MOVIMIENTO DEMOCRATA CRISTIANO (MDC)
Originator: HSCA
Document date: 11/07/1978
Document type: REPORT

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180-10142-10238

2022 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992

DRAFT - MDC - 11/7/78 aud 11/8/18

Betsy Palmer

Box 23

FOLDERLY

# 26

MOVIMIENTO DEMOCRATA CRISTIANO

TARD FAIL.

(MDC)

"Ater 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 infiltrated

by Communists. This political atmosphere gave rise to the

creation of underground organizations such as the Christian

Democratic Movement of Cuba (MDC). (CIA/DDO, MDC VOlume 3,

Objectives of MDC, Prociate doctrine of Christianity as its

foundation, the MDC published a manifesto in March, 1960g

(Ibid)

denouncing Communism, and strongly advocating the free enter-

prise system.

(HSCA #009538, Item 4, P. 2, FBI #105-87909-5.

1/30/61) One of the founders of the MDC, 35-year-old law

professor, DI. Jose Ignacio Rasco, was elected head of the

organization

Ibia) and medicit criticized the violence

prevelant in the Castro regime.

(CLADDO

• MDC Volume 3) This..

public

produced presses on her to lear

open criticism necessitated his exfiltration from Cuba and he

C.

eil

was-granted safe conduet to the u.s..

arriving in Miami on

April 22, 1960. (HSCA #009538, Item 4, P. 2, FIB #105-87909-5,

1/30/61) I June, Rasco had allied himself and the MDC with

Thus

the Frente Revolucionario Democratico (FRD)

(Ibid) and served

beame one of the five original exile Cuban leaders reconmended

becan teether,

by the State Department and the lasana CIA station to form the

nucleus of a Cuban government-in-exile.

(Give Us This Day by

E. Howard Hunt, Popular Library Edition, pp. 43-44.

After the Bay of Pigs invasion, the MDC split into

factions.

(CIA/DCD docuent, Jose Ignacio Rasco, Information

Report 00-K-3,233,366, 8/16/62) Rasco remained head of the

DO NOT REPRODUCE

RETURN TO CIA

14710238

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DRAFT- MDC - 11/8/78

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largest faction and Kad organized delegations in Miami, New

York, Chicago, Venezuela and Cuba. (Ibid) The clandestine

faction operating in Cuba was lead by Pepin Fernandez Badue

who used the alias "Lucas". (Ibid) When Fernandez arrived in

the U.S. in October, 1961, he presented his credentials to the

Cuban Revolutionary Council, (CRC), glaiming he was the rep-

12(181d)

resentative of the MDC movement in Cuba. ed Council president,

Dr. Miro Cardona, accepted him into the CRC hierarchy. (Ibid)

ITS Role WAS

The "Lucas" faction remained with the Council but deelined in

iNEFfECTUAl

eNeNTAlly FAiled

importance because Fernandez failed to consult with

the execu-

tive committee of his faction nor did he make any effort to

hold the group together.

(HSCA Security File 092, Senstudy

Document, Volume 32, Item 1, #97-4110-72)

The Rasco faction of MDC had as its Military Chief an

inèapendently wealthy young Cuban, Laureano Batista Falla.

(Ibia,

Item 2, #97-4110-123) Free-spirited and under no financial

pressures, Batista was able to organized and partially finance the

infiltration attempts of the MDC. (HSCA #009303, FBI

#97-4623-

It WAS

149, Section V) which made this one of the most active and

effective underground groups in Cuba during the early 1960's.

HSCA Security File 092, Senstudy Document, Volume 37, Item 4,

#105-95461-15, page 4)

From 1960 - 1962) (HSCA #009303,

p. 6, FBI #97-4623-149,

section V) Batista/was associated with the CIA as a "political

and psychological agent".

(CIA/Office of Security, Laureano

Batista Falla, Operational Approval form)) He trained at the

(CIA-sponsored) camp for the MDC near Perrine, Florida, prior

to the April 1961 invasion

(HSCA #009303, P. 4, FBI #97-4623-149, Sec.

