(404-10165-10039 teens Sate re ea! ~— Z j — + Sa fAGS: ° < June 1961 . : MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD s E£UBJECT: Relations with Manolo RAY and the K(RP_ . i. For background see my memoranduro of 1d May !96l, rezorting on my long session with Manolo RAY, Rogelio CISNEROS (Eugenio) and Erneste BETANCOURT. Aa will be noted in that memorandum, hianolo promised to come up with @ prospeciua within approximaiely ten days! time, after con- @ulting with hie leaders (pn Cuba. o £, Oni June 1961 Me. Barnes called me to say that i4r. Goodwin had been wisited by bur. Erasste BETANCOURT wae asked for immedisace financial - - support for certain activigles of the MAP which would run around $10, C3¥ dollars. Mr. Barnes asked me to contact BETANCOURT for the pui-sose of ; ascertaining what the funde were to be used for, exactly how much needed, ete. 2called BETANCOURT and he wold me that I snould get these detaile from CISNEROS (Ewgenio), who was staying at room 549 at the Washington Hotel. i called Eugealo aad made a-daia far oe and Ray Dubsis (Ray Adams ts the Qame he uses with Key and Cianeros) to calt upon him. We called on CISNEROS i approximately 1815 bours | June, and he informed us thas he had urgens , meed for pesos for use in support of his sabotage and underground activities in Cuba. He sald his people were absoluecly without funda, needed money for living expenses, transportation, ourchase of sabotage ecuinwent, sir favee fae courlers, and for assisting people co get out of prison. He said that it was now possible lor people to buy their way out of prison by oribing ane of the many ‘coarmcenist lewyers amd judece. He thought that 4u,CGU or 60, Lut would meet immediate needs and that sore sort of arrangement should he made 89 receive funds ~ 3¢,600 moathly or theresboute - on a fixed and permanent basis. : ; , a, .3. We made so commitment to Eugenio other than to say that we would Sage hie plea along to the interested people. I reminded him tha: we had acked Sim and Manele to presare a plasm for consideraston and that we were still waiting for tha: ple. I said I personally doubted that anything could be dene _tatil the plan was received from RAY. He-esid Manolo was planning te came to Washington on the afternoon of ¢ June. with the plan, but thas he himseli was : having to return to Miami immediagely and it was vital he be able to take the 3: money with him, srrange in Ailami for purchase of the pesos (at rate af i ale i care on ao eeirnasttyeid otsbas rank Abt Is be at 10 8 a ae Aeaeteenede oe sem set RETURN TO cH Background Use Only Do Not Reproduce ° : ‘ : a date
afl me ogu money slready in Cuba - dollars would be delivered to owners of the pesos who ‘are in Miami). I told him I would call him in the morning to let him know how | 4. Udiecuesed our meeting with CISNERCS with Tracy Barnes on the moorning of 2 June. k was Tracy's opinion, in which I keartlly concur, that we should put oct no money whatsoever until we have had a chance to examine Manolo's plan and to study Just what repercussions or ramifications there would be, policy-wise and otherwise, 10 a decision to aseiet the M18P enilaterally; that is, ouside the Council and presumably without MIRO‘'s knowledge or.consent. Since RAY has withdrawn his grous from the Council with a grea: deal of fanfare, it is most unlikely that MIRG would look aindly Om any assistence to RAY, especially since he feels he has a rather {firm promise from the President to deal only through MIRO, 5. RAY, upon arrival in Washington, will presumably take his plan (along with BETANCOURT) directly to Mr. Goodwin and I would also presume that | Goodwin will pass is down to Tracy and Tracy tous. Ray DuBois, who has been Manole's case officer, is standing by In the evens he saould be needed. 6 I personally feel very strongly thet we should do nothing to suzp0rt the ~~ plan, whatever lt is, until we have received from the White House and the Department clear-cut, unequivecal policy guidance on the overall! plan. Ialeo feel that mow is the time, if we are going to support the MRP unilaterally, to insert a non-official cut out into the operation. | would recommend thar con- elderation be given to using Mr. harry Pieper (a MAVE contract employee) Ge thls jos, Harry is iampersienially svlivd, has a gooc business head, is fluent in Spanish (lived <8 years in Cuba), is cleared, follows directions, completely honest aad tremendously conscientious.. It would be harder to find a better person. 7. Also, 1 would Ifke to point out the security risks inherent in any arrange- ments with the RAY-BETANCOURT-CISNEROS trio. These fellows have had easy Acceée to the White House and to the Department, are notorious ior their _ planned leaks -, will probably presume ail the Department officials they deal " with are privy to the arrangement, and belore we know it the whole exile community will be well aware that we are providing financial and mazerial Support to the RAY group. Iam mot arguing against providing such aupport, bot am merely pointing out the real potential for embarrassment to us if the ‘matter le not handled with the greatest of precautions, [| feel they have become too closely identified with U, S, -officialdom, including myself, and that the plausible denial aspects, to dase at least, are almoat non-ealetent. : 1 ne : “ ee A/DDP/A ; DC/wWwH/a ° 3 ‘ 3