177-10001-10305 2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992 JFK Assassination System ldentifi cation Form Agency Information AGENCY RECORD NUMBER RECORD SERIES LBJ 177-10001-10305 VP SECURITY FILE CUBA MISC PAPERS 5 61 11-12 62 BOX 9 AGENCY FILE NUMBER Document Information ORIGINATOR FROM TO CIA CIA TITLE DATE PAGES 03 27 1963 44 SUBJECTS NEED SUBJECT ASSIGNED DOCUMENT TYPE CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTIONS CORRENT STATUS DA TE OF LAST REVIEW REPORT Unclassified 18 Redact 06 04 1998 OPENING CRITERIA COMMENTS DOC #2 31 v9 l NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 1 Date 8 26 20 I ' J • SECRET SECRET NW 50955 Docid 32283208 Page 2 THIS MATERIAL CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE OF THE UNITED STATES WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE ESPIONAGE LAWS TITLE 18 USC SECTIONS 793 AND 794 THE TRANSMISSION OR REVELATION OF WHICH IN ANY MANNER TO AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS PROHIBITED BY LAW mt 50955 Docid 32283208 Page 3 • CJ• SECRET 27 March 1963 CUBAN TRAINING OF LATIN AMERICAN SUBVERSIVES SUMMARY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Page 1 DISCUSSION A B c D E F Recruitment of Trainees • Travel • • • • -• • • • • Numbers of Trainees • • • Training • • • • • • • • Subsequent Employment and Countermeasures • • • • Purpose and Propaganda • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2 2 4 5 • • • • • • • 6 • • • • • • 7 ATTACHMENTS Argentiµa • • • Bolivia • • • • • • Brazil • • • • • Chile • Colombia • • • • • Costa Rica • • • • Dominican Republic Ecuador • • • • • • El Salvador • • • • Guatemala • • • • • Haiti • • • • • • • Honduras • • • Mexico • Nicaragua • • • • Panama • • • • • Paraguay • • Peru • • • Uruguay • • • • Venezuela • • • • • Others • • • • • • • ·• • • • • • • • • • • 8 • • • • • • • • • • 10 • • • • • • • • • • 12 • 0 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • •• •• •• • •• • • • • • • Page 4 - • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ·• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 41 SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 • • • • • • • • • 14 • • 15 • • 17 • • 18 • 20 • • 22 • • 23 • • e25 • • 26 • • 28 • • 30 • • 32 34 • • • 35 • • 37 • • 38 0 • r ·r SECRET • OCI No 0515 63 27 March 1963 CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY MEMORANDUM Cuban Training of Latin American Subversives SUMMARY 1 We estimate that at least 1 500 to 2 000 Latin Americans have received guerrilla training or political indoctrination in Cuba 2 We have recorded the travel of 5 059 Latin Americans to Cuba in 1962 and reporting to date indicates that at least another 417 went during the first two months of 1963 3 Field replies to a survey estimate that there were about 11 000 arrests in Latin America during the· past 15 months for terrorism sabotage guerrilla activity or other subversive activity Only a smal l percentage of those arrested however were brought to trial almost all were released after varying periods of detention 4 Current efforts to improve and exploit re porting on travel to Cuba had not made themselves felt during the reporting period The security services of Latin American countries accordingly were unable with isolated individual exceptions to establish Cuban direction instigation or training of ar rested subversives 5 Incidence of guerrilla terrorist and sabotage activity at present is highest in Venezuela Peru and -in the form of largely non-political banditry--Cofombia There is sporadic guerrilla activity in and around Nicaragua and Guatemala and a guerrilla potential in Ecuador and Brazil SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 5 SECRET DISCUSSION A Recruitment of Trainees 1 Candidates for subversive training in Cuba are selected by the leftist organizations sponsoring such activity in their homeland These organizations are not always Communist particularly in countries where the regular Communist leadership is less militant than other extremist groups One training group of Argentines included Peronists Trotskyites and Vanguard Socialists A Peruvian group bas sent to Cuba for extended guerrilla training youths who are not members of any organizations but have expressed leftist ideas 2 In countries where there is Cuban diplomatic representation candidates are screened by the embassy's G-2 officer We have no information on how approval is granted in countries which have no diplomatic relations with Cuba B Travel 1 There is a concerted effort to conceal or obscure the amount of travel to Cuba the identities of the travelers and the length of their stay Documents are falsified and such devices as detachable visas circuitous travel and some surreptitious border crossing are used 2 Since the October crisis the only Western Hemisphere access to Cuba by scheduled airline has been through Mexico Throughout the reporting period Mexican authorities have been photographing passports of travelers arriving from or leaving for Cuba and relaying the information to interested OAS members · In some cases the travelers themselves have been photographed 3 Cuban embassies however have been issuing visas on separate sheets of paper to avoid any record of Cuban travel in the passport In addition since some passports are fraudulentp the Mexican report of Cuban travel may neither reach the correct country nor permit identification At this agency's suggestion Mexican travel control authorities late in February began stamping passports to show arrival from or departure for Cuba While this effectively counters the device of the detachable visa in the -2- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 6 SECRET case of legitimate passports 9 most Latin American countries have inadequate personnel and administrative machinery to scrutinize the passports of returning travelers 4 Travel control in Mexico City logged 4 912 legal travelers to Cuba in 1962 and 969 in the first two months of 1963 These figures do not cover access by other routes prior to the quarantine in 1962 and include Cubans as well as all other nationalities Accordingly they do not correlate with totals for legal and illegal travel to Cuba derived from available reporting in the individual Latin American countries It should also be noted that a legal v traveler in Mexican reporting may be listed as an illegal traveler by his homeland either because he had no authorization to visit Cuba or because of fraudulent documentation 5 Anniversary celebrations goodwill tours and international conferences afford pretexts for travel to Cuba ostensibly unconnected with subversive training Identities of trainees are usually protected by pseudonyms at least during actual training and the guerrilla candidate may return to his Havana hotel every few days to maintain a fiction of sightseeing There have also been reports that trainees have for cover purposes attributed extended stays in Cuba to detention by Cuban police 6 Prior to the October crisisP there was some direct travel to Cuba from Central American countries and occasional Cubana charter flights but the main jump-off points were Mexico City Curacao and Trinidad A Canadian non-scheduled airline has operated a few flights between Canada and Havana carrying both personnel and cargo Cuban freighters call fairly regularly at Mexican ports and some Latin American trainees could reach Cuba aboard Cuban ships picking up rice in British Guiana There is small ship traffic of unknown but limited extent between Cuba and neighboring islands 7 Soviet and Czech airlines continue transatlantic service to Cuba and Iberian airlines on 11 February announced resumption of a schedule of two flights a month to Havana via the Azores Aeroflot has occasionally sought and received permission -3- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 7 SECRET to land at Recife Brazil en route to Havana and may have picked up some passengers 8 Controlled sources who have undergone guerrilla training 9 and a comparison of inbound and outbound travelers identified by travel controls make it clear that at least in the case of guerrilla trainees one leg of the travel is often by way of bloc countries and Western Europe We know of Latin Americans given Cuban training