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DAILY SUMMARY

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COPY NO. 107

SC NO.00555/63

6 December 1963

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CODE WORD MATERIAL

GROUP I Excluded from automatic downgrading and declassification

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DAILY SUMMARY

6 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: An intercepted Cuban military message of 5 December indicated that the Cuban armed forces are giving courses in chemical warfare defense. (Page 1)

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Moscow press reports the OAS meeting on Cuban arms shipments. (Page 1)

CUBAN INTERNAL SITUATION: Apparitions of Santa Barbara have been reported from Oriente Province. (Page 1)

The Portuguese ambassador in Havana reports his impressions of the reactions to President Kennedy's assassination. (Page 2)

Two government soldiers were killed in southern (Oriente) Province when a dice game, involving military and civilian personnel, was uncovered and fired upon by troops from (Unit 24 1948.) (Page 3)

Dolores Ibarruri,secretary general of the Spanish Communist Party, arrived in Havana from Moscow on 5 December, according to press reports. (Page 3)

CUBAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Carlos Rafael Rodriguez, minister of INRA, has expressed serious dissatisfaction with Cuba's current agricultural situation and revealed that he disagrees with Castro's emphasis on "ultimate aims" in place of current "tactics." Rodriguez also informed the British ambassador that he had

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opposed the Second Agrarian Reform Law and is willing to use "doctrinally unwelcome" measures to increase production. (Page 3)

Cuba is taking further steps to improve its fishing industry, including several construction projects in the Chuyima shipyards in the Almendares River, the launching of 18 fishing boats, and the sending of an official mission to Spain)in connection with the fishing industry. (Page 4)

INSURGENCY AND CIVIL UNREST:

Counterrevolutionary elements apparently attacked an observation post on Cayo de Cristo on a recent undetermined date. (Page 4)

A suspected counterrevolutionary was arrested on 3 December in (Guantanamo.) (Page 5)

CUBAN FOREIGN SERVICE:

The Cuban ambassador to the USSR is in Havana for a short "vacation." (Page 5)

CUBAN AIR FLIGHT CONNECTIONS: : The Soviet-made AN-12 transport plane being ferried to Cuba reached Recife, Brazil, on 5 December, and left there for its last stop before it is scheduled to arrive in Cuba on 7 December. (Page 5)

SHIPPING SUPPORT FOR CUBA: : The US Embassy in Beirut believes that Lebanon may act to curtail the use of its ships in the Cuban trade. This would result in a significant decline in Cuban shipping in free world bottoms. (Page 5)

CUBAN CHINESE COMMUNIST RELATIONS:

Wang Yu-ping has been named the new Chinese Communist ambassador to Cuba. He is a senior diplomat, but not as high ranking an individual as the recently appointed Chinese Communist ambassadors to Algeria and the UAR. (Page 5)

BLOC ECONOMIC RELATIONS:

A Bulgarian arms negotiator has returned from Havana to Sofia. (Page 6)

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BLOC RELATIONS: : A four-man Soviet delegation to revise social science curriculum at Havana University has arrived in Havana. (Page 6)

NON-BLOC COMMERCIAL RELATIONS:

The US consul in Antwerp has been informed by the Varmi Company of Brussels that it will not sell construction equipment to Cuba; there have been reports that such a sale, perhaps totaling $1 million, was being negotiated. Meanwhile, a Cuban group, which had probably planned to complete negotiations on the sale, was delayed because of lack of visas. (Page 6)

The US Embassy in Tokyo sees little hope of inducing the Japanese Government to interfere with the implementation of a contract under which Japanese private firms have reportedly agreed to purchase 325,000 tons of Cuban sugar. (Page 7)

The director of a Spanish optical firm has gone to Havana to negotiate the sale of movie projectors; he is being sponsored by CILASA. (Page 7)

NON-BLOC RELATIONS:

A Cuban good-will mission was received by the Moroccan acting foreign minister; the US Embassy believes this may presage the official re-establishment of diplomatic relations. (Page 7)

The Swiss ambassador believes that Frank Emmick's trial will be held shortly after the completion of the current OAS investigation of Venezuelan charges against Cuba; Emmick's preliminary hearing has been completed and the ambassador is trying to find a Cuban lawyer to defend him. (Page 8)

