A CHRONOLOGY OF UNEVALUATED REPORTS ON RECENT SOVIET MIL. AID TO CUBA
Agency: ROCKCOM
Originator: CIA
Document date: 08/21/1962
Document type: MEMORANDUM

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JFK Assassination System

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AGENCY :

RECORD NUMBER :

ROCKCOM

178-10004-10055

RECORD SERIES:

ASSASSINATION MATERIALS

AGENCY FILE NUMBER: MISC. ROCKEFELLER COM. AND CIA FILES (4)

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Released under the John F.

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Case#:N 55355

Date: 11-24-2017

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08/21/1962

7

CUBA

CLANDESTINE OPERATIONS

CIA

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

ANTI-CASTRO ACTIVITIES

*DOCUMENT TYPE: MEMORANDUM

CLASSIFICATION:

Secret

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1B

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Redact

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178-10004-10055

21 August 1962

A CHRONOLOGY OF UNEVALUATED REPORTS ON

RECENT SOVIET MILITARY AID TO CUBA

Early July 1962--Around 12 July Fidel Castro personally

ordered the evacuation of a farm just south of

Havana city, saying he needed all the farms border-

ing a special zone. Rumors were that the area was

to be used for military storage.

15

July-15 August--In this period 18 Soviet ships with rela-

tively light loads passed Istanbul from Soviet ports

on the Black Sea and falsely declared their destina-

tions; COMINT later indicated that all 18 were bound

for Cuba. Such Soviet behavior has frequently in-

dicated military shipments in the past, and many of

the 18 ships involved are frequent arms carriers.

Subsequent reports have confirmed that many of these

ships did in fact deliver military or military-

related equipment to Cuba. During the same period

two Soviet ships traveled to Cuba from the Baltic

with Small naval craft on deck.

25 July--Residents of several private hones in the vicinity

of a former reformatory near El Chico, Havana prov-

ince, were ordered to vacate their homes within 72

hours. Cuban authorities told the residents that

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the housing was needed for Soviet technicians.

Several days later a number of trucks driven by

Soviet personnel and carrying equipment arrived

in the area.

26 July--The Soviet merchant vessel Mariya Ulyanova docked

at Havana, discharging a number of Soviet passen-

gers. An untested source reported the number of

passengers as high as 1,600. The normal passenger

capacity of the ship 1s 340.

27 July-The Soviet vessel Uritskiy discharged passengers

at Mariel, and the Soviet vessel Khabarovsk dis-

charged passengers at Bahia Honda. Untested sources

reported 1,000 to 1,100 persons disembarked from the.

Urstskiy and 1,500 from the Khabarovsk, The normal

passenger capacity of each ship is 340.

July--The Soviet vessel Latvia discharged from 1,000 to

1,200 passengers in Mariel, according to untested

sources;

The Latvia, which had declared 365 passen-

gers at the Bosphorus, has a normal passenger capa-

city of 340.

Inte July--An untested source who is a member of an anti-

Castro group inside Cuba reported that 5,000 Soviets,

3,000 North Koreans, and between 1,000 and 2,000

Africans "with rings in their noses" had recently

entered Cuba, The Soviets were said to have occu-

pied key military installations In Cuba.

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Late July-early August--A refugee source reported that

grading and leveling of a hill near Matanzas by

Bloc personnel and equipment had been under way

for two weeks prior to 8 August. Tight security

conditions prevailed. On 6 August the source saw

a Soviet ship in Matanzas unloading boxes 8 meters

Iong, two meters high, and 1.5 meters wide; the

boxes were put on flatbed trucks and taken to the

construction site.

30 July-2 August--A refugee source reported two Soviet ships

at Matanzas on 30 July; for three days he watched •

the ships unload under strict security. About 135

Soviets arrived in jeeps to handle the operation.

Most of the cargo consisted of "giant four-wheeled

trucks," van type, completely enclosed except for

two windows on the vans and two on the cabs. Each

van had a trailer measuring three meters in length

and three in height covered with canvas. A metal

pole protruded upward in the rear.

