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NOFORN

n. i in

COPY NO.

102

SC NO. 00556/63

9 December 1963

DAILY

SUMMARY

AGENCY

INTELLGENGE

CENTRAL

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CODE WORD MATERIAL

GROUP!

Excluded from

outomatic dorngrading

and declassification

NOFORN

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HIS 8888888088880000000000,

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DAILY SUMMARY

9 December 1963

This summary of significant information has not been coordinated

outside the Office of Current Intelligence. It does not represent a

complete coverage of all current reports received, nor does time

permit the complete evaluation of all reports which are included.

CONTENTS

MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS:

Three independent clandestine sources have reported on

the unloading of military equipment from the Soviet vessel

METALLURG BAIKOV in Havana harbor

on 19 or 20 November.

(Page 1)

Soviet "coastal defense rockets" now belong to Cuban Army

according to a recent speech by Raul

Castro; however,.

(Page 1)

FIDEL CASTRO'S SPEECH:

In a 6-7 December speech devoted mainly to education, Cas-

tro

digressed to discuss the situation resulting from Vene-

zuela's charge that the arms cache discovered on a Vene-

zuelan beach

last month had come from Cuba.

Castro implied

that the arms had been planted by CIA and are being used

at pretext or be

as a pretext for new action by the "imperialists and their

lackeys" against Cuba.

He expressed confidence that what-

ever the result, the Cuban revolution will not be defeated.

(Page 2)

CUBAN INTERNAL SITUATION:

Faure Chomon Mediavilla is replacing Omar Fernandez as

transportation minister; Major Jesus Montane Oropesa will

be new communications minister. (Page 3)

(Heavy rainfall has apparently caused damages to military

facilities in Pinar del Rio Province and hampered travel

in Uriente Province. l0 (Page 4)

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THE PRESIDENT'S ASSASSINATION:

A Spanish-language daily in New York claims Madrid police

are holding a self-confessed plotter against the late Presi-

dent. (Page 4)

INSURGENCY AND CIVIL UNREST:

10

Matanzas Province, has de-

об th

29

An attempt has been made to shoot the chief of the PURS) in

Velasco, Camagues) Province. (Page 5)

A militiaman arrested in Guantanamo on 3 December for sus-

pected counterrevolutionary activities has been

(Page 5)

29,10

The DSE unit at Ciego de Avila) has captured one insurgent

and

reports the surrender of another; a resident of Jucaro)l0

has been arrested for cashing an out-of-circulation 50-

dollar bill. (Page 5)

Thirty-two people attempting to flee Cuba were captured by

Cuban security forces on & December; this may be related to

an earlier report which stated that an undetermined number

of residents of las Villas Province fled the country from

an unknown point of embarkation. (Page 6)

Several minor incidents of sabotage have been discovered

on CUBANA aircraft. (Page 6)

A DRE leader in Mexico City announced that 126 Cuban mili-

tiamen

were killed in a clash with guerrillas near Sancti

Spiritus, Las Villas Province. (Page 6)

CUBAN AIR FLIGHT CONNECTIONS:

(Spain) has approved regularly scheduled Havana Madrid flights

by CUBANA airlines, according to an intercepted message:.

(Page 7)

SHIPPING SUPPORT FOR CUBA:

The Argentine Government and the owners of the SS ANAMAR

are determined that it will not take a cargo of Soviet-

purchased coffee to Cuba.

(Page 7)

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≥9

(OAS DEVELOPMENTS:

The Brazilian OAs delegate informed his government on

several gate eleg

December that several Cas delegates, have been impressed bj

the Cuban claim that the weapons found in Venezuela last

month had actually been planted there by the US. Apparently

unaware that elaborate efforts had been made to erase all

indications of the Cuban origin of the weapons, they wonder

why Cuba would permit evidence of its involvement in send-

ing arms to Latin American guerrillas to be traceable to

Cuba. (Page 7)

об

The Venezuelan OAS ambassador) dispatched an urgent message

Castro regime. (Page 8)

об.

