DAILY SUMMARY 6 December 1963 This summary of significant information has not been coordinated outside the Office of Current Intelligence. It does not representa complete coverage of all current reports received, nor does.time permit the complete evaluation of all reports which are included. CONTENTS MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS: An intercepted Cuban military message of 5 December indi- cated that the Cuban armed forces are giving courses in chemical warfare defense. (Page 1) INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Moscow press reports the’ OAS meeting on Cuban arms ship- ments. (Page 1) CUBAN INTERNAL SITUATION: Apparitions of Santa Barbara have been reported from Oriente Province. (Page 1) “The _____ ambassador in Havana reports his impressions of the reactions to President Kennedy's assassination. (Page 2) Two government soldiers were killed in southern Oriente Province when a dice game, involving military and civilian - personnel, was uncovered and-fired upon by troops from-Unit 1948. (Page 3) Dolores Ibarruri,.secretary general of the Spanish Communist Party, arrived in Havana from Moscow on 5 December, accord- ing to press reports. (Page 3) CUBAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Carlos Rafael Rodriguez, minister of INRA, has expressed serious dissatisfaction with Cuba's current agricultural situation and revealed that he disagrees with Castro's emphasis on “ultimate aims" in place of current "tactics." ‘Rodriguez: also informed the British ambassador that he had i —FOP-SECRETD EAR HW 55355 DBocld:324013275 Page 2?
nN . . y: : : CUBAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - cont'd opposed the Second Agrarian Reform Law and is willing to use "doctrinally unwelcome" measures to increase production. (Page 3) Cuba is taking further steps to improve its fishing industry, including several construction projects in the Chuyima ship- yards in the Almendares River, the launching of 18 fishing boats, and the sending of an official mission’ to Spain in connection with the fishing industry. (Page 4) INSURGENCY AND CIVIL UNREST: Counterrevolutionary elements apparently attacked an obser- vation post on Cayo de Cristo on a recent ‘undetermined date. (Page 4) A suspected counterrevolutionary was arrested on 3 December in Guantanamo. (Page 5) CUBAN FOREIGN SERVICE: The Cuban ambassador to the USSR is in Havana for a short "vacation." (Page 5) _CUBAN AIR FLIGHT CONNECTIONS: The Soviet-made AN-12 transport plane being ferried to Cuba : reached Recife, Brazil, on 5 December, and left there for its last stop before it is scheduled to arrive in Cuba on 7 December. (Page 5) SHIPPING SUPPORT FOR CUBA: The US Embassy in Beirut believes that Lebanon may act to . curtail the use of its ships in the Cuban trade. This would result in a significant decline in Cuban shipping in free world bottoms. (Page 5) CUBAN - CHINESE COMMUNIST RELATIONS: Wang Yu-ping has been named the new Chinese Communist am- bassador to Cuba. He is a senior diplomat, but not as high } ranking an individual as the recently appointed Chinese Communist ambassadors to Algeria and the UAR. (Page 5) BLOC ECONOMIC RELATIONS: A Bulgarian:-arms negotiator has returned. from Havana to Sofia. (Page 6) ii FOP SECRET DBAR HW 55355 DBocld:324013278 Page 3
BLOC RELATIONS: A four-man Soviet delegation to revise social science cur- riculum at Havana University has arrived in Havana. (Page 6) NON-BLOC COMMERCIAL RELATIONS: The US consul in Antwerp has been informed by the Varmi Company of Brussels that it will not sell construction equipment to Cuba; there have been reports that such a sale, perhaps totaling $1 million, was being negotiated. Meanwhile, a Cuban group, which had probably planned to complete negotiations on the sale, was delayed because of lack of visas. (Page 6) The US Embassy in Tokyo sees little hope of inducing the Japanese Government to interfere with the implementation of a contract under which Japanese private firms have re- portedly agreed to purchase 325,000 tons of Cuban sugar. (Page 7) The director of a Spanish optical firm has gone to Havana to negotiate the sale of movie projectors; he is being sponsored by CILASA. (Page 7) NON-BLOC RELATIONS: A Cuban good-will mission was received by the Moroccan acting foreign minister; the US Embassy believes this may presage the official re-establishment of diplomatic relations. (Page 7) The Swiss ambassador believes that Frank Emmick's trial will be held shortly after the completion of the current OAS investigation of Venezuelan charges against Cuba; _Emmick's preliminary hearing has been completed and the ambassador is trying to find a Cuban lawyer to defend him. (Page 8) The government of Trinidad gave a "chilly reception" to a visiting Cuban official and turned down a suggestion for } trade talks, at least for the present. (Page 8) CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES: The{__| tnbassy in Havana has received information from _-gources in Cuba it considers reliable which supports JRK Act 6 (1) (B) ta Lil HW 55355 DBocld:324013278 Page 4
