and from a humanitarian point of view, I believe, that we are rather obligated as a result of having initiated the Memorandum of Understanding on the basis of which a massive number of people went forward to a Communist government and said, "We no longer wish to live here." They have been treated as enemies of the regime since that time.

Mr. FASCELL. I want to pursue that further but first I want to give my colleagues an opportunity to question.

Mr. Mailliard?

Mr. MAILLIARD. I don't think that I have any specific questions, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. FASCELL. Mr. Monagan?

Mr. MONAGAN. I have none on the airlift as such.

Mr. FASCELL. We are not going to limit the discussion to that.

CHARACTER OF COMMUNIST REGIME IN CUBA

Mr. MONAGAN. I just have two questions related enough so that they can perhaps be combined, that were suggested in my mind yesterday, Mr. Hurwitch, when you were talking about the character of the regime.

Someone referred to it as a one-man Communist regime and then elsewhere there was a description of it as a Marxist-Leninist regime. First of all, isn't this a contradiction in terms in describing the regime as a one-man Communist regime? That is usually a party-regulated country where there is a Communist regime in power. To what extent is the Marxist-Leninist doctrine controlling here and to what extent is it a one-man operation?

Mr. HURWITCH. Congressman Monagan, our information with regard to what is going on precisely in Cuba is not all that we would like. As Mr. Palmatier indicated, one of the sources of such information is the refugees who leave. They are not the most objective sources. Putting together the bits and pieces that we are able to get in the absence of having our own embassy there, the distinct impression we get is that Fidel Castro is very much in command and that he does not have really an apparatus in the sense most Communist states have through which he operates.

The impression we get is that all decisions-and some are of surprising detail and some have a surprising lack of importance-are matters that he personally attends. When there is a drive on for achieving 10 million tons of sugar-he spends a lot of time out in the sugar fields personally trying to achieve that goal himself—very little happens as far as governmental decisions are concerned because whenever anybody asks about a decision, the answer is "Fidel is out cutting cane and you have to wait until he comes back." There is that aspect to it and it is that which led me to say that perhaps in an overly shorthanded way that it constitutes a one-man Communist dictatorship in the sense that it is very much his show. I think that this fact is a source of some concern to the Soviets as well, who don't find this entirely to their liking. There is, as you know, an established Communist Party in Cuba and it has been in existence for quite some time. As a matter of fact, historically it was the Communist Party of Cuba which was one of the parties that strongly opposed the coming to power of Fidel Castro.

He claims that he is a Marxist-Leninist. But most of the diplomats of what we used to call Iron Curtain countries accredited to Havana find a great deal of difficulty in recognizing the brand of Marxism and Leninism in Cuba that they are used to seeing in their own countries and they are openly surprised at what they see there under the label of Marxist-Leninist.

The Communist Party as such does not play the key and controlling role in Cuba as is the case in their Communist countries.

Mr. Castro is a charismatic leader and a man of some talents and some independence. Whether or not there will be indeed a complete meeting of the minds between Castro and the Cuban Communist Party remains to be seen.

Mr. GROSS. Is he married?

Mr. HURWITCH. No; he is not married in the normal sense of the word. He has a mistress or two. He had been at one time, Congressman Gross.

Mr. GROSS. That establishes his independence then.

Mr. MONAGAN. He established his charisma.

Mr. HURWITCH. Does that answer your question?

Mr. MONAGAN. Thank you.

Mr. FASCELL. Mr. Kazen.

AIRLIFT: NUMBER OF FLIGHTS AND TYPE OF AIRCRAFT

Mr. KAZEN. Mr. Secretary, how often do these airplanes go into Cuba? How often is the airlift working?

Mr. HURWITCH. Twice a day.

Mr. KAZEN. Twice a day?

Mr. HURWITCH. Five days a week. The Memorandum of Understanding provides that a minimum of 3,000 Cubans would be brought out per month.

Mr. KAZEN. Is this strictly by air?

Mr. HURWITCH. Yes.

Mr. KAZEN. What type of aircraft do we use?

