176 10036 10027

JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION FORM

AGENCY: NARA RECORD NUMBER : 176-10036-10027 RECORD SERIES: National Security Files AGENCY FILE NUMBER :

ORIGINATOR : FROM : TO : TITLE: Fidel Castro's Coming Visit to Moscow and Algiers DATE: 4/23/1963 PAGES: 1 SUBJECTS: DOCUMENT TYPE : CLASSIFICATION : RESTRICTIONS : CURRENT STATUS : DATE OF LAST REVIEW: 9/10/2000 OPENING CRITERIA : COMMENTS: National Security Files, Box 38: Cuba 4/21/63-4/30/63. Box 1.

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OCI No. 1427/63 23 April 1963

Fidel Castro's Coming Visit to Moscow and Algiers

  1. The initial report on Fidel Castro's forthcoming visit to Moscow came from a usually reliable source with excellent contacts in Cuban government, circles who obtained the information from a Cuban government official who has been an intimate acquaintance for many years and who has excellent high-level contacts throughout the Cuban leadership. The usually reliable source obtained the information on 25 March. The report was disseminated to the intelligence community on 27 March and reported in the Current Intelligence Bulletin dated 29 March.

  2. The substance of the report was that, despite his strong criticism of the Soviet Union, particularly concerning its actions during the missile crisis, Fidel Castro is not blinded to the need for Cuba to maintain good diplomatic relations with the entire "socialist camp." Castro was planning, according to the report, to go to Moscow for the May Day celebrations. He was planning, however, to remain in Moscow only three days. It was his intention, according to the report, to tell Khrushchev, in effect, that the USSR must assist Cuba but must at the same time understand that Castro does not intend to be a "docile satellite.".

  3. Information from the same source and sub-source was disseminated to the intelligence community on 30 March indicating that Castro was intending to visit Algeria on the same trip that took him to Moscow. This was reported in the Current Intelligence Bulletin on 1 April.

  4. The substance of the second report was that Castro "plans to visit Algeria in connection with" the visit to Moscow and that Algeria and the USSR are the only two countries he was planning to visit on that trip. The Algerian visit was planned in view of the "special relationship" that is said to exist between Castro and Ben Bella and also between Castro and Algerian Defense Minister Boumedienne.

SECRET NO FOREIGN DISSEM/BACKGROUND USE ONLY