DONOVAN DENIES CUBA TALKS WERE MASTERMINDED BY U.S.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP66B00403R000500110016-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 4, 2006
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: December 27, 1962
• Content Type: NSPR

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rues B. Donovan, getting
-first ?cod rest in three
at a cottage in Lake Plac-
N. Y., today commented on
i.c Government's role in the
...se of the 1,113 Cuban in-
on prisoners by Fidel Cas-
' 'he New York attorney said
.,r ss reports crediting the
Ui.ited States Government and
Attorney General Robert Ken-
nedy. with masterminding the
Cuban deal were "absurd."
"I have enormous respect for
ne Attorney General," Mr.
-novan said in a telephone
_rview, "but it is absolutely
I'l. unqualifiedly so that the
,;; i.y and negotiations were
e::: misted to rnn."
Donovan is spending
-:tmas ,veek with his wife
.our c.idren and catch-
up on rest after three
,)less ys in the final
s of the exchange talks in
a:, na. "I feel," he told this
~; after, "like an Adirondack
hibernating."
,cart `4'ith Drug Firms
was as~~:ed to comment on
_f , ole of the Government, and
. ;,iculariy Robert Kennedy,
in :ic prisoner exchange.
-We did have the co-opera-
i;i::?n of the authorities," Mr.
Donovan replied, "we could
n , vcr have succeeded without
this.
nut it was not the Govern-
ment or the Attorney General
who was responsible for deal-
ing with the drug companies
who supplied what Castro
wanted in exchange for the
prisoners. I was purely respon-
sible for this.
"The only role the Attorney
General played was to assure
the drug companies that it
would not be in violation of
law for them to co-operate
with the American Red Cross
and the Cuban Families Com-
mittee and that the. donations
JAII'IES B. DONOVAN
-AP Wirephoto
1 for the bulky foods the Cubans
originally wanted."
Mr. Donovan said that after
the crisis ended two members
of the Families Cornmittec (Al-
varo Sanchez, jr., and Mrs.
Berta' Barreto de los Heros)
went to the Isle of Pines and in-
spected the prisoners' confined
there. They returned with bad
reports of the Cuban prison-
crs' physical condition, and Mr.
Donovan said it then became a
goal ' to get the prisoners out by
Christmas. .
"That was three weeks ago,"
the New York attorney said,
"and there wasn't time for just
two companies to do the job.
There were a thousand and
one details to iron out. So I
came to Washington and went
to the Pharmaceutical Manu-
facturers ? Association, repre-
senting more than 200 drug
,companies. I explained the sit-
uation to them.
vealed some of the difficulties
he' encountered during the pro-
tracted negotiations leading to
the dramatic release of the
prisoners.
He said he had been In great
pain.from bursitis of the shoul-
der during the October phase of
the negotiations in Cuba.
"There were no oral pain
killers in Cuba; at that. time,"
he recalled. "I was getting in-
jections every four hours for
21/z days from a Cuban horse
trainer over there. with some-
thing they use on animals.
When I got back to Miami, I
was running a 102-de_,,ree tem-
perature and had an infeccloa
in my hip the size of a base-
ball. The doctor ordered me
into 'a hospital for a week. when
I got home."
Secrecy Vital
He said he was sorry it was,
necessary to work in an at-
mosphere of secrecy' in 'the ne-
gotiations with Mr. Castro but
that he considered this most
important to'the success 'of the,
mission.
"I didn't even tell 'the Cuban'
Families Committee some of
what was going on in Havana
and they didn't want to know,"'
he said. "If they didn't know
they couldn't tell their families,
and friends something that.
might have imperiled the re-'
lease. When 'it was necessary'
for me'to talk from Havana to
my 'people in Mianii, I used-
only coded messages." ~~.~.
Mr. Donovan said he also'
wanted to clear up another mis-
apprehension about the last,
stages of the exchange.
"Castro did not demand that'
he be permitted, to send three
inspectors to look. at the.cargo'
of the African Pilot, he de-
clared, "I . suggested It to,
strengthen , illy hand. I. felt. if
they could see for themselves'
that the stuff was being' as
semblcd. and, loaded,, my
chances of getting the boys out.
of Cuba would .'be enhanced."
His job is not over yet, Mr.
Donovan said., There still re
mains, the matter of the 23
Troubled by Bursitis
"They agreed to co-operate
but required assurances, :un=derstandably, that the' ex-
change would be legal as well
as in the:national interest. The
g, and they cou a nI
1
m
one it until the . c' ob ?. c foreign governments and as- Americans in Cuban jails for
came up. sured - them the donations whose freedom he is negatiat-
"Everything was rear: for would be tax deductible." ' ing.
the e two co. p sie to donate' law er, ho also nego- The State Department said.
-thr +t i4 , Ii@r5 $ e S tQL 1ta3~C rirGfAhRDRW B ~0t~1fl5@0 ?40 ?107ma
tally ' contacted the' heads' o:f rcpreseitatives of the- compa-
two of the largest drug. compa- nies an did give ;them the as-
nies. They happen to be old I surances `-, they wanted. Mr.
friends of mine. The original' Kennedy also reassured them
!)tan back in August was that they would not be. violating. the
;icy would handle the entire Logan Act, which prohibits un-
1 ' , authorized discussions with
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