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DRAFT-MDC-11/8/78

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and made many trips from this camp to deliver explosives, guns

and ammunition to the Cuban underground. (Ibid)

that time, It underground groups worked together,

sharing supplies and information. (HSCA Security File 092,

Senstudy Document, Volume 37, Item 4, #105-95461-15, p. 4)

However, the repressive measures of the Castro regime after the

April 1961 invasion, caused members of the Cuban underground

live in fear of discovery and made inter-group liaison extremely

risky. TIbid. B. 2) Despite the inherent dangers, the under-

ground movements of the MDC and Movimento Revolucionario del

Pueblo (MRP) worked jointly for an all-out sabotage effort in

(24

the fall of 1961. (Ibid)

The "Batista" faction of the MDC, (so named after the

youthful military chief rose to the position of president

in 1962/ (HSCA #009303, p. 8, Item 4, FBI #105-183815) entered

intora number of similar cooperative alliances with other exile

groups for the purposes of propaganda, sabotage and supplying

the Cuban underground. Many MDC members joined the Cuba

Propaganda 86

Committee in 1962 which was formed to counteract the Fair Play

-.

for Cuba Committee, a pro-Castro organization in the U.s.

DDO, MDC Volume 3, Cable to Director from JMWAVE, 6/21/62,

#14986)

The MDC and the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil

(DRE) worked together to formulate plans for

an underground

organization to infiltrate Oriente Province.

ICIA/DDO, Laureano

Batista Falla, Information Cable TDCS DB 3/660-090, 3/14/64)

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One isinslued the тос, the

-Movimexto Inscrrectnial de

Recupueracion Revolutionaria and to (MIRR) and

Movimento Recuperacion Revolutionaria (MPR)

DRAFT-MDC-11/8/78

Page 4

The spactive operations between the MDC and other anti-Castro

Incent

groups peaked in the year 1963.1 In April, Frank Sturgis, Miami-

based soldier of fortune, supplied information that Batista,

Orlando Bosch Avila, Manuel Artime and Alexander Rorke were

jointly planning an air strike over Havana on April 25.

#009303, page 1, FBI #97-4623, Sectioni) According to Sturgis,

the

strike was to originate from an airstrip in Puerto Rico and

the targeta

sugar refinery. (Ibid) The bombs were of abe

assembled.

bid, p. 5,

homemade, variety, and put together by Batista. (Ibid, p. 5,

Item 2)

porke publicly announced that the strike had taken

place

scheduled, which took the other planners by surprise.

(Ibid) Sturgis claimed the strike was still in the planning

stage and financial backing had not been completed. (Ibid)

This incident created a stir and resulted in an intensive FBI

(33

investigation of Rorke's allegation. THSCA #009303, p. 3, FBI

#97-4623, Sections II through VI) Since Radio Havana, contrary

to usual policy, made no immediate protest over the bombing,

The FBI

TIbid, p. 3, FBI #97-4623, Section IV) it was concluded that

Rorke's story was probably untrue (Ibid, p. 2, #97-4623-35)

and, according to sturgis, merely a publicity stunt. (Ibid, p. 2,

Item 1 (9), FBI #97-4623)

In early June, 1963, the MDC made a unity pact with

Commandos I in which the latter group was to provide training

and assistance in military intelligence and the MDC to provide

I Eina11 boats and a team uf men to infiltzate cubie. Yelasso,

MDC Volume 5, Information Cable UFGf3536, 9/3/63) TiC MDC alSO

made a pact with Dr. Carlos Prio Socarras, former President of

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DRAFT-MDC-11/8/78

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Cuba, who donated $50,000 of his own money to the group for

military aid in return for its promise of political support.

(Ibid)

(39

Ricard Rudolph Davis, a Cuban alien,

(HSCA #012981) had

a peripheral association with the MDC through his contact with

Batista in the summer of 1963. This association was

in Book V, Final Report of the Senate Select Committee to

Study Governmental Operations, page 12. (Footnote to discuss

discrepancy)

Davis was residing in New Orleans and, although not an

MDC member, claimed to have, at en Melter time, been a

"coordinator"' for the group and the New York police Depayment.

(HSCA

#012981) 7He was a friend of Batista and contacted him

because he paid Batista was in a position to recommend men in

the Miami area who needed work. (Ibid) Davis claimed he could

Hen hãd

provide employment for a small group of Cuban emigres.

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. TIbid) 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.

(Ibid) After a necessary training period, the group

was to be sent to Guatemala to cut mahogany trees, he said.

m New Orleans in the sent of 1716:

A group of about 18 Cubans did arriver under the leader

Lendine Them was

ship of a well-know Cuban exile, Victor Paneque

(Ibid) who

used the military code name of 'Commadante Diego, (HSCA #092

Security File, Senstudy Vol 32, Item 2. #97-4110-123, p. 2)

Paneque was Closely accociated with Batista in the military actuiter of

the MDC (092, Sourteady Voh 32, Stem 2, #499-444-123, pS (Iid,

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Davis later admitted to the FBI that

According to Davis, the menarrived dressed in khakis (HSCA

FBI, Richard Rudolph Davis, Volume 1, Report from N.O.

$03/746, P. 4 with thosted that they were to receive military

training.

