Hurwitch, Robert A., Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter- Palmatier, Howard H., Director, Cuban Refugee Program, Depart- Holmes, Adm. E. P., U.S. Navy, Commander in Chief, Atlantic.. Lang, William E., Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Inter- STATEMENTS AND MEMORANDUMS SUBMITTED Biographical sketches of Robert A. Hurwitch and Robert L. Funseth, Department of State, and Howard H. Palmatier, Department of Health, Memorandum of Understanding between the Embassy of Switzerland, at Cuban refugee program: Three basic periods in flow of refugees; tabula- 5 13 Cuban refugee airlift arrivals: Percent distribution by occupation and year 14 Cuban refugee airlift arrivals: Percent distribution by age and year of 14 House resolution to express the sense of the House of Representatives declaring the policy of the United States relative to the intervention of the international communistic movement in the Western Hemisphere, Soviet Relations with Latin America, summary chart_ Letter dated July 7, 1970, from Representative Claude Pepper to Repre- Status of lists and airlift (of Cuban refugees) as of July 5, 1970, tabulation__ Airlift arrivals (of Cuban refugees) as of July 5, 1970, tabulation- Biographical sketch of Gen. George R. Mather, U.S.Army, Commander in Chief, U.S. Southern Command_. Prepared statement by USCINCSO (Gen. George R. Mather) for the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs___ Biographical sketch of Maj. Gen. Walter P. Leber, U.S. Army, Governor Military Assistance Officer P.ogram positions_ Biographical sketch of Hon. G. Warren Nutter, Assistant Secretary of Page 33 Department of Defense Comment on U.S. military personnel carried on Letter dated March 7, 1969, from Hon. William B. Macomber, Jr., Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations, to Hon. Dante B. Fascell, Assistance to refugees in the United States-number of Cuban refugees registered, number resettled, and total program costs, fiscal year 1961 "Battle of the Levels-A Succession of Bugbears," additional statement of Hon. Daniel J. Flood, August 3, 1970.. Statement of Hon. Durward G. Hall, a Representative in Congress from CUBA AND THE CARIBBEAN WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 1970 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTER-AMERICAN AFFAIRS, Washington, D.C. The Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs met at 10 a.m. in room 2200, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Dante B. Fascell (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. FASCELL. The subcommittee will please come to order. We meet this morning to begin a series of hearings on Cuba and the Caribbean. The subcommittee has invited high officials of the Department of State, our key military and naval commanders responsible for our security posture in the Caribbean region, and officials of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, to discuss these subjects with us. This morning, we are pleased to welcome Hon. Robert A. Hurwitch, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs; Mr. Robert L. Funseth, Coordinator of Cuban Affairs in the Department. of State; Mr. Howard H. Palmatier, Director of Cuban Refugee Program in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; and Mr. Glynn W. Baker, Finance Management Officer, Cuban Refugee Program, HEW. Today's and tomorrow's hearings will be held in open session. Beginning Friday morning, however, the subcommittee will go into executive session to receive the testimony of Gen. George R. Mather, Commander in Chief, U.S. Southern Command; Maj. Gen. Walter P. Leber, Governor, Panama Canal Zone; Adm. Ephraim P. Holmes, Commander in Chief, Atlantic; and Hon. G. Warren Nutter, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. The subcommittee wants to cover all aspects of the U.S. policy toward Cuba; issues affecting our security posture in the Caribbean; as well as the broader question of Cuba's present and foreseeable status in the inter-American community. We have many subjects to cover in these next 4 days. If necessary we will extend the hearings. Nearly 8 years have passed since the crisis of 1962, when the basic issues of our national security and the prospect of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union hung in the balance as the late President John F. Kennedy moved to deal with the threat of offensive Soviet missiles being implanted on Cuban soil. The whole civilized world was involved in that crisis. One misstep, one miscalculation, could have led to a disaster of global proportions. Today, 8 years later, that grim possibility is still with us. But in the (1) meantime, the framework in which a nuclear crisis could develop in the Caribbean has changed drastically. The new presence of Soviet warships in the Caribbean, it seems to me, limits the U.S. capacity to deal with any security crisis in that area and instantly raises the stakes of a U.S. military response to a renewed threat of offensive missiles being stationed a few miles off our shores. This concerns me greatly. I am raising this issue today because I want to find out from our policymakers in the Department of State, and from our military leaders, whether, given the presence of Soviet naval units in the Caribbean-or any other Soviet action-the United States would be able to deal effectively with the repetition of the 1962 crisis or with Cuban, or Soviet, military intervention in some other country of the Caribbean. In short, do we still retain the flexibility which we once possessedor is the United States being checkmated in an area in which our vital national security interests are involved? Are our naval and military facilities in the vicinity of the Caribbean region-in Florida, in Key West, in Puerto Rico, at Guantanamo Bay, and in the Canal Zoneadequate to enable us to cope with any serious threat to our country? We will pursue these