The government of Trinidad gave a "chilly reception" to a visiting Cuban official and turned down a suggestion for trade talks, at least for the present. (Page 8)

CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES: The (Chilean Embassy) in (Havana) has received information from sources in Cuba it considers reliable which supports

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CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES cont'd

Venezuelan charges that Cuba has been shipping arms to South America. (Page 8)

Havana Radio announced yesterday that pro-Castro guerrillas in the Dominican Republic have established "six operational zones"; Cuban exiles in Miami feel that the failure of pro-Castro terrorists in Venezuela may force him to turn to terrorism in the Dominican Republic. (Page 9)

Cuba is reportedly making preparations to recognize a Venezuelan government-in-exile, according to information received by an official (West German) service from a fairly reliable source with contacts in Havana. (Page 9)

The OAS Investigating Committee which is looking into the Cuban arms cache discovered in Venezuela does not intend to limit its investigation to the cache, but has expressed interest in looking into other evidence of Cuban activities directed against Venezuela. The Venezuelan Government has agreed to furnish all possible evidence on its complaint. (Page 10)

On 5 December an American woman told a minister in New York that her boy friend had left that day for an unknown destination in Central America from which he planned to fly in a pro-Castro Venezuelan coup on Saturday. (Page 10)

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MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS:

An intercepted Cuban military message of 5 December indicated that the Cuban armed forces are giving instruction in defense against chemical warfare. An unidentified) military unit in Las Villas) Province reported the selection of two officers and four sergeants to attend a "chemical defense course." (USN-856, 2X/SL/CUM/T407-63, 6 December, SECRET SABRE)

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS:

Moscow has given rather standard treatment to the OAS meeting which heard the Venezuelan Government charge Castro with illegal arms shipments. On 4 December, TASS correspondent Leonid Shokin reported that "the weavers of plots against revolutionary Cuba are still at it...accusing it of delivery of arms to Venezuela for 'subversive purposes'." Shokin found "certain US circles are the most interested in this, as is evident from the fact that representatives of the US State Department declared at the meeting that the United States would 'firmly support' additional economic and diplomatic sanctions by the OAS against Cuba." He thought it unexceptional that "these provocative attempts were not supported by the largest Latin American countries" and warned that "such attempts to interfere in Cuban internal affairs are fraught with extremely harmful consequences for the cause of peace." (CIA/FBIS, Moscow, 4 December, UNCLASSIFIED)

CUBAN INTERNAL SITUATION:

Several weeks ago there were CAS reports that the storm-tossed peasants of Oriente looked on Hurricane Flora as the vengeance of God--a God, who in the tradition of the Old Testament's stern and sometimes vengeful Jehovah, had loosed his fury on a people first seduced and now impressed by an alien regime. Now a report from the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay provides yet another insight into the frame of mind of the Cuban populace. While the incidents pictured in this report do not necessarily reflect anything other than a combination of religious fervor and superstition, they are significant to the extent that they reflect the unrest--and, perhaps a growing feeling of hopelessness and despair--current among the Cubans.

In any case, there are prevalent locally tales of St. Barbara's appearing several times to prophesy a change in the regime or admonish errant youths to mend their ways. Barbara, virgin daughter of the heathen Diosorus, was beheaded by her father near Heliopolis in 235 A.D. for embracing Christianity. A fearful thunderclap is alleged to have greeted her execution. Symbolized by a windmill-like tower with three windows, the type of fortress in which her father was wont to confine her while he was absent from home, Barbara is the patroness of artillerymen and miners.

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In the Church's calendar, her feast is marked on 4 December. Apart from her significance in the Christian ritual, Barbara figures prominently in a neo-pagan cult known as the Santeria. Devotees of Santeria regard themselves as Catholics and believe that the names of the Catholic saints are translations into Spanish of the Nigerian names of African gods. Catholicism is viewed as the Spanish tribal version of Santeria. The association between Catholicism and Santeria is based on a largely superficial similarity between Catholic saints and the pantheon of African spirit gods. Saint Barbara is thought to be Shango, the God of War.7

According to one of these tales, a woman dressed in martyr's red stopped a bus outside Guantanamo City on 25 November, stepped inside and berated the Castro regime. The woman is alleged to have said that the Cuban people could not live forever in such misery and to have predicted that Castro would be taken from them sometime between 4 and 7 December. A militiaman passenger told her that she would be arrested when the bus arrived in the city. When it had, she'd disappeared. Continuing on to Caimanera, the bus stopped in the town square with the same woman sitting on one of the seats inside the vehicle. The militia again was summoned and again the woman was nowhere to be seen.

