CASTRO SAYS VESCO IS LIVING IN CUBA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201040005-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 1, 2010
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: August 5, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/01 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000201040005-1
CASTRO SAYS VESCO
IS liVING IN CUBA
ARTICLE :,P''E
ON PAGE
NEW YORK TIP'ES
5 August 1985
ernment officials confirmed that Mr.
Vesco was living in Havana. One offi-
cial said Mr. Vesco had been here "a
few months."
Linked to Debt Meeting
"We don't care what he did in the
United States," Mr. Castro said.
"We're not interested in the money he
has. We don't care. But they want to
crests a blatant scandal, openly, with
this, especially now that.this meeting is
taking place" on the debt crisis.
On Thursday, a crew from NBC
News photographed a bearded man
that was said to be Mr. Vesco in the
wailed yard of a house with a red tile
roof in the Miramar section of Havana.
After the film was shown on NBC's
evening news program Friday, t
saying Mr. Vesco was under house ar-
rest.
"They have invented the theory that
be is under house arrest," Mr. Castro
said. "Actually this is the first news I
have beard about this. I never heard of.
anything like that before. I think that
he will probably have any restrictions
that all foreigners might have. But
there is no house arrest or anything like
this. That is another legend."
Foreigners living here said that they
were unaware of any specific restric-
tions on them and that they had always
been able to move around Havana as
they liked:
Reports of Vesco Travel
Western diplomats stationed here
have reported seeing Mr. Vesco in
Havana and at two beach resorts. In
the initial reports, the diplomats said
they believed Mr. Vesco had the use of
at least three houses in Cuba and that
he traveled to and from the island by
private plane and yacht.
Some diplomats and officials in the
United States said they believed Mr.
Vesco might be providing information
and business contacts that would en-
able Mr. Castro to fin4 ways around the
more than 20-year United States trade
embargo against Cuba on technology
and equipment.
Others said they believed Mr. Vesco
was paying the Castro Government
tbqusands, of dollars a month in ex-
chimp a comfortable refuge. Still
others speculated that Mr. Vesco might
be dealing in narcotics and sharing a
percentage of the profit with the Castro
Government. Mr. Castro has repeat-
edly denied that his country is in any
way involved in drug trafficking.
United States officials said previ-
ously that they had not tried to extra-
dite Mr. Vesco because they did not
know precisely where to find him. They
said they doubted that the Cuban Gov-
ernment would cooperate with any ex-
tradition efforts.
Mr. Castro said he knew "every-
thing, every single detail of who the
people were" on the NBC News crew.
He said a woman who was a member
of the crew had rented a car. He said:
"I know the plate, the car was checked.
They saw him. They went in an auto-
mobile. They hid around some trees
near the home where it is said this man
is living there. It is probable that the
man Is living there. I don't know. I
don't know him. I don't know where the
person lives."
"We know many more things than
they might think," Mr. Castro said.
"They got the Information. They sent a
plane. A woman journalist rented a
car. The other four got into the car.
They went to the garage of an empty
y
home. They got out of the car. We even
have all the
smoked." cigarette butts that they
Fugitive American Financier Is
Said to Be Getting Medical
Treatment in Havana
By JOliPH IL TREASTER
span a no IM Ytk lien
HAVANA, Aug. 4- President Fidel
Castroacknowledged today for the first
time that the fugitive American fnan-
der Robert L. Vesco had been living in
Havana aW receiving medical treat-
ment But in an ooeheeoce this . aft n he
denied the flnandes was being held
under hours arrest in Havana.
early this morning.
02 lead in WWW
to es agen-
es.
Reports of Economic Counsel
Mr. Castro did not specify the nature
of the medical problems of Mr. Vesco,
who is being sought by United States
authorities in connection with a x124
million fraud case and who has often
been reported to be providing economic
counseling to the Castro Government.
Mr. Castro said he did not personally
know Mr. Vasco, who left the United
States more than 12 years ago. The
Cuban leader said he and his Govern-
ment have never had business dealings
with Mr. Vesco.
For more than a year there have
been persistent reports that Mr. Vesco
was in Cuba. Until today, Mr. Castro
had said he did not know if Mr. Vesco
was on the island. Other Government
officials have denied the financier was
here.
At the news conference, Mr. Castro
said of Mr. Vesco: "He came here to
ask for medical care and since then,
yes, he was authorized to receive this
medical assistance. And if he wants to
live here, let him live here."
Mr. Castro did not say when Mr.
Vesco arrived in Cuba or whether be
was on the Island now. But other Gov-
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/01: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201040005-1