DONOVAN FINDS LUCK OF IRISH HELPS IN DEALING WITH CASTRO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000100370061-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 1998
• Sequence Number: 61
• Publication Date: April 15, 1963
• Content Type: NSPR

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PHILADEA* 6VdFor Releas 2000108/24: CIA-
NEWS ~PYRGHT
EVENING 283,195
APP
FOIAb3b
novan Finds Luck .of Irish
Helps in Dealing wi
B
HARRY
F:
y
F
;,;;CSON
NEW YORK (UPI) .-Jame
freedom train for person
imprisoned in Cuba, has been
losing two things recently
sleep and money.
The Brooklyn lawyer. wh
negotiated the release of the
Bay of Pigs prisoners an
more recently nine America
skindivers, told in an inter-
view today about the phy-
sical and mental strain of
negotiating with Fidel Castro.
"They work at night down
there," he said. "One night I
got three hours "leer, an-
other time two hours and a
third night none at all. Once
Castro pbo ed me at 2 in the
rilnr'nir! nole w(
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CPYRGH
6+- y4Le
did, too
iCans held b,, Castro and Do-
So far,. hey is con- novan hopes -to negotiate
erned, la *Ws estfgate Do- for them in about a month.
ovan has Icst TJM,000 in ! How does he establish con-
egal fees because 3Fhis work tact with Castro and go about
Cub
H
n
a.
e is ..counsel for getting into Ci11a?
ee and serves Without pay. .
NOT THAT he is about to
ome a pauper. because he
s a member of ^ firm that
a, nt e
as 18 lawyers on its staff. a phone call to Havana to a
ut he has ;nad
s
b
t
e
u
stan
ial ! person who is a sort of in-
nancial sacrifices ever since I termediary down there. I
e was named by the Brook- had PUUt it i rJ znd :'ridgy
yn Bar Assn to defend the afternoon I t-lot word that
evict spv, Col. Pudolf Abel. clearance had come thro'inh.
ho was later traded for U-2 '?I didn't make a reserva-
ilot France Lion but I went t t
gu o Idae-
That led to the dozen trips wild Airport and Eot a c a; >
e ha
s A) 12,0c, to tuba , lid on are Easter33 Air Lh-v_s jet
W1,0rI~ - not fiy,iShEd ~;tt
I )r %liaini. I always fly down
there at night. At Miami I
went to a hotel and register-
ed under an assumed name.
You have to be careful to
choose a name that matches
the initials on ycur baggage
and I use Davis a lot of the
time.
"I only carry one bag con-
taining tropical clothing and
a briefcase. From the hotel
I phoned a restricted area of
the Miami airport and got
in touch with Pan American,
which provides a small plane
for the flight to Havana. I
asked them to get clearance
for me to fly across the Cu-
ban anti-aircraft batteries.
It came through pretty fast
this time and we took off fr,r
Havana.
`SEVEN MEN, well armed
and wearing black :ilk suits,
met me at Havana. I didn't
j have to show a visa or a
passport or anything. I guess
my face is pretty well known
by now. Three of the men
got into a car with me and
the other four into another
car and we drove to one of
the four houses maintained
"WELL," he
Friday, Maro
federal court.?"HOC-7*hA
want to ?o to C$b
'
JA\`LS h. Lta:~6~C:'L.`.
night t{.arrlfvr
the Cuban Ministry^ of
.xternal Affairs. rtverythine
as ready for me there and
put in a call for Castro.
Sometimes I get to see'
astro right away and some-
imes there is a delay of
ours. I started `talking with
l im on Saturday and con-
Milled through on Sur, day
T arch 17.
"Saturday he took me for
an automobile ripe and we
p+: negotiating. He is al-
very courteous and cor-
r et and he gave me a good
I'll-11 of fruit cup, chicken
ern
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soup, red snapper, salad and
coffee. Also ancellent
cigar. t:y
"By Sunday I 'could sense
that the negotiations weren't
tting vet far, so I decided
o try the Iuck of the Irish.
I said AT Castrc 'Look, do
you k11t vvhaL day this Is?
This ls'St. Patrick's bay fnd
St. Patrick t3 nw patron
saint."11 ey_3 _ -painting a
green line down. `Fifth Ave.
In New York and getting
ready` to have a pars
11100 - 'YOUJ KNOVW= one
of the Sig heroes f South
Americs is? ?erhar O'Hig-
gins is his name It' bad luck ai
to deny arl~ hin to art Irish='
man on St Patrick's D'a
-XI
and w- at`s nore -you have'
two Amx women" in pri-
sonn ne of them' Is
nam eal:
So j't `? to Donovan's
surlir . -_ is Celtic appeal
away bile and then
returrie a , , sft he was re-
Ieasing e Lwo wore efl, Ger-
dine cha ff to and Martha
at of jail
ey came T l 416
wearing thel Im prison
clothes andW ovate. View
back to Miami with them on
Sunday.
` Mo ay" t i ing," Dono-
van "I was back in
federa court and the judge
looked at me sort of surprised
a i c l d ` W e wl e ve
you een and ivliat s `n W??
D NO Y ANS successes in
Cuba have caused rufriors
Cei rya % M Ma'
ua y sf Working in
behalf of the U. S. State De-
partment in an attempt to
negotiate some sort of diplo- I
matic accommodation be-
tween-Washington and Ha-
`10ovan says that if some-
thi g plus in a diplomatic
sense 4`othes out of his work
he wi b glad, bit hE ut-
lye he was work for
tie' or the State Dc'
part
"I"have never even met
Secretary of State ..Dean
Rusk," he said. ,`,Ti e' only
contact I ever ha'vfth -the
State Departm*1~1 t I
contact..them to
aain~is-
imy
~,cti t P "wYitt1d be In any
zy' Inconsistent With our
national policy. if they ever
said no, I wouldn't make the
trip, but so far they haven't.
"I HONESTLY couldn't tell
you ?right--now What- oiur offi-
cial national policy is toward
Cuba" When I first event
dontthre Castro would ask
me about Washington's in-
tentions toward Cuba and I
always told him I Wasn't
there to represent the U. S. I
was there on a private hu-
manitarian mission."
What is it that keeps driv-
Ing him on missions that in-
volve danger to his health
and a financial sacrifice? He
thought about that for a
while and then said:
"Well, you're at the Ha-
vana airport standing be-
side the steps as the prison-
ers get on the plane. There is-~
fear on their faces and they
are white with prison pallor.
"After the plane takes off, i.
they begin to relax. Some- t
times when they see the coast
of Florida they smile. Those
smiles are reward enough
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