US STUDENTS IN CUBA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00429A001200020005-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 5
• Content Type: IM

Approved For Release 2007/06/06: CIA-RDP79T00429AO01200020005-0
OCI No. 2337/63
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Current Intelligence
13 August 1963
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT: US Students in Cuba
1. The 58 American university students and
recent graduates who have been touring Cuba for more
than a month are beginnin to leave by way of air
routes throe h Pry ue
some p an o go on o ommun s na w e o ers
are to return directly to the United States. Some,
however, are still in Cuba. An AP news dispatch
from Havana on 11 August reported that two of the
students will be unable to travel for some time since
they expect imminently to have babies. A total of
59 students originally arrived in the group. One
died accidentally in a swimming pool in mid-July.
Twenty-three of the 58 students are from California
and 18 from New York; the remainder are from nine
other widely scattered states. Judging from the
pictures in the Cuban press, the group is fairly
evenly divided between Negroes and whites.
"i.
2. The group was originally organized in New
York last October, according to one of the group's
spokesmen. About 80 students were then involved in
the group, which announced its intention of visiting
Cuba over the Christmas holidays. The Cuban Feder-
ation of University Students offered at that time
to pay the expenses of the visitors. A Cuban air
craft was sent to.Canada to pick up the students,
but the Canadian government, forewarned by US offi-
cials, refused permission-for the flight. The group
deferred further efforts to reach Cuba until this
summer,
3. The students left New York in two groups
on 25 June, flying to Amsterdam and Paris via KLM
and BOAC. They flew from Paris to Prague on 27
June,. remaining there until 29 June when they
boarded a Cuban airlines flight which arrived in
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Approved For Release 2007/06/06: CIA-RDP79T00429AO01200020005-0
 Approved For Release 2007/06/06: CIA-RDP79T00429A001200020005-0
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Havana on 30 June. Twice during their passage
through Europe they.were informed orally and in
writing by US diplomatic officers that their pro-
posed travel to Cuba was against Department of
State regulations.
4.. As to the motive for their travel to Cuba,
they have repeatedly explained to Cuban news media
that they came to learn the "truth" about Cuba,
which they claim the US government and press is
attempting to keep from the American people. Phillip
Luce, one of their leaders and a recent graduate of
Ohio State University, claimed that'group members
have decided to set up a permanent organization in
New York City to organize more student trips to Cuba.
It appears evident that the Castro regime hopes the
group will become a nucleus in a number of US uni-
versities and other youth centers for pro-Castro
propaganda and for promoting the idea of Cuban-US
"coexistence"--on Cuban terms.
5. Nothing is known in OCI of the organization
or group in the United States which did the behind-
the-scenes organizational work in recruiting and
sending off the student group. It could have been
the Fair Play for Cuba Committee or another Castro
front operating in the US.
6. The financing of the students' trip was,
according to their own statements, largely provided
by the Cuban government. Their official visit,'how-
ever, was over on.27 July and, according to one,of,
them, they have been spending their own money.since
then. This student said that the Cuban "Institute
for Friendship with,-Peoples" had offered them pocket
money when they found themselves stranded in Cuba
after 27 July, but some of the students refused the
offer since the Cubans "have been paying for every-
thing...and need all the money they have."
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Approved For Release 2007/06/06: CIA-RDP79T00429A001200020005-0