'I AIRLIFTED SUPPLIES TO REBELS IN CUBA'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000402760006-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 21, 2014
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: May 27, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/03/21 : CIA-RDP73-00475R000402760006-3
NEW YORK
DAILY NEWS
MAY 27 1
Anti-Castro Cubans airlifted a cargo of food, equipment, propaganda leaflets and a complete
field hospital from a southern Florida airstrip this week and dropped it by parachute in Cuba.
. It was the first major effort to carry supplies to the underground forces in Cuba. The cargo
plane evaded the Cuban radar defenses and returned safely.
The story of the flight was told to Jack Hord, city 'editor of the Pompano Beach (Fla.) .
Sun-Sentinel, by Manuel' Fernandez, a member of the 30th of November Rebel Movement and the
International Anti-Communist Brigade. Fernandez Was a member of. the crew on the ? plane.. His .
story follows' ? . ? 1 ? ?
Copyright .10.3 : Gore N:::%%?xpoperts Co. ? ?
Pompano Beach, Fla., May 26 (CTP-S)?I flew a mercy mission over
? i i
Cuba in what must have been the, longest 32 minutes of my life n. that plane
?
1,000 feet above the ground. ?
?
Two companions and flew n supPly' mission to the
.30th of November's forces fighting a guerrilla war in
eastern Cuba, the same hills wherP Fidel .Castro started
his now infainous revolution eight years ago.
"At the present time we are.,0-
fighting on 17 fronts inside Cuba.
? Our leaders have taken a page.
from Napoleon's book on military
strategy and are in the process of
. setting up a supply line to each
of our mission?the most import-
ant part: The second . phase,
though not quite as important,
as cencidcred Mitre dangerous.
? The Leaflets Next
? The remainder of, our cargo
The pilot nosed the craft up to
1,000 feet, and held it there. Our was. 150,000 propaganda leaflets.
drop .zone was about- 10 minutes' stuffed in three 100-pound s-acks.,
flight from the coast. The plan We dropped them on the city of
called for the zone to be marked Santiago de' Cuba,' a Populated
metropolitan area southwest of
Guatanamo naval base.
Getting out could have been
more tricky than getting in, but
,more '.eventYul than the flight this , Was accomplished in the
across ? water. We did not see a same manner, as we had entered.
of these 17 fronts, by underground agents with a.
? ' Our twin-engine aircraft toOk single white light.
off from a south Florida airstrip'
? early in the morning carrying a-
To the Sierra Maestra
' cargo of food, equipment, 150,000 The flight inland proved no
propaganda leaflets and a corn-
* plete field hospital. After a diver-.
sionary flight, the pilot, a 'mn,
who has made many' clandestine-
single sign of life from the coast the--pilot- dropped the ship to a
'.
flights over Cuba in the last five to the foothills of the Sierra low altitude and skimmed the
-
years, turned the plane toward Maestra, where we were water. As We left the lights of
,. to make 'Santiago behind, I wasn't ner-
::oUr destination. ? ' the ;drop. ? vous anymore. I felt;yery.-good...
Flew at Under 100 Feet The co-pilot and I shoved the - ? '
Flying at an altitude of less cargo , near the open door.. and
than 100. feet, the plane a
p- awaited the pilot's signal to ..push
"
proached Cuba from the north, the package out the port.
The lows alttitude enabled -us to It .v,,as at this, point that We
slip through Castro's radar, which suffered our only anxiety in the
"at its best is not too effective. -entire trip. We were .oVer the
We did encounter some tough
area we knew to be-the drop zone,
, '
-weather which catised the plane but :It was not marked as the
to bob and dip and in places we Plan has called for. Finally, after
flew into a driving rainstorm; five ? minutes during which we
? I didn't realize .we had crossed envisioned all sorts of .betrayal,
into, Cuban territory until ?the the underground agents on the.
pilot announced it. He:advised us ground turned on the light. A
to keep a watch for signs of Cas- -"There's the light," the pilot
tro aircraft or .possible ground said: ".When I give the word
, fire. ? kick' it out." He gave. the Void-1
?
We had remoVed .the door Of and I-kicked. ?
the craft prior to takeoff. . That completed. the first part
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/03/21 : CIA-RDP73-00475R000402760006-3