On 26 November the same woman allegedly appeared outside a school in Caimanera and admonished several children not to thrown stones at a nearby shack. The children fled into the school and the woman followed. Challenged by a teacher, the woman said she was Santa Barbara and vanished. The next day neither the teacher nor the children would return to the school, though it subsequently has been reopened. (COMNAVBASE GTMO, 01731/T1/JFK/3, 4 December, CONFIDENTIAL)

government) Fidel Castro was "frightened, if not terrified," by the possible consequences of President Kennedy's murder, according to the Portuguese ambassador in Havana) Cabling his government on 27 November, the (Portuguese diplomat) described what he called "a large movement of troops" late on the afternoon of the President's death--"they were sent to take up positions around Havana and the northern coast of the island." He found it surprising that Castro "jumped into the arena to denounce insinuations which were merely from news and nongovernmental agencies, but added that "it is the general opinion in diplomatic circles that the assassination will be the spring which will unleash passions and violent and blind hysteria of the American people against Cuba and Russia and provide the excuse which up to now was lacking.... There is talk again about the coincidence of rumors concerning a crisis at the end of the year...." Finally, the ambassador noted that "the assassination did not cause a great deal of consternation in counterrevolutionary circles in the interior. (NSA, 3/0/(POD)/T1463-63, 5 December, TOP SECRET DINAR)

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CUBAN INTERNAL SITUATION cont'd

Two government soldiers were killed in southern Oriente Province on 3 December when members of Unit 1948) at an unidentified location within the First Army) area, uncovered and fired on a dice game, which apparently included personnel from their own unit. A 3 December message from military unit 1948 to South Sierra Maestra Sector Headquarters stated that "when the players attempted to flee, the soldiers commenced firing without orders, causing the death of one unnamed player and the chief of organization and personnel of Unit 1948) The message added that the bodies and the "civilian and military prisoners" were being sent to sector headquarters. (USN 835, 2/LR1/(CUM)/R196-63, 5 December, SECRET KIMBO)

Dolores Ibarruri, "La Pasionaria" of Spanish Civil War fame and secretary general of the Spanish Communist Party, arrived in Havana from Moscow on 5 December, according to press reports. Ibarruri, who resides in Moscow, was invited to Cuba by Castro during his visit to the Soviet Union. (The New York Times, 6 December, UNCLASSIFIED)

CUBAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:

Carlos Rafael Rodriguez, minister of INRA, has expressed serious dissatisfaction with Cuba's current agricultural situation and revealed that he disagrees with Castro's emphasis on "ultimate aims" in place of current "tactics." In a long talk with the British ambassador in early November, Rodriguez agreed "with surprising enthusiasm" that the two main problems facing Cuban agriculture were the lack of competent personnel to run the appropriated farms, and the lack of consumer goods which are necessary to stimulate production, especially by the remaining private farmers. Rodriguez had advised Castro that there were not sufficient agricultural experts to run the state farms which had been previously organized, and he had counseled against taking over medium-size farms (as the Second Agrarian Reform Law did) until sufficiently trained and experienced personnel were available; he commented on Soviet complaints about the low educational level of Cubans sent to the USSR for agricultural training. Rodriguez said that despite his advice, Castro had gone ahead with the Second Agrarian Reform Law for two "political" reasons: to push ahead with the progress of Cuba's Socialist economy, and to destroy the support for counterrevolutionaries which Castro believed existed among the "rural bourgeois." Rodriguez thought it ironical that US pressure on Cuba (presumably he meant aid to counterrevolutionaries) had forced Cuba to seize lands faster than it would otherwise have done. He also stated his belief that the seizure of medium-size farms would lead to a drop for several years in many branches of Cuban agriculture, particularly in market gardening and dairy farming.

