CUBAN INFORMATION ARCHIVES




DOCUMENT  0120


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ARMS BUILDUP
CUBA 1963

[Reference: OCB Dade County, Florida.  File heading Cuban Information 1963. Artificial #X008]

This is a ten part "Spencer Danes Feature Report" aired from Apr 29 to May 10, 1963 on the arms buildup in Cuba.  Allegedly this series was obtained from an American and his wife who witnessed this at close range, and was given to WGBS exclusively after the couple had told the same facts to Miami representatives of the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency.


T O T A L  I N F O R M A T I O N
50,000 WATTS
WGBS
DIAL 710 RADIO MIAMI
EXECUTIVE OFFICE:
1605 BISCAYNE BOULEVARD
MIAMI, FLORIDA / FR 9-2401

News Director Spencer Danes
Storer Broadcasting Company - 1963
8:00AM News - April 29, 1963

An American couple who arrived in Miami from Cuba within the last few weeks told WGBS news today that despite U. S. government estimates to the contrary, Fidel Castro is exporting his Communist backed revolution on almost a daily basis through the shipments of arms to Latin American nations.

This couple, who are Americans by birth, and who had no connection with Cuba until moving there in relation with a business interest eight years ago, also claim that Cuba is utilizing more than 50 caves in Oriente and Las Villas Provinces for the purpose of concealing long range missiles and a fantastic buildup of arms and ammunition which continues to be supplied by the Red bloc nations.

In connection with the recent administration estimate of some 13-thousand Soviet troops still in Cuba, this American man and wife say a more realistic estimate would be that some 80-thousand Red bloc military personnel are now on the island.

actuality:  "Not only have you 80-thousand Red bloc troops there, but you've got over 2-million Cubans bearing arms, the easiest way to sum it up is this way, every other person you meet carries a gun."

The names of the U. S. twosome can't be disclosed for fear of reprisals against many Cuban friends still in Cuba, but the pair who have watched the Cuban dilemma since before the Castro revolution, had an underground on the island that reached not only into Castro's militia, but also managed to penetrate the Soviet units, and much of their information came from these closely guarded sources.

actuality:  "It took me almost 2 ½ years to gain the confidence of what few Russian friends I had, before I could get them to cut loose with any information."

But also many of the facts they disclosed exclusively to WGBS news after telling their story to the CIA came from eyewitness accounts, such as small ships laden with arms and headed for other western hemisphere nations, and submarines operating in the harbors of Cuban ports, some near our Guantanamo Navy Base.

actuality:  "One morning about six o'clock I see a submarine coming into the harbor, with her decks awash, the conning tower was sticking out, but I couldn't make out any markings."

Other disclosures by the pair include the fact that the so-called fishing ports at Banes and Mariel are now completed, and both of these installations now are submarine complexes which offer sub sheds for servicing an estimated 50 Russian subs operating in the Cuban area.

The voice you have been hearing has been that of the husband of this American man and wife duo, and their reluctance at leaving Cuba until just very recently was brought about by attempts at trying to protect huge business interests they had built on the island.


T O T A L   I N F O R M A T I O N
50,000 WATTS
WGBS DIAL 710 RADIO MIAMI
EXECUTIVE OFFICE:
1605 BISCAYNE BOULEVARD
MIAMI, FLORIDA / FR9-2401

Spencer Danes Feature Report
Storer Broadcasting Company - 1963
April 30, 1963 - 9:30AM

There's one area where almost everyone is in agreement in connection with the current Cuban dilemma.  To allow Fidel Castro to export his Russian-backed Communist revolution to other parts of Latin America, would be a threat to the entire western hemisphere.

As late as last week key administration officials noted that it was not thought that Castro is having any degree of success with such exportation.  But an American couple who arrived in Miami earlier this month after living in Cuba for the last eight years, say they have not only received underground reports concerning the shipment of Communist made arms to other countries in Latin America, but they have personally watched some of these shipments sail unmolested from various Cuban ports.