In relation to the investigation of the Venezuelan) arms

cache, the (Brazilian delegate to the OAS) has been instructed

not to show

"sympathy or excessive understanding in rela-

tion to Cuba." (Page 9)

SOVIET-CUBAN RELATIONS:

A clandestine source has reported, possibly as a current

rumor, that Fidel Castro visited Moscow around 15 November;

there

is no current evidence that he made any public appear-

ances in Cuba around that date.. (Page 9)

BLOC ECONOMIC RELATIONS:

Five Polish merchantmen have been assigned to Cuban run.

(Page 10)

The Soviet-made AN-12 transport has landed in Cuba. (Page 10)

NON-BLOC RELATIONS:

The Moroccan foreign minister has received a Cuban "good-

will" mission for the second time; local expectation is

that formal relations will be re-established shortly.

(Page 11)

The President of (Dahomey declined an invitation to attend

the 1 January anniversary celebration in Cuba.

(Page 11)

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CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES:

08

he Chilean ambassador in Venezuela is convinced of th

ccuracy of venezuelan charges of Cuban suoversion

(Page 11)

=

There is an additional report on the use of a Cuban trans-

port plane to supply pro-Castro groups in Venezuela with

weapons. (Page 12)

Cuban Chargé Lasalle in Bolivia is reportedly supplying

weapons to

the leftist section of the governing party,

as the serious political crisis there becomes more in-

tense.

(Page 12)

A clandestine source has reported that two Cubans

with a group of Peruvian

leftists

currently hiding in

Bolivia, and that castro has agreed to provide. money and

guerrilla training for a rival group.

(Page 12)

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MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS:

Three independent clandestine sources have reported the

unloading of military equipment fro a soviet cargo vessel,

probably the METALLURG BAIKOV, on 19 or 20 November. This

vessel was suspected of carrying a military cargo long before

its arrival in Cuba.

(See Daily Summary of 12 November.) It

carried what was probably the eighth full military cargo to

arrive in Cuba since the 1962 missile crisis. One source, a

retired civil engineer whose reporting has been factual and

in most instances based on personal observation, reported that

the METALLURG BAIKOV unloaded "large quantities of arms and

military equipment" in Havana on 20 November and left the next

day.

Another source reported that Havana longshoremen had

stated that a Soviet ship, which they did not identify, had

unloaded arms at Regla whari, Havana, on 20 November.

A third

source, an educated Cuban of Western

European extraction who

is a resident of Havana, reported that tanks were among the

equipment unloaded from a Soviet vessel that arrived in Havana

on 19 November.

The three sources are probably referring to

the same shipment.

If the report on the delivery of tanks is

true, this would be the second consecutive reported shipment

of armored vehicles to Cuba.

The ORENBURG reportedly delivered

some 45 tanks on 23 or 24 October. (See Daily Summaries of 28

and 29 October.) It has previously been reported that another

probable military shipment, the ninth, is now en route aboard

the SLUTSK.

(See Daily Summary of 3 December.) (CIA TICS-DB-

3/658,289, 6 December, SECRET NO FOREIGN DISSES/ CONTROLLED DIS-

SEM)

The Soviet "coastal defense rockets" now belong to the

Cuban Army artillery forces, according to a recent speech by

Raul Castro.

Cubans probably have been training in cruise

missile operations since last spring, and the rotation and

withdrawal of some Soviet naval personnel in september suggested

that the cruise

missile system was turned over to the Cubans

that some degree of Soviet involvement continues.

(CIA FBIS,

14 November,

UNCLASSIFIED and NSA 2/-/CURUNyR16-63, 28 August,

1963, SECRET KIMBO)

99

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FIDEL CASTRO'S SPEECH:

Fidel Castro's speech of the night of 6-7 December was

on the occasion of the graduation of women teachers for the

literacy campaign.

He devoted most of the 99 minutes to a

discussion of the

development of local education in Cuba. At

one point, however, he made

a moderately long digression to

discuss Venezuela and the situation raised by Venezuela's dis-

covery last month of a large cache of weapons, some of which

have

• been traced to Cuba.