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CUBAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT cont'd

Rodriguez also agreed with the British ambassador that the second problem facing Cuban agriculture was the lack of consumer goods which were necessary to stimulate production. However, Rodriguez said that Cuba was in a vicious circle: farmers did not have incentive to produce because there were few consumer goods available, yet such goods could not be obtained until farm production had been raised. Rodriguez' main concern seemed to be the scarcity of many consumer goods; in fact, he admitted that he was willing to undertake temporary expediencies which might help raise production, even though they might be "doctrinally unwelcome." Rodriguez referred the ambassador to Lenin's New Economic Policy, and made no attempt to disguise his disagreement with Castro's insistence on "ultimate aims" instead of current "tactics." (British Embassy Havana, 13 November, CONFIDENTIAL NO FOREIGN DISSEM)

Cuba is taking further steps to improve its fishing industry. A Havana radiobroadcast reported the completion of several construction projects in the Chuyima shipyards in the Almendares River in Havana, including a pier 307 meters in length, a concrete esplanade measuring 17,000 square meters with a capacity of 24 ships, two launching ramps, and the dredging of the Almendares River in front of the pier, pending partial completion, as well as several minor jobs. It also reported that the shipyard has launched 18 Lambda-75-class ships; 14 more are expected to be launched by January. According to a 29 November intercepted message, an official mission in connection with the fishing industry was expected to arrive in (Madrid) in early December. The (delegation) was composed of (Jose Lavia) and (Juan de la Fe Flores). (CIA FBIS 03, 6 December6 OFFICIAL USE ONLY; NSA 2X/O/CUD/T2523-63, 5 December, SECRET SABRE)

INSURGENCY AND CIVIL UNREST:

Counterrevolutionary elements apparently attacked the (Selva Marina) observation post at Cayo de Cristo) on a recent undetermined date. A partially garbled message from (Central Army Headquarters) in (Santa Clara) informed Havana) that personnel in the observation post located on a cay off (Isabela de Sagua) "repelled the aggression and caused the flight of the attackers.. In a probe of the place by air, land, and sea, nothing more than some footprints were observed." Because of the garbles at the beginning of the message it is impossible to determine the time and nature of the attack. (USN 856, 2/SL/CUM/R297-63, 6 December, SECRET KIMBO)

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An unidentified military unit informed (First Army Sector E Headquarters at (Mayari Arriba) that a suspected counterrevolutionary had been arrested in (Guantanamo) The suspect, militiaman Esteban Mendez Almaquel, was arrested in the home of Genaro Moya on 3 December. Moya was identified as being implicated in the counterrevolution and as an informer. (USN 835, 2X/ LRL/CUM/T675-63, 5 December, SECRET SABRE)

CUBAN FOREIGN SERVICE:

Carlos Olivares, Cuba's ambassador to the USSR, arrived by plane yesterday in Havana for what Prensa Latina described as a "short vacation." (CIA/FBIS, Havana, 5 December, UN- CLASSIFIED)

CUBAN AIR FLIGHT CONNECTIONS:

Intercepted(civil aviation) communications indicate that the Soviet-made AN-12 transport aircraft being ferried to Cuba from the Soviet Union is adhering to its schedule. It arrived at the Brazilian airport of Recife from Conakry on 5 December and left there the next day for Belem, Brazil. It is scheduled to leave Belem on 7 December for Havana. The intercepts also indicated that Jamaica has granted permission for the plane to use Kingston as a reserve landing point in the event of necessity. (USA-51, 2/J8/RUT/R894-63, 6 December, SECRET KIMBO)

SHIPPING SUPPORT FOR CUBA:

The US Embassy in Beirut believes that Lebanon may act to curtail the use of its ships in the Cuban trade. This would result in a significant decline in Cuban shipping in free world bottoms because Lebanese companies provided ten of the thirty- two free world ships which called at Cuba in October. The Lebanese foreign minister planned to ask the cabinet for a provisional measure whereby he would be able to demand that all ships carrying Lebanese flag must call at Lebanon periodically and report their destinations. He believed this would cut the Cuban traffic quickly by 60 percent. Because US aid to Lebanon is almost nonexistent, the US Embassy believes that this Lebanese action would be prompted by motives of principle rather than fear of losing US aid, an action which is being discussed by the US Congress. (Am Emb Beirut 520, 5 December, CONFIDENTIAL)

CUBAN CHINESE COMMUNIST RELATIONS:

A Havana Prensa Latina broadcast of 6 December announced that President Dorticos has assented to the appointment of Wang Yu-ping as Chinese Communist ambassador to Cuba. This is the first information indicating that Ambassador Shen Chien, who has served in Cuba since December 1960, is about to be replaced. The new Chinese Communist ambassador is a 53-year-old senior diplomat; since 1950 he has served three- to four-year terms as Communist ambassador in Rumania, Norway, and Cambodia. He is married and has two children.