who appear on no travel controls suggesting that travel in both directions was either by way of the bloc or completely surreptitious 9 A center providing funds and forged passports for travel to Cuba is known to exist in Montevideo Uruguay The Cubans are known to provide forged passports for some of the returning trainees One group of Argentines returning through Prague and Western Europe was furnished with both Cuban and Ecuadorean passports 9 to be surrendered in Montevideo prior to re-entering Argentina C Numbers of Trainees 1 Our estimate that 1 500 to 2 000 Latin Americans have received subversive training in Cuba is derived from a combination of travel information debriefing of controlled sources who have taken training penetrations of sponsoring organizations and in a few cases from the records of cooperating Latin American security services 2 Monitoring of travel into Cuba gives some indication of how many have stayed long enough to receive training 9 but does not permit differentiation between military training and political indoctrination We cannot establish a hard total or be certain about length of visit because of travel via the bloc Forged documentation obscures an accurate nationality breakdown of the travelers 3 The hardest figures on guerrilla trainees by nationality are obtained from established and reliable sources who have access to such information through sponsoring organizations and in a number of cases have themselves taken such training in Cuba We do not however have enough such sources to provide independently a comprehensive total of Latin America Only a few of the local Latin American security services have adequate assets for contributing such information -4- SECRET mt 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 8 SECRET D Training 1 The scope of training varies with the time available One agent who participated in a fourweek course in mid-1961 received basic training covering cross-country movement of guerrillas use and maintenance of weapons and basic guerrilla tactics Another clandestine source who spent nearly six months in Cuba in 1962 devoted more than 10 weeks of training to weaponry communications the fortification of defense positions combat tactics general strategy map-reading security and sabotage Both men reported considerable time devoted to political indoctrination and physical conditioning 2 One controlled agent reported that his entire group was required to f ill out an extensive questionnaire aimed at developing targets in the homeland for sabotage subversion of military and police illegal entry and movement operation of dummy business concerns to cover clandestine operations and possible zones for air-drops 3 Extensive use is made of Che Guevara s book on guer illa warfare The trainees also use a handbook by Al erto Bayo 9 former colonel in the Spanish Republican air force who trained the original guerrilla group with which Castro invaded the Sierra Maestra Thousands of copies of these books in Spanish or in Portuguese 9 have been printed or mimeographed and are circulating in Latin America Some have been specifically revised for individual countries 4 We also have reports of related courses of instruction lasting as much as six to eight months in such fields as espionageP psychological warfare political action agent communications and military medicine Some of the trainees are women 5 Most of the instructors of the gu errilla warfare courses are Cuban There are some reports of Spanish instructors Del Bayo himself is too old to participate actively but apparently bas an emeritus connection General Enrique Lister bas been reported to be associated with guerrilla training There have been a number of reports without hard confirmation that Soviet and satellite instructors handle some of the more sophisticated training in such matters '·as sabotage and espionage -5- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 9 SECRET 6 Reports of trainees indicate that weapons training is confined to weapons they will be able to obtain maintain and replenish in their own countries We have reliable and corroborative reports that trainees and sponsoring leaders alike have been told Cuba does not intend to supply appreciable quantities of weapons because a guerrilla must be self-sustaining It should be noted that while Cuba does supply some funds guerrilla handbooks also suggest that bank robberies make guerrillas self-sufficient in this respect Leftist militants have in fact resorted to robberies in Peru Venezuela and Argentina E Subsequent Employment and Countermeasures 1 Clandestine reporting has established a number of incidents of sabotage terrorism guerrilla activity·and other subversive action in which individuals known to have received training in Cuba have participated The clearest cases involved the establishment of local guerrilla training camps by Ecuadoreans and Brazilians returning from training in Cuba In each case however our evidence of· the guerrilla training in Cuba comes from clandestine sources there is no legal evidence of such Cuban instruction and there has been no move to prosecute All 48 arres'ted in Ecuador were released after short detention Two individuals arrested in connection with the Peasant League training activities in Brazil are still known to be detained 2 The records maintained by Latin American security services are inadequate and far from standardized so that it has been difficult to establish a statistical approach to arrests for all types of subversive activities Available reporting indicates at least 11 9 000 such arrests since 1 January 1962 but a survey shows that most of these arrests amounted to little more than detention and some interrogation There were relatively few trials and convictions probably not exceeding five per cent of arrests 3 Some of those arrested were released for lack of evidence In other cases for example in Ecuador Brazil and in Peru until last January there has been little evidence of any inclination on the part of the government to prosecute In cases where trials have taken place the local security services have frequently -6- SECRET NW 50955 Docid 32283208 Page'lO SECRET been unable to establish any Cuban connection as in the case of the 139 guerrillas tried in Venezuela last fall 4 In the absence of a comprehensive statistical approach information on arrests trials and the involvement of Cuban trainees in subversive activities is given in the individual country reports attached to this memorandum F Purpose and Propaganda 1 Fidel Castro stated in July 1960 We promise to continue making Cuba the example that can convert the Cordillera of the Andes into the Sierra Maestra of the American continent For the past year Cuban spokesmen have been taking the line in public that Cuba provides the example for Latin American revolution 9 with the implication that nothing more than guidance need be expqrted In private they have been offering training and financial and technical assistance to Latin American revolutionaries While Cuba's economic dependence on the USSR restrains a wholehearted endorsement of the more militant Peiping attitude Guevara and Education Minister Armando Hart insist both in public speeches and in private remarks to visiting Communists that nsocialism can be brought about in Latin America only by force 2 Direction and support by propaganda is on a massive scale The work of Radio Havana and of the Prensa Latina news service is backed up by bulk mail and even air freight shipments Postal and customs authorities in Panama for instance are destroying a monthly average of 12 tons of Cuban propaganda which is entering or being sent through Panama Costa Rica averaged 10 tons in 1962 3 Radio Havana's international service started in May 1961 now leads all Latin American international services in program hours It broadcasts a weekly total of 188 hours of propaganda in languages including Spanish Portuguesep Haitian Creole English 9 Frenchp and Arabic This includes 108-1 2 hours in Spanish to the Americas 7 hours in Portuguesep 7 hours in Haitian and 17 1 2 hours in English to the Western Hemisphere It also originates black broadcasts on occasions such as the disorders in the Dominican Republic in late 1961 and makes transmitters