91. "AN HEROIC BLOW FOR CUBAN FREEDOM WAS STRUCK THIS MORNING BY CERTAIN MEMBERS OF THE CUBAN AIR FORCE": Statement Issued by the Presi dent of the Cuban Revolutionary Council (Miró Cardona), New York City, April 15, 1961 58

The President of the Revolutionary Council received word that an heroic blow for Cuban freedom was struck this morning by certain members of the Cuban Air Force. Before flying their planes toward freedom these true revolutionaries attempted to destroy as many Castro military planes as possible.

The Revolutionary Council is proud to announce that their plan was successfully carried out and that the council has been in contact with and has encouraged these brave pilots.

Their action is yet another example of the desperation to which patriots of all walks of life can be driven under the relentless Castro tyranny.

While Castro and his followers attempt to convince the world that Cuba has been threatened by foreign invasion, this blow for liberty, as others before it, was struck by Cubans inside Cuba, who resolve to fight against tyranny and oppression or die in the attempt.

For security reasons, no further details can be made public at this time.

92. UNITED

STATES
STATES

CATEGORICAL REJECTION OF CUBAN CHARGES OF UNITED STATES PARTICIPATION IN AIR ATTACKS ON CERTAIN CUBAN INSTALLATIONS: Statement Made by the U.S. Representative (Stevenson) in Committee I of the U.N. General Assembly, April 15, 1961 (Excerpt) 59

We have heard a number of charges by Dr. Roa,60 and now, if I may, I should like to impose on the committee long enough to report a few facts.

Prime Minister Castro's Air Force chief and his private pilot have asked for political asylum in the United States. The Air Force chief, Roberto Verdaguer, and his brother Guillermo landed a Cubana Airlines cargo plane at Jacksonville, Florida, on Friday of this week.61 These men will be given a hearing in Miami on Monday by immigration officials, and their request for political asylum will be considered in accordance with the usual procedures and practices.

There is also the matter of the bombing and rocket attacks which, according to reports, were made this morning on airports in Havana and Santiago and on Cuban Air Force headquarters at San Antonio de los Baños and to which Dr. Roa has referred.

Dr. Roa has made a number of charges that are without any foundation. I reject them categorically, and I should like to make several points quite clear to the committee.

58 Text as printed ibid.

50 U.S.-U.N. press release 3697 (text as printed in the Department of State Bulletin, May 8, 1961, pp. 667-668).

60 See U.N. doc. A/C. 1/SR. 1149, p. 55.

1 I.e., Apr. 14.

First, as the President of the United States said a few days ago,62 there will not be under any conditions-and I repeat, any conditionsany intervention in Cuba by the United States armed forces.

Secondly, the United States will do everything it possibly can to make sure that no Americans participate in any actions against Cuba. Thirdly, regarding the events which have reportedly occurred this morning and yesterday, the United States will consider, in accordance with its usual practices, the request for political asylum. This principle has long been enshrined as one of the fundamental principles of the Americas and, indeed, of the world. Those who believe in freedom and seek asylum from tyranny and oppression will always receive sympathetic understanding and consideration by the American people and the United States Government.

Fourthly, regarding the two aircraft which landed in Florida today, they were piloted by Cuban Air Force pilots. These pilots and certain other crew members have apparently defected from Castro's tyranny. No United States personnel participated. No United States Government airplanes of any kind participated. These two planes to the best of our knowledge were Castro's own Air Force planes, and, according to the pilots, they took off from Castro's own Air Force fields.

I have here a picture of one of these planes. It has the markings of Castro's Air Force right on the tail, which everyone can see for himself. The Cuban star and the initials FAR-Fuerza Aérea Revolucionaria-are clearly visible. I should be happy to exhibit it to any members of the committee following my remarks.

