WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1975

U.S. SENATE,
SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE
ADMINISTRATION OF THE INTERNAL SECURITY ACT
AND OTHER INTERNAL SECURITY LAWS
OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY,
Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 12:30 p.m., in room 5110, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Senator Strom Thurmond presiding.

Also present: J. G. Sourwine, chief counsel, Alfonso Tarabochia, chief investigator; David Martin, senior analyst; Robert J. Short, senior investigator; and Mary E. Dooley, director of research.

Senator THURMOND. Terrorist bombings by Puerto Rican revolutionaries, in this country and in Puerto Rico, have attracted much attention because bombings are spectacular. But information gathered by the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee over the past several years points to the conclusion that the bombings may have concealed a much more important aspect of the Puerto Rican situation. If the word of the Communists means anything, what this evidence suggests is that international communism has been using Puerto Rico as a bridgehead to infiltrate, disrupt and ultimately bring about revolution in the United States.

The leading role played by Cuba in these efforts is self-proclaimed and well publicized, because Cuba has been the fountainhead of revolution in Puerto Rico since Castro took polder in 1959. .

Next month, on September 5-7, Havana will be the meeting place of a Conference of Solidarity with Puerto Rican Independence, sponsored by the Moscow-dominated World Peace Council.

Fermin Arraiza, leader of the delegation of the Socialist Party of Puerto Rico at the Nonalined Nations Conference in Havana made this statement on March 17, 1975:
 

Puerto Rico's independence is, perhaps, one of the strategic objectives of the world liberation forces and the world's anti-imperialistic forces, because the proclamation of our independence could be the spark that will start the victorious struggle for the second and true independence of the exploited and discriminated against people of the United States of America.
 

Arraiza left no doubts as to who was responsible for the revolutionary efforts. In the next paragraph he stated:
 

Cuba has been a vanguard in the international struggle of solidarity for independence of Puerto Rico.
 

The purpose of today's hearing is to look into this situation. We have with us today as witnesses Mr. Francisco Martinez, a dedicated Puerto Rican who has made an extensive study of the Socialist Party of Puerto Rico, which is the, political and 'action arm of the Marxist revolutionary forces in the Caribbean island; and Mr. Alfonso Tarabochia, chief investigator for the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, who has investigated this situation systematically from its beginning.

Mr. Martinez, the subcommittee understands that, for reasons of personal security, it is imperative that you present the testimony you are about to give today under an assumed name. You have

identified yourself to the committee. The committee staff is satisfied with the integrity- of your testimony. Under these circumstances, and with knowledge of your true identity, the subcommittee will

take your testimony under the name you have assumed and you will be sworn under this name.

Mr. Martinez and Mr. Tarabochia, will you rise and be sworn. The evidence you are about to give the subcommittee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.

Mr. MARTINEZ. I do.

Mr. TARABOCHIA. I do.
 

TESTIMONY OF FRANCISCO MARTINEZ
 

Senator THURMOND. Mr. Martinez, will you tell us something about your background.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, Sir. I work as a consultant and researcher for several private interests in Puerto Rico industrial companies in the field of labor relations and particularly as it relates to Communist infiltration in the labor unions. I have also worked as chief researcher for a nonprofit organization sponsored by local interests. And that is my relation with the subject of these hearings, sir.

Senator THURMOND. For how many years have you worked in this field?

Mr. MARTINEZ. About 5 years, sir.

Senator THURMOND. And since you first began working in the field, you have followed the activities of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, Sir.

Senator THURMOND. Is the Puerto Rican Socialist Party a socialist party in the sense of the European socialist parties?

Mr. MARTINEZ. No, Sir. It is a Marxist-Leninist party, which means it follows the line of the hard Communist parties.

Senator THURMOND. It follows the Moscow-Havana line?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Particularly the Havana line, sir.

Senator THURMOND. Right.

I believe you have a prepared statement, Mr. Martinez. It will help us, I think, if you will read your prepared statement first, and then we may have some questions, or staff may have some questions that they will want to address to you.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Thank you, sir. Just to put my presentation in the proper perspective, I would like to quote a statement made by Juan Mari Bras, the Secretary General of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, when he was secretary of the Pro-Independence Movement.
 

The statement was made in January 1967, with Stokely Carmichael at his side, and it was not only significant but. very ominous, especially to those who knew of Juan Mari Bras' extremely close ties with the Communist regime of Cuba.

To quote him:
 

Just as imperialism uses Puerto Rico as a bridgehead for its penetration into Latin America, so will the MPI offer itself as a bridge over which world revolution can penetrate into the United States.
 

To what degree Mari Bras' threats have come to pass can be measured by a recent statement just before the terrorist act that killed four people at Fraunces Tavern in New York earlier this year. I am again quoting Mari Bras, from an editorial under his byline published in the December 3 issue of Claridad, the official newspaper of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. It says:
 

Don't get scared, for this is just the beginning. You don't have to be a prophet to foresee that acts of sabotage and bombings of all kinds will take place with increasing frequency.
 

With these statements as a background, I will proceed to present a collection of facts that show that the Puerto Rican Socialist Party is not only a subversive organization, but an active instrument of a foreign government dedicated to the destruction of democratic principles on which the government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is based.

Senator THURMOND. If I may interrupt at this point, Mr. Martinez, you said previously that the Puerto Rican Socialist Party follows both the Moscow and Havana line, but more the Havana line. Do you believe that it is also an instrument of Moscow?

Mr. MARTINEZ. I have no information in that regard, sir, but I have particularly detailed information about their relations with Cuba.

Senator THURMOND. And you are convinced that it is an instrument of the Castro Government in Havana?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, Sir.

Senator THURMOND. Would you proceed.

Mr. 'NIARTINEZ. I will first present the history of Communist penetration in Puerto Rico.

The United States values political freedom as the highest of human rights and for that reason it has permitted, with very few restrictions, the existence of the Communist Party within the United States, though this party is committed to the destruction of the American way of life.

The Communist Party of the United States decided in 1926 to establish a branch in Puerto Rico under the cover of one of its fronts, the Anti-Imperialist League. In 1932, a Puerto Rican who had served as chief organizer for the CPUSA in Denver, Colo., was sent back to the island to establish an independent party, the Puerto Rican Communist Party. Ironically

Senator THURMOND. If I may interrupt, what was the name of this Puerto Rican?

Mr. MARTINEZ. I don't have it right now, sir, but, I believe it is contained in a previous Senate publication on the subject of violence in Puerto Rico.

Senator THURMOND. Could you provide the name for insertion in the record at this point?
 

Mr. MARTINEZ. I don't have it now.

Senator THURMOND. You can do it after the hearing.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir, I will.

[The name of Alberto E. Sanchez subsequently was supplied by Mr. Martinez as that of the person referred to.]

Senator THURMOND. Right. Proceed.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Well, like I say, ironically, the Communist threat came to Puerto Rico from the United States.

The Puerto Rican Communist Party never had more than 200 known members, but it built the foundations for a Communist movement by recruiting, indoctrinating and training the first group of Puerto Rican Communists.

The next stage in the Communists infiltration was the creation of Communist fronts. It is well known that the Communists seldom initiate their offensive by publicly announcing their goals. They know that the Marxist-Leninist ideology is hard to understand and that very few persons will feel motivated to fight for it in a Christian democratic society.

But Vladimir Lenin, the great builder of communism, discovered that non-communists can be manipulated to achieve communist goals. He stated, in more or less these words, that:
 

There is no single segment of the industrial society, no class in the population without a circle, however small, of discontented and maladjusted and alienated individuals-predisposed target audiences for radical hate propaganda-who can be hooked up to a revolutionary mass movement.
 

Senator THURMOND. Is this an exact quotation?

Mr. MARTINEZ. No, as I indicated, it is approximate. It is very close to the original. I am very familiar with the original, but I came away without the text.

Senator THURMOND. Will you proceed.

Mr. MARTINEZ. In Puerto Rico it was relatively easy to find that circle of discontented and alienated individuals. With increasing Americanization of the island, a small group of intellectuals was getting increasingly worried by «-hat they thought was the total destruction of Puerto Rico's Latin cultural tradition and heritage.

This group soon formed a Pro-Independence Party, to persuade the Puerto Rican people to break their ties with the United States. Most of them tried to follow the democratic channels, but a very small group, led by Pedro Albizu Campos, lost faith in the democratic process when they saw that the great majority of the people voted repeatedly for continued union with the United States.

In 1950, this group, the Nationalist Party, staged an unsuccessful uprising that resulted in the death or imprisonment of many of their leaders. Frustrated by their failure, the next day t«-o nationalists attacked the official residence of President Harry Truman, Blair House, in Washington. The attack failed. One of the attackers was killed and the other was injured. A police guard was also killed.

In 1954, a group of four Nationalists attacked the U.S. House of Representatives, injuring with their guns five Congressmen. Four arrests followed this vicious terrorist act and the Nationalist Party virtually disappeared.

Senator TI3URMOND. If I may interrupt at this point, when you use the word "Nationalist," these are Nationalists with a capital N, not true Puerto Rican nationalists, but members of the "Puerto Rican Nationalist Party?"

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir, that is correct.

Senator THURMOND. So, when the record is typed, I would ask the official reporter to make note of the fact that the word "Nationalist" is to be spelled with a capital N, denoting members of the Nationalist Party.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Meanwhile, an enormous majority of the Puerto Ricans repudiated the attack and pledged continued allegiance to the American Nation.

In the 1956 elections, the Pro-independence Party obtained only 12 percent of the votes.

The pro-independence activists were desperate. Then, the Communists came in to offer their help for the reconstruction of the independence forces. Two front organizations were formed by the communists - The Federation of University Students for Independence in 1956, and the Pro-Independence movement in 1959. By offering the pro-independence leaders a program for the island's independence, the Communists began their revolution in Puerto Rico, using non-Communist hands - that is, by creating front organizations.

The third important step was the recruitment of young people. The Communists have always selected the youth as the target for their hate propaganda, for many reasons. First, many young people are. idealistic and gullible. Second, most of the youth is unhappy with the present society. And finally, once the young people select a cause to fight for, they have the time and the energy needed to make a militant.

The best place to recruit young people is at the universities and colleges. In our free society , academic freedom is imperative, but this means that Communist. teachers cannot be excluded because of their ideas from the universities, and for this reason the State provides the ideal forum for the dissemination of their destructive ideology to the. young people.

Mr. MARTIN. Would you repeat that last sentence? The State provides what?

Mr. MARTTINEZ. Yes, sir. The State provides the ideal forum for the dissemination of the Communist destructive ideology to the young people.

Mr. MARTIN. Through the universities?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir, that is correct.

Mr. MARTIN. Right, that makes it clear.

Mr. 1~I ARTINEZ. In Puerto Rico, like in many other countries, the State university was the birthplace of the first Communist front. It was called Federation of University Students for Independence. Originally, the group just called for Independence and was open to anyone who wanted to join it, but from the very beginning Communist leaders directed the organization and planned the radicalization of its members.

From 1964 to 1971, the FUPI leaders promoted a total of seven riots at the University of Puerto Rico. By 1967, with the increasing involvement of the United States in Vietnam, they picked the ROTC as their target and began disrupting its military activities.

In 1969, they launched a surprise attack against the ROTC building, destroying part of the structure and a fire department truck that was summoned to the scene.

After a day of rioting in March 1970, the State police had to send its riot squad to the campus and a student was killed by a stray bullet. The police were blamed by the Communists for this death.

On the first anniversary of the 1970 riot, the Students For a Democratic Society, SDS, called for demonstrations throughout the United States in support of the Puerto Rican struggle. Seven days later, the Communists again stormed the ROTC building at the University of Puerto Rico. This time, several snipers--

Mr. MARTIN. When you say "the Communists", was it the Communists openly demonstrating under the banner of the Communist Party, or are you referring to the student organization which was led by pro-Communist elements?

Mr. MARTINEZ. It was the Federation of University Students for Independence and some other organizations that were publicly identified as Marxist-Leninists. That is why I used the general term "Communists" referring to them.

Mr. MARTIN. Was this a demonstration that was made up solidly of Communists, or was it a demonstration in which the mass of the demonstrators were perhaps not Communists, but the leadership was Communist?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Well, I believe that in almost every riot situation only the hard-core are actually Communists, and they can manipulate the rest of the people into participating in the riot. As this riot developed, I believe that most of the curious people and pro-independence sympathizers moved out of the area, and, by the end of the riot, when the police came in, most of the demonstrators involved were Communists.

Mr. MARTIN. Would you proceed.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Like I was saying, this was in March 1971. The Communists stormed again the ROTC building at the University of Puerto Rico. This time, several snipers began shooting at the cadets, killing one of them. The police riot squad was summoned to quell the riot, but the Communists were prepared to face the policemen and opened fire on them with automatic weapons as soon as they dismounted from their cars. The commander of the police riot squad and another policeman were killed and several officers were injured.

These riots radicalized a number of youngsters. When they graduated from college, they took positions in every segment of society, and this gave Communism in Puerto Rico a broader base of power.

Mr. MARTIN. In the interests of precision, Mr. Martinez, unless you are certain that the entire body of demonstrators was composed of Communists, I respectfully suggest that it might be a bit more proper to speak of "Communist-led demonstrators."

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir.

Mr. MARTIN. But, you did seem to be reasonably satisfied that by the time the riots-toward the end of the riots, at any rate, those who were not hard-core Communists had drifted away, and those who remained were pretty well all hard-core Communists?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. I am convinced of that, sir.

Well, the next stage of Communist infiltration of Puerto Rico was, I would call it, the appearance of a rising struggle.

Even though the Communists had a very militant group at the university, their actual strength was quite small. Outside the campuses they had very little contact with the population. To make their presence felt more strongly, they resorted to a clever combination of tools: terrorism and the, news media. This tactic was quite simple. Only one person was needed to place a fire bomb inside a store. Perhaps that very same person would phone the newspapers while the fire was still raging and would transmit a press release stating that the bombing was done by a clandestine pro-independence group. The next day the news media would give a lot of free publicity to the terrorists, with articles and photographs of bomb damage.

From 1964 to 1971, many American stores throughout the island were destroyed by terrorists. The press, unwittingly, helped create the image of a rising struggle, when actually the group of terrorists never had more than perhaps 50 members

Mr. MARTIN. During this period, were the bombings directed primarily against American stores, or were American industries also targets?

Mr. MARTINEZ. At that time what we had in Puerto Rico was mostly destruction by incendiary devices against stores, but. we also had destruction against industry, particularly against petrochemical pipelines.

Mr. MARTIN. Would you be able to offer for the record a list of the bombings against American stores and business establishments during this period?

Mr. MARTINEZ. I can offer a partial listing. I will just name some of the stores involved.

The first major bombing was in 1964 at a Bargaintown Store in Bayamon. It is close to San Juan. During that fire in 1964 an employee died and the losses were estimated at about $1 million.

The big rush of terrorists attacks took place in 1968. In that year they bombed, among other targets, Drug Fair, Blackton's, Chez Bamboo, Ruby Gale, a gasoline pipeline company, the New York Department Store, Grand Union, Franklin's, again the New York Department Store, Pueblo Supermarkets, several hotels in the Condado area, the International Department Store, some movie houses, the Belk-Lindsay Department Store in Bayamon, the Kresge's Store in Bayamon, the VBargaintown Store in Carolina, the K-Mart Store in San Juan.

Then, in 1969, Woolworth's Store in Santurce, Lerner's, Franklin's, Kresge's, Woolworth and a Sears store in Ponce. Another Kresge store

Mr. MARTIN. Did many of the bombings do extensive damage?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Some of them destroyed the stores completely. For example, the fire at Woolworth's in September 1969 caused $1,400,000 damage.

Mr. SHORT. Were there any deaths other than the first one you mentioned at the Bargaintown Store?

Mr. MARTINEZ. No, not any that I can remember, because what they did was they placed small incendiary devices that would burn the store at night.And continuing, in 1970, we had one of the first instances of violence and bombings in a strike. In January of that year-January 12, to be exact-a bomb was placed at the General Electric factors- in Rio Grande during a strike. That same year, the Moscoso Drug Stores, two of them, Nvere burned on the same day with losses of a quarter of a million dollars.

Then, on March .5, as a reprisal for the death of the students at the University, the Armed Commandos for Liberation killed two sailors, two American sailors, in San Juan. This as not exactly the type of terrorist act that I was talking about, but still it was a terrorist act.

In April of that year, several bombs were found with a blasting at the main communications tower of the police department at El Yunque. Forty-eight bombs were found that day.

In May of that year, at the Burger King Store in Rio Piedras, a bomb was placed and a student was seriously injured by the explosion.

And I could go on with a long list up until 1972, which is the last date I have of this listing of terrorist acts, but one of the major acts was a bomb placed during the Miss Universe Contest in Puerto Rico and that was in May 1972. While the Miss Universe Contest was taking place, in Puerto Rico, a very powerful explosive bomb was placed at the hotel, apparently to give a publicity effect to their struggle.

Mr. MARTIN. Now, this is only a partial listing of bombings and other terrorist incidents?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. The bombings have continued since 1972. The only list I have ended at that time. But, for example, in November 1974, last November, we had 17 bombs exploding at several

Mr. Martin. In 1 month?

Mr. MARTINEZ. One day.

Mr. MARTIN. In 1 day.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Seventeen very-we are talking now about explosive bombs-17 very powerful explosive bombs were placed at different American banks and stores and industry as a reprisal for the mobilization of the Puerto Rican National Guard, Army National Guard, during a strike.

Mr. MARTIN. Would it be an overestimate to say that there have been 100 or more bombings a year during this period, or would that be on the high side?

Mr. MARTINEZ. I would say that in 1968, which was a very bad year, we had more than 100. Then we had more or less the same, perhaps less, up until 1971. Then we had what I would say- a cool period until 1973 or 1974. Since then, the number of bombs has been much lower. But the effectiveness has been much bigger, because they are using very powerful explosives.

Mr. MARTIN. What you are saying, in effect, is that, as we have been developing our detente with the Soviet Union, a lot of bombs-and more powerful bombs-have been going off in Puerto Rico?

Mr. MARTINEZ. I am not certain about the frequency of the bombings, but the situation has continued, only that they have changed their tactics. Instead of attacking commercial establishments, just for publicity's sake, now they are attacking specific installations and mostly during strikes. and that is a coincidence, just a coincidence, but a very strange coincidence. The Puerto Rican Socialist Party--

Mr. MARTIN. Does the Puerto Rican Socialist Party claim responsi6ility for these bombings?

Mr. MARTINEZ. No, I was going to say, it is a coincidence that the Puerto Rico Socialist Party changed its emphasis from general attacks to publicity attacks or propaganda attacks against Americans in Puerto Rico. They changed into direct participation in strikes, and t lie bombings followed the same pattern. The Puerto Rican Socialist Party and its predecessor, the Pro-Independence Movement, have never claimed direct responsibility for bombings, but they have lacked most of the bombings by even saying that they are useful for t lie Puerto Rican struggle.

Just to give you an example, I am going to quote from Juan Mari bras, a statement he made, and I am going to give you the date of the statement. He made this statement in flay 1971, and he went on to say: "We understand that armed struggle has been a very important i actor in the massive development of the proindependence forces."

As the acts of sabotage by the Armed Commandos for Liberation increased, there has been a similar increase in the Puerto Rican Independence Party and the Pro-Independence Movement and in the proindependence forces. I don't think that the Armed Commandos for Liberation believe that with their actions alone they are going to bring independence. If they believe so, it would be a mistake on their part.

In the last press release published in Claridad, we can get just the opposite picture. They say that to achieve Puerto Rico's liberation, in addition to the terrorist actions, many things are going to be needed, perhaps an electoral party getting thousands of votes or a known electoral movement, very militant, or both things, but that all this will not be enough for independence, and that there will be no liberty without the liberating army. The Armed Commandos for Liberation, according to Mari Bras, would take care of developing that army-. And Mari Bras says:
 

The Pro-Independence Movement has morally backed the Armed Commandos for Liberation because we consider them a very important ingredient in the development of the mass struggle.
 

I could offer many other quotations made by important Puerto Rican Socialist Party members that would shed more light on this.

For example, Angel Agosto is the secretary, or he was until recently a Secretary of Labor Affairs for the party. He stated once:
 

The Armed Commandos for Liberation are perhaps the most substantial and effective armed pro-independence organization in Puerto Rico. Their actions are framed within the conception of an armed struggle as the blasting cap and

supplement for legal, open struggle.
 

Mr. MARTIN. In using the expression "Armed Commandos for Liberation," Is this the name of an organization?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir, it is. It is the name of a terrorist organization that claims responsibility for most of the bombings in Puerto Rico in the last decade.

Mr. SHORT. As a point of clarification there, you mentioned explosives, and then you said incendiary. Do you feel-is it your personal opinion-that the incendiary bombs were used for publicity purpose and the high explosives were used to maim, destroy or kill?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Well, probably what they had was an increasing sophistication. I believe it was much easier to prepare a chemical bomb than to produce or to have an explosive bomb. In Puerto Rico, although this is not a field of my competence, it is public knowledge that there have been several thefts of explosives and since that happened, they changed into explosives.

Mr. SHORT. The Armed Commandos for Liberation you are referring to now, primarily?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir, although the last bombings in Puerto Rico have been on animals and no one has claimed responsibility for them.

Mr. MARTIN. Not even the Armed Commandos?

Mr. MARTINEZ. No.

Mr. MARTIN. Is there any evidence of direct ties between the Armed Commandos for Liberation and the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, other than the statement from PSP leaders which you have read approving the actions of the Armed Commandos? Have any Socialist Party members been arrested, for example, in connection with the bombings?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Well, I don't have any hard evidence in that direction, and I don't believe that there have been any arrests-arrests and convictions, I mean, of any Socialist Party member in connection

with these bombings. Several party members were arrested once, but they were acquitted. The thing is, and this is now my personal opinion, there is some sort of a relationship between both organizations. It is safe to say-it is very safe to say this. Like I just quoted, the party feels that they need a supplement to detonate the mass struggle, and this supplement is the armed struggle. The reason behind this is

that they don't have enough force to win elections, but the destructive power they can get by means of terrorism would strengthen their position.

There is some sort of a bilateral relationship, because, for example, Claridad, the Socialist Party's newspaper, has always been some sort of a press agent for the Armed Commandos for Liberation by publishing every communiqué or press release that they have issued.

Some people - I am not personally in a position to make this as a categorical statement - but some people go beyond that and believe that the members of the Armed Commandos for Liberation are merely secret members of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party structure, operating at a second level.

Does that answer your question, sir, about terrorism? .

Mr. MARTIN. For the time being. I may have some further questions to address to you as your evidence proceeds.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Thank you, sir.

Mr. MARTIN. Would you carry on with your prepared statement?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Now, leaving the field of terrorism, which is not exactly the field of my competence, the next thing would be how the party organized itself in every town. To be effective, the party needed a broad geographic base. A parts- group or cell had to be created in every town and city and in the rural communities of the island. But the Communists were not strong enough to exploit the local people everywhere and did not have the power for big national campaigns. To help them in the creation of the party structure, they used Lenin's favorite tool, the party newspaper. Lenin once said:

A newspaper is what we most of all need. The role of the newspaper is not limited solely to the dissemination of ideas, to political education and to the enlistment of political allies. A newspaper is not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator, it is also a collective organizer.

With the aid of the newspaper, and through it, a permanent organization will naturally take shape. The more technical task of regularly supplying the newspaper with copy and of promoting regular distribution will necessitate a network of local agents of the united party, who will maintain constant contact with one another, know the general state of affairs, get accustomed to performing their detailed function and test their strength in the organization of various revolutionary actions.

This was a direct quotation from Lenin in his book, "What Is To Be Done." In Puerto Rico, the island-wide Communist front was called, like I said, Movimiento Pro-Independencia, or Pro-Independence Movement. When it first published its newspaper, Claridad, in 1959, the movement only had 30 cells, most of them located in the big cities. At that time, Claridad was a mimeographed newsletter. By 1968, the party had at least one cell in practically every town and Claridad was a four-page weekly tabloid.

Three years later, Claridad had become a 24-page weekly newspaper, as a result of the increasing circulation and news sources provided by the growing party ranks.

In 1972, it began to be published twice weekly, and in November 1974, it was turned into a daily newspaper with international news, sports, and other very attractive features.

Mr. MARTIN. What is its circulation?

Mr. MARTINEZ. I don't know exactly, but it amounts to more than 10,000 daily. Probably twice that figure.

A bilingual edition is now published weekly for Puerto Ricans who live in the Continental United States. This shows how a newspaper can help a Communist party improve its internal organization and propaganda tools.

The next stage in the Communist offensive in Puerto Rico was in placing members in the key positions. I would not say that these developments took place in distinct stages. They were perhaps simultaneous. But in a way ---

Mr. 'MARTIN. You are talking of chronological stages?

Mr. MARTINEZ. They were not chronological stages, because some of these actions occurred at the same time, but in a way one depended on the other. Like, for example, they had to create a parts- throughout the island. The newspaper and the distribution of the newspaper was the tool they used for this.

Now, the next stage was placing members in key positions, which is something they tried to do from the very beginning of the party.

A Communist party is a professional revolutionary group. It organizes a hard core of militants with a strict discipline, and a cellular organization. The party does not want to bring the masses into its ranks.

However, it claims to be a party of the working class, and to validate this claim it needs a large degree of control over the workers that cannot be attained by agitation and propaganda alone. They achieve this control with a variety of techniques. One of them is the infiltration of party members into legitimate organizations to gain control of these groups for subversive purposes and to obtain information.

Another technique is creation by the party of front organizations. A front is a group totally controlled by the party members who hold leadership positions, but composed of a wide spectrum of non Communists who, for one reason or another, helped the party achieve its long-range goals through the front's public goals.

Before a Communist party can launch its final offensive, it needs this type of contact with the masses. In Puerto Rico, the ProIndependence Movement devoted considerable efforts to the infiltration of its members in the most important labor unions and in several cultural, collegiate, and political groups. As I said before, this is very easy for a party that is doing most of its recruitment at the universities. The part has four years to train a member while his is a student. When the member graduates from college his is ready to assume a position from which he can help the party.

The regulations of the Pro-Independence Movement make it mandatory for all members to use their positions in the community for the benefit of the part- and to follow orders from the party leadership regarding participation in any organization. The-

Mr. MARTIN. Is there any documentation to support this statement?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. I have with me a copy of the regulations of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, which was the party they formed from the. Pro-Independence Movement in 1971.

Mr. MARTIN. Would you be willing to offer these regulations for the record?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. It is only a copy of a page of the regulations, but the specific part I am talking about right now is contained in this page.

Mr. MARTIN. May this be accepted for the record, Mr. Chairman?

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.

[The information referred to follows:]
 

(3) Membership
 

Article, 4.-The members of the Socialist Party- of Puerto Rico are classified as affiliates and militants.

Article 5.-Militants are considered those who abide by the following rules:

(a) Support the general declaration and the political thesis and other documents of the program of the PSP and abide by the dispositions of these regulations.

(b) Perform, according to their condition and according to their capacity in harmony with the steering organs of the party, the activities and tasks which the struggle for independence and socialism demand.

(c) To subordinate to party discipline and to the interest, of the working class, their affiliation and activities in any organization, be it labor union, student, cultural, civic, philosophical, or any other type. Their participation in any profession or business is also subordinate in the same manner.

CH-To be older than 16 years of age, except in certain situations which are determined by the Central Committee, and to have served a period no less than six months as an affiliate;

(d) To participate actively and contribute actually in the corresponding member organizations;

(e) To work actively in the syndicate labor or student organization corresponding to their office, profession or student level:

(f) To participate in all the meetings of the party when ordered:

(g) To spread the socialist doctrine, the political thesis and to fulfill the tasks ordered by the organizations of the Party;

(h) To be discreet in an absolute way regarding internal matters of the Party, agreements and resolutions approved, when this is demanded by the organization;

(i) To be loyal to all members of the party and to practice, solidarity and fraternal unity with the members of patriotic and or revolutionary organizations of Puerto Rico and with the members of the foreign parties and revolutionary movements;

(j) To maintain a personal conduct in accordance with the best interests of the Puerto Rican revolution and the Puerto Rican Socialist Party.
 

Mr. MARTINEZ. Since it is in Spanish, I could translate it. It is just very short. I am referring to article 3. "Members" is the title of the article-excuse. me. It is section 3, and now article 5.

Article 5. part (c), says:
 

That militants of the Party will have to subordinate to party discipline and (o the interests of the working class, their affiliation and activities in any organization be it labor union, student cultural, civic, philosophical, or any other type. Their participation in any profession or business is also subordinate in the wine manner.
 

This is the article I was referring to when I said the regulations of the Pro-Independence Movement and the Socialist Party made, mandatory for all members to use their positions in the community for the benefit of the party and to follow its leaders and to submit to the discipline of the party their participation in any organization.

Mr. MARTIN. Thank you for the documentation. Would you proceed.

Mr. MARTINEZ. You are welcome, sir.