available to Latin American exile groups Attached annexes discuss Cuban training of Latin American subversives on a country-by-country basis -1- SECRET NW 50955 Docid 32283208 Page 11 SECRET 27 March 1963 ARGENTINA 1 About 500 Argentines are estimated to have traveled illegally to Cuba for training in subversive activities One training group alone given guerrilla warfare training over a six-month period in 1962 varied in number from 34 to 50 For the past four months departures from Argentina for Cuba have averaged 35-40 a month Argentine intelligence says 80 of the 500 are known to have received guerrilla training the number is probably considerably higher 2 The federal district around Buenos Aires·re-cords no arrests for guerrilla activity There were 155 arrests and three convictions for sabotage in 1962 and 14 arrests but no convictions to date in 1963 Records on terrorist activity show 468 cases 60 arrests and 27 convictions in 1962 121 cases two arrests and two convictions in 1963 Argentine police also list 628 arrests in 1962 and 1963 on the broader charge of subversive activity 3 Altogether police files show 1 285 incidents of sabotage or terrorism of which 425 were commi tt ed by unknown persons Police have no evidence that any of those arrested or convicted are known to have received training in Cuba 4 None of the individuals known to have received extensive Cuban training hold influential positions but the following individuals in position of influence have traveled to Cuba and may have received some training Fanny Edelman former secretary-general of the Argentine Communist women's organization UMA · presently assigned to foreign liaison of the Argentine Communist Party Maria Josefa de Mastroberti prominent member of the Cuban Solidarity Committee for Argentina Osaias · Leon Schujmarr ·dh•ec•tor of ·1 he Fede'ration of Communist Youth national deputy for the Argentine -8- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 12 SECRET Communist Party reportedly a supplier of false passports for travel to Cuba Jorge Francisco Timossi former Argentine represent tive for Prensa Latina Hector Villalon prominent Peronist close to Peron 5 Argentine guerrilla training units in Cuba have been mixed including Peronists Communists and Vanguard Socialists There are indications that the most active recruitment is carried on by the Argentine Communist Party and by the Communist-influenced left wing of the Peronist movement under the direction of John William Cooke in Cuba His wife Alicia Cooke lives in Montevideo Uruguay which is the principal center providing funds and forged documentation for the recruits 6 An Argentine taking a six-month course received training in weapons marksmanship explosives ballistics communications strategy tactics sanitation closed and open order drill and construction of defenses Weapons used included Mauser and Garand rifles Brownings Thompson submachineguns bazookas 81-mm mortars and a 57-mm recoilless cannon -9- SECRET NW 50955 Docid 32283208 Page 13 SECRET 27 March 1963 BOLIVIA I bout 500 Bolivians traveled legally to Cuba in 1962 and 25 in the first two months of 1963 There have been no arrests of pro-Cuban agitators for sabotage terrorist guerrilla or other subversive activities in Bolivia to date 2 We can identify by name 214 of the travelers to Cuba The individuals who killed a number of antiCommunists during a pro-Cuban demonstration on 26 October 1962 were identified as having visited Cuba Six of these agitators were indicted but released when government investigators placed the blame for the incident on anti-Communists 3 Otherwise there have been no known incidents which might be attributed to Cuban training 4 Zenon Barrientos Manani a national deputy belonging to the Bolivian Communist Party PCB since his return from Cuba has been reported without confirmation to be organizing guerrilla forces among Bolivian peasants The same untested source said Barrientos was active in supplying weapons to Peruvian guerrillas and had aided Peruvian guerrilla leader Hugo Blanco during a reported Bolivian visit by Blanco 5 Other Bolivians in positions of influence who have been in Cuba long enough to receive training include Daniel Saravia Quiroz secretary-general of the Bolivian Labor Confederation COB Saravia however is reported to have changed his beliefs since his travel to England Baldomero Castel COB leader Oscar Salas mine leader Oscar Sanjines leader of the Cochabamba Labor Federation Ofelia Altamirano de Sabrabi factory workers' leader -10- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 14 SECRET Student and youth leaders Andres Soliz Rada Dulfredo Rua Walter Quisbert Barrios and Alberto de la Barra PCB leading members Mario Manje and Hilario Claure Alcides Monasterios national deputy of the left-wing sector of the governing National Revolutionary Movement MNR 6 In January 1963 there were 60 Bolivian scholarship students in Cuba who had attended compulsory 20-day courses of military instruction The Cuban charge in Bolivia reportedly said last month that Cuba expected to give more than 80 scholarships to Bolivians in 1963 7 The Bolivian government in June 1961 published documents purporting to prove that left extremists had been corresponding with the Cuban Embassy in an effort to obtain arms and instruction for pro-Castro combat groups While Bolivia has· had extensive paramilitary formations ever since the MNR defeated the armed forces and seized control and while the extreme left of the MNR in particular has strong militia units we know of no paramilitar·y formations linked directly with Cuban subversion 8 We assume however that some proportion of the 500 legal travelers received indoctrination while in Cuba -ll- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 15 SECRET 27 March 1963 BRAZIL 1 Approximately 400 Brazilian nationals traveled legally to Cuba in 1962 and another 24 the first two months of 1963 A total of about 50 Brazllians are believed to have received specific guerrilla warfare training in Cuba starting with a contigent of 12 men in July-August 1961 We know of 19 Brazilian specifically A defecting Cuban army officer who claims to have run a base for guerrilla training reports that 37 Brazilians took courses there at a time which does not coincide with the 19 cases in our records 2 At least four of the guerrilla trainees · in the original contingent of 12 w re connected with the guerrilla training camps of the Brazilian Peasant Leagues exposed by the Varig air crash documents At least six such camps were established and each was to have 30 men and at least one leader trained in Cuba Only one of the Cuban trainees is known to have been arrested Altogether there were only three arrests although 24 additional warrants were issued 3 All of the Brazilians we·can identify as guerrilla trainees have come from the regular or the dissident Communist party or the Marxist-oriented Peasant Leagues of Francisco Juliao Trainees sent by the Leagues were in some cases also members of the regular Communist party 4 Brazilians in positions of influence known to have received training in Cuba include Clodomir dos Santos Morais number two man in the Peasant Leagues and principal agent in setting up the training camps still in custody Joaquim Ferreira Pedro Motta Barros Rivadiva Braz de Oliveira and Amaro Luiz de Carvalho Peasant League leaders Ferreira a lawyer is a former economist for SUDENE development agency for the impoverished northeast Barros and de Oliveira are also student leaders and Barros is a Communist Party youth leader -12- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 16 SECRET Florentino Alcantara de Moraes Pernambuco state leader of the regular Communist Party of Brazil Carlos Danielli 1 Angel Arroyo Mauricio Grabois and Joao Amazonas leaders of ·the dissident Communist Party -13- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 17 SECRET 27 March 1963 CHILE 1 There were 551 legal travelers from Chile to Cuba in 1962 and another 110 in the first two months of 1963 Anniversary celebrations tend to make travel in January higher than the monthly average In addition field reports show about 400 illegal travelers in 1962 under a definition which lists nationals of one country who