BEHIND THE LINES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000100390071-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 29, 1999
• Sequence Number: 71
• Publication Date: December 4, 1962
• Content Type: NSPR

NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE DEC 4 1962
Sanitized -
They made the invasion with, the undercover blessings of the
United States government and with the active help of the
u a
exiles'n Miami wlio are related to the 1,113 Bay of Pigs
veterans wasting away in Cuban prisons.
The situation, is so tense, at this pre-holiday season.
that plans to hold an open field mass in Miami this week
have been called off. The mass, a ceremony utterly basic
to Catholicism in that it celebrates the Crucifixion and
Resurrection of Christ, was to be offered as a prayer seek-
ing the intercession of St. Joseph, the head of the Holy
Family.
The sponsors of the mass were to be the grieving
members of the Cuban Families Committee for Liberation
of Prisoners of War. But they decided, after weighing the
emotion quotient among the 20,000 or so who would attend
the mass, that it was too dangerous from a security point
of view. Having that many people in one assembly, even for
a religious rite, would be playing with fire.
The committee's chairman is Alvaro Sanchez jr., whose
son, Eduardo, is one of the sick starv'1"ig prts`oners.To take
a reading on the emotions of the people who would attend
the mass, all Mr. Sanchez had to do-was consult his own
heart.
Mr. Sanchez and those with whom he is working are
trying to gain the release of the men before it is too late.
They were very close to success until, with the onset of the
Cuba crisis on Oct. 22, the aggravation of American-Cuban
tensions disrupted all negotiations.
Now, with an easing of these tensions, the committee is
hoping the men can be freed by Christmas. The deadline is
important not only for the symbolism of Christmas, the tra-
ditional time of beneficence and humanitarianism. It is im-
portant because the men are living under such. deplorable
conditions that many may not survive beyond Christmas un-
less they are freed.
It is shocking to the 200,000 Cuban exiles in this country
that the Castro regime so callously flaunts the revered
Latin American tradition of political asylum and amnesty.
'The men on the Cuban mainland suffer excruciatingly for
lack of food, medical attention and decent housing. But the
lot of the leaders of the abortive Bay of Pigs landing in
April, 1961, is even worse. They are isolated on the Isle of
Pines, off Cuba's southern coast, where, in the words of one
survivor, "they are treated like animals."
It may strike many Americans as strange, too, that
after all this time the men are still rotting away in-prison.
in the air and otherwise, did not appear. It is the moral re-
sponsibility of the American government and the American
people to get them out, whatever the cost, and President
Kennedy recognizes this.
The price Premier Castro is asking has steadily come
down. At first, he wanted $23 million worth of tractors.
Then it was $62 million cash-the total of all the outrageous
fines levied against the men. Now, it is drugs, medicine and
baby food to the value of $62 million if purchased in Havana
-actually about $17 million at wholesale and discount prices
in this country. The men will be freed as soon as a down
payment, ab+ t, A percent of the total, arrives in Cuba.
Darn s S:' Donovanl. the New York lawyer representing
the `fo'rt!! ev-lil ''heg'6tiations with Premier Castrq,,,_U. pre-
pared to pick up the ball. But. he cannot move until he has
"lied some sort of go-ahead.
9i'1'te test thing, it seems to me, would be a public sta,te-
Sanitized
made in the spirit of Christmas, could. oke serious objec-
tions in this country that he is "soft on Cuba" or some other
similar nonsense. The best argument against any talk of this
kind is a letter from one of the prisoners, smuggled to the
United States recently, which, said:
"We are ptarving to death,,. Here there are some sick of
the lungs, mi ds, and undernourished nearly all of u
"Forgive me but we are o4t; of our rt~nds."
l gb'bn'a~ ~c tike or RD uti, 000
or whatever f,s necessary....
FOIAb3b
CPYRGHT
R000100390071-7