‘od t071-10012 ey, “DISPATCH ~ chief, Task Force rT CTA REQURED fing Action: FYI and files _ Ref : WAVE 3921 ee ede oly 1. ¢ On 24 May rr t about 1230 hours locat, JMBAVE debriefed or general PW aspec ens confirmation of the ndependent infiltration_operation of AMHINT and ANHINT-40 by the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE) of 20 May 1962. pre 2. Subject was BEER 03 ne December 4396 in. Jovellanos, Province. of Matanzas bad His address in "Guba was, _ ; . Natanza:; Province. In Miami, he is temporard residing al udant Subject does hot Plan to retyre to Cuba Guring the prese ecgime, 3. LEON jis representative of the middic-class, small town Cuban, official with moderate poltical and Pro-PBPRINE, He was mayor ©. jatanzas Province from 1954 to 1958, a ‘period du ‘during which the BATISTA 1 regime both flourished and declined, although subject does not-profess to be “Batistiano", He probably ‘contributed very little:¢o the opposition of BATISTA and. by the same token contributed very little to the opposition of CASTRO. |: “He is currently owner of the smal] dwelling at the above address and has loaned the shelter and facilities to AMHINT personnel but without Digtribution: 2 3- C/TEW AT = RESTRICTED 10s foxigh oh al Jun Lien + ' Mia Megs OND | 30 May 1962] uN C$ ¢ weer nee wee wee em ultimately conservative - ‘1:
14-00000 | - $-E~C-R-E-T. | urea-a216 _ CONTINUATION OF DISPATCH | participating 1 in their operations. This was done more for reasons of family ties and sympathetic ateity toward student ‘activities is traditional in Guba, | Needless to say, however, this is: a modes ‘declaration on his part since the: type:of aid he had been lending. with: out reservation is punishable by death’ or | tmprisonment for aad: OF. 7 any members of his immediate familys” 4. Subject related the “events. of 20 May in his snail beach 7 resort village as follows: -— ; . . wok "AC about 10: 00 P.M. on Sunday, 20 May, he and his family had returned to their house, which is. located about three blocks from the Parque Infantil INIT where the townfolk were dancing and celebrating © - this-traditional date. Shortly after arriving, they heard gunfire, - in the general direction of the beach. This was described as mixed .. J... ‘automatic fire and single: shots. - “Phere was much. shouting and confusion! in the stréets of the town near the park, and gs just about to . venture out and learn the source of the disturbanc hen AMHINT#53 jot * appeared in the doorway, dripping wet. and panting. Behind him, wa ANHINT-40, bd ot oo After recognition and exchange of explanations, npacked one) of the family puitcases for dry clothing and sent the two boys into o change and remain concealed ‘until the commotion died their bathroom down... The family were departing Cuba and had their home prepared for closure and processing with local militia post as require byp & _ revolutionary decree, After the two ANHINTawere settled, deft tomwM iam’ -his house and went out to send the pre-arranged coded cabl . confirming their safe arrival, They slept in his house that night and. departed early Monday morning for Havana.” family has a “reputation for political indiffere ce xo for travel in which the two-man team traveled acs . “Although th precautions were made half way to Havana in another vehicle and changed to th r for the remainder of the trip and installation in a Havana @ madd 9 ad to visit the “Prior to departure. Varadero, however, Militia Post to turn over the keys to his: nd process his de~ ‘parture. During a forty-minute wait, there. he overheard conversations among the officers. From these. conversations, it was apparent that the Militia patrol. encountering the. beach operation reported the clash as “escapees”: that two or mor? were, killed and the bodies taken with [| the other escapees: that there were nO militia casaulties: that ‘there ~ was no inkling that an infiltration operation had taken place prior - to the patrol encounter," “When queried as to militia casualties since the DRE had reported that at least two had been “dropped” on the beach, subject commented. that ‘one does not shoot a militiaman down that easy. That they | ere. just dropping to the ground at the slightest sign of action’, ou jas certain that if as much as one man had been scratched the whole town would have known about at by morning.” . 5. as very vague and lacked details concerning his knowledge of propaginda in Cuba. He recalled that the radio program with Juan AMADOR Rodriguez on longwave at midday was popular and heard by many of the townfolk. He remarked that they listen to a 5:00 AM and 12:00 -noon shortwave program coming from. Key West, and finally, that the Yoice of America shortwave broadcasts were very effective in his region. He never tuned in to Radio Las Americas and instantly associated | it with the former “Radio Swan" repeating the usual hearsay that “it | was discredited”, heated a S-E-C-R-EoT . te SU i) . . “ aoe Mea + H & Ae ad ETE ij .
- ~~ . = ; , ~S ° - het oe searreservare set BOM Ltd pen ‘ CONTINUATION OF i ~ i . mo LFGA-4216 DISPATCH. _ S-E-C-R-E-T et was obviously not a good source for military 7. OB or other intelligence observations, he did provide sore frapaientary information on his area. He deseribed a place known as Lomas Finas,.*-. Jocated between Cardenas and Calises (10 miles South) pointed out on” the map to be about 2256N-81188, There is & Militia Post there with about 500 land 600 stationed there for short periods. . He observed some | .- tank movement, about six to eight tanks traveling in and out of this jf. aren at a time, but could not destribe them as to type or size. He‘ : described: the militia personnel ia this region as a “Very low type" of Cuban which was disgusting to the local country people and there - was continuous friction... He commented that it was just such camps oP post as: this that. turned the general population into oppositionists. gy “Although subjic 7. About 17 or 18 May, subject observed a large freighter unload ing cargo in Matanzas harbor. The local people described it ag Russia and subject could not confirm or deny this, The shipment was large, _. however, and in various size crates that were trucked out of the dock area in large convoys. — . a - 8, Near a village known as Palmilias (2238N-80458) about 10 mile Southeast of Colon,, Provinee of Matanzas, subject reports that there. are: two guerrilla Bands of twelve to twenty men each, During 15 to 17 May, these bands attag&ed farms occupied -by militia, Killing one militiaman and running the others off the farm. They burned the house, barns and destroyed the farm equipment. 9, Again on the 1Sth of May, one of these bands attacked another militia post and killed one militia. This particular incident came fr the doctor who treated e'militiaman prior his death and who is a personal friend af ou oo 10. Subject concluded the interview with some of his opinions and observations concerning the state of public morale in Cuba today. He pointed out that much of the population, the "better people" of the country, understood the United States position on Cuba. (The implication being the reason for United States fnilure to take direct action or intervention in Cuba.) He said the people understand that CASTRO is their own doing. and that the United States cannot be held responsible for his presence. He described the greater part of the populace as sick and tired, undernourished, disgusted with blatant propaganda lies, terrorized by repression but ultimately disposed to resist at. all costs. That if arms-were generally available among the populace, especially rifles and ammunition for them, CASTRO would have been overthrown by now, without a bit of outside help. That the farme and some city folk, in desperation, leave their homes to join the guerrilla bands with no hope for supply and many times turned down by guerrilla leaders who cannot supply their own band as it is. Subject departed with the reminder that the “Cubans traditionally prefer to live good or not live at ali.” END OF DISPATCH