U.S. Senate Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, of the Committee on the Judiciary.

The subcommittee reconvened at 2:15 p.m., pursuant to recess.

(Present: Senators Dodd and Keating; Mr. Sourwine and Mr. Mandel.)

Senator DODD. Please come to order.

Because we have a witness who wishes to leave the city today, we will interrupt the testimony of Father Perez, with Father Perez' permission, and call instead Mr. Diaz Balart.

Representative ANFUSO. Mr. Chairman, Senator Keating, it is my very happy privilege this afternoon to introduce to this committee Dr. Rafael Diaz Balart, a former Senator of Cuba, a man who studied for many years in this country, who is a devoted citizen of his country, a disciple of the famous hero of Cuba, Marti. He has been a resident of the United States, which country he has always worshiped because of its democratic principles, and it has always been his idea to carry out those principles in his native land.

He knows a great deal about the present difficulties going on in Cuba today. He feels deeply that the country is going communistic, that it is being alienated from the United States, for which the people of Cuba have always had a great love and admiration. He feels deeply that the people of Cuba do not like the separation which their dictator form of government is leading them to. He happens to be a brother?in?law of the present ruler of Cuba, not by choice, but it is something that happened.

And he is here, I am sure, to tell this committee the whole truth about Cuba. And I can assure the committee that he will be very cooperative, as he has been in the past with the staff of this committee, and is indeed at your disposal. I thank you very much for this opportunity of being able to present him.

Senator DODD. Raise your right hand, please.

Do you solemnly swear the testimony you will give before this subcommittee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I do.

Senator DODD. Have a chair. You speak English, I believe.

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, sir, a little bit.

Senator DODD. If you need an interpreter, she will be present.

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Thank you.

Mr. SOURWINE. Your full name, sir?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Rafael Lincoln Diaz Balart.

Mr. SOURWINE. And your residence?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I live in New York.

Mr. SOURWINE. You are a lawyer?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. Are you a member of the bar of Cuba?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, Sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. Are you a member of the bar of any State of the United States?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No, Sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. Where did you go to school?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Havana, University, and University of Oriente.

Mr. SOURWINE. When?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. From 1945, when I started Havana University.

Mr. SOURWINE. Did you have a prominent classmate in law school?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes. I was a classmate of Premier Castro.

Mr. SOURWINE. You were it, classmate of Fidel Castro?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Were you formerly a member of the National Legislature of Cuba?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, Sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. How long have you been in the United States?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Since January 15,1959.

Mr. SOURWINE. Why did you leave Cuba and come here?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I left Cuba, on December 20, 1958, to Europe, for some professional business, find while there the Communist forces of Castro arrived to power, so I remained there until January 15 when I came here, to the United States.

Senator KEATING. May I inquire?

You mean that your relationship is that your wife is a sister of Fidel Castro?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No my sister was the wife of Castro.

Senator KEATING. I See. Thank you.

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I would like to ask Your Honor's permission to read a very brief opening statement, if it is possible.

Senator DODD. All right. Go ahead.

Mr. DIAZ BALART. As a Cuban, and as a public person, I appreciate the hospitality extended to me by this great brother country of the United States of America. I am happy to respond to the subpoena of this distinguished committee to appear before it. I do so with the same feeling of appreciation as I would if I were invited to come before any other representative body of the, other free countries of America in order to cooperate with my best knowledge towards the understanding of our mutual problems, and for the better defense of the democratic Christian principles that are fundamental in the Americas. These principles are increasingly being threatened from Alaska to the Rio Plata, by the subversive activities of imperialistic and atheistic international Communists. Fulfilling this appearance, which I have been requested to do by this honorable committee, I wish to emphasize my profound faith in the moral resources of the Cuban people.

I am sure that they know how to proceed in the struggle for the total liberation from Communist tyranny and oppression that today is ruling that country, and from their spreading hatred and provocation throughout the Western Hemisphere.

I wish also to give this committee and public opinion generally a clear and definite assurance of my devotion to the friendship and solidarity of the peoples of the American Continent. And I want to express my respect and faith in the principle of nonintervention in the internal affairs of the respective countries, which are fundamental principles of the Organization of the American States.