Castro stated that, while "the imperialists and their

lackeys" charge that Cuba is promoting subversion in Vene-

zuela, rebellion and subversion cannot be promoted from with-

The Venezuelan revolution, he maintained, stems from

the Venezuelan people's own disgust with their government and

with its permitting the "imperialists" to plunder Venezuela's

wealth and resources.

If subversion could, in fact, be promotec

from the outside, why, he asked, have all the resources of im-

perialism failed

to subvert the Cuban Government?

Betancourt, "that miserable lackey," 1s trying to incite

the united states to take military action against cuba, castro

charged.

As & pretext the Venezuelans say they have discovered

arms from Cuba on the Venezuelan coast, Castro stated.' "Some

But Cuban mortars perchance? No! Yankee mortars!

Yankee bazookas! Yankee recoilless cannon! Arms which we did

not manufacture; arms which we did not buy!" Castro then went

on, without specifically denying that the weapons had come from

cuba, by implying that the cla had obtained Cuban arms from

Cuban deserters and that it would not be difficult to plant

these weapons in Venezuela.

(Here he is obviously referring

to the Belgian-made light rifles and submachineguns which have

been identified as among those shipped to Cuba in 1959 and

1960 .)

collless rilles,

Castro then attempted to show the "brazenness" and in-

consistency of those who would use the Venezuelan arms cache

as a pretext to invade or to blockade Cuba when for more than

four years the very same kind of subversive activity as is

now being charged to Cuba has been perpetrated against Cuba--

without any hemispheric attempt to punish the aggressors.

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FIDEL CASTRO'S SPEECH - cont'd

"Things have changed quite a bit," Castro declared, "to

attack or to blockade Cuba now would

not be easy; we can de-

fend ourselves; we are calm; we know what we have to defend

ourselves with."

clared:

strategic

Then, in an implied reference to the Soviet

shipment of strategic missiles to cuba last year, castro de-

"When we hear some of these lackeys of imperialism

talking so calmly about invading Cuba, when it has been only

one year since the October crisis, they are once more proving

us right and are once more justilying Cuba's taking defensive

measures; this

talk led to the October crisis." Castro then

declared that "these men are so deceived by their own propaganda

that...they cannot conceive of what any invader would meet here."

A war against Cuba, he said, "would not end while there was a

single mercenary soldier treading on our soil."

Castro then returned briefly to his views as to how peace

can be assured in the Caribbean.

"Whatever they want to dis-

cuss with Cuba," he sald, "let them come and discuss honestly

with Cuba; because we have stated the indispensable prerequisites

for a peaceful atmosphere... in the Caribbean."

Thus far, how-

ever, "they have answered with aggressions on top of aggressions."

This

course, he said, "is doomed to fallure." (CIA FBIS Havana,

7 December, OFFICIAL USE ONLY)

CUBAN INTERNAL SITUATION:

A shake-up in the Cuban cabinet has moved Faure Chomon

Mediavilla to the post of transportation minister; he succeeds

capt. Omar fernandez, whose ministry was recently under attack

by Castro for alleged inefficiencies and "vices." Major Jesus

Montane Oropesa is replacing Chomon as communications minister.

Chomon, who served as Castro's first ambassador to the

Soviet Union, took over as communications minister in March

1962.

He is currently a member of the National Directorate

Che Guevara.

Montane took part in the attack on the Moncada Barracks

in 1953 and followed Castro to exile in Mexico. He took part

in the GRANMA expedition of 1956 when he was captured and im-

prisoned.

After the revolution, he reportedly received only

a minor post in the government because he had talked too much

in prison.

is most recent post, dating Irom at least august

1962, has been as number two man in the Tourism Institute

(INIT).

