104-10182-10134 | . RETURN To CIA a ts ° ye Background Use Only af | ' Do Not Reproduce | Clnrry : oe DRAFT “sth 7 valy 1259 . ef MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION | PARTICIPANTS: Mitchell L. Ker 3el) ws 1. I met Subject at the National Airport whea he arrived ‘trom Atlanta at about 2115 and took him to the Statler Hotel, Ee told me that in late January or early February he had begun acting as broker for some exchange transactions involving Cuban pesos in the paxtkiewom possession of former ‘ Batista followers in the Hiani areas During the course of these transactions he became acquainted with a mimber of Cubans, most of them former followers of Batista who are engaged in plotting against the CASTRO Government in Cubase 2. Together with Mamel Firestone, aka Mamel Puego,(a US citizen of . Giban origin whe served in the RCAF during World War IT and one of the US armed forces during the Korean war) Wer Bell went to the Dominican Republic about 6 weeks ago. The purpose of the trip wis to see Batista and seBl hin on a public relations campaign which might help his reestablish his reputation in the United States, ker Bell did not see Batista personally, but dk Firestone did. Wer Bell met with a miumber of Cuban exiles on various occasions and becane convinced that at wag not possible to deal with Batista since the latter insisted on postponirg everything “until he comes ~ to the States", Firestone arranged to bring wer Sell into contact with Gen Jose Pedraza,and separately, Edsardo Kodriguez, Man.el De Mora's nephew, and through hin, Marmel De Moya. He discussed only a pebide relations campaign on behalf of the Dominican Eeoublic with De Hofa. 36 Pedrazg, on the basis of «er sell’s OSS backrround, asked him for assistance in setting up 2 gpaemtkoon guerrilla operaticn against CASTRO. (Comment: er Bell's OSS records show no conbat exzerience although last a: / $ ~ gietes when Cr ete CISC 1a?
Ze om night he implied to me that he had had combat excerfence. My personal assess- nent of her Fell folloxs at the end of this mencrandun.) ‘er Bell said he asked Pedrazgif he was in touch with CIA. Pedrazjsaid he was not in contact - but that the others, ceaning the Dominicans, were. Wer Bell said the Cubans are training a ainimm of 2,000 troops in the Dominican Republic. Chere are also about = 1,000 Spaniards amat sent by FRANCO, wer Pell said he dan ber el” comsActt&s recomended to Pedrazga typica: azwemgetent operation to organize a petretned guerrilla area, with supoly drops,and the organizstion of extensive connuni- cation facilities. . kk. Batista has refused to cooperate with Pedrazgand mx is refusing to provide any funds for the operation. He says that he expects te be in the United States within two weeks and will then negotiate provisiong ef : support. Rolando Mansferreg is collecting funds in the US for the revolt. In addition to this,the Dominicans are buying arms wherever they can get their hands on them. The plan is to make Munez Portuande Provisicnal President as soon as CASTRO is overthrown. S. Wer Bell said that an See ee ueinessman naaed Jones fm, who tiexakux does business in Eurcpe and xian in Miami tygring real estete, -had mentioned to him the possibility of obtaining the services of 1,000 experienced German combat troops who are organized, officered, and equipped, , at the rate of 100 a day per man, An individual naied ‘tee! believed to be a Swise staying at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, is the contact for getting the services of these Sermans « 2: is merely an intermediary and Frei (rms, wnose nationality is unknown, Dut Pelieved to be a German, is the principal of this creup. (Com-ent: When KX questioned Wer $e2] about this he wes very reluctant to go into details, and as the story developed it appeared to me that he was taking for granted a typical night club story resulting from loose talk by hixself and the individual called Jones.) } XD
14-00000 qc ~? Be ao. we : ae ate ; 6. ker Eell said he had been virtually o‘fered comand of the Cuban counter revoluticnary force. He said that he will engage in this only if CIA backs hin up. He wants to organize a para-nilitary force and -needs 15 to 20 PM experts including cormmunicators to train the force. de also wants some specialized equipment such as fire bombs, radios, and even mentioned oheF6L, aircraft, (Comuent: I believe the Dominicang have been trying to buy such aircraft for some time fea from the Canadian Government. The Canadians, however, have refused at the United States’ request to grant export licenses -for the planes.) 7. Wer Bell wants to see Gen. Cabell or Allen Dulles on this matter. He says he is willing to act as our agent and believes he can gain the complete confidence of Pedrazqand De Moya. He said that it is rumored in Miami that the United States has ofterel 6 hours «# hands off in the event of an attempt against CaSThC and will close its eyes to a mumber of gun shipments @, Wer Bell adnitted to me that he had had some business difficulties in the receht past and was now working his way out of-then. he have his record through 1925 and he appears to be a responsible citizen as of that time. The inpression that I got of hin last night is that he is now a typical promcter type of the Eee successful variety found in Latin fmerica, pronefg to exagrerated ideas end somewhat neive,as evidenced by his story of the 1,099 Germans. I carefully avoidea the question of what he stands to gain by all of this, but as the story developed it becomes rather obvious that he is seeking to act as a broker gi CIA sypoort te Pedrazjand probably anticipates collecting hig brokerage fees in terns of public relations con- tracts mex from the Dominicans and the new Cuban Government. It is also obvioug that Subject has good access to intelligence which may be of consid- erable value, particularly if it becomes necessary to initiate political action operations arainst the CASTRO Government. [. 27
9. I recomend that we consider utilizing hin as an FI Agent with a@ very Clear understanding that we are dle his motives st this time thet we will not support Pecrazaand his proup3 nor will che United States fail to observe its international obligations on behalf of Pedrazg and with “a clear underatanding of the Linite of our relationships with Subject. I ‘believe this man will require firm handling eExmex if we propose to use him, . or we may have considerable trouble with him. We have had information already on the PedrazAaffair, mich of which confirms the information supplied by Subject, 2o that we are not without other assets on this natter. {..9 —_——