1 August--A refugee source said he passed three slow-moving

and apparently heavily loaded trucks, all ZIL-150s,

between Arcos de Canasi and Jibacao near Santa Cruz

del Norte, The trucks had no sideboards and each

was carrying a large box-like object about two

meters tall and fitting within the bed of the truck,

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Vertical edges of the canvas covering appeared

to be fastened by zippers.

Early August--A refugee source said he saw three Soviet

ships in Matanzas on or about 1 August, and later

observed a bus loaded with some 40 Soviets coming

from across the Canimar Bridge and going toward

Matanzas. He said the bus passengers appeared dirty

and partly covered with sand or cement dust. In the

next few days he saw many trucks, ZIL-151s, going

back and forth between Puente Canimar and Matanzas;

he also saw dump trucks and trucks covered with can-

vaS.

I-11 August--A refugee source was told by the owner of a

farm located on top of a hill near Santa Cruz del

Norte called Loma Colorada that Cuban military

authorities had forced

him to sell his farm and

that troops and equipment were moved into the area.

On 10 August the source saw five trucks coming from

the farm driven by Soviets and containing men

dressed in work clothes. On ll August the same

source saw tracked vehicles pulling heavily loaded

trucks up the road to the farm. On 5 August a

highly reliable source confirmed that construction

activity was under way at this site.

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2 August--A refugee source was held up in a cafe near the

Canimar Bridge for nearly an hour while a convoy

of trucks, cranes, and vehicles passed. The source

described tracked vehicles, radar vans, medium

tanks, tractor trucks, fire-control apparatus, and

direction-finding gear.

.::.:

2-7 August--A refugee source reported that on 2 or 3 August

intermittent convoys of trucks passed his house

located east of Matanzas and were traveling toward

the Canimar River. The source identified equipment

similar to SMALL CROSS radio direction-finding

equipment, ZIL151 trucks with prefab buts on the

beas, numerous trucks and trailers with canvas-

covered cargoes, and other vehicles. On 6 or 7

August the source saw some 50 trucks traveling east

from Matanzas carrying liquid tanks which were

about six feet in diameter and eight feet long. The

trucks and convoys went to the site south of Canimar

Bridge called El Bongo where on 5 August a highly

reliable source confirmed that unidentified military

construction was getting under way involving many

trucks and other vehicles.

7 August--A Cuban refugee source reported that be had seen

a "large" group of African males being escorted

around the city of Martel, most of them dressed in

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Western style, but a few dressed in native costumes

and with rings in their noses.. The source concluded

that they were African students visiting Cuba.

6-9 August--an untested source, a Cuban lawyer, who said he

received his information from a member of an anti-

Castro organization, reported that during the period

6 to 9 August Cuban nationals were excluded from the

Santa Clara pier (probably in Havana) during the un-

loading of a ship by Soviet personnel.

The source

reported that approximately 2,000 Soviet nationals

were quartered

at the reformatory at Torrens, near

El Chico, In Havana province.

9 August--A refugee source observed a convoy of 12 trucks

east of Sancti Spiritus in Pinar del Rio headed

westward. The trucks were hauling small trailers,

among which were power generators. The trucks vere

driven by Soviet or Bloc personnel

and appeared to

have huts built on the truck beds. The source posi-

tively identified CHEESE BRICK ECH equipment in-

stalled ou GAZ-63 vehicles.

9-10 August--The intelligence coordinator of an anti-Castro

group in Cuba, a fairly reliable source, reported

the following from a resident of the area described:

As of g August there were slightly more than 1,000

Soviet nationals at Guatana, Pinar del Rio province,

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and Cuban nationals had been moved out of the area;

as of 10 August there was an "army" of Soviet,

Chinese, and Congolese nationals at Guatana.

Prior to 11 August--An untested

source, a former Cuban

army officer who said he received the information

from the wife of a Havana municipal employee, re-

ported that prior to 11 August a large group of

Soviet nationals, "specialists in the installation

of rocket bases," had disembarked

at Mariel and

were being transported to Santa Lucia in Pinar del

Rio province.

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