Fidel
Castro Raped
My Teen-Age Daughter
CONFIDENTIAL
MAY, 1960 p. 18
Am American Mother's Terrifying Story–
"FIDEL CASTRO RAPED MY TEEN-AGE DAUGHTER"
Lured to Cuban by Castro, Marita Lorenz, 18, was kidnapped [kidnaped],
raped and then cruelly aborted!
Page 19
By: Alice J. Lorenz
[photo caption] Fidel Castro, Cuba's popular hero gives
a victory salute to people.
"NO, FIDEL! NO. Don't let them kill our baby–don't let them
kill our baby!"
My daughter, Marita, white-faced and sobbing, cried uncontrollably into
her pillow at Roosevelt Hospital, New York, on January 20, 1960. She
was in a semicoma, emerging from the effects of anesthesia after a curettage
operation to save her life.
She was reliving the horror of the criminal abortion performed on her by
a Dr. Ferrer in Havana, Cuba, under direct orders of Fidel Castro. My
daughter did not want that abortion–the murder of the unborn child, 5 ½
months old–and the doctor would not have performed it, but with a gun at
his head, the doctor had little choice.
The frightened doctor was shaking and understandably careless. The
abortion was crude. The results were frightening. My daughter
was left half-dead.
The abortion was the final cruel act on a long list of degradations committed
against my daughter. At the time the Prime Minister of Cuba perpetrated
these crimes he knew full well that I and my daughter were cousins of the
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Henry Cabot Lodge, that my husband,
a German national, was Captain of the liner Bremen and that he –Castro–was
defaming my daughter's innocence.
I therefore accuse Fidel Castro of the following inhuman crimes:
1) Luring my daughter, whom he met while a guest on my husband's ship, to
Cuba under false promises and a guarantee of safe conduct.
2) Violating her rights by kidnapping [kidnaping] her and keeping her against
her will at the Havana Hilton Hotel under armed guard.
3) Forcibly raping my daughter and robbing her of her innocence.
4) Refusing her the right to communicate with her family.
5) Keeping her in a drugged state at various times.
6) Taking her to New York under armed guard and threatening her with death
if she revealed her story to the mother or the police.
7) Returning her to Cuba under guard and violating her rights as an American.
8) Forcing an abortion to be done but at such a late date (Marita was 5
½ months pregnant) that her life was endangered. It was also
against my daughter's religious convictions to have an abortion.
9) Promising to marry my daughter in order to prevent an international scandal
because of his acts.
10) Continuing to harass my daughter with threats against her life and mine
and threats of other vengeance. These threats are being made to keep
my daughter's story from being published.
The terrible tragedy began on February 2, 1959, when I was assigned to the
United States Army in Europe. I have been a government employee for
13 years and I have career
(Continued on next page)
Page 20
[photo caption]
Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. Ambassador to United Nations,
is a second cousin to Alice Lorenz, author of story.
CASTRO continued
status. Arrangements were made for Marita to follow me. In the
interim, her father, Heinrich Lorenz, then Captain of the MS Berlin, was to
take her on a Caribbean cruise as a sort of vacation before she entered college
at Heidelberg, Germany.
Some days later, when the Berlin entered the harbor of Havana, my husband's
ship was suddenly surrounded by Cuban gunboats and boarded by Fidel Castro
and about 40 armed barbudos.
The cruise passengers, including my daughter, were frightened, but the Captain,
wishing to avoid any incident, offered the hospitality of the ship to Castro.
Later, at dinner, Dr. Castro was formally introduced to Marita at the Captain's
table.
Castro showed a marked attention to Marita, who is young and pretty.
A teen-ager who led a sheltered life, Marita was flattered by this attention
by the head of a country. They went for a stroll on the top deck and
holding her hand, Castro pointed to the lighted city of Havana and said, "All
this is mine. All Cuba is mine. Is it not beautiful? Do
you not like what you see, Marita?"
Marita nodded at the panoramic beauty of Havana at night. Castro then
spread his arms like a Messiah, looked at the heavens and said, "I am Cuba."
Marita saw Castro on that trip but once, but her head was swimming.
