ke neha Pe arte A dptentietets “e. ~~ SECRET | Cases sans z June 1961 - pe MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD 3 SUBJECT: Relations with Manolo RAY and the RP i, For background see my memorandum of lc May !961, reporting on my long session with Manolo RAY, Rogelio CISNEROS (Eugenio) and Ernesto - BETANCOURT. As wiil be noted in that memorandum, hianolo promised te | come up with @ prospectus within appro«imately ten days’ time, alter. com- g@ulliag with his leaders in Cuba. & Oni June 1961 Mr. Barnes called me to say that Sir. Coodwin had been visited by tr. Ernesto BETANCOURT who asked for immediace Hinanctal - support for certain activities of the hiRP which would run arouncs $!u, Gov i dollars, Air, Barnes asked me to contact EETANCOURT for the pur,ose of ©: aecertaining what the funde were to be used for, exactly haw much needed, ete.” boo Tecalle? BETANCOURT and he told me that I should get these details from : CISNEROS (Eugenio), who was staying at room 549 ai the wasbington Hotel. i called Eugenie and nade a data for o.e and Ray DuBois iRay Adare is the meme he uses with Key and Cisneros) to cali upon him. ‘te called on CISNEROS. 42 approximately 1835 hours | June, and he informed us chat he had urgent ~ need for pesos for use in suppert of his sabotage: and underground activities : im Cuba. He said his seople were absoluicly without funds, needed money for’ § living expenses, traneoortation purchase of sabotage eculoment, air faves fer . couriers, and for assisting peogle to get out of srisaa, He said thar ie was F 4 now posgiblie for people to buy their way out of prison by oribing ane ofthe - : mzny ‘communist lewyers and judges. He thought that 4u, Coo or 60, Uae , would meet immediate needs and that some sort of arrangement should be made: Po to receive funds ~ 36, 690 moathly or theresbouts ~ on & fixed aad permaneng = i basia. . 3 _. 3 We made no commitment to Eugento. other than to eay that we would | ; i pase hie piea along to the interested poopie, 1 reminded him tha: we had acked i Aim and Manole to orepare & plan for consideration and that we were still : walting for that plan, 1 said I pergonally doubted tha: anything could be deme = % ‘gmiil che plan was received from RAY. He sald Manolo was planning to. come te: Washington on the afternoon of 5 June. with the plan, but chat he himself was : having to retura to Miami immediately and it was wital he be able to take the =; money with him, arrange in Ailami for purchase of the peace (ar rate of i al : a re ° along bend yen ad wo
a ‘completely honest ead tremendously conscientious... k would be harder co fee rae 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 things stood. 4. Udiecussed our meeting with CISNERCS with Tracy Barnes on the ; morning of . June. kt was Tracy's opinion, in which I heartily concur, that we should put out no money whetseever until ve have had a' chance to examine Manole’é plan and to study just what recercussions or ranvifications there would be, policy-wise and otherwise, to a decision to assist the {RP unilaterally; that is, ouside the Council and presumably without MIRO's “2 knowledge or consent. Since RAY has withdrawn his grouo fromm the Council =, with a grea: deal of fanfare, it is moat unlikely that MIRG would look kindly Foon @B any S6Sisience to RAY, eapecially since he feals he has a rather firm : : promise from the President to deal only through MIRO, « " S$. RAY, upon arrivel in Washington, #ill presumably take hie plan (along with BETANCOURT) directly to Mir. Goodwin and I would aleo presume that Goodwin will pasa it down to Tracy and Tracy to us. Ray DuBoie, wo has been Manolo's case officer, is standing by in tbe event he should be needed. & personally feel very strongly thet we should do nothing to suszort the ~~ plan, whatever it is, until we have received from the White House and the Department clear-cuz, unequivocal policy guidance on the overall plan. I also feel that now is the time, {if we are $$ ing to support the MRP unilaterally, to insert a non-official cut oui into the operation, I would recommend that con- : sideration Le given to using Mr. Harry Pieper (a AVE contract employee) i Ge this job, Harry is iampermeniaily suiied, has a good business head, is “ fluent in Spanieh (lived <8 years in Cuba), is cleared, follows directions, find a better pearson, 7. Also, 1 would like to point out the security risks inherent in any arrange- mente with the RAY-BETANCOURT-CISNEROS trio. These fellows have had i easy accest to the White House and to the Department, are notorious ior their } “planned leaks, will probably presume all the Department officials they deal with are privy to the arrangement, and before we know it the whole exile community will be well aware that we are providing financial and material Support te the RAY group. Iam not arguing against providing such eupport, but am merely pointing out the real potential for embarrassment to us if the : matter is not handled with the greatest of precautions. I feei they have become a too closely identified with U, S, -offictaldom, including suyself, and that the _ plausible denial aspects, to daie at icast, are almost non-ealstent. ne i ce: A/DDP/A. - Waits DC/WH/4 a weuue wae Ea, Stents Of tad meget metelel dds Pen Cal ade DE ci gp ed oat