As it is well known, the United States has long had under careful surveillance United States airfields in the southeastern part of this country in order to prevent alleged takeoffs from our shores to Cuba. We will continue to keep these airfields under perpetual surveillance. Now, let me read the statement which has just arrived over the wire from the pilot who landed in Miami. He said,

I am one of the twelve B-26 pilots who remained in the Castro Air Force after the defection of Díaz Lanz and the purges that followed. Three of my fellow pilots and I have planned for months how we could escape from Castro's Cuba. Day before yesterday, I heard that one of the three, Lieutenant Alvaro Gallo, who is the pilot of the B-26, No. FAR-915, had been seen talking to an agent of Ramiro Valdes, the G-2 chief. I alerted the other two and we decided that probably Alvaro Gallo, who had always acted somewhat of a coward, had betrayed us. We decided to take action at once. Yesterday morning I was assigned the routine patrol from my base San Antonio de los Baños over a section of Pinar del Rio and around the Isle of Pines. I told my friends at Campo Libertad, and they agreed that we must act at once. One of them was to fly to Santiago. The other made the excuse that he wished to check out his altimeter, and they were to take off from Campo Libertad at 6 a.m. I was airborne at 6:05. Because of Alvaro Gallo's treachery we had agreed to give him a lesson, so I flew back over San Antonio where his plane is stationed and made two strafing runs at his plane and three others parked nearby. On the way out, I was hit by some smallarms fire and took evasive action. My comrades had broken off earlier to hit airfields which we agreed they would strike. Then because I was low on gas I had to go on into Miami because I could not reach our agreed destination. It may be that they went on to strafe another field before leaving, such as Playa Baracoa, where Fidel keeps his helicopter.

Now, I should like members of this committee to know that steps have been taken to impound the Cuban planes which have landed in Florida and they will not be permitted to take off for Cuba.

Let me make one concluding observation of a general character prior to our more extensive discussion of this matter on Monday. As President Kennedy said just a few days ago, the basic issue in Cuba is not between the United States and Čuba; it is between the Cubans themselves. Anyone familiar with the history of Cuba, however, knows one thing in particular-the history of Cuba has been a history of fighting for freedom. Regardless of what happens, the Cubans will fight for freedom. The activities of the last 24 hours are an eloquent confirmation of this historic fact.

93. ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE BAY OF PIGS LANDING: Bulletin No. 2, Issued by the Cuban Revolutionary Council, New York City, April 17, 1961 (Excerpt)

63

The Cuban Revolutionary Council announces a successful landing of military supplies and equipment in the Cochinos Bay area.

Overcoming some armed resistance by Castro supporters, substantial amounts of food and ammunition reached elements of internal resistance forces engaged in active combat.

For many months, various revolutionary groups now integrated in the Cuban Revolutionary Council have been distributing a variety of revolutionary supplies and equipment to selected sites in Cuba. The remote, thinly populated Zapata marsh area of Matanzas Province has served as a zone in which munitions and equipment were cached for eventual use by resistance fighters in the Escambray and elsewhere.

94. "THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE ENTITLED TO KNOW WHETHER WE ARE INTERVENING IN CUBA OR INTEND TO DO SO IN THE FUTURE-THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION IS 'NO"": Statement Made by the Secretary of State (Rusk) at a News Conference, April 17, 1961 6*

The question of Cuba is being debated today in the General Assembly of the United Nations.65 There have been many reports of further disorders in Cuba and additional landings on the Cuban coast. These are being made the subject of inflammatory charges against the United States by the Castro regime. Since this debate cannot easily go on in two places simultaneously, I do not wish to pursue it in detail here, but I do wish to make a few observations.

The issue in Cuba is not between Cuba and the United States but between the Castro dictatorship and the Cuban people. This is not the

63 Text as printed in the New York Times, Apr. 18, 1961.

This statement is taken from pp. 686–687 of the Department of State Bulletin, May 8, 1961 (reprint of Department of State press release No. 227).

65 See infra.

first time that dictators have attempted to blame their troubles with their own people on foreigners. Nor is it the first time that refugees from tyranny have attempted to join their own countrymen to challenge a dictatorial regime. Dr. Castro himself was such a refugee who attracted much sympathy and practical support, both inside and outside Cuba, when it appeared that he was fighting tyranny instead of practicing it.

