Ne / DRAFT ~— MDC cl ae 11/14/78 MOVIMIENTO DEMOCRATA CRISTIANO (MDC) After Castro's assumption of power in 1959, it became evident to many Cubans that political parties were being surpressed and the 26th of July Movement was being infil- _a TZ GF, trated by Communists. This political atmosphere gave rise to the creation of underground organizations such as the Christian Democratic Movement of Cuba (mpc) .+ Proclaiming ‘ o the doctrine of Christianity as its foundation, the MDC published a manifesto in March, 19607 denouncing Communism and strongly advocating the free enterprise system. ? One of the founders of the MDC, 35-year~old law professor, | Dr. Jose Ignacio Rasco, was elected head of the organization" and immediately criticized the violence prevalant in the Castro regime.” This public criticism produced pressure on. him to leave Cuba and he arrived in Miami on April 22, 1960.° By June, Rasco had allied himself and the MDC with the Frente Revolucionario Democratico (FRD) / and thus became one of the five original exile.Cuban leaders brought together by the State Department and the.CIA to form the nucleus of a Cuban government-in-exile. After the Bay of Pigs invasion, the MDC split into factions." Rasco remained head of the largest faction and organized . oe . 10 delegations in Miami, New York, Chicago, Venezuela and Cuba. Classification: & “ih = “S. | Classified by derivation: MD MT LT a
: “"-  DRAFT-MDC Classification: ray Page 2 (This form is to be used for material extracted The clandestine GAcraai tpetea ena lin Cuba was lead by Pepin ‘Pernandez Badue who used the alias "Lucas". it When Fernandez arrived in the U.S. in October, 1961, he presented his credentials to the Cuban Revolutionary Council, (CRC), claiming he was the representative of the MDC movement in Cuba. *? Council president, Dr. Miro Cardona, accepted him into the CRC hierarchy.?? The “Lucas" faction remained with the Council but its role was ineffectual because Fernandez eventually failed to hold the group together. +4 The "Rasco"” faction of MDC had as its Military Chief an independently wealthy young Cuban, Laureano Batista Falla.?> Free-spirited and under no financial pressures, Batista Falla organized and partially financed the infiltration attempts of the mpc. *® It was one ofthe most active and effective underground groups in Cuba during the early 1960's.! From 1960-1962," ] | FF ig ; | _} He trained —" at the] prior to the April 1961 invasion ° and made many trips from this camp tol] | 21 At that time, most underground groups worked together, measures of the Castro regime after the April 1961 invasion caused members of the Cuban underground to live in fear of — Classification: = ‘ - A © oh 1 Q? | Classified by derivation: a I ST I I a a . . . 2 . . sharing supplies and information.” However, the repressive g
DRAFT~MDC 11/14/78 Page 3 Classification: _ (This form is to be used for material extracted from ClA—controlled documents.) discovery and made inter+group liaison extremely risky. Despite the inherent dangers, the underground movements of the MDC and Movimento Revolucionario del Pueblo (MRP) worked jointly for an all-out sabotage effort in the fall 24 of 1961. ~~ > af The "Batista" faction of the MDC (so named after the youthful military chief rose to the position of president 25 in 1962) | entered into similar cooperative alliances with other exile groups for the purposes of propaganda, sabotage and supplying the Cuban’ underground. Many MDC members joined the Cuba Committee in 1962 which was formed to counteract the propaganda of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, a pro- Castro organization in the U.S.” The MDC and the Directorio ae Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE) worked together to formulate plans for an underground organization to infiltrate Oriente . province.-” The active operations between the MDC and other anti-Castro groups peaked in the year 1963. One involved the MDC, the Movimento Insurrecconial de Recupueracion Revolutionaria (MIRR) and the Movimento Recuperacion Revolutionaria (MRR). In April, Frank Sturgis, Miami-based soldier of fortune, supplied information that Batista Falla, ‘Orlando Bosch Avila, Manuel Artime and Alexander Rorke were jointly planning an air strike over Havana on April 25.28 According to Sturgis, the strike was to originate from an airstrip in @psecaik © and the target was a sugar refinery .?? carrion: : 30 The bombs were homemade, assembled by Batista. Rorke rei hy 4 63 34 | . Classified by derivation: Oe ee ee aaa “EI, “SD “Gla. “Se. “TR “ER. “i “EEA “IA