HW 55355 -TOP-SECREF-DENAR CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES - cont'd Venezuelan charges that Cuba has been shipping arms to South America. (Page 8) Havana Radio announced yesterday that pro-Castro guerrillas in the Dominican Republic have established "six operational zones"; Cuban exiles in Miami feel that the failure of pro- Castro terrorists in Venezuela may force him to turn to terrorism in the Dominican Republic. (Page 9) JFK Act © (1) 18) Cuba is reportedly making preparations to recognize a Vene- zuelan government-in-exi ing to information re- ceived by an official service from a fairly reliable source with contacts in Havana. (Page 9) The OAS Investigating Committee which is looking into the Cuban arms cache discovered in Venezuela does not intend to limit its investigation to the cache, but has expressed interest in looking into other evidence of Cuban activities directed against Venezuela. The Venezuelan Government has agreed to furnish all possible evidence on its complaint. (Page 10) On 5 December an American woman told a minister in New York that her boy friend had left that day for an unknown desti- nation in Central America from which he planned to fly in a pro-Castro Venezuelan coup on Saturday. (Page 10) iv DoclIda: 324013273 Page 5
HW 55355 MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS: An intercepted Cuban military message of 5 December indicated that the Cuban armed forces are giving instruction in defense against chemical warfare. An unidentified mili- ttary unit in Las Villas Province reported the selection of two officers and four sergeants to attend a "chemical defense course." (USN-856, 2X/SL 'T407-63, 6 December, SECRET SABRE) INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: JFK Act 6 (1) (B) Moscow has given rather standard treatment to the OAS meeting which heard the Venezuelan Government charge Castro with illegal arms shipments. On 4 December, TASS correspond- - ent.. Leonid Shokin reported that "the weavers of. plots against. revolutionary Cuba are still at it...accusing it of delivery of arms to Venezuela for 'subversive purposes'."' Shokin found “certain US circles are the most interestec”in this, as is evident from the fact that representatives of the US State Department declared at the meeting that the United States would ‘firmly support' additional economic and diplomatic sanctions by the OAS against Cuba."" He thought it unexcep- tional that "these provocative attempts were not supported by the largest Latin American countries” and: warned that "such attempts to interfere in Cuban internal affairs are fraught with extremely harmful consequences for the cause of peace.” (CIA/FBIS, Moscow, 4 December, UNCLASSIFIED) CUBAN INTERNAL SITUATION: Several weeks ago there were CAS reports that the storm- tossed peasants of Oriente looked on Hurricane Flora as the vengeance of God--a God, who in the tradition of the Old Testament's stern and sometimes vengeful Jehovah, had loosed his fury on a people first seduced and now impressed by an alien regime. Now a report from the US Naval Base at Guan- -tanamo Bay provides yet another insight into the frame of mind of the Cuban populace. While the incidents pictured in this report do not necessarily reflect anything other than a com- binationof religious fervor and superstition, they are signifi- cant to the extent that they reflect the unrest--and, perhaps a growing feeling of hopelessness and despair--current among the Cubans, In any case, there are prevalent locally tales of St. Barbara's appearing several times to prophesy a change in the regime or admonish errant youths to mend their ways. /Barbara, virgin daughter of the heathen Diosorus, was beheaded by her father near Heliopolis in 235 A.D. for embracing Christianity. A fearful thunderclap is alleged to have greeted her execution. Symbolized by a windmill-like tower with three windows, the type 6f fortress in which her father was wont to confine her while he was absent from home, Barbara is the patroness of artillerymen and miners. -l- -FOP-SECRET-PRAR Doctld:32401373 Page 6
HW 355355 FOP-SECREFPREAR CUBAN INTERNAL SITUATION - cont'd /In the Church's calendar, her feast is marked on 4 Decem- ber, Apart from her significance in the Christian ritual, Barbara figures prominently in a neo-pagan cult known as the Santeria.. Devotees of Santeria regard themselves as Catholics and believe that the names of the Catholic saints are translations into Spanish of the Nigerian names of African gods. Catholicism is viewed as the Spanish tribal version of Santeria. The association between Catholicism and Santeria is based on a largely superficial similarity between Catholic Saints and the pantheon of African spirit gods. Saint Barbara is thought to be Shango, the God of War.7 According to one of these tales, a woman dressed in martyr's red stopped a bus outside Guantanamo City on 25 No-. vember, stepped inside and berated the Castro regime. The _ woman is alleged to have said that the Cuban people could not live forever in such misery and to have predicted that Castro would be taken from them sometime between 4 and 7 De- cember. A