New York Times
April 18, 1961.  p. 15.

Cuban Exiles' Chief Calls for Help by 'Freedom Loving Peoples' to Oust Castro
Miro Issues Plea; Council Departs
Rebel Leaders Leave hotel Headquarters Here for an Undisclosed Destination

By Peter Kihss

        President Jose Miro Cardona of the Cuban Revolutionary Council called on "freedom loving peoples" of the Western Hemisphere yesterday to support the attack on Cuba "morally and materially."
        Dr. Miro Cardona's statement was issued here as leaders of the seven member council left their headquarters at the Lexington Hotel after having given the signal for the landings and uprisings aimed at the overthrow of Premier Fidel castro. The destination of the council leaders was not disclosed.
        Dr. Miro Cardona has previously outlined plans that would proclaim a provisional government in Cuba as soon as some territory could be seized and held. Then he has said, he would ask for foreign recognition and help.
Landing Called Success
        At 4:20 P.M. the council issued a communiqué reporting "a successful landing of military supplies and equipment in the Cochinos Bay area of Matanzas Province." The communiqué avoided any use of the term "invasion," which might raise legal questions involving the United States.
        Meanwhile, the four cramped rooms used by the Democratic Revolutionary Front at 1650 Broadway were packed with anti-Castro Cubans. They were joyously exchanging dubious rumors, such as that Maj. Juan Almeida, chief of the Army, had defected, and that Raul Castro, Minister of the Armed Forces, had been captured in Santiago de Cuba.
        Hundreds of Cubans in New York were believed to have been recruited for the rebel force. Some were leaving individually. Other Castro opponents who have been at odds with the Revolutionary Council reported themselves ready now to support an all-out united effort.
        Dr. Miro Cardona, whose Revolutionary Council was set up here by the two major anti-Castro opposition movements last month, announced that the new uprising had begun before dawn. He said it was taking place in the cities and hills by Cubans with whom contact had been maintained "during many months."
Supply Landings Reported
        Other Council communiqués later reported the landings as a materiel movement of food and ammunition in the Matanzas region, and declared that a critical wave of rebellion and sabotage would be started before dawn today.
        A statement issued for the Revolutionary Council by Dr. Antonio Silio, a former Cuban Supreme Court justice, declared that the Cuban pilots who had bombed three airfields Saturday were defectors from the Castro forces who had asked the Council "to allow them to fight against Castro and his Communist tyranny."
        Dr. Silio said that the council was granting the request, and that the men were "now safely with Cuban friends" in "free territory." He identified only one as Capt. Orestes Acosta, a jet pilot, who had reached a point "not in the United States."
        An inspection of Cuban military airfields by members of the diplomatic and press corps in Havana, Dr. Silio said, would show "many" United States made B-26 aircraft in current use by the Castro air force. Post-war Cuban Governments, he said, had received United States rockets and bombs whose fragments might have been found after the raids.
Refugee Group Raises Goal
        The International Rescue Committee, a private relief group, of 255 Park Avenue South, appealed for support for an emergency $250,000 increase in an earlier goal of $1,000,000 for Caribbean refugee aid.
        The committee warned that the new fighting might result in "a new flood of refugees, especially women, children and elderly people fleeing to avoid being caught in the crossfire or being taken as Communist hostages."
        "While some Federal funds are being used for refugees in the miami area," the committee added, "many needs are not being met there and no similar provision is made for the more than 10,000 Cuban refugees in the New York area, or large numbers in other cities."
Pacifists Issue Appeal
        The Fellowship of Reconciliation, a pacifist group, announced the sending of a telegram by eleven Americans to President Kennedy calling for a halt on aid to invaders and mediation of Cuban-United States disputes by the United nations or a team made up of Canada and Brazil.
        Signers included Erich Fromm, C. Wright Mills, Sidney Lens, Stewart Meacham, Norman Thoma, Robert Lyon, A. J. Muste, Alfred Hassler, John Nevin Sayre, Maxwell Geismar and Robert Gilmore.
        The Fair Play for Cuba Committee charged that the United States Central Intelligence Agency had organized troops landing from Louisiana, Florida and Guatemala in violation of the United Nations Charter. It announced plans to send messages to President Kennedy, Congress and newspapers.