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CONDITIONS IN CUBA

Mr. FASCELL. Do you have any report from people who have come into the United States or from other sources, about conditions as they exist in some of the large towns in Cuba? I am thinking about Havana, for example, or other places. Have you any kind of report as to what the conditions are?

Mr. REYES. First of all, there is no traffic.

Mr. FASCELL. You mean no automobiles?

Mr. REYES. Just a few of them.

Mr. FASCELL. That may be a blessing, you know.
Mr. REYES. You mean about pollution.

They don't have traffic. They don't have cars. Most of the cars that are running right now, according to the information we have, are about 650 Alfa Romeos. Most of these cars are in the hands of the top echelon people of the Castro regime, members of the army, officers, and so forth.

Then, if the Cuban people want to get food, they have to wait in long lines in front of the markets in the few markets that are open in the city. Let's take the capital. When they want a piece of meat, the ration book says one-half pound of meat per week per person. This means when there is meat on the meat market. When they are told that they will have meat in the meat market, they have to be there at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning, making a long line. This is the result of the Castro regime. The only thing he has increased is the line in front of all the places, trying to get a piece of bread or a piece of meat.

Then at 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning, the meat comes, and the first 10 or 12 in the l'ne are the ones who get the half-pound-with the bone. They count the bone. Then the rest have to go away without meat. There are many people going to sleep in my country hungry with one small meal a day.

Then they have to go to the cane field. They have to go to the different places of the regime to work.

Entertainment? Just films from the Soviet Union and from the Communist nations. They have old American films in Cuba. When they show an American film, there is a long line of Cubans trying to get in to see that film.

In the meantime, the Soviet, the Russian, the Communist filmsthe Cubans don't go.

At 7 o'clock at the most at night, Havana is a ghost city. It is deserted. Nobody is in the streets.

This is the story of my nation.

Let me add something else. No commercial. No lights. No neon signs. The radio and television, the press and the news media, as you know, have been taken over by the regime, and there is only propaganda and propaganda and brainwash.

CUBAN RADIO PROPAGANDA

Mr. FASCELL. On the propaganda front, is the Castro regime still using radio to beam propaganda outside of Cuba?

Mr. REYES. Mr. Chairman, they have a very powerful station called Radio Havana, and Radio Havana broadcasts throughout the hemi

sphere and the world. It is a very powerful station. Plus local radio stations like Radio Progresso and CMQ. CMQ was the top station, and I happen to know that station, where I worked 22 years. CMQ is now called Radio Liberacion. This is all propaganda. Of course, they have other powerful radio stations.

Let me add, according to the information I have, they do not respect the international agreements about not interfering with other stations. I know there are broadcasters not only in the United States but throughout the world spending millions of dollars to maintain the international agreements on frequencies, but the Castro regime violates all of them. They are beaming from Alaska to Patagonia, breaking all the laws and interfering and jamming and sending their signals throughout the hemisphere.

Mr. FASCELL. In other words, these broadcasts are received in Miami, for example, both in Spanish and in English?

Mr. REYES. Yes, sir. They are very well received not only in Miami but up north, in almost all the States.

Mr. GROSS. What is their power? Five hundred thousand?

Mr. REYES. Sir, I cannot say. It is more than 100,000. That's for sure. They have been beaming constantly to the United States and especially to the Caribbean area.

Mr. GROSS. You are talking about both standard band and shortwave?

Mr. REYES. That is right, both.

For example, in Miami you go in a car and you can pick up Radio Havana absolutely good on AM, the normal band, and on shortwave you can get it, too. Very powerful.

SOVIET MILITARY PRESENCE IN CUBA

Mr. FASCELL. Mr. Reyes, you were discussing earlier the Russian buildup on Cuba. You had some evidence with respect to the type of military equipment that the Soviets were delivering to the island. Could you show that to the subcommittee?

Mr. REYES. We have several evidences that I would like to show the committee.