The Pro-Independence Movement also created what is called the second level or secret party structure, whose members kept secret their part affiliation and obtained sensitive positions in government, in industry and other critical segments of society.

Now we are getting to the point where the party had the organization completed, the consolidation was done, and the Pro-Independence movement, which had not proclaimed itself Communist, was slated to become publicly what it always was-a Communist organization.

I call this stage unmasking the organization and proclaiming its Communist goals.

Once the Communist front organization has consolidated its structure and has placed its members in key position, it starts a process in which the Communist goals are proclaimed an J the rallying issue of the first period becomes a secondary objective. This happened in Puerto Rico in 1971 when the Pro-Independence-Movement changed its name to the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, Partido Socialista Puertorriqueño and announced it was in the process of transformation into a Marxist-Leninist party of the working class. A series of party documents openly admitted that the Puerto Rican Socialist Part was a Communist Organization.

Mr. MARTIN. Do you have some of these documents that you are in a position to offer for the record?

Mr. NIARTINEZ. Sir, I can offer some photocopies of the documents. Some I don't have here, but I have the most significant statements as part of my prepared statement.

Mr. MARTIN. That would be adequate for the record. Do you have them with you?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir.

Mr. MARTIN. And can they be offered now?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Well -

Mr. MARTIN. Or would you prefer to submit them for the record subsequently?

Mr. MARTINEZ. I have them available, but I would prefer to submit them later and continue with my testimony.

Mr. MARTIN. Mr. Chairman, may these documents be accepted for the record when the witness provides them unless the Chair later rules otherwise?

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Thank you.

Now, I would like to present a more detailed, ideological study of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party which, as we have seen, is the most important Communist organization in Puerto Rico.

January 11, 1975, marked the 16th anniversary of the Pro-Independence Movement, MPI. While in 1959 it was only a handful of dissident proindependence fighters, it was transformed years ago into a socialist revolutionary party, Puerto Rican Socialist Party, and now proclaims openly its Marxist-Leninist ideology, its backing of armed struggle and its close ties with Fidel Castro and his regime. If I may summarize the process of the last 16 years, these are the essential points in my opinion.

Puerto Rico has witnessed the birth and consolidation of a classic Communist Party. Until recently it was necessary to read between the lines to find V evidence to substantiate this statement. For that reason many people refused to believe the allegation that the MPI was a Communist front.

During the last few months, however, the Puerto Rican Socialist Party has chosen to speak clearly and today we have unquestionable evidence on this subject.

Consider, for example, the following quotation from the Puerto Rican Socialist Part' 1974 political thesis. This section I am going to quote right now is called "Programmatic Bases of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party." It states:
 

The General Declaration adopted at the Founding Assembly of our Party proclaims four basic rights that shape up the program of the Party of the Working Class.

First, the inalienable right of our homeland, Puerto Rico, to independence.

Second, the rights, also inalienable, of the Puerto Rican people to the complete rescue of all property that has been alienated by persons, corporations, governments or any foreign forces.

The right of the Puerto Rican workers to the progressive socialization of all means of production, regardless of who owns them now, foreigners or nationals, and to the construction of a socialist society where there will be finally no more oppressed nor oppressors.

Four, the right of the workers and of the rest of the patriots to use all available forms of struggle, including revolutionary violence, to oppose the repressive violence of the system and to validate the other fundamental rights already mentioned.

The first of these four basic rights, the right to national independence, is considered by us as inalienable, that is, that it cannot be renounced. To our Party, for that reason the political status of Puerto Rico is not negotiable by means of elections, plebiscites or referendums, nor through agreement, of any kind that may devaluate, restrict or qualify the full exercise of sovereignty and independence by our people.

The second of the aforementioned rights, which we also consider inalienable, represents our objective of National Liberation. We affirm that all property operated by foreigners in Puerto Rico has been obtained by the imposition of the colonial regime. We will not recognize, consequently, any property rights acquired under those circumstances, and by means of our struggle we will rescue for our people all of our national resources-the land, the subsoil the sea, the air, the vegetation, the animals and everything that the Puerto Rican men and women have created with their toil in ill aspects of our life.
 

Now, I am going to quote

Mr. MARTIN. This is the end of this quotation?

Mr. MARTINEZ. No, sir. I am going to quote now the most significant part of it. I just wanted to emphasize it.
 

The third of these rights proclaims our socialist ideology. It outlines our final goal, which is the construction of a socialist society, where there will finally be no oppressed nor oppressors. In other words, the socialist society which we envision will culminate in the Communist society, which is the only one that can guarantee that there will be no more oppressed nor oppressors.
 

Just one paragraph later, in the same document, it says:
 

The Communist society, which is our final goal, is that which is based on the principle "front each according to his capacity, to each according to his needs."
 

The next quotation I have in this same document states as follows
 

To reach Communism, we first have to build and consolidate socialism. The Socialist society is that which, by destroying in its roots the power of the capitalists and imposing the class dictatorship of the proletariat, prepares the material base for the full development of productive forces and the final leap to Communism.

The revolutionary change from one system to the other cannot be achieved by decree nor abruptly-, but by means of a process. The revolutionary power produces the qualitative change that provides the impulse for that process. The application of a correct. transition program that will consolidate the power of the working class and set the solid basis for the construction of socialism is required.
 

This is contained in the political thesis of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, pages 110 and 111.

Mr. MARTIN. Does this document exist in both English and Spanish, or is this a translation from the Spanish that you have just given us?

Mr. MARTINEZ. I have given my own translation, as is the case with all translations I am offering here.

Mr. MARTIN. Would you be able to provide for the record a photostatic copy of the original?

Mr. 'MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. Not at this time, but later I will be able to supply it.

Mr. MARTIN. In reviewing your remarks, you will be able to provide this for the record.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir.

Mr. MARTIN. May this be provided for the record, Mr. Chairman?

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Senator THURMOND. Off the record.

[Discussion held off the record.]

Senator THURMOND. Back on the record.

Mr. MARTINEZ. If this document leaves very little room for doubts of the Communist nature of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, the following statement by Juan Mari Bras should be more than enough to dispel any remaining doubts.
 

If the other Pro-Independence Party wants unity with us, we will think about it, but only on some bases of principle on which we are not willing to compromise.
 

These are the following: Whoever seeks unity with us must not be anti-Communist or oppose armed struggle. That does not mean that our allies have to be Communists or advocates of armed struggle, but they must not be against any of these two things. And, logically, whoever seeks unity with us will be fully aware of the fact that he is dealing with Communists and revolutionaries.
 

This was published in Claridad on January 2, 1975.

Another statement by Juan Mari Bras says:
 

We are Communists because the objective of all the socialists around the world is the eventual transformation of the Socialist society into a Communist society. Communism is a phase in the social development in which scarcity and the class struggle,, will have been transcended. That objective has not been achieved anywhere in the world, not even in countries that have been building socialism for many years.
 

But, is the specific context of our national reality, we decided to call our party Socialist Party because it defines with sufficient precision our strategic objective for the foreseeable future.

This was contained in Claridad on May 5, 1975.

As I was mentioning, the available evidence makes undeniable the fact that the Puerto Rican Socialist Party is a classic Communist party.

The text question is, what is the real relevance of this fact? As a Communist party, several fundamental traits distinguish the Puerto Rican Socialist Parts- from any other pro-independence party.

First, we are not talking about a group of intellectuals or dreamers whose only aspiration is some form of utopic independence. By adopting the Marxist-Leninist ideology, the members of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party have adopted some very concrete aspirations for the transformation of society.

Second, we are not talking either about a group of anarchist terrorists whose activity responds to impulse. The Puerto Rican Socialist Party is an organization with a very disciplined structure and whose tactics-inspired by Leninism-have been designed like a delicate and complex piece of machinery aimed at the specific and methodic achievement of their goals. This multiplies the individual efforts of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party member, making possible a combined power much bigger than would be expected of an organization of its size.

Just to illustrate this point, let me refer to one of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party's areas of activity-the labor movement.

In February 1971 the Pro-Independence Movement decided to intensify drastically its actions in the labor movement. According to a plan that was drafted at that time, the MPI - the Pro-Independence Movement-has promoted the following actions:

First, the popularization and radicalization of strikes, to the point that within the past 2 years the Governor of Puerto Rico has been forced to mobilize the Army National Guard twice to protect government installations affected by strikes against very destructive acts of sabotage.

Second, the placing of Puerto Rican Socialist members in key positions within the labor movement. In about 1970, Juan Mari Bras said:
 

We are not going to work in the creation of labor unions. That requires devotion of great efforts to sterile bureaucratic work. Our role as a vanguard dictates that we ego directly to the objective of politicizing and permeating the existing labor unions, all of them, with the presence and influence of our cadre, militants and affiliates. They must be clear as to their essential task, which is not to dilute themselves into the bureaucracy of the guilds, but to increase the combativity of the union's members and even to force the union to become an accelerating agent instead of a brake of the class struggle.
 

Just a few days ago, the Puerto Rican Socialist Party published a document on the role of the socialist labor leader. This document states on page 39:
 

The Socialist labor leader becomes a leader through a process of winning the confidence and the backing of all the workers. For that reason, he is a representative of workers who have a clear class consciousness and of workers with very little class consciousness. But, above all, he is a Communist leader. These two characteristics force him to act with great flexibility. He is a leader with a socialist preparation and with a trade-union preparation. He is, at the same time, a political leader and a labor leader. He is a leader that works on two complementary fields of the labor struggle. His socialist preparation strengthens his labor union activities, and his trade-unionist preparation strengthens his partisan work.

We stated that the Socialist labor leader is a Communist. Our Party regulations require that all militants and affiliates work actively in the labor union, guild or student association that corresponds to his job, profession or student level. As a result, for every socialist, it is a duty and a political responsibility to become a leader according to his capability.

The principal task of a Socialist labor leader is to organize the workers' party in his field of work, without detracting from the responsibilities of the position to which he was elected and designated by the mass of the worker.

Only the organization of the Party within the labor union will insure the decisive influence of the revolutionary movement within the labor movement.
 

That is the end of the quotation.

The regulations of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party are more revealing than the previous quotation.

Mr. MARTIN. Where did that quotation appear?

Mr. MARTINEZ. It is published in Nueva Lucha. Nueva Lucha is a Party magazine. It means "New Struggle" in English.

Mr. MARTIN. Do you have the date of that quotation?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. I actually have the original.

Mr. MARTIN. Mr. Chairman, may the original of the article in question, or a photostat of the original be accepted for the record at this point?

Senator THURNTOND. Without objection, so ordered.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. Article 5, paragraph c of the Regulations of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party states:
 

It is a duty of all militants to . . . subordinate to the discipline of the Party and the interests of the working class their affiliation and activities in any labor union, guild, student group, cultural organization, etceteras.
 

The Puerto Rican Socialist Party has been extremely successful in placing its members in the top leadership positions of many labor unions. Pedro Grant, coordinator of the United Labor Movement, is a member of the Central Committee of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. Luis Nazario Baez, former vice-president of the very powerful Union of Electrical Workers, is also a member of the Central Committee. The National Worker's Union, which includes workers of about 20 factories is beyond any doubt a mere appendix to the Puerto Rican Socialist Party.

The third of the Party's activities is the creation of worker's cells in the different manufacturing companies, business enterprises and public utilities.

The fourth activity is the unification of the labor movement in a central movement (Central Unica de Trabajadores) capable of bringing to its knees the Puerto Rican economy with general strikes and other

means of pressure. The United Labor Movement, directed by members of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party's Central Committee, like Pedro Grant and Osvaldo Romero, is trying to achieve this goal.

Any well-informed and alert individual in Puerto Rico is aware of the fact that the Puerto Rican Socialist Party has made significant progress in this area and is greatly responsible for the bad labor relations that have plagued Puerto Rico during the past few years. The third of the traits that distinguish the Puerto Rican Socialist Party from our other independence parties is that it is not by any means an isolated group. Besides having a growing branch in the United States, about which I talked already, the Puerto Rican Socialist Party has very close relations with the Communist Parties of the world. The Party's relations with Cuba are so close that it has a permanent delegation and offices in Havana.

This is perhaps the most significant aspect of the Puerto Rican

Socialist Party. In fact, there is enough evidence on hand to make me

believe that this organization is operating as a branch of the counter

intelligence and espionage apparatus.

Can we go off the record?

Senator THURMOND. Yes.

[Off the record.]

Senator THURMOND. Back on the record.

Mr. MARTINEZ. The Puerto Rican Socialist Party has a very important continental branch, or mainland branch, which is the Party structure within the United States. In what we may call the "mainland front," the Puerto Rican Socialist Party is involved in the organization of Puerto Ricans for revolutionary action within the United States. By organizing all sorts of activities in the mainland, the Puerto Rican Socialist Party wants to achieve several goals. One .of them is the organization of the great Puerto Rican community in the mainland in support of Puerto Rico's independence. They feel that effective actions at the heart of the American society will force the United States to grant independence to Puerto Rico.

Another goal is the consolidation of the American left. The Puerto Rican Socialist Party organized a meeting of American radicals in support of Puerto Rico's independence. That took place in October 1974. Among the guests were Angela Davis, Jane Fonda, Cuban United Nations Ambassador Ricardo Alarcon, Pedro Albizu Meneses, Phillip Reer of the American Indian Movement, and Irwin Silber.

Hundreds of American radicals attended the rally, at the Madison Square Garden. The day before the rally, bomb blasts hit several New York City banks.

The Puerto Rican Socialist Party has been directly or indirectly involved in many violent actions, such as the 1974 Newark riots.

Mr. MARTIN. In the case of these bank bombings in New York, did the Puerto Rican Socialist. Party of any Puerto Rican radical movement claim credit for them?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. I believe it was the first time that the Armed Forces for Puerto Rican Liberation used that name. FALN, Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional.

Mr. MARTIN. And what was the reaction of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party and the Puerto Rican Socialist Party sympathizers in the United States to these bombings? Did they criticize them as irresponsible actions which might compromise the revolution?

Mr. MARTINEZ . No, I don't think so, not at that time. I think they just gave publicity to the fact that there had been some bombings by the FALN. I don't think the party assumed any position against the bombings.

Mr. MARTIN. Would you continue?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Thank you.

Like I said, the Puerto Rican Socialist Party has been involved in many violent actions, such as in the 1974 Newark riots. It has threatened, and this is very important, to disrupt the Bicentennial celebrations if, by 1976, Puerto Rico is not independent. Juan Mari Bras has said:
 

The slogan of the Bicentennial without Colonies means that we are going to turn upside down the Bicentennial celebrations if, by that time, the United States has not ended its colonial regime in Puerto Rico. Thousands of Puerto Ricans, blacks, Mexican-Americans, Indians and other racial minorities will invade the ~ city of Philadelphia on July 4, 1976.
 

The Central Committee of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party's United States branch adopted in 1973 a very important document called Desde las Entranas, or From the Entrails, in which it outlines the strategy for the mainland front. This document has received great publicity in many forms. It states:
 

The PSP was organized to direct the struggle for our people's national liberation and to take power. In the United State,, its most important function is to unleash fully that National Liberation Struggle at the heart of those American
 

cities where a significant portion of our population live,, and to unite them to the general struggle for the revolutionary transformation of the United States-
 

Mr. MARTIN. What is the source for that statement?

Mr. M ARTINEZ. This statement is contained in Desde las Entranas. It means From the Entrails, and it is the official political thesis of the U.S. branch of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party.

I wanted to add something about this particular quotation. It uses the term "National Liberation" and this term might be understood by different persons to mean different things. I firmly believe that it is used in the standard Communist context, with its standard Communist meaning, and the "war of national liberation" is a term that the Communists have used specifically to refer to armed struggle against an imperialistic country. The term was first used probably in Algeria during the war against France. So my personal estimate is that they are talking about a. war for national liberation of Puerto Rico within the continental United States, which, of course, must include acts of sabotage. That is my personal estimate.

Mr. MARTIN. So the war of national liberation they are talking about is identical with the concept of wars of national liberation as this concept has been discussed and elaborated upon at repeated conferences of the world Communist movement?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. I believe that is exactly what they mean by war of national liberation.

Senator THURMOND. Off the record.

[Discussion off the record.]

Senator THURMOND. Carry on now. Back on the record.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Another quotation, this time from a supplement in Claridad published in November 1974, states as follows.

We are at the very center of the continental revolution. Every revolutionary process in the Third World and particularly in Latin America, deepens the contradictions in the heart of the American society. At the same time, the deeper the struggles in the heart of this society, the bigger will be the possibilities of victory for the Third World.
 

In the same article, as a caption to a photo of a bomb blast in New York City, it stated
 

Puerto Rice must be the spearhead to bring the anti imperialistic war to the very heart of the American society.
 

May we go off the record?

Senator THURMOND. Off the record.

[Discussion off the record.]

Senator THURMOND. Back on the record.

Mr. MAFTIN. What is the source of this quotation, the one you just read?

Mr. MARTINEZ. I just mentioned before the source of this quotation and[ of the caption that says that Puerto Rico must be the spearhead to bring the anti-imperialistic struggle to the very- heart of America

society, which is a supplement called Desde las Entranas, just like

the political thesis of the Party in the States. It was published in Claridad in late November 1!-974.

In addition to this branch within the United States which constitutes a means of attacking the United States from within, which no other party has ever had before, the Puerto Rican Socialist Part has very close relations with all the Communist parties of the world. The party's relations with Cuba are so close that it has a permanent delegation and offices in Havana. This is perhaps the most significant aspect of the Socialist party.
 

Mr. MARTIN. Does it maintain this permanent office and delegation openly? Is it a matter of public knowledge?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. There is enough evidence on hand to make me believe that this organization is operating as a branch of the Cuban Intelligence espionage apparatus.

Mr. MARTIN. Apart from the evidence of the very close ties between the leadership of the PSP and the Cuban Communist government, is there any evidence of a relationship between the leaders of the PSP and the principal figures in the Cuban DGI or the Soviet KGB?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Well, I intend to present in the next few minutes a detailed chronology of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party's relations with Communist parties and L countries. As I go through these pages, I intend to submit for the record several documents. In one of these documents ;here is a clear 1 picture that depicts the leaders of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party meeting with the leaders or directors of tithe DGI. So, if you `would please let me go through the next ; pages--
 

Mr. MARTIN. Right. Present your testimony in the order in which you have organized it.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Thank you, sir.

At this point, like I said, I want to present a chronology of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party's foreign relations and, simultaneously, I will submit for the record several exhibits that illustrate these relations.

In January 1966, in Havana, Cuba, there was a meeting called the First Tricontinental Conference. At that time, representatives ~~ all the Communist movements of Asia, Africa, and Latin America met in Havana with the purpose of creating an organization that would coordinate the world struggle against the United States and parallel struggle to spread Communism.

Mr. MARTIN. Did the 'I'ricontinental Congress not also contain representatives of other organizations than Communist organizations -- third world organizations, militant, radical organizations, that weren't Communist?

Mr. MARTINEZ. My understanding, sir, is that most of the organizations present were hard-core Communist organizations. The rest I should classify as Communist front organizations. At that time, t Cuba was a well-known Communist country and most of the meetings taking place in Cuba were Communist meetings, and besides the evidence that has been collected as far as. I know regarding that particular conference showed that it was a Communist conference. That is my personal opinion.

Mr. MARTIN. There is no question, I think, that it was Communist dominated. May we go off the record?

Senator THURMOND. Yes.

[Discussion off the record.]

Senator THURMOND. Back on the record.

Mr. MARTIN. However, you may be familiar with a study of the Tricontinental Congress, which was prepared by our subcommittee shortly after it took place. The several analysts who worked on the preparation of this study of the Tricontinental Congress in their analysis found that some of the organizations-the organizations, fir example, of the Afro-Asian Solidarity Movement-were not necessarily communist but basically radical third world organizations, and that part of the purpose of the Tricontinental Congress was to bring in use organizations into an international movement which was firmly 'n the control of the Communists so that they could more effectively manipulate them and control them for Communist purposes.

Would you be prepared to go along with this, or do you feel that there is evidence-have you come across evidence since then that suggests to you that all of the participating organizations may at that time have been solidly under Communist control?

Senator THURMOND. Off the record for a moment.

[Discussion off the record.]

Senator THURMOND. Back on the record.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Well, sir, I am well aware of that. Actually, one (,f my sources has been the subcommittee's own report. When I talk 0hout a Communist conference, I am using the word "communism" n' "Communist" referring to the Communist movement. I understand that the Communist movement is not only composed of hardcore communists, but of a wide variety of sympathizers, fellow-travelers, pseudointellectuals and all kinds of people that help the Communists,

with some degree of knowledge of the fact that it is a Communist organization. I believe that everyone who went to Havana was well aware of the fact that the leaders of the conference were Communists and they were serving the purposes of the Communists, regardless of their personal motivations.

Mr. MARTIN. You may have heard that Lenin, in speaking about fellow-travelers, stressed the importance of being able to utilize and exploit-these are Lenin's words-"these useful idiots." You would classify the "useful idiots" as an actual part of the Communist movement, broadly speaking?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Well, they are more or less a transmission belt with the masses and they are not actually a part of the motor of the whole thing, but as long as they move with the whole machinery, they are part of it.

Mr. MARTIN. I think we have an understanding. Will you proceed.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Thank you. At that meeting in Havana, the organizations that were founded were the Organization of Latin American Solidarity and Organization of Solidarity With the Peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The Pro-Independence Movement sent delegates to the Tricontinental Conference, headed by Normal Pietri Castellon and integrated also by Dr. Ana Livia Cordero de Mayfield and Jose Luis Gonzalez, among others, and Narciso Rabell Martinez. Mr. Martinez on the 10th of February of that year, 1966, had been recognized by the Cuban Government as ambassador of

Puerto Rico, and he became a member on the 31st of May of that year of the Permanent Secretariat of the Organization for Solidarity of the Peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In representation

of that organization, lie participated in visits to African countries during 1967. Now, I am quoting from the Senate Report regarding the Conference.

In August of 1967, in Havana Cuba, the first conference of the Latin American Solidarity Organization took place. To that activity, a delegation of the ProIndependence Movement, headed by Juan 'Mari Bras, Secretary-General of the Movement, was sent.

Mari Bras pronounced a speech at the full session of the Conference, and I am going to quote several portions of this message that I consider particularly significant.

Now, I am quoting from Mari Bras' statement:

We represent the people of Puerto Rico. Our people reaffirms by these means its total solidarity with the Cuban revolution. Our country- is an integral part of the Latin America, exploited and starved, which is today regrouping its forces to fight the final battle for its liberation. As part of Latin America, we proclaim our solidarity with all the struggles which, in different stages of development, are taking place in our countries. We believe that, as the struggles continue growing and intensifying in each country, we will have a bigger obligation to refine and complete that solidarity. For tat reason we propose that in this conference precise plans should be made for solidarity with the heroic fighters who in Bolivia, Guatemala Venezuela, Colombia and other countries have initiated guerrilla warfare as the first line of confrontation with imperialism. We, the independence fighters in Puerto Rico, are willing to offer that concrete solidarity in any way it is requested to us.

This statement becomes very significant in the light of the recent arrest of three party members in the Dominican Republic who are now accused of transporting several guerrilla fighters into that country. My personal opinion is that back in 1966 in Cuba, Mari Bras said that he was willing to cooperate in anv way necessary with the guerrilla movements in the hemisphere. And ~I believe that can be safely concluded from his statements.

Mari Bras also said the following in the statement I have been quoting.

We believe, however, that the most effective solidarity we can offer to all of the Latin American revolutionaries consists of developing in our own homeland, facing up to the greatest adversities surmounting all obstacles, and fighting to the final conclusion our own struggle for independence. Based on his line of action of the new struggle for independence, we have come to this conference of the Latin American Solidarity Organization to contribute as much as we can to articulate the needed common strategy for the liberation of America.

So, in 1966, the Pro-Independence Movement had already pledged its support to Communist and Communist-backed actions throughout the hemisphere. Now, I am going to present some other evidence I have collected about their participation in international conferences and meetings and as I go through these pages, I will furnish the committee photo copies of the articles in Claridad and some other sources where this information is contained.

Mr. MARTIN. As he presents this testimony, Mr. Chairman, may copies of the articles in question be accepted for inclusion in the record?

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered, unless the Chair rules otherwise in some specific case.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Thank you.

I will start this chronology in November 1970. On the 6th of November, the secretary general of the pro-independence movement, Juan Mari Bras, was in charge of the closing statement of the informal meeting of socialist parties and national liberation movements that took place in Santiago, Chile. The meeting was under the auspices of the Chilean Socialist Party due to the inauguration of the new Socialist Government in Chile. At the informal reception for the delegates to this meeting, Juan Mari Bras was in charge of the closing statement.

That same day, the Minister of Foreign Relations of the new Chilean Government, Clodomiro Almeida, met with the Puerto Rican delegation, which was made up of the president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party, Ruben Berrios, and the secretary general of the proindependence movement, Juan 1Iari Bras; Dr. Jose Milton Soltero, of the committee for resistance against military service; and the secretaries of foreign relations of the pro-independence movement and the Puerto Rican Independence Party respectively, Carlos Padilla and Leopoldo Rivera.

I am going to furnish at this time the first exhibit which contains the photographs of the meeting and the article from which I got my information.

Mr. MARTIN. This exhibit will be incorporated in accordance with the chairman's previous order.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. Thank you. sir.

Next, in January 1971, on January 22, a delegation of the Communist Party of the United States, made up of its president, Gus Hall and Pat Toohey, met with representatives of the Puerto Rican Independence Movement and the Puerto Rican Communist Party in San Juan. In addition to Mari Bras, the Pro-Independence Movement was represented at the meeting by Julio Vives Vasquez, Pedro Baiges Chapel, Jenaro Rentas, Manuel de J. Gonzales and Angel M. Agosto, members of the political commission.

At the end of the conference, several agreements were signed to coordinate activities of the three participating parties regarding the elimination of U.S. Navy activities in Culebra, the liberation of Angela Davis, the backing of Puerto Ricans who refused to serve in the American Army, and the development of closer relations between the participating parties. Here, I am referring to an article published in the Communist World ':Magazine of February 13, 1971. This article was reprinted by El Mundo, a Spanish language newspaper in Puerto Rico on May 12, 1971, and it is a summary of the agreements made at that meeting of the CPUSA, the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, which called for an independence movement at that time, and the Puerto Rican Communist Party.

Mr. MARTIN. Do I understand you correctly, that it is a summary of an agreement reached between the CPUSA, the Puerto Rican Independence Movement., and the Puerto Rican Communist Party the three of them?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. The three met in San Juan and they

prepared a communiqué of solidarity and I am offering it for the

record. It is in English.

Mr. MARTIN. Right. With the chairman's approval, this exhibit will be incorporated in accordance with the chairman's previous order.

[The material referred to follows:]
 

[From the El Mundo. Dia 12, 19711
 

MAGAZINE SAYS GUS HALL MADE HISTORY IN PUERTO RICO
 

SAN JUAN PARLEY-PARTIES ACT TO I;ND IMPERIALISM
 

Puerto Rico was tile scene of remarkable developments when Gus Hall, general secretary of the Communist Party, visited it last month. I-fix week there, heading a delegation from his party, made history. Friendly and fruitful discussions were held by the representatives of the Communist Party of Puerto Rico, the MPI (El Movimiento Pro-lndependenein de Puerto Rico) and the CPTTSA.

U.S. authorities and reactionary groups (in the island mobilized in advance to harass Hall and Pat Toohey, the other member of the U.S. delegation, and to try to intimidate Puerto Ricans from seeing them, including the use of bombs. The presence of the delegation rya, headline news in fill newspapers, radio, and TV every day of their stay.

The island's authorities, carrying nut U.S. imperialist instructions, even went to a Federal court and :applied for nn injunction to bar Hall ;And other, from going to the island of Culebra where the residents :ire fighting valiantly against U.S. naval destruction. Culebra is being used as n naval honibing range.

Hall was met ;it San Juan's Isla Verde international airport by Felix Ojeda, general secretary of the Puerto Rican Communist Pnrtv. ,And half <t dozen comrades. More than 20 reporters from ;ill media crowded around the U.S, Communist leader, who held an impromptu Dress conference. El. MT-N1)0 right-wing organ in San Juan, admitted that Hall was "very friendly and gave articulate answers" to the reporters' questions. El Mundo reported that Hall, in answering questions about Culebra, said the recent promise wrested from the U.S. Navy to restrict it. activities was omlv a "partial gain." He declared: "We will not be satisfied until the Navy has cleared out of Culebra and out of all Puerto Rico."

On the adjacent page, we print an interview with Hall conducted by Joseph North, editor of Morld Ifagazine.
 

COMMUNIQUE' OF SOLIDARITY
 

The conference in Son Juan January 22, between the top leaders of the AIPT (El Movimiento Pro- Independencia de Puerto Rico), headed by its general secretary, Juan Mari Bras, the top leaders of the Communist Party of Puerto Rico headed by its general secretary Felix Ojeda, and the IT.S. Communist delegation, headed by Gus Hall, issued the following statement:
 

In the spirit of internationalist anti-imperialism and in an atmosphere of friendship and cordiality- a meeting took place in the office of the National Mission of the MPI.

