PRESIDENT KENNEDY BALKED C.I.A. PLOT ON RUSSIAN SUGAR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000400250021-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 23, 1998
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: March 26, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

CPYRGHT
NEW YORK TIMES
CPYRGHT
Sanitized - Approved ForWAA?e1RqA-RQP-
FOIAb3b%
Pres d erzt irerznec1 y
lialked C.I.A. ?lo
O Russian Sup
1 y M AX T1C:lNIti~;I".
Special to Tile New WTI[ Thilex
WASHINGTON',' March 2,
use of nausea-inducing gas 1
, Vietnam have brought to ugh
the story, of an ingeniou
scheme by which the Whit
House once nullified the us
of a totally different kind o
chemical agent on some suga
bound for the Soviet Union,
It is the story of ]low for
mer President John F. Ken
nedy outraged the Soviet Gov
ernment by conspiring in the
detention of a British ship
with cargo from Cuba so as
to undo a successful sabotage
operation of the Central In-
tclligence Agency,
It is a Caribbean melo-
drama involving mysterious
shipboard fires and hijacked
sacks of sugar,' bitter court
battles and angry diplomatic
messages, all against the
,background of the Cuban mis-
sile crisis of 11162.
The story is 30 months old
'Rico Is still being sued by Mos
cow for damages in the affair
Part Played by a Reef '
There Is no direct relation-
ship to gas and Vietnam. hilt
kinds of unorthodox weapons
that occasionally pose special
problems for Washington,
It began Aug. 22, 1962, when
the 13,?itish freighter Streatham
Hill, under lease to, a Soviet;
agency, managed to make hers
way into San Juan harbor in
(Puerto Rico for emergency re.
+pair;; after she has damaged her
pr opcller of a reef,
The 7,.180-ton vessel was car-
ryin? 80,000 sacks of Cuban ~,
sugar to the Soviet Union on
one of the then regular com-
mercial runs by Western ships
infuriating to the Kennedy Ad-
ministration. The freighter had,
a crew of 44, eleven Britons and
33 Chinese with Hong Hong
identification papers.
fused to allow the Chinese'
ashore, fearini; they were from;
Communist China. They had
bccn similarly restricted in
Cuba, where it^wasfeared they:!
Some Sugar as Landed Compensation Soti irl: 'period atteniions r?., re ti 'aed
But 14.1 .5 of the 80,000 bags A year ea:?lier, they had ob-.e)sen ]terc.
of su
ar
arn
h
ll
dl
g
c
e as
ore, a
ege
The Feder,-1
y tained a Judgment in a Dada r?:.ir:
ru; i
to permit t.re making of ship
:n,,,,,,t? ,,.,,,,?t Fl
id that th
_ ? .
or
e
bond in a suctoms house, be-'owed the--.I33,978.12 for JtIkiU he to a soviet importer and not to'
}cause Cubarr, products could notiseizure of a farm machinery the Cuban Government and tttle!
be imported" into the United business In Havana a could Cuban not debt. used the settle!
States terrltor ~ . They had a debt. But the agent.
States the freighter lay in port 'been trying ever since, Without for the Puerto Rican Comnlon-
forseveral eight, either beforIsuccess, to attach Cuban planes, wealth Court appealed the rul-wcoks or after some of her car o was ships and properties that found IV- , and the warehouse cargo
their way into tht,TTnitnd e+^tnc _
~u aau~,c, o.,r ur uturc Mr. Kane said it was. his ' , ? "
United States agents managed "own idea to naily. ?n Nov., x1, arias 85
to get to some of the sugar toy go attar the sugar days ill port and pos.dbly fur.
apply a substance that wouldlin San Juan. What encourage-,ills unofficial forewent;oI
Invent he had from Washington fr?ottl Washington, the Streat-
a
poil its taste and uan es ess.jos not clear. But on Sept. 19, hant Hill sailed, leavin:. h,'-
It is said to have been an esscn-,"jtlst?as the Stratham hull teas" ;iUul the 14,135 sacks of su=
tially harmless substance, not jabollt to reload its cargo and. ;Jar and a tangle of law
likely to inflict i iu,but car-, depart,-. according to court re-hits.
into to arouse serious dissatis- Icords, the Puerto Rican court', On ,inly 25, 1963, the United
faction among Soviet consunt States Court :~f Appeals in Dos-.
ers. issued' a writ of ' attachment'
ton rl;led that the Fedlera l court.
How many sacks were actu against the warehouse suar. in S- n Juan 'tad had no right
ally tampered with is not The next day, , with thritc, il)spose of .;n!;ar then in tit uent me is ,indicatebut
most, if snot (freighter still in drydock, thaoi'stoc:y of the Wmnlon,t,';Iltll
r?entan
C't11 `
g sugar on board was
II, of the adulterated sugar wasj
glen- g the sacks in the w ordered impounded and held for;n,This: ins, r ; . ilr, Soviet fill=.
asp-.!_ rIr, +. ,? +,, ., ., .,. .?.
' "" ' sort his ownership of the sus ar
abotage is said to have been (associates, What is more, d fire that had been left behind and
of undisclosed origin broke oul
o damage an expensive cargo,'" to claim damages.'T?hat case, ac-
e arouse. ' Soviet suspicions; in n th~ghot
the freighter, e11 ,fling + a S r.,^. , ..
_
wo f
i
t
and
...~ assoc
a
es
some ill. use on-boarQ
'Cargo had been tampered with'say they have given up expen-
oviet and 'S
' possibly, to discourage ship. and had to b
IS1VC court battle
a
ainst C
l
g
s
ue
e rep
aced or dam-
ers from prov;dinn srrvic:.:'aged by water is not clear. land they are bitter awwout what
scaly to 'lead to di ,pates, rc! But
they believe has been vt?ashin
-
tl
g
apparen
y President:
riminations and, perhaps, even.( enncc}y's ortlers had then been tons lack of interest in their,
:
uspicions of sabotage, carried oute. There followed ,'ease. It is their impression that,
The operation appeared tolC,"'e` gnu 1>ut the United fially sold to Puy for storage
ave been a success, and the ` ITrcll,Ili'(i toI ett11eifencs, but they never found Drat
,treatltani Hill was nrenaring .. - - the identity o#,the buyer.
nd resume her voyage on Sent. behind. .
9 when President Kennedy On Sept. 22 the Soviet Gov-
arned of the sabotage. ernment sent the United States
He is said to have been nnger''d?a an
r
t
d
i
g
y no
e
emand
ng im-
y the plot and fearful vol olil;yinlediate release of the cargo,
f in?iury. to Soviet c~n~rm^ i,?Plmbursonlent for the damage-
lit also of setting i dreadful, and assurances against a rep-
recedent in ahenlical sabot,^r?"'etition of such "unlawful" pro-
Sometime in early Sc
tcm-t
p
cedures.
or, therefore, the order went, Soviet Protested Sharply
trigue to undo an intrigue. ;other strong protest, but . by
Now it was done is clc:u?ahis time it had also filed ac-
Cants here, in San Juan and-Rico for release of the warc-
"i
i
d f
am
an
rom news reports house cargo and at , least ~1
the timer But exactl
~vho million i
d
m
.
y
n
a
ages
layed what role, wittingly or Two . clays later the' 't'Jnlted
'Wittingly, could not be learned. States discovered the -construe.
On Sept. 18, 1962, a m:urt'tion of Sovict.mis ile bases in
med Terry Kane and some ;is-,Cabal; and for a ten.io two-wedt
elates from Miami a.ppea.rcct
the Superior Court of Puerto;
uba and ought to be -seized!
oyernfnent's debt to; them.
proved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000400250021-1