And their many contacts which date back to the early days of the revolution, helped them form an island wide communications underground to keep tabs on these shipments.  The husband, in his exclusive disclosures to WGBS...facts he also has given the Central Intelligence Agency...explained how he built his information network across Cuba.

actuality:  "We started to form this underground movement about the month of June 1960, with a handful of men, strictly in the Province of Oriente, within a short time, we kept picking up a few workers, a few more men here and there, we'd expanded to the north coast of Oriente.  This went on, as we went along we kept picking up more workers, so that finally, withing three or four months we'd reached as far as Camaguey.  From then on people really began to join our movement.  By the first of 1960, we had Cuba pretty well covered from one end to the other.  All we lacked was a few men down in Province Pinar Del Rio, down in the western tip of Cuba.  That was just before the invasion of the Bay of Pigs.  Now, in this movement we had a great number of Fidel's own soldiers and militiamen, both officers and enlisted men.  To put this into operation, I had, I think it was 62 main leaders, each one of these leaders had between three and seven hundred men working in whichever zone or province which they happen to be working in."

All the reports were not based on the underground network.  Some of the reports of small arms shipments in extremely fast small boats came from eyewitness accounts in various ports by the husband of this American couple.  He tells of one such occasion.

actuality:  "I'd been informed that there was a fleet of small boats taking arms out of Cuba to Latin American countries, although I'd never seen any, I was trying to catch up with some, find out if it was really true, I kept getting the reports.  Well by luck one limped in the harbor one day, disabled, it had to be dry docked, my friend operated the only dry dock available, he came and got me and I had a good look at it, the boat was similar to banana boats, such as use to come here to Miami from Cuba, painted grey, navy grey, such as our navy, have no markings of any kind, that is numbers or name and have no flag.  Those boats are roughly about a 150 feet long.  They have a displacement of 125 tons.  I went to look at this boat, although I couldn't board it, my friend gave me all the information, the captain was Italian, the mate was Russian, engineer, Argentine and I don't know what the rest of the crew was.  But the boat was well stocked with American provisions, they wore American clothing and they all spoke fluent English.  So when I asked my friend the owner of the dry dock just what he'd seen in the boat in the line of arms, he said they were all cased up, there were small arms, presumably rifles, pistols, he mentioned grenades and some machine guns."

The voice of an American citizen, who until just a few weeks ago lived inside the Communist controlled island and who watched the current dilemma develop from the days of Fulgencio Batista.  His reports say these small arms shipments, along with equipment, battle helmets, tents and other necessary field equipment leave Cuba almost daily.

But this is only part of the overall military posture.  Tomorrow:  Eyewitness accounts of submarine complexes in Banes and Mariel.  The so called Russian fishing ports.


T O T A L   I N F O R M A T I O N
50,000 WATTS
WGBS DIAL 710 RADIO MIAMI
EXECUTIVE OFFICE:
1605 BISCAYNE BOULEVARD
MIAMI, FLORIDA / FR9-2401
Spencer Danes Feature Report
Storer Broadcasting Company - 1963
May 1, 1963 - 9:30AM

Today, another in our current series of eyewitness reports from an American who along with his American wife lived in Cuba for the last eight years, and only came to U. S. shores a few weeks ago.

This material you'll hear in these exclusive accounts was made available by this American couple to WGBS news only after their story had been told to the Central Intelligence Agency.

Friends of Fidel Castro's revolution from the first days when the July 26th movement landed on Cuban shore, this man and his wife developed contacts which they maintained through the years.  Recently the couple even managed to gain the confidence of some of the Russian personnel.  Their eyewitness accounts of the huge military buildup continuing are underscored by disclosures concerning submarine installations in Cuba.

