DONOVAN TELLS STORY OF CUBAN'S RANSOM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000100380008-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 7, 2000
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: January 26, 1963
• Content Type: NSPR

JAN 6 1963 FOIAb3b
Aoved For Release 2000/08/137:
- -re I I I
ionovan: el s 6tor
Of Q iban s Ransom
Exclia tug. Plan
14:-? hied'
,:ould bring a group, tiflOoban f. They stayed at a rua,down
refttgies to see meleifirhinent ", suburban villa owned by Jesus
-I ', --mer de los eros, a.k.former race-
' ?Thi4liiisinesitnA ii;.-is kltiab- track ..*, .
lie 414aficti?tovvn water coin- . .., g. --, !Ms,.
NO I tiNi NA I
J aiiie 1 Donovan ha, re'vealeti
theWlC story of the :elease
t'-,e uhan freedom Ii!?ters
In the dis;istroustaS
01 Pies asion.
It-wed he acted as an I
for Atty. Gen:
foOtook this ntissiori
? assi&mment from
Cominittee
: ? I e\er kne\N th.it the
'cal was interested,"
o an denied that the at-:
,,;er.iial "brought the
d. this,picture
,u4kc. ? ..00(1,000. 'in ransom
,
hitt ..siinidy I,. not true,-
Donovoi, _declared. did,it on
a perst ti ir basis, acting through
TWO
* *
DlYst)VAN said it is not
? ,V .
.tna, Tiro, at the last
ith an "ex-
iortiO*hate demand" for an ad-
tonal lb cash as.
; rid:mh A), for '60,. badly
ded Cuhah priWers who
;,d previously. been returned
To the United States. lv
'This was soMet,trq., the
Cuban Families C'Ocrimittee
agreed to last Apr;TOng be-
fore I ever hecam,e associated
with this mission"tonovan
explained.
:
Donovan a r r i4.. in
Americans.
Donovan said tivit hiefore
ihe missile crisis in?,,qc4ober,
the committee had--pithhought
it had--pledges to ciagr the
$2,925,000 from othgri-Cubans
in the United States, Europe.
and Latin America.
During the crisis, "all ?I the
pledges were taken back. The
Cubans were expecting an M-
vasion. and everything else."
he said.
*
DONOVAN said he "r,2-
ceived a phone call lay sum-
AppireeveciTo teRel6at
cssman who asked whether he
ert W. Kean Jr., president' of <
pitany0cSaiis wife is a Cuban, c,,c , atto*ey
witoOirother was among those general se an. "1
bei nrisoner.
ey came to nty office," (vjould made dea that ? -
Donovan said. "There were Donovan sa?
four of them, iOluding the
second in commSpd, of the
frei4ow brigtre the
bn4k, n. prisoners
who ,waugelawseVast April.
"Thervtoldvmg 4thout the
,-2upau C91mittee.
The committee jogliscied Pro-
LestanlatoggtisegTotenithough it
was pcedonansto*,,Catholic.
They said Ishadnifiebn recom- I
mended to themiby a highly ,
placed permatasthttswname they
could not cligaloge,'A
DONOVAN agreed to repre-
sent the committee without any
legal fee. But first, he said he
Must go to Washington and de-
termine from government offi-
via hether this mission would
"conflic m any way with what
remained of attr Cuban policy."
"The Cubans smiled at each
er, and informed me thsn
the highly placed person
d recommended me was
. Kennedy." Donovan
th
who
Atty.
said.
He sad go to Washington,
and, erred with the attor-
ney./ eneral, Sec. of State 1
Rusk, awd other offi-
4Is. But, Donovan said, he
did not talk with President-
Kennedy at any time about
the prisotter exchange.
When ilDonovan arrived'
Cuba fothis first visit on 4
30, 192, Havana was in
midstiof a military mobil*
tion. Only a few days bef,
the refugee Cuban stud
group known as "Alpha
a hit-run attack IMO
of Havawa
with
t
c'd?-
.f Donovan
by two_ Cu-
-iStates,
C11PIcROP75-00001R00010038
,the
itt
20 mm. c ? .
Thg:atmchgre
due ' to negotia
was o
bans from ,
612C100tOttlf
Fre?re.
Al the ver irst negotiating,
session, I explained to Castro
that I could not consider any
undertaking to raise cash,"
Donovan said. "1, spent hours
convincing him that he should
accept food and medicine in-
stead,",',4 .
"CistrivAlauty, said to the
three Cuidie the nego-
daft tea ? ; will accept
Dr. NWOvon's humanitarian
aptitsack and shall nnt deal
with pm" in terms of money.
Howevfr,7 I released to you
last Apra 60 wounded pris-
Owes on your firm pledge to
?mr theiriines totaling $2.-
0713,000. ,
"Castro said he wanted it
understood this obligation would
be discharged befere he com-
pleted the next prisoner ex-
change. The Cubans agreed
this was a personal oblig4on.
*V set about raising" the
irowsw.
mon.. - selves."
)CASTRO submitted exten-
sive lists of what he wanted in
food, dikthing, and medicine.
Whit 4)otrvan returned to
the mated Stites. he went to
see a personal friend. John E
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lent 9t t_tiaries
o. They decided to call
?th?id friend, J
omas oflflor nft
?lune.
,Arponcip and Connor were
'classmates. at Harvard Law
School,
under
t the 0
search 'W Development during
World War 11.
llaese two companies origi-
, ally agreed to provide most of
the drugs and trteciicino. nano-
! v 'bought he might need. 'the'
'es were packaged, and
waiting at Idlewild Ait-
tiring most of the Cuhan
rims.
an took the drug
catalogs with him
eturned to Havana
had to get them
cause it '.vas so
would tahe a lot of
ort it," he said,
c cuban dictator
oovan found Castro
"difc to deal with, but said
"he treated t 4 all ?times with
great courte
After 10 as of haggling.
Donovan walked out of a mid-
eight session in cold anger. "I
told the.n4 it they wanted to
continue his, they should send
ne new lists of their require-
ments." The lists came through
and were being analyzed just
, th, miaaile crick ir
tervencd
,served together
annevar Bush in
.of, Scientific Re
Eli ERN: NG
t standstill 4i1 aLr t edg.
as removed ' from t ba,i
trisis when Soviet p i-
cita Khrushchev agreed t,t
withdraw his missiles. t4y. that
ime the condition of the pri-
mers in Castro's jails was de-
qriprating rapidly.
Something had to be done to
erthem, ott,t liefore they died
ease, hopelessness, or
uti(n. t
ponovan's friends advised
hi% that the best way to ex-
pe te action now would be
fl
to . Y the entire ease before
the, Phar*aceutical 4i Nlanufac-
: ,ii
hirers s s n . , representing
everal, undred V.S. cor-
porations,
,
"It was then that the at-
torncgeneral assigned a whole
en of Justic,.: Department
law rs, and Voltinieers whom
we , ..oth solicited from leading
law firms In NC,N1 VOA and
Washington. They worked day
iin0 'night to cal ry out all the
complicated legal rulings that
were required," Donovan said.
"I explained to these' com-
panies that there was no corn-
pulsipn to participate, and some
elected not to.
"I told them that although
this had the sympathetic sup-
port of the government, it was
a private humanitarian affair.'
And ,1 said that if they con-
tributed, they would not be con-
tributing to the government, _hu4l .
to the American Red Cro'ss ,at '
the request of the Cuban fanh
C,?.?.,itt,t.?
d al
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