(Ibia, p. 2)

In the latter part of July, 1963, the FBI conducted a

raid on property near that of the "lumber company" training camp.

The Burend,

-whore they seized a cache of dynamite and other explosives

ala) this raid, according to Davis inte

(Ibid) This raid, according to Davis, unnerved his trainees,

and they elected to return to Miami. (Ibid)

A somewhat different version of this episode comes from

de

LA BARRe,

Gus de LaBarre's nephew and attorney, Frank, who first related

his story in 1966 to his former law school classmate, Jim

Garrison.

150

(HSCA #012981, Fonzi memo 9/6/78)

ke LaBarre said his'Uncle Gus" had introduced him to

Davis, whom

de

LaBarre described as a "floater." They came

to see

LaBarre about arawing up articles of Incorporation

for the Guatemalan Lumber Company and that is when

hen he/learned

of their plans to bring unemployed Cubans from Miami to train

as lumberjacks. Uncle Gus sent provisions to the exiles on a

daily basis and solicited money for food and clothing from

Friends and relatives.

although he surpected that miltary training was being conducted st the

camp/Ade Labarre said he didn't pay much attention to the

activities of the group, tate, when he heard on his car radio that

the FBI had seized a cache of ammunition at a house in Lacombe,

he immediately called his uncle. Although receiving assurances

that the lumber group was not involved,

Tie Labarre called the

officers of the corporation together and insisted that the Cubans

he taken out of there, Davis lee cordig to saharas

version, that the Cubans did not want to leave, whereupon

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said ke

keLaBarrethad to do some real "brainstorming." He rented a

Hertz ton-and-a-half truck and instructed Davis to take it to

the camp and tell 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

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, and

ThAt wAs the hAsT, DoLABance SAId, he sAle of them.

de Labarre had no more contact with them. I The last he heard

he sAid,

of Davisywas In 1964 when one of de LaBarre's friends reported

he had gone into business with Davis and was left with a lot

of bills.

Other than providing the manpower for the training

camp, Batista was not implicated in this episode nor was the

MDC as

an organization.

Concurrent with his involvement with leaders of other

exile organizations, Batista 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. (CIA/DDO, MDC Volume V,

Information Cable(UF@ 4531, 1/29/64) 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, the Cubans would have

à moral superiority over the rest of latin America. FIbia)

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Another offer of help came from Luis somoza former

Provided

President of Nicaragua, who offered the MDC a base for opera-

tions in that country, which was accepted.

(CIA/DDO, Laureano

Batista Falla, Volume 1, Information Report CSDB-3-655,718,

7/26/63) Venezuelan President, Romulo Betancourt, allegedly lso

offered to make a base available for the MDC and provide it with

personnel and supplies. (CIA/DDO, Laureano Batista Falla,

Volume 1, Information Cable TDCS-DB-3/658,177, 11/14/63)

Recognizing that these Latin American bases of operation

were important to the MDC, Batista nonetheless preferred 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 American

<59

facilities. (HSCA Security File 092, Senstudy Document 33, Item

1, #97-4110-86, p. 13) The big drawback in Miami was the

presence of U.S. government officials determined to strictly

enforce the Neutrality Act and ottew dedual statutea.

U. S. Customs raided MDC headquarters in Miami on

April 21, 1964 and confiscated a large cache of arms and

(Olid, Vol. Vol. Item Qtem 597-4110-123. +97-4110-123.P-1J

ammunition.

Undeterred, the MDC simply relocated the military

section in separate headquarters, and continued to store materials

for infiltration and attack missions against Cuba,

and condusted

32, Item 2, #97-4110-123, P. H1 Study courses in military

training and theory, were also conducted at the new location

(Ibia, Volume 33, Item 2, #97-4110-132, p. 2) In July, Batista

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MDC - DRAFT - 11/8/78

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and Victor Paneque infiltrated men and equipment into Cuba to

form a nucleus of

guerrilla bands who, quee thee pool

adequate

arms and ammunition, planned to

go into the mountains of

Cuba.

(Ibid)

eveNTually

The MDCKsuffered the fate of other anti-Castro

organizations -- finding it increasingly difficult to finance

infiltration and sabotage missions, and experiencing increased

surveillance by U. S. authorities determined to limit their

ACTIViTRES

activities.

The organization'/gradually declined i importance.

Batista eventually gave up his anti-Castro activities, moved

to Washington, D. C. and received a Doctoral degree in political

science.

(HSCA #009303, p. 7, Item 3, FBI #97-4110-207, Report

from Miami, 1/28/70. In the spring of 1970, he moved to

Venezuela.

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