSION OF REMARKS
or
HON. DANTE B. FASCELL
OF FLORIDA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Tuesday, June 30,1964
Mr. FACE L. Mr. Speaker, just re-
cently Pan American World Airways, a
pioneer in Latin America, dedicated a $7
million jet overhaul facility in Miami.
This dedication took place on the site
of the United States' first permanent
international air terminal. It was my
pleasure to have been present and to
take part in the ceremonies.
Mr. Speaker, this new pioneering job
Instituted by Pan American is further
indication of the tremendously close co-
operation existing between the airline
and the Dade County Port Authority
with whom Pan American has signed
a long-term lease to pay off the entire
cost of construction. When the $7 mii-
lion obligation on the part of Pan Ameri-
can has been liquidated, the building
complex will become the property of the
Dade County Port Authority.
The new Miami facility is the biggest
jet overhaul base in the Pan American
system and has the mission of keeping
flying the airline's fleet of 129 airliners,
79 jet and 50 propeller aircraft.
Included In the big base complex are
the huge maintenance building and an
adjacent strikingly modern, gold-grilled
headquarters building for the satin
American division, as well as several
small satellite buildings.
The maintenance building consolidates
under one 7-acre roof, 18 special shops,
supply warehouse, engineering and pro-
duction offices that have been dispersed
in various locations around the airport,
often several miles apart.
Stretching the equivalent of more than
two city blocks along Northwest 36th
Street, 372 feet deep, the building con-
tains 660,000 square feet of hangars,
shops, and offices. Two huge jet clippers
can be positioned simultaneously In the
hangar area.
The niaintenande unit is big enough
to contain more than 50 buildings of the
size of Pan American's original Miami
base, built In 1929, which launched
Miami as the country's first international
air gateway.
Pan Am's new Miami base represents a
jet age overhaul complex as modern as
any to-be found anywhere in the world,
Executive Vice President Wilbur L. Mor-
rison, in charge of the Latin American
division, has told me.
In addition, it has been carefully
planned and engineered so that it can
be expanded easily. Pan Am is confident
that expansion will be needed to meet
the growing air travel of the next few
years, as well as the 2,000-mile-an-hour
supersonic age which the next decade
will usher in.
The overhaul base represents a mod-
em industrial version of the mountain
coming to Mahomet-the shops come to
the plane, instead of vice versa.
When a jet clipper is rolled into the
hangar for overhaul, nestled over, under,
and around its sweptback wings and
half-block-long fuselage are the repair
shops, various special rooms, engineer-
ing and production offices, and vast sup-
ply warehouse necessary to support it.
A worker, for example, can remove a
delicate and complicated piece of radio
or eltctronie gear In the two-story-high
cockpit of a jet clipper and step directly
outside onto a ramp which leads to the
radio or instrument shop less than 50
feet away.
Previously, and in less modem bases,
these and similar components would
have to be removed from the aircraft,
loaded on trucks and be transported
often several miles to the proper shop.
Once overhauled, the part would have
to be transported back to the plane.
This uses up valuable extra time and
poses problems of having components
damaged or thrown out of adjustment
during transit.
All the shops and offices in the main-
tenance building are air conditioned ex-
cept the propeller shop, welding shop and
plating shop. In these three areas a spe-
cial ventilation system is provided. Air
cooling also Is provided in the cavernous
supply warehouse, where fans and power
roof ventilators furnish a complete
change of air every 6 minutes.
The air conditioning required units to-
taling 1,000 tons capacity, sufficient to air
condition 300 average-size homes.
Two 350-seat cafeterias, a medical de-
partment. industrial relations offices,
base security offices and credit union of-
fices also are housed in the maintenance
building.
The administration building, Mr.
Speaker, of contemporary design, is pat-
terned after the prize-winning design
of the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India.
It contains some 32,000 square feet of
executive offices, in the form of a hollow
square with an interior patio open to
the sky. In the patio are a fountain,
reflecting pool and colorful tropical
plantings.
Exterior walls of the two-story ad-
ministration building are of bronze-
pierced grilles with gold-anodized trim.
The building is set 225 feet back from
the street and twin driveways leading
to the entrance are centered by a land-
scaped 150-foot reflecting pool.
Forming an impressive column march-
ing up to the front entrance are 24 flag-
staffs from which will fly the flags of the
United States and Latin American
Republics.
In addition to the buildings, 3 sep-
arate employee parking areas have been
established around the base, with spaces
for 2,100 cars. A 785-foot covered,
lighted walkway leads from the main-
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