He is said to be an ardent Marxist-Leninist, who

preaches it

at every opportunity. (UPI 63, 6 December, UN-

CLASSIFIED; background information:

SECRET)

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CUBAN INTERNAL SITUATION - cont'd

that'ointercepted Cuban military messages of 7 December indicate

has occurredlin both Pinar del Rio lo

(Five unidentified)military units in

shelters and command posts at most of the units reporting

had suffered

serious damage, and division headquarters? reported

roads leading to

lo. Oriente Provinceaut will have to be repaired.. Meanwhile, In

lintercepts indicate that torrential rainfall?+

travel difficult an

2/SL/CUM/R302-63, 8 December, SECRET KIMBO)

THE PRESIDENT'S ASSASSINATION:

The Reuters correspondent in Madrid has advised the Us

Embassy that he has been queried by a New York client about

an 8 December El Tiempo report that Spanish police have de-

tained a Cuban nationaI--45-year-old Enrique Pascual Ruedolo

Gongora, alleged to have arrived in Spain via an IBERIA flight

from New York on 23 November--in connection with a plot against

the late President Kennedy.

Local police have confirmed deten-

tion of Ruedolo.

However, they claim that he arrived in Spain

on 29 November and to the best of their knowledge has abso-

lutely no connection with the assassination.

They maintain

that he was expelled from the United States for undetermined

reasons and is being held because he has been unable to

arrange onward travel to Cuba.

in

CAS is pursuing the matter

Madrid. (Am Emb Madrid, 1155, 7 December, CONFIDENTIAL)

INSURGENCY AND CIVIL UNREST:

chief of

8 December intercepted message that the fire,

"supposed to be sabotage," was put out by the Cardenas fire

department. (USM 603) 2/7J/CUP/R146-63, 8 December, SECHET

KIMBO)

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INSURGENCY AND CIVIL UNREST - cont'd

29

10 On 6 December the Department of State Security (DSE) unit

5 December "they tried to shoot

ro detacle caped wined full detaila well be seat byt

The message did not indicate to whom "they" referred.

(USM 603, 2/YJ/CUP/T922-63, 6 December, SECRET KIMBO)

The

• militiaman who was arrested in Guantanamo on 3

December for suspected counterrevolutionary

_activities (see ≥4

Daily Summary 106 December) has been freed. (Sector E headquarters

in Mayari Arriba informed First Army headquarters in San-

(otiago on 5 December that Esteban Mendez Almaguer and Jose

Joiret Aria, both identified as natives of Quijada, were re-

The reason for their release was not given.

29, 10' 6 December, SECRET KIMBO)

The DSE unit at Ciego de Avila has captured one insur

and reports the surrender of another. On 6 December

tKe OSE provincial headquarters) in Camaguey) was inforned that

the Insurgent Demetrio Armas Izquierdo was captured near

Jatibonico.

The message stated that Armas "was reportedly

active in the Havana, Matanzas, and Santa Clara areas, and

most recently in Camaguey. He

led by one Carlo.". The same message reported the surrender

of Edmundo Almeida (see Daily Summary, 5 December), "previously

associated with the bands of Juan Alberto," to the

DSE unit

at Jatibonico.

In addition, on 7 December Ciego de Avila reported the

arrest of Jesus Marquez, a 39-year-old resident of Jucaro.

Marquez is said to have cashed an "out-of-circulation 50-dollar

hill, which he received from the us on 4 December

• 1963."

USM 603, 2/XJ CUP/ R138-63, 6 December and 2/YJ/CUP/R140-63,

~ December, SECRET KIMBO)

99 M

An undetermined number of residents of Vegas de

Palmas,

San Antonio de las Veultas and Agiada de Moya, Las Villas

Province,

embarkation.

formed® (avana) that the persons from Vegas de Palmas had been

identified as:

Lucina Manso, Rodobaldo Monteagua, and

Moises Monson Garit; an ex-private in the revolutionary armed

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INSURGENCY AND CIVIL UNREST - cont'a

In possible connection with the preceding item, 32

people attempting to flee Cuba were captured by Cuban

security forces on 8 Deçember. (Fifth Army Headquarters)in

10 Camaguey) informed, Havana that a maritime patrol of the

coastal vigilance observation post captured a boat carryin:

32 individuals in the area of Cayo Mariquibay, north of La

Bahia de Punta Alegre.