Present were Juan Mari Bras, general secretary of the MPI; Gus Hall, general secretary of the Communist Party, U.S.A.; Felix Ojeda, general secretary, Communist Party of Puerto Rico. Others present were Julio Vives Vazquez, Pedro Baiges Chapel, Jenaro Rentas, Manuel de J. Gonzalez and Angel Agosto, members of the Political Committee of the MPI; Gertrudis Mellendez de Perez, and other members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Puerto Rico, and Pat Toohey, member of the national committee of the Communist Party, U.S.A.

The talks focused on the struggle for Puerto Rican independence, and for the elimination of U.S. military, economic, and political domination and influence over Puerto Rican life. All parties agreed that Puerto Rico is subjected to direct, classic form of colonialism by the U.S. imperialists.

The talks included a discussion about the developments in the struggle for national liberation throughout the world. The meeting tools note of the new and ominous steps of escalation in Southeast Asia by the Nixon Administration. Because of this, all parties present agreed to intensify and heighten the struggle to end the U.S. aggression in Indochina.

The discussion dealt with the movements and struggles for independence in Puerto Rico, and in the U.S., with the various struggles against imperialism and war; with the struggle for black liberation, and against the special oppression of 1,600,000 Puerto Rican people now in the U.S. The talks took note of the serious nature of the present economic crisis and its severe and damaging effect upon the working people of our two nations.

The meeting developed a number of concrete forms and actions, especially around the following issues:

A. To eliminate the U.S. naval presence and its criminal bombardment of the Island of Culebra. We see this struggle as the initial stage in eliminating the presence of U.S. imperialism's forces in Puerto Rico.

B. To heighten the struggle for the freedom of Angela Davis. We see this as a struggle to save the life of a beautiful human being and symbolic of the struggle against racism and all other forms of imperialist ideology. We see it symbolic of the need for unity of all victims of imperialist oppression.

C. To expose the hypocrisy of U.S. imperialism in now proclaiming that Puerto Rico is not included iii the Tlaltelolco Treaty for Nuclear Free Zone in Latin America. This only shows that the criminal intentions of U.S. imperialism are to continue the economic, military, and political oppression of Puerto Rico; to continue it as it regional military staging area and to have, in Puerto Rico, nuclear weapons bases from which it can threaten the independence of all nations in our hemisphere.

D. The talks canvassed the meaning of the unprecedented mass militancy of the youth of our two nations. The meeting agreed on special steps that are needed to render assistance and mass support to the hundreds who have been arrested or indicted because of their courageous stand against the U.S. military draft.

17. The meeting took special note of the centrality of the need to promote unity and a fighting, militant, fraternal relationship between the working class and trade union organizations of our two nations. We will seek ways to put an end to the ability of U.S. corporations to use the working class of one nation against their class brothers of the other.

The conference concluded, strengthening comradeship between us in spite of the different views that each party may hive about a number of things, as symbolic of the future tics and friendship that will grow and deepen between our two peoples: based on ,tit end to U.S. imperialist oppression of Puerto Rico, as neighbors in independence, equality and mutual respect.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Thank you, sir.

In November 1971, three members of the Federation of High School Students for Independence and the Federation of University Students for Independence, both organizations affiliated with the

Puerto Rican Pro Independence Movement, participated in two activities in Cuba, representing their respective organizations. Julio Antonio Muriente and Jose Boscue represented the Federation o

'University Students for Independence in the second consultative meeting of the Continental Latin American Organization of Students. That is, the Organization Continental Latino Americana de Estudiantes. It is a Communist students' organization based in Havana.

The Federation of University Students for Independence is a member of the secretariat of that organization since 1966. Luis represented the Federation of High School Students for Independence as an observer in the Congress of the Federation of Junior High School Students in Cuba that took place from the 26th to the 29th of November. Muriente and Coss are now members of the Central Committee of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party.

Mr. MARTIN. May we go off the record?

Senator THURMOND. Yes.

[Discussion off the record.]

Senator THURMOND. Back on the record.

Mr. MARTINEZ. In December 1971, to be exact on the 29th, Juan Mari Bras and Julio Vives Vazquez, arrived in Cuba on the first leg of a trip through three continents in which they participated under orders from the central committee of the recently created Puerto Rican Socialist Party. According to Manuel de J. Gonzalez, the cardinal purpose of this trip was to tighten relations with the parties and the friendly governments of the struggle for Puerto Rican people's independence and to get international support for their cause and for the international campaign to make the United Nations discuss Puerto Rico's colonial case. And I am furnishing at this time the next exhibit in which there are several pictures of the leaders of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party that were in Cuba at that time.

Mr. MARTIN. This exhibit will be incorporated in accordance with the chairman's order.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTIEZ. Going to 1972, in January on the 5th of Januaryaccompanied by Perez, the permanent delegate of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party to the government and the Communist Party of

Cuba, Juan Mari Bras and Vives Vazquez met with Cuban Prerner Fidel Castro. After the interview, the Communist leader accompanied the delegation to Jose Marti International Airport where the group

departed on a flight to Chile.

The delegation stayed in Chile from the 9th to the 12th of January 1972. Because the country was in the midst of elections in two provinces, the Puerto Rican delegation could not meet with the highest leaders of the nation. It met, however, with members of the Political Commission of the Chilean Socialist Party, with the secretary general and other members of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria, or Movement of the Revolutionary Left-initials 'IIR-with a member of the Political Commission of the Communist Party of Chile, and with Julio Benitez, Minister of Housing in Allende's regime. The group also had an important meeting with Clodoiniro Almeida, Minister of Foreign Relations and a group of members Of his ministry to discuss in great detail the Puerto Rican case before the United Nations.

At this time, I am submitting another document. In this exhibit I am submitting right now, we have a picture of Juan 'Mari Bras and Alberto Perez meeting with Fidel Castro and then a complete description of the three-continent trip that the Puerto Rican Socialist Party members initiated in 1972. I will make reference to the same exhibit later, because it has pictures of the delegation in several other Communist countries.

Mr. MARTIN. May these be accepted for the record, in accordance with the chairman's orders?

Senator THURMOND. Yes.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Thank you, sir.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. On the 13th of January, the Puerto Rican Socialist Party delegation, departed for the People's Republic of China. It stayed in that country for 13 days, meeting with Y ao Wen-yuan, member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party. According to Mari Bras-and now I am quoting:
 

He asked us to express to the leaders of our party and to the people of Puerto Rico in general, in the name of President Mao Tse-tung and the central committee of the party, the total, inviolable and active solidarity of the People's Republic of China with the liberation struggle of the Puerto Rican people.
 

The picture of the meeting in China is contained in the same exhibit which I just submitted for the record.

In addition, Juan 'Mari Bras held a conference under the auspices of two organizations, the Association of Friendship of the Chinese People With Other Peoples; and the Association of Chinese-Latin American Friendship.

After Mari Bras had explained the Puerto Rican case in an hour and a half before several hundred Chinese, principally experts in Latin America and students of Latin American affairs, the person in charge of the Association of Friendship of the Chinese People With Foreign Peoples, Wang Kuo-chuang, made an intervention expressing the solidarity of the Chinese people with the struggle for liberation of the Puerto Rican people.

This, again, is in the same exhibit.

From China, the delegation departed for North Korea. To make the trip possible; Marshall-Kim Il Sung, the Prime Minster of that Communist country, prepared and sent a special plane to Peking that picked up the Puerto Rican delegation and transported them directly to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. In North Korea, they, had conversations with Kim 11 Sung and other leaders of the party during their stay of 1 week. Again, the same exhibit I just submitted for the record contains a picture of the Puerto Rican delegation with Marshall Kim 11 Sung.

In February of that same year, 1972, Mari Bras and his delegation arrived in Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union, in the last-stage of his trip. They stayed for 3 days in the Russian territory and obtained there a renewal of backing from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and an assurance of the cooperation of the Russians for the discussion of the Puerto Rican case in the United Nations.

May we go off the record?

Senator THURMOND. Yes.

[Discussion off the record.]

Senator THURMOND. Back on the record.

Mr. MARTINEZ. In March 1972 a delegation of leaders of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party and the Federation of University Students for Independence traveled to Cuba to participate in the Second Congress of the Union of Young Communists of Cuba. Representing the Puerto Rican Socialist Party was Nestor Nazario Trabal, member of the Central Committee, and Secretary of Student Action of the

Party. Representing the Federation of University Students for Independence were Jose Sanchez Lugo, vice president, and Rosa Mari Pesuera,, the daughter of Mari Bras, who is a member of the executive council of that organization.

I present for the record another document which contains the information about the delegation to Cuba.

Mr. MARTIN. This will be accepted in accordance with the Chairman's previous order.

[Discussion off the record.]

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. May we go off the record.

Senator THURMOND. So ordered.

[Discussion off the record.]

Senator THURMOND. Back to the record.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Next, in April, the Congress of the Union of Young Communists of Cuba approved a resolution on Puerto Rico which expressed the Cuban solidarity as a historical duty given by Jose Marti toward the Puerto Rican people. The same Congress approved the resolution stating that armed struggle is the main way for taking power, and alerting the youth against any so called "reformist" tendencies that might tend to develop in the continent.

I am submitting for the record another exhibit with the pictures of the two delegates and a summary of their participation in the meeting.

Mr. MARTIN. This will be incorporated in accordance with the previous order of the Chairman.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. The members of the youth delegation of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party and the Federation of University Students for Independence to Cuba participated in different public acts in that country. Nestor Nazario was the main speaker during an act at the Medicine School Victoria de Giron and Rosa XTari Pesquera was invited to speak in an act of solidarity with the people of Vietnam.

During the same month, a week of solidarity with the Puerto Rican political prisoners took place in Cuba. In an act promoted by the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, Alberto Perez, delegate of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party before the government and Communist Party of Cuba, gave a speech. With him were the two men presiding over the demonstration, Raul Gonzalez and Fermin Arraiza, members of the Political Commission of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party.

I am submitting for the record this cartoon.

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, it will be incorporated in the record.

[The material referred to follows:]
 

The cartoon printed by Claridad, April 16, 1972, is by Cuban cartoonist Nuez and is captioned: "Cuba and Puerto Rico are the Wings of a Bird" and says "I have one wing free… Soon I will have both."
 

Mr. MARTINEZ. In May 1972, the Secretary for International Affairs of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, Pedro Baig6s Chapel, and Dr. Jose Milton Soltero, who is the leader of the Committee of Resistance against Military Service, traveled to several Latin American countries seeking support to bring the Puerto Rican case before the United Nations. I am also submitting for the record an exhibit dealing with the matter.

Senator THURMOND. It will be incorporated.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. In that same month of May, members of the Federation of University Students for Independence and other organizations from the Rio Piedras campus of the University of Puerto Rico participated in a march through the campus and streets of Rio Piedras in support of the Vietcong and North Vietnam. The students were carrying flags of the Vietcong, destroyed store windows at several business establishments during the activity, and met in the sector of Santa Rita, where they burned an American flag. Julio Muriente, who at that time was President of the Federation of University Students for Independence, stated, and I am quoting:
 

Today we made a march. We broke some windows and we burned a flag. Soon we will throw out the Yankees from Puerto Rico with some other things that won't be speeches.
 

On the 27th of May, at the Rio Piedras town square, an action in support of the Vietcong and North Vietnam was sponsored by the Puerto Rican Independence Party and the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. The words of Ruben Berrios, President of the Puerto Rican Independence Party, during that activity, were significant. So, I want to include them here-with the caveat that Ruben Berrios is not a member of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party and is not identified as a hard-core Communist. According to Claridad, the President of the Puerto Rican Independence Party, Ruben Berrios, referred to Ho Chi Alinh, the (lead North Vietnamese leader, as one of the most important historical characters of the century and he stated that Ho Chi Minh was a thousand times more Puerto Rican than any of the colonial politicians.

Referring to the war in Vietnam, Berrios stated that the Pro-Independence and the Socialist activists are not neutral, that all are against Yankee imperialism and in favor of the Vietnamese people.

I am submitting for the record the two exhibits on the actions in favor of the Vietnamese.

Senator THURMOND. They will be incorporated in the record.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. During this act in support of the Vietnamese Communists, several messages were read. One of them came from the National Union of Vietnamese Students and the other one from the Vietcong. The message from the Vietnamese Communists was sent by the counselor of the Embassy of the Provisional Government of South Vietnam in Cuba-the Vietcong's Embassy-and it reads as follows:
 

We demand the total liberty of the heroic Puerto Rican fighters that have been jailed for fighting imperialism and we demand that all accusations against the young people that have refused to act as accomplices of the criminal aggression against our people he withdrawn.
 

I am furnishing at this moment two more exhibits that cover the North Vietnamese messages.

Senator THURNIOND. They will be accepted.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. Still in that same month of May, a delegation of the Federation of University Students for Independence participated in the 8th Congress of the Federation of Students of Panama, a leftist group in that country, a congress that took place from the 24th to the 27th of May. In June 1972, Rafael Anglada, delegate of the Federation of University Students for Independence, before the International Union of Students, sitting in Prague, Czechoslovakia, participated in a reception offered by the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Cuba to the Czech Government, celebrating the visit to Prague of Fidel Castro. Anglada posed together with Castro and some other leaders for a picture that was later published in Claridad. I am submitting this picture for the record.

Mr. MARTIN. May it be accepted, in accordance with the previous order of the Chair?

Senator THURMOND. Yes.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. Still in June, Dr. Jose Milton Soltero left on a flight from Havana to travel through several countries in Africa. The trip was made on behalf of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, to request the backing of these countries for the case of Puerto Rico before the United Nations. In Algeria, he met with high leaders of the National Liberation Front of Algeria. Then he visited Guinea, Tanzania, and Senegal.

I am submitting for the record a report on this meeting.

Senator THURMOND. It will be accepted.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. In July 1972, Rafael Anglada, representative of the Federation of University- Students for independence to the International Union of Students, who, at that time, lived in Prague, Czechoslovakia, a seat of the UIA, also represented his organization in two international seminars organized by the International Union of Students. From July 5 to July 11, he was in Tunis at a seminar called the "Universities at the Service of Economic, Social and Political Development of the Developing Countries." From July 15 to July 20, he participated in a seminar on the social and economic impact and political consequences of the imperialists penetration in the developing countries. This seminar took place in Kerala, India.

Also, in July, on the 14th, Raul Gonzalez Cruz, member of the political commission of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, and at that time, vice director of Claridad, returned from Cuba. Supposedly, his stay in Cuba was prolonged for a number of months, because he suffered an automobile accident, and fractured one leg, having to stay in the hospital for more than a month.

Upon returning to Puerto Rico, Claridad reported the following:

The Assistant Director of Claridad participated in many exchanges of experiences on revolutionary journalism with the faculty and the students of the Journalism School of the University of Havana. He also made a long tour of different provinces of Cuba and gathered information and impressions that are going to be used for a series of articles and reports on the Cuban revolution that will soon be published by Claridad.
 

I am submitting for the record the report on his return to Puerto Rico.

Senator THURMOND. It will be accepted.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. M ARTINEZ. At this time I would like to add for the record that Raul Gonzalez recently died in a car crash in Puerto Rico. Apparently, he was accidentally prone.

During the time that Gonzalez staved in Cuba, he sent several reports to Puerto Rico for publication in Claridad. In March 1972, one of these articles, captioned "It Is Worthy To Fight for Socialism," stated:
 

If what we want for Puerto Rico is what we are watching in Cuba, and certainly that is what we are looking for, today we state it with much more confidence, it is worth the effort. Yes, it is worth the effort and the sacrifices. It is worth making whatever is necessary to destroy our corrupt society and create a new one. The society that is now being constructed successfully in Cuba is a free society where there are no oppressed, no oppressors, the socialist society. To that goal we are marching in Puerto Rico.
 

I am submitting the article for the record.

Senator THURMOND. Under the previous order of the Chair, it will be accepted.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. Just a few days after his return from Cuba, it was announced that Raul Gonzalez had been appointed by a political commission as a director of the Claridad. This article, published on August 6^th, make me think that the trip to Cuba was made for the specific purpose of preparing him for the job of directing Claridad. I am submitting for the record the article on his appointment as director of Claridad.

Senator THURMOND. It will be accepted.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. Still in July, the Voice of Vietnam broadcast from Havana reporting the following, and I am quoting:
 

We are very aware of the struggle of the Puerto Rican people. «e have a deep admiration and understanding of the long and firm struggle that the Puerto Ricans have been carrying on over the years.
 

This was a North Vietnamese broadcast originating in Havana, and I am submitting this article for the record.

Senator THURMOND. It will be accepted.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. In August 1972, a delegation of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party presided over by Pedro Baiges Chapel and Florencio Merced Rosa of the Political Commission, together with Carmen Ortiz Baerga of the International Affairs Secretariat of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, participated as observers in the Conference of Third World Countries that took place in Georgetown, Guyana. The Conference, from the 8th to the 11th of August, accepted the delegations, granting them the right to speak in the deliberations, and it later approved the resolution requesting United Nations intervention in the Puerto Rican case.

I am submitting for the record the documents relating to this conference held in Georgetown.

Senator THURMOND. They will be accepted, in accordance with the previous order.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. In September 1972, Flavia Rivera Montero had just substituted for Alberto Perez as a delegate of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party to the Cuban Government and to the Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America to return to Cuba with Alberto Perez after 2 weeks of vacation in Puerto Rico. During this sojourn, they received instructions from the Puerto Rican Socialist Party to develop the next phase of the international offensive planned by the Party. Alberto Perez, who lived in Cuba for 132 years as delegate of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, returned to Puerto Rico with his family and with the wife and son of the subdelegate of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party to OSPAAL, Miguel Cabrera Figueroa. In the meantime, Manual de J. Gonzales and Cabrera Figueroa stayed in Havana, participating in the campaign of solidarity of the Cuban people with the independence of Puerto Rico.

I am submitting-the article for the record.

Mr. MARTIN. It will be accepted, in accordance with the previous order of the Chair.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. In October 1972, a delegation of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party traveled to Chile to participate in a meeting of the presiding board of the World Peace Council, an international Communist-dominated organization, with central offices in Moscow. The delegation of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party included Pedro Baiges Chapel, secretary for international affairs of the party, and Miguel Cabrera Figueroa, subdelegate of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party to OSPAAL. During the meeting of the World Peace Council, a resolution in favor of Puerto Rico's independence was approved and a trip by two party leaders through the Socialist countries of Europe, to

take place in 1973, was approved. I am submitting for the record the article related to that.

Mr. MARTIN. May it be received?

Senator THURMOND. So ordered.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. Bishop Antulio Parrilla Bonilla, a Catholic bishop, and the leader of the Young Christian Workers, Francisco Garcia, represented Puerto Rico together with some 300 a ega"'£es_from_T9 nations in a Congress that met in Quebec, Canada, from the 6th to the 9th of October in support for the liberation war of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The Congress was sponsored by an organization called Christians for Peace in Indochina. In the report published in Claridad, there is a picture of Bishop Parrilla together with Vo Tranh'I'rinh of the Hun Gae Parish of North Vietnam. I should state at this time that Bishop Parrilla has never identified himself as a member of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. However, he has a weekly column in Claridad and has been cooperating with the party since a long time ago.
 

From October 15 to October 18, a delegation of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party participated in a meeting of the executive committee of the World Federation of Democratic Youth that took place in the Soviet Union. During the meeting an event in solidarity with the struggle of Puerto Rico was approved to denounce Puerto Rico's colonial situation and to request the liberation of political prisoners in Puerto Rico. The meeting was attended by Nestor Nazario, secretary of student affairs of the party, and Rafael Anglada a delegate of the Federation of University Students or Independence before the Permanent Secretariat of the International Union of Students based in Czechoslovakia. On October 23, a campaign called "Vietnam Will Win" was sponsored in Puerto Rico to collect funds for the construction of the Nguyen Van Troi Pediatric Hospital in Hanoi, North Vietnam. The fund drive was promoted by the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, the Federation of University Students for Independence, and some other organizations. The funds that were collected were earmarked to join those of an international campaign for the hospital, directed by Communist organizations of other countries.

On that very same day, in Chile, a Congress called Today's Women in Latin America, started. It was promoted by the International Federation of Democratic Women, and the objective of the Congress was to analyze the problems of Latin American women and study ways for the more effective integration of women through a revolutionary process in Latin America.

I am going to submit for the record the documents regarding these meetings.

Senator THURMOND. The documents will be made part of the record, in accordance with the previous order of the Chair.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, maybe found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. MARTINEZ. In this international meeting of women, delegations from several Latin American countries participated together with guest delegations from North Vietnam, Laos, North Korea, and several Socialist European countries. Representing the Puerto Rican Socialist Party was Flavia Rivera, a member of the Political Commission and delegate of the Political Commission and delegate of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party of Cuba. There is also Carmen Ortiz Baerga, member of the Secretariat of International Affairs of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, and Doris Pizarro, member of the central committee and secretary of the Mayaguez zone of the party.

Mr. MARTIN. Mr. Martinez, you are working here from notations in the Spanish language. In the interests of expediting the hearing, because time is running short, would it be possible for you to leave with us your Spanish language notations, together with the corresponding exhibits, so that with the help of Mr. Tarabochia, who is fluent in Spanish, we will be able to insert both the notations and the corresponding exhibits into the record at the appropriate point?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. I think that would be most appropriate.

Mr. MARTIN. Is this acceptable, Mr. Chairman?

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Then, sir, I would just like to cover two or three very important documents, with some explanation, and I am going to skip the rest of the documents.

Mr. MARTIN. Please proceed.

Mr. MARTINEZ. I am going to talk now about a very important activity that took place in December 1972. It was a reception for the diplomatic corps in Cuba to which the Puerto Rican Socialist Party invited representatives from all the embassies and missions. The activity took place at the gardens of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples and was presided over by Cmdr. Manuel Piñeiro and Lazaro Peña, members of the central committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Off the record, please.

Senator THURMOND. Off the record.

[Discussion off the record.]

Senator THURMOND. Back on the record.

Mr. MARTINEZ. As well as Flavia Rivera, permanent delegate of

the Puerto Rican Socialist Party in Cuba, and Florencio Merced Rosa, member of the Political Commission of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party.

Commander Manuel Pineiro, who, according to the information published in Claridad, presided at the reception, is the First Vice Minister and Technical Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior in Cuba.

Senator THURMOND. Off the record.

[Discussion off the record.]

Senator THURMOND. On the record.

Mr. MARTINEZ. On January 26a 1973, the Puerto Rican Socialist Party inaugurated its permanent offices in Cuba located on 29tTi Street of Vedado. The Puerto Rican Socialist Party offices can be seen in a 'photograph that illustrates the article and it can be seen that they are located in a very elegant mansion in what before the Cuban revolution was one of the most exclusive sections of Havana.

Mr. MARTINEZ. On July 26, 1973, a delegation of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party was invited to Cuba, invited by the Cuban Government to participate in the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the assault against the Moncada Barracks. The delegation was headed by Julio Vives Vasquez, president of the party. With him were Pedro Baiges Chapel, international affairs secretary, and Alberto Perez Perez,

who is a member of the Central Committee and an employee of that secretariat. The delegation participated in all the commemorative acts, including the observations at Moncada Barracks and the official reception given by the Government on July 27 at the presidential palace in Havana..

During that reception, they posed for a photograph, together with Adalberto Quintana and Manuel Pifieiro, identified as Vice Xlinister of the Interior in Cuba. I am going to submit three pages of Claridad No. 496 of August 19, 1973, which covered the meetings that took place in Havana, including a front page photo of a meeting with Julio Vives Vasquez and Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro.

Senator THURMOND. They will be incorporated in the record in accordance with the previous order of the Chair.

[The material referred to may be found, in their Spanish version, in the files of the subcommittee.]
 

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Mr. Chairman, may I interject for a moment with regard to the identities of the individuals just mentioned by the witness?

Senator THURMOND. If you have some information that may be useful at this point, Mr. Tarabochia, please present it.

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Yes, sir. Commander Manuel Pineeiro Lozada, at the time Vice Minister of the Interior, was also at one time the head of the Cuban General Directorate of Intelligence, the equivalent of the KGB and -

Mr. MARTIN. The Soviet KGB?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. The Soviet KGB. Adalberto Quintana, who is

the Director of the Cuban Institute of friendship with the Peoples is also a member of the DGI, and has been identified by one of our witnesses in testimony before the subcommittee as the individual who

traveled to Paris in 1967 to prepare the recruiting of European leftists

for the Cultural Conference in Havana.

It is of interest, Mr. Chairman, that the exhibit just offered contains a statement regarding the activities of Adalberto Quintana with the Puerto Rican delegation. During the conversation, Vives, underlined on various occasions the impression that was left by Adalberto Quintana, the director of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with Peoples, who was the escort of the Puerto Rican delegation during its whole stay in Cuba. "There is no doubt," said Vives, "that Quintana is a great friend of Puerto Rico. On many occasions he reiterated his offer to help our cause in any way possible-"
 

The fact that these two individuals are so closely connected both with the Cuban subversive and espionage apparatus and with the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, is one more indication of the subservience of the PSP to its Cuban directors.

Mr. MARTIN. There has been some evidence from time to time, Mr. Tarabochia, that the Cuban Government has shown some independence-a limited independence-from Moscow's orders. Is this also true of the DGI in its relations with the KGB?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. To a very small degree. The Cuban DGI as of 1969 has been under the strict control of the Soviet KGB, and there is a KGB high official who is actually the co-Commander of the Cuban DGI alongside its Cuban chief-but the Cuban chief has to clear all his actions with the Soviets before he acts. It is through the Central Committee's Department of America that the Cuban Communist Party exhibits some independence in matters of subversion and revolution in Latin America.

It is this Department that maintains the official liaison with the

Puerto Rican Socialist Party. The DGI naturally, despite the Soviet control, is bound to assist the Department of the Americas in matters within its purview.

Mr. MARTIN. Would it be an exaggeration to view the DGI as a direct instrument of the Soviet KGB?

Mr. TARABOCIIIA. It would not. On the contrary, it would be a statement of fact.

Mr. MARTIN. Returning to Mr. Martinez-unless you have some thing else at this point, Mr. Tarabochia. Mr. Martinez, would you continue with your statement.

1VIr. MARTINEZ. Thank you, sir. I wanted to add, just like 1 mentioned, at that time of the meeting in Cuba that we are now talking about, the president of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party met with Defense Minister Raul Castro, the brother of the dictator Fidel Castro, who acts as a second secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party and Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

After his trip, Julio Vives Vasquez made the following statement in Puerto Rico
 

The attentions that our delegation received in the festivities of the 26th of July in Cuba reflect the way in which the fraternal relations between our Party and the Communist Party of Cuba are being cemented.
 

In the meantime, Fermin Arraiza, Assistant Secretary General of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, was in Cuba participating in a preparatory meeting for the Congress of Peace supporters that would take place in October 1973, sponsored by the World Peace Council. During the meeting that took place in Moscow Arraiza requested that the Puerto Rican case be included in the Congress.

After his meetings in Moscow, Arraiza traveled to North Vietnam where he met with the top leaders of the Communist Party. He participated in an interview with Nguyen Duy Trinh, First Vice Minister and Secretary of Foreign Relations of North Vietnam, who, at that time, was Acting Prime Minister of North Vietnam. During his stay in Hanoi, Arraiza visited the People's Achievement Exposition and posed for a picture close to the wreckage of a B-52 Air Force plane that had been shot down over Hanoi.
 

On October 20, 1973, a Puerto Rican delegation left for the Soviet Union to participate in the World Congress of the Forces for Peace, Security and National Independence, to take place in Moscow from the 25th to the 31st of that month. Delegates of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party and the Puerto Rican Communist Party participated together with the pro-independence legislator, Carlos Gallisa and Attorney Noel Colon Martinez. The delegation was presided over by Fermin Arraiza. Representing the PSP together with Arraiza were Luis Escribanno member of the Central Committee and the Labor Affairs Secretariat, and Carlos Rivera of the Political Education Secretariat. Escribano traveled to Moscow from Varna, Bulgaria, where he was representing the Puerto Rican Socialist Party at. the 7th Congress of the World Federation of Labor Unions.

I have one more point, and this completes this part, of the testimony.

In June 1974 the Secretary General of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party met in Havana, Cuba with Prime Minister Fidel Castro. The meeting, according to Claridad, was called to consolidate even more the mutual solidarity between both parties and the peoples of both countries and particularly to strengthen the international solidarity for the struggle of the Puerto Rican people. The meeting between the two leaders was a highlight of the official visit of the PSP delegation headed by Mari Bras and Fermin Arraiza that traveled to Cuba to participate in a meeting of vice ministers of foreign relations of the socialist countries. Mari Bras and Arraiza arrived in Cuba through the Santiago airport where they were received by Commander Juan Almeida, member of the Politburo of the Cuban Communist Party; and in Havana the delegation was received by Manuel Pineiro, member of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party.