obtain their Cuban visas in a third country as illegal 2 We have no hard clandestine evidence of Chilean guerrilla trainees A defecting Cuban army lieutenant has told reporters that a base he commanded gave 19 Chileans guerrilla training in late 1961 Since neither travel to Cuba nor the large 1 Communist party is illegal in Chile a Chilean national has little reason other than the intention to take subversive training to conceal travel to Cuba On this basis it would appear to be a safe assumption that more than half of the illegal travelers probably received military or political indoctrination 3 The only known arrests in the past 15 months for subversive activity took place in October 1962 when five members of the Progressive Socialist Movement MSP were arrested following an explosion while they were assembling bombs in a downtown Santiago apartment Four of the five were released after three days the fifth whose hand had been blown off was given a jail sentence The bombs were to have been used against the U S embassy 4 of those known to had been Julio Stuardo leader of the MSP and one arrested had traveled to Cuba but is not have received any particular training He photographed prior to the bombing incidertt with Cuban embassy officials believed to be intelligence officers 5 There are no Chileans in positions of influence who are known to have received training in Cuba However leftist Senator Salvador Aliende the probable FRAP candidate in the next presidential election has made numerous visits to Cuba -14- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 18 SECRET 27 March 1963 COLOMBIA 1 We have record of about 400 Colombians who traveled to Cuba legally during the past year and no record of any illegal travel Approximately 100 appear on manifests via Curacao and 65 via Mexico City Travel information on the remaining 235 is based on agent reports and liaison 2 Of these 400 37 are reported to have received training in guerrilla warfare one in counterintelligence and one attended a staff or cadre school 3 Most of those selected for·training are members of either the United Front for Revolutionary· Action FUAR or the Worker-Student-Peasa nt Movement MOEC Both are made up of revolutionaries dissident Communists and recruits from the ranks of labor students and the unemployed lower cl sses Both receive Cuban financial support and are attempting--without appreciable success to date--to coordinate operations with the ba ndi t gangs terrorizing the violence areas of Colombia 4 Two guerrilla leaders imprisoned in 1961-Eddie Aristizabal of MOEC and Tulio·Bayer--and one killed in 1961--Antonio Larotta of MOEC--were reported to have received guerrilla warfare training in Cuba Larotta's training was in 1959 5 Colombian army statistics which the U S army attach considers on the high side because of the statistical procedures used list 2 82 rural bandits captured and 1 029 individuals detained on suspicion of involvement in rural banditry in 1962 and 300 captured and 134· detained in the first two months of 1963 The Colombian army has no statistics on subsequent trials but on the basis of past experience it is estimated that about two percent of all those arrested and detained--i e about 80 persons-were convicted and sentenced The bandits are not considered guerrillas in a political sense althotlgh some Cuban propaganda has been found on dead bandits There were 388 andits killed in rural reas in•·1962 and 89 in 1963 -15- SECRET NW 095 Docid 32283208 Page 19 SECRET 6 According to official records there were 13 terrorist attempts in Colombia during 1962 in the course of which nine terrorists were captured and one was killed Three of those captured--all members of FUAR--were convicted One of the three Alvaro Santiago Paz of Cali is known to have trave ed to Cuba To date in 1963 there have been 15 terrorist attempts including eight in Bogota There have been 16 captured and one killed in Bogota preparing or attempting terrorist acts One terrorist identified as a FUAR member was convicted in Cali One terrorist not yet identified was captured in Medellin 7 Santiago is the only captured subversive known to have been in Cuba Three leading members of MOEC--Aristizabal mentioned above Pedro Ab lla and Fabio Molino--are known to have received training in Cuba -16- SECRET NW 50955 Docid 32283208 Page 20 SECRET 27 March 1963 COSTA RICA 1 A total of 216 Costa Ricans visited Cuba in 1962 As many as 30 probably received paramilitary training 2 In February 1963 21 Costa Ricans returned from visits of four to six months It has been reliably established that nine of them were trained as instructors in guerrilla warfare and one was trained as an organizer and instructor for militia training The length of stay suggests that the remaining 11 also received paramilitary instruction Three other Costa Ricans including one woman known to have gone to Cuba for such training are not yet reported to have returned to Costa Rica 3 Two Costa Rican Communist leaders are reported independently by fairly reliable sources to have stated'that guerrilla warfare training camps are to be established in Costa Rica The purely Costa Rican aspect makes this a new development guerrilla activity in Costa Rica hitherto has centered in the rel•tively wild and lightly policed northeastern frontier area and has been targeted against Nicaragua 4 There have been no arrests for sabotage terrorism or guerrilla activity in Costa Rica About 50 have been temporarily detained for subversive activity and one individual was arre ted and jailed for one year This does not inchtde about 30 suspected subversives detained during President Kennedy's visit 5 Nineteen of the 30 Costa Ricans believed to have received guerrilla training in Cuba are known by name Of the 19 the only ones in positions of influence are Oscar Morera adrigal San Jose physician and Modesto Ruiz Ruiz leader of the Communist labor union in the banana zone -17- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 21 SECRET 27 March 1963 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1 The Dominican Republic in 1962 and 1963 arrested 120 persons for sabotage terrorism or other subversive activity Of these 45 were held for an appreciable time tried or sentenced This includes 33 who were deported Of these three are known or believed to have received training in Cuba 2 There were 15 incidents in all five of which are considered to have been inspired by Cuban trainees The remainder were caused by people not believed to have had any Cuban training ' 3 There is no hard evidence of legal or illegal travel from the Dominican Republic to Cuba since 1 January 1962 although some of the deportees may have returned from Europe to Cuba The best available estimate is that about 25 Dominicans may have gone to Cuba illegally We have an unconfirmed report that three Dominicans went o Cuba for guerrilla training and 12 others a e believed to have stayed long enough for appreciable training or indoctrination 4 Individuals in positions of influence known or believed to have received training in Cuba_ include Juan Ducoudray Mansfield of the Dominican Communist party Rafael Faxas Canto of the leftist 14th of June· group Gustavo Machado Baez director of the Agrarian Reform Institute rumored to have been trained in Cuba but we have no previous traces Labor leaders Jose Estrella and Jacobo Armach Student leader ·Luis Gomex Perez -18- SECRET NW 50955 Docid 32283208 Page 22 SECRET Tomas Parmenio Erickson Alvarez a leader of the pro-Communist MPD party Andres Ramos Peguero MPD recently sentenced to 30 years in prison -19- SECRET NW 50955 Docid 32283208 Page 23 SECRET 27 March 1963 ECUADOR 1 In 1962 there were an estimated 208 legal travelers from Ecuador to Cuba including 50 who went for sports events As of December about 80 members of Communist and Communist-front youth groups had been in Cuba since June undergoing guerrilla training 2 Travel reports showed 40 to 60 Ecuadoreans entering Cuba through Mexico in the first two months of 1963 3 At least 15 Ecuadoreans trained in Cuba are known to have engaged in paramilitary activities of a training nature following their return 4 Army forces in April 1962 rounded up 48 members of URJE a Communist-front youth group at a