THE HOSTAGES HELD BY PREMIER CASTRO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP67-00318R000100770079-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 7, 2013
• Sequence Number: 79
• Publication Date: April 25, 1961
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Ann n c 46E1
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/05/07: CIA-RDP67-00318R000100770079-8
VIRGINIAN-rum
Circ.: rr
. 109,665
. 141,816
Front ait Other
Page
PaitePRI5 1961
611 ifigp
? The Hostages Held
? By Premier Castro
Latin American delegations at
the United Nations appealed to
Premier Fidel, Ca a ton.clemency
for the Oilers cap-
tured by the my in the
attempted invasi
"Ask for clernenL7 the United
Sand the scomigitlittel
Agensiat organifq,tTie attack,"
the Ctqajytt,K,Ogiiiiillifid in the;
course of his four-atd-a-ha.lf-hour
speech on SundayHv.. is absurd
now to seek clem if they do
not stop the aggrPss ainst us."
* *
The speech Premier rastro has
just made differs liptki :from many
that he made., befthlw pitifully 1
small force of Cuban: wtriots- at-
? tempted a landin a Cuban
-beach in order to j: ..riabel forces
in the Escambray tains. The
-United States exp.OSsed its sym-
? pathy with the invasfin forces and
; gave therh some aid-In equipment
and training, but there was no
! military intervention by this nation
on behalf of forces tpat were seek-
ing to finish ?a democratic revolu-
tion which the Cast!kt government
betrayed:
The invasion forces were di-
rected by the Cuban Revolution-
ary Council 'in the tilited States.
,By a fitting, coincidettce the first
president of Cuba undef the Castro
? government Dr. Manuel Urrutia
LIeo, Was seeking aiyikfri in Vene-
zu the7sotrie. hour in
I Cash ;was speak-
ht.% Havana and, gills false
accusation of agg ion against
th*Unqed States.
' * *
Dr. Urrutia ,had, once been the
head of the revolutidAry group of
Cuban patriots. in the ,united States
backing a suppost,d, democratic
revolution against Nesident Ful- ,
gencio Batista, the dictator over-
thrown by Fidel Castro.
When he was the head of rebel
forces in the Sierra Mapstra Moun-
tains fighting Batista in 1958, Fidel
Castro appealed to the world in a
secret radio address to prevent '
BatIsta's execution of captured ,
rebels. They were, he said in ef-
fect, Cuban patriots, fighting for
democracy. The tables of the
Cuban wilderness have turned.
Fidel Castro has already given
Cuba a blood bath. He is now
brainwashing the rebel prisoners
he has captured and threatening
to kill his captives. If he shoots
these brave young Cubans he will j
have to answer to all of Latin
America as well as to all the free
world.
Premier Castro holds the hos-
tages of democratic aspirations in
Latin America. His words and his
threats should make clearer one of
thp next steps in the Latin Ameri-
can policy of the United States:
a more vigorous and persevering
effort to rally the nations of Latin
? America to the support of demo-
cratic government in Cuba by the
overthrowing of Castro.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/05/07: CIA-RDP67-00318R000100770079-8