(rou-tot70-10068 — fp fe DISPATCH Chief of Station, gmwwavE 6C sR ‘SUBIC, YPICANSPELL/Operationa® — os i _\“AMSPELL Tour of Latin America. of ACTOOM REQUIRES . REFEREES : i REFS: WAVE 1448 HLBA 6911 oo _ BOGO 4332 © QUIT 5867 HEGA 2900 SAGO 6577 : SAGO 6595 ” 2 t LAPA 3550 ‘ ‘ HVCA 11,393 bet BO) ed be SO 1. SUNMARY. The Reference A. ANSPELL exhibit toured six Latin American countries during a five-month period, February-June 1964. With the exception of Guayaquil and La Paz -= where excel=- lent resultS were achieved -- the tour was only moderately success- ful, and must be classified a failure in Quito, Santiago and Montevideo. According to AMSPELL, the total number of persons who viewed the exhibit was 6,720: Another 2,792 persons reportedly attended conferences at which the ANSPELL team gave talks on the Reference A. exhibit and the dangers..and.weaknesses..of-Castro- Communism. .Publicity was given the exhibit by 34 newspapers (47 items), 30 radio stations, and six television stations. AMSPELL estimated the TY audtence at 1,300,000. Sample clippings are enclesed under separate cover. Reports from WH stations and the WAVE debriefing of the AMSPELL team lead us to conclude that the tour was a moderate success that could have been much better if if had been better organized and if the ANSPELL team had had more . : experience. (On balance} we believe the tour was well worth the =. Ls approximately $12,000.00 KUBARK paid out. We do not, however, . believe it should be repeated in the foreseeable future in view of the relative inexperience shown by the AMSPELL team on the ‘recent tour and the many difficulties encountered in trying to organize the exhibit in the various cities. : / CONTINUED / Attachments: U/SC — op . A. AMSPELL Statistical Repoft “I> - ; ; B. Misc. Press Clippings fot fa! >d¥ - 2 6/8 L® mis ° OTe TreED DATE DesPATCHEO | DISTRIBUTION: ie | | 3 ~ DC/WH/SA, w/attachs, u/sc_ _ _ teens v Toosmiumanmo DISF ATCH SYMBOL, AND RN’ aoe UFGA~16, 980 HEADQUARTERS FILE NUMBER g 19-124-26-/3 TO CIA RETURN TO © Background Use On Do Not Reproduce
DisPATON $Y ¥ GOL, AND NUMELR CONTINUA ni ~ F SUASSINICATION * : F ‘TION © . . a 2 oe DISPATCH | s E CcCRET | eFoA 46,950 en —— ae 2. COLONBIA. _@ ~-ceresa, Bogota, The AMSPELL team arrived in Bogata on 12 February 1964. but were unable to make contact with the local AMSPELL/AMBARB 7 contact until the next day. They were unable to get adequate advance publicity and had trouble finding space tor the exhibit, About 200, ‘persons attended .the exhibit, and AMSPELL conferences were attended by . approximately 485 persons. HLBA~G9 1 Irepor ted[GI$N -9's observations on the local reaction to the tour, which he judged to be indifferent, The AMSPELL teaii. freely. admitted to WAVE that the Bogota operation was something less than successful, but “blamed the lack of advance prepara= tions and the existence of an unfriendly press for their failure, It should also be noted that the AMSPELL team was not on the best of terms with some of the=local Cubans, and this fact probably had a good deal to do with the poor showing. — . b. Medellins The showing in Medellin was better than in Bogota. -The press was lukewarm but the director of the Caracol radio station gave. them’ considerable publicity, and they were able to hold the exhibit in a’eentral spot in the city. About 400 persons visited the exhibit over “a period of three days, and 850 persons attended con=. ferences given by the team. . ° p oe a c. Cali, The team received good advance press pYay in Cali, . which was perhaps one reason for the fact that the local Communist party was also well prepared for their arrival, On the very first morning of the exhibit, a large crowd of Communists tried to enter tne exhibit with the obvious intention of starting trouble, and when they were oo locked out began to throw rocks and “stinkbombs" into the exhibit hall. i. The incident provided considerable publicity for. AMSPELL, as reported in BOGO 4332, A total of 100 persons attended the exhibit, The ANSPELL| . team claimed tnat the Communists were very strong in Cali and that work- ing there was like swimming upstream. ' 3, ECUADOR. a. Quito. The team arrived in Quito on 25 March, after spend- jng several days in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain visas for Peru. QUIT 5867 reported the AMSPELL team's personality clashes with the local AMBARBs. and the consequent poor performance by the AMSPELL team, who complained of the absence of police protection, adequate facilities for the exhibit, etc., and departed just two days later on the 27th. One member remained in Bogota to hold conferences, attended by 325. - persons, Whiie not accepting the blame for this fiasco, the AMSPELL _ team generally corroborated the above story in their debriefing by WAVE. After such incidents as reported in QUIT 5867, we are reluctant to recommend any future tours, b, Guayaguil, The AMSPELL team considered Guayaquil their most