COUP AGAINST CASTRO PLANNED BY JUNTA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000401610001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 17, 2013
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: September 16, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/17: CIA-RDP73-00475R000401610001-5
11.1c111Y101111 Titttwis lier.1:111
SEPTEMBER 16: 1964
c By JAMES P. LUCIER:
; Cuban Exiles Hear- of
;Coup Against Castro Planned hv Junta
Down in Miami, hope. Springs
1. eternal in the Cuban exile's breast.
It springs irrationally, too, in view of
the continued rebuff and betrayal
1. which, squidlike, Is ejected by the
State Department as a cover for its
operations. But last. week, reports
were afloat which may be the basis
for Senator Barry Goldwater's warn-
ing that the Cuban situation was ripe
for exploitation by President Johnson.
The stories, pieced togetherfrom
i? various sources, say that a military
? junta inside -Cuba is ready to over-
throw Castro if the S. will extend-
,
;? recognition. How he State De,
partment and tha CIA eportedly are
backing a ?"limit response action.
on Cuba, cast In the political mold,
of the Gulf of Tonkin assault. Aripar,
ently, this would consist of small, -in-
t'
, effectual exile landings timed for late
October.
:LAST WEEK, three men surfaced
from the Miami underground claim-
ing to be representatives of "The Re-
public of Cuba in Arm's." Their names
are Cominandante Rosendo Diaz, Ed-
uardo Sotolongo, and David Cabezas,,
.Jr. Commandante Diaz said that they
had arrived at the exile reception
center at. Opalacka on August 16
asking to see Assistant Secretary of
State Thomas Mann, but that "cer-
tain persons" had given them the run,
around. The "certain persons" are,
assumeeto be goverrunent. represen-
tatives. ? ..
. On September 8i however, the trio
' eluded their watchful hosts, and told
: their story on the Alan ,Courtnay
. show, a three-hour radio program on
., station WIN1 in Miami. The strategy
. 'was to force the issue upon the State
Department, as well as to broadcast
. a report to Cuba. Castro is well aware
of the junta; about three weeks ago,
. news, media carried reports, of the
i; execution of 54 officers and men in
Las Villas province for suspected
counter-revolutionary activities..
According to 'Commandante Diaz,
. the trio has a two-fold mission: To
, seek assurances that the projected re-
volt will not become "another Hun-
- gary;" and to prevent the participa-
tion of CIA-backed exile invaders;The
' junta declines to seek outside partioi
.. nation because It fears another re-.
! -gimp' of "democratic people's social-
ism."
_J
Ever since the failure' to coniaa I,/ ww:Iti not seriously jeopardize Soviet
i Assistant Secretary Mann, the trld ,?interests, but which would .create a
has been .working with American.. I. tough image m U. S. ea me . ?:
anti-Communist leaders in Miami. .' icy-planning is said to take its cue .1
Their most important adviser has il from Senator Fulbright's expressed I
-been John Martino, the American .:,,...0..eliel that .Cuba is A Minor annoy-. i
- -
. businessman, who spent more than' mice/ which must be weighed against '1
three years in Castro's Prisons on a ? ? overall gains in appeaseinent and ac, .?:i
trumped-up charge, after the Amen- ' ; . commodation.
can 'Embassy in Havana declined to ' These observers note that .many 1
assist him. . ? Cuban exiles in the U. S. have dis-
t appeared in recent months, while.,
:!.. DIAZ:says that there remain about
?;.' .1 ' 10,000 Soviet troops in -Cuba, al-
though they are restricted to military
' has6s. He says that Castro still has
four 31-loot intermediate range hal- 'Central America for raids to be -led
listic missiles, mounted on mobile .. by Manuel.Artinie. The Artime group
launching ? pads, capable of hitting says that it is supported by. private
Washington or Panama. He brought, individuals.: . . .
with him a suppressed copy of Ha- Critics of the .Johnson administra-
yawl's El 111unclo, containing a photo- i tion.in Washington and Miami charge
graph of 'three of these missiles on . ? 'bitterly that the President's style of
parade ,January 2. The edition was. !,-political compromise calls for conces-
. said to be destroyed when Castro
,..0:?ns,...tc.. every noisy interest. They be-
. . -.
.cided not to publicize the existence ..! lieve ? that the President considers'l
of the missiles further. American ex,' 1 Cuba a dead issue from a practical' i
perts'? have identified- these as an ., standpoint, but intends to mollify his .I
older type of Soviet Surface to .sur- ,, Cuban critics by covert support of'
.
fgce missiles. ? -.1.,. Artime or similar groups. If the..Diaz1 .
_Diaz ...also says that there' are _?.$-Z..?? report of a military ,junta were:. to ),
.,
:unde'rgrotind installatfons for. super-1 ;1' Materialize into action, it would u0et ,
sonic radio-controlled, planes that can ti 'this strategy of accommodation.-? ? ,.
be catapulted into the air in case the. ;; . : .,..
1
air strips are k -locked out. Three are . ON THE radio show on WINZ. Com- i
1
their wives and households are sup- '.
ported by mysterious payroll cheeks,.
'in CIA fashion. Popular belief holds'
that these men are in training in '?
'
3
1
in Pinar del Rio, and three at Cayol
Fragaso. He estimates that there are
about. .4.),000 "technicians" in civilian .!
dress from satellite' countries. ,??
\N7hat 'the junta fears most, ? says
is that the Johnson Administra- '
tion bit I stand idly bY during an elec-
lion conipaign,.. as the Eisenhower Ad- ??,.
ininistrp.tion dot .during the Hungarian .;?4
revolt. The junta is said to be seek-
ing quick recognition, rather than
itary support or outside help.' It does ?2,,
not expect to engage the Soviet trocips.
in battle, and it believes that' with
;. Castro gone the Soviet Union would
S. /k. and other ' c ountries of the'
mandante Diaz . read the following)
proclamation:
"Declaration of the Republic of )
Cuba in Arms to the Government of ?t
the United States of America and to'?
the rest of the peoples of the free
world. That the people of Cuba ,are.?
ready and prepared for an armed up.]
rising with enough resources of our. ?
own to liberate our country:
"This plan has been in the making
since October 8, 1962, on which date
the Junta was formed and proclaimed,
from the mountains of Cuba. This pro-
clamation was later published in the..
pot risk a fight in . an area of high U. tree world in April of 1963.
U. S. concern. However, if the U, S. ? r, "Since that lime, many members
stayed neutral, the revolt must neces- of the underground have -been sent
sarily collapse, or be crushed by So- out of .Cuba and they have tried to
Niel troop's.
? '?? inform the free world of the decision ;.
The Junta Is also making overtures' of the Cuban people to confront the
enemy invaders and the handful of '
to France and West Germany. '
OBSERVERS in Miami believe that
traitors who suppress our peoples and
: to engage In battle the forces of in-,
? the administration disapproves of a' ?
crisis of this magnitude before the ,
election. The State Department is sale i
f
aystr. .4?mgclest, confrontation, which4
neriAvtr.?^:s
IThmrlaqsifipci in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/17: CIA-RDP73-00475R000401610001-5