I shall always have profound love for this great country of liberty and brotherhood. Thank you very much.

Senator DODD. All right, Sir. Thank you.

Go ahead, Mr. Sourwine.

Senator KEATING. Just one question. You are a citizen of Cuba?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, Sir.

Senator KEATING. Thank you.

Mr. SOURWINE. Congressman Anfuso mentioned that you were Fidel Castro's brother-in-law, and you said that your sister was Fidel Castro's wife. I take it your use of the past tense means that she no longer is his wife.

Mr. DIAZ BALART. That is right.

Mr. SOURWINE. Is your sister still alive?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, Sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. She is then divorced from Fidel Castro?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. That is right.

Senator KEATING. Is she living in Cuba?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Mr. Diaz Balart, did you ever hold a position in the Government of Cuba?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, Sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. What position?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I was Under Secretary of Interior, before being elected a congressman.

Mr. SOURWINE. When was that?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. 1952.

Mr. SOURWINE. Under Batista?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, Sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. Did you ever hold office under any President other than Batista?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No, Sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. Were you, then, a pro-Batista Cuban? You were part of the Batista government?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes. I was pro-Batista before 1952, when the party that he founded-he called it a new party, and he called the Cuban youth to join that party in order to fight for order, for progress, and for stability of the Cuban country. And I liked those principles. I joined him in the opposition. I was the leader of the youth party in all the nation while we were in the opposition. And in 1952, when the coup d'etat took place-in 1952, 10th of March-I continued with Batista, because he promised to give the country progress and stability, and I was very much concerned with the terrible situation of my country before those years when the life, the human life didn't have any value at all. And being a Christian, as I am, I have always thought that it is not possible to think in any other human principle in any country if you dont have before anything the guarantee of the human life, and of the human dignity.

Mr. SOURWINE. When did you leave the Batista government?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I was elected in 1954 a congressman, and I continued within the government of Batista with very definite and peculiar point of view, as head of the youth movement. We were asking Batista in private and in public for honesty in the government, for progress, for stability, for free elections, and there is a matter of record, even in the U.S. magazine like Time, of that time, when we asked in a big rally of more than 80,000 young men and women all throughout the island headed by me, we asked Batista to have free elections.

Mr. SOURWINE. Did you ever break with Batista?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I had a lot of struggle with Batista, and that is also a matter of record in all the press of my country. After I was elected in 1954, as the No. 1 of all the representatives of my province, I denounced the corruption of those elections in my Oriente Province, and I had trouble with Batista. After the big rally in 1953, I made very clear in my speech before the Presidential Palace, that we didn't agree with the politics of Batista, that we didn't agree with the cabinet of Batista, and because of that I was out of the country for several months.

Mr. SOURWINE. Did you return?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I returned, and I bad a meeting with my organization, national organization, several times. We were making pressure in the government of Batista for progress. We were asking for a land reform, a constitutional land reform, and we were expecting to make Batista to have some changes. After that, when the civil war was working, and working in spite of our efforts when Castro led the attack to the Moncada barracks in 1953, before that there was not a single death in the situation of Cuba. Castro provoked it, without any reason in that moment -- the attack on the Moncada barracks, with 80 men, knowing, as you can realize very easily, that he was not going to fulfill. And besides that, that he had any chances to get the barracks, he was not able to do anything with that. Then he just made that attack in order to promote himself as a leader in his own party.

After that a civil war started. And we realized it, in meetings one after another, in my organization, that then Fidel Castro, with the backing of the international machinery of the Communists, was going to get the power if other sectors of the Cuban public life was fighting openly against the Batista regime. So we had to choose between maybe two evils at that moment, and we knew what it would mean to our country that Fidel Castro and he Communists would get power.

That was the whole story of my attitude in that time.

Mr. SOURWINE. You never supported Fidel Castro, then?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Not at all. I attacked him.