STATEMENT OF ROBERT L. FUNSETH, COORDINATOR OF CUBAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Mr. FUNSETH. A DC-7, but we expect this week to start using an Electra. We have to use propeller aircraft because the airport at Varadero cannot take jet aircraft.

Mr. KAZEN. You have a particular airport to which you go?

Mr. FUNSETH. Yes, sir; at Varadero, which is located about 75 miles east of Havana.

Mr. KAZEN. What was the reasoning behind the airlift and using the airlift versus sea travel?

Mr. HURWITCH. I don't know.

EXIT NOTIFICATION TO REFUGEES IN CUBA

Mr. KAZEN. What kind of facilities do they have for these refugees waiting to be airlifted at that airport? How long do they keep them there in that immediate vicinity before they board?

Mr. HURWITCH. It is usually a very short period. Let us say at most a day. What they do, they call these people up on a very short notice and say, "You have to be there at such and such a time." They all sort of scoot out as fast as they can. As Mr. Palmatier said, with very little belongings. And even those are once again screened before they are allowed to go. I have been down at the other end and I must suggest to the gentlemen of the committee who have not had such an opportunity, it is one of the most moving sights that I have ever seen at the airport in Florida when these people come in for the first time. As Mr. Palmatier said, these people have been waiting since 1966. They have endured all kinds of insults and hardships just to come to our country, to have the opportunity to do so.

When that plane arrives and touches the ground in Miami and these people get out, it is a very moving sight.

FACILITIES IN FLORIDA

Mr. KAZEN. What type of facilities do you have in Florida to absorb them immediately?

Mr. PALMATIER. Mr. Congressman, as you know, the HEW program has been going on since 1961. In 1961, the Cuban Refugee Emergency Center was established in downtown Miami, Fla., to serve as a focal point for Cuban refugee registration, resettlement, and out-of-State employment activities and to coordinate all of the local aspects of our program. In December 1965, when the second influx of refugees began to arrive via the airlift, we felt that it was necessary to establish additional facilities at the Miami International Airport in order in part to obviate the movement to Miami of those refugees destined to move on to join relatives outside of Miami.

At the airport facilities, the refugees are registered, interviewed and classified as to job skills. We record the characteristics and makeup of the families, develop as much information as we can as to location of their friends and relatives in the United States. We give them a medical examination and then we refer them to one of the four voluntary agencies working with us on the resettlement program. Three of them are church groups and one is nonsectarian.

Mr. KAZEN. Are they the ones responsible for housing and clothing them?

Mr. PALMATIER. We give an initial issue of clothing as needed at the facility in Miami. This is done through the church groups. The Federal Government does not do it directly.

Mr. KAZEN. There is no Federal money involved?

RESETTLEMENT BY VOLUNTARY AGENCIES

Mr. PALMATIER. Yes, sir. On the resettlement effort we have contracts with the four major voluntary agencies. All of them have been active in refugee work with the Federal Government since the end of World War II. We pay them a fee for each refugee they resettle out of Miami, Fla. I think now it is about $90 per person. Each has quite a large paid staff in Miami. The relatively small amount of money we pay to the agencies, of course, does not come close to covering the total cost involved in the resettlement effort and finding a job opportunity,

47-893-70- -4

finding housing, helping the children register at school-all of the things that help a family become integrated into the local community as rapidly as they can.

HEALTH OF REFUGEES

Mr. KAZEN. What has your experience been as far as the health condition of these people who come in?

Mr. PALMATIER. It has been remarkably good. We do, of course, have going down in the airplane each day, each trip to Cuba, people from the Immigration Service and also a public health inspector. Then, as I mentioned, as soon as they get off the airplane in Miami, as part of the normal processing, they are given a very good medical examination.

We have had principally the problems that one finds in the aged. Seven percent of the people who have come on the airlift have been 65 years of age or above."

With respect to the general health conditions, I might mention that the medical people tell us that, as time has passed, they find more evidence of malnutrition and things of this type likely in children—for example, poor teeth, eyes, and so on.