militiaman passenger told her that she would be arrested when the bus arrived in the city. When it had, she'd disappeared. Continuing on to Caimanera, the bus stopped in the town square with the same woman sitting on one of the seats inside the vehicle. The militia again was summoned and again the woman was nowhere to be seen. On 26 November the same woman allegedly appeared outside a school in Caimanera and admonished several children not to thrown stones at a nearby shack. The children fled into the school and the woman followed. Challenged by a teacher, the . woman said she was Santa Barbara and vanished. The next day neither the teacher nor the children would return to the school, though it subsequently has been reopened. (COMNAVBASE GTMO, 01731/T1/JFK/3, 4 December, CONFIDENTIAL) Fidel Castro was "frightened, if not terrified," by the possible n neces of President Kennedy's murder, according to the[ —__Janbassador in Havana. Cabling. his government on 27 November, he[_____—sdddiplomat described what he called "a large movement of troops" late on the afternoon of the Presi- dent's death--" they were sent to take up positions around Havana and the northern coast of the island." He found it sur- prising that Castro "jumped into the arena to denounce insinu- ations which were merely from news and nongovernmental agencies," but added that “it is the general opinion in diplomatic circles that the assassination will be the spring which will unleash passions and violent and blind hysteria of the American people against. Cuba and Russia and provide the excuse which up to now was lacking.... There is talk again about the coincidence of rumors concerning a crisis at the end of the year...." Finally, ‘the ambassador noted that "the assassination did not cause a great deal of consternation in counterrevolutionary circles in the interior. _ NSA, _3/0[ _}T1463-63, 5 December, TOP SECRET ~~ ~~ -2- FOP-SEECREF PBREAR /DINAR) | ete SEK Act 6 (1) (B) DoclId:32401375 Page ?
HW 355355 TOP SECRET _DINAR | CUBAN INTERNAL SITUATION - cont‘d Two government soldiers were killed in southern Oriente Province on 3 December when members of Unit 1948, at an uniden- tified location within the First Army area, uncovered and fired .On a dice game, which apparently included personnel from their own unit. A 3 December message from military unit 1948 to South Sierra Maestra Sector Headquarters stated that "when the players attempted to flee, the soldiers commenced firing without orders, cauSing the death of one unnamed player and the chief of organ-~ ization and personnel of Unit 1948. The message added that the bodies and the "civilian and military prisoners" were being sent to sector headquarters. (USN 835, 2/LR1[ _[R196-63, 5 December, SECRET KIMBO) JFK Act 6 (1) (B) Dolores Ibarruri, "La Pasionaria" of Spanish Civil War fame” and secretary general of the Spanish Communist Party, arrived in Havana from Moscow on 5 December, according to press reports. Ibarruri, who resides in Moscow, was invited to Cuba by Castro during his visit to the Soviet Union. (The New York Times, 6 December, UNCLASSIFIED) ~ CUBAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Carlos Rafael Rodriguez, minister of INRA, has expressed serious dissatisfaction with Cuba's current agricultural situa- tion and revealed that he disagrees with Castro's emphasis on "ultimate aims" in place of current "tactics." Ina long talk with the British ambassador in early November, Rodriguez agreed "with surprising enthusiasm" that the two main problems facing Cuban agriculture were the lack of competent personnel to run the appropriated farms, and the lack of consumer goods which are necessary to stimulate production, especially by the remain- ing private farmers. Rodriguez had advised Castro that there were not sufficient agricultural experts to run the state farms which had been previously organized, and he had counseled against taking over medium-size farms (as the Second Agrarian Reform Law did) until sufficiently trained and experienced personnel were — -available; he commented on Soviet complaints about the low edu- cational level of Cubans sent to the USSR for agricultural training. Rodriguez said that despite his advice, Castro had gone ahead with the Second Agrarian Reform Law for two "polit- ical" reasons: to push ahead with the progress of Cuba's Socialist economy, and to destroy the support for counterrevo- lutionaries which Castro believed existed among the "rural | bourgeois." Rodriguez thought it ironical that US pressure on Cuba (presumably he meant aid to counterrevolutionaries) had forced Cuba to seize lands faster than it would otherwise have done. He also stated his belief that the seizure of medium- size farms would lead to a drop for several years in many branches of Cuban agriculture, particularly in market gardening and dairy farming. -3- —FOP-SECREF-DPENAR DoclId:324013753 Page &
