‘oa f02610017] she sw WEXORANMDUM FOR THE RECORD SUBJECT: Meeting with Dr, Kanuel Antonio Yarona on § May in New York Gity, 1050 to 1315 hours . ; OENRRAL | { 1 i | se Yarona arrived the evening of 4 May and registered at the St. Morite Hetel, After severa] unsuccessful efforts to reach hia tere (because hie plane was late), I finally got him -t about 2330 hours and. -cheruled » meeting with him for the next moraing, I met him in the lobby of the hotel, and we spent the bet~ _ . . ef part of the next threes houra in s stroll around C.-ntral rark and at lunch, - For the first hour or so Verona unloaded a mmber of thoughts on the current  politioal situations most of these we are already fomilinr with, but among the points that he had to make were some which my be new and which are covered below, - @ Varona was shocked over the Senate Interns] 2ecurity Subcomitte's Ghoiee of Col, UGALDE Carrille to testify before them. Varona describes this person as an absolute war eriminal who has ne business appearing before any official United States body. He sare thet he might resign himself to the fact that in our demoeratic, parlimentary system of ‘fovermment. such things ean hapr sa, ' there {5 not the slightest possibility that the average Latin American could ever understand that, this sotion does not represent the thinking of the entire United States Government. hen I tried to explain this in terms ef our traditional separation of powers between the iegislativw and cxecutive crenches, the fact that we are in an election year, and other extenuating Girounstances, Varona expreased amazement. that we have no more ef a gen.e of com en purpose here in this country than we apparently do. The Legisletive Bronch goes one direotion and the Exeoutive Branch gose ancther and there appeare te be little ccordination . bwkesen the two, oo ° ’ ; 3. Varona was also quite unhaypy about the anaaial sraceduese thich Ymal~ @rsion had given him whon he reaghad vow Fork the nizht before, He Lhoughé that he had been handled ina rather discourteous wy and sould not underatend why he was pleced on mrcle and instructed to keep In idgration and Naturalisation informed of his addreys «% sll tice, i explained this srecinl procedure to hua and emphasized the fact tint it wea something that we ladd on for only certain Select poople, that 4t waa oviting through wountoins of red tape in permitting visitors auch as Verona to move sround the aountry or even to Ieave it and return without the normal aduinistr-tive diffioultins,. This mollified him, and fron that peint on 1 would any that our Gonvorgation wag on a very cordinl plang. _ 4 on SE TL TE race it ee, a carn eet ooawainien aneertometag tarcaany cere . . . . ° ° . 6
14-00000 i : be The latent uistrust or outright dislike of the United Stetes in the ~  daye in Mind he wants to find an opnrtiawnt. lie will return to “ew York in time ', for the reeting of other Cuban oprosition leaders, including Justo Corrillo, | Rseag and others, snd hae no intention a¢ tile timo 6f going to Weshington. | ar aot ee & Kay 1960 Page 2 &. HNeving just returned fron the Conference on Democrecy and Fresdom in Caracas, Yarona had = number of thouphts on that, 1e considered the Conferenee &@ great success from the standpoint of the liberal ‘ubang who ha opposed any resolution approving the Castro regime, He said there wis 6 strong nove afoot to put over such a resolution but that ne, ‘anches Arango, Jose Ignacio saseo and othera were able to keep euch a resolution from being passed. Tie min svonsors of this, ty the way, were mambera cf the left wing of the tecton Denoer»tica of Venesusla. lie also said that a nuaber of veople of lib ral tendencies attanded the meeting with gross aisconce;tions concerning the nature of the Cratro regine and that he and the cther Cubans th-t I aentioned were able to convert a number of these, fmong them were Allende (fu) of Argentina »nd several others whose panes he hag recorded, In other vords, som good wiasion: ry work wa done at the Conference, In terms of official rosults, there woe.very little. He teld se that the agenda wma not terribly well worked out, that the peonle in attendance et the Con’erense were of uany politieal hues ond that nothing of great interest took place on the floor itself but rather in nrivate caucuses and small mectinge behind the eeenes. 