Later, the delegation met with the Minister of Foreign Relations of Cuba, Raul Roa, to discuss the case of Puerto Rico before the United Nations. During their stay in Cuba, Mari Bras and Arraiza participated in many activities, the most important of them being the one that established the Cuban Committee of Solidarity with the Puerto Rican Political Prisoners, headed by Jose Lopez Pime-tel, a director of the Cuban Daily, Juventud Rebelde, or Youth in Rebellion.

Also, Mari Bras' speech in the solidarity act that took place at a sugar cane mill named Puerto Rico Libre in Matanzas. This speech was published completely in the Cuban Daily, Granma, official organ of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party.

Mari Bras also participated in a conference at the University of Havana, a press conference with Cuban journalists. In many of these activities, according to Claridad, the Puerto Ricans were escorted by Commanders Jesus Montane and Manuel Pineiro.

After this delegation, Fermin Arraiza remained in Cuba to participate in other activities for the party.

Senator THURMOND. Off the record.

[Discussion off the record.]

Senator THURMOND. Proceed.

Mr. MARTINEZ. I believe that the evidence that I have presented on the international activities of the Socialist Party should be

Mr. MARTIN. The Puerto Rican Socialist Party?

Mr. MARTINEZ. The Puerto Rican Socialist Party, should be enough to convince anyone that this party has very close ties with the Cuban Communist government and, like Mr. Tarabochia pointed out, with the Cuban intelligence apparatus.

Mr. MARTIN. I have a question here, Mr. Martinez. Your documentation, if I remember correctly, goes up until about the middle of 1974?

Mr. MARTINEZ. The one I have here, yes, sir.

Mr. MARTIN. Some 14 months have passed, approximately, since that time. Have there been any changes in the situation? Are you aware of any changes that would suggest that there may have been a reduction in contacts with Cuba or in DGI influence in the Puerto Rican Socialist Party-or is there reason for believing the pattern which you describe continues to this day?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Sir, the evidence that has been collected after the exhibits I have just furnished the committee demonstrates that it is just to the contrary, that the relations between the Puerto Rican Socialist Party and the Cuban Government and Cuban intelligence apparatus are ever increasing. Just to give you several examples, quite recently the Cuban Film Institute prepared, together with Teatro Tirabuzon Rojo, the Graphic Arts Workshop of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, a film called "Puerto Rico." This film was a Cuban- Puerto Rican coproduction.

Mr. MARTIN. Cuban-Puerto Rican or--

Mr. MARTINEZ. Puerto Rican Socialist Party coproduction. It was-part of it was filmed in Puerto Rico and the technical production of the film `vas done in Cuba.

Mr. MARTIN. When did this film come out?

Mr. MARTINEZ. It is quite recent. The article I have about. this film in Claridad was published on the first of July of this year.

Mr. MARTIN. Could you tell us some more about the film?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Well, I have a complete exhibit that I am willing to submit for the record. But, according to the article I have here, it is a film of misinformation. By that, the Cubans mean that they want to present just the opposite picture of what the United States is trying to present in the Puerto Rican case. If the United States is trying to present evidence to the effect that Puerto Rico is a country that has exercised its right to free determination, well, the Cubans are just trying to project the opposite image, and this is a coproduction of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party and the Cuban Institute of Graphic Arts in film making.

Mr. MARTIN. You are offering this article for the record?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir.

Mr. MARTIN. May this be accepted for inclusion in the record by reference, Mr. Chairman, with the understanding that the Chair will later determine which paragraphs should be printed in English translation because they appear to be the most pertinent to the subject of this hearing?

Senator THURIIOND. Without objection, so ordered.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]
 

Mr. TARABOCHIA. May I interject again, Mr. Chairman?

Senator THURMOND. If you have some observations that are pertinent to the matter under discussion, go ahead.
 

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Yes, sir, I do. I have good reason to believe that this Cuban-PSP coproduction of a film responds to a pressing need of the Cuban propaganda apparatus, since Cuba is going to be the seat of an international conference which is to take place from September 5 to September 7 and is to emphasize solidarity with Puerto Rico. It is sponsored by the World Peace Council, which has been identified previously as a Moscow dominated organization. This film will undoubtedly be used to impress even more the captive audience that will be attending the conference.

Senator THURMOND. Mr. Martinez?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. I was just going to mention the Conference of Solidarity with the Puerto Rican people which, I believe, is the most recent and most important indication.

Mr. MARTIN. This is the conference to which Mr. Tarabochia just referred?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. It is the most important indication of the very close relations of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party with Cuba. This conference that is going to take place in Havana in September is going to gather together all the Communist parties of the world, including those that are leaning to Russia and those that are leaning to China. It seems it is going to be a major issue in the attack on the United States. I mean that the Puerto Rican case is going to be used, like Mari Bras said before, as a bridgehead to attack the United States from within and from the international front.

In this respect I believe that it is no coincidence that this conference is being held just prior to the Bicentennial year. I strongly believe that the Cubans have decided to use all means available to disrupt the Bicentennial celebrations in the United States. This is my personal -

Mr. MARTIN. Why do you say the Cubans have decided? Do you mean the Puerto Rican Socialist Party-or the Cuban Government-or both of them?

Mr. MARTINEZ. No; the Cuban Government has decided. And if the Puerto Rican Socialist Party is working so closely with tile Cuban Government they are working together in this effort. What I think is that the Cuban Government has decided to use the Puerto Rican case as an excuse for disrupting the Bicentennial year in the United States and I believe that there is strong evidence in that respect.

Mr. MARTIN. You have already presented some documentation on that precise subject.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes sir and this

Mr. MARTIN. Some quotes from Juan Mari Bras.

Mr. MARTINEZ. In which he threatened to disrupt the Bicentennial celebrations on July 4, 1976, but I feel this goes even beyond that. The conference will provide the ideal excuse for international publicity to the Puerto Rican case, and I would not be surprised-and this is just an expression of opinion-I would not be surprised if, together with the conference we would have some acts of sabotage and terrorism in Puerto Rico and in the United States. That has been the case before, to get publicity for their activities. As a matter of fact, my personal opinion regarding the terrorist acts that have taken place in New York City and in Chicago is that they are part of a Cuban operation specifically designed to disrupt the Bicentennial, and that the Puerto Rico issue is just an excuse.

Mr. MARTIN. What you are suggesting in effect, Mr. Martinez, is that the Puerto Rican Socialist Party functions as an adjunct of the Castro government--

Mr. MARTINEZ. Well

Mr. MARTIN [continuing]. That the Castro government at least has a very large degree of control over the Puerto Rican Socialist Party.

Mr. MARTINEZ. I believe the evidence 1 have furnished-which is not exactly a superficial analysis of this situation-is enough to indicate that if we go beyond what they have printed in their newspapers and we analyze what has really happened in those meetings in Cuba, which is something I don't precisely know, most likely we are going to find more information of a very strong relationship, probably a relationship of subservience.

Senator THURMOND. Do you have anything else you wish to say in your testimony?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Well, sir, I would like to conclude my testimony by presenting a brief statement about the final offensive of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party because I believe that it is a very notable theory that had not been adequately understood.

Mr. MARTIN. When you say the "final offensive," are You using an expression that they themselves use? Do they talk about a "final offensive?"

Mr. MARTINEZ. Well, not exactly in these terms, but

Mr. MARTIN. Are these your words, in short, or are they the words of Juan Mari Bras and the Puerto Rican Socialist Party?

Mr. MARTINEZ. When I say the "final offensive," I am referring to a final strategy that the party has proclaimed. These are my own words, in short. But, what I am talking about is the final stages of the plans that the Puerto Rican Socialist Party has made for Puerto Rico's independence. And here again these international relations are going to be very important.

After the Communist Party is firmly organized, it launches its final offensive, aimed at the destruction of the established order. Communist techniques for take-over vary from participation in elections to violent revolutions. In Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican Socialist Party has already launched its offensive, using a clever strategy that combined elements of each technique. This strategy is called the theory of the crisis.

The logic behind this theory is the following. Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States, an imperialistic capitalist country. The United States stays in Puerto Rico because it obtains great profits

from the exploitation of the Puerto Rican people. If, for any reason, the United States ceases to derive profits from Puerto Rico, it will grant independence to the island. Thus, the role of the Socialist Party is to create a crisis aimed at making Puerto Rico a headache instead of a source of profit for the United States.

The Puerto Rican Socialist Party's strategy consists of three stages. The first one is the economic crisis. It the United States is looking for profit in Puerto Rico, the main source is obviously the American owned industry. By reducing the profit obtained by factories and by crippling the economy with the resulting economic crisis, the objective of making Puerto Rico less attractive for the United States will be furthered. To create an economic crisis, the best tool is the labor movement.

That is why the Puerto Rican Socialist Party has been so active in the penetration of the labor movement. At this time I would like to introduce as an exhibit a copy of the 1971 plan for the infiltration of the Labor Movement by the Puerto Rican Socialist Party.

Mr. MARTIN. Where does this plan come from?

Mr. MARTINEZ. It is published in "Nueva Lucha,", the political discussion publication of the Pro-Independence Movement.

Mr. MARTIN. And you are offering this for the record?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir.

Mr. MARTIN. May this be accepted for the record at this point, Mr. Chairman?

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.

[The material referred to, in its Spanish version, may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

MMARTINEZ. Sir, the plan is called Objectives of Labor Struggle of the Puerto Rican Pro-Independence Movement that took place in Trujillo Alto in January 1971. It is a very significant plan, because everything that has taken place in Puerto Rico ever since that time is in this document, including cells in the factories, participation in strikes, and the infiltration of labor unions.

The party put this plan I am talking about into action immediately and Puerto Rico suffered a dramatic increase in the number of strikes. During these strikes, a new weapon was introduced: massive sabotage of public utilities.

Mr. MARTIN. Approximately what time period are you talking about, Mr. Martinez? Beginning when and up until what time?

Mr. MARTINEZ. The plan was announced in 1971, about 6 months before the Puerto Rican Pro-Independence Movement was renamed the Puerto Rican Socialist Party.

Mr. MARTIN. You have just been talking about a new stage in the struggle which involved massive sabotage of public utilities. When did that begin and when did it end, or is it still going on?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Well, it started just about that time, probably, in 1972 with the telephone company strike where a lot of cable cutting was done by union persons, and the Puerto Rican Socialist Party spoke in favor of the cable-cutting, although they did not claim responsibility for it. By 1973, it took big proportions when massive sabotage of the electric power authority forced the government to call out the National Guard, with the resulting riots and incidents. That strike in 1973 cost $150 million in losses.

Mr. MARTIN. These are economic losses, not losses through sabotage?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Economic losses, but caused indirectly by sabotage because 118 plants had to close operations because of lack of power and they had to lay off 16,000 workers. So they are directly--

Mr. MARTIN. Economic losses as a direct result-of sabotage?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes. Directly related to loss of work by sabotage.

Mr. MARTIN. What about the situation in 1974 and so far this year?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. The situation continued. In November 1974, the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority workers went on strike and again the same thing happened-massive sabotage of water installations took place to the extent that the Governor again had to mobilize the National Guard to protect the installations.

Mr. TARASOCHIA. Mr. Chairman, at this point I think it is-may I ask permission again, because I think it is important to interject something.

Senator THURMOND. If you have something of relevance, please offer it at this point.

Mr. TARABOCHIA. With regard to the statement just made by Mr. Martinez, I have evidence in my possession that indicates the direct involvement of a member of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party in acts of sabotage at the time indicated. This information in more detail will be made part of my testimony later on, but I thought it was pertinent to make it known at this time.

Senator THURMOND. Thank you. Would you proceed, Mr. Martinez.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. Since this date of 1973 that I was talking about before, the labor unrest continued growing. The strike at the Aqueducts and Sewers Authority in November 1974, represented a real escalation because this time the sabotage was not only to the water plants, but to the electric supply for the waterplants.

Mr. MARTIN. You mean the waterplants were deprived of electric power for a period of time?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir, by cutting wires, cutting

Mr. MARTIN. The water supply to Puerto Rican cities was cut?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir, as a result of the strike.

Mr. MARTIN. And for how long was the supply cut off?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Well, most of the

Mr. MARTIN [continuing]. Or was it a series of interruptions?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Most of the interruptions were a matter of hours, but some extended for days and it was a state of emergency that forced the Governor to call the National Guard and supply water to several hospitals and some communities.

Mr. MARTIN. When did this situation terminate?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Well, it terminated with the end of the strike early in December, but not before a serious rash of terrorism took place in which 17 bombs were planted at installations including an Army Reserve installation in which several trucks were destroyed by an explosion.

Mr. MARTIN. Have there been any incidents of major sabotage directed against public utilities since the beginning of 1975?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. Right at the present moment there is a strike of the Puerto Rico Telephone Co., which is now owned by the government. This strike has been going on for about 2 or 3 months, and during the strike many, many, many telephone installations have been destroyed by sabotage. At the same time there is a strike of the Puerto Rico Cement Co., which is a private company that supplies concrete for practically strike has been marked private installations.

Mr. MARTIN. When you say bombings of all kinds, you mean that there have been many bombings?

Mr. MARTINEZ. No. I mean different types of bombings, because-

Mr. MARTIN. There have been different kinds of bombings. When you say different kinds of bombings, what do you mean?

Mr. MARTINEZ. They have varied from--

Mr. MARTIN. Fire bombings and

Mr. MARTINEZ. They have varied from Molotov cocktails to explosive devices that have destroyed buildings.

Mr. MARTIN. But there have been a number of bombings in connection with the cement strike?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir. Certainly. Not only in Puerto Rico but in the United States, and that particular bombing in New York City

Mr. MARTIN. Now, when you say there have been bombings m the United States, were these bombings carried out by Puerto Rican terrorists in the United States or were they bombings carried out by American terrorist groups in sympathy with them?

Mr. MARTINEZ. I was going to point out precisely that there was a bombing in your city at the Banco de Ponce which is partly owned by the owners of the Puerto Rico Cement.

The bombings of the Banco de Ponce in New York was placed supposedly by the Weather Underground.

Mr. MARTIN. The Weather Underground claimed credit for it, you mean?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, sir.

Mr. MARTIN. Were any people killed in that bombing?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Not that I know of. But the thing is, that shows again how radical groups in the United States are rallying around the issue of Puerto Rican independence and making everything-making every possible effort to disrupt the Bicentennial.

These things I have been talking about right now sum up the goal of producing an economic crisis in Puerto Rico. The economic crisis is not the final goal of Puerto Rican Socialist Party. It is just the first in the three stages of the theory of the crisis. The second stave is the social crisis. They believe that the economic crisis will bring increasing unemployment and poverty. That will create the state of unrest that can be manipulated by the Communists and the Puerto Rican Socialist Party is working actively toward this goal by organizing and radicalizing the unemployment, by creating cells in the poor communities, and by launching a massive propaganda program that includes very, very sophisticated techniques.

The third stage of this program is the political crisis that will overthrow the government. The political crisis is the end result of the social crisis. It will consist of general strikes in the economic front, organized by the Central Worker's Union which the Puerto Rican Socialist Party is trying to create, and this is still in the planning stage. Also terrorist acts, riots, and projects on the political front, and pressure on the United States by means of two fronts, the mainland front and the international front.

I have already talked about these two fronts, but to sum up, the idea is that they- are going to create pressure for Puerto Rico's independence by means of all kinds of terrorists' acts within the United States and by international pressure at the United Nations and elsewhere. And this conference that is going to take place in Havana is probably part of these preparations for the final stage.

I think that this, what I have presented so far, gives more than clear evidence of the fact that the Puerto Rican Socialist Party is a Marxist -Leninist, or Communist, Party with very clear connections with Cuba and that it is a direct threat to the continental United States.

That concludes my prepared statement.

Thank you.

Mr. MARTIN. Your evidence also suggests that it has some very clear connections with Moscow,. since the Puerto Rican Solidarity Conference which is about to convene in Havana is really being convened under the auspices of an international organization which is generally known to be Moscow controlled, isn't that so?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Certainly. The World Peace Council is a Soviet organization, or Soviet-controlled organization.

Mr. MARTIN. It is not a Havana-controlled organization; it is a Moscow-controlled organization?

You have a partnership here between the Cuban Government and a Moscow-controlled international front organization?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Certainly. The director of tire conference is a Cuban, but then the conference is promoted by the Peace Council, which is a Moscow-controlled organization.

Mr. MARTIN. Does that conclude your testimony, Mr. Martinez?

Mr. MARTINEZ. There is much more that I could say, but to say it all might take another several days. I might mention that I have for some time now, been pre paring a study-a very well-documented study -- of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. This study deals particularly with the Communist infiltration of the Puerto Rican trade union movement.

Mr. MARTIN. For whom have you been preparing this study?

Mr. 'MARTINEZ. I have been working on it in the hope that the information would be useful to some agency of the U.S. Government. I have tried to put together all the facts, because no one has yet done it.

Mr. MARTIN. How long is this study?

Mr. M ARTINEZ. It's not quite complete. I suppose it will be over 400 typewritten pages when it's done.

Mr. MARTIN. How long will it take you to complete this study?

Mr. MARTINEZ. I'm finishing it now. It should be ready in another week or 10 days.

M'MARTIN. Do you feel that the information and documentation contained in your study would add significantly to the information and documentation you have provided in the course of today's testimony?

Mr. MARTINEZ. Yes, there are many important facts in my study that I wasn't able to talk about today.

Mr. MARTIN. Would you be prepared to offer your study to the Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security, for publication as a supplement to the testimony you have given today?

Mr. MARTINEZ. I would be honored to give it to the subcommittee when it's ready. I think its publication would be useful.

Mr. MARTIN. Mr. Chairman, I would like to propose that Mr. Martinez, since it is agreeable to him, be asked to submit his study of communist exploitation of the trade union movement in Puerto Rico, as a supplement of the testimony he has just given, with the understanding that the decision on whether or not to publish the document as a supplement will be reserved until after the subcommittee has had an opportunity to review the material.

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.

Mr. MARTIN. Mr. Chairman, I have no more questions to ask.

Senator THURMOND. I want to thank you very much, Mr. Martinez, for taking the trouble to come here and giving us this very important information about a situation that is really not well understood in our country. I think you have performed a real public service by giving the subcommittee this information and on behalf of the subcommittee I want to thank you again.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Thank you, sir.

Senator THURMOND. Our next witness is Mr. Alfonso L. Tarabochia of the staff of the Subcommittee on Internal Security. Mr. Tarabochia, since you have already been sworn, we can proceed with the questioning.

You have been employed by the Senate Subcommittee on Internal security for a number of years now?
 

TESTIMONY OF ALFONSO L. TARABOCHIA
 

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Yes, sir, I have, since February 1962.

Senator THURMOND. What have your duties consisted of?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. At the present time I am the chief investigator of the subcommittee.

Senator THUR-MOND. For how long have you held this position?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Since 1969.

Senator THUR-MOND. What were your duties prior to that time?

Mr. TARABOGHIA. Prior to 1969, from 1962 to 1969, I was an investigator on the staff of the subcommittee. I was based in Miami, Florida.

Senator THURMOND. You are fluent in the Spanish language?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. I am, sir.

Senator THURMOND. As part of your duties have you, over a period of years, made a continuing study of communism in Puerto Rico?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Yes, sir, I have. As a matter of fact my interest in terrorist activities in Puerto Rico began even before my employment by the subcommittee. In 1960 or 1961, when I was member of

the intelligence unit of the Dade County Public Safety Department, I became aware of a series of terrorist acts involving arson and bombings of business establishments in San Juan, P.R. Because of the large Puerto Rican and Cuban population of Dade County even at that time, and the fact that there had been bombings of a political-religious nature in the Miami area, a cursory investigation was initiated to determine whether any ramifications could be expected in the department's jurisdiction. From the outset it became apparent that the acts of terrorism in San Juan were politically motivated and there were strong indications that tire suspects were members of a pro-Castro organization masquerading as an independence movement. I may add that there had been, in the early part of 1961, similar acts of sabotage perpetrated against expropriated businesses in Havana by members of anti-Castro resistance groups and reprisals in the Miami area could not be excluded. Statements released at the time and the timing of the terrorist acts also indicated that a newly formed group, the Movimiento Pro Independencia-MPI-which had come into existence in Puerto Rico in the fall of 1959, not only condoned such acts but actually supported them. The MPI openly supported the Castro regime in Cuba and welcomed any assistance from that quarter in order to obtain the independence of the island and the establishment of a Marxist government. Of course at that time their statements were much more guarded but the substance was much the same as it is today.

Senator THURMOND. Mr. Martin, do you wish to inquire?

Mr. MARTIN. When you speak about early terrorist incidents, Mr. Tarabochia, what period of time are you speaking about?

Mr. TARAB0CHIA. I am speaking of the early 1960's.

Mr. MARTIN. And you have had this situation under study since that time?

Air. TABABOCHIA. Since that time sir, yes.

Mr. MARTIN. You testified before this subcommittee on the subject of terrorism in Puerto Rico and communism in Puerto Rico a number of years ago, did you not?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Yes, sir, in November of 1968 in connection with a

the appearance before this subcommittee of Maj. Maldonado Trinidad and Mr. Franklin Ballon.

Mr. MARTIN. Could you, for the purpose of establishing some of the background, provide us with a brief synopsis of your testimony on that occasion?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. My testimony at that time dealt mainly with the efforts of Cuba to promote the so-called decolonization of Puerto Rico through the manipulation of the representatives of the newly independent African countries at the United Nations. To that end, the Cubans had given Cuban citizenship to the widow of a Puerto Rican activist, Pedro Albizu Campos-who, since my testimony, has died-for the purpose of establishing relations with the governments of these African countries and obtaining the necessary votes to support the Cuban proposal-a proposal having propaganda objectives-to declare Puerto Rico a colony of the United States.

Mr. MARTIN. Have you come across any evidence which indicates to you that there may have been some fundamental change in the operatives of the Cuban Communists since your testimony we have just referred to air?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. On the contrary, the efforts of the Cuban Politburo in this respect have been constant-pursued with a relentless determination and punctuated by profusely vituperative attacks against the United States and its representatives at the United Nations by the Cuban Ambassador, Ricardo Alarc6n de Quesada. What is really sad is the fact that all these insidious efforts to have the U.S. condemned as a colonial power have received little or no attention from the Congress and the general public-mainly because the news media have: ignored or downplayed this situation.

Mr. SOURWINE. These efforts you speak of are following a line opened up by Alger Hiss, are they not? I mean the efforts to make the United States look like a colonial power.

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Yes, when he listed Panama, without justification, as a U.S. colony.

Mr. MARTIN. You imply that Cuba is currently intensifying its efforts to subvert Puerto Rico. Is there any concrete evidence of this?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. I am absolutely convinced that this is so, especially in view of the current flurry of activity and propaganda which is preparing the way for a well orchestrated event which is to take place in Havana a few weeks from now, from September 5 to September 7, 1975.

Mr. MARTIN. To what event are you referring?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. I am referring to the International Conference of Solidarity with the Independence of Puerto Rico, which is going to be held in Cuba under the auspices of the Communist-dominated World Council for Peace. The conference is timed to coincide with the forthcoming U.N. General Assembly and thus create a base of influence in that body.

Mr. MARTIN. You had mentioned earlier that the Cubans had spearheaded the effort to have the U.S. condemned as a colonial power by the United Nations. To what degree have they been successful?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. In August 1972, Cuba, after almost 10 years of trying, managed to introduce a motion to have Puerto Rico declared a colony of the United States by the Decolonization Committee of the United Nations. As a result, that committee, consisting of 24 member nations, adopted a resolution which in effect gave approval to the actions of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party and its Cuban mentors by declaring that the Puerto Ricans had the right to self determination and independence. The Cubans were quick to point out that the decision of the Decolonization Committee was in harmony with the mandate given that Committee in 1960 by the General Assembly of the United Nations, and that the vote reflected the struggle against colonialism without taking into account the power of the administrating country. What passed unnoticed was the fact that the vote was far from unanimous, 12 members voting in favor with 10 abstentions, and that there had been a long power play replete with Byzantine intrigue to pack the Committee with members inimical to the United States. Cuba had some powerful allies in that committee-especially Chile, whose president, Salvador Allende, was, in addition to being a Marxist, a close personal friend of Fidel Castro. It was Chile that on August 23, 1972, transmitted a statement by its Foreign Minister expressing the hope that the Special Committee would decide that the declaration on the granting of independence was applicable to Puerto Rico.

The Chilean move was the result of a clever play by Cuba, which on February 9 and March 25, 1972, had sent letters to the U.N. Committee maintaining that Puerto Rico was not an independent territory but was under the colonial domination of the United States.

To force the hand of the U.N. Committee, Cuba, on June 7, 1972, transmitted a statement of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party that the General Assembly's resolution 1514 (xv) of December 14, 1960-on the granting of independence of colonial countries and peoples-fully applied to Puerto Rico. In vain the U.S. replied, on February 28 and August 18, 1972, that Cuba's request constituted interference in the affairs of the United States and Puerto Rico, and was a violation of article 2, paragraph 7 of the U.N. Charter, which states-I quote-
 

Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic ,jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter VII.

The fact that the people of Puerto Rico had chosen their form of government in free and open elections and that they had chosen to live in democracy under a constitution of their choosing in free

association with the United States was considered irrelevant-as was the fact that the General Assemble by its resolution of November 27, 1953, had acknowledged that Puerto Rico had achieved self-government. Then on August 28, 1972, the Committee, after discussion, adopted the resolution that I mentioned previously. In addition, it instructed its working group to submit at an early date in 1973, a

report, relating specifically to the procedure to be followed by the Committee for the implementation of that resolution with respect to Puerto Rico. This resolution was adopted by a roll call vote, with

Bulgaria, China, Czechoslovakia, Ecuador, India, Iraq, -Mall, Sierra Leone, the Syrian Arab Republic, the U.S.S.R., the United Republic of Tanzania, and Yugoslavia voting its favor. Afghanistan, Ethiopia Fiji, Indonesia, Iran, the Ivory Coast, Sweden, Trinidad , Indi, Tobago, Tunisia and Venezuela abstained.

The countries which favored the resolution are either outright members of the Soviet or Chinese Communist blocs or their clients. Few, if any, have a freely-elected government.

Mr. SOURIVINE. After that, what happened?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Emboldened by this initial success, the Cubans and their (cuts, the PSP, moved immediately to consolidate their victory. There were change-, in the formation of the 197:3 Committee, with Chile and the Popular Republic of Congo - Brazzaville - replacing Madagascar and Ecuador, in addition to the return of Australia which had withdrawn its participation.

Mr. MARTIN. Is there any evidence that the Castro government has been able to exploit or take advantage of these changes in the committee's composition?

Mr. TARAROCHIA. The Cubans on the whole, were delighted by the changes because Chile, under Salvador Allende, was one of their closest allies and the Popular Republic of the Congo, one of their clients in Africa. As a matter of fact, the Cubans maintain a military mission in Brazzaville and, a few years ago, helped put down a revolt that had deposed tile President. However, the return of Australia to the U.N. Committee was of concern to the Cubans, who were aware of the close relationship between that country and the United States. Its their eves, the Committee had reached its peak of effectiveness after the imperialist forces had been forced out.

Despite that, the Communists left nothing to chance and immediately dispatched a member of the PSD Central Committee, Dr. Jose Milton Soltero, to Africa to present the PSP case to the Congolese. The result was easy to foresee. Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister assured the Puerto Rican Communists that they should support the cause of Puerto Rico before the United Nations.

At this point, Mr. Chairman, I would like to offer for the record some of the documents I have mentioned: specifically, I wish to offer for the record, the following:

(1) The Cuban letters of February 9 and March 25, 1972;

(2) The statement of the Political Committee of the Central Committee of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party

(3) The replies by the United States elated February 28 and August 1972.

Senator THURMOND. With out objection, they will be received.

['The material referred to follows]
 

COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF CUBA
 

Letter dated 9 February 1972 from the Permanent Representative of Cuba to the

United Nations addressed to the Chairman of the Special Committee
 

On the instructions of the Revolutionary Government of Cuba, I have the honour to request the inclusion of the colonial question of Puerto Rico in this year's agenda of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

Consideration of this Territory falls well within the competence of the Special Committee under the mandate expressly entrusted to it by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

As will be recalled, the inclusion of the question of Puerto Rico in the agenda of the Special Committee was requested by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba in a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Committee on 1 October 1965 (A/AC.109/144). My Government made that request in accordance with the decisions adopted in October 1964 by the Second Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries (A/ 5763), which included the following in the Declaration it adopted:

"It draws the attention of the Ad hoc Decolonization Commission of the United Nations to the case of Puerto Rico and calls upon that commission to consider the situation of these Territories in the light of resolution 1514 (XV) of the United Nations."

The Special Committee was unable to discuss the question of Puerto Rico at its 1960 session for lack of time, and it decided to postpone discussion to the following year.