On the boat, which had left Caibarien

three days earlier, government agents found Cuban and us

monies as well as

personal belongings. (USN 56, 2/SL/CUM/-

R303-63, 9 December, SECRET KIMBO)

49

A trained clandestine source who is a civil aviation

expert with the Cuban Ministry of Transportation reports that

several minor incidents of sabotage have been discovered on

CUBANA aircraft.

On 15 November a CUBANA IL-14 made a

round-trip flight from Rancho Boyeros Airport to Nueva Gerona

without a storage battery.

The source comments that serious

trouble would have resulted if one engine had stopped or had

been feathered while en route.

This incident may be related

to various acts of subtle sabotage against CUBANA aircraft,

such as stuffing exhaust tubes with rags or obstructing car-

buretor intakes.

In addition;

the source reports that a CUBANA Britannia

aircraft was sabotaged by Algerian personnel during a recent

flight to Algiers.

The hydraulic line was fractured forcing

the crew to use manual controls to lower the landing gear for

a stop in Madrid. (CIA IN 75941, 8 December, SECRET NO FOREIGN

DISSEM/ CONTROLLED DISSEM)

Press dispatches from Mexico City report that a leader

of the Revolutionary Students

Directorate (DRE) announced

that 126 Cuban militiamen had been killed in a clash with

guerrillas 12 miles south of Sancti Spiritus, Las Villas

Province.

Angel Gonzales said that "belated underground

reports just received" indicated that the clash took place

in mid-September when a guerrilla force ambushed a militia

unit and killed ll militiamen.

The guerrilla forces lost 18

men, including Negro guerrilla leader Andre Startabull and

three captains identified as Carlos Roca,

Julio Garcia, and

Sergio Perez.

The Castro regime then sent 5,000 men sup-

ported by tanks, mortars, and helicopters to destroy the

guerrillas.

After two weeks of fighting, the entire guerrilla

unit was destroyed but not until 115 other militiamen had been

killed. There is no confirmation from COMINT or other sources

of any action of the magnitude reported by the DRE. (AP-131,

Mexico City, 7 December, UNCLASSIFIED)

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CUBAN AIR FLIGHT CONNECTIONS:

(Spain) has approved regularly scheduled HavanafMadrid flights

.it believes the

connections are vital to

said it would limit CUBANA flights to Havana-Madrig-Havana with-

out stops in

Algiers or Prague

and would refuseJlanding to

Soviet-built CUBANA aircraft. (See Daily Summary of 18 November.)

It has also been reported thato CUBANA is assured of capacity

passenger loads for the Havana Madrid service and plans. to (pool≥4

air freight from all of Western Europe for delivery to Havana

via Madrid, thus assuring full payloads both ways.

(See Daily

ummaryidof 4 December.)

(NSA 2X/0/QOD/T211-63, 8 December,

ECRET SABRE; Background information:09NO FOREIGN DISSEM

SHIPPING SUPPORT FOR CUBA:

Argentina is reportedly attempting to stop one of its ships--

the SS ANAMAR--from delivering a cargo of coffee to Cuba, despite

the fact that there are currntly no legal restrictions against

Argentine ships calling anywhere in the world. The ANAMAR left

Brazil on 1 November with a cargo of Brazilian coffee, purchased

by the USSR and destined for Cuba. (See Daily Summary of 8 No-

vember.) The Argentine Foreign Ministry informed US Embassy of-

ficials

that it was determined to prevent the ANAMAR from going

to Cuba because of potential unfavorable press reaction.

Argen-

tina wants to avoid legal and financial entanglements in the mat-

ter; however, it is determined to stop the ship and is reportedly

even considering some type of provocation which would force the

ship to put into Puerto Rico. The owners of the ANAMAR are

equally adamant that the ship will not go to Cuba; reportedly

they had agreed to ship coffee from Brazil to some Central Amer-

to shop o4e ti

ican country to pay some back bills, and were only informed later

that the shipment would go to Cuba.

According to the owners, the

ship is now lying off the coast of Brazil awaiting resolution

of the problem.

The owners reportedly stated they will sink the

ship rather than go to Cuba.