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CUBAN CHINESE COMMUNIST RELATIONS cont'd

While he is, of course, a member of the Chinese Communist party, he is not a ranking party member. He appears to be a lower ranking person than newly assigned Chinese Communist ambassadors to such countries as the UAR and Algeria. The earliest biographic references to him have him as a member of the Chinese Communist Army in 1931. He subsequently became an army political commissar and rose to the rank of general. It is not unusual, however, for Chinese Communist diplomats to be generals. He speaks Russian, but there is no information that he speaks Spanish. For the last year and a half, however, he has been stationed in Peiping and he could have learned the language then. He accompanied Chinese Communist chief of state Liu Shoa-chi on the latter's visit to Cambodia last spring. (CIA FBIS Havana, 6 December, OFFICIAL USE ONLY; BACKGROUND DATA: SECRET NO FOREIGN DISSEM)

BLOC ECONOMIC RELATIONS:

L.P. Kyuchukov, chief of the Engineering Directorate of the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Trade, was to arrive in Prague from Havana yesterday and fly on to Sofia today. Kyuchukov, who is thought to have negotiated Bulgarian arms shipments to Cuba, was noted traveling between Havana and Santiago de Cuba on 21 and 23 November--the third time he has been in Cuba since November 1962. (DIRNSA, 2X/0/QOC/T2810- 63, 5 December, SECRET SABRE)

BLOC RELATIONS:

A 4-man Soviet delegation, headed by USSR Deputy Minister of Education Serafim Nikichev, arrived in Cuba on 5 December to spend a month "working on the curriculum of Havana University's School of Social Sciences." Nikichev was accompanied by "academicians" Aleksandr Smirnov, Vassiliy Rayike, and Maria Filipova. The group was welcomed at Jose Marti airport by the Rector and Deputy Rector of the univer- sity, Juan Mier Febles and Mariano Rodriguez Solveira, and the school's protocol specialist, Professor Pedro Canas. The delegation's trip to Cuba is the first tangible result of the Soviet-Cuban educational exchange agreement signed in Mos- cow two months ago. That agreement provides for the loan of Soviet academicians and educational administrators to Cuban schools, the exchange of students and instructors between the two countries, and the use of Soviet texts in Cuba. (CIA/FBIS, Havana, 5 December, UNCLASSIFIED)

NON-BLOC COMMERCIAL RELATIONS:

The US consul in Antwerp has been informed by the Varmi Company of Brussels that it will not sell construction equipment to Cuba; there have been reports that such a sale, perhaps total- ling $1 million, was being negotiated. (See Daily Summary of 7 and 13 November.)

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NON-BLOC COMMERCIAL RELATIONS cont'd

The director of Varmi confirmed to US officials that he had been negotiating with a Spanish firm (probably CILASA) for the sale of US-origin construction equipment; after being informed that the material was destined for Cuba and having been warned of the consequences of such a sale, the director agreed on 2 December to stop negotiations. The US consul comments that it is not sure whether the knowledge of the eventual sale to Cuba or the fact of US intervention in the matter caused Varmi to stop the arrangements.

Meanwhile, a source with access to CILASA's files reported on 28 November that a Cuban comission headed by Rene Narbona of the Cuban tractor importing agency would be unable to arrive in Brussels on 30 November because of inability to obtain visas. This group had probably been scheduled to com- plete negotiations for the purchase of the Varmi construction equipment. (Am ConGen Antwerp, 29, 3 December, CONFIDENTIAL; CIA Madrid TDCS-3/566,653, 5 December, SECRET NO FOREIGN DIS- SEM)

The US Embassy in Tokyo, in receipt of a report that private Japanese companies have contracted for 325,000 tons of Cuban sugar for delivery between July 1964 and June 1965, sees little prospect of inducing the Japanese Government to interfere with the transaction. The Japanese Government would have difficulty intervening because of the general world sugar shortage, the unavailability of sugar from other sources at comparable prices, and the political problem which rising sugar prices is causing the Ikeda administration. (Am Emb Tokyo 1688, 5 December, CONFIDENTIAL)

