The New York Times

May 20, 1964

By TAD SZULC

Foes of the Castro regime have promised that they will open a new phase of the struggle against his five-year-old regime tomorrow, the 62d anniversary of Cuban independence from Spain.

According to the militant exile organizations in Miami, this phase will consist of efforts to rebuild an effective anti-Castro underground and to harass the regime with internal sabotage and hit-and-run coastal raids.

They describe these efforts is the first major ones since the unsuccessful invasion attempt of 1961.

The most important single operation now being undertaken is that of the Revolutionary Junta. The leader of the junta, Manuel Ray, was reported today to be somewhere in the Caribbean, presumably preparing to land secretly in Cuba in order to initiate what he has described as a long and pain-staking process of hammering together an effective underground organization.

The exile leader has emphasized that his undertaking is a "purely Cuban" operation neither planned nor directed by the United States.

Mr. Ray first announced his plans a year ago. Whether he succeeds or fails, he has apparently managed, through his well-publicized preparations, to produce a considerable psychological impact in Cuba.

Qualified observers here think that Havana's decision to order a military "high alert" yesterday was motivated more by concern with Mr. Ray than with the expected repetition of coastal raids by other groups, similar to an attack last week on a sugar mill.

Refugees arriving from Cuba in the last few days aboard small boats have also reported that Mr. Ray's plans are the chief topic of whispered talk throughout the island.

The Miami spokesman for the Movement of Revolutionary Recovery, based in Central America, denied a report that after its forces inside Cuba had blown up six highway bridges.

The movement is the faction that carried out the sugar mill raid last week, but qualified sources here doubted that it had the potential at this time to engage in internal sabotage.

In an interview yesterday at a secret spot in the Caribbean, Mr. Ray emphasized that his operation was primarily political and that his sabotage plans were designed principally to help create a revolutionary climate in Cuba.

Mr. Ray said that the chief function of his infiltration teams, a number of which are already believed to be in Cuba, would be to provide the leadership for the new underground organization on the island.

He said that the Revolutionary Junta never contemplated the formation of guerrilla combat groups in the Cuban mountains. The regime's powerful military apparatus would make the odds against the success of such an operation overwhelming, he said.

Instead, he said, his aim was to establish an organization that would bore from within the regime, offering a political alternative to members of the Government, the military, and the militias.

To encourage these men to turn their backs on Dr. Castro and join in an uprising at some future time, Mr. Ray was insistent on the need for assuring them personal protection after an eventual overthrow of the present regime.

For this reason, he said, his first act will be to make clear that if the Castro regime is overthrown, the new Government of Cuba would immediately abolish the death penalty.

Qualified observers here expressed the view that if Mr. Ray succeeded in landing in Cuba and eluding the Castro security forces for at least two weeks, his chances of building an underground organization would have grown immeasurably.

On the other hand, if he is caught while landing or shortly thereafter, the chances of any successful uprising in Cuba in the foreseeable future will have collapsed, it is believed.

Without Mr. Ray, it is felt, the other groups present no meaningful challenge to the Castro regime.

When Mr. Ray was visited yesterday, not a single American was anywhere in sight. The few people accompanying him were his close Cuban associates.

The declared policy of the United States Government is to oppose and prevent any raids on Cuba from its territory, as well as expeditions from else where if they are equipped and manned in the United States.

Mr. Ray and the Administration have made a point of remaining completely disassociated, and the exile leaders takes the view that there is no reason for the United States to become involved in his operation.

He said he felt that if any anti-Castro operation was to succeed, it must be Cuban. planned and Cuban-directed.