(Am Emb Buenos Aires 1017, 4 Decem-

ber, CONFIDENTIAL)

29 (OAS) DEVELOPHENTS:

08,06

Brazilian As delegate Penna Marinho reported to his gov.

rnment from Washington on 5 December that several (OAS delegates

have been impressed bypthe Cuban claim that the weapons found in

Venezuela last month had actually been planted there by the

United States.

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29

@AS) DEVELOPMENTS - cont'a

24, 06

These delegates, Penna Marinho stated, "are wondering

to send

to Venezuela arms with the inscription 'Cuban Army' and the

insignia of Cuba engraved on them" as indicated by, the Vene-

zuelan photographs shown at the OAS? These delegates believe,

ol Penna marinho went on, that if Cuba had actually sent the arms

to Venezuela it would first have removed any indication of

their origin. This account indicates that the Brazilian dele-06

Faaand the others of whom he speaks are apparently unaware

considerable effort had, in fact, been made to erase all

evidence of the Cuban origin of these

arms. The 31 submachine

guns found in the cache had their serial numbers and other

identifying marks recently ground off. Venezuelan technicians,

using a highly technical process, were able to raise the serial

numbers and the Cuban shield on some of the weapons. In inde-

pendent tests, Us technicians were able to raise the numbers

and shields on three of these weapons. The numbers correspond

to those of weapons known to have been delivered to Cuba from

Belgium in 1959 and 1960.

Similarly, in the case of the 81

light automatic rifles of Belgian manufacture found in the

cache, all identifying marks had been obliterated. In this

case,

one-fourth inch of molten brazing alloy had

been used

to cover the places where the numbers had been ground off and

it was not possible to restore the numbers. However, Venezuelan

military authorities have noted that these weapons are unique

to those manufactured expressly for the Cuban Government by

Belgium's Fabrique Nationale in 1959, when Cuba ordered 22,500

such weapons.

(NSA 3/0/BLD/T2041-63, 6 December,

TOP. SECRET

DINAR; background data: SECRET NO FOREIGN DISSEM)

The Venezuelan OAS delegate dispatched a "personal, urgent,

and confidential" message to his foreign minister

expressing certain misgivings as to the attitudesogh 6 December

of the special Oas fact-finding committee with respect to the

Venezuelan charges against the

castro regime which the committee

was named to investigate.

The ambassador) reported that he hac

just received "strictly confidential information" that the pre-

vailing opinion within the committee is that it must investigate

the entire subject of Cuban subversive activities in Venezuela,

not limiting itself to the evidence on the Cuban origin of the

arms cache found in Venezuela last month.

-8-

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29

(DAS) DEVELOPMENTS: - cont'a

The committee members, the ambassador)stated, insist

that it is essential for the Venezuelan Government to "pre-

sent proof of the general Cuban conspiracy" against the Vene-

zuelan Governmentoll the case against cuba is to be proven.

The Venezuelan ambassador added that "one of the most important

had stated that the Venezuelan evidence

on the Cuban origin of the arms cache is not airtight anal that

the arms could actually have been resold by Cuba to someone

else

Ton energ message ten stated that the editor

of a "very important US magazine" had asked him in all serious-

ness on 6 December whether the arms could not have been planted

in Venezuela by the CIA, as Castro has charged. The editor

persons" with whom he had discussed the problem.

zuelan ambassador) used this,to emphasize to his foreign min-of

Ister that he believes the Venezuelan Government must not

dismiss this suspicion lightly. He pointed out that important

persons in the United States,|| both in government and the press,

have pointed out Venezuela's evidence on the arms cache may

provide

"the first opportunity" to confront the threat of

Cuban subversion in the hemisphere.

critical of the Venezuelan Government, the ambassado? Timited

if its sticks to its demand that the investigation be-

to the arms cache evidence. (NSA 3/0/VEDJT514-63, Y December,

TOP SECRET DINAR)

The (Brazilian delegate to the OAS was informed of his

country's position on the investigation of the Venezuelan

cache, according to a 2 December intercepted message.

ministry intormed him that, he was to "avoid any

attitude which might seem to leave (Brazil)isolated in a posi-

tion which could be interpreted as one of sympathy or exces-

sive understanding in relation to Cuba." On the other hand,

he was instructed not to "openly state the opinion that the

matter falls exclusively underusthe competence of the venezuelan

security authorities."

