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\ { -_ «: ‘ 7 . ~ oad ° CoA tht Ca lies : DrPasre Sab aul ee) DISPATCH a asi-25 TO wap Representative, Miami 1 aADGLARES aE WO |oec Havana, (Carscas) /¢-4? — 201-259, 120 FROHA Chief, WED . — an ars Dm Omtan Wan © Keeting of Fitel CASTRO with Guster MacEino H - MARKED FOR INDEIING in Caracas aa reported by Pedro Inia MAZ lana, | | | j { 3 SBF ERE CES; BETO FESEIED * _ INDEXING CAN BE FUDGED See paragraph 3 " SY QUAUFIED HQ DESK ONLY ; 1. In an article by Pedro Lais DIAZ Lanz, former Chief, Cuban Air Fores, which appeared in PARADE of the Washington Post on 3 January 1960 entitled “Why I Fight Fidel SCASTRO* (201-9756 ‘ the following statenent is made? “My doubts grew when I accompanied him on his official visit to Venezuela, He put on a big act of not vanting to neet Venezuela's . top Communist, Gustavo MACHADO. Yet be locked himself in a bathroom with HACHADO for two hours. It was the. longest talk he held with . ‘anyone in Venezuela.® 2. Gos‘avo MACHADO bss for some years been well-knovm as an overt top _ Communist leader in Venegsuela, bat the meeting with CASTRO, if it did in fact occur, a6 presumably it did, could have much more significence in light of tte following information previously received from a source proven to be reliable in the past and known to have been in a position to have knowledge of RIS activities during World War I. : ; "Gustavo MACEADO Morales, born 1898 in Caracas, Yenerucla, was | reeruited in the summer of 1944 by tha RKGB in Bogota, Colombia, for polities] intelligence work io his native Venezuela. MACHADO was initiaily controlled vy BIS through his vife, Maria Luces MACHADO, who maintained contact with Soviet Consular officials during the. middle forties." .. 3. It view of the above, it is requested that KARNIZY interview Pedro iais DIAZ Lerz in the most minute detail concerning bis mowledge of errange=- - nents made for this contact with MACHADO in Venezuela, the reactions of CASTRO -. .. to the arrangenents, and any indicated reactions in the days following that — meeting. The interview should incinde specifica as to the location, identities of others who vere knowledgeable of the contact, the length of the meeting, and other circumstances surrounding it. re . Although our efforts at this time and in this connection may not in. _Sny way establish that CASTRO is a Soviet agent, it is believed that as mach detail as possible should be acquired concerning this meeting, since && may be of considerable value at sone future tine. ; , 3 OLIVER G, GALBD. © Distributions - oo . i . 3-KMiemt j 1 -[Caraces) /(p-/F 7 ae . Based on memo from Chief, CI/SID to Chief CI/Ops, dated 12 Jan. 1960.) j
PL ree care ge zoe BALARE, FLA. NE YEAR aco this week, Fidel Castro triumphantly . entered Havana and took over the Government of Cuba. One of his first moves was te appoint me chief : of the Cuban Air Force. Today, 12 short months Later, ‘+. Ham opposing Castro's revolution with all the strength ' Pesce nsed to bels bring it shoat. For the second time in my. life, [ mm an outlaw an- able te return to my mative land except at the risk of beiurg ahot, Yer I have committed ne crime unless it isa erime to fight fer freedom—ibe hiad of freedom all Americans enjoy and all true Cabsns long to share. Afost men become revolutionaries because of an appetite for adventure, greed for. power, or zeal for oo weform. A few like myself become revolutionaries br accident. Looking back, ii hardly seems possible that oaly eight years ago I was a gay young pilot for Q Air- . Ways, commuting between Cuba and Florida,, without & rebcllious chought in my head. . Ady years since have been crowded with bloodshed. death, glory, terror, and bitterness. There were escapes that still make my nerves twang like violin strings. Then came our moment of triumph. And finally I ‘ " ¢@ early 1952, when De. Carlos Prio was President ef faced Fide! Castro, a man to whom I had been devoted, . with a cocked pistol ready to kill him. Bat i am rushing ahead of my story. Let me go back Cube, Accidentally | learned that his rival, Fulgencie Batiste, planned to take over the government, | paued ee thie information through my father, a career gos- @rament eniplese. And om March 14 1952, as I had .. wrareed, Hatista seized the presidency. + When, later, I met Prio, hz seemed genuinely peni- tewt about the corruption in his administration and swore he would win back freedom tor the Cuban people. He was so fervent that { left the interview a revolutionary dedicated ta the same cause of liberty. SRR BR ee ee nt eee in In those days it was common for airline pilots to smuggle nvions and Scotch imto Cuba—-sorsething I ' never did. Now, however, I started bringing ra rifles. After a year, someone whispered to Batista’s secret police. Ther tortured and humiliated my father. Then