In April 1967, after the question had been examined by the Working Group (A/AC.109/1.3) the Special Committee discussed the situation in Puerto Rico ;it two meetings and decided to adjourn the discussion of the question (if Puerto Rico sine die.

My Government is strongly of the opinion that far too much time has already elapsed without the Special Committee finding any solution to this problem.

And vet, Puerto Rico s a Territory to which resolution 1 514 (XV) fully- applies; Puerto Rico is not an independent Territory and it does not form an integral part of any other Territory but has been under the colonial domination of the United States of America for 73 years. For that reason, immediate discussion of this matter and the fulfillment by the Special Committee of the mandate specifically laid upon it by the General Assembly involve urn imperative question of principle and there must be no snore delay.

In this connexion I should like to draw the committee's attention to resolution 2878 (XXVI) adopted by the General Assembly on 21 December 1971, paragraph 10 of which reads as follows:

"10. Requests the Special Committee to continue to see]: suitable means for the immediate and full implementation of General Assembly resolutions 1514 (XV) and 2621 (XXV) in all Territories which have not yet attained independence :rod, in particular, to formulate specific proposals for the elimination of the remaining manifestations of colonialism and report thereon to the General Assembly at its twenty-seventh session. "In view of the fact that it is snore than six years since Cuba originally made its request .rod that the General Assembly is to consider "the immediate and full implementation of General Assembly resolutions 1514 (XV) and 2(]21 (XXV) in all Territories which have not yet attained independence" at its next session, the Special Committee is under an obligation to include the question of Puerto Rico in its agenda, to discuss it: at, its present session and to make appropriate recommendations to the General Assembly for discussion at its next session, in the autumn of this year.

My Government therefore requests the Special Committee to decide immediately to include the question of Puerto Rico on its agenda and to give due priority to the discussion of this question at the session now beginning.

I should be grateful if you would have this letter circulated to all members as an official document of the Special Committee.
 

(Signed) Ricardo Alarcon, Ambassador,

Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations.
 

B. Letter dated 25 March 1972 from the Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations addressed to the Chairman of the Special Committee
 

On 29 February 1972, a letter from the Permanent Representative of the United States of America was circulated as an official document, it purported to b e a response to the letter which I sent you on 9 February 1972 requesting that the Special Committee responsible for considering the implementation of the Declaration contained in General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) should discus the question of Puerto Rico.

In his letter the representative of the United States Government expresses "in the moat unequivocal terms" his opposition to the consideration of this question on the grounds that it would be an act of interference "in the affairs of the United States of America and of Puerto Rico" and a violation of Article 2 (7) of the Charter. While reserving my right to place before the Special Committee at a later date information which exhaustively documents the colonial situation in Puerto Rico, at this time I would like to make a few comments on the letter from the representative of the United States Government.

The argument that consideration of colonial situations constitutes interference in the domestic affairs of the colonial Power is as old as colonialism itself. The Members of the United Nations are quite familiar with this contention. This has always been the argument used by South Africa Portugal and other colonial Powers attempting to justify their opposition to the liberation of the Territories they occupy. The reference to "the affairs of Puerto Rico" is nothing more than an inept and hypocritical trick designed to deceive those who have no direct knowledge of the situation in the Territory. The affairs of Puerto Rico are decided in Washington, D.C., by the North American authorities without the slightest regard for the wishes of the Puerto Rican people. From any perspective and in ever

respect, Puerto Rico is a Territory "administered" by the United States for the exclusive benefit of its monopolies. In point of fact there is only one Power which' for three quarters of a century hits been intervening and continues to intervene in the affairs of Puerto Rico: the United States. It is the height of hypocrisy that its representatives should act out the role of accusing others of interfering in the affairs of this island, which is oppressed and occupied by the North American imperialists, when what these others ask is that the people of Puerto Rico should be allowed to exercise their sovereign rights. To make such accusations in the United Nations, cynically invoking the San Francisco Charter, is, moreover, to show disrespect for the Charter, the Organization and its Members.

In document A/8441 which ryas circulated last year, I had occasion to indicate, how Puerto Rico is completely subjected to the legislative, judicial, economic, commercial, military, police and administrative control of the United States.

There is no aspect of Puerto Rican life over which North American imperialism does not have absolute control. This is a typical example of colonialism. There i. no substantive criterion whatsoever which justifies a distinction between the situation in Puerto Rico and that prevailing in any of the other Territories with which the Special Committee is concerned. Nevertheless, the United States Government, in violation of the Charter and in defiance of the numerous resolutions against colonialism adopted by the General Assembly, has brought and is bringing to bear pressure of every kind of an effort to prevent the international community from discharging its responsibilities in regard to Puerto Rico.

The conduct of the North American delegation in the matter of Puerto Rico has placed the United Nations in a position where its prestige will be seriously damaged if the Special Committee does not decide immediately, as I had the honor to request in my letter of 9 February, to consider the question of Puerto Rico in the light of the Declaration contained in resolution 1514 (XV).

The colonial status of Puerto Rico is so obvious that the North American delegation was unable to refute even a single piece of the evidence which my delegation put forward for the consideration of the Organization. The North American Government knows that it would never be able to deceive anyone about the true status of the Territory if the Organization were able to consider it in the same way as it does other Territories. The United States Government is well aware of the fact that the United Nations has undergone a substantial transformation with regard to the question of colonialism and that, in 1972, it would never be able to obtain a majority of Member States willing to condone or accept the colonial oppression imposed by it on the people of Puerto Rico and its savage repression.

Having no arguments whatsoever that hold water, the only hope for the United States lies in winning acceptance for the view that the question of Puerto Rico is -till outside the purview of the Special Committee. This tactic, in the final analysis, demonstrates a complete lack of respect for the Members of the United Nations and, in particular, for the membership of the Special Committee. Having nothing but its power to fall back on, the United States presumes to dictate to the Organization and to prevent it. from implementing, in a case which directly and exclusively affects the interests of North American exploiters, the decisions of the General Assembly and, in particular, the Declaration contained in resolution 1014 (XV). The Government in Washington, D.C., is applying the same colonialist logic in its behavior towards the United Nations as in its behavior inwards Puerto Rico; it is trying to treat the United Nations as if it were another North American possession.

If the North American Government feels sure that the international community is willing to accept, its contention that Puerto Rico is not a territory under the colonial domination of Washington, D.C., why is it so adamantly opposed to consideration of this question by the Special Committee? Why does it contest he position taken by the anti-colonialist majority of Member States? Why does it refuse to accede to the request of some 47 heads of state or Government of non-aligned countries, which, since 1964, have been urging the Special Committee to consider the question of Puerto Rico? Why is it so brazenly applying Pressure on those who support the just struggle of the Puerto Rican people?

The explanation is clear. The only reason why the United Nations has so far Icon unable to fulfil its obligation as regards the Puerto Rican question is perfectly well known to all Members of the Organization. It is the pressure brought to bear by the North American Government and its persistent refusal to comply with United Nations resolutions on decolonization. In taking that attitude, the United States Government is assuming a most truculent, unyielding and defiant colonialist posture. Basically, it is not just the question of Puerto Rico which is before the Special Committee. What is at stake is something much more far reaching which affects the very essence of the decolonization process. The question at issue is whether or not a great imperialist Power can flout the twill of the majority of Member States. The question at issue is whether or not a great imperialist power can impose its will on the United Nations. The question at issue is whether or not its interests can triumph over the anti-colonialist principles adopted by the General Assembly.

The hypocritical and calculatedly false arguments adduced by the representative of the United States cannot mislead anyone. Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States. That is how the North American Supreme Court, Congress and the executive branch define and consider it. The Puerto Rican people have never been able to determine their destiny freely by peaceful means. To assert that they have done so, as the North American representative has stated on several occasions, in "free elections" is an out-and-out lie. The aim of the colonial "elections" has never been to define the status of the islands. Their only purpose has been to elect minor functionaries to deal with the few local aspects of the island's life which the United States has deigned to relegate to its colonial lackeys. Even so, the local elections were held under the absolute control of the North American authorities and under North American laws in a country which has been under the military occupation of the United States Army for 73 years, while tens of thousands of North American settlers participate in the electoral process. What is morn, the Puerto Rican "elections" have one of the highest rates of abstentions and nonparticipation. Despite the sums invested and the. pressures brought to bear on potential voters by the colonial authorities, not even half of the Puerto Rican population has ever taken part in the elections.

In his letter the representative of the North American Government states interalia that our request to the Special Committee "is an insult to the people of Puerto Rico who have chosen to live in a democracy, under a Constitution of their own choosing, in free association with the United States". No one could conceive of grosser insult to the Puerto Rican people. The people of Puerto Rico have never "chosen" to live in the North American "democracy". It was the invading troops of the United States who thrust that fate upon them in July 1898. The people Puerto Rico did not choose their present status. It was determined by legislation of the North American Congress which only the lawmakers in Washington, D.C can amend, if and when they- see fit to do so. There is no "free association" between Puerto Rico and the United States in the sense understood by the United Nation for the present relationship between them violates the two principles laid down h the General Assembly: self-determination and equal rights.

With the typical arrogance of a declining imperial Power, the representative of the United States claims to speak on behalf of the people of Puerto Rico an makes a mockery of their national sentiments. The Puerto Rican people do no consist of the insignificant handful of wretched United States employees who make up the local colonial administration and are the only ones satisfied with the situation now prevailing in the territory. The Puerto Rican people do not consist of masses of men and women obedient to the dictates of North American imperialism. Few peoples have struggled so long, heroically and tenaciously for their national independence as the people of Puerto Rico. The North American intervention of 1898 occurred at the end of a 30-year period in which the people of Puerto Rico had been fighting shoulder to shoulder with the people of Cuba for their emancipation from Spain. Since then and tip to the present time, Puerto Ricans have never accepted the Yankee invaders' usurpation of their rights.

The history of Puerto Rico since 1898 may be described as a continuing battle against the Yankee usurpers. It was expressed heroically in the life of Don Pedro Albizu Campus and the unrelenting struggle of the Puerto Rican nationalists which was ruthlessly crushed by the colonial authorities. Don Albizu languished for many years in Yankee prisons where he was subjected to harassment and cruel treatment. It assumed such brutal forms of repression as the 1937 Ponce Massacre in which the colonial troops fired with impunity on the defenseless population. The struggle reached its heroic culmination with the glorious insurrection of 1950 and the nationalist attacks on Blair House in 1950 and the United States Congress in 1914. Dozens of patriots laid down their lives in those actions, thousands were imprisoned and relentlessly persecuted by the most powerful and tyrannical imperialism. The struggle continues and is growing more intense every day in the protests of the Puerto Rican masses against the imposition of compulsory military service in the imperialist army, against the aggression against the peoples of Indo-China against the hunger, poverty and unemployment afflicting hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans, against the use of Culebra Island as a firing range by the North American Navy, against the ferocious colonialist repression of the patriotic movement in short, against Yankee colonial domination. Only a few months ago, tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans held mass rallies on the island in memory of Don Albizu, to protest against the presence of the North American Governors in San Juan and to commemorate the anniversary of the proclamation of the independent Republic in 1868. Those rallies reflected the feelings of the great majority- of the population of Puerto Rico. They served to testify to the fact that the unswerving decision of the population to be independent is stronger today than it ever was.

It is the patriots who have sacrificed their lives, fighting in the most difficult conditions for national independence, who are entitled to speak for the people of Puerto Rico. They are entitled to enjoin the United Nations to give effect to its anti-colonialist declarations and resolutions. Dozens of Puerto Ricans whose only crime is that they have fought for their country's freedom are in prison on the island or in the metropolitan territory. Among them are the valiant nationalist fighters Oscar Collazo, Lolita Lebrun Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero and Irvin Flores. Oscar Collazo has been in prison since 1950 and is serving a life sentence; the others have been in prison since 1954 and are serving sentences of 80 years. Of the political prisoners in the Western hemisphere, it is they who have been behind bars longest. Cut off from the outside world, subjected to conditions of imprisonment which violate the most elementary human rights, victims of the oppression and discrimination reserved, under the Yankee prison system, for revolutionaries and members of national communities regarded as inferior by the North American racists, these five fighters have not wavered for a single instant in their staunch patriotism. They are the best example of the heroic struggle of their people. It is an elementary duty of all independent and anti-colonialist States riot only to demonstrate their solidarity with the struggle of the people of Puerto Rico for their national independence but also to demand

from the Yankee colonial authorities the immediate release of these freedom fighters. It is the duty of the Special Committee to investigate the situation of the Puerto Rican political prisoners, to demand that their fundamental rights be respected and to call, in particular, for the immediate release of Oscar Collazo, Lolita Lebrun, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Corderu and Irvin Flores. No honourable man can remain silent in face of the brutal punishment inflicted by Yankee imperialism on these patriots who are guilty only of devotion to their homeland. The Revolutionary Government of Cuba takes this opportunity to reaffirm its most complete solidarity with these patriots and to request all independent States, all forces which uphold independence and justice and international public opinion to rally behind these five heroes of Caribbean independence. In his letter the Permanent Representative of the United States presumes to level accusations against my country. The vulgarity of the accusations - a reflection of the cheap and despicable propaganda North American imperialism employed against the Cuban revolution - renders them unworthy of comment.

It is sufficient to point out that however much he may speak of "political freedom", self-determination, etc., he will not succeed in making anyone forget that he is the spokesman of that Government which has brought death and destruction to Indo-China, which upholds colonialist and racist regimes in Africa, which oppresses millions of negroes, Puerto Ricans, Chicanos and Indians within its own frontiers, which has murdered dozens of North American citizens fighting for racial equality, which has, in short, become the main bastion of racism, colonialism and oppression against all he peoples of Africa., Asia and Latin America. The Puerto Ricans are in fact directly engaging the main enemy and scourge of all our peoples. For this reason, solidarity with this brother people is a matter of principle for all anti-imperialist revolutionaries.

Cuba, Mr. Chairman, will never waver in fulfilling its fraternal duties to the people of Puerto Rico. We shall honour the historic pledge which has united our peoples ever since they embarked together, more than a century ago, on the march towards complete emancipation as expressed in 1867 by the father of the Puerto Rican Fatherland, Ramon Emeterio Betances in the following words:
 

"Cubans and Puerto Ricans, unite your efforts, work together, we are brothers, we are one in adversity, let us also he one in the Revolution and in the independence of Cuba and Puerto Rico".
 

I should be grateful, Mr. Chairman, if you would arrange for this letter to be circulated as a document of the Special Committee responsible for ensuring implementation of the Declaration contained in resolution 1514 (XV).

(Signed) RICARDO ALARCON, Ambassador,

Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations.
 

C. Letter dated 17 June 1972 ,/'corn the Charge d'Affaires a.i. of the Permanent

Mission, of Cuba to the United Nations addressed to the Chairman of the Special

Committee
 

I have the honour to transmit to you herewith the document which, on 6 June 1972, was made public by the Political Committee of the Central Committee of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. I should be grateful if you would have it circulated to the members of the Committee of which you are Chairman as an official document.
 

(Signed) ORLANDO PEREIRA,

Charge d'Affaires a.i.
 

PUERTO RICAN SOCIALIST PARTY (PRO-INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT)
 

To the members of the Decolonization Committee of the United Nations; to all the peoples of the world:
 

At this time when the plenary Decolonization Committee of the United Nations (Committee of Twenty-four) is about to begin discussing the inclusion of the question of Puerto Rico in its agenda; the United States and its colonial Government in Puerto Rico are unleashing violence and repression against the Puerto Rican independence forces on an increasing scale, a development which demonstrates the colonial nature of the system.
 

As we noted in the document which was circulated on 19 May 1971 to all State Members of the United Nations (NV/245), the reluctance of the Committee Twenty-four to comply with its legal obligation to consider the colonial status of Puerto Rico (together with the fact that for several years the pressure exerted by the United States, a nation which is interested in keeping the colonial case of Puerto Rico isolated and forgotten by the world, has been yielded to) has encouraged the repressive United States agencies operating in Puerto Rico t' step up their persecution of the forces which are fighting for national liberation.

Now we have discovered and denounced to the Puerto Rican people the existence of a plan approved by the colonial Governor, Luis A. Ferre, and the Secretary of Justice, Wallace Gonzalez Oliver, to fabricate accusations of alleged conspiracy against the leadership of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party (Pro-Independence Movement): PSP-MPI

In this connection we wish to state that we have in our possession sworn testimony by persons who assert that high officers of the police of Puerto Rico have offered them large sums of money and other privileges in return for agreeing, in some cases, to act as undercover agents within the PSP-MPI and, in other cases, to make false statements implicating socialist leaders and advocates of independence in the commission of crimes. These documents constitute clear proof of the intention of the colonial Government to fabricate "evidence" against their principal leaders of the independence movement of our country.

On 20 May 1972 the Miss United States contest was held at the Hotel Cerromar at Dorado, Puerto Rico. On that same day, during the afternoon, PSP-MPI picketed the hotel in a mass demonstration protesting the holding of the contest on Puerto Rican soil. At night, when the closing ceremony of the contest was being held, a number of devices exploded in various parts of the hotel, causing material damage amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. This act of sabotage was carried out by the Comandos Armados de Liberacion (Armed Liberation Commandos) (CAL), according to the press release of that. armed organization published by the country's newspapers. The CAL is, as we have on several occasions informed the members of the Special Committee. a clandestine body which has been carrying out armed actions against Yankee intervention in Puerto Rico for more than five year. The authorities have never been able to arrest any of its fighters. The PSP-MPI has publicly recognized that this organization represents a legitimate form of struggle for national independence. On various occasions we have stated that we do not have and cannot have any organic link with the CAL since we operate within the narrow limits of the legal framework existing in the country, whereas they operate clandestinely. At the same time, however, we assert that the importance of the clandestine and armed actions of CAL within our independence struggle will increase in proportion to the narrowing of the legal framework within which the struggle of the masses represented in the PSP-MPI and the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueno (Puerto Rican Independence Party) (PIP) is taking place.

What the colonial Government is trying to do is to establish on the basis of false, fabricated evidence an organic connexion between PSP-MFI and CAL. For that reason it offered Alberto Gonzalez-Fernandez, a former militant of the PSP, a salary of $1,500 per month , in addition to dropping various court cases (non-political) which were pending against him in return for his services as a false witness against various national leaders of our party. Similar offers have been made to a number of other compatriots.

We denounce before the entire world this conspiracy on the part of the Government of the United States and its colonial regime in Puerto Rico to suppress the independence fighters and to try to slow down the rapidly accelerating pace of the mass struggle among our people.

The anti-Puerto Rican and anti-popular repression in our country as it has developed so far during this year may be summarized as follows:

1. Repression against those who are reclaiming the land: use of the Police Shock Force to destroy the worker communities of Villa Hostos (in the city of Mayagiiez) and El Yeso (in the city of Ponce) and other communities in the towns of Santa Isabel, Salinas and Naguabo. In addition to this destruction, charges have been brought against hundreds of persons for erecting crude dwellings for their families on land belonging to the great United States corporations, such as the Central Azucarera Aguirre, or on ,government lands. Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans are entirey without housing and find themselves obliged to build houses for themselves on unoccupied land.

2. The renewal of accusations against young Puerto Ricans who refuse to serve in the armed forces of the United States. These cases are being prosecuted in a United States court operating in Puerto Rico whose proceedings are carried out in English, and under the laws of the United States. Among the accused are Angel Agosto, Secretary for Workers' Affairs of our party, and Manuel de J. Gonzales, Associate Editor of the bi-weekly Claridad, the newspaper of the independence movement. Both of these men are members of the Political Committee of PSP-MPI.

3. Gangs of hoodlums, paid by the arty of the colonial Governor, on one occasion fired on the national offices of party they have made an attempt on the life of Ruben Berrios-Martinez, the President of that party; they have attacked members of PIP and PSP-MPI who were making public collections or selling newspapers; they have used incendiary devices to attack the property of advocates of independence and socialists in San Juan, Bayam6n, Jayuya, Utuado, Salinas and 1Vaguabo; they have shot at militants of the two independence parties in Santa Isabel; and they have attacked the offices of PIP and PSP-MPI in various towns on the island.

4. The Police Shock Force brutally attacked the striking workers of the Puerto Rico Telephone Company, a subsidiary of International Telephone and Telegraph Company (ITT),). It brutally attacked striking workers of the newspaper El Mundo, a United States-owned enterprise. A journalist working for that newspaper, Bienvenido Ortiz-Otero, Vice president of the Union de Periodistas, Artes Graficas y Ramas Anexas (union of Journalists, Graphic Arts and Related Branches) (UPAGRA), was clubbed on the head and had to be hospitalized. The police of Puerto Rico allied themselves with the enterprise to break the strike, using helicopters piloted by police officials themselves. When CAL destroyed the helicopters, the police falsely accused completely innocent employees of El Mundo offenses involving explosives. Not content with those outrages, the United States court in Puerto Rico imposed fines of more than $10,000 on the Union de Periodistas for exercising the right to strike and to picket. All this forms part of a general pattern of repression against the labour movement, which is coming into the forefront of the struggle for independence and the national liberation of Puerto Rico.

5. A similar pattern of repression has been developing against the student movement. Julio Muriente, the President of the Federacion de Universitarios Pro Independencia aeration of Pro-Independence University Students) (FUPI), was expelled from the University of Puerto Rico and barred for life from studying there. Rosa Mercedes Mari, a young woman militant of FUPI, was kicked by a policeman because she was going to present a national flag of Puerto Rico to the Catalan singer Joan Manuel Serrat after a concert given by him at the theatre of the University. Later, this same young woman was accused of felonious assault against four policemen. Luis Fernando Coss, president of the Federacion Estudiantil Pro-Independencia -(Federation of Pro-Independence Students) (FEPI), an organization of secondary-school students who are partisans of independence, was expelled from the country's public schools.

6. Two powerful bombs were placed in front of the building occupied by the newspaper Claridad and one of them exploded, causing damage to the office of the management of this bi-weekly. The Comandos Anticomunistas (Anti-Communist Commandos), a gang of terrorists organized by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), claimed responsibility for the felony. Several months earlier, a gang made up of members of the United States Secret Service broke into the Claridad building by force, breaking doors and upsetting the files and other equipment, without any legal cause or justification. Jose Banch, a young militant of PSP-MPI, was brutally attacked by an agent of the CIA while he was selling the newspaper Claridad, and hovered between life and death for a number of days at the Medical Center in the capital.

7. In the town of Manatf a gang of members of the party of the colonial Governor broke in on Eladio Rodrfguez-Otero, President of the Ateneo Puertorriqueno, while he was delivering a commencement address to pupils of the high school, because he had made a reference to the fatherland and to the obligation of young Puerto Ricans to serve it. The gang prevented the continuation of the commencement exercises.

8. Twenty prominent members of the Partido Nuevo Progresista (New Progressive Party), the party of the colonial Governor, met to plan the hiring of United States gunmen to come to Puerto Rico and assassinate the leaders of the two independence parties: Ruben Berrios-Martinez, President of PIP, and Juan Mari-Bras, Secretary-General of PSP-MPI. This was revealed to the country by Representative Bennie Frankie Cerezo, a dissident legislator belonging to the same government party.

9. Last week, two hooded men fired from a moving automobile on the militant socialist Robinson Torres in the town of Santa Isabel. In the town of Caguas a band of terrorists from the CIA partially destroyed automobiles belonging to various members of the independence movement in front of a ball park while the owners were attending a match in which a visiting team from Cupa was participating There was also an attempt to set fire to the office of the Movimiento Obrero Uni (United Workers' Movement) (MOU), a body which co-ordinates the trade union activities of the most progressive unions in the country.

Thus it may be seen that violence is on the increase in Puerto Rico. If the Special Committee continues to postpone consideration of the colonial case o Puerto Rico, it will be helping to provoke a civil war in our country. The repressing activity of the colonial regime against the growing movement of the masses in favour of national independence is contributing to the likelihood of such a war.

On behalf of the independence fighters of Puerto Rico we appeal to all members of the Special Committee to fulfill their duty with respect to Puerto Rico now. If they wait, it may be too late.
 

COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED SPATES OF AMERICA
 

A. Letter dated 28 February 1972 from the Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations addressed to the Chairman of the Special Committee
 

On 9 February 1972, the Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations wrote to you "on the instructions of the Revolutionary Government of Cuba" to request that the Committee over which you preside decide immediately to include the question of Puerto Rico in its agenda and to give due priority to the discussion of this question at the session now beginning. The Cuban Ambassador's letter was circulated in document A/AC.109/392.

I am instructed by my Government to write to you and to protest, in the most unequivocal terms, this Cuban act of interference in the affairs of the Unite States of America and of Puerto Rico. This not only constitutes an affront to the people of Puerto Rico and to the General Assembly of the United Nations, which adopted resolution 748 (VIII) of 27 November 1953 but is a violation of Article 2, paragraph 7, of the Charter of the United Nations.

The Permanent Representative of Cuba, a country where political freedom and elections are unknown, and where opposition can only be voiced in exile, presumes to advise your Committee and, indeed, the United Nations as a whole, on questions of self-government and on the duties of the United Nations with respect. to free peoples.

This is an insult to the people of Puerto Rico who have chosen to live in a democracy, under a Constitution of their own choosing, in free association with the United States. This choice of their form of government has been restated periodically, in free and open elections, and through referenda, between 1952 and the present time. In November 1972, the people of Puerto Rico will once again pronounce themselves through the means of a universal secret ballot, on the nature of their Government. These elections will be open to political parties of all hues, including those who oppose Puerto Rico's present Constitution and relationship with the United States.

The United Nations General Assembly, in resolution 748 (VIII), acknowledged that Puerto Rico had achieved self-government in compliance with Article 73 a of the Charter. Our Charter is the same Charter that guided the General Assembly then, and no unilateral attempt to rewrite or redefine it can be accepted by any component body of the General Assembly. Since 1953, when resolution 748 (VIII) was adopted, the practice of self-government has become a firmly rooted tradition among the people of Puerto Rico, clearly vindicating the judgement of the General Assembly. The compact under which the peoples of Puerto Rico and of the United States live harmoniously in association has been achieved in complete freedom , and has repeatedly been put to the test of the electoral ballot. Accordingly, the terms of therefore, does violence to the basic principles enshrined in Article 2 of the Charter, and notably in paragraph 7 thereof.

My Government therefore strongly urges the Special Committee, under your distinguished chairmanship, to reject the request of the Permanent Representative of Cuba.
 

I shall appreciate it if you would have this letter circulated to all members as an official document of the Special Committee.
 

(Signed) GEORGE BUSH.
 
 
 

B. Letter dated 18 August 1972 from the Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations addressed to the Chairman of the Special Committee
 

On 28 February 1972, Ambassador Bush submitted a letter to you which reviewed the position of the United States with regard to efforts to include the question of Puerto Rico on the agenda of your Committee. The letter was circulated as official document A/AC.109/395 of 29 February 1972.

There has been no change in the United States position on this issue since that. time. My Government has instructed me to reiterate our continued opposition to this Cuban act of interference in the affairs of the United States and of Puerto Rico.

I shall appreciate it if you would have this letter reconfirming our position circulated to all members as an official document of the Special Committee.
 

(Signed) CHRISTOPHER H. PHILLIPS, Ambassador.
 

LETTER DATED 23 AUGUST 1972 FROM THE CHARGE D'AFFAIRES A.I. OF THE PERMANENT MISSION OF CHILE T0 THE UNITED NATIONS ADDRESSED TO THE

CHAIRMAN OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE
 

I have the honour to inform you of the statement made by the Minister for Foreign Affaires of Chile, Mr. Clodomiro Almeyda, on 18 August 1972, in connexion with the Special Committee's discussion of the question of Puerto Rico:

"On the occasion of the meetings being held in New York by the United Nations Committee on Decolonization, the Government of Chile wishes to express its hope that the Committee will take a decision to the effect that resolution 1514 (XV) on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples, adopted by the General Assembly in 1960 at its fifteenth session, is applicable to Puerto Rico.

"This position of the Government of Chile is consistent with the one taken on the same question by the recent Conference of Non-aligned Countries at Georgetown, Guyana."

I shall be most grateful if you will have this letter circulated as an official document of the Special Committee.

(Signed) ULDARICIO FIGUEROA,

Charge d'affaires a.i. of Chile.
 

Mr. SOURWINE. To make the record clear, let me ask: Do the people of Puerto Rico want to be independent of the United States? What is the record on that?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. In a plebiscite on July 23, 1967, the people of Puerto Rico voted overwhelmingly to keep the status of Commonwealth with the United States. The vote was 60.06% in favor and 0.06 % against [ed: The numbers are unreasonable, but appear as stated]. The Pro-Independence Movement boycotted the plebiscite. To be exact, the vote was as follows: 425,081 for Commonwealth, 273,315 for statehood, and 4,205 for independence.