1°11 mention sone of the results of the Gonference which are eS interest to us operationally in succeeding paragraphs. ed ae! noe. O aRceeEh » - RADE O:-0 me etree te gn amo te Br ws ane ae eeenceneceehmee: Ho meetin ne 26 OF OM wc OH * -  ° §. He ouite naturally had a great deol to say bout the Ceatro regime and. he pointed out threa areas in which Castro enjoys a great sropnganda adventage teday, areas which we would be well advised to keep in mind in planning our own_ prepagenda. These ore the following: ; = ne os ° @ Castro's conversion of foruer militory barracks inte schoole, This aa | ‘has been a tromendous propaganda sucocss for Castro. Ke has managed | te soft-pedal completoly the faat that hets built new barracks and that the arvy is now bigger than it-ever hea been. . minde of most Latin Americans. Castro hang been able to play this theme backward and forwrd, opunly and tacitly, with great suscess. ' @. The apparent affinity of the United ctetes! Senate for former supporters of the Ratista regime, This has be-n touched on in an earlier paragraphe . 6. Varona told mo that he planned te fo to Miami on 6 May and return to Hew York City on the eighthor the morning of tha ninth, During these two or three ‘To He would like to tring hie wife and daughter to the States ue soonaa °° popsible but hopes he oun «llew Ilda daughter to findeh primary achoel, whieh. will
14-00000 6 Kay 19460 Page 3 ar tale | until around 10 June, before bringing her and the o- her over. He is rlee quite cencerned about the servant, «n cld family retainer, +hose visa has not yet been iesued tecause of some difficulties she got into several years sgo «ithout being aware tt.t she was treaking a United States’ lav. This mtter baa been eevered in an exchange of cables and 1 recommend that .e do vhatewer we can for the woman so as to set the ‘arona family's mind at ease on this point. , PROPAG. EDA 8. Oering our converastion Jerona mde a number of pointe whieh ney te of walue in connection with our fortheoaing propaganda program. everal of our wulnerabilities I've referred to in one of the earlier paragraphe, and we should do whatever ve can to repair thea. Another point of interest wag varona'ts feeling towrd Francisco ICHASO, Thia gentleman used to be s writer ef editorials for Dierio de la Marina, and he has aleo worked for Bohemia and station Cha. He was pro-Batista at one time, Varena hag a very high regard for him as a writer ‘and feels that he can be weful if he writes anonymously or under a pen namo. He is ' §ariting if and when iehago gets out of Cuba. -Concerning the Caracas Conference which just finished, Varona told me that the speech which Caldera (I believe it ie Rafael Caldera) made at the closing section wos, in his owi words, "formidable*, @ tremendous speech, This, for save reason, has not been publicized either in Letin America or here in the United States, eseerding te Varona, It would be _ wery good for us to de everything peasitle to spread the word of Caldera throughout . the hentephere, Varona also said that, dduarde PREI Montalva of Chile spoke extremely velt.on the opening cay tut that his-remoerks were off-the-cuff and there probably ia no written record of what Froel had to say. §, Before leaving Carucas, Varona organized a nucleus ef a propaganda outlet there, He expects to use Carnese ag a distribution center for propagands throughe out South Ameriea and the Caribbean. He had a talk with President Betancourt ’ there who approved thie aclivity. Betancourt teld Varona henceforth to go directly te the Minister of Treasury, HAYORES, a8 his official contacts POLITIOAL ACTION 10, Verons ebytcusly haa a great iany idess on the roldtieal.flolds Ha has - & representative ‘in daraosa, s@ I hive mentioned, and ho hopes within tha near ‘future to have hie ow people in every country of the hemisphere «6 agit-prop tyyes. One of the wen that he expects to use for thia type Amalie FIALLO, whe de now in Kiami and whe hag been mentioned in aommunisations to the Sleld end in u memorandum from WNDALR. Fiallo ie @ Qubaa, a former member of Aocion Gatol ioe Hels extremely welleerdented :olitdeally and en exeellant speaker, Fiallo made only one mistake in nie politienl, esreer, necording to Varana, Thiet was in 193d, wien he suprorted the idea of eleationa under the Hatist. regime, He hos singe. geen the light and is now considered quite relluvle and valunble sy Verona, whe plang te eend hin on a tour of Latin Ameriea, most aroclous to bring him out and will undoubtedly plan on using him for propaganda . Ty ee EE Ee an