DRAFT-MDC ° Classification: age 4 his forin is to be used for material extracted Gublicly) annéuncenebatrotinedaxbmidte) had taken place as scheduled, g which took the other planners by surprise. Sturgis claimed the strike was still in the planning stage and financial f backing had not been completed. This incident created a 6 stir and resulted in an intensive FBI investigation of Rorke's ‘ allegation. Since Radio Havana, contrary to usual policy, . é -made no immediate protest over the bombing, the FBI concluded 35 that Rorke's story was probably untrue and, according to Sturgis, merely a publicity stunt. In early June, 1963, the MDC-made a unity pact with Commandos L in which the latter group was to provide training and assistance in military intelligence and the MDC to provide three small boats and a team of men to infiltrate Cuba.” The MDC also made a- pact with Dr. Carlos Prio Socarras, former President of Cuba who donated $50,000 to the group for military 38 aid in return for its promise of political support. association with the MDC through his contact with Batista Falla in the summer of 1963. This association was noted in Book V, Final Report of the Senate Select Committee to Study Govern- 40 mental Operations. Davis was residing in New Orleans and, although not an MDC member, claimed to have once been a "coordinator" for the 4] group and the New York Police Department. He was a friend Classification: _ 39 Richard Rudolph Davis, a Cuban alien, had a preipheral f QOUINS | WS aaa aa a mf mm Classified by derivation:
erase DRAFT-MDC —- Classification: Page .5 (This form is to be used for material extracted of Batista Parbaeciand.capoticactsedmeniay because , he said, Batista Falla was ina position to recommend men in the Miami area who needed work. Davis claimed he could provide employment — f for a small group of Cuban emigres. He said he had entered into a business deal with geologist David L. Raggio and : a wealthy, right-wing New Orleanian, Gus de LaBarre, forming “ the Guatemalan Lumber and Mineral Corporation. > It was their intention to train the Cubans on some land in Lacombe, Louisiana to which De LaBarre had access through his nephew, Frank de LaBarre.- After a necessary _ _training period, the group was to be sent to Guatemala to cut mahogany trees, he claimed. A group of about 18 Cubans did arrive in New Orleans in the summer of 1963. Leading them was a well-known Cuban . 45 ; — exile, Victor Paneque who used the military code name of 46 "Commadante Diego”. Paneque was closely associated with later jadmitted]to the FBI that the men had arrived dressed 48 . in khakis and thought that they were to receive military — 49 . training. In the latter part of July, 1963, the FBI conducted a raid on property near that of the “lumber company" training camp. The Bureau seized a cache of dynamite and other ex- 50 . . plosives. This raid, according to Davis, unnerved his . vol trainees, and they elected to return to Miami. Classification: ; 47 Batista Falla in the military activities of the MDC. Davis f uP i do a oO |. Classified by derivation: aa aT a a a a aa
ee p / classmate, Jim Garrison. DRAFT-MDC ops ae page 6 Classification: (This form is to be used for material extracted A somewhat Glitiemenslled deumbans.)of this episode comes . from Gus de LaBarre's nephew and attorney, Frank de LaBarre, who first related his story in 1966 to his former law school 52 De LaBarre said his “Uncle Gus" had introduced him to Davis, whom De LaBarre described as a "floater." They came to see De LaBarre about drawing up articles of incorporation for the Guatemalan Lumber Company and that is when he says he learned of their plans to bring unemployed Cubans from Miami to train as lumber jacks. Uncle Gus sent provisions to the exiles on a daily basis and solicited money for food and clothing from friends and relatives. Although he suspected that military training was being conducted at the camp, Frank-de LaBarre said he didn't pay much attention to the activities of the group. _However; \yhen he heard on his car radio that the FBI had seized a cache of howexh ammunition at a house in Lacombe, he immediately called his uncle. Although receiving assurances that the lumber group was not involved, De LaBarre called the officers of the corporation together and insisted that the Cubans be taken out of there. Davis, however, told him that the Cubans did not want to leave, whereupon De LaBarre said he had to do some real "brainstorming." He rented a Hertz ton-and-a-half Classification: | Classified by derivation: pO PR oe awe a oe 2 oe