Mr. MARTIN. Mr. Tarabochia, do you have any additional evidence of Cuban involvement in the Puerto Rican question at the United Nations?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. As I stated previously, the Cuban involvement has continued unabated to this day. On August 16, 1973, Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada, the Cuban ambassador to the U.N., requested that Puerto Rico be considered for further discussion by the special committee and that the committee hear the leaders of the Puerto Rican liberation movement. With the composition of the committee as it was, this presented no problem. On August 23, 1973, despite strong objections from the United States, Juan Mari Bras, secretary general of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, and Ruben Berrios Martinez, leader of the Puerto Rican Independence Party, addressed the committee. As a result, on August 30, 1973, the Commission on Colonialism of the U.N. approved a resolution which, among other matters, includes these points:
 

1. Reaffirms the inalienable right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination and independence in accordance with General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960;
 

Mr. SOURWINE. Are you offering that resolution for the record?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. It might be included by reference.

Senator THURMOND. That will be the order.
 

2. Requests the Government of the USA or any corporate body under its jurisdiction to refrain from any measures, economic or social which might obstruct the Puerto Rican people's right to self-determination;

3. Requests the Rapporteur of the Committee of 24 to collect information to help consider the Puerto Rican question in 1974

4. Decides to keep the Puerto Rican question "under continuous review,' voted to do exactly that: to keep the Puerto Rican question under continuous review.
 

Mr. MARTIN. The testimony you have already given and the documentation you have submitted certainly points to the conclusion that Cuba has played a central role in getting Puerto Rico onto the active agenda of the U.N. Commission on Colonialism. I would like to suggest, Mr. Chairman, that to amplify Mr. Tarabochia's testimony, the subcommittee request the Congressional Research Service to prepare a brief study of the Puerto Rican case before the U.N. to be printed as part of the appendix of this hearing.

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.

[The study referred to will be found in the appendix on p. 418]

Mr. MARTIN. Your previous testimony has implied that Cuba' maneuvers on the Puerto Rican question at the U.N. constitute a single prong in a multipronged attack. Do you have other evidence relating to Cuba's involvement in the campaign to detach Puerto Rico from the United States?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. At this point, Mr. Chairman, I would like to furnish the subcommittee with the details of the efforts of the Cuban Intelligence Directorate to spearhead a pincer movement against, Puerto Rico's ties with the United States by using groups and individuals of proven loyalty to the Communist cause, both in the United States and in Puerto Rico. In order to do this, I should delve' a little into the functions of the Cuban General Directorate of Intelligence or DGI.

Senator THURMOND. Go ahead.

Mr. TARABOCHIA. At the outset it must be emphasized that, no matter what action the Cuban Intelligence undertakes, it does so with the foreknowledge if not specific approval of the Soviet advisers who, for all practical purposes, run the Cuban operation.

With an eye to the so-called detente and the lifting of the blockade of Cuba, the Communist propaganda maintains that Cuban involvement in insurrectional activities in Latin America has subsided, if it has-not been totally eliminated. This may be so on the surface, but there are no indications that the Cubans have renounced their policy of subversion, and Castro has openly stated his support for j what he calls Puerto Rico's ambition for independence. Actually, Castro and his regime have intensified their efforts, encouraged by the change of the political climate in the United States. Our national epidemic of attacks on counterintelligence agencies-police intelligence units which keep an eye on active agents of subversion-has not been lost on the Soviet and Cuban leaders. Puerto Rico is a case in point, most shocking because almost all the actors are U.S. citizens who flaunt their affiliation with their Cuban mentors to all who want to hear or see it.

To return to the DGI, the Soviets, when they took effective control of a espionage and subversive operation in 1969-70, forced the removal of its head, Manuel Pineiro Lozada. The reasons for his removal were many, but by and large, the principle reason was that Pineiro had caught a number of Soviet advisors to the DGI conspiring to replace Fidel Castro with a party member presumably felt to be more amendable to orders from Moscow. This took place during the "Microfaction" incident in 1967-68. The embarrassment caused the soviets was not only humiliating but costly because, as a result of this involvement, Castro demanded the removal of all Soviet advisors to the DGI.

It took an oil embargo to bring the Cubans to heel, and when this took place, Pineiro lost his job and the DGI became a virtual appendage of the KGB. Let me hasten to add that it would be naïve to believe that Pineiro's removal as head of the DGI put an end to the plans he had previously elaborated, or that the DGI ceased to cooperate with the Politburo of the Cuban Communist Party.

Castro, out of gratitude, kept Pineiro in business by creating a special department call Department of Latin American Liberation. In this capacity, Pineiro kept up his work of subversion in Latin America even better after the Soviets went to great lengths to demonstrate that Castro had stopped exporting revolution to the countries of the hemisphere.

Mr. MARTIN. You believe that Senor Pineiro's shelving was just a sham?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. That Pineiro's shelving was just a sham is demonstrated by a letter in Castro's own handwriting, addressed to the then President of Chile, Salvador Allende. The letter dated July 29, 1973, indicates that Pineiro was traveling to Chile under false pretenses, that his real mission was to evaluate the situation and to offer expert advice on how to cope with the growing public unrest.

Mr. MARTIN. But how does the question of Puerto Rico tie in with Chile and with the role played in that country by Manuel Pineiro Lozada?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. In order to keep tighter control on the revolutionary process in Latin America, Fidel Castro recently decided to create a special department within the Central Committee of the Communist Party. This is known as the Department of America. It is the Department of America that orchestrates and directs all Cuban activities in Puerto Rico. This by no means excludes the DGI from operational control of the activists involved.

At the risk of being repetitious, I would like to call the chairman's attention to the fact that, in addition to the constant flow of Puerto Rican activists to and from Cuba and the additional fact that the Cubans maintain a so-called Puerto Rican Mission in Havana, there is the interrelation of the agents recruited by the DGI with citizens in the continental United States. This is manifested in the support role assigned to both Puerto Rican and continental U.S. groups in the drive to pry loose Puerto Rico from its U.S. ties.

Mr. MARTIN. Do you know of any movements in the continent United States that are engaged in supporting Cuba's efforts in the United Nations?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. As I stated previously, the Cubans have left nothing to chance. They know from the days of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee that there is a vast array of American organizations and individuals always ready to endorse and support any cause promoting Cuban objectives. Consequently, it was with relative ease that, when the word came, not only individual and organizational support was provided, but a new committee, specifically tailored for the purpose was created. It was called the Committee for Puerto Rico Decolonization. The Committee for Puerto Rico Decolonization has spawned another organization better equipped to fulfill the purposes of its creation. I am referring to the Puerto Rican Solidarity Committee, which was created at a conference which took place at the Newark, N.J. campus of Rutgers University on March 1-2, 1975. This was less than a month before the Havana Preparatory conference, which took place March 30-31

The Committee for Puerto Rican Decolonization was formed in the middle of 1973 to obtain "North American support for the decolonization struggle." There is good reason to believe that the founders of the committee expected to expand the base of influence created by the Cubans in the U.N. Committee for Decolonization by presenting a front of support for the independence cause made almost exclusively of Americans; that is, allegedly independent of Puerto Rican ties. Soon after the committee was formed it bean publishing a bulletin, "Puerto Rico Libre." The first issue appeared in August, 1973. Copies were mailed to every senator an possibly to other embers of Congress.

With typical Communist brazenness, it claimed to be an "unaffiliated organization supporting the independence of Puerto Rico." The fact that convicted terrorist Carlos Feliciano and Alfredo Lonez

- members of the PSP Politburo in the Unite States - are listed as members of the board of directors, is still another indication of how semantics are used by the Marxists to confuse the issue when the need for the creation of a particular front organization arises.

Other members of the board of directors of Puerto Rico Libre were identified as follows:

Ernest Chanes a member of the Executive Committee of the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee. In 1958, the House Committee on Un-American Activities cited the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee as a Communist front.

Mary Kochiyama, a sponsor of the American Committee for the

Protection of Foreign Born. This is an organization that was cited as a Communist front in 1948 by the Attorney General of the United States.

Michael Locker, a founder of what later became the Radical Education Project, of SDS.

Ruth Renolds, one-time executive secretary of the American League of Puerto Rican Independence in 1944. In 1950, she had been arrested for advocating the overthrow of the Government by force, convicted, and sentenced to 6 years in prison. She was released on bail after 2 years.

Michael Standard, active in both the National Lawyers Guild- cited in 1951 by HUAC as a Communist front-and the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, previously mentioned.

With such leadership, it was small wonder when a group of the committee undertook to lobby for Puerto Rican independence by making personal visits to every member of the U.N. Committee. In addition, according to the committee's claims, a letter campaign which reached 30,000, was undertaken for the same purpose, the addressees being the members of the. U.N. Committee. These efforts were supported by active demonstrations in front of the U.N. building on August 13-15, 1973, timed to coincide with the anticipated discussion of the Puerto Rican case by the Decolonization Committee.

Mr. MARTIN. Where was the Committee for Puerto Rican Decolonization based?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. The committee was based in New York and gave as its address: Box 1240, Peter Stuyvesant Station, New York 10009.

Mr. Chairman, I wish to offer for the record, at this point, a copy of the January 1975 "Puerto Rico Libre." This copy was addressed to Senator James O. Eastland, Capitol, Washington, D.C. 20510.

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, it will be accepted for the appendix.

[The material referred to will be found on page 436 of the appendix.]

Mr. MARTIN. Mr. Tarabochia: you have spoken of "front organizations." Has the U.S. Communist Party been directly involved in this campaign for Puerto Rican independence?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. The Communist Party has been active in this field since the early 1930's. This is evident from the statement of the National Chairman of the Communist Party 'of the United States, Henry Winston, in which he proclaims that the "bonds of solidarity between Communists and all independence forces of Puerto Rico with our Communist Party * * * can bring an end to U.S. imperialist domination of Puerto Rico." Mr. Chairman, I would like to offer for the record, an article by Henry Winston, published in the September 26, 1970, issue of Daily World, the official organ of the CPUSA.

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, it will be received and made part of the record.

[The material referred to follows:]
 

[From the Daily World, Sept. 26, 1970]
 

INDEPENDENCE FOR PUERTO RICO
 

(By Henry Winston, National Chairman, Communist Party of the United

States)
 

During this period of major struggles in all parts of the world for national liberation from imperialist oppression, we make a special pledge of full support to the heroic people of Puerto Rico in their struggle for independence from U.S. imperialism.

The Puerto Ricans' struggle for independence, freedom and the right to determine their own destiny encompasses the centuries, and when Spanish rule was crumbling in 1898, United States imperialist rule was imposed with guns and rough-riding brutality which shocked the world, but the spirit and heroic struggle for freedom and independence could not be crushed. That struggle reassetted itself in many forms and fills many chapters of unwritten history.
 

That struggle gained new strength with the founding of the Communist Pa of Puerto Rico on September 23, 1934. That is also the anniversary date of the glorious Grito de Lares of September 23, 1868. We greet the 36th anniversary the Communist Party in the spirit of strengthening the struggle for Puerto Rican independence.

The bonds of solidarity between Communists and all independence forces Puerto Rico with our Communist Party and the progressive working class a anti-imperialist forces of the United States can bring an end to U.S. Imperialistic domination of Puerto Rico. These forces today include one-and-a-half million Puerto Ricans in the mainland of the U.S., a tremendous and valiant addition our working class and to the anti-imperialist struggle. They too suffer the ravage of discrimination and poverty.

An end to U.S. military rule by guns and bombers will mean an end to poverty oppression, degradation and racism; it will mean the right of Puerto Ricans

develop their economy resources and culture. And Puerto Rico will no longer be fortress for U.S. oppression but a beautiful and bountiful bulwark for peace an social progress and for socialism in this new world.
 

Mr. MARTIN. If I am not mistaken there was a rally in New York City last October in support of PSP's claims. Is this the event to which you were referring a while ago?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Yes; and again I find it relevant because of the narrow spectrum of ideological representation which contrasts wit the number of the groups present. In other words, the political orientation of the several groups urging Puerto Rican independence was predominantly Marxist-Leninist, even though thinly veiled as some thing else.

Mr. MARTIN. Is there any doubt in your mind that Puerto Rica independence, as espoused by these groups, is a cover, camouflage or prelude for the goal of Communist revolution?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. I don't think there can be any doubt about this For example, on July 25, 1975, during a rally labeled as "A People" Salute to Cuba," which took place at the Manhattan Center in New York, Florenoio Merced of the PSP Politburo said, I quote:
 

How many of those who today praise and celebrate the Cuban revolution one thought that the process unleashed by the attack on the Moncada garrison was merely an adventure carried out by a small band of youths who ,represented n one and who had no massive base of support? How many of those who will tomorrow celebrate and applaud the Puerto Rican resolution have those same thought about the revolutionary process underway in Puerto Rico today.
 

To give you another example, Grace Mora chairwoman of the Puerto Rican Commission of the communist Party U.S.A. and CPUSA central committee member, in introducing the party's program on Puerto Rico at the party's 21st National Convention, stated that, "the CPUSA has consistently supported the right of the Puerto Rican people to self-determination and independence."

Even when taken in the context of Communist semantics, these are revealing statements.
 

Mr. MARTIN. You were talking about the rally in support off Puerto Rican independence in New York in October 1974. Do you have any more to say on this point?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. The event, which took place on October 27, 1974 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, was unique because it created an umbrella organization under the aegis of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, with Alfredo Lopez as chief coordinator. This umbrella organization claimed to be the first U.S. national organization to take up support for the cause of Puerto Rican independence as its primary purpose. Most members of the groups represented had, at one time or another, visited Cuba and espoused the cause of the Cuban revolution. This event was, for all practical purposes, the first tactical movement of the pincer strategy carried out in the U.S. There is no doubt in my mind from the rhetoric used at this event, that at least the ideological, if not also, the strategic, headquarters of the operation was in Havana.

The meeting and the foundation of the umbrella organization must be regarded as part of an orchestrated plan involving activities in Havana, in Puerto Rico, in the United Nations, and other activities in the U.S. mainland. For example, the previous night, October 26, 1974, five bombs exploded minutes apart in midtown and lower Manhattan. Last April 1, as soon as I became aware that the preparatory meeting had taken place in Havana, I called the New York Police Department's Arson and Explosives Unit to warn them to expect some terrorist bombings in the very near future. I did not realize then that my warning about the very near future would be so literal because the very next morning four bombs went off in Manhattan.

Mr. MARTIN. Do you recall what groups were involved in the October 27 rally? .

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Of course. The Puerto Rican Socialist Party was the most prominent organization. It had overall control over the event and its General Secretary, Juan Mari Bras, was the principal speaker.

Then the Communist Party, U.S.A. through Arnold Johnson, its public relations director, in a statement released on September 10, 1974, on behalf of the Political Committee, called for: "A mass struggle for recognition of Puerto Rico as a free and independent nation-which would be the most significant event in celebration of our Bicentennial."

Mr. Chairman, I have a copy of this statement which appeared in the September 11, 1974 issue of the Daily World. May I offer it for the record?

Senator THURMOND. Without objection it will be received.

[The material referred to follows:]
 

[From the Daily World, Sept. 11, 1974]
 

PUERTO RICAN RALLY BACKED BY CPUSA
 

NEW YORK, Sept. 10-Calling for overflow attendance at Madison Square Garden on October 27 in support of the struggle for Puerto Rican independence. Arnold Johnson, public relations director of the Communist Party, U.S.A., today issued the following statement on behalf of the Political Committee:

"The National Demonstration at Madison Square Garden on Sunday October 27 in support of the struggle for the independence of Puerto Rico must be made into a major success.

"This united front demonstration will declare the support of the people of the United States for the historic December, 1973 United Nations' Resolution, recognizing the inalienable right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination and independence.

"The demonstration also demands that our celebrations of the 200th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the 13 colonies, and the birth of the United States in 1776, be expressed by ending U.S. imperialist domination over Puerto Rico.

"This calls for a mass struggle for recognition of Puerto Rico as a free and independent nation-which would be the most significant event in celebration of our Bicentennial.

"The new major factor in this struggle is the United Nations' resolution, which reflected worldwide support for Puerto Rican independence.'

"The resolution was introduced by the Cuban delegation, with the active support of the other socialist countries, led by the Soviet Union.
 

"The resolution indicates today's reality on the world scene and puts t struggle for Puerto Rican independence on a level of mass struggle.

"This is our approach td the Madison Square Garden demonstration and t reason for our concern that every seat there is occupied.

The statement adds:

"The struggle for Puerto Rican independence raises the need for a massive united front movement in the United States.

"All working class and mass democratic organizations should seek implementation of the United Nations resolution for Puerto Rican independence while celebrating the Bicentennial of our Declaration of Independence."
 

Mr. TARABOCHIA. The Communist Party was represented at the rally by Angela Davis, a heroine in the eyes of the Cubans, who also addressed the rally. Not surprisingly, there were boos when Angel Davis began her address.

Mr. MARTIN. Why do you say you were not surprised that Angel Davis was booed?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. The reason I said it is because I am very much aware of the low esteem in which the Communist Party U.S.A. is held by many of the groups in attendance at that rally. Ideologically they are closer to the Maoists and the Marxist terrorists than the are to the CPUSA. In addition, the Moscow line of detente was in force because the Soviets needed every pretense at peaceful coexistent they could muster in view of several forthcoming important events, especially the Helsinki Conference. Such tactics are not popular wit the more activist elements of the PSP-dominated groups attending the rally, especially when one takes into consideration the very close ties existing between the PSP and the Weather Underground to its burgeoning outgrowth and propaganda front, the Prairie Fire Osawatomie Tribe. In addition, the Socialist Workers Party and youth affiliate YSL; the American Indian Movement represents by Clyde Bellecourt and Russell Means; and Cora Weiss, of the Women's Strike for Peace, were part of the event which featured several speakers. A parallel event took place in Los Angeles, but the attendance was insignificant. Similar events took place in Seattle, Wash. and in Oakland, Calif. These are centers with strong Venceremos Brigade representations.

Mr. MARTIN. Is there any evidence that the Venceremos Brigade has played a role in Havana's drive to wrest Puerto Rico from its U.S. ties?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. I venture to say that the Venceremos Brigade, secondary to the PSP, is the most important element in the offensive. As an instrument of the Cuban DGI, it has a high penetration potential and a well-trained cadre for ready deployment whenever the need arises. The presence of several elite members of the brigade in the ranks of both the PSP and its client organizations leaves no doubt that the DGI has already attained a substantial part of its objectives.

Mr. SOURWINE. Exactly what do you mean when you say Venceremos Brigade?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Actually it has two meanings. Used as referring to a particular group of individuals who went from this country to Cuba, and there received one of several different degrees of indoctrination. There were eight Venceremos Brigades up to May of this year, for there were that many separate groups. The term also refers to a functioning organization in the United States made up of former members of one or more of the eight earlier brigades, but not all of them. This Venceremos Brigade does Castro's bidding today - which means, in actuality, it is controlled by the KGB through the DGI. We know the names of all the members of the Traveling Brigades, but do not have any roster of members of the currently active organization.

Mr. MARTIN. What specific evidence is there that the Venceremos Brigade has figured actively in Castro's Puerto Rican campaign? Are there specific members to whom you refer?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. The members of the brigade first began appearing as leaders of the U.S.-based section of the PSP but it was the October 27 rally and the formation of the Puerto Rican Solidarity Committee that brought them to the forefront. I am speaking of the visible ones, because there are others who, I have good reason to believe, have very close ties with the DGI and have not surfaced yet.

The visible ones are vanguard workers, seasoned cadres, skilled organizers, trusted by the Cubans and with ready access to them. They command key positions. For instance, Rosa Borenstein already on the Central Staff of the Puerto Rican Solidarity Bay Committee, saw to it that the newly formed PRSC followed the proper directives. She steered the Convening Committee in adopting a line of action similar to that espoused by Havana. I will address myself to your question in just a moment because in order to put this matter m the proper perspective, I believe it would be more to the point to delve into the formation of PRSC or Puerto Rican Solidarity Committee.

The PRSC was founded at a working conference, conducted in a quasi-academic atmosphere, and was the outgrowth of the intentionally loose network of committees and individuals involved in organizing the rally. The conference took place at the Newark, N.J. campus of Rutgers University. There were about 100 delegates, of whom a fifth were Puerto Ricans while the rest were the usual, well-known left-wing activists of the sort present in most anti-American causes over the past decade. Contrary to the general belief, the conference, because of its composition, was anything but monolithic. There were two principal ideological factions in conflict there. One was the PSP; the other was the Communist Party U.S.A. Again the PSP assumed a leadership role: First, because of its well-publicized close relationship with Cuba's Politburo; and, second, because of its clever propaganda technique which makes it appear larger than it really is. These two factors played a primary role m the efforts of the PSP to arrogate to itself the leadership of the committee.

Mr. MARTIN. How did the PSP manage to do this?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. I could attribute it to the charisma of being held so close to the bosom of the Cuban Politburo. On a more serious vein though, the PSP has matured politically, through its close ties with Cuba. Because of these ties, the PRSC was created for the express purpose of serving the Cuban's interests. In the case of the committee itself, two objectives were of immediate and primary importance. The first was the need for a do-called independent, U.S.-based umbrella organization to take over the task first assigned to the moribund Puerto Rico Decolonization Committee. Its formation, according to the organizers, represents 'people from just about every area of the country, every tendency of political thinking, and every sector of the population." To this broad and highly inaccurate statement, they, hasten to add that, "the representation is not merely reflective. This is representation in quality, life experience * * * these are leaders of wide sectors of the population, leaders in the real anti-imperialist movement." The second, objective, was of an even more immediate nature than the first, and had to do with the selection of candidates for the preparatory meeting of the conference, which took place March 30-31 of this year in Havana, in response to an initiative by the World Peace Council, a Communist-front organization based in Helsinki. These delegates, as chosen by the committee, would be the only ones to whom the Cubans would grant visas to attend the preliminary conference. As it turned out, the PRSC was represented Frances Beal of the Third World Women's 'Alliance and Arthur Kinoy of the National Lawyer's Guild, the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, and more recently of the National Interim Committee. for a Mass Party of the People. There were ideological differences, and the U.S. delegates found themselves split into two groups. One group took the PSP-Cuban position. The other group was formed by three leading figures of the CPUSA, members of the American Committee of the World Peace Council. They were identified as Anthon Monteiro. Executive Secretary of the National anti-imperialist Movement in Solidarity with African Liberation; Helen Winter of the U.S. Committee of the World Peace Council, and Roque Ristorucci Executive Secretary of the Young Workers Liberation league, the youth branch of the Communist Party U.S.A.

Mr. MARTIN. Briefly, what was the nature of the ideological differences which surfaced during the preparatory meeting?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. The three members of the Communist Party USA adhered to the views of the Soviet bloc countries, who view the problem of Puerto Rican independence within the context of the détente. This, of course, stemmed from the need of the Soviet Union to maintain a low profile vis-a-vis the struggles of national liberation, in view of the forthcoming Helsinki conference. I mentioned this

earlier with regard to the booing of Angela Davis by the participants in the October 27, 1974, rally.

Mr. Chairman, I have in my possession a copy of the speech delivered at the Havana preparatory meeting, by Anthony Monteiro. It appeared in the May 3, 1975 issue of the World Magazine, a supplement of the CPUSA mouthpiece, Daily World. I would like to offer it for the record, along with a translation of certain excerpts of the remarks made by Juan Marinello Vidaurreta, chairman of the meeting and president of the forthcoming conference in September; and excerpts of a message by the World Peace Council which appeared in the same issue of the magazine. In addition, I have a number of transcripts of radio broadcasts by Havana Radio regarding the preparatory meeting, which I would like to offer for the record.

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, they will be received for the Appendix.

Mr. TARABOCHIA. The groups forming the PRSC espouse a more radical view with regard to the means of achieving independence. The Communist Party U.S.A. has characterized them as Maoist. They advocate revolution as the only means of achieving independence. Two groups attending the PRSC founding conference in Newark, the October League and the Congress of African People, decided to boycott the subsequent Havana conference on the grounds that it was a Moscow-initiated affair. Actually, at the Havana conference, the PRSC membership was quite unhappy with what they called the passive attitude of the World Peace Council. A major, point of dissent was the inclusion of the political definition of detente in the declaration calling for the September conference in Havana. The words, "a world in which the forces of peace, freedom, and socialism are imposing an international d6tente" were unacceptable to the PRSC faction which issued a separate statement with emphasis on "the growth and continuing victories recorded by national liberation movements since the end of World War IL"

In Marxist jargon, this means revolutionary war, with its inseparable corollary: terrorism. This I find consistent with the PSP line, which defends and even advocates terrorism as a necessary means of reaching its objective-the elimination of U.S. presence from the Commonwealth for the purpose of imposing a Marxist-Leninist dictatorship of the proletariat in Puerto Rico.

Mr. MARTIN. Have the ideological objectives of the PSP been set forth in any publication?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. The PRSC has a publication called Puerto Rico Libre which came into existence long before the committee itself was founded. It was first published in 1973 as a bulletin of the Committee for Puerto Rican Decolonization which I mentioned earlier. The reason I am returning to this matter is that it is this publication that furnishes the best proof of how deeply the Venceremos Brigade is involved in this matter. Mr. Chairman, I don't think I would be exaggerating if I stated that the close ties of the PSP, the Venceremos Brigade, and the DGI serve to create a political bridgehead of the Cuban Politburo in the United States Proper. This is not surprising because as far back as 1967, Juan Mari Bras had predicted this would happen. What is interesting, of course, are the mechanics, or to be more exact, the tactics employed to bring about the "objective conditions," to use a favorite term of the Communists, both in Puerto Rico and the United States. Again it would be an oversimplification to try to give a chronological overview of the progress achieved by the PSP and its DGI directors. Their campaign has been unfolding since 1959, and it is now moving at an accelerated pace on several fronts-aided by new alliances. Mr. Martinez has very ably summarized some of its facets, but I believe it is imperative to explore a special facet of this carefully orchestrated campaign, and that is the Venceremos Brigade.

Mr. MARTIN. Is there any connection between the Venceremos Brigade and the PRSC?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. To begin with, a glance at the names of PRSC's national staff should suffice to answer that question. What is more significant, in addition to the fact that more than 40 percent of the staff is made up of veterans of the eight brigades, is the fact that these are top organizers who have spent considerable lengths of time in Cuba.

Mr. MARTIN. Mr. Chairman, as you know, the subcommittee in, annual report for 1974, included a brief summary on its investigative activities regarding the Venceremos Brigade. It was Mr. Tarabochia who has been spearheading this investigation. If it is agreeable to t Chair, I would like to suggest that the section on the Venceremos Brigade in the 1974 Annual Report of the Subcommittee be incorporated into the appendix of this record, in order to put Mr. Tarabochia's present testimony in proper perspective.

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Mr. Chairman, Puerto Rico Libre, the official mouthpiece of the PRSC, lists as its national staff, the following individuals: Maggie Block, Rosa Borenstein, David Burd, Bill Henning, Sally Hamann, Lally Lopez, Liz Mestres, and Vicki Wheeler. In addition, Julie Nichamin, Ted Glick, Roger Geller, Frank Christopher, and Dana Biberman are listed as members of the PRSC. Of these, Margaret Phyllis Block was a member of the second Venceremos Brigade, which was in Cuba for 6 weeks, form mid-February 1970 to mid-April 1970; Borenstein was a member of the First Brigade which travelled to Cuba from December 1969 to February 1970. In addition, Rosa Borenstein made another trip to Cuba in July of 1971 when she visited the Cuban Institute of Friendship With Peoples (ICAP), a notorious cover for the DGI. There she met with an ICAP operatives who had worked on the Cuban contingent of the First and Second Brigades.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know the name of that ICAP official?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Yes, sir. His name is Jose Antonio Pedroso. There was an exchange of information about activities of Brigade veterans in the United States and Rosa Borenstein gave Pedro

details about members in the Northeastern United States.

Mr. MARTIN. Are there any other members of the currently operating Venceremos Brigade?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Yes. Sally Hamann whose real name is Sarah Elizabeth Hamann, was a member o e Sixth Venceremos Brigade, which traved to Cuba in the summer of 1973. Dana Hope Biberman, an old National Lawyers Guild activist, was a member of the Eighth Venceremos Brigade contingent which returned from Cuba in May of this year. What is even more interesting is that Dana Biberman and

Arthur Kinoy were members of the NLG's Asia Military Committee. Members of this committee established operating bases the Philippines, Okinawa, and Japan where they actively engaged attempts to ferment sedition among U.S. military personnel stationed aboard vessels or bases in the Southeast Asia area.

Then there is Julie Nichamin. This is the same Julie Nichamin mentioned in the annual report of the subcommittee as being the author of a letter instructing Weatherman leaders to contact a DGI officer operating from the Cuban mission at the United Nations for information about the formation of brigades. Nichamin was in Cuba at the time and the letter, dated January 26, 1969, from Havana, was addressed to was addressed to Bernardine Dohrn. It dealt with selection of member for the brigades.

Mr. MARTIN. Mr. Chairman, this letter appears on page 298 o the series of hearings entitled, "Extent of Subversion in the "New Left", part 4. May I respectfully suggest that, because of its importance, this letter be made part of this hearing record, at this point.

