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avril 1961 
SUMMARY 
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE 
Date 
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY 
Approved for Release 
Auth 
OPY NO. 728 
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CUBA 
Anti-Castro Groups 
Increased activity has been 
apparent in the past week among 
anti-Castro groups both inside 
Cuba and in exile, 
Holy Week 
was the occasion for new popular 
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demonstrations against the gov- 
ernment in Havana and elsewhere 
on the island as the Roman 
Catholic Church, although rela- 
tively weak in Cuba, came in- 
creasingly to be identified among 
some segments of the opposition asa 
WEEKLY REVIEW 
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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY SUMMARY 
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6 Apr 61 
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page 8 of 26
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ey 
rallying point for the anti- 
Castro, anti-Communist cause. 
Pn on 1 April that 
the government had discovered an 
ant government plot among naval 
officers and men indicate 
that 
the navy, always the branch of 
the armed forces least loyal to 
Castro, has been further weak—-— 
ened, 
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The guerrilla bands in the 
Escambray Mountains continue ac- 
tive, although their strength 
has been considerably reduced 
while the militiamen sent against 
by government action in the past 
several months. 
The leader of 
a guerrilla group in this area 
reported in late March that 
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the guerrillas have usually been 
effective because of their nu- 
merical strength, 
they are 
neither well trained 
nor great- 
ly disposed to fight. 
He said 
the government faced the con- 
stant threat of defection by 
militiamen, but this was mini- 
mized by the immediate arrest 
or transfer of malcontents. ke 
added that most militia units 
gare commanded by Communist of- 
ficers. 
A Cuban small farmer from 
this area who recently escaped 
from Cuba told US:officials in 
Florida that his conversations. 
with militiamen during the past 
several months had convinced 
him that many of them are wait- 
ing for a good opportunity to 
defect. 
Ney outbreaks of guerrilla 
activity have occurred else- 
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY SUMMARY 
where, particularly in Oriente 
Province and near the Las Villas 
— Matanzas border. 
In eastern 
Oriente, where one group of in- 
surgents landed in mid-March, 
there are now reported to be four 
major guerrilla bands in action. 
International Contacts 
The Communists continue 
to 
use Cuba as a base for spreading 
their influence elsewhere in 
the hemisphere. 
Preparations 
are under way for holding a 
meeting of the executive com- 
mittee of the Communist-front 
International Students' Union in 
Cuba next month. 
An “international volun- 
teer labor camp" for youths 18 
scheduled 
for Cuba in June. A 
conference of Latin American 
Women is to be held possibly 
this month in Brazil to prepare 
for a World Congress 
of Women 
in Cuba later this year under 
Communist-front auspices. 
In- 
vitations are going out to a 
number of countries, 
in Latin 
America 
as well as the Sino- 
Soviet bloc, for representatives 
to participate in May Day cele- 
brations in Cuba. 
These various gatherings | 
in Cuba will provide further 
opportunities for liaison among 
Latin American and bloc Commu- 
nist leaders and for spreading 
Castro influence among suscep- 
tible groups from other countries. 
Cuban Minister of Educa- 
tion Armando Hart, now traveling 
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6 Apr 61 
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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY sum f 
in several bloc countries, con- 
cluded a five-year cultural 
agreement with the East German 
regime on 29 March providing 
fur the exchange of cultural 
groups, TV programs, 
and in- 
formative material." 
Although 
East Germany remains the only 
bloc country with which Cuba 
does not yet have formal diplo- 
matic relations, recent East 
Berlin broadcasts have reported 
the arrival there of a Cuban 
"mission," apparently permanent, 
which was greeted by officials 
of the East German Foreign Min- 
istry 
Municipal officials of 
Moscow and Peiping are current- 
ly touring Cuba, returning the 
recent visits 
by the former | 
Havana 
municipal councilor. 
The Economy 
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The recent visit to Vene- 
zuela by the Soviet ambassador 
to Mexico was followed by re- 
ports that 
Moscow is. seek- 
ing to have Venezuela resume at 
least a portion of its petrolewm 
exports to Cuba, 
Although the 
Soviet Union has considerably 
expanded its tanker fleet since 
it began providing Cuba with all 
its petroleum needs in mid-1960, 
a resumption of Venezuelan oil 
shipments to Cuba would relievs 
the USSR of at least a portion 
of an expensive burden. 
The Cuban 
were 
built to process Venezuelan 
crude, and have not operated as 
efficiently with the Soviet 
product, which has a relatively 
high sulfur content. 
In addi- 
tion, the "lighter" Soviet crude 
does not provide the quantitiés 
of fuel 011 required by . 
which necessitates large addi- 
tional imports of fuel oil. 
It is unlikely that Venezuela 
will soon resume its traditional 
exports to Cuba. 
In any event, 
Venezuela's insistence on cash 
payment for its oil sales would 
require Moscow either to pro- 
vide 
Cuba 
with 
the 
neces- 
sary 
foreign 
exchange 
or to 
reimburse Caracas for its ex- 
ports to Cuba under some sort 
of triangular trade oo 
ment. 
Cuban sugar production ap- 
pears to be proceeding at a 
normal rate despite frequent 
fires in the canefields. 
Che 
Guevara, 
in his 28 March speech, 
implied that production had al- 
ready nearly reached the 4,000,- 
000 tons which the Sino-Soviet 
bloc is committed to buy. This 
quantity, about two thirds of 
the total expected crop, will 
be sold or bartered to the bloc 
at a premium price of four cents 
per pound. The remainder--the 
“sacrifice crop" for which the 
workers 
are to receive lower 
wages--is to be sold on the 
free world 
market. 
Morocco, 
Japan, and Chile have already 
contracted for Cuban sugar at 
prices equal to or slightly 
below those prevailing in the 
world market. 
At the 
UN 
Cuba's complaint of US | 
“aggression and acts of inter- 
vention" may be discussed in 
the UN General Assembly's main 
political committee as early as 
10 April. 
Certain members of 
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the Afro-Asian bloc are reported 
planning to present a resolu- 
tion highly 
critical 
of 
the 
SECRET 
WEEKLY REVIEW 
Page 10 of 26 
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States, 
Ilieve that it would be prefer- 
able for thé Latin American 
settlement" and citing UN Char- 
‘settlement of disputes. Such 
a 
it had Latin American sponsor- 
ship, would command wide support 
The Mexican 
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and Ecuadorean UN delegates be- 
members to submit their own pro- 
posal "calling for peaceful 
ter provisions relating to use 
of regional organizations for 
resolution, particularly 17 
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE WEEXLY SUMMARY 
is the 99-menber General As- 
For some weeks Cuba's 
lic position has been that it 
is willing and anxious to engage 
in bilateral discussions with 
the US, provided such discus- 
sions are "on a basis of equal- 
ity and with a» open agenda, 
but that the present attitude 
of the US Government would make 
any such discussions at this time 
"useless." 
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WEEKLY REVIEW 
Page 11 of 26 
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6 Apr 61