HAVANA'S INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00429A000300040018-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 23, 2000
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: January 31, 1963
• Content Type: MEMO

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STATSPEC
SPECIAL MEMORANDUM
HAVANA'S INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING
3.L JANUARY 1 q63
1. HOURS ON THE AIR
II. SAMPLES OF RADIO PROPAGANDA
INCITING TO REVOLT IN LATIN
AMERICA
STATINTL
Prepared for:
Information, Copy For.
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IIAWNA' S INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTfTG
I. HOURS ON THE PAR
31 January 1963
STATSPEC
The Cuban Government uses three vehicles for its radio propaganda to
audiences in other countries: "Radio Free Dixie," "The Friendly Voice
of Cuba," and "Radio Habana, Cuba."
+ "Radio Free Dixie" is a one-hour weekly transmission in English to
Negroes in the United States,broadcast over the facilities of Havana's
50-kilowatt transmitter "Radio Progreso" and its network of eight
relay stations situated throughout Cuba. Robert F. Williams, the North
Carolina Negro who fled to Cuba to avoid prosecution for alleged kid-
napping, is the director and chief commentator of this program, which is
heard every Friday night at 10 p.m. EST. Using "Jazz" terminology and
frequently crude language, Williams tells his "oppressed North American
brothers" that they are going to have to "fill a lot of jails and a lot
of graves, and not just with black boys, either," in order to achieve
"freedom and social justice." Assisting Williams are newscaster Carlos
Moore and "musical hostess" (disc jockey and commentator) Jo Salas.
"Radio Free Dixie" is heard very well in southern Florida and can probably
be heard in many areas of the southern United States without elaborate
technical facilities.
+ "The Friendly Voice of Cuba," formerly a popular Havana radio station
known as "R o Mamba.," began broadcasting in May 1962. Although this
powerful station does not so announce, its transmissions are apparently
intended for listeners in the United States. "The Friendly Voice of
Cuba" broadcasts from 6:00 in the morning to 1:00 a.m. EST. All of its
programs, except for four seven-minute Spanish news shows, are in
English. Its approach is a shade more subtle than that of "Radio Free
Dixie." It is heard best in southern Florida, but can also be heard in
many parts of the southern United States.
+ The official international service called "Radio Habana Cuba" is con-
Sid ered to be the chief external radio propaganda outlet of the Cuban
Government. More commonly known as "Radio Havana," this station broad-
casts weekly a total of 187 hours and 50 minutes of propaganda in
languages which include English, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish,
and Haitian Creole, to listeners in Europe, the Mediterranean area, and
the Western Hemisphere. "Radio Havana" is under the supervision of
Marcos Behemaras, deputy director (for international broadcasting) of the
Instituto Cubano de Radiodifusion. In addition to the normal information
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STATSPEC
and entertainment, it transmits special programs--"sponsored" by so-called
exile groups--the evident intent of which is to encourage subversion of
the incumbent governments of Peru, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic.
Programs with similarly subversive intent were formerly beamed to
Nicaragua and Honduras; these were discontinued in September 1962.
Although first observed on 14 March 1961, the Cuban inter-
national service was not officially inaugurated until May Day of that
year, when it began presenting a relatively modest schedule of programs
in English, French, and Spanish for Europe and the Americas for a total
of 42 hours a week. Since then, "Radio Havana" has grown by leaps and
bounds, finally emerging as Latin America's number one international
broadcaster. Its time on the air is as follows, in hours per week:
Arabic to the Mediterranean area -
5 hours
15 minutes
Haitian Creole to Haiti -
7 hours
English to Europe -
9 hours
20 minutes
English to the Americas - 17 hours
30 minutes
French to Europe -
9 hours
20 minutes
French to Canada -
3 hours
30 minutes
French to the Mediterranean -
3 hours
30 minutes
Portuguese to Brazil -
7 hours
Spanish to Europe & the Mediterranean - 16 hours 55 minutes
Soanish to the Americas - 108 hours 30 minutes
The technical facilities of "Radio Havana" are at a transmitter site
about 23 miles southwest of Havana. At present, no more than four
shortwave transmitters are being used, but in the past as many as five
have been observed on the air at the same time. These transmitters range
in power from 10 to 100 kilowatts, enabling "Radio Havana" to be heard all
over the world. Programs are sent from studios to the transmitter site
by means of microwave relays.
In addition to the regularly scheduled international service, these trans-
mitters have been known to broadcast special programs in order to take
advantage of particular political situations. When serious disorders
broke out in the Dominican Republic in late 1961, for example, broadcasts
emanating from a self-styled "clandestine" station called "Radio
Revolucion del Movimiento Catorce de Junio" demanded the overthrow of the
Dominican government. The station went off the air after about a week,
but not before direction finder (DF) bearings and other technical clues
indicated that the Bauta transmitter site was the point of origin.
