SUBELS
CHARGED - WEEH ELOETING FO REDD CASTRO |
According to a Cuban government. communiqué, issued March By seven men have. been arrested for allegedly. plotting to assassinate Fidel..Castro. Among the» two.are. Rolando Cubela Secades. and Roman coe. Guin Diaz.
: ~Cubela. was a prominent leader of the Revolutionary Directorate during the struggle.against the Batista. dictatorship. He was active in the guerrilla struggle in thé Escambray mountains. After the Revolution, he was named Deputy Minister of Interior in the first revolutionary government and then. appointed president of the Federation of University Students. As* the main leader in the Cuban student movement, Cubela became well known outside Cuba. After graduating as a physician in 1962, Cubela gave up his student work and was named director of the Manuel Fajardo Hospital in Havana.
Guin is not so well known. He began. his revolutionary < career as a guerrilla in the Escambray.mountains, serving under Cubela. An engineering agronomist, he became a high official in the National Institute of Agrarian Reform. - The communiqué states that in agreement with the CIA Cubela planned. to. shoot Castro with. a . high-powered rifle equipped with a telescopic.-sight.
Cuban security agents Said they discovered the plot early this year. According to their account Cubela went to Europe in 1964. to attend a student gathering. He stopped. in Paris. and while there got in touch with two Cuban-born CIA agents named Iuis Enrique Treanco and Carlos - Tepedino. They in turn, put. Cubela in touch with other CIA agents in Paris. :
Meanwhile in Maarid, Odén. Alvarez de la Campa, counsellor of the Cuban embassy there, made contact with two CIA agents in the - Spanish capital, Hernan Enriquez and Agustin Alvarez Machado. The counsellor brought along a fellow employee José Iuis Gonzélez Gallarreta. A meeting was then arranged ‘between the pair and James 4. Noel of the American embassy in Madrid, who gave Odén Alvarez de la Campa $100,000 to be divided between himself and Gonzalez.
: In. the. next step in. this complicated plot, GonzAlez met with Jorge: Robreno and. Alberto Blanco Romariz.,. two counterrevolutionary . Cuban residents. in Madrid. They arranged ‘a meeting in February 1965 between Cubela and the counterrevolutionary Cuban leader~ Manuel Artime, a prominent figure in the Bay of Pigs invasion.
"During this meeting, " the communiqué. asserts fas reported by the March .6 New York Herald. Tribune , which consistently misspells Cubela's nameJ, "Cubelas and Artime discussed concrete details of the plan to assassinate the Prime Minister and the steps to be taken afterward. They both discussed the roles they would follow subse-.. quently in the country. ; eo hogs cs
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"Rolando Cubelas demonstrated the importance of the physical elimination of Fidel and that he, Cubelas, should be the principal head of the counter-revolution. Manuel Artime offered the technical means and emphasized the enormous support which he had from the Central Intelligence ‘Agency of the United: States as well as his relations with various’ Central American governments and the Organization of American States in general.
"He promised: ‘that with [sic] “8 hours of the ‘assassination of Comrade Fidel’ he would disembark in Cuba, supported by the United | States, and. the. OAS. Hoo
a As: reported by ‘the Herald Tribune , Robreno and Blaneo, the’ tivo counterrevolutionary ‘Cuban exiles in Madrid, were to infiltrate into Cuba with Artime's help, after Blanco had been "trained" in: the aan Dominican Republic. | ia!
"The interview," the communiqué continues, "ended also with the agreement that both Cubelas and Artime would share the direction of the counter-revolution without, offering participation TO. any other leader." ©
. Execution of the plot was delayed, according to the prosecution, - ‘due to the Dominican civil war and "other" problems. In March 1965 Odén Alvarez de Fa Campa defected. What happened’ after that~ ‘to further delay the plot is either not mentioned in the communiqué or not included. in the reports appearing in the American press.
In view of the’ ‘pravity of the charges ‘and the prominence ‘of © the two main- defendants, as well as their political background, the case is obviously a most important one. It will be followed closely by friends and supporters of the Cuban Revolution throughout the” world. An open trial, with full presentation of the evidence in support of the allegations and a full opportunity for the defendants to reply in detail is an absolute requisite. oe
MURDER OF "COMMUNISTS"