CAMPAIGN 84/JACKSON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303030008-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 21, 2010
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: June 27, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/21 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303030008-6
MEDIASCAN TRANSCRIPT
EXCERPTS FROM NBC SUNRISE/TODAY SHOW
27 June 1984
Wednesday
STAT
NA01 CAMPAIGN '84/ DANCY: Jesse Jackson has done it again, gone abroad and
JACKSON secured the release of prisoners. After a meeting with
Jackson last night, Cuba's Fidel Castro agreed to release
22 prisoners being held by Cuba. It was reminiscent of
Jackson's trip to Syria last winter to gain the release of
Navy Lt. Robert Goodman. The agreement on the prisoner
release came early this morning. John Severson reports
from Havana.
SEVERSON: An aide to Jackson said he and Castro got along
like long-lost brothers. What they did was agree to
embark on what they called 'the moral offensive' in 10
areas, ranging from normalizing U.S.-Cuban relations to
releasing U.S. prisoners held in Cuban jails.
FIDEL CASTRO (voice of translator): We decided to release
all U.S. prisoners we have in Cuba, with the exception of
those who have been arrested and sanctioned for hijacking
of planes.
SEVERSON: Castro also agreed to allow a political
prisoner, Vargas Gomez, who was in Cuban jail for 22 years
following the Bay of Pigs invasion, to go home with
Jackson, and he said he is now willing to discuss, before
the U.S. elections, the return of some 1,500 Cubans who
fled to the U.S. during the Carter administration. The
candidate and the president also agreed to exchange
ambassadors immediately, something that would require the
unexpected approval of the Reagan administration. Castro
said he was dealing with Jackson as a popular American
personality, that he doesn't intend to interfere with the
internal affairs of the U.S. As official as the
Castro-Jackson accord may appear, the only thing that's
almost certain is that when Jackson's plane returns home
on Thursday, it'll have more passengers than it did when
it left. John Severson, NBC News, Havana.
NA19 CAMPAIGN '84/ PALMER: First, more on that announcement by Cuban
JACKSON 3 President Fidel Castro that he plans to release 22
American prisoners, most of whom are being held in Cuban
jails on drug charges. That announcement came early this
morning, following talks between Castro and Democratic
presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. Jamie Gangel
reports this morning from Havana.
GANGEL: (In progress)... promise, Jackson is going home
with 22 American prisoners, most serving time here for
illegal drug trafficking, but Castro would only agree to
release one Cuban dissident. Jackson and Castro then
announced a 10-point agreement aimed at normalizing
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/21 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303030008-6
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/21 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303030008-6
U.S.-Cuban relations, but Castro insisted this was not a
swipe at the authority of the Reagan administration.
FIDEL CASTRO (voice of translator): Our purpose has not
been, nor this, nor has intention has been (sic) to
interfere in the internal affairs of the United States.
GANGEL: Castro promised to look into taking back unwanted
Cuban refugees imprisoned from the Mariel boatlift, and
into reuniting families, but Castro's language was vague,
more rhetoric than substance. The Jackson-Castro accord
may have looked and sounded official, but what it really
does is send a message from President Castro to President
Reagan that Castro wants to talk. Candidate Jackson only
got a small part of what he wanted; Castro turned down
Jackson's appeal to rejoin the Olympics, and only one
Cuban dissident was released. Jamie Gangel, NBC News,
with the Jackson campaign in Havana.
PALMER: And, there are reports from Havana, this morning,
that Secret Service agents assigned to provide protection
for Jackson during the presidential primary campaign are
not pleased with Jackson's plan to fly the newly released
prisoners back to the United States tomorrow aboard his
campaign plane. The one Cuban dissident being released
has been identified as 68-year-old Andres Vargas Gomez.
He's described as a former CIA operative who took part in
the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs. invasion of Cuba during the
Kennedy administration. He was released from prison a
year and a half ago, after serving 22 years, but has not
been allowed to leave the country. He spoke with NBC News
this morning. UNIDENTIFIED NBC REPORTER (off-screen):
What do you feel now, about thinking that you're going to
be able to leave, that you're going to be able to see your
wife, who (sic) you haven't seen in 22 years? I mean,
what is going through your mind now? ANDRES VARGAS GOMEZ:
Well, it is very difficult to explain that. I don't think
we can find, easily, words to express those emotions. I
am really a little--how I should say?--well, perhaps I am
not able to realize very well my feelings now, you know,
what I am, I feel, really. I am (unintelligible) happy,
and I think it is going to be good for me, very good to go
to the states, and I (sic) stay there with my family.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/21 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303030008-6