"Radio Havana" announces that it makes its facilities available to political
groups from other Latin American nations so that they can beam programs
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back to their homelands. These programs are now broadcast as follows:
The Peruvian Anti-Imperialist Struggle Movement (Movimiento Peruano
de la Lucha Anti-Imperialista) broadcasts the "La Voz del Peru
Revolucionaria" program to Peru on Sundays at 7 to 7:15 p.m. EST;
The Guatemalan Information Committee (Comite Guatemal.teco de Information)
transmits the "Mensaje a Guatemala" program to Guatemal'a on Tuesdays and
Saturdays at 9 to 9:15 p.m. EST;
The Dominican Liberation Movement (Movimiento de Liberacion Dominicana)
broadcasts the "Patria Libre" program to the Dominican Republic on
Wednesdays and Fridays at 9 to 9:15 p..m. EST.
Similar programs were beamed to Nicaragua and Honduras, but were dropped
in September 1962 in favor of a "Radio Havana" program called "Trinchera
Americana," now heard nightly from 9:30 to 9:40 p.m. EST. This program
is more flexible in that it attacks the regimes of any Latin American
nation, changing its target from night to night according to the
exigencies of any given prevailing political situation.
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II. SR PLES OF PROPAGANDA INCITING TO REVOLT IN LATIN AM RICA
Reproduced below is a selection of some of the more inflammatory statements
that have appeared in Havana broadcasts to Latin America as a whole (Section
A) and in special programs tailored for listeners in Peru, Guatemala, and
the Dominican Republic (Section B). The quotations are arranged in reverse
chronological order. Most of the statements are taken from programs broad-
cast within the past two months, with a sampling from the spring of 1962
included for purposes of comparison. Passages not included in quotation
marks are paraphrases.
A. Broadcasts for Latin America in General (Radio Havana in Spanish to
the Americas)
23 January 1963:
The People's animosity against Betancourt "has been growing
with each passing day. Already there has been an elaboration
cf.`-evolutionary tactics, the application of which is caus-
ing the very foundations of the spurious government to
tremble. The National Liberation Front is turning out to
be the most effective executor of the will of the Venezuelan
people at this time. The slogan of the people is 'A Complete
Change of Government!"'
12 January 1963:
"The situation in El Salvador is disastrous in every respect;
the people are on the verge of a complete collapse or a
violent reaction. The more the Salvadorans are oppressed,
the more they strike back for their liberation, particularly
since the Cuban revolution.... The masses are acquiring a
great awareness of their strength and the possibility of its
effective use, thanks to measures like the United Revolutionary
Action Front, which declares itself to be the organization
created by the people to carry out the revolution the peoples
need."
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9 January 1963:
"The Paraguayan people are now determined to get rid of the
government, which has ignored the most elementary rights,
which has turned the country over to the insatiable voracity
of the monopolies, and which is preparing an electoral farce
in order to remain in power against the people's wishes.
However, the people of Paraguay have decided to acquire their
freedoms at all costs, and the crimes committed by Stroessner to
dissuade them will be useless."
25 December 1962, quoting a statement attributed to Ecuadoran ccarmunists:
"'The domestic political crisis is worsening. Administrative
ineptness of the dominating classes is becoming more glaring.
Contradictions among the dominating class are increasing.
And servility to Yankee imperialism is spreading. The real
solution to this crisis is: To strengthen the people of all
sectors in their struggle for their rights; to create a solid
front with the masses; to overthrow the imperialists and
oligarchs from power; and to set up a people's authority
able to carry out a program of radical reforms."'
23 December 1962, from a speech by Education Minister Armando Hart:
"We want every American nation and every man in Latin America
to fight for his country, fight for his nation, fight for
his national independence. This is what we want and what
we desire, and this is what imperialism does not want. It
does not want it because it knows that sooner or later this
struggle will lead to liberation from imperialism, and it
was the liberation from imperialism which guided Cuba to
socialism,, because liberation from imperialism naturally
leads to socialism. What we want is for the people of
Latin America to fight for their country and for the men
of Latin America to fight for their country."
24 November 1962:
"Venezuelan events in recent days have lost none of their
intensity. Given the vigor of the clashes between the
Venezuelan patriots perfectly organized for action in
the fields and in the cities--and Fomulo Betancourt's
traitorous forces, decisive episodes should be expected
within a few days. Venezuela is the weakest trench in the
imperialist front in the Americas. Let it not be forgotten
that the traitorous regime in Caracas, despite all appearances,
is under fire from a great popular offensive?"