they seized me for 10 days of cross-examination. They lacked evidence to bold ae, bui it was oaly a roatter of time until they would come alter me again. In a gakeshifi disguise. I slipped off to Camarvev, registered at a hotel under a false aame, and planned ' my eseape to Haiti with a pilet friend who was going there te dust crops. One marky morming I bid eat im the grass at the end of the beavily guarded airsrip, _ leaped aboard the plane as it was*tasiing, and left my homeland behind. Now a revolutionary, | went from Port au Prince to Miami. For the next two vears, { worked as basbov and dishwasher. In those days. Fidel Cast-o was oaly a name to me. He had attacked the Army barracks at Santiago de Cuba on July 26, 1933. For his pains, be was languishing in a prison cell. Staughter of the ianecents ‘When Batista granted amnesty to all political of- , fenders in. 1955, Castro wae Greed and I hurried home. I wanted nothing more than te resume my_ peacefull profession as a pilot. But try ae 1 might, & could met close my eves to Batista’s terror. For my own eves witnessed Batita’s police shoot down innocent vietions. Personal freeads were tortured end murdered. f aself was faleety ac. ~ eased of barning sugar cane end threatened with death. Angee boiled up inside me until at lest 1 jocned Castro's 26th of July movemem and volunteered fer - wndercever work. My first orders were to sneak oat of Cuba and ferry — weapons to Castro's hide-out am the Sierra Macura Pues artes mange em soy to walk inte a Cuban airport and catch a flignt out of the country. I had to create a new personality. First | borrowed a passport from Carlos Bastida, a- sympathetic newspaperman from Ecuador. f had never visited Ecuador, but 1 became an expert on that coun- iry. Deven Fearned to talk with an Ecuadorean accent - and to forge Bastida’s signature. Finally 1 donned a Panama hat, dark glasses. and a sports coat thie seemed appropriate for a South American reporter. Then with Frank Fiorini, an American friend of the movement,, I set out from Santiago m Camaguey. “What Are You Doing Here?” - Te give the trip the appearance of an outing, .we _brought along a couple in the back seat. Batista'patrols stopped us 15 times and frisked us for weapons. But they politely left the mri alone; they never suspected that this giggling teenager carried a pistol strapped under her skirt. At Camaguey, Frank and [ made our ways separately . to the airport. There I realised my dark glawes were arousing the suspicions of airport plainclothesmen. If I kept theet.on, | would invite an interrogation. 1f I teok them off, T weald gisk recognition for | was ‘known at every airport in Cabs. I could imagine some . friend booming out to ane, “Pedro Luis, whet are you doing here?? : The plainclotheamen started te epprosch. With cal. culated casualness alihorgh-my heart was peanding, f removed the glasses, pulled off my hat for geod meas- ure, and «trulled innocently around. The pelice lost interest. But right up to the moment the plane doors shut, I expected to he reewgniszed. From that time on, me work for the revolution was one narrow escape after another. From Miami | went to Costa Rica, where | péched up a C-46 loaded with e 6 Parade © Ban, 3, 1960 Has Mountains. No ore with my seckzound Toate ¥ é
‘-:Wifles, mortars, and aramunition—and 12 recruits. (One of them was Hubert Matos, who was to became ‘a famous Castro cominander and to be rewarded after “the weeobrtion with command of Camaguey province ~ rtm be spoke out ezainst Communists. Then he "Wes sentenced to jail as a traitor.) All were needed ode ‘ately by Castro, who was expecting a final as- -: > @ma his hide-cur. . . "2 Sroughe the Liy cargo plane down on a dirt road ‘ at Cianeguilla, not far from Castro's headquarters, -where guervillas were waiting to unload. Some actually “1. ‘wepe jovful tears at the sizhe of the armmunition arriv- "Sing in the nick of time. ft The road was so narrow that one prop whacked a i 4: ‘fence past. I could neither repair the damage nor take : ; off again before Batista’s patrols sported the plane. : 1. ‘Regretfully, I splashed gasoline over the C-46 and set * it afire. - ; . .; Thea, with the rebel force, I marched inte the moun- tains. There, on March 30. 