First of all, in April of last year we received information that the Castro regime has been receiving large boxes on the Casablanca docks, and this year, too, from Soviet ships. This cargo has been unloaded and put in military trucks. An eyewitness has been telling me all the details of these large boxes. This has been put out on television. In fact, the reports say that at the beginning of this year a barge with a Polish-made crane, called Sandoval, that can lift 100 tons of weight, unloaded eight square boxes made of wood, of about 21 square meters of surface, from a Russian ship. The boxes were put in two large 20wheeled, flatbed trucks like this one. Two Castro soldiers guarded each box. When they left Casablanca Arsenal, the two trailer trucks were accompanied by three military jeeps, one in the front, one in the center, and one behind. Each jeep had four armed soldiers.

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At the end of January 1970, another eight large and mysterious boxes were unloaded at the same place. The report continued, saying in May 1969 another ship discharged at Casablanca Arsenal yet another type of box. This time they were house-shaped boxes with pointed roofs. Each box was 10 meters in length, 3 meters in width, and 4 meters in height. The boxes had boards of rustic type 4 to 6 inches wide. Each box was put in a flatbed truck. The boxes had in the middle and the bottom an iron pole. Each truck had two benches with eight armed soldiers.

Under the canvas one was able to see many signs written in Russian. We have also reports that in the last month two military Soviet convoys have been seen in Cuba without Castro soldiers. We have reported that openly. This is the first report of a Soviet convoy without Castro soldiers. The convoy was headed to the mountainous part of Pinar del Rio called Sierra de los Organos. In each sidecar there was a Soviet soldier with a rifle. It was peculiar that each Soviet soldier, according to the report, was dressed with a military camouflage uniform.

Following, there were two big 18-wheeler flatbed trucks with a Soviet tank in each one. After that were five armored personnel carriers with a driver, one armed officer and 10 Soviet soldiers, also with rifles.

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The report continues, saying that immediately there were nine armored personnel carriers with caterpillar tread for swamps. Also, 10 Soviet soldiers with rifles were in each carrier.

These carriers were followed by two military jeeps with a driver and one soldier, using equipment that appeared to be a radio.

The convoy ended with another two big 18-wheeler flatbed trucks with one tank in each one and two jeeps with a driver and four Soviet soldiers.

This is the report, the first one that we made just 4 weeks ago, and the second one we made about 2 weeks ago.

There is also another important fact that I want to bring to your attention this I disclosed on April 10 in a speech before the Greater Miami Kiwanis Club-about the missile-guided boats of Castro. We know that he had at least between 15 to 20 missile-guided boats during the missile crisis of 1962. Right now we consider, according to the sources we have underground, Cubans coming from the island and some intelligence people that I have discussed it with, officials here, he has about 70 to 80 of these boats. The range of these boats is about 100 miles. They are 80 feet in length. They have two missiles or rockets. These rockets have a range of approximately 40 to 50 miles.

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I have pictures that can prove it. This is a report from the Detroit News of May 27, disclosing what I said before the Greater Miami Kiwanis Club.

Also, I have pictures within my power taken from a magazine called Verde Olivo, Green Olive, that is, the green fatigue uniform, published by the Castro regime. In this magazine of January of this year, you can see one of these boats launching one of these missiles. It is put out by the Castro regime. This missile is one that we believe can hit anyplace within 30 to 50 miles' range.

Here are more pictures of the same type.

It seems it is like the Snark-type missile. It is the torpedo type, but it is a rocket or missile. It is 20 to 25 feet in length. Those missiles go up 80 to 100 feet in the air. The missiles used from these boats are of the Snark type which the United States used to operate, and seem to have a jet motor on the rear. The missiles are surface to surface and are guided by radar. Even though they are generally used for attack from ship to ship, experts on the matter state that they can be also used from ship to land. One of these missiles apparently was the one that sank the Israel boat. The range of this missile is 40 to 50 miles.

Members of the committee, this is where we believe the defensive weapons become offensive weapons. If you take a defensive weapon per se of a range of 15, 20 or 50 miles, OK, we can say it is a defensive weapon; but if you put that missile or rocket in a boat and fire it from 15 miles off the Florida coast, I said at that time, April 10, 1970, it can hit the heart of Homestead Air Force Base. The last issue of Time magazine said it can hit the Key Biscayne White House.

Mr. FASCELL. You say there has been an increase in the number of these vessels?

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