DRAFT-MDC —- Classification: Page 7 ; ‘(This form is to be used for material extracted truck aud infémudAeccodtrolled doounmmbd it to the camp and teli the Cubans "that the invasion is on.” Davis complied, and the Cubans loaded their gear, jumped in the truck and were brought to the Greyhound bus terminal in New Orleans. Each was given a one-way ticket to Miami plus a small amount of —_ <i, “GA cash and told they would get their orders when they reached Miami. Looking as though ready for war, with knapsacks and guns bulging from under their clothes, they boarded the bus. ’ a RC BAB SB SB SS TR That was the last,De LaBarre said, he saw of them. The last he heard of Davis, he said, was in 1964 when 4 one of De LaBarre's friends reported he had gone into business with Davis and was left with a lot of bills.°4 Other than providing the manpower for the training camp, Batista Falla was not involved in this episode or was the MDC as an organization. Concurrent with his involvement with leaders of other exile organizations, Batista Falla was dealing with foreign governments in an effort to gain support for his faction of the MDC. After the World Congress of Christian Democrats in Strasburg, France, two West German officials of the Christian Democratic Party conferred with the MDC in Miami.>> According to one of the officials, the West Germans, after months of study, had decided to help finance the MDC, not because they were particularly fond of them, but felt once Cuba was liberated . Classification: oR4 453 4 we | Classified by derivation: re nt
apare-mpe Classification: Page 8 (This form is to be used for material extracted from ClA—controlled documents.) the Cubans would have a.moral superiority over the rest of Latin America. Another offer of help came from Luis Somoza, former President of Nicaragua, who provided the MDC a base for . . 57 _ operations in that country. Venezuelan President, Romulo Betancourt, allegedly also offered to make a base available for the MDC and provide it with personnel and supplies. ”° Recognizing that these Latin American bases of operation were important to the MDC, Batista Falla nonetheless pre- ferred to work out of the Miami area. Its proximity to Cuba, good facilities for operating boats and the availability. of a large number of Cubans to serve as mechanics and do other necessary labor made Miami more desirable than the Latin au American facilities. >? The major drawback in Miami was the presence of U.S. government officials determined to strictly enforce the Neutrality Act and other Federal statutes. U.S. Customs raided MDC headquarters in Miami on April 21, 1964 and confiscated a large cache of arms and ammunition. ©? Undeterred, the MDC simply relocated the military section in separate headquarters, continued to store . . gs . oe . 1 materials for infiltration and attack Missions against Cuba® . was we 2 and conducted study courses in military training and theory.° In July, Batista Falla and Victor Paneque infiltrated men Classification: Mig oo | Classified by derivation: _ Ie eee ee. _ RT aS. OR. lUCSES...UlUlUCUE!.UlUCUCG..CUXCG, wn
RAF T=MDC Classification: Page 9 . (This form is to be used for material extracted from ClA—controlled documents.) and equipment into Cuba.to form a nucleus of guerrilla bands - who, once they got adequate arms and ammunition, planned to go into the mountains of Cuba. © The MDC eventually suffered the fate of other anti-Castro organizations -- finding it increasingly difficult to finance "infiltration and sabotage missions, and experiencing in- creased surveillance by U.S. authorities determined to limit their activities. The organization's activities gradually declined, Batista Falla eventually gave up his anti-Castro activities, moved to Washington, ‘D. Cc. and received a doctoral 64 degree in political science. In the spring of 1970, he moved to Venezuela. eg Classification: | Classified by derivation: 'WsIaaawaaaaa