1958, E had tay firs? meeting pwith Fidel Costro. He was overflowing with excite i ment and hailed us as “the saviours of Cube.” At that i; { time be had fewer than 100 men, with ne ammunition i \ excepe what we had brought. Castro spake with fervor 2. \e _ Vight..if only his Torsmy gun had been o etaff, he | ttt ewe parsed for a bearded prophet erring in the i . His personality had the glow of a torch. i A Miraculous Escape 4 fl veayed im the mountains sin weeks, fighting with the ground troops. Gree { was caught in the epen by a -", Bativta F-47 fighee. Bullets kicked up the dust all " aroused ene, but miracalously | wasn't even ecratched. ‘When Fidel learned [uae ticking mvself on the ‘groand, be sent urgent orders that I sheald stey out of the Gghtiag. He bad lew trouble recruiting soldiers. . be complained, than finding trained pilets whe could ‘ F flv weapons into the rugged monntains of the islands. “Then our forces in the north capaured a srna ‘ ae up plane. les single engine 42s underpowere ina badly in meed of overhaul, The ca navieae it ft was a compas, which 4 dere off But this pitiful plane made up the ee rebel Air Force for some months wool, for 5, down, I bought a linle Cessna 159 in Miami. ih This plane served as cur arms airlift. One ot only 300 pounds load limit to spare, | cramme at ard 1,000 pounds of rifles and amman 500. 'e wer 2 sitting duck for patrols, but the cals p ne we ue overlooked us. Another time, after taking off out o mountain canyon, | had a mear-aiss with a Batista frigate with antiaircraft guns. Sall another time | eas forced to make a storm emergency landing in lades. Oe of my missions was te fly weapons to Glib where Fidel’s brother Raul was in charge of the serond front. From the Grst, be impressed me as wild an eareliable. When be grambled that Fidel was getting moat of the arms, [ retorted sharply: “fam not bring. ing weapons to you as an individaal i am bringing weapons to Cubans who are fighting dictators i Later a friend, whe has my complete confidence, i me ¢ snbmarine brought in a big baci of weapons for Raal. Ky the uaiforms end Isnemee of the crew. ny iend judged the vessel was Russian. There were many flights in overloaded planes. vmany landings in the mountains at night = out lights. But perhaps my narrowest escape Came a ial . delivered the arms for Ernesto (Ge) Guevara, 6 = } later found out was proCommunist, to lead the ‘gous attack om Santa Clara. [ was fnreodt - land on a ar an’ area that Batista’s patrols had under constant watch. A hundred waiting guerrillas grabbed the am- munition whix I hurriedly poured gas into the wing tanks from Sve-gallon cans. Suddenly a Batista B-24 spotted us and dived down with guns blazing. “Liberty or Death” My helpers scattered into the jungle, leaving ‘me alone in a hail of bullets. I stand om the wing scream. ing “Cowards!” until Faustina Perez. now in charge of confiscating Batisea Property. emerged with two others to help me camouflage the pline. Later 1 dis- covered a bullet had pierced the nose tank. One spark and the plane would have gone up hke a bomb. Since we had to assume Batista troops would soon be an their way, [ struck a match and oace more watched — @ precious aircraft go up in flames. : On August 24. 1958, Fidel appointed me head of the rebel Air Force. My friends had the date inserided on a watch that 1 sill wear. Thea. oa New Year's Day 1959, just one sear ago, tame car triumph. Batiste handed over the government and Sed the country. I was in Covta Rica, picking up another lead of weapons, when the exciting newe came through When Castre appainted me chief of the Cuban Air Force. he did sa im a letter that ended with “Liberted O Muerte” Liberty or Death ; ‘ My faith io Castro was Gret jolted after his triam phaut entry into Havana. Throagheut the fong march — edecing Catholic women had pinned holy medals on him. 1 overheard Che Guevara tease him about the “devorations” he was wearing: *Listen.” Fidel ead, “we have to go slow. Moat of our preple are Catholic. - ' We cannot conden the Church right away. Thas isa fewer we cannot destroy so easily.” It waa the first amti-church statement { had heard free him. ; Mv doubts grew when f accompanied him an his oficial visit to Venerucla, He put on a big act of not pot ' : wanting to mect Venezuela's tup Communist, Gustavo Machado. Yer he locked himseif in a bathroom with Machado for two hours. It s the longest salk he i sone in Venemee nt we ted to Fidel that bis brother Raal had named Corsnunists, who hads’t fired a shot in dhe revolution, 2s army commanders. Fidel replied ear- nestly: “I ara ‘going to have to dismiss Raul. 1 am not going to let the Communists take over. . Bat Fidel did not dismiss Reel Inctead be pot him in charge ef the armed forces and gave Che Geevara control ef agrarian reform. My faith in Fidel wae shaken. Having foaght for free speech, T decided to put it to the test. But 1 was wise enough in the ways of revolutiens to arrange with ary brother Sergio Dias Brall ie have » boat ready fer 2 quick getaway. Tien Lissued e statement that I wee ready to fight aay die. tatorship—Batista, Trajille, er “the worst dictatorship im the world. communism.” The Cecked Pistol This was the showdown. juan Almeida, commander of a tank regiment, came wth a message that Fidel wanted to see me at his home. I strapped on my pistol, slipped ia a clip of 14 bullets, and removed the safety catch. When I faced Castro he erupted like a