There is no secret about the sympathy of the American people for those who wish to be free, whether in distant parts of the world or in our own neighborhood. We are not indifferent to intrusion into this hemisphere by the Communist conspiracy which, as recently as December 1960, declared its intentions to destroy free institutions in all parts of the world. We shall work together with other governments of this hemisphere to meet efforts by this conspiracy to extend its penetration. The present struggle in Cuba, however, is a struggle by Cubans for their own freedom. There is not and will not be any intervention there by United States forces. The President has made this clear as well as our determination to do all we possibly can to insure that Americans do not participate in these actions in Cuba.66

We do not have full information on what is happening on that island. Much of what we have comes from the Castro regime itself and indicates that serious unrest and disorders are to be found in all parts of the country. I am not able, therefore, to answer detailed questions about what is a confused scene. The American people are entitled to know whether we are intervening in Cuba or intend to do so in the future. The answer to that question is no. What happens in Cuba is for the Cuban people themselves to decide.

95. UNITED STATES DENIAL OF CUBAN CHARGES OF UNITED STATES AGGRESSION AGAINST CUBA AND OF INVASION FROM FLORIDA: Statement Made by the U.S. Representative (Stevenson) in Committee I of the U.N. General Assembly, April 17, 1961 (Excerpts)67

Dr. Roa, speaking for Cuba, has just charged the United States with aggression against Cuba and invasion coming from Florida.es These charges are totally false, and I deny them categorically. The United States has committed no aggression against Cuba, and no offensive has been launched from Florida or from any other part of the United States.

We sympathize with the desire of the people of Cuba-including those in exile who do not stop being Cubans merely because they could no longer stand to live in today's Cuba-we sympathize with their desire to seek Cuban independence and freedom. We hope that the

See ante, doc. 89.

"U.S.-U.N. press release 3699 (text as printed in the Department of State Bulletin, May 8, 1961, pp. 668-675).

68

See U.N. doc. A/C.1/SR.1150, pp. 57-60.

Cuban people will succeed in doing what Castro's revolution never really tried to do: that is, to bring democratic processes to Cuba.

I wish to make clear also that we would be opposed to the use of our territory for mounting an offensive against any foreign government.

Let me make it clear that we do not regard the Cuban problem as a problem between Cuba and the United States. The challenge is not to the United States but to the hemisphere and its duly constituted body, the Organization of American States. The Castro regime has betrayed the Cuban revolution. It is now collaborating in organized attempts by means of propaganda, agitation, and subversion to bring about the overthrow of existing governments by force and replace them with regimes subservient to an extracontinental power. These events help to explain why the Cuban Government continues to bypass the Organization of American States, even if they do not explain why Cuba, which is thus in open violation of its obligations under interAmerican treaties and agreements, continues to charge the United States with violations of these same obligations.

Statements of Soviet Russian and Chinese Communist leaders indicate that, by Dr. Castro's own actions, the Cuban revolution has become an instrument of the foreign policies of these extracontinental powers. The increasingly intimate relationship between Cuba and the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, and other countries associated with them, in conjunction with the huge shipments of arms, munitions, and other equipment from the Sino-Soviet bloc, must therefore be matters of deep concern to independent governments everywhere.

No, the problem is not social change, which is both inevitable and just. The problem is that every effort is being made to use Cuba as a base to force totalitarian ideology into other parts of the Americas.

Our only hope is that the Cuban tragedy may awaken the people and governments of the Americas to a profound resolve-a resolve to concert every resource and energy to advance the cause of economic growth and social progress throughout the hemisphere, but to do so under conditions of human freedom and political democracy. This cause represents the real revolution of the Americas. To this struggle to expand freedom and abundance and education and culture for all the citizens of the New World the free states of the hemisphere summon all the peoples in nations where freedom and independence are in temporary eclipse. We confidently expect that Cuba will be restored to the American community and will take a leading role to win social reform and economic opportunity, human dignity and democratic government, not just for the people of Cuba but for all the people of the hemisphere.