In his exclusive interview with WGBS this American gave this account:

actuality  "About a year and a half ago I kept getting reports  the two fishing ports they were building, one in the western end of Cuba, Mariel and the other in the eastern end of Cuba on the north coast, Banes.  Well I looked into it and as far as I could find out they were fishing ports, inasmuch as the Cubans are good fisherman and have a pretty good fishing fleet, I   dropped it for a while.  But after a few months, rumors began to get stronger and stronger that they were   submarine ports.  well I happened to have some Russian friends that were working at this base at that time, in fact they were in charge of the concrete, and he told me, yes they are submarine bases, he says when completed they'll make the submarine base at Kiel,  Germany during World War II, look like sheep dipping pools.  Then he gave me some dimensions on the construction of it, he said, whereas in Germany they had 17 foot concrete walls, here they have 30 foot  concrete walls, more strongly re-enforced, that is more steel.  And he said, when completed they'd be capable of servicing at least 50 submarines.  Now since that time, this certain officer and his 33 men have defected to the Escambrai Mountains.  But Shortly after that I was driving along the coast and I spotted a mother ship, a sub tender, a few miles out, I had strong binoculars and could make it out pretty well, it was pretty similar to our submarine-tenders, that we have in our navy.  The sizes of the submarine I saw, coming into port, was roughly I'd say between two and three hundred feet long, well capable of carrying men or cargo."

And from the accounts of this couple comes a new association for the famous Isle of Pines.  Through the reign of Fidel Castro, we have heard much about the Isle of Pines as the location of a much dreaded prison.  But now the Isle of Pines takes on a more aggressive connotation with this disclosure by the American.

actuality  "Just before leaving Cuba I was informed that the base at Mariel had been completed and they were moving the equipment over to the Isle of Pines to begin construction on a very large submarine base there.  In fact it would be one of the largest, if not the largest, in the western hemisphere.  Now for the construction of this I was told, and checked out, and found out it was pretty well so.  Between the month of January and March, they had brought over fifteen thousand skilled workers for the construction of this base and that no Cuban labor would be used on it at all."

An American, along with his wife, back in the U. S. only a few weeks, after eight weeks in Cuba.  His story of the military posture of Cuba's Soviet backed Castro regime.  The fishing ports would appear to be much more ominous than they have been painted.

Tomorrow on Feature Report, our exclusive accounts from this U. S. eyewitness continue.  The Russian missiles still in Cuba.


T O T A L   I N F O R M A T I O N
50,000 WATTS
WGBS DIAL 710 RADIO MIAMI
EXECUTIVE OFFICE:
1605 BISCAYNE BOULEVARD
MIAMI, FLORIDA / FR9-2401

Spencer Dane Feature Report
Storer Broadcasting Company - 1963
9:30AM - MAY 2, 1963

Since late last year when the President informed the American people of the missile threat that existed in Cuba, there has been much speculation on whether all of the Russian long range rockets were pulled out of the Communist stronghold when Soviet premier Khrushchev capitulated in the face of the American quarantine.

As you have been hearing on this series of broadcasts, an American man and wife, who just a few weeks ago returned to these shores after spending more than eight years in Cuba, have been telling of the fantastic military buildup that they claim continues. . .Red bloc troops and arms still coming in at a fantastic pace.  This couple, who knew the revolution and its men intimately from the Castro brothers on down in the ranks, have given their eyewitness accounts to the CIA before disclosing them exclusively to WGBS news.

The husband in today's Feature Report tells about the start of the missile buildup as he watched it from inside Cuba.

actuality:  "I got my first glimpse of the missiles, which appeared early in the month of March, 1961, in and around   Havana and down as far as Guanajay in the Pinar Del Rio Province.  These were the big ICBMs, in other  words, what I saw and had reports on previously were about 70 feet long without warheads.  I made a couple of trips down there and got some good information on them.  At the time I went there, they had just started construction on the launching pads and launching   sites."