The unmarried, romantic, bearded revolutionary who had freed Cuba had showered
his attentions upon her. Would it end there? Would he call on
her again? Would he ask her father for her hand in marriage?
These are the teen-age dreams that enter a girl's mind–and they were in
Marita's head during the trip back to New York. There the Captain left
Marita with my son, Joachim, then a student at the Graduate School of International
Relations at Columbia University. Marita was to sail for Germany on
the Captain's next trip there in two weeks.
But when the Captain returned, Marita was gone! In the interim, Castro
had phoned Marita continually from Havana. His aides called her from
the Cuban Consulate. He promised her the moon. His associates
spoke of the important work of the 26th of July Movement and the wonderful
and the wonderful things she could do to help Cuba. Finally, Castro
convinced her to take a short trip to Cuba before she went to college in Germany.
"It will be a fine vacation."
Castro sent her an invitation to com down as the guest of the government
and guaranteed her safe passage as "his personal guest." Marita's young
mind was turned by the hints of marriage and the promises of a good time.
She agreed to go.
Castro sent two aides to New York by plane. They were to be her personal
escorts. Nothing on earth could have been more flattering. On
March 4, 1959, using a diplomatic ticket issued at the Cuban Consulate, Marita
flew to Havana on a Cubana Airlines flight.
Nothing was heard from her or about her for months. I was in Germany,
my husband after crossing the Atlantic, was hospitalized at Bremerhaven with
a heart attack and my son was at college in New York. We knew what had
occurred up to the minute she left for Havana–but nothing after that.
It was to break our hearts when we did piece the story together.
With stardust in her eyes, Marita departed for Havana, Castro's pleas of
love had made an impression on her young, impressionable mind. But the
bubbly dream burst the minute the plane landed. From the time she walked
into the airport she was a prisoner. Armed barbudos accompanied her
to Castro's headquarters, the Havana Hilton Hotel. She was locked in
her room while bearded, rifle-bearing soldiers guarded her door and the street
below her window. Letters were censored, or withheld–telephone calls
listened to or cut off. When she tried to go for a walk, two guards
accompanied her but refused to speak to her. "I want to see Dr.
Castro," she told them again and again, but they shrugged their shoulders
and refused.
On the 4th day, at 4 p.m., when Marita was most distraught and at her wit's
end, Fidel Castro entered her room. She ran to him, relieved at seeing
a familiar face. "Fidel," she said, "Why are they keeping me at prisoner?
Why haven't you come to see me? Why can't I phone my brothers in New
York?"
Castro didn't answer her questions, but took her in his arms as if to kiss
her. She was too frightened to pull away. He said she wasn't a
prisoner. You are being protected from the counter-revolutionaries,"
he said, "I want to keep you free from harm."
He talked to her for about half an hour and calmed her somewhat. Then
he stood up and said, "Marita, I have waited a long time for this–much too
long a time." He removed his jacket and his shirt. Turning to
her he was surprised to see she was frozen in one spot. "Your clothes–off–take
them off."
"No–No, Fidel–No!" she shouted.
Page 21
[photo caption] Photo shows Castro's first meeting with
Marita (later his rape victim) and father aboard Captain's ship.
Castro smiled, grabbed her in his arms and began to kiss her. Now
she was really frightened. She scratched him, but he only laughed.
She screamed, "I never have–don't touch me–I am a virgin."
"You must, Marita" he said, "I am the law."
When Marita refused, the strapping, 6'3" Prime Minister of Cuba threw her
on the bed. As she pleaded he began to rip the clothes from her body.
She fought and wept hysterically.
Marita was terrified. Suddenly she reached for the cross held on the
chain around her neck. "Look at this," she cried to him. "How
can you look at the cross and do this to me?"
Angrily he ripped the cross from her throat. "What do I care for that?
He answered.
He grabbed at her hungrily and proceeded to ravage her, beating at her,
scratching her and painfully hurting her. Then the agony ended and
Castro rose. My daughter was numb with fright and shock.
Without a goodbye he left.
Marita could scarcely move. The beating and the weight of his heavy
body had caused a slipped disc in her spine. She could not walk for
three days. Her pleas for a doctor again fell on deaf ears. Castro
himself returned to look at her and said he didn't want her to have a doctor
as he didn't want to have anyone know what had happened.