HW 355355 FOP-SECRET-DINAR- CUBAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - cont'd Rodriguez also agreed with the British ambassador that the second problem facing Cuban agriculture was the lack of consumer goods which were necessary to stimulate production. However, Rodriguez said that Cuba was in a vicious circle: farmers did not have incentive to produce because there were few consumer goods available, yet such goods could not be obtained until farm production had been raised. Rodriguez‘ main concern seemed to be the scarcity of many consumer goods; in fact, he admitted that he was willing to undertake temporary expediencies which might help raise production, even though they might be “doctrinally unwelcome." Rodriguez referred the ambassador to Lenin's New Economic Policy, and made no:attempt to disguise his disagreement with Castro's insistence on "ultimate aims" instead of current "tactics." (British Embassy Havana, 13 November, : CONFIDENTIAL NO FOREIGN DISSEM) Cuba is taking further steps to improve its fishing industry. . A Havana radiobroadcast reported the completion of several con- struction projects in the Chuyima shipyards in the Almendares River in Havana, including a pier 307 meters in length, a concrete esplanade measuring 17,000 square meters with a capacity of 24 ships, two launching ramps, and the dredging of the Almendares River in front of the pier, pending partial completion, as well as several minor jobs. It also reported that the Shipyard has launched 18 Lambda-75-class ships; 14 more are expected to be launched by January. According to a 29 November intercepted message, an official mission in connection with the fishing industry was expected to arrive in Madrid in early December. The delegation was composed of Jose Lavia and Juan de la Fe Flor (CIA FBIS 03, 6 December, OFFICIAL USE ONLY; NSA 2x/0 T2523-63,..5. December, SECRET SABRE) 'IFK Act 6 (1) (B) INSURGENCY AND CIVIL UNREST: Counterrevolutionary elements apparently attacked the Selva Marina observation post at Cayo de Cristo on a recent: undetermined date. A partially garbled message from Central Army Headquarters in Santa Clara informed Havana that personnel in the observation post, located on a cay off Isabela de Sagua, "repelled the aggres- Sion and caused the flight of the attackers.... In a probe of the place by air, land, and sea, nothing more than some footprints were observed." Because of the garbles at the beginning of the message it is impossibl determine the time and nature of the attack. (USN 856, 2/sif _ |x297-63, 6 December, SECRET KIMBO) 4a DoclId:324013273 Page 93
HW 355355 INSURGENCY AND CIVIL UNREST - cont'd An unidentified military unit informed First Army Sector E Headquarters at Mayari Arriba that a suspected counterrevolu- tionary had been arrested in Guantanamo. The suspect, militia- man Esteban Mendez Almaquel,was arrested in the home of Genaro Moya on 3 December. Moya was identified as being implicated in ounterrevolution and as an informer. (USN 835, 2X/ LRL 'T67.5-63 , December, SECRET SABRE) CUBAN FOREIGN SERVICE: 7% Act © (1/15) Carlos Olivares, Cuba's ambassador to the USSR, arrived by plane yesterday-.in Havana for.what Prensa Latina described as a “short vacation." (CIA/FBIS, Havana, 5 December, UN- CLASSIFIED) CUBAN AIR FLIGHT CONNECTIONS: Intercepted civil aviation communications indicate that the Soviet-made AN-12 transport aircraft being ferried to Cuba from the Soviet Union is adhering to its schedule. It arrived at the Brazilian airport of Recife from Conakry on 5 December and left there the next day for Belem, Brazil. It is scheduled to leave Belem on 7 December for Havana. The intercepts also indicated that Jamaica has granted permission for the plane to use Kingston as a rese} landing point in the event of necessity. (USA-51, 2/J8 R894-63, 6 December, SECRET KIMBO) SHIPPING SUPPORT FOR CUBA: The US Embassy in Beirut believes that Lebanon may act to curtail the use of its ships in the Cuban trade. This would result in a significant decline in Cuban shipping in free world bottoms because Lebanese companies provided ten of the thirty- two free world ships which called at Cuba in October. The Lebanese foreign minister planned to ask the cabinet for a pro- visional measure whereby he would be able to demand that all ships carrying Lebanese flag must call at Lebanon periodically and report their destinations. He believed this would cut the..Cuban traffic quickly by 60 percent. Because US. aid to. Lebanon is almost nonexistent, the US Embassy believes that this Lebanese action would be prompted by motives of princi- ple rather than fear of losing US aid, an action which is being discussed by the US Congress. (Am Emb Beirut 520, 5 December, CONFIDENTIAL) CUBAN — CHINESE COMMUNIST RELATIONS: A Havana Prensa Latina broadcast of 6 December announced that President Dorticos has assented to the appointment of Wang Yu-ping as Chinese Communist ambassador to Cuba. This is the first information indicating that Ambassador Shen Chien, who has served in Cuba since December 1960, is about to be replaced. The new Chinese Communist ambassador is a 53-year-old senior diplomat; since 1950 he has served three- to four-year terms as Communist ambassador in Rumania, Norway, and Cambodia. He is married and has two children. -5- FOP-SECRET-DINAR DoclId:32401375 Page 10