IS CASTRO CONVERTIBLE?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201040043-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 1, 2010
• Sequence Number: 43
• Publication Date: April 23, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/01: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201040043-9
And` L;;L% ..t :t'_
FIRED
NEW YORK T11,TS
23 APRIL 1982
ON PAGE
Coh*ttib1e?
By Wil}iarzl
WASHINGTON, April 22 ' The partment weaseled. "We do not find
C.I.A. has come up with an exciting the Symms restatement resolution
modern method of briefing President: - helpful to our overall efforts in that re-
Reagan about foreign leaders: the pion. now;" a State functionary in.
motion picture. Before a visit to the formed Howard Baker, the majority
U.S. by Israel's Menachem Begin, the' leader, who then dutifully broke a tie..
,C.I.A. produced a psychological pro- vote and supported the weasel.
file in the form of a film dccumentary Despite all the tough talk by the
for the President's top-secret viewing President this month about a Soviet-
that was the pride of the agency's film- Cuban "virus" threatening the Carib.
division.. bean, whenit cameto a simple reaffir-
Mr. Reagan finds going to thesecret . mation of our 20-year understanding'
movies preferable to slogging through,: that we will not tolerate offensive -
'turgid written intelligence reports.. weapons in Cuba, the Reagan Admt;n
After the socko success of the Begin istrationwaffed.'.;.:-
film at the Oval Box Office, Cloak and. ? Why? Perhaps a vote for the I962
Dagger Productions came up with an agreement would expose the degree to
evenbiggerhft. wh hic that agreement is being violat-
The 20-minute selected'short sub. ed. Perhaps, at the other extreme, an
ject that dregs raves last month from attack on Cuba is being planned than
eliteaudiences attheWhite Houseand would also violate the.agreement, Or
State is. a search inside the.rrsind.of perhaps some timorous jerk down the
Fidel Castro, which takes the point of..:.- line at State, without checking- up:
view that he may be going through a stairs, instructed the majority leader.
political menopause; it suggests that of the Senate t'o make a fool of himself:
a mid life crisis of the Cuban leader, ' .The unofficial line at State today
now 54, offers us an opportunity to woo, supports even promotes=-the tim.
him away from the Soviet orbit:.'. - -- crous-jerk theory. Senators are being
Evidence exists that Secretary Haig told that when the resolution comes up
has been trying to steal that de- - again.next month, the Administration
marche. Five months ago he met se- will support it. All the waffling last
cretly with the Cuban Vice President week was a terrible mistake, the Rea-,
in Mexico; that de facto recognition an men say, and point to the hasty.-
led to a follow-up visit. to Havana by cutoff of tourist trade with Cuba as
the silent-mission specialist Vernon prof of toughness on Mr. Castro.,
Walters. (There was c armor that h r.:: - Where was our efficient national se4'
Haig slipped away over.a weekend in : cu city. adviser in this unodrdinated
March for a rendezvous with Cuban mess? Oust to lunch. '
officials, but he flatly denies that.) ? . _ . Something is fishy about all that. It'
The ReaganAdministratlon maybe could be that some competitive woo.
deluding itself. In IS?8 the Caster Ad - fag of Mr. Castro was going on, and-we
ministration became aware of viola- turned out to be the rejected suitor:-:
tiara of the IS62 agree-a2entwith the Wiien the Argenntines`asked.their big
'Soviet Union that prohibited the in-` grain customer, the Soviet Union,.to
stallation of offensive weapons in veto the United Nations resolution
Cuba. instead of demanding the with,. calling for- a pullout from the Falk,-
drawal of MIG-23's with the capability lands, it asked for assurances t:3at the '.~
of bombing Hest stop, Mr. Carter wrote . Argentines in return would not join a-
to Leonid Brezhnev stating" that U.S.-orgaanlzed move against Cuba,
further shipments would be coEusid? -;' The Argentines had no answer and so,
eyed a violation: Theystopped During-!.. Moscow abstained, -.showing that its
the Reagan Administration, the-ship. priority in Latin America is still its
meats began again: _ _; allyy, Cuba.
That quiet buitdup was sari acxom. Let us hope that our behind-the=,
panted by an open warning from Mr.. scenes flirtation with .Mr. Castro is
Brezhnev that any attempt bytheu.S.- Oyer. For him there & -ho role never:
to counter new Soviet missiles inEu='' sal, despite fanciful C.IA. movies to
tiny of Sovietpo4; er near the U.S. -- Men high in Reagan circles murmur
which means missiles in Cuba. about carrots and sticks; now that the
Alarmed by the apparent weakness carrot has not worked, what is left?
of the Reagan- response, 'and- made ? Our 1962 agreement is being steadily
suspicious by five cancellations since eroded, and we are on notice from the
February of scheduled 'Ftaig test[- kremlin that intermediate-range mis-
mony about Cuban policy, hard-line - - all 11 ebenearourshores.
senators led by the-Republican Steve- -Future memoirs, in four volumes,
Simms of Idaho introduced a resolu- will prove that we gave peaceful Irdti
Lion reaffirming- the 1962 Kennedy: atives everts rl anrp tune f, fk-