questions during the next 4 days. But to begin, we will ask Assistant Secretary Hurwitch to outline for us the present U.S. policy toward Cuba-the factors which may cause it to change-and the prospects of any such development in the foreseeable future. At this point in the record, without objection, I shall insert a brief biographical sketch of each of the witnesses testifying today. (The biographical sketches follow:) ROBERT A. HURWITCH Robert A. Hurwitch, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, was born in Worcester, Mass. and received his A.B. degree from the University of Chicago. Mr. Hurwitch joined the Foreign Service in 1950 after seven years in the U.S. Army. In 1956 he was assigned to Bogota as Labor Attaché and in 1960 he was transfered to Washington where he served as Deputy Director of the Office of Caribbean-Mexican Affairs and then Special Assistant for Cuban Affairs in the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs. In 1963 Mr. Hurwitch was selected to attend the Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy at the State Department's Foreign Service Institute; in the same year he received the Department's Distinguished Service Award. In 1964 Mr. Hurwitch became first secretary and served in Santiago, Chile and as Consul General and Counselor in La Paz, Bolivia for several years. In 1967 he was appointed Deputy Chief of Mission in Vientaine, Laos, which was his last post prior to his present post which includes responsibilities for Central America (including Panama), Mexico and the Caribbean area. HOWARD H. PALMATIER Howard H. Palmatier was appointed Director, Cuban Refugee Program of the Social and Rehabilitation Service, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, by Secretary Finch in May 1969. Born in Maybrook, New York, Mr. Palmatier was educated in the United States and Europe. After wartime service in Africa and Italy he was assigned to refugee operations in Trieste. Sworn in as a career Foreign Service Officer in the Department of State in 1952 he was assigned to refugee operations in Germany, Italy, Turkey, Greece and other countries of the Middle East, becoming Director of Escapee Activities for all Middle East nations in 1959. In 1961 Mr. Palmatier was appointed Operations Officer of the Refugee and Migration Affairs Section of the U.S. Mission to the U.N. in Geneva. Reassigned to Washington in 1963 he was detailed to the Cuban Refugee Program, HEW. In 1966 he became a career employee of HEW and was appointed Assistant Director of the latter program. In 1967 at State Dept. request he was detailed to the U.S. AID Mission in Vietnam, assigned to refugee operations, returning to HEW in 1968. ROBERT L. FUNSETH Robert L. Funseth, a career Foreign Service Officer, was appointed Coordinator of Cuban Affairs, Department of State, in October 1969. Born in Minnesota, Mr. Funseth received his B.A. from Hobart College and M.S. degree from George Washington University. Following wartime service in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific he became editor of two newspapers in California and then resident tutor at Hobart College. Mr. Funseth began his government career with the Mutual Security Agency as Information Specialist in 1952; was with U.S. Information Agency 1952-53, and assigned to Iran in 1954. From 19571959 he served as Political Officer in Beirut, Lebanon; 1959-61 with the Office of U.N. Political Affairs; 1961-64 with the American Consulate, Bordeaux, France; and in 1965 served as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the 20th U.N. General Assembly. With the State Department in Washington, Mr. Funseth was Officer-in-Charge, Portuguese Affairs, 1964-66; Deputy Country Director for Spain and Portugal, 1966-1968; and Director of Post Management, Mexico and Central America, before assignment to his present post. Mr. FASCELL. Mr. Hurwitch, we are delighted to have you with us today to present your testimony. STATEMENT OF ROBERT A. HURWITCH, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INTER-AMERICAN AFFAIRS Mr. HURWITCH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a pleasure to be here as usual. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, it is a privilege for me to have this opportunity to review with you the question of Cuba. Since early this year, U.S. policy toward Cuba has undergone close scrutiny within the executive branch and I am pleased to share with the results of our findings. h you U.S. policy toward Cuba is based upon and entirely consistent with the decisions and recommendations made collectively in the OAS which: (1) in 1962, excluded the Cuban Government from participation in the OAS because of its incompatibility with the principles and objectives of Inter-American system: (2) In 1964, following Cubansponsored subversion in Venezuela, resolved that all OAS members not maintain diplomatic or consular relations with Cuba and suspend all trade and sea transportation with Cuba until Cuba ceased to constitute a danger to the peace and security of the hemisphere: (3) The OAS in 1968, following further Cuban acts of intervention in the internal affairs of the OAS states, condemned Cuba and called upon states not members of the OAS to restrict their trade and financial relations with Cuba until it ceased its policy of intervention and aggression. Convinced that Cuba presented a danger to the peace and security of the hemisphere, the United States has complied with these decisions and recommendations. With respect to Cuba's constituting a threat to the peace and security of the hemisphere, the U.S. concerns have been primarily the Cuban Government's avowed policies of interfering in the internal affairs of other nations by attempting to subvert them; and Cuba's military tests with the Soviet Union with the consequent threat that the military presence of a strong extra-continental power poses in the hemisphere. |