The delegate vas advised to delay his

departure "until the

situation is clarified."

T206-63, 6 December, TOP SECRET DINAR)

(NSA 3/04520)

SOVIET-CUBAN RELATIONS:

Fidel Castro may have been in Moscow about 15 November

for talks with Premier Khrushchev, according to a civil

aviation expert who is apparently passing on a rumor he

heard in Cuba.

The source reported as background that Castro

has not appeared on Cuban TV and did not meet people he ap-

parently would have met if he had been in Cuba.

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SOVIET BLOC RELATIONS - cont 'd

There have been no reported Castro appearances around 15

On 7 November he talked with a group of students

at Havana University and on 19 November he reportedly visited

a PURS meeting in Matanzas. However, between these two

dates there is no current evidence that he appeared on Cuban

radio or TV, and Hoy carried no reports of his personal appear-

This does not, however, rule out the possibility

that he was indeed in Cuba in mid-November.

(CIA IN 75946, S

December, SECRET)

BLOC ECONOMIC RELATIONS:

Warsaw has assigned five merchantmen with a capacity of

44,000 tons to the Cuban - Central American trade, according

to

an announcement by Havana television.

The ships,

one of which

is refrigerated, will be operated by CUBALCO--the Rostock-head-

quartered joint

company chartered by Poland, the GDR, Czecho-

slovakia and Cuba to carry goods between Cuba and the northern

satellites. In the words of havana television,

"the enterprise

will be responsible for guaranteeing supplies to the first

socialist country of America,

thereby contributing to the

defeat of the US economic blockade against Cuba." (CIA/FBIS,

T December, UNCLASSIFIED)

24-

24

Soviet air defense

and Cuban Civil air voice communica-

tions on 7 December reflected the arrival in Cuba of a Soviet-

made AN-12.: (See

The following

acquired a four-engine, turboprop craft with a 14,000-ton

freight capacity for use in a service

between Moscow and Havana.

Prensa Latina said that the plane would be used to carry

freight between the two capitals and "three or four stops at

cities not yet announced by the Cuban consolidated aviation

enterprise."

The references to the AN-12 being acquired by the "Cuban

Air Force," followed by statements attributed to CUBANA offi-

cials as

to its future employment, raise confusion as to

whether it is to be used primarily for military or civil air

purposes.

As pointed out previously, however

(see Daily

Summary

of 3 December), the AN-12 can be used interchangeably

in both types of service.

Its employment in bringing mili-

tary cargoes to Cuba from the Soviet Union would be hampered,

however, by range factors which would require it to refuel

at two or more nonbloc airports between Cuba and the USSR.

At these airports the aircraft could be subject to cargo in-

spections.

(USA-71,

2/DG/CURUAYR-853-63,

CRET KIMBO; CIA/FBIS, Havana,

& December, UNCLASSERter, SE

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NON-BLOC RELATIONS:

The Moroccan foreign minister has received a three-man

Cuban "good-will" mission for the second time and the Istiglal's

Nation claims that a resumption of formal diplomatic relations

is imminent, according to the US Embassy in Rabat (see Daily

Summary for 29 November and 6 December). According to a semi-

official account of the meeting, which took place on 4 December,

the Cubans reasserted their desire to normalize relations and

professed a lack of hostile intentions against the Moroccan

Government--which severed formal relations

after Cuban "techni-

cians" arrived in Algeria on 22 October.

"Informed sources"

in Rabat claim that the government is considering the Cuban

demarché with "attention." The Nation explains that the Cubans

now recognize that Morocco has not been the aggressor in the

Algerian conflict and that they are "repentant" over their pre-

cipitous

action in aiding Ben Bella. (Am Emb Rabat, 866, 6 De-

cember, LIMITED OFFICIAL USE)

The President of (Dahomey declined an invitation to attend

the l January anniversary

conversation of 3 December.