successful operation, an opinion seconded by Guayaquil base. who termed it. a “resounding success."' (See QUIT 5867 and HEGA 2900), The exhibit received front page coverage in "El Universo” and "El Telegrafo’, and they were given a half hour on a major TV station, An estimated total of 1,200 persons visited the exhibit, and the team spoke before 40 members of a local group, Frente de Defensa Nacional, ; 4, Santiago, Chile, The ANSPELL team arrived in Santiago on 3 March to coincide with the opening of the Latin American Youth Congress (LAYC), The Santiago operation was a complete loss because Chilean customs authori- ties would not release the exhibit during the congress and the AMSPELL team was unable to obtain space of any kind to hold conferences due to competition from the congress for space. (See SAGO 6577). The AMSPELL team had been counting on a contact in the Catholic University, o facilitate their activities but | Id them that (3) fas a failure from the Communist side and that e AMSPELL teas could contribute more by remaining quiet than. by actively propagandizing , CONTINUED / : PAGE NO. FORM . s-60 S3a USE PREVIOTS EDITION, SECRET [] 2 CONTINUED | CLASSIFICATION 1408 3h k
Se ferences demand a 27 March celebrati With the 6 April i estimated was again ing local the poor r of publici Tact tenet nt eee ener fe CONTINUATION OF DISPATCH 6. Argentina, @. Bu help o no Cham 1,200 b, Rosario, very helpful in arranging for Space for the exhibit and obtain publicity, Good press coverage was obtained in los Principios and Cordoba, 7. Montevideo, Uruguay, The AMSPELL was the worst’ performance of the entire ‘tour, with only twenty persons attending the exhibit, They arrived on 26 fully attempting to obtain 2 site in a cent to accept space in the Catholic Club, consi by many Uruguayans and remote from t press ecepti ty was Paz were held in y The AMSPE Cordoba, La Paz, Bolivia, / Eee SO Piv as Id aw, The AMSPELL team ar difficulty in obtaining sp in Club La ambassador, “The exhibit received excellent coverage in all four of the- leading ‘La. Paz-‘newspapers and the three largest radio stations carried AMSPELL conferences, Despite the excéllent publicity, a total of only ‘600 persons visited the exhibit in La Paz, Was due to Bolivian pr Passage to th communication, . 2 ee eee oo enos. Aires, Tho AMSPELL team arrived in Buenos Aires on during Holy Week, In addition to the delay caused by Holy Week he team had difficulty find f the Chamber of Commerce, ber of Commerce offices on persons visited the exhibi _and good. publicity was. also obtained in th newspapers, On and the lack. of Ge0d loc obtained in the local pres a one~hour show on the local TV channel 10, 7 CONTINUED vA rived in La Paz On 17 March, and after somé ace were finally able to open the exhibit on 21 March, As noted in LAPA 3550, exhibits and CcOn= whe arious locations ‘in tlio city, with the closing performance on-25 March at the Scala Theator hosted by the Venozue lan eoccupation with such things as a national day ‘to e sea for Bolivia which stopped all traffic and- LL group also obtained 10 minutes on Panorama Mundial, Channel 7 TV, as part of a 30—min overthrow of Goulart in Brazil, According program is rated as Nvaving 900,000 viewers four conferences. before small groups of Ro “which were attended by a total of 400 persons, 'The AMSPELL team arrived in Rosario on 11 April and opened the exhibit on 15 April, after the customary difficulties of finding a site due to the lack of advance preparations, The local chamber of commerce finally came through with an excellent Site, the “Galeria Libertad", in the center of town, visited the exhibit during the three days it was open, Papers (La Cronica, La Tribuna, La Capital) gave G00d publicity to the tour, The local radilo:-stations gave spot announcements of the exhibit . but did not give any additional publicity, . The AMSPELL team made a hurried trip to Cordoba, where they were able to show the exhibit to an estimated 600 persons during a three—day Stay, 20-23 April. The he main thoroughfares, Despite CRE TERRI awate | SECRET | UFGA 16,980 . ee - s against (and thereby calling attention to ) the congress, The ond result Was thatthe AMSPELL team did nothing,. An amateurish plan to kidnap a Cuban delegate. to the LAYC as hostage for Was quickly scotched by the Station. (See SAGO 6595), political prisonerg in Cuba According to AMSPELL, this ~ 7 ing space for the oxhibit, the exhibit finally opened on . Leandro Allem street, An ~ t during a foureday period, e La:Prensa and La Razon ute program on Cuba and the to AMSPELL, the Panorama. « The AMSPELL team also held. tarians and university student A total of 2,000 persons local hews- local chamber of commerce team reported tnat Montevideo April and after unsuccess— ral location, felt obliged dered a center of reaction al contacts, a fair amount S and the AMSPELL team had ELARSIFICATION roa | . . : 7g 53a USE PREVIOUS EDITION, j SECRET PAGE NO.