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, it will be made a part of the record, for ready availability to readers of this hearing record. [The material referred to follows:]
 

26 January
 

Key Notes on how people should be selected for the brigade.
 

From the point of view of the Cubans, and the Movement people who first developed the idea of the brigade, one of the most important aspects for the project was the contribution it could make in pulling SDS together organizationally and politically. We have come up with some ideas about the selection process for members of the brigade that we think could help develop ideas about collective responsibility and discipline. We've gotten the ideas from talks with party people down here about the selection procedure of Cuban party officials.
 

1. There should be an initial program in which the brigade is described. This should obviously include a discussion of the 10 millions tons and what they mean from a historical viewpoint, from the point of view of economic development, in order to build a better understanding of what the Cuban revolution is all about. Then the qualifications for members of the brigade should be discussed (this amounts to a definition of out criteria for choosing members). We think it is important to stress the need for people who are self-disciplined and responsible, and who have a fairly high degree of commitment and involvement in the Movement. This is especially important to the Cubans, who are looking very much toward the future contribution these 150 people can make to the Movement.
 

2. After the recruit is a pretty good understanding in the chapters about what the brigade is all about, they can hold nominating sessions, in which chapter members suggest people whom they feel meet the necessary qualifications to be a brigade member. Again, we believe that this procedure for suggesting names can begin to develop, in concrete terms, a sense of collective discipline and responsibility. This is because the idea is introduced in a meaningful context, where people understand the specific need for selecting people for political roles in a particular manner.
 

3. Next comes the crucial stage: sessions in which the qualifications of the people nominated are publicly discussed, sessions of criticism and self-criticism, sessions where people's work and personalities are discussed in political terms. The Cubans have told us that these meetings are tremendously important in the selection process for the party hero, that frequently it is the only time in which people's work and attitudes are evaluated publicly, and finally, that the sessions are very educational and very traumatic. We believe that although sessions like these often take place among small groups of people in the Movement who are close friends and work closely together, that nothing of this sort exists among the majority of the people. Hopefully, the understanding of such evaluation and their value politically can be generalized.
 

4. The next stage, in which people are selected from the list of names of nominees, we feel, will be the most difficult. There has to be a group, a national council or committee, which will have the responsibility of carrying out the final selection process. Autobiographical material should be solicited from each nominee. People should be interviewed to get information about the nominee's political work, about his relationship with the people he works with, etc. And then that group, with the power which has been given to it, and according to criteria which have been developed and publicly known, and in accordance with distribution quotas (perhaps defined regionally and according to population density, the final choice can be made.
 

We feel that the main problem here might be the notion of a hierarchy of decision-making: that a small group will have the final determination about the composition of the brigade. We aren't too clear yet about how the national committee should be formed; we do feel very strongly that it should include people who are willing to make themselves completely responsible for the tasks that will be assigned to them, and that they should have a good understanding of the Movement. The point is that once the criteria for membership has been determined and the national committee formed, there can be no dispute as to the authority of that committee to make decisions (obviously, we mean here, only in the areas for which they have been mandated).
 

La birgada va,

(signed) Julie Nichamin.
 

P.S. I (Julie) will be down here at least until the middle of April; if any help or information is needed just get the letter to Jimenez at the Mission to forward down here.
 

Mr. TARABOCHIA. The DGI officer involved, and identified by Nichamin as "Jimenez", is Jesus Jimenez Escobar who was expelled shortly afterwards, on Feburuary 19, 1969, for espionage activities against the United States. As stated in the subcommittee's annual report, the DGI Center in New York, which operates as part of the Cuban U.N. mission, has been and still is active in the operations of the brigade, particularly when it comes to entry visas, preliminary clearances and background investigations. At present, there are 25 individuals operating at the Mission, including Ambassador Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada. Of the 25, only one is a woman and she does not hold a clerical position. Information obtained from former, members of the DGI indicates that the entire mission operates as an adjunct of the General Directorate of Intelligence.

Mr. MARTIN. Do you mean to say that all of the mission's personnel are DGI officers? Wouldn't this be unusual, even by Communist standards?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. That is a very interesting question and I believe it needs to be answered in depth. First of all, most Americans have a gentleman's legalistic outlook when it comes to matters of membership in an organization. They expect a clear definition of rules, classification, identification, et cetera. Because of our innate belief in the democratic principles of a free society we have a great degree of difficulty in distinguishing the difference between our system and that of a totalitarian country. It is in the totalitarian system that professional fields are invaded, objections overruled, personal feelings abused, and individuals are either cajoled or forced into, perhaps even made to appear voluntarily cooperative in a field that they might personally or professionally detest is given the choice. The fact of the matter is that in a diplomatic post such as the Cuban Mission at the U.N., those who are not actually DGI officers nevertheless work, either directly or indirectly, in support of the DGI Center within the Mission. They may feel duty-bound to do so because of party allegiance. They may simply be opportunists who bow easily to pressures. They may be forced to cooperate because of blackmail. The reason for their cooperation is immaterial. The fact is that even the Cuban ambassador to the U.N. is involved to a degree, because it is inconceivable that he is not aware of the activities of the personnel under him. A DGI center has certain physical attributes that cannot escape the scrutiny of even the most gullible person-and Ambassador Alarcon is anything but gullible. By that I mean that there are saferooms, communication equipment and other space accessible to a very limited number of individuals whose duties, despite their cover, have nothing to do with the everyday, bona fide functions of their diplomatic title. This has happened time and again. To date, more than a dozen Cuban intelligence agents, masquerading as diplomats, have either been expelled from the United States or denied reentry.

To return to your question, no not all of the personnel at the mission is composed of DGI officers, but for the reasons I have just given, they might just as well be. To illustrate the point better, let me add that whenever, in the course of a debriefing of a former DGI officer, I asked who was working for the DGI at their station, I invariably got an answer that amounted to this: It is not who, but to what degree.

Mr. MARTIN. To turn back for a moment from the DGI to the Venceremos Brigade-what motivates young people who join its brigade? What motivates girls like Julie Nichamin, for example?

Mr. TAR,ABOCHIA. Julie Nichamin is a good example to pick. We reproduced a letter she wrote from Havana in our previous hearing. It appeared on page 300 of part 4 of our hearings on "Extent of Subversion in the `New Left."' I think it would be helpful, Mr. Chairman, in answering the question if the text of this letter could be printed in the appendix.

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Julie Nichamin has been even more active than

this letter indicates. She was arrested in Chicago, IL on October 11, 1969, for mob action and disorderly conduct, sentenced to two days in jail and fined $870. This was during the "days of rage" when the Weathermen trashed the Loop in Chicago. This was in response to the urgings of the Viet Cong and Cubans to bring the war home. The Weatherman leadership had traveled to Havana in July of 1969 to meet with the Vietnamese under the auspices of the Cuban DGI. Nichamin's statements and speeches against the United States are probably the most strident of the many anti-American harangues delivered by brigade members. These statements, I believe, demonstrate their total subservience to their Cuban mentors. In one of these diatribes, she said-I quote-" * * * we know that we will leave here with a new dedication to destroy the imperialist monster from within just as the rest of the peoples are destroying imperialism from without."

According to the PRSC's "Puerto Rico Libre" of March 15, 1975, Julie Nichamin and five other members of PRSC visited Puerto Rico during the previous month of January. It goes without saying that the Cuban interests were well served during this trip, since one-third of the group was composed of trusted DGI contacts- if not operatives. By that, I mean Julie Nichamin and Rosa Borenstein. There reports were predictable and for this reason, I would like to offer this copy of Puerto Rico Libre for the record.

Mr. MARTIN. May it be received, Mr. Chairman?

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, it will go in the appendix.

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Mr. Chairman, before I proceed I would like to call your attention to a very significant item in the exhibit I have just offered. It is in reference to an article appearing on page 4 entitled, "Stop `Springboard."' "Springboard" is an annual joint exercise conducted in the Caribbean by the U.S. Navy and navies of our NATO and Latin American allies. The article is as self-explanatory as it is misleading. While it purports to favor the independence of Puerto Rico, it has as its real objective the cancellation of the naval exercise. This it seeks to do by promoting the paralysis, through sedition and subversion, of the U.S. military force now maintaining the balance of power against the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact nations.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you see any connection between this effort to subvert our U.S. servicemen in order to force the cancellation of "Operation Springboard" and the increasing presence of the Soviet Navy in the Caribbean?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. I would go as far as saying that, somehow, the efforts to use Puerto Rico and the presence of the U.S. military on the Island-which, parenthetically, despite PSP and Cuban claims, has been progressively and drastically reduced-respond to interests far beyond those claimed by the Puerto Rican Communists. The orchestration is too complex and the real objectives are too far ranging to be considered at face value. The forces that have been brought to play indicate that if the traditional U.S. presence in the Caribbean can be curtailed or eliminated through political pressure or sabotage, through subversion of the military, then the ensuing vacuum could be filled by Soviet forces based in Cuba. Operation "OKEAN '75" of the Soviet Navy is a very clear indication of what is to be expected. Incidentally, I have obtained some documents which indicate that there have been active cells operating in the proximity of or within naval and military bases from Norfolk, Va., to Charleston, S.C., to Puerto Rico. There is evidence that the so-called "GI Movement" leadership intensified its involvement in the Puerto Rican agitation on December 15, 1974-only a fortnight after the Puerto Rican Solidarity Rally in New York. In an internal document, distributed to the membership, they stated that:
 

The struggle in Puerto Rico is building very rapidly and will be placing greater and greater demands on the U.S. revolutionary movement for support. We feel that the willingness and ability of the North American left to respond to this challenge will have a tremendous effect on the development of the revolutionary movement in the U.S., either advancing it or retarding it for years to come.

A similar article, prepared by the same "cadre," appeared in the January 1, 1975, issue of "Grapes of Wrath," the mouthpiece of the Defense Committee in the Tidewater and Charleston area. I would like to offer it for the record, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. MARTIN. May the copy of the article be received, Mr. Chairman?

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, it will go in the appendix.

Mr. TARABOC$IA. I would like to point out that the article clearly indicates that there is a direct link between the so-called "Defense Committee" and the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, through Jose Navarro. As a matter of fact; Jose Navarro, according to the April 15 1973, issue of the PSP's mouthpiece, "Claridad," is a member of the Secretariat of the U.S. branch of the PSP and holds the office secretary for political education. According to internal publications of the Defense Committee, their Puerto Rican campaign dates back to 1973, but it had to be postponed because the leadership was forced shift its attention to a more pressing matter.

Mr. MARTIN. You are still referring to the activities of the Defense Committee?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Yes, and I would like to mention very briefly' and this for the sake of an overview of the scope of its activities, that the reason the Puerto Rican campaign was shelved temporarily was because of the outbreak of the "Yom Kippur War" in the Middy East. As if on cue, the cadre of the defense committee went into high gear to produce an 8-page pamphlet and a one-page leaflet for the,' purpose of creating discord among the crews of U.S. ships deployed in Middle Eastern waters. To quote the document, "We were able to put: the Middle East pamphlet on a majority of the ships on `holding, status' off the coast of Israel this past month, including all three aircraft carriers."

Mr. MARTIN. What is the source of this information?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. The GI Project Alliance (GIPA) News and-'' Discussion Bulletin. This is an internal publication which contains _ reports and plans of a variety of groups of Marxist-Leninist revolutionary persuasion operating on the fringes of military bases, and whose purpose is to subvert and weaken the Armed Forces of the United States by seditious acts.

Mr. MARTIN. You have spoken about a kind of triangular relationship between the PSP, the Venceremos Brigade, and the DGI. Could you give us some additional details on this triangular relationship?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Let me start with the Venceremos Brigade side of the triangle-but let me add, since we are talking about geometry, that I consider the PSP-DGI Venceremos Brigade relationship more of a circle than a triangle because it is sometimes difficult to determine where one ends and the other begins.

One of the most significant episodes that tend to reinforce this concept is a trip to Cuba of a very select number of Venceremos Brigade veterans.

Mr. MARTIN. When did this trip take place?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. In December of 1971, the group returned to the United States via Canada. They used the same method used by most radicals who travel to Cuba from the United States: They went to Mexico City and from there to Havana aboard a Cuban airline. The return trip was made aboard a Cuban freighter, the Camaguey, which arrived at Saint John, New Brunswick, on January 21, 1972. Twentyseven U.S. citizens landed and entered the United States at Calais, Maine, on the same day. I have the ship's passenger manifest with the names of the individuals which I would like to offer for the record. Mr. MARTIN. May this be accepted, Mr. Chairman?

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.

Mr. MARTIN. Was there anything you considered especially significant about this particular group?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Ostensibly they went to Cuba for the purpose of briefings on the recruitment of the 5th Brigade. What actually transpired was something else. To begin with, the group was met at the airport by a key officer of the DGI. This particular officer is reported to be an expert on U.S. congressional affairs and had been associated with at leash three brigades.

Mr. MARTIN. Has this officer been identified?

Mr. TARABOCHIA.: Yes, and, as a matter of fact, she is still very active, at least she was active as of last May. Her name is Alina Alayo Amaro, known in the Political Economic Division of the DGI with the code name of "Adelfa." She is attached to the U.S. division, and more specifically, to the U.S. Government Bureau which gathers information and attempts to penetrate branches of the U.S. Government. This section has a desk handling U.S. political parties and the "Venceremos Brigade." One of the running aims of this desk is to recruit someone close to an elected official in as many instances a5 possible. "Adelfa" is a trusted collaborator of both the head of the Division, Rambn Oroza Naveran, code-named "Demetrio," and Manuel Pineiro, former DGI Chief in Cuba. Alina Alayo seems to be well-suited for her work, and perhaps her proficiency can be measured by this photograph taken last May in Cuba. In this photograph, "Adelfa" is near Fidel Castro, and by Communist standards,

this is an indication of a substantial degree of influence. At this point I would like to offer this photograph for the record.

Mr. MARTIN. May this photograph be accepted for the record, Mr. Chairman? Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.

Mr. MARTIN. What is the source of your information about Alina Alayo whose code name you say is "Adelfa"? Has the subcommittee taken any testimony about "Adelfa" in previous hearings?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. The subcommittee, so far, hasn't taken any testimony about "Adelfa." The information I have presented was given to me by two completely independent sources. One of these is a veteran of the Venceremos Brigade, who had very close contacts with "Adelfa" while he was in Cuba. The second one is a former member of the Cuban DGI who defected to this country and who had official contacts with "Adelfa" inside the DGI.

Mr. MARTIN. You were able to interview both of these subjects in some depth on the question o£ "Adelfa"?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Yes, I have.

Mr. MARTIN. Did you find that the stories they respectively told you about "Adelfa" were, in general, in agreement?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Well, it has to be taken into consideration that they knew her at different times and under different circumstances. One subject was familiar with certain aspects of her personality, particularly her character and her private life, while the other was familiar with her activities at the DGI headquarters. Whip the first source had reason to suspect her covert activities, the second source was certain about them.

Mr. SOURWINE. Since this evidence has not-at least, not as yet been given to the subcommittee in the form of sworn testimony, there is a question I should like to ask, bearing on the credibility of your informants. You already have said you spoke to both informants at considerable length. From your extensive experience with Cuban defectors, your knowledge of the situation in Cuba, and your expansive investigations of the Venceremos Brigade, do you have any reason to doubt the credibility of either of the sources you have mentioned?

Mr. TARAHOCHIA. On the contrary, I consider my sources to be completely reliable. The information they gave me was in complete harmony with all of the information I have received over the past 5 years from many sources including witnesses before the subcommittee, informants, and official documents I have read.

Senator THURMOND. You may proceed.

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Mr. Chairman, I have two other photographs of "Adelfa", one taken in the spring of 1970, arid the other the following year. Before I offer them for the record; I would like to add that the first one was taken during the visit of tie second contingent of the Venceremos Brigade, which "worked" in Cuba from February to April 1970. The two males in the photograph where "Adelfa" appears on the extreme right, were reported to be DGI officers attached to the Cuban leadership group of the brigade. The individual on the left met the brigade on the Luis Arcos Bergrtes, the ship that took the group to Cuba and remained with it throughout its stay in Cuba. The second photograph was taken sometime in April of 1971, at the time the fourth contingent was visiting Cuba. In this photograph, Alma Alayb is the second from the right with a cigarette in her mouth, her hand half raised in the "peace" sign. The female on her left was identified as a teacher in the DGI training center, the man immediately behind her was also identified as a DGI officer. Now, Mr. Chairman, may I offer these two photographs for the record?

Mr. MARTIN. May these photographs be accepted for the record, Mr. Chairman? Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered. [The photographs referred to follow:]
 

Mr. MARTIN. So far we have been dealing with "Adelfa" and the Venceremos Brigade. Since you said some time back that the DGI, the Venceremos Brigade, and the Puerto Rican Socialist Party constituted a triangle-or a circle-I take it for granted that you will shortly be coming around to the question of the relationship between the DGI, the Venceremos Brigade, and the PSP.

Mr. TARABOCAIA. Yes, I will. Mr. Chairman, in view of the very special role played by Alina Alayo, I would like to give the subcommittee some background information so that her contacts with the Americans may be put in the proper perspective: Alina Alayo Amaro is a light mulatto, approximately 30-32 years old, 5'4", 120 lbs., fluent in English. Initially she was a teacher, or operated under that cover, for the General Directorate of Scholarships of the Ministry of Education. In 1967, she was on the training staff of the Cuban "guides" who were to work at the Cuban Pavillion of Expo '67 in Montreal, Canada. If my memory serves me right, an article which appeared in the magazine "Bohemia" early in 1967, mentioned the fact that the "guides" had been sent to an isolated spot where they received intensive and specialized training. "Adelfa" then accompanied the group to Canada. In her contacts with members of the Venceremos Brigade, Alina Alayo often spoke about her work at Expo '67. Information obtained from a former DGI member indicates that "Adelfa" acted as a courier for the DGI and was used on missions related to the brigade. According to the sources to which I have referred, she maintained the personal background files compiled on every brigade member. In addition, she is considered an expert on the U.S. Senate. She has compiled a number of background profiles of members of the Senate. For that purpose, she traveled to New York as a member of a Cuban delegation and worked out of the DGI center at the U.N. She has traveled to Czechoslovakia, Sweden, and England.

Mr. MARTIN. From what you are saying, it would appear that the DGI has a fairly good grip on the. brigade?

Mr. TARABOCFIIA. Indeed it does. The real purpose of the trip of the 27 veterans was first a meeting with Latin American revolutionaries of the Tupamaro stripe. and second, the preparation of a book on thee brigade. While the meeting with the revolutionaries, which took place on December 28, 1971, was most informative for the U.S. radicals, no book as been published as yet. Incidentally, the work on the book was supposedly a secret but a rift in the leadership of the New York "regional" committee of the brigade revealed that such an operation had been in progress.

There were two individuals in the group who have special significance to the PSP Venceremos Brigade-DGI connection. They are Angelo Alicea and Alice Simon Berger. Angelo Alicea, a veteran of the fourth Venceremos Brigade, is listed as a member of the U.S. Zone committee of the PSP. Upon his

return to the United States, Alicea released a statement on behalf of the group in which he praised two separate acts of piracy perpetrated by the Cubans against two U.S.-owned ships. I have a copy of this

statement, which I would like to offer for the record.

Mr. MARTIN. May this be accepted for the record, Mr. Chairman?

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.
 
 
 

BRIGADA VENCEREMOS
 

JANUARY 21, 1972.

On December 6, at the invitation of the Cuban Revolutionary Government multi-racial group of 28 North Americans, composed of. progressive students and young workers, left for Cuba. For most, it was our second trip-the first being on the Venceremos Brigade.

The objective of the trip was two-fold; to participate in a seminar on Latin America; and to participate in the construction of a housing project. In the seminar we were able to learn in detail how the US government, under the guise of foreign aid and joint business ventures, has been able to monopolize the economy and major aspects of life in Latin America.

Our visit to Cuba coincided with the 13th Anniversary of the triumph of t Revolution. This anniversary marks 13 years of combating underdevelopment 13 years of combating and defeating direct and indirect aggression by the government, 13 years of socialist construction and 13 years of providing example to the revolutionary peoples of the world.

In mid-December, the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces captured the pirate ships Johnny Express and Lylq Express. Concrete evidence points to the in disputable fact that these two ships have perpetuated continuous armed attack against Cuba-acts which have resulted in the deaths and injuries of many Cuban citizens. Mr. Nixon took advantage of this "opportunity" to once again attempt to intimidate the Cuban people by hurling demographic threats. However, and the wise and courageous leadership of Commandante Fidel Castro, the response of the Cuban people in face of this threat above the ever-growing strength of the will of the Cuban people to determine their own destiny, to build socialism' and communism 90 miles from the economic and military might of the U government.

The Latin American seminar dealt specifically with the following countries Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, and Brazil

In Chile, the pro-yankee elements of the bourgeoisie have carried out consta acts of aggression in an attempt to sabotage the victory of Salvador Allende an Popular Unity (UP). But as the recent visit of Fidel Castro demonstrated, to the masses of the Chilean people are firmly committed to the revolutionary process now taking place in their country. The road to liberation of the peoples of Latin America is taking many different forms. A clear example of this is Peru, where a military junta, headed by General Juan Velasco Alvarado, is carrying out a national democratic revolution. x ',

In the history of the struggle in Bolivia, we have a lesson in revolutionary' courage. Though the Bolivian revolutionaries have seen many of their victories' sabotaged or undermined by US interests, as in the fascist coup of August 21, 1971, they have always revived their struggle against imperialism.

The same can be said about the Puerto Rican people who, in an age where classical colonialism has been out-moded, find their land occupied by US military h and corporate interests. But with the founding of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party (MPI) on November 28 1971, we see the Puerto Rican people bringing their struggle for independence and national liberation to a higher level.

It is clear that the story of the national liberation struggles of the countries of Latin America cannot be told in a. brief statement. For this reason the Venceremos Brigade will publish a book which will present an in-depth account of the current situation in Latin America as a summary of the seminar we've just attended. y

The present is the struggle; the future is ours! ''
 

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Alice Simon Berger is a veteran of the First Brigade. Her husband, Denis Berger also was a member of that brigade. Denis is listed as a secretary of finace of he New England Regional Committee of the PSP. In addition, the January 1975 issue of "Carta Roja," the internal bulletin of the PSP. Shows that Alice Berger was elected as a candidate member of the U.S. Zone Committee. This is the highest steering organ of the PSP/U.S.

Prior to her second trip to Cuba, Alice Berger had been active in the Springfield, Massachusetts area as an organizer where she did "vanguard" work, for which she was congratulated in Havana. In

August of 1971, she traveled to Chile where she made contact with "Manuel," most certainly a DGI officer, whom she had met while in the First Brigade and who, at the time, was operating out of the Cuban Embassy in Santiago, Chile. Alice Berger also met with an ICAP official who had worked on the Cuban contingent of the First Brigade. I have previously elaborated on the functions of ICAP as a cover for DGI operations. She also met with the Chilean Ambassador to Cuba and representatives of the Tupamaros terrorist group:

Mr. MARTIN. Are there any other Brigade veterans holding key positions in the PSP?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Yes, sir, there were quite a few others with old brigade connections, in addition to Angelo Alicea and Alice Bergen who hold key positions in the PSP. Sonia Marrero, an editorial assistant of Claridad, was a member of the second Brigade.

Jose A. La Lye, a veteran of the Third Venceremos Brigade, is listed as regional secretary for the PSP's New England Regional Committee.

Sigfedo Carrion a teacher from Patterson, N.J., and also a veteran of the Third Venceremos Brigade, is listed as a member of the New Jersey Regional Committee and is responsible for the distribution and circulation of Claridad.

Isabel Malavet a veteran of the Third Venceremos Brigade, is listed as a member of the U.S. Zone Committee of the PSP.

Jeffrey Babcock Perry, a veteran of the 2nd Venceremos Brigade from Ridgewood, N.J., is listed as a member of the U.S. Zone Committee of the PSP.

Olga Iris Sanabria a veteran of the Fourth Venceremos Brigade, and a member of the U.S. Zone Committee of the PSP.

Isolina Varagas Alvarez, from the Bronx, a veteran of the Second Venceremos Brigade, is listed as the administrative secretary of the secretariat of the U.S. Zone Committee of the PSP. .

Mr. MARTIN. Your testimony raises a very interesting question. What is the proportion of Venceremos Brigade members in the high echelons of the U.S. Zone Committee of the PSP? Could you give us an estimate?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Yes I can, because I have researched this matter.

According to PSP official sources, there are approximately 40 individuals listed as members of the U.S. Zone Committee of the PSP, which is subordinate to the Party's Secretariat and Central Committee in Puerto Rico. By these standards, the U.S. Zone Committee can be considered as the equivalent of the Party's Central Committee. Ten members of the Zone Committee are veterans of the Venceremos Brigade. Thus, the ratio is 1 in 4 - a pretty high one, considering that it involves an area comprising lower New England, New York City, and New Jersey. Of the 10 Venceremos Brigade veterans, one, Isolina Varagas, is the administrative secretary of the secretariat, a key position in a key internal sector of the party. The New England Regional Committee was composed of veterans of the Venceremos Brigade. At this point, Mr. Chairman, I would like to offer for the record, a chart showing the various branches of the PSP in the New York-New England area. In addition, I would like to offer a list with the

names of most of the leadership of the U.S. Zone Committee of the PSP. To this list should be added the name of Florencio Merced Rosa a member of the National Political Commission of the PSP who, as the delegate to the U.S. Zone Committee, functions as a kind of proconsul who travels to Cuba quite frequently to meet with Cuban Communist Party leaders.

To this list should be added also the names of Isabel Carrasquillo, former Finance Secretary of the southern New England Committee, and Victor Velazquez, president of the Hoboken, New Jersey

PSP chapter, as a members of the U.S. Zone Committee. The names of Freddie Rodriquez Maria Morison William Cruz Alicia Berger and Betti Garcia (already on a previous list) as candidate

members of the U.S. Zone Committee of the PSP.

Mr. MARTIN. May these documents be accepted for the record, Mr. Chairman?

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.

[The material referred to follows:]

Leadership of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party whose identity has appeared in its official publication Claridad as of April 15, 1973.

U.S. Zone Committee of the PSP: Political Bureau- Ramon Arbona, Jose Alberto Alvarez Febles Andres Tomes, Alfredo Lopez, Jesus Lopez, Jose "Che" Velasquez, Digna Sanchez. Secretariat: Ramon Arbona, Secretary of the Zone; Jose Alberto Alvarez Febles, Secretary of Organization; Jose Navarro, Secretary of Political Education; Jesus Lopez, Secretary of Finance; Arlene Bayo, Treasurer; Digna Sanchez, Press Secretary; Ismael Barreto, Secretary of Worker Affairs; Jose Che Velazquez, Secretary of Student Affair; Isolina Vargas, Administrative Secretary.

Additional members of the Zone Committee: Shelley Karliner, Olga Sanabria, Jose La Luz, Ramon Cintron, Jeff Perry, Tomas Azcuy, Alfredo del Valle, Victor Marciano Santiago, Luis Lopez, Freddy Carrion, Juan Mendez, David Quinones, Myrna Tomes, Angelo Alicea, Carmen Lopez, Jose Bizarro, Isabel Malavet, Carmen Rivera, Roberta Salper.

Claridad staff: Ramon Arbona, Editor Alfredo Lopez, Managing Editor; Roberta Salper, General Manager-30 East 20th Street, Room 508, . N. Y., N. Y. 10003 (212)674-5440.

Editorial Assistants: Jose Alvarez, Tamara Ferrer, Jose La Luz, Sonia Marrero, Marta Perez, Mario Tomes, Maritza Arrastia.

Production: Betti Garcia, Tati Medina, Hector Monje, Pinzon, Arturo Azito.

U.N. Correspondent: Juan Rodriguez Cruz.

New York Regional Committee: Andres Torres, Regional Secretary; Carmen Lopez, Secretary of Finance; Carmen Vivian Rivera, Secretary of Finance and Secretary of Political Education.

New Jersey Regional Committee: Benjamin Sanchez Lopez, Regional Secretary; Alfredo del Valle, Secretary Political Education; Sigfredo Carrion-Distribution and circulation of Claridad; Luis Lopez-Bookkeeping for Claridad.

New England Regional Committee: Jose La Luz, Regional Secretary; Denis Berger, Secretary of Finance; Ramon Lugo, Secretary of Political Education.
 

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Mr. Chairman, the rules and regulations of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party contain a special chapter regarding the U.S. section of the PSP. Because of its importance, I would like to quote from the two articles of the chapter. I then will offer it for the record in its Spanish version, Mr. Chairman.
 

CHAPTER X-THE SECTION OF THE UNITED STATES
 

Article 38: The militant and affiliate members residing in the United States are part of a Section that will adopt its own internal structure and other documents regarding its program, consonant with the specific conditions extant, which will have to be ratified by the Central Committee of the Party. All amendments to the rules and program will have to be submitted to the Central Committee for ratification.