Cuban counterpart; however, the president declined because he

said it was "hardly possible" for him to be in Cuba in January.

It is not clear if Dahomey) will designate an official representa-

tive to the celebration!

SECRET SABRE)

GCHA, 84/0Y6/12/1963, 6 December,

CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITY:

The Chilean ambassador in Venezuela informed his govern-

ment, in an intercepted 2 December message, that he is con-

vinced of the accuracy of the Venezuelan Government's charges

of Cuban subversion in Venezuela. He pointed out that the

heavy voting in Venezuela's 1 December national election dem-

onstrates that the legal opposition in Venezuela is not impli-

cated in the violence and terrorism.

He also stated that the

Castro regime is so thoroughly repudiated by Venezuelan pub-

lic opinion that the Venezuelan Government has no need to use

artificial means to stimulate anti-Castro feeling there.

(Chilean ambassador) pointed out that many Venezuelan Communists

are in Cuba and from there "they permanently incite rebellion"

in Venezuela and Cuban propaganda supports their efforts.

(NSA

3/0/Z-CLD/T104-63, 7 December, TOP SECRET DINAR NO FOREIGN

DISSEM) 99

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CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITY - cont'd

There is additional information on Cuban use of a DC-4

aircraft allegedly to supply Venezuelan guerrillas with weapons

through British Guiana.

A clandestine source who is a civil

aviation

expert and affiliated with the Cuban Ministry of Trans-

portation reports hearing rumors to the effect that the recently

refurbished CUBANA DC-4 with CUBANA registry number CUT-785 has

been issued a "Guiana license," presumably a license for operation

in British Guiana; and has been operated by military personnel.

He adds that "it is said that clandestine flights have been made

to Venezuela."

furbishing of this plane and some others and indicated that

extra

fuel tanks had been installed on them.

(CIA DD/P IN 75942, 8 De-

cember, SECRET/CONTROLLED DISSEM/NO FOREIGN DISSEM)

The Cubans are reportedly involved in the serious political

crisis now under way in Bolivia, where a

split between

President

Paz' section

of the governing

party and the leftist sector led

by Vice President Lechin threatens serious civil disorder.

Cuban

Chargé Lasalle has given two boxes of arms to leaders of the left

section of the party for use in the Catavi-siglo mining area, ac-

cording to information received by a clandestine source.. The

source, a medium-level member of the left section of the govern-

ing party who has excellent contact with national leaders of

that section and who is apparently trusted by Lasalle, was given

this information by a Bolivian labor leader who added

that he

had personally received the arms from Lasalle.

The source re-

ports that the arms are of German origin and had been stored in

Lasalle's house in La Paz. (CIA DD/P La Paz, IN 76093, 8 December,

SECRET )

Two unnamed Cubans are reportedly with a group of 18 members

of the Peruvian Army of National Liberation (ELN) who are cur-

rently hiding in Bolivia, according to a

usually reliable medium-

level member of the Peruvian Movement of the Revolutionary Left

(MIR) who is in regular contact with MIR leaders. The members

of the ELN may have been returning from training in Cuba, since

several such groups from that movement have gone there in the

past. According to Gonzalo Fernandez Gasco, leader of the MiR,

his

group will help them return to Peru by providing them with

the

necessary documentation.

In return, the weapons owned by

the ELN--automatic weapons and "San Cristobal" carbines--will

be turned over to the MIR, reportedly in accordance with an order

from Fidel Castro.

Once the ELN youths are back in Peru, the MIR

will look after them and try to convert them to the cause. The

object is to eliminate the ELN as a rival force.

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CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITY - cont'd

Possibly related to this reported plan to upgrade the MIR

is a report from the same source that Fernandez said on 6 December

that Castro

recently sent money to the MIR leaders and offered

to train more of its members in Cuba.

Fernandez said that in the

future, groups of MIR members will go alternatively to North Korea

and to Cuba for guerrilla warfare training.

(CIA Lima TDCS-3/566, -

662, 6 December, and TDCS-3/566,947, 8 December, SECRET NO FOREIGN

DISSEM)

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