training camp 50 miles west of Quito Seven of those arrested had been trained in Cuba None of the 48 was tried and none was held for more than six weeks This was the group whose leaders the Communists subsequently expelled from URJE amid published charges that they had wasted $44 000 in Cuban funds 5 Including the 48 URJE guerrillas there have been an estimated 7q arrests in 1962 and 1963 for guerrilla and terrorist activity distribution of Communist propaganda and painting of Communist slogans on walls All of the propagandists were released after several days of detention 6 There have been three known terrorist attempts including the bombing of a theater and a radio station Most of the participants are identified in clandestine reporting They include several wbo have probably had training in Cuba 7 Ecuadoreans in positions of influence who have had training in Cuba include URJE leaders Mario Vera Arrata Jefferson Quevedo Enrique Medina Carlos Alvardo Loor and Milton Mej1a and Efrain Alvarez Fiallos secretary-general of the Ecuadorean Communist Youth JCE and JCE leader Ketty Romoleroux -20- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 24 SECRET 8 We estimate that there are at present about 200 men in paramilitary units Four corroborative reports establish that the regular Communist Party of Ecuador is forming a paramilitary command of 10 squads Qf 10 men each scattered throughout the country 9 Cuban travel does not show in Ecuadorean passports _and is primarily by way of Mexico There are seven recorde d cases of travel via Prague and two via Paris -21- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 25 SECRET 27 March 1963 EL SALVADOR 1 Approximately 100 Salvadorans traveled to Cuba in 1962 and eight more have gone in 1963 Most of them attended party meetings or celebrations for one or two weeks About 20 continued to Bloc countries There is no evidence that any received guerrilla training or extensive political indoctrination 2 Since passage of a new law in September 1962 Salvadoran authorities have been arresting returning Salvadorans suspected of having gone to Cuba Several now are in Jail awaiting trial Almost all Salvadoran travel to Cuba is through Mexico with detachable Cuban visa A number of Salvadorans have remained in Cuba because of the police crackdown in El Salvador 3 There are no known paramilitary units or related activity 4 There have been 196 recorded arrests since the beginning of 1962 for terrorist or subversive activities None of those arrested has been convicted or even tried but 66 were held for an appreciable time--about 15 for as long as nine months We believe that three of those arrested had had some type of training in Cuba There is no record of any arrests for guerrilla or sabotage acti ity 5 Records show a total of 25 subversion incidents eight by unknown persons three involving individuals believed to have received training in ·cuba and 14 involving persons not believed or known to have had any Cuban training 6 Other than two prominent Communist labor leaders Luis Felipe Cativo and Jose Delfino Perez Cuban trainees are not known to have any positions of influence in El Salvador -22- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 26 SECRET 27 March 1963 GUATEMALA 1 There were about 80 illegal travelers from Guatemala to Cuba in 1962 of whom we believe 20 to 30 received training in guerrilla and sabotage techniques Identified trainees have remained in hiding since their return Guatemalan Communists have contingency plans for paramilitary operations but have been waiting for other elements to create a favorable opportunity for such action 2 Cuba in the past has furnished funds for illicit purchase· of weapons by non-Communist elern nts such as1 the 13 November movement of exLieutenant Yon Sosa whic h has sporadically undertaken unsuccessful military operations against Guatemalan army garrisons The Cubans have cited the greater militancy of non-Communist groups in explaining such funding operations to the Guatemalan Communists 3 Cuba gives asylum to former Guatemalan President Arbenz and other leading members of his regime and affords them propaganda facilities 4 Arrest statistics in Guatemala are inconclusive because of the waves of etentions during periods of tension During nearly daily disturbances in January- arch _1962 in which an estimated 40 were killed for example about 1 000 were arrested under state of siege A few were exiled to El Salvador but most of those arrested were released after several days 5 Similarly there were a number of arrests on charges of terrorism or subversion during the f j rst half of 1962 but no trials- Communists inspired and controlled most of the street ·disturbances but the mobs were made up of all anti-regime elements and no known incidents can be attributed to the individuals trained in Cuba Numerous copies of Che Guevara's handbook for guerrillas were passed out early in 1962 to serve as a do-it-yourself handbook on sabotage and terrorism -23- SECRET NW 50955 Docid 32283208 Page 27 SECRET There have been an estimated 60 incidents ranging from the almost daily explosion of homemade bombs in some periods to the assassination of the judicfal police chief dynamiting of a water reservoir and sabotage of a gasoline storage tank The government has attributed almost all such acts to CastroCommunists· Cuban trainees were very probably involved but there is no good evidence of identity 7 On l2 March 1962 Guatemalan troops encountered a group of 20 Communist guerrillas near Salama and killed 18 Members of this group may possibly have been trained in Cuba On 27 March 1962 the army captured 10 guerr illas infiltrated from Mexico where they had been organized and supplierd by Guatemalan Communist exiles with the knowledge of the Cuban embassy This group was held for military court martial and there has been no further word of disposition 8 Five Communists arrested in early December in the act of posting propaganda were released after several days of detention On 14 February 1963 13 Communists including two members of the central committee were arrested on charges of subversion and planning an insurrection and are still held Several of these had traveled to Cuba but there is no evidence of any training 9 The reported leader of the Guatemalans known to have received guerrilla warfare training in Cuba Ricardo Ramirez de Leon returned to Guatemala alone on 17 April 1962 and went underground He was most recently reported scouting the Salama area for possible arms cache sites The Guatemalan Communists recently formed a military commission divided into secret cells to direct insurrectional activity possibly due to begin in June or July' -24- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 28 SECRET 27 March 1 963 HAITI 1 There is no firm evidence on legal or illegal tr·avel from Hai ti to Cuba The traffic if any is probably small We believe there is clandestine movement by small boat between the two countries 2 More than 50 000 aaitians live in eastern Cuba concentrated around Santiago Most are employed as cane field laborers 3 Exile sources claim that 400 of these workers have been trained for subversive activities and that some of the trainees have already returned to Haiti We have no supporting evidence however have detected no returning trainees and know of no pro-Castro paramilitary groups in Hai ti • 4 There are two clandestine Communist parties in Haiti The leader of one of them Rene Depestre is in Cuba and reportedly works on Cuban propaganda beamed at Haiti 5 The only known incident involving Communists was an attempted demonstration at the U S Embassy on 31 October Advance warning from a clandes_tine source witfiin the Communist party who said the instructions for the demonstration came from Cuba enabled police to forestall the incident Several of the youths involved may have been detained briefly by the police 6 No Haitian occupying any position of influence is known to have received any training in Cuba -25- SECRET NW - 095 Docid 32283208 Page 29 SECRET 27 March 1963 HONDURAS 1 There were 92 legal travelers from Honduras to Cuba in 1962 and 21 to date in 1963 Twelve travelers co ntinued to Soviet bloc countries Most of the travel to Cuba was for one or two weeks