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IUNCLASSI TIED
The following quotations are taken frcm broadcasts in -the spring of 1962:
1 May 1962, speech by Ernesto Guevara:
"Sometimes some comrade in Latin America asks us what we think
of this or that place, how shall the problem be faced in this
or that place. We always answer that there is no set way to
seize power and that the working class, helped and strengthened
by the peasant class, must never seek the most bloody battle,
because it will cost thousands and thousands and millions of
lives of their sons. But the seizure of power by the workinr,
class is a historic necessity, and no one can oppose history....
The years ahead, comrades, will be the scene in all of America
of constant, fratrididal struggles."
8 April 1962, commentary on Ecuador:
"As of today, Arosemena, the people are rising an in arms
against you, your infamous coalition ^overnment, the reactionary
elements of the army, the bosses, the powerful, the exploiters,
and above all, imperialism, in order to fulfill the slogans
that you proclaimed and betrayed: land reform, tax reform, and
national dignity. The people, Arosemena, never forget their
word. "
4 April 1962:
"The present government of Ydigoras Fuentes must be forced to
abandon office, and the Congress, composed mainly of deputies
who held office as a result of fraud and imposition, must be
dissolved."
"Cuba has said, and has repeated a thousand times, that it is
not necessary to export revolution, because each of the
oligarchical,, tyrannical, and despotic governments under
which America, suffers is itself preparing the conditions
necessary for the people to rise up against it. And the people
who-suffer those proimperialist, bloody governments do not need
to have parachutists drop into their mountains. They them-
selves seek solutions for their problems. The only thing of
which Cuba can be accused is of havinc opened the way, of hav-
ing won its freedom fighting in guerrilla warfare against a
cruel dictatorship."
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B. Special Broadcasts
1. To Peru
21 January 1963:
"Our standard must be a national liberations a transformin
liberation, a transforming revolution,... The people of Peru
know only too well that elections will not solve their
problems, because Peru needs a complete chan7e, a radical
transformation of its economic, political, and social
structures.... Therefore we must continue to fight, not for
small or partial victories but for a transformation of Peruvian
society, for the destruction of capitalism."
7 January 1963:
"The military government junta may rest completely assured that
there will be revolution in Peru and the people will take over...,
We wonder if among the members of the armed forces there is
not a group of truly honorable and patriotic men who love
the people of Peru and are ready to place their weapons at
the service of the people.... This is a year which will
mark the beginning of a new era in Peru. Now is the time
to resist with greater force and vigor. Strike against
abuse, strike against violations.... The strike is the most
powerful weapon... The strike can do more than can rifles and
bullets."
2 April 1962:
"The Peruvian people know perfectly well that the Cuban revolu-
tion represents a hone for us and for all the nations of America.
It is not enough to call oneself a revolutionary or support
the revolution; it is necessary to adopt a revolutionary
attitude."
2. To the Dominican Republic:
19 January 1963:
"The Dominican Liberation Movement calls on the entire nation
to demonstrate its repudiation of the alleged visitors (two
U.S. warships), which are coming to outrage the country
and to be, suspiciously, present precisely when the people
are filling the streets in their struggle against the impe-
rialist U.S. Government. Everyone, forward to the fight for
freedom, for national independence, and social progress!"
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7,5 January 1963:
"The people must come again into the streets and demand that
the emergency law be revoked immediately.... Citizens, all
to the fight to end the repressive and antidemocratic
measures!"
"The experience of this year makes obvious to all the need to
carry out the national antifeudal, anti-imperialist revolution.
To carry out this revolution means to destroy the reactionary,
antinational, and despotic power of the large landowners
and the great bourgeoisie in league with foreign imperialism."
"The situation can be changed only by the grassroots mobiliza-
tion of the popular masses, which will bring about the proper
conditions to carry out an anti-imperialist, antifeudal revolu-
tion of emancipation,"
3 April 1962:
"The time will come--and it is sooner than you think--when
the popular masses of our country, the massacred, tortured,
starving, and irridentist masses, will know how to settle
accounts with every one of their oppressors. .,. To the
streets! To arms! Down with the illegal Trujillista Council
of State!"
"The Trujillista Council of State is not competent to resolve
the serious national problems in the interest of the country.
That is why it must be overthrown and replaced by a govern-
ment of the people whose hand will not tremble in liberating
the country from feudal extortion and Yankee imperialist
domination. ""
3, To Guatemala:.
5 January 1963:
"The workers and employees, by means of strikes., and the
peasants, by starting a big resistance movement everywhere,
must make their strength felt so as to accentuate the popular
nature of the struggle and pave the way to revolution. The
Guatemalan people repudiate Ydigoras and his clique.""
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