Then the husband of this American man and wife duo told about spotting some of the large missiles in the area of Holguin.

actuality:  "Early in '62 the same thing took place in Holguin, that's about the center of the country, launching pads were being built; I don't know how many missiles they had in there at that time, but I drove through the base, this is one of the jet bases incidentally, and noticed the launching pads, although no one told me anything. One night I was driving up through the   central highway going up towards Holguin, when I saw this big thing coming at me, drawn by a great big tractor and sure enough it's a big rocket, big missile. We drove on up a little further, had a cup of coffee, turned around and came back.  We caught them just as they were pulling into the entrance of the Holguin base.  I was later informed that they had some 22 of these ICBMs at this base."

This couple claim their underground information networks throughout Cuba report to them that there are still many large long range missiles within target distance of U. S. cities.

And they say the stockpile of some of the missiles with a range of about 300 miles a continues on a wide open basis, with the weapons arriving as deck cargo, and easy to spot.

actuality:  "It was also early in '62 that I was informed about the two stage rockets, which are about 45 feet long,   coming in on a large scale.  I started checking into that and sure enough they had both kinds, one with a needle nose and one with a detachable warhead.  Both having fins at the stern and fins in the center, two stage missiles.  We checked in on them and I       pinpointed a few bases of these, Cascorro, Ciego De Avila, Suiga, Gibara and several others.  Now these missiles are mounted on their own portable launching pad and as I understand have a range of about 300  miles.  They're not so secretive about these rockets anymore.  Not too long ago I saw a ship coming into the harbor deck loaded with such rockets.  This ship, in particular, had six on deck, not even a tarpaulin on it, fully exposed."

Tomorrow on Feature Report...more on the Cuban missile story...as seen from inside Cuba...with eyewitness accounts from this American pair who have just returned after spending eight years on the island.  Tomorrow...ICBMs remain in Cuba.


T O T A L   I N F O R M A T I O N
50,000 WATTS
WGBS DIAL 710 RADIO MIAMI
EXECUTIVE OFFICE:
1605 BISCAYNE BOULEVARD
MIAMI, FLORIDA / FR 9-2401

Spencer Danes Feature Report
Storer Broadcasting Company - 1963
May 3, 1963 - 9:30AM

Today on Feature Report, eyewitness accounts of Cuba's two main jet airfields...descriptions of their runways, and the estimate by an American who along with his wife just returned from that Communist stronghold after living there for eight years, that only 40 percent of the ICBM missiles which went into Cuba before the Cuban crisis have been removed.

This American, who told his story to WGBS news exclusively after telling the same facts time and time again to representatives of the Miami office of the CIA as soon as he arrived in Miami last month, explains how the runways at two locations were lengthened to accommodate three different types of Russian jets now only minutes away from the U. S. mainland.

actuality:  "The only two jet bases that I have any real information on, are San Antonio and Holguin, that is San Antonio de los Banos about 42, 43 miles from   Havana.  This base was built by the United States  Engineer Corps during World War II and was at that time known as Batista Field, however, at that time, having worked on this base, I recall distinctly that the runways were only 75 hundred feet.  They have  extended them since.  There are three runways in all,  they extended two to 10 thousand the main runway   to 15 thousand feet.  The Holguin Jet Base has three 15 thousand foot runways.  These bases handle the MIG 15, the 19 and the 21.  Santiago de Cuba airfield has very short runways, although they do handle the 15's there.  But there are none stationed there that I know of."

Perhaps the most significant disclosure of this American man and wife was the fact that they, through an extensive underground communications network, kept tabs on the number of ICBM missiles which were brought into Cuba in mid 1962.  And it is their belief that less than 40% of the big long range missiles have been removed by the Russians.

actuality:  "It was in July '62, that most of the launching pads at the various missile bases from Guanajay all the way to Holguin were practically completed and had the ICBM's in a position, ready to roll out and launch if necessary.  After all my checking, which was pretty thorough, we were informed and checked out over 100 of this type ICBM missile.  That's when we come to the conclusion that during the October crisis when this country published the facts over the radio that the missiles had been moved, some 42 of them, we kind of laughed over there, we figured and still believe and know that not over 40% if that much had been moved out."

This American and his wife were friends of the 26th of July revolution from the beginning.  Because of trust, they were until just recently, able to move about freely despite their citizenship, and their contacts even included some of the members of the Russian units.