precludihg any extensive paramilitary training but a definite correlation can be established between the return of Hondurans from Cuban visits and the intensity of propaganda and labor agitation Honduran exiles· in Cuba carry on a virulent propaganda campaign over Radio Ha calling for revolution 2 There are no known Honduran paramilitary formations and other Central American Communists are known to have criticized the Honduran Communist Party for lack of militancy The PCH obtained a series of 16 aifferent military manuals in October 1962 including manuals on the use of the carbine explosi ves and demolition techniques 3_ As in the case of Costa Rica there are guerrilla units of Nicaraguan exiles based in thinly patrolled Honduran frontier areas receiving support from Cuba and raiding sporadically into Nicaragua in the hope of sparking a mass uprising One group under Carlos Fonseca Amador has about 40 men 4 Since 1 January 1962 there have been only two arrests for subversive activity in Honduras Neither man is known to have received training in Cuba and both were released after short detention without trail Three other individuals have been charged with subversive activity but no action was taken 5 Hondurans in leading organizational positions known or believed to have received training in Cuba include Labor Manuel Noe Rodriguez Reyes Floresmila Castro Luis Banegas Izaguirre Sebastian Suazo Lopez Jesus Otavio Hernandez Darios Hector Toledo Regina de Lainez Anibal Moradelo Felex Vanencia Ramon Sabillon Orellana and Guadalupe Reyes -26- SECRET mt 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 30 SECRET Students Randolfo Espinsosa Mourra Rolando Orellano Cruz Oscar Duron U ises Ekonomo Torres Carlos Falck Contreras Jorge Arturo Reina Idiaquez Leonidas Velasquez Funes and Rodil Rivera Rodil Communist Party Dionisio Bejarano Ramos Luis Manuel Zuniga Agapito Robledo Castro Rigoberto Padilla Rush Feliciano Protillo Lara Gustavo Andara Bulnes Sebastian Suazo Lopez Longino Becerra Mario Sosa Navarro 9 Luis Andres Pineda Villalabos and Rodolfo Aguiluz Berlioz Women Antonia Suazo Bulnes Gladas Tablada Ortiz Rosa Suarez de Moncada Diana Maria Gomez and Constanza HH Caballero Education Medardo Mejia Paniagua and Mariano Mendez Avila -27- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 31 SECRET 27 March 1963 MEXICO 1 Mexican nationals traveling to Cuba totaled 238 in 1962 and 157 in the first two months of 1963 2 A fairly reliable source reported in mid- 1962 that about 150 Mexicans were receiving guerrilla training at Minas del Frio Cuba A defecting Cuban Army lieutenant told the press in Brazil that -70 · Mexicans were trained at his base at San Julian in late 1961 These reports are regarded with reserve however particularly in the light of our knowledge that Cuba does not wish to damage its relations with Mexico as long as Mexico City is the principal Cuban window to Latin America 3 Arrests for subversive activities have not been numerous In the most recent case six professors and two students at the University of Morelia were arrested for participation in Fidelista protests over the dismissal of the University's Communist rector One teacher a Guatemalan Communist militant who visited Havana for 17 days in 1961 is still imprisoned and will probably be deported Another professor had probably visited Cuba 4 A Nicaraguan Communist was deported in January and an Argentine Communist newsman in November 1962 for ·pro-Castro activities Two Cubans were arrested on arrival in_February 1962 and deported as agitators 5 Mexican government agents on 24 May 1962 killed Ruben Jaramillo Mexican Communist and guerrilla fighter at Morelos and subsequently arrested one of his guerrilla associates Jorge Martinez Rosillo who had been a friend of Raul Castro since the Castros 9 training period in Mexico Jaramillo had been invited to Cuba in 1961 but there is no record of his travel Martinez Rosillo was in Havana for 20 days in 1961 6 Communist factions have touched off numerous disturbances at the national university in Mexico City and provincial universities Anti-Communist -28- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 32 SECRET students charge that direction material and financial support for these disturbances is channeled through students who have received train ing in agitati9n while visiting Cuba as ' 'athletes '' More than 50 Mexican students attended the Latin American University Games in Cuba last October 7 Mexican authorities continue to confiscate large amounts of propaganda from travelers returning from Cuba For example three students at Morelia attempted to bring 100 kilograms of propaganda material irito Mexico on 31 August 1962 8 Mexicans who have visited Cuba and probably received training or directives include more than 30 prominent writers teachers and leftist party leaders -29- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 33 SECRET 27 March 1963 NICARAGUA 1 About 75 Nicaraguans have traveled to Cuba during the past 18 months Nicaraguan security authorities list 22 as known to have received guerrilla warfare training there 2 Of the 22 eight were arreated when they returned to Nicaragua to carry on anti-Somoza activities Two have been sentenced to prison and the other six were released after interrogation 3 Cuba has dealt with financed and sup- ported a succession of Nicaraguan exile movements but Guevara recently told visiting Central American Communists that none of these had developed a satisfactory level of popular support Nicaraguan exiles maintain small guerrilla bands·across the borders in both Costa Rica and Honduras making sporadic incurions but to date they have evoked no internal support and have been effectively rounded up or driven back by the Nicaraguan National Guard 4o Eight Nicaraguans were tried in June 1962 for conducting terrorist training They were caught while studying the manufacture of bombs under an instructor trained in Cuba Nicaraguan authorities seized arms ammunition explosives and 700 pounds of propaganda A Nicaraguan found with an arms cache in April 1962 reportedly told interrogators the arms had come from Cuba A Nicaraguan who had gone to Cuba in mid-1962 ostensibly for a surgical operation was caught shortly after his return with supplies of explosives ntended for terrorist bombings 5 Altogether there have been five major subversive-incidents in Nicaragua since 1 January 1962 four of which involved individuals known or believed to have received training in Cuba Perpetrators of the fifth incident are unknown A total of 41 persons were arrested Nineteen were held for an appreciable time and 14 were tried and sentenced Seven of the total 41 are known or believed to have been trained in Cuba -30- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 34 SECRET 6 A number of minor incursions into Nicara a mainly from the Honduran border have been mounte9 by the Cuban-supported Communist-dominated National Liberation Front FLN At least nine of the FLN members engaged in these raids are known or believed to have had Cuban training 7 Influential Nicaraguans known to believe to have received indoctrination and training in Cuba include Carlos Adan Perez Bermudez Eligio Alvar z Montalvan and Reinaldo Viquez Ruiz leaders of b_oth the Nicaraguan Communist Party PSN and the Communist-front Republican Mobilization MR • Francisco Rolando Alvarado Lopez PSN leaper of the Communist labor front In custody Ricardo Francisco Osejo Zeledon Orlando Quinones Torres and Guillermo Andres Baltodano Serrano youth front leaders influential among students Juan Jose Lorio Garcia PSN central committee member Adrian Sanchez Sancho Communist labor leader still in Cuba Abdul Sirker Urroz PSN leader believed still in Cuba FLN leaders Marco Antonio Melendez Delgado in custody Socrates Noel Flores Vivas Ivan Sanchez Arguello Orlando Quant Quintana and German Pomares Ordonez 8 Agapito Fernandez Garcia a federal deputy of the Nicaraguan Conservative arty was in Cuba for 10 days during the January anniversary celebration and may ha e received some form or instruction or indoctrination -31- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 35 SECRET 27 March 1963 PANAMA 1 Panama lists 56 legal travelers to Cuba in 1962 and two thus