When she was once again able to leave her bed and get around, she tried
to leave her room but she was still under guard. She was still without
phone and letter writing priveleges. After the first week of despair
and her return to health, Castro began to drop in on her at any hour of the
day or night. The food she was given was apparently drugged as she was
much too weak to resist his advances and ravages.
Lonely, sick in spirit and mind and body she was frightened and ashamed
at what had happened–too frightened to think of returning home–if that were
possible.
She didn't know what the future held in store for her and she began to appeal
to Castro to let her return home. He laughed. On one occasion
at sunrise, Castro arrived, woke her from a fitful sleep and put a cha cha
cha record on the player. As the music throbbed through the room there
was the sound of gunfire outside. She tried to run to the window, but
Fidel Castro grabbed her and began to dance.
"You beast! You are killing people outside."
"Only necessary executions," he replied.
"Why are you so cruel?"
"If you keep up that talk," he laughed, "I will make you watch all the executions
in Cuba."
Marita bit her lip and kept her silence. When she next spoke it was
not about executions; it was about religion. "Don't you believe in God?"
she asked, "You are a Catholic. Don't you believe in the church?"
"In a dictatorship, the church has to go," he replied matter-of-factly.
Then he began to discuss marriage with Marita. He promised to marry
her. She now felt it was the only way to erase the shame in her heart
and agreed to the proposal.
On the next day, two aides took her to a jeweler where she was measured
for a large diamond ring. She never did receive it, but awhile she
was under this illusion–she accompanied. Castro on his triumphant trip
to New York–under
(Continued on next page)
Page 22
[photo caption] Capt. Jesus Yanez Pelletier, adjutant to Castro,
who supervised abortion that almost cost Marita's life.
CASTRO continued
armed guard.
In the privacy of the bedroom he began to refer to her as his "child bride."
Outside, only his close associates knew of Marita. Strict orders were
given to keep all references of Marita out of the press as Castro did not
want any American newspapermen getting wind of an American girl who had been
held captive at the Havana Hilton, and was now in New York as his prisoner.
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen did make references to the fact that
Castro kept the daughter of a well-known German sea captain at a hotel, but
it was apparent she didn't know Marita was American.
Some weeks after their return to Havana, Marita discovered she was pregnant.
"I don't believe you," roared Castro and walked out. But from that day
on Castro's aides went to work on her. She was given powerful purges
and drugs in an effort to cause a miscarriage. Often they left her on the
floor weak from retching faint from lack of food and frightened. She
would clutch her cross, her last hope, and confess to God that, though her
baby had been conceived in sin, she didn't want to kill it.
Marita tried to leave the hotel once and Captain Jesus Yanez Pelletier (a
former lieutenant in Batista's army who was cashiered because of his friendship
to Castro) caught her. Pointing his pistol, at her he said, "Get back
to your room!" He grabbed her arm and hissed, "You will never leave
Cuba alive with Fidel Castro's baby inside you." He pulled her into
her room, locked the door and proceeded to beat her on the stomach.
Then throwing her on the bed he bounced on her swollen stomach until she fainted
from the pain. My daughter and the unborn infant survived.
During her pregnancy a few outsiders did come in contact with Marita, despite
the fact she was still a prisoner. She was made a member of the 26th
of July Movement as a cover up and accepted as a "volunteer." Marita
was now being taken to the Hilton coffee shop for her meals where she would
speak English with Don Soldini, an American youngster who had fought with
Castro. Marita didn't pay for her food; she just signed her name to
the bills.
She also became friendly with a Cuban family she met there from time to
time. A final acquaintance was a Mr. El Sayed Reedy, a United Arab
Republic delegate at the United Nations. He knew of her plight, but
even when he returned to New York he refused to bring word of her distress
to her family or the FBI. Today he refuses to acknowledge he even met
her in Havana, though he has tried to date her since.
As her body increases noticeably in size, all privileges were taken from
Marita. Finally, when it was apparent that drugs, beatings and fear
would not force Castro's baby from her body, Captain Yanez Pelletier and his
chauffeur, Pedro, drugged and then dragged Marita to the doctor for her abortion.