There's much more to their story.  Monday:  Subversion and Communist brainwashing.  Cuba:  the focal point for the spread of same in this hemisphere.


T O T A L    I N F O R M A T I O N
50,000 WATTS
WGBS DIAL 710 RADIO MIAMI
EXECUTIVE OFFICE:
1605 BISCAYNE BOULEVARD
MIAMI, FLORIDA / FR9-2401

Spencer Danes Feature Report
Storer Broadcasting  Company - 1963
May 6, 1963 - 9:30AM

On Feature Report all last week, you heard the remarks of an American husband...who along with his wife just recently returned from Cuba to the U.S.A. after spending eight years there, the last four under the Castro communist regime.

Like many in Cuba, this couple befriended the 26th of July revolution when it first made its appearance in Oriente Province.
But later when the Communist lines were firmly drawn in connection with Havana-Moscow military and economic accords, this couple started to gather information concerning the arms buildup and any other significant details through a wide communications network that spread throughout the island, penetrated the Castro militia units, and even several of the Russian detachments.  Today, this American tells of watching the Communist brainwashing techniques employed in Cuba.

actuality:  "There is a certain operation going on in Cuba, indoctrination and brainwashing in the Communist ideology.  This goes right on down into the kindergartens in the schools.  Matter of fact the only sort of literature you can buy over there, is this type of literature, nothing else.  They have Chinese doctors that do the brainwashing.  Theses Chinese  speak Spanish fluently, read and write it also.  They really know their business.  I've had friends that have been through it and when they came out they were my enemies."

Perhaps even more significant is the fact that these techniques, along with training in subversion and sabotage is being exported, widely, on the Latin American scene.

This husband explains how he has watched this take place.

actuality:  "Now going into the subversion, the personnel, there are thousands come from most all of the Latin countries, and they undergo a very rigid course of training under these Red bloc instructors.  Now these Reds are all specialists in their own line, by that I mean, if it's a heavy artillery instructor, he's a specialist in it, if he's a machine gun instructor, he's an expert in that, if he's a demolition expert and so on he's an expert at it, a specialist.  Now they bring over between five and six thousand a year to take this course in Cuba, which also includes the brainwashing and the indoctrination.  Now when they return to their own countries, which is probably four to five months later, they return under the supervision of a Red bloc commander who in turn supervises them while they instruct their own countrymen in this course of demolition, sabotage and such."

Inside Communist Cuba...with first hand reports from two American citizens...that the cancer of the Red ideology is spreading...not only in the minds of the youngsters who will be the next Cuban generation...but being exported to other areas in the hemisphere to flourish there and spread as it has done in the Pearl of the Caribbean.

Tomorrow: The Russians train the Cuban army.


T O T A L      I N F O R M A T I O N
50,000 WATTS
WGBS DIAL 710 RADIO MIAMI
EXECUTIVE OFFICE:
1605 BISCAYNE BOULEVARD
Miami, Florida / fr 9-2401

Spencer Danes Feature Report
Storer Broadcasting Company - 1963
May 7, 1963 - 9:30AM

Yesterday in our continuing exclusive story of an American and his wife who until just recently have been personally witnessing the fantastic arms buildup going on inside Cuba, we talked about the teaching of the Communist ideology...the brainwashing by trained Reds in Cuba, and you heard from this American husband how subversion is not only being taught but is being exported continuously.

Today, the American, who along with his wife, lived in Cuba under Batista and then under the revolution until just a few weeks ago, tells of how the Reds took hold of a very sloppy Cuban army and trained it to the point where today it shapes up as a good fighting unit.

actuality: "It was around July, 1960 that the Red army took over the training of the Cuban army, which was a pretty sloppy army.  In other words a bunch of farmer boys who knew nothing, half of them couldn't read or write, let alone know what the soldiering game was.  These Russians began to drill them 16, 18 hours a day, it was really a rough course, and they plugged and plugged at it, so the result is today you have a very well trained army in Cuba and instruction is still going on, there is no let-up."