soleano. “Why should you make a statement against com- munism?” he demanded. “You will only confuse the people. You are not supposed i do anything without my consent. | am the one «hbo tells :ou what to do when” ; ee th T asked whether he had not becorpe a dic aator himself. Why should I aot have freedom to ex- | - heer eh Tove me . cmos sy WYMAN, 2 Wey aCe CONTI ancl stood br my convictions, I declared, “Remember,” I said, “rou did not win the revolution alone. You had s rey help and the help of other friends.” i warned fiercely that I would not accept arrest or 80 to jail for saving what I beBeved. To ¢ilence me he would have to kill me. “You will have to carry my | body on your shoulders and explain what has hap- pened,” I said. “You will have & explain to the Cuban people whr f have been killed after speaking against communism.” so My hand was on my pistol, and I was ready to use it. Castro booked at me—and a¢ my pistol——hard for @ moment. He was far from sare whether the Cuban people would support him im anv action against his Air Force chief for being anti-Communist. He becked : | Continued om page 7 : Lenz emiles foe domi, his “water bombing’ of Hercane was intamationgl incident. Now ie
ye i tn happier days, Diaz Lanz (¢.) and Castro discuss . 7 Wa peer pene e eh  g . a + fe ee f FIGHT CASTRO conteues eG air search for Kaul Castro. ‘T shall come back to my homeland’ .» down. "You-go home and wait,” he gowled. “IT see what I am going to do with you later.” If I was to escape, I had to put them off balance, if oniy for a few hours. With an indifferent shrug I told AL - meida I would write a letter of nesig- " mation. All I wanted from Life, I said, was to go back to my old airline job. I said, “Tell Fidel I won't cause him any trouble and I don’t want him to cause me any.” Then I added as an after- thought: “Don't put any guards on my home or follow me around, interfering " with my private Life.” My ruse worked. For the ‘next few hours I was onguarded. { got in touch with Sergio, prepared my resignation, and signed it. Thea, with my wife Tania, E burried em the deck Fidel’s men were watching the airports, but’ apparently it never occurred to them thet I might go to Miami by boat. Yet in my heart I knew I would come ‘beck. I could not ree uotil the demoe- racy I had foughe zo bring to Cubs had * been realized. Is the U.S. f decided not to speak - Gut immediately but to wait until events showed others that Castro was simply _ exchanging one form of dictatorship for another. But I was subpoenacd to testify before the Senate Internal Se- .- Carity Subcommittee. about my know!- edge of communism in Cuba. Asa guest |. in your country, 1 was obliged to tell what I knew of this matter. ' "Fer the next few weeks | avoided publicity as more and more people got @ glimpee behind the heard at the real Castro, Then I tried to reach my people. Because Castro had denounced me asa traltor, | wrote a reply and sent it to every Cuban newspaper, Net a single ene dared print it. This was the reason I decided to be my own mailman. | had 200,000 cop- ies off my beter printed and arranged to # deliver them by air: Frank Fiorini, the American who had been with me through much of the revolution, owned a B-26 that had been converted to a civilian plane. The gun openings had been permanently sealed and the bomb bay fashioned into a makeshift luggage onen partment. On the afternoon of October 21, Frank and f roared of for Havana. The winds were af peace in the sky. Except for same vibration in-the left engine, nothing happened to aw far the interna- Gonal storm our fight: was to sti up. We swooped low over the country, stuffing our leaflets through the baggage opening. f U learned afterward that Castro him- self was caught im the leafler bliczerd. Ove copy Cattered right inte his face, When he read the message, his whisk- ers trembled with rage. My Message for Castro After we were safely on our way back to Florida, Castro’s soldiers shot one of theiz own B-26s full of holes. A light plane abo was fired upom and its Chilean pilot. wounded. Throughout Havapa the falling ‘shrapnel caused tragic casualties for which Castro chose to blame me rather than his own men. E canmos tell how I know about events inside Cuba today, There are patriots whe risk their lives te heep ine in- formed. I-have ¢ final werd for you . whe reed this newepaper, whose demo eratic ideals and institutions are my inspiration. Whatever { must do in the fotare, 1 will take care net to violate any of your laws or your hospitality. Thank God, freedam ef expression Is wo evime here. . Wf Fidel Castro should read this, 1 have @ word, toa, fer him: I demon. strated t@ you meny times thet I wae willing to die to restore democracy to Cube. Be assured, I have noi chaaged. @ at tah Caee foe ebe bs canes + onal sete any A a op : i ee evareet ENERO Derran