Late July-early August--A refugee source reported that grading and leveling of a hill near Matanzas by Bloc personnel and equipment had been under way for two weeks prior to 8 August, Tight security conditions prevailed, .On 6 August the source saw a Soviet ship in Matanzas unloading boxes 8 meters long, two meters high, and 1,5 meters wide; the boxes were put on flatbed trucks and taken to the construction site, 30 July-2 August--A refugee source reported two Soviet ships Gerald R. Ford Library HW 55355 Docld: 32112761 at Matanzas on 30 July; for three days he watched - the ships unload under strict security. About 135 Soviets arrived in jeeps +o handle the oneration. Most of the cargo consisted of “giant gour-wheeled trucks," van type, completely enclosed except for two windows on the vans and two on the cabs, Each van had a trailer neasuring three meters in length and three in height covered with canvas, A netal pole protruded upward in the reaTo tA refugee Source Said he passed three slow-moving ‘and apparently heavily loaded trucks, all ZIL-1508, between Arcos de Canasi and Jibacao near Santa Cruz del Norte, The trucks had no Sideboards and each | was carrying a Large pox-1ike object about two meters tall and fitting within the bed of the truck, Profeey’ at Cre iat Late ka 8 ace 3 Page 4
te eerie Vertical edges of the canvas covering appeared to be fastened by zippers, Early August--4 refugee Source Said he saw three Soviet ships in Matanzas on or about 1 August, and later observed a bus loaded with some 40 Soviets coming from across the Canimar Bridge and going toward Matanzas He said the bus passengers appeared dirty and partly covered with sand or cement dust, In the next few dayS he Saw many trucks, ZIL-151s, going back and forth between Puente Canimar and Matanzas; he also Saw dump trucks. and trucks covered with can- veses J-11 August--A refugee Source was told by the owner of a Photocopy from Gerald R. Ford Library farm located on top of a hill near Santa Cruz del Norte called Loma Colorada that Cuban military authorities had forced him to sell his farm and that troops and equipment were moved into the area, On 10 August the source saw five trucks coming from the farm driven by Soviets and containing men dressed in work clothes, On 11 August the same source saw tracked vehicles pulling heavily loaded trucks up the road to the farm, On 5 August a highly reliable source confirmed that construction activity was under way at this site. HW 55355 Docld:32112781 Page 5
NOFORN 2 August--A refugee Source was held up in a cafe near the Canimar Bridge for nearly an hour while a convoy of trucks, cranes, and vehicles passed. The source described tracked vehicles, radar vans, medium tanks, tractor trucks, fire-control apparatus, and -direction-finding gear, 2-7 August--A refugee source reported that on 2 or 3 August intermittent convoys of trucks passed his house located east of Matanzas and were traveling toward the Canimar River, The source identified equipment similar to SHALL CROSS radio Jirection-finding equipment, ZIL-151 trucks with prefab huts on the . beds, numerous trucks and trailers with canvas- covered cargoes, and other vehicles, On 6 or 7 August the source Saw some 50 trucks traveling east from Matanzas carrying liquid tanks which were ‘about six feet in diameter and eight feet long, The trucks and convoys went to the site south of Canimar Bridge called E1 Bongo where on 5 August a highly reliable source confirmed that unidentified military construction was getting under way involving many trucks and other vehicles, — 7 August--A Cuban refugee source reported that he had seen Photocopy from Gerald R. Ford Library HW 55355 Docld: 32112761 a "large" group of African males being escorted ‘around the city of. Mariel, most of them dressed in Cate wie? NOFORN Page 6
eis. ¢ ~NOFORN af cr ui Ane “ghee . Western style, but a few dressed in native costumes and with rings in their noses,. The source concluded that they were African students visiting Cuba, 6-9 August~-An untested Source, a Cuban lawyer, who Said he received his information from a member of an anti~ Castro organization, reported that during the period 6 to 9 August Cuban nationals were excluded from the Santa Clara pier (probably in Havana) during the un- loading of a Ship by Soviet personnel, The source reported that approximately 2, G00 Soviet nationals were quartered at the reformatory at Torrens, near © El Chico, in Havana province, ; 9 August~-A refugee Source obServed a convoy of 12 trucks east of Sancti Spiritus in Pinar del Rio headed westward, The. trucks were hauling small trailers, among which were power generators, The trucks were driven by Soviet or Bloc personnel and appeared to . have huts built on the truck peds, . The Source posi- tively identified CHEESE BRICK ECM equipment in- stalled on GAZ-63 vehicles, 9-10 August-~The intelligence coordinator of an anti-Castro _ Photocopy from Gerald R. Ford Library HW 55355 Docld: 32112761 group in Cuba, a fairly reliable source, reported the following from a resident of the area described: As of 9 August there were slightly more than 1,000 Soviet nationals at Guatana, Pinar del Rio province, PRUT cht YOUR THE WHITE HOUSE OF IGE . . 4 6~ ” b, Page ?
_NOFORN , ; and Cuban nationals had been moved out of the area; as of 10 August there was an “army” of Soviet, Chinese, and Congolese nationals at Guatana, Prior to 11 August--An untested source, a former Cuban army officer who Said he received the information from the wife of a Havana municipal employee, re~ ported that prior to 11 August a large group of Soviet nationals, "specialists in the installation of rocket pases," bad disembarked at Mariel and were being transported to Santa Lucia in Pinar del Rio province. Photocopy from : Gerald R. Ford Library ; ~ To HW 55355 Docld:327112761 Page 6