(404-10193-10037 Bee AN TO CM ease : Doe <Grouy Hid I eg Only sku: “aT 0 Not Reo ‘Cduca - ; + June 1961 MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD . SUBJECT: Rel ationgs with hianolo RAY and tha MAtRP i. “For background see my memorandum of le May 1961, teporting on my long session with hianolo RAY, Rogelio CISNEROS (Eugenio) and. Ernesto BETANCOURT.. Ae will be noted in that merhorandum, -Atanolo promised to. come up vith a prospectus within approainately ten’ days' ‘time, after: con- | 7 sulting with bie leaders in Cuba. a 2, On} June 1961 Mr. Barnes called me to say that. Mr, Goodwin had ae been visited by Mr. Ernesio BETANCOURT who asked for immediate ‘financial BUPPOFE for certain activities of the MRP which would run around $1, 600 dollars. Mr. Barnes asked meto contact BETANCOURT for the purpose of ascertaining what the funde were to be used for, exactly how much needed, ete. i called BECANCCURT and he told me that 1 should get theas ‘details frorn “CISNEROS {Eugenio}, who was ataying at room 549 at thea Washington Hotel. I called Eugenio and made a daie for me and Ray DuBois (Ray Adams is the naine he-usea with Ray and Cisneros) to call upon him. We called en CISNEROS at approximately 1445 houra } Jung, and he inforrned ua that he hed urgent need for pesoa for use in support of his sabotage and underground eciiviiiss in Cuba, He said his people were absolurely without funds, seeded monay for living expenses, transportation, purchase of sabotage equipment, alr fares for couriers, and for assisting veopls to gei out of prison. He eaid that it was now possiole for people to buy thelr way out of prison by bribing one of the many ‘communist’ lawyera and‘judges, He thought that 0, BOY or Su, NC would meet immediate needs and that some sort of arrangement should be mada to receive funds - 3, C00 monthly or thereabouts - ona fincd and permanent . basie. 3, We mada no commitment 10 Eugealo other than to say shat wae would paas his plea along to the interested peopie. I reminded him that we had asked him and. Manolo to prepare 3 pian for consideration and that we were atill waiting fer that plan. I said I personally doubted that anything could be done until the plan was recelved from RAY. He eaid Manolo was planning to come to Washington on the afternoon of 2 June with the plan, but that he himself was having to return to Miami immediately and it was vital he be able io take the money wite bin, arrange in wiiaad fur yurcase ofthe poses (at rate of tad}
SECRET ‘ eee money already in Cuba - dollars would be delivered to owners of the pesos who - are tn fAlaind). Ttold hin | would call him im the morning to let him know how thing s- stood, a ee | discuaged our meeting with CISNEROS with Tracy Barnes on the moralag of < June. It was Tracy's opinion, in which I heartily concur, thag _ we should put out no money whatsoever until we have had a chance to examine aan Manolo's plan and to otudy just. what ropercussione Or ramifications there — . -,weuld be, policy-wtee and otherwise, 0 a decision to aselat the MAP unilaterally; that ts,. outside the Council and presumably without MIRO‘'s knowledge or consent. Since KAY has withdrawn his group from the Counc{l with @ great deal of fanfare, it is most unlikely that MIRO would look kindly on. aay eécletance to RAY, eépecially since he feels he haa a rather firm promise from the President to deal only through MIRO, . _ 5. RAY, upon arrival in Washington, wil! presumably. take his plan (atong with BETANCOURT) directly to Mr, Goodwin and I would also presume tnat Goodwin. will pase it down to Tracy and. Tracy +o ua, Ray DuBois, who has been Manolo's case ollicer, is Standing by in the event he shouldbe seeded. ~ &° [personally feal very strongly that we should do uothing to support the — | plan, whatever. it is, ‘iunti} we have recetved from the White House and the a Department clear-cut, unequivocal policy puidance on the overali plan. Lalse feel that now {is the time, if we are G0 ing to support ihe MRP unilaterally, to — insert. a non-official cut oul tate the operation. I would recommend that con- sideration be given to uging Mr. Harry Pleper (a #AVE contract. employee) on thia job. Harry ja tempermentally suited, haa a good business head, ia iiuent in Spanish {lived 28 years in Cuba), is cleared, followa directions, completely honest and tremendously conscientious, lt would be harder to - find a better person, . 7. Also, I would like to peing out the security riske inherent in any arrangee- mente with the RAY-BELANCOURT-CISNEROS trio. These fellows have had - easy access to the White House and to the Department, ‘are notorious for their “planned leaks ', will probably preaume ail the Department officials they deal with are privy to the arrangement, and before we. know it the whole exile community will be well aware thal we are providing financial and material '. SUppert to the RAY group. I am not arguing against providing such support, but am merely pointing out the real potential for ainbarrasiment to ua If ihe | matter is not handled with the greatest of precautions, I feel they have becorne too closely identified with U, 5, -officialdom,. including myself, and thae the “piausible denial aspects, to date atleast, are almout non-existent, - ce: A/DDP/A epee DC; WH/i > bee LE