WHY REBELS LOST FAITH IN CASTRO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000200490001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2013
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 28, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/19: CIA-RDP73-00475R000200490001-2
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By VIRGINIA
AUG 2 8 1964
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PREWETT
? The Soviet rockets that the
I
I
The hope' of former Castro ?
r Army officers that the Rebel :
LArmy itself may be induced to I
' pull the rug out from under ;
[
the Havana regime is based on
their 'informed understanding of i
"the dynamics" of Castro's re- 1
lationship to his army. !
I
V A: spokesman. for the exile
. group called ,"The Cuban Lib-
erating Army" explains it:
1. "Castro injected into t h e
t: Cuban Revolution the idea that
1 Cuba necessarily had to be
hostile to the U. PS.," he said.
*
k,"This took him into .the Rus-
sian.camp. The Rebel 'Army
' officers who actively disagreed
went to jail or into exile. Most :
II of those who did not privately
believe that Cuba is 'Simply too
te small' to make anti-American-
; F. ism the cornerstone of its re-
0.` volution. But they accepted
Castro's basic idea on faith.
"This faith," he said, "has
gradually worn away. A -final
N blow came when Castro him-
' self tried to plaice peace with
the U. S. ? Te Army has seen
Castro's final great gesture, his
: bid for ,co-existance' with the
:U. S., meet failure. The U. S.
F answered him by saying that
?
Castroism has no ?future either.
?t.. in Latin America or in Cuba."
But by now Castro was get-P.
ting a Soviet military build-up. '
MANY FAILURES
Behind this stretches a long
f; series of Castro failures that the.:
Rebel Army has had to share..
r? ?
Castro's big reason for de-
fying the U. S., says the former '
'2 officer, was to get Latin Ameri-
7: can backing. When 'L at in.
America began to cool off to-
ward him after the first flush
F. of victory faded, Castro tried to
get .the Afro-Asian bloc behind
' him in 'a 1962,*summir meeting.:
i.T
Rebel Army command watched,
come in with awe meant that.
Cuba could in fact defy the;
U. S. ? the rockets were
izers.' But in the October 1962.
confrontation, Castro's militaryfl
support had to stand by. helpei
lessly as the Soviets removed;;
the rockets, says the: fOrtntri
Rebel. officer.
REACTION ?
Castro's reaction was?to step!
up aggression 'in Latin America4
During 1963 he began to shakef
his long-time target, Venezuela,:
with waves of terrorism.
"The Venezuelan resistance.:
and the success of their:- 1963;
elections was a hard blow to.
Castro's standing among the',:
Army officers," said the Cuban...
,-?
"But soinething worse was to7
come later."
This was the Brazilian anti-
communist revolution in 1964.;
Once that great South American':
repudiated its pro-communist
leadership, Cuba's Rebel Army I
knew that Latin America wotikV,
never back Castro. ?
The Cuban Army officers whol
simply followed Castro on faith
now see him guilty of 'great?
lack 'of judgment, says the;
exile spokesman. The Russians
have 'pulled back their 'equal-
izers, Latin America has turned
down Castroism and the H. S.
won't make friends again. ?
If this logic is dependable, the:
officers and men of Cuba's'
Rebel Army, to save their 'owit'`&
'skint, will have to dump Castro.i
?
.. ? ,..
?
. ? ??
-.1
Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/19 : CIA-RDP73-00475R000200490001-2