far in 1963 Altogether however 64 Panamanians are identified on the basis of their political backgrounds and known length of stay in Cuba as probably having gone to Cuba for either political indoctrination or guerrilla training Of these 64 38 almost certainly received guerrilla training 2 Eighteen guerrilla trainees returned to Panama in February 1963 after stays of four to six months Six were detained briefly by the Panamanian security service and t e 12 others who returned a few days later were not arrested 3 Training for Panamanians apparently started at least as far back as 1961 A guerrilla trainee from another country attending a course with five Panamanians in July 1961 was told by Cuban instructors that the Panamanians were being given more rigorous training than other nationals because· they had special sabotage assignments in the Canal Zone 4 We have however no indication of any paramilitary groups activity or training in Panama 5 Panamanian security authorities maintain rio statistics on subversive incidents and many are not reported to central authority There have been a considerable number of minor incidents mainly by unknown perpetrators Other than continuing sabotage activity against the United Fruit Company installations in Chirique Province the most spectacular incident was the brief declaration of revolt last August by Manuel Jose Hurtado a former Panamanian major and 16 adherents Hurtado a strong antiCommunist wasTmotivated by personal problems 6 Since 1 January 1962 there have been about 67 individuals arrested some of them repeatedly for subversive activities Of this group eight are known -32- SECRET mt 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 36 SECRET to hav received trairiing in Cuba Some of the arrests were made to forestall subversive activity 7 Panamanians in positions of influence known to have received training in Cuba include Narcisco Cubas Perez and Cesar Jose Dubois leaders of the Vanguardia de Accion Nacional VAN which hopes to take part in 1964 elections Peasant leaders Leovilgildo Barrias de Garcia and Leonidas Alveo Leftist student activists Rolando Ernesto Carrasquilla Jose Modesto Herrera and Herminia Garrido Eliseo de la Hoz Communist student leader Labor leaders Lacides Ceballos Andres Galvan Inocencio Garibaldi Victor Manuel Lombardo Jack White and Jose del Carmen Serracin the latter a leader of Chiriqui Province banana wo kers Jorge Pena and Felix Gonzalez Communist leaders among the San Blas Indians Ezequiel Rios unicipal leader of La Chorrera 8 In addition the following are believed to have received training or guidance in Cuba Thelma King national assembly deputy who boasts of close personal friendship with Fidel Castro and has visited Cuba five times in the past year Senior VAN leader Jorge Enrique Turner Morales Miguel Porcell and Ruperto Luther Thomas Communist leaders at the national level Alvaro Menendez Franco member of the municipal council of Panama -33- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 37 SECRET 27 March 1963 PARAGUAY 1 About 60 Paraguayan nationals traveled to Cuba in 1962 It is estimated that over the past two years as many as 120 have been in Cuba long enough to receive appreciable political or military training The preponderance of Paraguayan nationals visiting Cuba are political exiles living in Uruguay Argentina and Brazil 2 The Paraguayan Government forbids its nationals to visit Cuba but cannot control travelers who visit neighboring countries which have Cuban missions and then proceed illegally to Cuba 3 There are no reports that paramilitary trainees are actiye inside Paraguay There is considerable eviden6 that some returnees have joined exile formations waiting on the Paraguayan border for a favorable occasion for incursions 4 Since January 1962 at least 1 000 persons have been arrested for guerrilla sabotage terrorist or other subversive activity but only an estimated 140 were held for any appreciable length of time We know of only one scheduled for trial and none of those arrested is known to have received training in Cuba 5 Most of the arrests have stemmed from about 10 major incidents of which two involved sabotage and terrorism one guerrilla activity and the remainder subversion There is a rumor that the unknown individual who placed a bomb in an Incarnacion bank had been trained in Cuba Perpetrators of the other incidents have been identified and none is known or believed to have received any training in Cuba 6 Federico Tatter and Anibal Garcete were reported to have returned from Cuba in late 1962 Tatter to take over military direction of the United Front for National Liberation FULNA and Garcete to organize cane workers We know of no other Cuban trainees who may be in positions of influence among Paraguayans -34- SECRET mt 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 38 SECRET 27 March 1963 PERU 1 At least 181 Peruvians visited Cuba in 1962 on visits long enough to permit indoctrination and according to an agent who participated more than 150 of them were given guerrilla training Following the training 90 of these were designated by Peruvian leftist militant leaders as members of the Peruvian National Liberation Army 2 Over the past two years more than 235 Peruvians_ have been identified as travelers to Cuba Last December two top Peruvian Communists said that over the past year the militant Movemerit of the Revolutionary Left MIR had sent 200 to 300 Peruvians to Cuba in groups of 12 to 15 for guerrilla training 3 An estimated total of some 5 000 persons have taken part in acts of sabotage terrorism assaults on police outposts bank robberies land invasions destruction of haciendas strike violence and riots The ruling junta in January launched a majorround-up and arrested 729 Communists and leftists of whom we estimate that 50 to 100 may have been trained in Cuba There are still 209 in jail of whom only one is a known Cuban guerrilla trainee The junta has announced a series of mass trials to be held in Lima and provincial centers charging the violence was part of a SovietCuban conspiracy to make Peru a Communist state In the course of the violence there have been 18 killed including four police and 165 wounded 4 Out of a total of 137 recorded acts of violence 49 were clearly sponsored or controlled by Communist elements Three Cuban nationals and four Peruvians trained in Cuba were identified among leaders of the striking miners who caused damage estimated at $4 000 000 to the Cerro de Pasco smelter at La Oroya in December The Cubans have not been · apprehended 5 The violence in the Quillabamba-Cuzco-Puno area is attributed to the Indian and peasant guerrillas of Hugo Blanco Local officials estimate Blanca's · force at 2 000 but this is probably an exaggeration Blanco and his lieutenants are not known to be Cubantrained or Cuban-supplied -35- SECRET mt 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 39 SECRET 6 Some of the 158 guerrillas known to have been trained in Cuba have been in hiding and inactive ever since the January round-up and others are known to be waiting outside the country The MIR leader Luis de la Puente Uceda was believed to be in Cuba and now is in Europe 7 Guerrilla groups have sporadically attacked police stations for weapons and robbed banks for funds MIR members teamed with common criminals in April 1962 in a $100 000 bank robbery in a suburb of Lima dividing the proceeds 50-50 Part of the loot is believed to have reached Hugo Blanco MIR has brought in from Cuba a reported 5 000 copies of a special miniature edition of Alberto Bayo's guerrilla handbook There is also a manual on guerrilla operations based on Bayo's and Guevara's books but written specifically for Peru 8 Peruvian police in March 1962 broke up a small guerrilla training operation and determined that among those arrested one was a former resident of Cuba another had received Cuban training in clandestine operations and a third caught with radio equipment admitted having used it to communicate with Cuba The local guerrilla candidates were issued kits including rifles of Czech manufacture All of those arrested were soon released but some were re-arrested in the January round-up 9 Prominent Peruvians who may have received indoctrination on