The director of the Spanish firm Empresa Nacional de Optica, Vicente M. Cabanillas Gonzalez, left Madrid for Havana on a 29 November IBERIA Airlines flight. As reported earlier (see Daily Summary, 11 October), Cabanillas is negotiating through CILASA for the sale of a large quantity of movie pro- jectors to the General Administrator of University Inspection in Havana. According to a CILASA employee with access to company files, Cabanillas' travel expenses are being paid by CILASA. Cabanillas had hoped to get a Cuban visa which would not appear in his passport, as he hoped to visit the US later. He was unable to arrange this, however, and finally had to ac- cept the Cuban visa in his passport. (CIA, Madrid, IN 74453, 5 December, SECRET NO FOREIGN DISSEM)

NON-BLOC RELATIONS:

A Cuban good-will mission was received by the Moroccan acting foreign minister on 2 December, according to information received by the US Embassy in Rabat. The mission was probably composed of Antonic Carrillo Carreras, Enrique Vian Audivert of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and Dr. Enrique Rodriguez Leoches, Cuban ambassador to Moroc- co, (See Daily Summary of 29 November for recent Cuban-Moroccan relations.)

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NON-BLOC RELATIONS cont'd

Despite the Moroccan announcement of its break in diplomatic relations with Cuba, the Cuban ambassador is still in Rabat and attends functions he normally attended. The chancery offices are open and the Cuban flag is flying. This situation has been a source of some embarrassment to the Moroccan Foreign Ministry. However, the US Embassy believes that the reception of the Cuban delegation by the Moroccan Government may presage the official re-establish- ment of diplomatic relations. An officer in the Spanish Embassy in Rabat believes this is entirely possible; he be- lieves the Soviets are using their influence to keep the Cuban Embassy in Rabat. The US Embassy also feels that the Moroccan King may not feel he received sufficient benefit to justify continuing the break in diplomatic relations with Cuba. (Am Emb Rabat 860, 4 December, CONFIDENTIAL)

The Swiss ambassador in Cuba was informed by the deputy foreign minister that the preliminary hearing had been completed for the US citizen Frank Emmick, who reportedly will be charged with being a CIA agent. (See Daily Summary of 5 December.) The ambassador believes that Emmick's trial will be held shortly after the completion of the OAS inves- tigation into charges by Venezuela of Cuban intervention in Venezuelan affairs. Currently, the ambassador is trying to find a Cuban lawyer to defend Emmick. He is considering the lawyer hired by the Canadian Embassy to defend the Cuban pilots Lippert and Milne, an attorney who handles Swiss Em- bassy affairs, or a member of the Havana University Law School faculty. (Am Emb Bern 363, 5 December, CONFIDENTIAL)

Prime Minister Williams of Trinidad. Tobago gave a "very chilly" reception on 4 December to a visiting Cuban official, Robert Gerardo Sanchez, commercial officer in the Cuban Consulate in Kingston. A Foreign Ministry official in- formed the US Embassy that Williams was annoyed that Sanchez had presumed on a scant acquaintance with him to visit Port- of-Spain, despite advice from the government of Trinidad that such a visit would be inopportune. Reportedly, the prime minister turned down Sanchez' suggestion for trade talks, on the grounds of Cuba's involvement with Venezuela and Trinidad, Tobago's delicate and difficult relations with Caracas. He did not, however, close the door on such discussions at some appropriate time in the future. The government of Trinidad expects Sanchez to leave the country soon. (Am Emb, Port of Spain, 223, 5 December, CONFIDENTIAL)

CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES: In a message of 3 December, the Chilean Embassy) in Havana) reported to its Foreign Ministry information it had received from "reliable sources" in Cuba on Cuban efforts to ship weapons to Venezuela and other Latin American countries.