Article 39: The First Secretary of the United States Section will make a periodic account directly to the Political Commission of the Party. The Secretary of Organization of the Section will report every six months or as often as required by the Secretary of Organization on the progress of the Party in the Section and its work plans.
 

The membership in the party is divided into militant members and affiliates. The party rules I just offered for the record are very specific about their duties, privileges and responsibilities. For this reason, I will try to obtain an English version of the rules to include in the record at the time this testimony is printed.

Mr. MARTIN. May this be accepted for the record, Mr. Chairman?

Senator THURMOND. If obtained in English translation; it will go into the appendix.

Mr. TARAROCHIA. Another facet of the PSP operation is the manner in which cadres enforce security and recruit new members at the same time, at closed meetings. For instance, prior to being admitted, those who attend are required to sign their name and address. Those who sign are later visited at their homes, first to ascertain their identity and then to attempt to recruit them as members, if their attitude so indicates.

At their meetings, cadres wearing army field jackets with Puerto Rican flags and berets police the hall and position themselves between the audience and the speaker, while others photograph the audience from every angle, apparently for intelligence purposes.

In view of the previous witness' testimony, I believe it would be superfluous to add any more examples of the revolutionary rhetoric spouted by PSP's adherents and their American comrades. What I believe would be more significant is to make it as clear as possible that the PSP's U.S. branch does not deviate in any way from the tenets of its parent organization. In its political declaration entitled "Desde las Entranas" a Cuban coined phrase meaning "from the intestines, or entrails"-certain intellectuals might call it a "visceral reaction"-the U.S. branch of the PSP set forth its objectives in its best dialectical form. It stated:
 

In the communities, an area to which we will give priority, given our analysis of the material conditions - we seek to agitate, mobilize and organize Puerto Rican workers, so that our people will wage a struggle that becomes even more' militant and determined to expose and heighten the contradictions that will lead; to demise of the system.
 

To implement this objective, the PSP's U.S. branch had designated 1974 as the "Year of Organizational Takeoff." This accounts for the extraordinary recruiting efforts which followed the October rally and other similar events. The internal bulletin of the PSP (U.S.), "Carts Roja", is very explicit in its guidelines on the methods to be used to bring about this organizational takeoff. May I offer this issue of Carts Roja for the records?

Mr. MARTIN. May this be accepted for the record, Mr. Chairman?

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.

[The material referred to may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]

Mr. TARABOCHIA. There is no doubt that the October rally emboldened the PSP to the point of declaring the year 1975 as the "Year of Decisive Advance." Jose Manuel Navarro, Secretary of Political

Education of the PSP (U.S.) set forth the goals of the Party for the

year by stating that - (reading)
 

"The Year of the Decisive Advance means the escalation of a revolutionary struggle in the principal classical colony of the United States to levels that will lead to a pie-revolutionary situation. In the United States, the Branch Committee plans to advance in areas of Party organization in workplaces, increase Party work in the struggle for the democratic rights of Puerto Ricans in the United States, move forward, in trade-union work, and consolidate the organizational apparatus."
 

Among other top priorities outlined by Navarro was the full participation in the Havana Conference and achieving a vanguard role for the PSP in the struggle for the democratic rights of Puerto Ricans in the United States. Attending this meeting, which was the first regular session of 1975, were Florencio Merced Ross and Nestor Riscoldo Nazario Trabal, alternate member of the PSP's (P. R.) National Political Commission. Nazario is a hard-core revolutionary, scion of a family of terrorists. His mother, Providencia Trabal Rivers, was arrested in March of 1968 for the firebombing of Banker's Department Store in Capaira, P.R. This was her second arrest for firebombing, the first having occurred in 1962. Nestor Nazario was implicated in a plot to infiltrate the nephew of the late Colonel Francisco Caamalio Denb, leader of the 1965 Dominican revolt, into the Dominican Republic. According to the testimony of three PSP members after their capture by Dominican authorities, Nestor Nazario had ordered them to take Claudio Caamano Grullon from a safehouse in the vicinity of San Juan, P.R. to the northern coast of the , Dominican Republic aboard a high speed boat.

Mr. MARTIN. Are you in a position to identify the other three Puerto Ricans?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Yes. According to the Dominican authorities who captured them early in June of this yeah, the three were identified as:

John Thomas Sam son Fernandez, born February 15, 1949, Rio Pieras, Puerto Rico, PSP member and head of the Party's kindergarten indoctrination program.

Angel Luis Gandia Bonhome born August 21, 1933, Manati, Puerto Rico, member of the Central Committee of the PSP. He has traveled and received training in Cuba and is believed to have been

involved in a theft of 3600 pounds of iremite from a shop on June 21, 1974, in Puerto Rico. The iremite was subsequently found in many of the bomb-explosion sites in Puerto Rico.

Rafel Enrique Garcia Zapata, born October 31, 1941, in Cabo Rojo, local PSP leader in Cabo Rojo.

Claudio Caamano Grullon had lived in Cuba since his escape from the Dominican Republic early in 1973, where his uncle was killed in an unsuccessful attempt to establish a guerrilla base in the mountains of the island. According to the Dominican authorities, the younger Caamano had reached Puerto Rico from Cuba where Nestor Nazario provided him a hideout. Incidentally, Nestor Nazario has traveled to Cuba and Burin his student days at the Unversity of Puerto Rico was one of the leaders of terrorist attacks and riots against the R.O.T.C. Frequent bombings, firebombings and the death of two cadets resulted from these acts of terrorism.

Mr. MARTIN. Are there any other Puerto Rican organizations of a revolutionary-subversive type operating in the United States?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. Before I get into that, let me add that the PSP has, in addition to the chapters I have mentioned, chapters or cells in the Philadelphia-Camden area, in Chicago, and in Albuquerque,

N. Mex. There are also what they call "missions" in Springfield and Holyoke, Mass. As I mentioned earlier, this is the area where Denis and Alice Berger were "cadres" involved in "vanguard organizing."

Then there are cells in Boston, Mass.; Bridgeport, Conn.; New Haven, Conn.; and Chicago. The Chicago chapter gained some notoriety after the bombings of last June 14. It was the FALN that claimed credit for the action but the PSP felt compelled to issue a disclaimer. But while they disclaimed this particular action, they made it clear that revolutionary violence was part of their credo. May I add, Mr. Chairman, that the PSP and the Venceremos Brigade connection surfaces again m the Chicago situation. Rosa Maria Alvarez, a veteran of the Sixth Venceremos Brigade, appears to be the person entrusted with selecting the brigade recruits. It is my understanding that the Cubans rely heavily on the opinion of the

PSP Venceremos Brigade members, when it comes to final approval of candidates. I would also call attention to the fact that the leader of the Chicago zone, Juan Mendez, has just returned from a visit to

North Korea where he had gone as a member of a delegation led by Florencio Merced. A joint communiqué was issued on June 18 1975 expressing solidarity with North Korea. At thin point, I would like to offer for the record press releases issued by the Chicago PSP chapter at the time of the June bombings, a chart of the Chicago PSP zone committee, and all the FALN communiques issued after the

bombings in New York and Chicago. In addition I would like to offer a list of the terrorist bombings by Puerto Rican terrorists for the past year.

Mr. MARTIN. May this be accepted for the record, Mr. Chairman? Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered. [The material referred to follows:]
 

PUERTO RICAN SOCIALIST PARTY
 

Militant members: Juan Mendez, David Santiago, America Sorrentini Blaut, Ross Maria Alvarez, Luis Perez, James Blaut, Raquel Noboa, Ester Noboa Perez, Carmen Traverso, Jorge Capote, Marciel Capote, Gustavo Morales, Antonio Hernandez, Car men Escobar , William Acevedo, Rafael Vendrel,Nancy Diaz, Ipolito Neri, Marts Rodriguez, Maria Lohmeir, Maria Hanzlik (Hanzlink), Enrique Hanzlik (Hanzlink), Damary Cruz.

Affiliated members: Rosendo Miranda, Angel Otero, Ana Encarnacion, Edwin Rivers, Perfecto Diaz, Sigisfredo Aviles, Carmelo Mejia, Chuck Torres, William Neri, Berta Neri.
 

KOREA, PUERTO RICO STRENGTHEN TIES OF FRIENDSHIP
 

PYONGYANG, DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA.-This city was host to conversations between a delegation of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PSP) and the Workers Party of Korea.

The Korean delegation was presided by Yang Hyong Sop, member of the Political Committee and Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea.

Mun Byong Rok also was part of the delegation.

The Puerto Rican delegation was led by Florencio Merced, member of the Political Commission of the PSP and delegate of that body in the United States. Also, Juan M6ndez, alternate member of the Central Committee of the' PSP and Chicago Committee president, was part of the delegation.

The delegations exchanged reports on the activities of their respective parties and points of view on the possibility of developing fraternal and cooperative relations between both parties and peoples.

Other common areas between both parties and peoples were discussed.

The conversations took place last Monday in an atmosphere of confraternity.
 

PUERTO RICAN SOCIALIST PARTY, (MPI) MID-WEST ZONE, CHICAGO, ILL.,

JUNE 17, 1975
 

The Puerto Rican Socialist Party (Pro Independence Movement) has called the Press here today to clearly state our position regarding the bombing incidents this past Saturday morning, June 14th in this city.

We would like to point out that our Party recognizes all means of struggle that will advance the national liberation of our country, Puerto Rico. Our political thesis states:

"The Puerto Rican Socialist Party believes that it is necessary to respond to the system's reactionary violence with revolutionary violence in accord with the objective conditions and to the extent that the objective conditions require it. As limitations on legal actions increase it will be necessary to resort to illegal actions, and clandestine struggle will intensify." (PSP Political Thesis, U.S.)

At this moment we doubt if the actions on June 14th were sponsored by a revolutionary pro-independence Puerto Rican organization, or were the work of the enemies of independence and self-determination of our people. On the other hand if this action was carried out by a Puerto Rican Revolutionary group interested in advancing our liberation process we see no tie between these acts and a strategic program towards our liberation.

It is important to point out that up to the moment the three actions carried out by the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Naeional (F.A.L.N.) in New York and in Chicago point to a terrorist strategy, not tied to a mass movement nor a program directed to the development of class consciousness in our people in relation to our colonial condition.

We are enemies of indiscriminate terrorism, a reflection of a desperate policy used throughout the peoples liberating struggles by sectors of the petty bourgeois which, in turn, opens the doors of the ruling class and its most reactionary sectors to unleash repression on the struggling peoples and its vanguard sector.

Indiscriminate terrorist actions portray a lack of confidence in the capacity of the masses and its vanguard, the Proletariat, to develop a rigorous movement that will shake the corrupt foundations of this system in order to create a more humane system where the exploitation of man by man will cease to exist.

We maintain that revolutionary terrorism is never directed against the people, it is never directed against the masses. It is never done indiscriminately, nor is it used against said person because he is bourgeois or because he sustains ideas contrary to ours. Terrorism can only be justified in revolutionary practice when it is used in the context of a revolutionary mass struggle to destroy the enemy in the military field at a given moment.

The type of terrorism used by the imperialism and all its lackeys-indiscriminate, vicious and directed at innocent people (as was the case of the bombs placed in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico this past January 11)-is typical of the reactionary fascism of the right wing imperialism, capitalism, and is completely alien to Marxism-Leninism, and to the proletarian revolution.

Nevertheless, we are sure that the enemies of our centennial struggle for independence will take advantage of this situation to discredit organizations, groups, or individuals who support the independence of our country, Puerto Rico. What is intended is confuse the people by a display of histeria against the just struggle of those oppressed and exploited sectors who struggle for their democratic rights and national liberation. It is precisely at these moments when alliances are growing among the Third World sectors of this society, the people begin or organize and demand their democratic rights, when large sectors of North American people unite with the struggle of our people for national independence that the U.S. Government increases the spying vigilance and repression at all levels against those groups which are growing in popular support. The U.S. Government uses a misinformed hysterical press which lends itself as it has done throughout history to serve the interests of the ruling class to create subjective conditions for greater repression and eventually facilitate the creation of a police state apparatus.
 

ARMED FORCES OF PUERTO RICAN NATIONAL LIBERATION
 

OCTOBER 26, 1974.
 

Communique No. 1.
 

Today, commando units of FALN attacked major Yanki corporations in New York City. These actions have been taken in commemoration of the October 30, 1950 uprising in Puerto Rico against Yanki colonial domination. These bombings are also to accent the seriousness of our demands for the release of the five Puerto Rican political prisoners, the longest held political prisoners in the hemisphere::

Oscar Collazo, Lolita ebrun, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cord and Irving Flores, and the immediate and unconditional Independence of Puerto Rico.

The corporations that we bombed are an integral part of Yanki monopcapitalism and are responsible for the murderous policies of the Yanki gove ment in Puerto Rico, Latin America, and against workers, peasants and Indios throughout the world. It is these corporations which are responsible for the robbery and exploitation of Third World countries in order to make greater profit all increase their capital. They are the ones which often decide who shall govern countries, who shall live and who shall die.

For these reasons these corporations and the criminals who run them are t enemies of all freedom loving people, who are struggling for self determination and the right to decide their own destinies.

We, the guerilleros of the FALN, have undertaken these bombings, not only against the presence of the yanki corporations in Puerto Rico, but as part of the international workers revolution. and all people fighting for national liberation.

These actions, along with bombing of major department stores, for three consecutive days in late spring, and the dynamite blasts at Newark Police Headquarters and City Hall, demonstrate what we have said since 1969, that the Puerto Rican people organizing and arming in order to form a Peoples Revoltionary Army which will rid Puerto Rico of yanki colonialism. We have opened two fronts. One in Puerto Rico the other in the United States, both nourished by the Puerto Rican people and allies within North America. We are not pure militarists. Therefore we do not oppose those parties or people who believe in mass organization. However, to be truly revolutionary, a party must educate and organize the masses for the seizure of power by way of organized and disciplined vehicle, a Peoples Revolutionary Army. A party whit fails to do this falls into reformism and becomes an agent of the bourgeoisie for the continued exploitation and oppression of the people.

The importance of a Peoples Revolutionary Army is that it arms the masses,. and produces cadres to lead the masses to victory and the development of a Marxist-Leninist Party, tried and tested under fire, which will educate and organize the people for the construction of a socialist society.

Finally, the FALN supports the demonstration, at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 27, in support of the independence of Puerto Rico. We view this as a significant step in the formation of an anti-imperialist front, in the United States,; which will support and fight for the national liberation of Puerto Rico, and educate the American people to the murderous and genocidal policies of the yanki capitalists throughout the world.

Long live free Puerto Rico.

Long live the unity of all people in struggle against imperialism.
 

FALN CENTRAL COMMAND.
 

Communique No. 3

JANUARY 24, 1975.

We, FALN, the Armed Forces of the Puerto Rican Nation take full responsibility for the especially detornated bomb that exploded today at Fraunces Tavern with reactionary corporate executives inside.

We did this in retaliation for the CIA ordered bomb that murdered Angel Luis Chavonnier and Eddie Ramos, two innocent ,young workers who supported Puerto Rican independence and the conscienceless maiming of ten innocent persons and one beautiful Puerto Rican child six years old in a Mayaguez, Puerto Rico dining place on Saturday the eleventh of January of 1975.

The Yanki government is trying to terrorize and kill our people to intimidate us from seeking our rightful independence from colonialism. They do this in the same way as they did in Viet Nam, Guatemala, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, the Congo Algeria and in many other places including the United States itself. But this CIA/Colby method will fail.

In our communique number 2 we warned the North American Government that to terrorize and kill our people would mean retaliation by us. This was not an empty warning.

The bombs exploding in Puerto Rico and the United States in support of striking workers, in demand of the release of our political prisoners and our independence and to protest the Rockefeller-Kissinger visits; have avoided any injury to innocent people. The attacks on our people have been elevated vicious criminal brutality and murder of hungry hard working people. You have unleashed a storm from which you comfortable Yankis cannot escape.

Release Oscar Collazo, Lolita Lebrun, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero, and Irving Flores.

FREE PUERTO RICO RIGHT NOW!
 

COMANDO GRISELIO TORRESOLA.
 

APRIL 2, 1975.
 

Communique No. 4.

The FALN takes responsibility for the bombings of Yanki corporations in New York on April 2, 1975. These corporations are at the heart of Yanki imperialism. They are important decision makers in the planning of domestic and foreign policy and benefit from the exploitation and oppression of Puerto Rico and other third-world nations as well as the north american working-class. While the working-class throughout the capitalist world suffers from recession and sinks deeper into poverty, the profits of these conglomerates continue to grow. These actions are the continuation of an offensive aimed at gaining tie independence of Puerto Rico and the release of five political prisoners, Lolita Lebrun, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero, Irving Flores, and Oscar Collazo. We are especially concerned with the release right now of Figueroa Cordero who is dying of cancer. His death in prison will result in grave consequences for the Yanki Capitalist class. The bombing of the Anglers Club; an exclusive millionaires club that boasts of members like the Rockefellers, was a retaliatory attack against that sector of the North American ruling-class which is directly responsible for the actions of the C.I.A. and for the wave of repression which is being murderously implemented in Puerto Rico.

Our attack on January 24, 1975 was not in anyway directed against working class people or innocent North Americans. The targets of our attack were bankers, stock brokers, and important corporate executives of monopolies and multi-national corporations. These are not friends of the working people. But the enemies of humanity everywhere.

The bomb attack in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico was the most vicious of the 160 acts of C.I.A. terror in the last two years against the Puerto Rican people. The enemy has to resort to fascist terror because tine contradictions in colonial Puerto Rico are being unmasked so rapidly that the only way they believe they can control the people is by instilling fear by the use of force.

To the FALN the issue is very clear; at no time can we allow an attack by the enemy upon our people to go unanswered. Fascist terror is met with revolutionary violence.

Free Puerto Rico now!

Release the five Puerto Rican political prisoners in Yanki jails!
 

COMANDO CENTRAL FALN
 

Communique No. 5
 

On Saturday June 14, 1975, thousands of Puerto Ricans will be marching in the Puerto Rican Day Parade on state street. They will be protesting against poor education, bad housing, racism, police brutality, unemployment. In essence against the exploitation that they are subjected to on an every day basis.

In solidarity with the protest contingency we have undertaken the following bombing of Yank imperialist institutions; the United America Bank; First National Bank, and the United States Federal Building which houses various agencies of repression, ex. CIA, FBI, LEAA. Also, the Department of Immigration which at this time is trying to blame the failing economic system on our Chicano

brothers and sisters. This agency is responsible for the massive deportation and repressive actions against our Chicano and Mexican workers.

These actions also demonstrate to the United States Government that the mobile guerrilla units of the FALN can hit anywhere in the United States.

Once again, we demand the immediate release of the four NATIONALIST

PRISONERS being held in yanki jails, and the unconditional independence of PUERTO RICO.

We also want to express our solidarity with the victorious people of VIETNAM,

CAMBODIA, and LAOS. Their victory is our victory!
 
 
 

COMANDO CENTRAL FALN
 

Mr. TARABOCHIA. To return to your question, Mr. Martin. While the PSP is the most vociferous and visible group espousing revolutionary war for the liberation of Puerto Rico, there are several other groups that espouse more or less the same Marxist-Leninist ideals; They are centered, for the most part, in the New York area. One of them is Resistencia Puertorriquena, a Marxist-Leninist organization.

which advocates the seizure and overthrow of the U.S. Government by revolutionary violence.

Then there are several "umbrella organizations," which bring together the organizations I have named with a variety of minor Puerto Rican radical organizations. As in the case of the PRSC, some' of them are coalitions of Puerto Ricans and Americans committed to causes favoring independence. Most have interlocking memberships, or transferable memberships when the name and orientation change.

Mr. MARTIN. Could you cite some of the "umbrella organizations" for the record?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. There is the Committee for Puerto Rican Decolonization and the Puerto Rican Solidarity Committee. Then there is the "Frente Unido", or United Front for the Defense of Puerto Rican Political Prisoners. This is a true "umbrella organization formed in 1972 in New York by nine member organizations. These 3 included: Coalicion Puertorriquefia; El Comite; Machete; Resistencia Puertorriquena; PSP; PRRWO (formerly the Young Lords); the Young Disciples; the Defense Committees for Eduardo Cruz, Carlos Felicianao, Humberto Pagan; the Hartford Connecticut Defense Committee and the Young Lords National Defense Committee. This coalition organized a march on Washington which took place on October 30, 1973. Approximately 2,000 Puerto Ricans, mainly from New York, marched on this occasion demanding freedom of five ; Puerto Rican Nationalists imprisoned for the attempted assassination of President Truman and the shooting of five Congressmen on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Carlos Feliciano, a terrorist just released from prison, had been convicted for a 1970 bombing of the General Electric Building in Manhattan; while Humberto Pagan, is a fugitive from Puerto Rico was sought for the murder of Lt. Juan B. Mercado during a riot at the University of Puerto Rico on March 11, 1970. Eduardo Cruz was convicted on December 14, 1971, of the possession of incendiary devices, and was sentenced to seven years in maximum security. He had been linked to at least 100 bombings and attempted bombings in the 2 years preceding his arrest on March 18, 1971.

Mr. MARTIN. Mr. Tarabochia, during Mr. Martinez' testimony, you mentioned that you had some details regarding acts of sabotage directed against public utilities in Puerto Rico. Would you care to elaborate?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. I was referring to the arrest by the FBI of a militant member of the PSP for possession of explosives, bombs, and timing devices found in his residence. The PSP militant arrested on December 14, 1974, was identified as Delfin Ramos Colon of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The arresting agents had some difficulty in locating the explosives because Delfin Ramos kept them hidden in a 5 foot-deep hole covered by a concrete slab located under a cabinet. The explosives consisted of three bombs of a type similar to those found on sabotaged sites of the Puerto Rican waterworks; these bombs contained approximately three pounds of "iremite", a slow-burning explosive similar to dynamite. In addition, the agents found three watches, connected to detonators ready to be attached to the bombs. In the hole, Ramos had stored 8 gallons of sulfuric acid and three packages of a gelatinous substance impregnated with a liquid, possibly sulfuric acid, similar to incendiary devices found at the scene of firebombed U.S.-owned department stores. .

Delfin Ramos was held under a $200,000 bail, which was later reduced to $100,000. He posted bail and was released on December 30, 1974.

Mr. MARTIN. You mean he came up with $100,000 in bail? How could he have found such money?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. As far as I know, the money was raised by other members of the PSP. I understand that the PSP held protest rallies to raise funds for Ramos' bail. What is more interesting, however, is the fact that at the time Delfin Ramos was arrested, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Roberto Ramos Rodriguez, son of Delfin, a PSP member, and also a veteran of the third contingent of the Venceremos Brigade. This particular contingent seems to have contributed a substantial number of militants for both the PSP and satellite groups closely connected with the PSP.

Mr. SOURWINE. Is there any special reason for the fact that members of the Third Brigade are so prominent among the top echelons of the PSP?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. As I recall, that particular contingent had the distinction of receiving an extensive lecture from "Che" Guevara's own bodyguard and one of the three survivors of his group. This was Harry Villegas, known under the nom-de-guerre of "Pombo". The Third Venceremos Brigade was addressed by him in the mountains of the Escambray. The Cubans were very impressed by the result of the lecture, as evidenced by a report by Joaquin Andrade, a special correspondent of Prensa Latina, the government-controlled news agency. of Cuba. Let me quote the concluding paragraphs:

"The most useful part of the trip, up to now, has been the lectures," commented a Puerto Rican (Brigade member), "We are really learning. And they ask questions constantly, with great eagerness. Susan wants to clear up some confused points of Marighella's `Mini-, manual of Urban Guerrilla'; Bob would like to know how the Tupamaros function and organize themselves because `we could do the same in many cities of the United States'; a blond long-haired young man worries about `What actions could we carry out to cooperate with Latin American revolutionaries in their struggle against Yankee imperialism?'

"Undoubtedly many of the young people of the Venceremos Brigade have gathered fundamental experiences during their brief stay in the Isle of Pines." '

This report, Mr. Chairman, appeared in the October 30, 1970, issue of "Direct from Cuba", a Prensa Latina service. I would like to offer it for the record, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. MARTIN. May this be received for the appendix, ,Mr. Chairman?

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.

Mr. .TAAABOCHIA. Mr. Chairman, as you know, the subcommittee and its chairman have been accused, both by the leadership of Venceremos Brigade and by the. Daily World, of making slanderous allegations about the activities of the brigade. I believe that, in addition to the other information in possession of the subcommittee, the paragraphs I have just quoted are sufficient to dispel any doubts as the nature of the lessons imparted by the Cubans. For this reason Mr. Chairman, I would like to offer, for inclusion in the record at this point, the articles regarding the subcommittee's report on the Venceremos Brigade which appeared in the Daily World and the Venceremos Brigade Bulletin.-

Senator THURMOND. Without objection so ordered.;

Mr. TARABOCHIA. In concluding my testimony, Mr. Chairman, I would like to offer for the appendix of the record a series of photographs, of Puerto Rican terrorists, with biographical notes on each, and some historical notes on sundry terrorist groups operating in Puerto Rico which were not dealt with in the testimony of Mr. Martinez. I would also like to offer for the appendix an organizational chart showing the structure of the P.S.P., and identifying the members of. the P.S.P. Secretariat.

Senator THURMOND. Without objection, so ordered.

Mr. MARTIN. Before we conclude, Mr. Tarabochia, I would like to come back to your geometric description of the relationship existing between the Cuban DGI, the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, and the Venceremos Brigade. You suggested, at one point, that the relationship could be described as a triangular relationship; and, at another point, that it might be described as a circular relationship because it is hard to say where the activities of one organization left off, and the activities of the others began. In the light of the testimony that you have given here today, I wonder whether it might not be a bit more indicative of the real relationship, existing between the three organizations, if we described it as a pyramidal relationship, with the DGI at the apex and with the PSP and the Venceremos Brigade at the base, with numerous interlocks between them? Do you think this would be a reasonable description?

Mr..TARABOCHIA. That expresses it exactly; and I stand corrected geometry was never my forte, even though my father's name was Euclid. Yes, when taken into consideration, the relationship is, indeed a pyramidal one, with the Cuban D.G.I. hierarchy, for all practical purposes, in complete control.

Mr. MARTIN. There is one more matter, Mr. Chairman. Our experience has been that it generally takes 6 weeks or more to process a hearing record through the Government Printing Office: I think we can take it for granted, therefore, that this record will not be in print for some weeks after the September 5 conference in Havana, to which both Mr. Martinez and Mr. Taxabochia have referred. I would therefore like to suggest that Mr. Tarabochia be asked to provide for the record, as soon as the September 5th conference is over, a brief commentary on the conference and selected documents emerging from it. I believe it would help to round out the hearing record if it could be left open for such an addendum.

Senator THURMOND. That's a very god idea. Without objection, so ordered. Mr. Tarabochia, you will provide the Subcommittee with this addendum as soon as possible after the September 5 Conference?

Mr. TARABOCHIA. I Will.

[The addendum in question follows immediately after below.]

Mr. MARTIN. I have no more questions, Mr. Chairman.

Senator THURMOND. Mr. Tarabochia, I want to thank you for the carefully researched and documented presentation you have made this afternoon. I think your testimony and Mr. Martinez's, taken together, present the clearest picture I have yet come across of the forces at work to subvert Puerto Rico and to detach it from the United States.

The hearing will now stand adjourned, subject to the call of the chair.

[Whereupon, at 5:30 p.m., the hearing was adjourned, to reconvene at the call of the Chair.]
 

COMMENTARY ON THE HAVANA CONFERENCE
 

The dimness of prospects that Cuba might be induced to back off from its efforts to pry Puerto Rico away from the United States is indicated by the statement of Cuba's president: Osvaldo Dorticos. Speaking to the International Conference on Solidarity with the independence, broadcast live from Havana last September 8, Dorticos said

"The Cuban Revolutionary Government cannot escape involvement in the Puerto Rican cause and our unyielding duty of solidarity with it as a controversial bilateral issue between the United States and Cuba."

At another point in the same speech, President Dorticos said:

"Puerto Rico is a Latin American nation subjugated to colonial domination and is not a domestic problem of the United States."

That the Communist-directed Cuban objective goes even beyond Puerto Rico was made clear by still a third statement of Dortlcos, in the same speech, when he spoke of  "The need for close unity between Puerto Ricans and the working class and progressive and democratic forces in the United States for the liberation of Puerto Rico and, at the same time, development of the democratic and revolutionary struggle in the United States Itself."

The degree of commitment of the Cuban Politburo to the separation of Puerto Rico from the United States is evidenced by the fact that more than 200 Puerto Rican activists have visited Cuba. Many were trained in terrorism and all of them received encouragement. This number does not include the 60 or 70 Puerto Ricans who traveled to Cuba with the Venceremos Brigades.

The speech by Cuban President Osvaldo Dorticos Tornado and the final declaration of the Havana Conference follow. Attached are also some articles from the Communist mouthpiece "Daily world" regarding the participants at the Havana Conference.