This couple came to the U.S. only a few weeks back.  They have revealed all of the disclosures you have heard in this series of Feature Reports to the CIA, and they arrived only last month.

Thus they were in Cuba at the time of the Bay of Pigs, and even more recently during the crisis of late last year.

This American husband now talks about the Russian movements in Cuba following the crisis.

actuality: "Another big laugh we had over there, was the following of the October crisis, when our government demanded that the Russian troops leave Cuba and if I recall right, they set a dateline at that time of March 15th, up to that date very few bad left, so they extended it 30 days. Well to sum it up, up to April the 15th there hadn't been over 35 hundred Russians left Cuba, but on the other hand from January 1st to March 20th there had been over15 thousand entered Cuba."

This is an eyewitness to the Communist takeover and the current buildup.  He watched from the time he befriended Fidel Castro and his men in the hills until the year 1963 when the Russian influence was so mammoth in Cuba, it's doubtful it its mark will ever be erased in the foreseeable future.

But his story of Cuba as an armed camp is one of the most revealing to come from an authentic source who has watched it develop.

Tomorrow: The Cave of Cuba...former homes of bats...now supply depots for battle.


T O T A L      I N F O R M A T I O N
50,000 WATTS
WGBS DIAL 710 RADIO MIAMI
EXECUTIVE OFFICE:
1605 BISCAYNE BOULEVARD
MIAMI, FLORIDA / FR 9-2401

Spencer Danes Feature Report
Storer Broadcasting Company - 1963
May 8, 1963 - 9:30AM

Our series of eyewitness reports on the arms buildup in Cuba as told by an American and his wife who just returned from that communist controlled island after living there for eight years, will continue for the remainder of the week, dealing for the most part with the highly publicized caves of Cuba which sources earlier had said Fidel Castro was using as arms supply depots.

This American and his wife, who only last month landed on U. S. soil, have confirmed these many refugee reports about the caves.  As a matter of fact, this man whose voice you have been hearing in this exclusive series, not only has watched these natural underground opening develop into hiding places for guns, tanks and missiles, he had a thorough knowledge from past exploration of most of the areas which are being utilized.

actuality: "Cuba has hundreds of bat-caves, very large, mostly in Oriente Province, some in Las Villas Province and a great number in Pinar Del Rio Province.  Now the Russians have taken these caves over, cleaned them out, re-enforced them with heavy re-enforced concrete and since some of these caves are very very deep, they've sunk air-shafts, so they have a pretty good ventilation system, now they're being used for storage purposes, arms, tanks in many cases.  A good part of them are used for portable missile bases."

Reporting that each day that goes by makes the Castro regime more difficult to bring down militarily or otherwise, the American husband also tells about the tunnels that are being extended from the caves to the coastal areas for preparing the coastline with a huge defense capability.

Actuality: "Whenever a cave is close to the coastline, which they are many of, especially in Oriente Province, both on the north and south coast, they've tunneled from the cave to the cliff overlooking the ocean, and in these tunnels they have twelve inch disappearing guns which form a pretty good coastal defense for a small island such as that."

This, another area of the arms buildup being carried out in Cuba...extensively...daily...without let-up.  Tomorrow we'll go into more detail on the cave installations, with the voice of the American citizen who watched them develop from natural caverns, to the present where they now hide from all apparent view as much weaponry as the Red bloc is able to bring in.


T O T A L       I N F O R M A T I O N
50,000 WATTS
WGBS DIAL 710 RADIO MIAMI
EXECUTIVE OFFICE:
1605 BISCAYNE BOULEVARD
MIAMI, FLORIDA / FR 9-2401

Spencer Danes Feature Report
Storer Broadcasting Company - 1963
May 9, 1963 - 9:30AM

Our story of the Cuban caves, used as arms and missile storage areas, continues today, as told through the eyewitness accounts of an American couple who just returned after living there for the past eight years.