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CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES cont'd

The embassy)stated that "everything leads to the belief that" the arms recently discovered in Venezuela had come from Cuba. According to one of the Chilean Embassy's) sources, two ships had left Cuba at an unspecified date en route to British Guiana with "packages consigned as machinery consigned to an industrialist of known Communist tendencies whose property is adjacent to the Venezuelan border." Various of the Chilean Embassy sources "accept the rumor" that the arms are of Belgian and British (sic) make and that the shipments have been made from various Cuban ports. The embassy) report also expressed the belief that Cuba not only sends arms to various points in South America, but also Cuban guerrilla leaders. (NSA 3/0/CLD/- T1129-63, 5 December, TOP SECRET DINAR)

Havana Radio announced yesterday that pro-Castro guerrillas have established "six operational zones" in the mountains around Santiago and Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. The Havana radiobroadcast credited the announcement to "the first communiqué issued by the command." Meanwhile, press dispatches from Miami report that most Cuban exiles feel that the Havana announcement is an attempt to cover up the failure of Castro terrorists to stop Venezuela's presidential elections last Sunday. Other exile sources predict that the announcement and the setback in Venezuela mean that the Castro regime will launch a concerted terrorist campaign against the military-installed provisional regime in Santo Domingo. Batista Falla, leader of the Cuban exile Christian Democratic Movement (MCD), said yesterday in Miami that the failure of terrorism in Venezuela "has put Castro in a difficult position and damages his chances in the rest of Latin America." He added that he expects Castro to "make desperate attempts to picture terrorism as successful, despite its miserable failure in Venezuela." All reporting by the Dominican Government indicates that its forces are in effective control of the areas of guerrilla activity. About 40 insurgents of the outlawed pro-Castro 14th of June Political Group (APCJ) are said to have been captured, with only isolated bands yet to be apprehended. (UPI, Miami, A-11, 6 December, UNCLASSIFIED and Background Information, SECRET)

Cuba is reportedly making preparations to recognize a Venezuelan government-in-exile, according to an official West German service from a fairly reliable source with contacts in Havana. Reportedly, the Cuban Foreign Ministry is consulting the USSR and other bloc countries to induce them to recognize this government-in-exile. The Cubans, according to the source, do not expect the USSR and other countries to agree to this; nevertheless, the attempt is being made.

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CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES cont'd

Although this is the first report on the possibility of a Cuban-sponsored Venezuelan government-in-exile, the Cuban radio and press have been emphasizing the slogan that the Betancourt government does not represent the people and that the real representatives of the people are to be found in the ranks of the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN). According to Cuban newspapers, Pedro Duno, a former professor of the Central University of Venezuela, arrived in Havana to join the "mission" of the FALN in Havana. (CIA Munich TDCS- 3/566,731, 5 December, SECRET NO FOREIGN DISSEM)

The OAS Investigating Committee which is looking into the Cuban arms cache discovered in Venezuela does not intend to limit its investigation to the cache. The group has no intention to expand its study to cover domestic political as- pects of the FALN or Communist Party activities; however, the members expressed interest in looking into such aspects as Cuban broadcasts inciting to violence, possible transfer of funds from Cuba, training of Venezuelans in Cuba in subversive techniques, and evidence of other clandestine arms shipments. In addition to examining the arms cache, the committee also voiced interest in hearing tapes of recent Cuban broadcasts, examining transcripts of interrogations and documents seized from captured terrorists, saboteurs, and guerrillas, talking to Venezuelan authorities responsible for combating terrorism and insurgency, and possibly interviewing some prisoners. In a meeting with the committee, the Venezuelan foreign minister placed emphasis on vverification of the Cuban origin of the arms cache, but also indicated his government would furnish all possible evidence on the Venezuelan complaint that the committee might want. (To Am Emb Caracas 485, 5 December, CONFIDENTIAL)

An American woman told a Unitarian minister in New York on 5 December that her "boy friend," a former RAF flyer and soldier-of-fortune, has left for an unknown destination in Central America from which he will fly in a pro-Castro coup in Venezuela tomorrow. Dr. Walter Kring, minister at the All Souls Unitarian Church, told a USUN official yesterday that he had been approached by an American woman who asked him to get her story "into the proper channels." The woman stated that her friend left New York on 5 December by unknown means for an unidentified location in Central America. He told her that he would fly to Venezuela on 7 December in connection with a pro-Castro coup which she would read about in the Sunday papers.

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CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES cont'd

Dr. Kring said that he was impressed by the woman's utter sincerity and normal behavior. He believed she was convinced of the truth of her story and of the honesty of her friend. The woman had apparently, at some earlier date, contacted the FBI in connection with her friend's participation or knowledge of a coup in Honduras. She later retracted her story because she felt it seemed "too implausible and silly." (USUN, New York 2376, 5 December, CONFIDENTIAL BACKGROUND USE ONLY)

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