14-00000 6 May 1960 a Page & Ll, Varona told me thst before leaving Cube he wae able to orgnnise a caaplete underground movement of -eorle who ere not openly identified with the ? Autentico Movezent, ; . . 22, Concerning a site for a future Junta. Governnsnt~in-exile, Directorio er what have you, Varona doubts thet Costa lilies will bo suitable. selations between “Pepe” Figueres and President Jchandd are rot as good o8 they would have to be for Figueres to obtain the approval of “chindi for such activities. There would be no preblea in holding c meeting or series of meetings of tiia group in San Jose, but ag a permanent site, it is doubtful, in Varona'e opinion. (1 didn't bring up the corcept of a governrent-in-exile or ny of the attendant legol problems, so we didn't discuee this. In sy view it would be better fer the Bender-Carr group to raise the point.) are _ 3. When I asked him then what could be a better permanent site for the directing body, he said that Mexioo would be good, but the United States would undoubtedly have to be the sain casembly point for these people. oo 14, Varona raised the question of Sanchez irarigo, He leans in favor of ' bawing Sanches join the Directorate, if I may o.1) it that. He did say that Sanches, like Rubio Fadilla, has to be handled with kid gloves. For example, Sanches should never ettend a meeting of Cubans and their American advisors, @.go Mr. Bender or Mr. Carr, for the rerson that to Sanches Arenge thie would appear to be servitude on the part of the Cubans towards the Americans, ind if at any ister date he had a difference of opinion with the other Cubena in the _ Group, he might charge them with being lackeya of the Americans, “ith this in a, Varona recommended that we talk to Janchee ‘range separately before he joins any Cuban group under our sponsorship. 45. when I gave Varona the letter frou Juan Antonio Rubio Padilla, he asked we what I thought of Rublo. In non-cocmittal fashion I turned the question around *o Varona himself, At this, he emiled and poused # long time and then told me that Rubio was a fine man but thet he hnd lest two sone whe died of the sume dlineos, that this hag made of him, if not a titter man, one who retains his independence to an extreme, This ie iis iwinoipal characteristic, volitieally, he is -uite conservative but free of any involvcuent with the Natista regine, Hiete a mn whe tikes to work alone and who le net inclined to go slong with the .. will of the unjority in aituaticne like the prasent one wiere memoors of ‘the —~ : opposition to Castro are trying to orpardee despite internal polltieal differences, 16, In connection with hie ontry at Idlewild on 4 May, Varona asked Carr fer some help when Carr selled him Inter in the avening. Garr in turn referred him to a gentleman named Leon Uennen whe ifves at 77 lark Terrace raat and hae two telephones, A Q-Lbh and LU Jehi7#. Dennen tele;honad Varona on the norning. of $ May at Varona'e hotel and voluntagred te help VYarons with any -roblems he might have with lnnigration and Naturoliantion, After J had explained to him : ¥ s,
14-00000 C7 A , ~ mo 7 . x, ~*~ 6 kay 1960 7 Page § what the speslal procecure involved, Verona saw no further need te talk to Dennen, However, | surgeatestwfe creck with Carr to find out Low this man got an into our operetions , . 17. The polities] part of our discussion wag to have followed a format i which Mr, Droller and I worked out before I left. It was to inulude 4 rationale - for the present United States’ position in Latin .merica and wag to cover such items ao his travel to sashingten, but the conversation quickly took such « turn that I mane a couple of on-the-spot changes, For one thing, Jarona is suite familiar with United States! thinking on Cuba and is unhappy nbout it. dn the respects I have menticned carlier, but <t least he's sophisticated enough to understand the whys and wherefores. One fairly important point whieh we did Gover, however, concerned the Bender-Carr group. I told Varona very frankly that certain activities were not within my prevince but there was a group that i wis aware of, headed