ELIGIBILITY OF REFUGEES FOR ENTRY INTO THE UNITED STATES

Mr. KAZEN. We have absolutely no say as to who should come into the United States? We just take them as they board the airplane, is that right?

Mr. PALMATIER. No. The Memorandum of Understanding between Cuba and the United States calls for an exchange of lists. We call them nominal rolls. The American lists name those persons in Cuba claimed by relatives here whom the U.S. considers eligible for entry within the terms of the agreement, and the Cuban lists are compiled by the Cuban Government and names those persons considered eligible for exit permits by that government.

The names which appear on both lists form the basis for what are called joint consolidated lists, lists of persons both governments consider eligible for movement under the terms of the agreement.

Mr. KAZEN. Anyone who does not fall within that category and wants to leave Cuba has to find his own way out? For example, via Mexico?

Mr. PALMATIER. Or Spain or by small boat. We still get some every month who come into Miami, Fla., via small boat, raft, inner tube, what have you.

Mr. KAZEN. Recently when I was in Laredo, my home town, there were several that came in from Mexico City and in fact they came over here allegedly illegally from Mexico because they didn't realize that they could come in through the normal processes. They were detained on this side by the border patrol but they had no trouble proceeding on in once they were detained. I was just wondering if this type of person was ineligible to come in under whatever arrangements the agreement called for or conditions.

Mr. PALMATIER. It is entirely possible that these particular people were not able to sign up during the time when, as we understand it, Castro had an open registration, and thus would seek another way of coming out. It is possible that they did not fall within the terms of the

memorandum of understanding. Perhaps they had no relatives here, for instance.

Mr. KAZEN. The only ones allowed to come here are those with relatives in this country?

Mr. PALMATIER. It is a family reunion'scheme, yes, sir.

Mr. KAZEN. This is something I didn't know.

Mr. FASCELL. Mr. Monagan.

CUBAN AND U.S. ELIGIBILITY LISTS

Mr. MONAGAN. Thank you. A question on this point here.

You spoke about the master and consolidated lists that appear in the memorandum of agreement. In fact, have such lists been created and are they available for inspection, or is it simply a matter of the Cuban Government's furnishing lists, furnishing numbers of names from time to time?

Mr. PALMATIER. Yes. From time to time we receive, through State Department channels, at the Cuban Refugee Center in Miami, long lists which are actually called installments of the Cuban master list. The lists are in the form of an IBM print-out sheet listing the name and address of the person in the United States whom the persons in Cuba are going to be joining: directly under that are the names of the persons in Cuba and other identifying data such as date and place of birth. This is followed by a prearranged IBM code that indicates the degree of relationship between the claimant and the claimee.

Mr. MONAGAN. A complete list is not on file or available for inspection by the United States or by the Swiss?

Mr. PALMATIER. Not to my knowledge.

Mr. HURWITCH. Not a complete list in the sense that you describe it, Congressman Monagan. It is not available. What is available are the installments of these lists that come in periodically.

Mr. MONAGAN. You have no way of determining, for example, how many more names are registered on the list which would be an important consideration in determining whether you were going to continue it for a year or year and a half or something like that?

Mr. HURWITCH. Yes, sir. You are quite right. This is a disadvantage. All we can do is make a guesstimate, if you like, as to how many people may have registered. As you are aware, Castro closed that list in 1966. There has been a periodic and fairly intensive check of the people as they come in. There has been no one found to have come in on the airlift who registered or said they registered post-1966.

Mr. MONAGAN. What is your estimate, or guesstimate, as you describe it?

Mr. HURWITCH. It is a tough one. We would guess perhaps there were about 300,000 people who might have registered at the outset; that is, until it was shut off in 1966.

Mr. MONAGAN. How many?

Mr. HURWITCH. 200,000 have come in.

Mr. MONAGAN. That would leave 100,000 remaining and there would be attrition, would you estimate?

Mr. HURWITCH. Yes, sir, there is attrition. It is very hard to guess but there are names, for example, names on the lists that come up