Strange letters, written by others, not Marita, had started reaching me.
Frantic at having no word from my daughter, I had arranged to come back to
the United States. Her brief letters, telling of illness and hunger,
frightened my husband and me. There was little the Captain could do
as he was again stricken with a heart attack–this time while he was master
of the new luxury liner, Bremen.
We never realized that our little girl had been through a nightmare and
that, suffering from a botched-up abortion, she was hemorrhaging in a Havana
hotel without help from friends, family or even her enemies. Marita
received no further medical treatment. She became deathly ill when
infection began to set in.
Marita was at last allowed to return to New York. A doctor discovered
that her left ovary and the Fallopian tube were infected. She was immediately
put on antibiotics and internal treatments.
During Marita's illness in November and December 1959, she continued to
get phone calls from the members of the 26th of July Movement in New York.
She was threatened to the point where she had to attend meetings and where
she was introduced as Fidel's girl."
A woman who called herself "Olga Blanco" called her apartment daily at 8
a.m. and in the evening to check on Marita. Olga said many times that
if Marita went out with another man Fidel would have her shot.
A woman named Stacia Sokolowska, a Castro agent, and another who called
herself June Cobb, both offered me jobs in Cuba if I would only agree to
bring my daughter with me. I have recorded these conversations.
I also listened on the phone when Castro called Marita and begged her to
come "home" to him, giving as an excuse that he feared his brother Raout [Raul]
and what Raoul [Raul] might do to him if the American press or CONFIDENTIAL
printed this story.
One day Castro reached my girl when I was not home and once again he lured
her down there. This time he said, she could come to pick up he belongings
and they would again discuss marriage–he would, in the corny tradition, make
an "honest"woman of her.
Like the typically naive teen-ager she is, thinking that he would possibly
right the wrongs done her, she consented to return to Havana. (Continued
on page 44)
Page 44
FIDEL CASTRO (Continued from page 22)
Again Castro reneged on his promise. The moment Marita arrived, she
was whisked away to a remote mansion near a Chinese cemetery. The house
was full of Castro's clothes and personal belongings. She was told she
had to wait for Castro's return from Oriente Province.
On December 8, 1959, after three days, she bribed a barbudo with a $5. Bill
and walked to her friends' home. From there she called me in New York,
told me she was a prisoner once more and she would be killed if she tried
to leave Cuba. I told her to get to the U.S. Embassy at once.
Marita agreed to try and added, "If you don't hear from me in 24 hours, please
do something–anything–I want to get away from here."
"Frantic when the time limit passed, I appealed to NBC for help. I
went on the Ray Heatherton broadcast and told how my daughter was being held
prisoner in Cuba. Then for the next two days I called Castro, June Cobb
and every aide I could trying to reach Marita. Everyone denied she
was in Havana. I threatened them all with exposure in the American press.
Stacia Sokolowska finally called back. "You can't tell that story–you
can't do this to Fidel, it will ruin him." She finally agreed
to send Marita home on the first plane. Where the U.S. Embassy could
not help, the fear of exposure did and she was sent home, but not before a
wild-eyed Yanez revealed that "your mother has gone to the U.S. and German
State Departments, the World Court and the Pope."
Castro came to her a few minutes before the plane left. "Where you
go, my Marita?"
I'm going home and to church," she replied. "You should go, too, and
confess your sins."
In New York her abdominal pains increased. It was operated now or
else–
Until she went to Roosevelt Hospital I continued to get phone threats.
But the worst blow of all came when Marita, weak from loss of blood was coming
out of anesthesia, when Pedro Perez Fonte burst into her room and began to
shout. The nurse dragged him out.
Page 45
We disconnected our phone to stop all the threatening calls from friends
of Castro. But they still follow us and corner us at any and every turn.
I hope this CONFIDENTIAL article will show them up for what they are–merciless
stooges of a dictator. They and Castro ignored my demands that the lest
he could do was pay Marita's hospital bill.
But do these hoodlums mean business?
They do–for the poor doctor who bungled Marita's abortion, Dr. Ferrer, has
been executed in order to keep him from talking.
I hope this story will expose Fidel Castro for what he is an prevent other
innocent girls from being trapped by this monster.
End of Page
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