by 4r. Carr (whose name incidentally Varona had mentione: to ce (first) 2 ; that this group wes completely relisble and well-intentioned and did have. the . : proper contacts with our government and that he should have no reservations sbout ~ working with this group. it this same time, I gave Yarona my own emorgency ; telephone number, WE 56-0469, in case he should have any problems with United States! authorities such ss INS. ind I also discussed with him a number of figures of importance in the Caribbean political situatlon=-intelligoucs netters »hich an Ameriean officiel would have interest in. The subjects that I "avoided" wore paramilitary and the «ueation of conversion of gases for do'lare. He didn't. bring up the point and we talked about so wany other thing: thet I desided te leave this one for the attention of the Sender—Cerr group, aa it looked like. a good opportunity for them to help Varena out and thereby vatablieh that much more rapport. pT 28. Varone told me that in the twelve hours or so thet he'd now been in New York he had already received an approach from Zuseblo Mujal, the ‘ormer chief of the CIC under Batista. Through a inin named Alborto or ‘lfrado cruz, _ Mujal sent word that he recognized that any return to the status quo under Batista 4e now out of the .uestion ad that he is willing te tury old differences and - work dn eunplete harmony with such ;eople ea ‘Tony Yorona with the single chisctive _ of ridding Cuba of Fidel Castro. Varona is not going to roject this proposal out of hand but ia going to study it very carefully -nd talk to some of his Cuban aolleagues about. it, In. this connection, 16 le intoresting to note that Varona. end perhaps other Cubans may well be. seftening towards-the former “untouchable® , groupes of Pagintorog ag in the case of Mujnl snd Ichase, the writer that 2 nentionad eluewere, , , 19. We did not dinouas thie subject at great lengt! on I had very carefully” drawn a line between the-eativities in wiloh 1 hada legitiate intercst véa - United States! Oovarnvuant offiedal and thone which could teat Le handled in gon funetien with orivste eroupa, Le, the Qarr-lender grou: (aso rareeraph 17), iowover, Varona vid mention be ma that he had, in Veneaucla, a friend uno wag. & re EE EEE AEP heal I ETE i As ld bl sibi at eee aa 8 BE vette carne IE Dt tt i tenth REITs acute Wns Ges oe worn geosntnt 20" a nang ane entyn sognnipaPPTE et wanine. po Miettinen etiam am ce Sitti La a te mm tO re comrsneenteecee "aa
14-00000 { ot roar on SEORET . 6 May 1960 f : Page 6 wealthy omer of a finca and that this friend had rremised him the use of the , finee for such parexilit rg training pur.oses ag he might have at some liter date. ‘The conversstion did not permit me to learn the manta name at the tims and i mention the point here merely «5 a lesd for ,ossible later follow-up. STAYBRHIED ° 20,. Varona told me that he had lined up a han radio operator in Caracts, ' Veresuela and that he wished to institute a radie echedule between a ain in the Miexd area and the ons in Venesuels to give him communication with hie croup down there. This pattern wes established curing the Batista regins by the rebel units, and 1% fe desirable now, according to Varona, in view of the etrocious eommunicotien facilities between Carsecnas and the United States. 1 suggested ¢hat wo might be able to help him set up the American end ef thie nat. aca \ wei tteasd aroma eitRcretiety | ENR EET GLE AMT EA BATE . 21. When I brought up the point of establishing staybehind como with his people in Cuba to be in readiness in the event of a break in relations with the | . United Stites, he wis uite enthusiastic. He is going to come up with names of =< people whe could come to this country for three or four weeks for tha necessary ‘ some training and then go back in to work transmitters-receivors and/or to ¢reim others. I also promised Varona that we could make radio tranaxitter= receivers available to hin, ; . 99, To used the name “Robert, Rogers” with Varona. Since AMVAIL-3 wie also OO in ‘tom, had seen me the preceding day and also knows me as Thogers” thie looked like the best slias. . : st tecatat Maina Siecle leith oor 8H! Om Nt gy ps ana Cif Reyne olds ny Distribution: ne Orig. & 2 = OAH/b “4 - wi/L/Prop oe 1 « «H/L/Intel 2 = W/L /TM 1 = wil/i/ehrono (Heme for the record) meas. ban Aw