HW 55355 FOP-SECREF-PEAR CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITY - cont'd EE ER A a contd There is additional information on Cuban use of a DC-4 aircraft allegedly to supply Venezuelan guerrillas with weapons through British Guiana. A clandestine source who is a civil aviation expert and affiliated with the Cuban Ministry of Trans-— portation reports hearing rumors to the effect that the recently refurbished CUBANA DC-4 with CUBANA registry number CUT-785 has been issued a "Guiana license," presumably a license for operation in British Guiana, and has been operated by military personnel. He adds that “it is said that clandestine flights have been made to Venezuela."' The same source had previously reported the re- furbishing of this plane and some others and indicated that extra fuel tanks had been installed on them. (CIA DD/P IN 75942, 8 De- cember, SECRET/CONTROLLED DISSEM/NO FOREIGN DISSEM) The Cubans are reportedly involved in the serious political crisis now under way in Bolivia, where a split between President Paz' section of the governing party and the leftist sector led by Vice President Lechin threatens serious civil disorder. Cuban Chargé Lasalle has given two boxes of arms to leaders of the left section of the party for use in the Catavi-Siglo mining area, ac- cording to information received by a clandestine source. The source, a medium-level member of the left section of the govern- ing party who has excellent contact with national leaders of that section and who is apparently trusted by Lasalle, was given this information by a Bolivian labor leader who added that he had personally received the arms from Lasalle. The source re- ports that the arms are of German origin and had been stored in Lasalle's house in La Paz. (CIA DD/P La Paz, IN 76093,:8 December, SECRET) ; Two unnamed Cubans are reportedly with a group of 18 members of the Peruvian Army of National Liberation (ELN) who are cur- rently hiding in Bolivia, according to a usually reliable medium- level member of the Peruvian Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR) who is in regular contact with MIR leaders. The members of the ELN may have been returning from training in Cuba, since several such groups from that movement have gone there in the past. According to Gonzalo Fernandez Gasco, leader of the MIR, his group will help them return to Peru by providing them with the necessary documentation. In return, the weapons owned by the ELN--automatic weapons and "San Cristobal" carbines--will be turned over to the MIR, reportedly in accordance with an order from Fidel Castro. Once the ELN youths are back in Peru, the MIR will look after them and try to convert them to the cause. The object is to eliminate the ELN as a rival force. -12- DoclId: 327401327 Page i?
—FOP-SECREF-DINAR CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITY - cont'd A re Possibly related to this reported plan to upgrade the MIR is a report from the same source that Fernandez said on 6 December that Castro recently sent money to the MIR leaders and offered to train more of its members in Cuba. Fernandez said that in the future, groups of MIR members will go alternatively to North Korea and to Cuba for guerrilla warfare training. (CIA Lima TDCS-3/566,~- 662, 6 December, and TDCS-3/566,947, 8 December, SECRET NO FOREIGN DISSEM) -13- BW 55355 Docld:32401327 Page 16