visits to Cuba include nine student and ·youth leaders including two presidents of student prganizations seven leading journalists three labor union leaders and nine former members of parliament -36- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 40 SECRET 27 March 1963 URUGUAY 1 There were about 115 legal travelers to Cuba from Uruguay in 1962 and an additional 20-25 in January 1963 About 25 mainly Paraguayan exiles resident in Uruguay are believed to have traveled illegally 2 Probably no significant portion of the Uruguayan travelers went for guerrilla warfare training Cuba apparently wants to preserve Montevideo which is host to the most extensive Communist diplomatic missions in all South America as a gateway and base of operations as in the case of Mexico 3 Cuban subversion activity oriented toward Uruguay appears to consist largely of developing and maintaining enough political action and propaganda assets to counter any Uruguayan inclination to oust or restrict the activities of Cuban and Bloc missions 4 The only· arrests for sabotage occurred during the recent electricity and telephone strike which arose from worker grievances and had no Cuban connection All of those arrested were released within a week -37- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 41 SECRET 27 March 1963 VENEZUELA 1 We have no acceptable figure on Venezuelan travel to Cuba Liaison services maintain no records and have no such capability 2 Reports from travel control points show 128 Venezuelan nationals traveling to Cuba but only 48 returning The names of most of those returning do not appear on the lists of those who went to Cuba In the few cases where round-trip travel can be established the stay was generally short We must conclude that Venezuelans who went to Cuba for training traveled at least one way and in some known instances both clan estinely 3 On the basis of usually reliable agent reports we believe that more than 200 Venezuelans received guerrilla warfare training in Cuba in 1962 Castro has made it plain that he assigns the first priority for revolution to Venezuela 4 At present there are probably about 100 men involved in the Venezuelan Communist Party PCV paramilitary command attempting to terrorize the Federal District of Caracas Sources in both the PCV and the Government of Venezuela estimate there are another 300 guerrillas in the field although we know of no more than 150 in small units of about 20 men who are under coordinated PCV command Including terrorist groups of university students and paramilitary party formations in Maracaibo and other large cities the total number involved in violence probably does not exceed 600 Only seven known to be engaged in these operational are known to have been in Cuba long enough for training 5 The PCV however in the first months of 1963 has proven itself capable of implementing the terrorist and sabotage operations which last October it could only plan Organization and coordination have improved and sabotage has reached a level of sophistication in technique and materials which implies either the presence of outside experts or else a highly advanced stage of training -38- SECRET mt 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 42 SECRET 6 The guerrillas committed themselves to field operations prematurely in 1962 and denied support or sympathy by the peasantry who are strongly pro-Betancourt were rounded up or dispersed A total of 139 were tried by special military courts last fall following the Puerto Cabello and Carupano revolts More than 110 were given substantial prison sentences Four at the most are believed to have been in Cuba long enough to receive training 7 Altogether there have been an estimated 1 000 to 1 500 arrests since the beginning of 1962 but there have been no trials or jail sentences other than those of the guerrillas mentioned above All others were held for varying lengths of time most of them for less than 90 days Most of those arrested have been 'released either for lack of evidence or by civil judges who are generally either inefficient or open to corruption Possibly 50 of those arrested may have received some training in Cuba but government interrogators have so far been unable to obtain any admission of Cuban training and no travel records are maintained which would give leads for such interrogation 8 The number of incidents leading to arrests are estimated at 250 The principal incidents have been the uprisings of the Puerto Cabello and Carupano garrisons the October November sabotage of the Lake Maracaibo oilfields the hijacking of the freighter Anzoategui in February and the earlier theft of five French paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts burning of the Sears-Roebuck warehouse and dynamiting of highway bridges in February pipeline sabotage in March the recent capture of two PCV paramilitary groups a bank robbery in February by men wearing the armband of the Communist Armed Forces of National Liberation FALN and the indiscriminate shooting in Caracas in January and February in the wave of terrorism designed to deter Betancourt's visit to Washington 9 The majority of the Communist-directed incidents have been carried out by members of the PCV paramilitary groups who in general have not themselves had Cuban training but are trained and directed by instructors who have in turn been trained in Cuba and in some cases in Communist China -39- SECRET mt 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 43 SECRET 10 Voice radio transmitters in Caracas and in outlying cities have been heard in conversation with a voice transmitter in Cuba 11 Principal personalities known or believed to have received training in Cuba include Members of the PCV central committee Guillermo Garcia Ponce Rafael E Martinez Radames Larrazabal Alonso Ojeda Olaechea Douglas Bravo German Lairet and Joaquin Araujo Ortega Other political leaders Simon Saiez Merida Americo Martin Romulo Henriquez Jr· and Domingo Alberto Rangel of the extremist Movement of the Revolutionary Left MIR Fabricio Ojeda Jose Vincente Rangel and Victor Jose Ochoa of the URD Labor leaders Cesar Millan Horacio Scott Power Hector Marcano Coello Laureno Torrealba Helo Cruz Villegas and Vicente Pinate Student leaders Alfredo Maneiro Freddy Munoz Jose Rafael Tenorio Alcides Villalba Jose Linares Hector Rodriguez Bauz and Julio Escalona Educators Hector Mujica Fruto Vivas Humberto Cuenca and Jose Vincente Scorza -40- SECRET NW - 095- Docid 32283208 Page 44 SECRET 27 March·l963 OTHERS 1 There have been about 40 legal travelers from British Guiana to Cuba Some Latin American travelers could ·be carried without much chance of detection on Cuban freight rs hauling rice Local papers and opposition _parties have-charged that some of the students sent to Cuba did not have proper academic qualifications for their studies implying their travel was for other purposes There are no reliable reports however that any Guianese have received subversive training in Cuba· Any Cuban training for British Guianese would presumably be designed to support rather than subv rt the government of Premier Cheddi Jagan There have been no arrests for subversive activity and ·no incidents of terrorism sabotage or subversion There have been riots but not Cuban-connnected 2 Jamaica sent 593 legal travelers to Cuba in 1962 probably accounted' for largely by the 2025 000 Jamaicans resident in -Cuba There is no evidence of guerrilla training for any Jamaicans and th re have been no arrests for guerrilla sabotage or terrorist activity Subversion is confined largely to public oratory defying the Jamaican authorities A British Guianese Communist studying in Jamaica who is believed to have received training in Cuba instigated a demonstration in front of the U S Embassy in October 1962 by six members of the Friends of Cuba Committee one Communist was arrested fined and released as a result for obstructing traffic Two university instructors and two other teachers are believed to have received indoctrination in Cuba 3 Surinam and Trinidad report no subversive incidents no arrests and no evidence of Cuban subversive training for any of their nationals Trinidad listed two legal travelers in Cuba in 1962 -41- SECRET NW 50955 Docld 32283208 Page 45