Miami’s
Cuban exile leaders, seething with anger because of U.S. restrictions which
confine them to Dade County, maintained Sunday that the U.S. "is protecting
Castro and communism.”
They
claimed that a pledge made to the returned Cuban invasion prisoners Dec.
29 by President Kennedy in Miami’s Orange bowl had been broken.In
a stirring speech, Kennedy told the members of Brigade 2506 that their
battle flag would be returned to a “free Havana.”
Provoking
the Cuban colony was an announcement by the Kennedy administration that
exile leaders would be prohibited from leaving the county, thus closing
the door to further raids against the Cuban coast.
The
announcement also disclosed that U.S. surveillance agencies were being
strengthened to enforce the ban.
“This
action doesn’t follow the words of President Kennedy or resolutions of
Congress which encouraged the Cuban exiles and indicated that the U.S.
was going to help us,” commented Luis Botifol, spokesman for the Cuban
Revolutionary Council.
He
added the new regulations would “affect the situation of all Cuban exiles;
they are not going to like it.”
The
council, largest of the anti-castro exile organizations, is generally considered
to be the most closely associated with the White House.
News
of the U.S. crackdown was the talk of the Cuban community, estimated at
more than 150,000.Most of the exiles
at first expressed astonishment; then, after reflection, anger.
“This
is a new doctrine – the anti-Monroe doctrine,” declared Luis Conte Aguero,
well-known Cuban commentator.“The
Monroe doctrine is protection against outside intervention in the hemisphere.This
new doctrine protects Russian occupation of Cuba from molestation.”
He
said that if the new measures are enforced, “Russia will be using the U.S.
Air Force and Navy as its police force from the Gulf on Mexico to the Caribbean.”
Declared
Humberto Medrano, former Havana newspaper publisher:“Anything
which pleases Castro and communism displeases the Cuban exiles as well
as all freedom-loving men.”
Medrano
contended that the U.S. move will adversely affect the prestige of the
Kennedy administration throughout Latin America.
Spokesman
for the exile action units, as Commando L66 and the Cuban Student Directorate,
reported that forays against Castro would continue despite the crackdown.
Manuel
Salvat, student directorate leader, snapped: “The U.S. gave us facilities
to fight Castro.Now it is taking
them back.We are alone now.”
Salvat,
who led a daring raid last August against a Havana Hotel, added, “Without
the help of anybody else we will continue fighting.”
A
spokesman for Commando L66, which recently shelled a Russian freighter
off the north coast of Cuba, said the U.S. action was “unfair.”
“If
the Russians can help Castro, at least we should be able to fight him without
U.S. interference.”
Counting
U.S. claims that the raids heighten tension between Washington and Moscow,
he said, “If the Russians didn’t do anything when Kennedy made them pull
out their missiles, they aren’t going to do anything because we take a
few shots at their boats.”
Enrique
Llaca Jr., one of the returned invasion prisoners, said the restrictions
will reduce moral among the anti-Castro elements inside Cuba.
“They
must know that someone on the outside is helping them,” Llaca said.
He
declared that the exiles will continue fighting Castro “regardless of U.S.
policy.”
He
further suggested that the exiles “leave this country if we have to in
order to carry on the fight.”
Enrique
Llanusa, also of the student directorate, remarked, “We never tried to
involve the U.S.We are using bases
outside the U.S.Now we are forbidden
to even leave the country.We are
being treated as bandits and criminals.”
He
said the exile units “were not asking the U.S. to fight – we’re only asking
for understanding and some help.”