This story, which has revealed the facts of a massive Red arms buildup throughout the island of Cuba, was given to WGBS exclusively after the couple told the same facts to Miami representatives of the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency.

The story of the caves of Cuba, as related through the voice of the husband who has watched these storage depots develop.

actuality: "I know a few of these caves which are extremely large, where large semi-trailer trucks pull right in.  They have a turntable in the cave that turns them around and lets them head out again.  I know of one such cave plus a tunnel not too far from the city of Santiago de Cuba where even a MIG-15 can coast in there and they have a turntable in both of these for the same purpose."

Only today press accounts have revealed that U. S. low level reconnaissance flights over Cuba have reportedly been non-existent for three months, and that high level flights have revealed heavy truck traffic near areas where these caves are known to be.  It's reported the photos have raised more questions than answers.

But these reports you have been hearing are from an American who watched this at eyewitness range.

actuality: "Clean across the country, especially in the mountain ranges they've constructed a  bunch of tunnels, a great quantity of them, very large, these tunnels are very deceiving, you look at the entrance and there doesn't seem to be much to them.  But if you look at the terrain surrounding them you'll see a lot of machine gun nests, ack ack nests and anti-aircraft fire nests, whenever you see one of these nests that means that that's an airshaft for that specific tunnel.  Now in the area of Alta Vista in Santiago de Cuba from the army headquarters better known to the Cubans as Stata Majora on the Alta Vista knoll, extending to the airport and from the airport to the coast, that is the cliff, there's a series of networks under the knoll itself.  They have stored there in the neighborhood of 65 tanks, alligators, amphibious, trucks, just about every piece of heavy war equipment you can mention.  Just behind that approximately 3 ½ kilometers there's a small two stage rocket base which also has connecting tunnels with this operation that I just mentioned."

Eyewitness from inside Cuba.  Tomorrow: How Cuban labor was used in preparing these tunnels and caves for their present use.


T O T A L       I N F O R M A T I O N
50,000 WATTS
WGBS DIAL 710 RADIO MIAMI
EXECUTIVE OFFICE:
1605 BISCAYNE BOULEVARD
MIAMI, FLORIDA / FR 9-2401

Spencer Danes Feature Report
Storer Broadcasting Company - 1963
May 10, 1963 - 9:30AM

In Mexico City last night, a Cuban refugee spokesman said Russian troops joined forces with Castro militiamen and regulars last month to fight Guerrillas in Camaguey and Oriente provinces.

The spokesman said the Soviet troops were from bases at Ciego de Avila and Turiguano Island.

The report coincides with some of the eyewitness accounts of an American couple which you have been hearing on these Feature Reports for the last two weeks.

The husband, whose voice you have been hearing describe the massive Red block buildup in Cuba, tells now about how Cuban labor was used to construct the tunnels and reinforce the caves that are now weapons supply areas.

actuality:
 "Any of those tunnels that have these two-stage missiles on portable launching pads were constructed by Cubans in a very peculiar manner.  These Russians are pretty shrewd.  In other words, they'd use five hundred Cuban laborers for a period of ten days, then they'd rotate them, every ten days there would be a rotation, so that none of them knew just what they were working at.  When they reached the point where they were about two-thirds complete the Russians took over, the Cubans were removed entirely.  And from that day on till this day no Cuban is allowed in that area.  For instance a truck pulls up with supplies, ammunition or whatever it may be, they pull up to the gate at the base which is a guarded base.  The Cubans dismount, the Russians mount and take the equipment in and the Cubans go back where they came from, in other words all these projects, especially the rockets, are handled strictly by Red bloc personnel."

On the heels of this two week study of an American eyewitness description of the huge military buildup in Cuba, from an American couple who have lived there for eight years, came news from Washington yesterday in an interim report from the Senate preparedness subcommittee that Soviet missiles might be hidden in Cuban caves.

The subcommittee, headed by Senator John Stennis, questioned U. S. intelligence evaluation of the Red threat in Cuba.


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