Mr. SOURWINE. You never supported the 26th of July Movement?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No; I denounced in the very beginning, in the press of my country, when Raul Castro, which I know very well personally, since he, started to study the Communist doctrine, and he started to be a Communist agent -- I denounced that in the press of my country, though I was in that moment a friend in a personal affair, and I told the public opinion of my country the danger of believing in the Castro Movement, not only because they were above all Communists, but also because I knew very well, as the public opinion of Cuba knew, that Castro was nothing else than an opportunist and a gangster, that had started his public life as a juvenile delinquent. And that is a matter of record in the press of Cuba, also.

Mr. SOURWINE. We have a great many witnesses to hear, Mr. Diaz Balart, and I don't want to cut you off at all, but I should like to request, with the permission of the Chair, that you keep your answers to the questions as short as you can. If you think you are being cut off when you have information you want to give, just tell us.

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Thank you very much.

Senator DODD. Before you leave this question, I do not think it is clear on the record -- you opposed and criticized Batista at times, and you opposed Castro. And you made the remark, "I left the country for a few months." What year?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. That was 1953, November.

Senator DODD. When did you return?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I returned 2 months after.

Senator DODD. Two months?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Three months after.

Senator DODD. In 1953?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. That is right.

Senator DODD. And you were in Cuba continuously from 1953 until when?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Until December 20,1958.

Senator DODD. Then you went to Europe?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, sir.

Senator DODD. Then you came to the United States from Europe?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. That is correct.

Senator KEATING. May I ask one other question? When you say you left the country, was that because Batista ordered you to leave?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No, not exactly, no. I was a member of the Government, but within the Government I led the youth movement. We had a struggle within the Government, so I felt that it was better to--

Senator DODD. Was it because of Batista or not?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No; I cannot say that.

Senator DODD. You left on your own?

Senator KEATING. Did you leave under any pressure?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No, not at all. It was moral pressure, because I--

Senator KEATING. Any threats?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No, not at all. No threats. It was a question of moral and ideological point of view.

Mr. SOURWINE. The youth movement you speak of would be called in English the Youth of Action Progressive Party?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, it was a Youth of Action Unitarian Party when we were in the opposition, and Action Progressive Party when we were in the Government.

Mr. SOURWINE. Now, you were opposed to Castro. Were you also opposed to Prio?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, I was opposed to Prio when Prio was in power.

Senator KEATING. You were opposed to all these people?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes.

Senator KEATING. Who were you for?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I am for the liberty and progress of my country.

Senator KEATING. I mean you didn't have any particular individual?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No. In that time, I was in favor of Batista, because I thought, before 1952, that he was a solution for the Cuban people. He had left the power in 1944, after 11 years being in power, and having all the power in his hands -- he lost an election, a general election, and he left the power, he gave to his worst enemy the power, and he visit all the countries of Latin America as a democratic hero. So he was a real hope for the Cuban people -- at least I thought that that was the situation.

Senator KEATING. But you became disillusioned about Batista in what year?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Increasingly. I personally continued being his friend, but increasingly I talked to him, and I told him publicly also that he should give progress and another attitude to his government.

Senator KEATING. Would it be fair to say that you were anti-Batista when you left to go to Europe?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Pardon me, Sir?

Senator KEATING. Were you anti-Batista, against Batista, when you left to go to Europe?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Ideologically, yes. But I cannot say politically I was yet against Batista, because, we were in a civil war, and I thought, and my movement thought, that to oppose publicly and definitely to Batista would mean in that moment to help the Castro movement, which had the weapons and had all the sources to get power. And we knew that as soon as the power was out of the hands of Batista, by a violent means, not by a normal means, as we were expecting to be, we knew that the only one that was going to get the power was Fidel Castro, and the Communists. Not even Carlos Prio or any of the other people.

Senator KEATING. Now, let me ask you this. Do you consider the Castro dictatorship worse than the Batista dictatorship ?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. It is very different. The Batista dictatorship was only a political dictatorship. The Castro dictatorship can only be compared in America, I think, to Peron, and even much worse than Peron, because the Castro dictatorship is a complete and a, total dictatorship. I think that is the first real example of absolute and complete totalitarian government in the American Hemisphere. And, besides that, and above all, is the first real Communist state in our hemisphere.

Senator KEATING. You consider it a Communist state?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Absolutely. I don't think there is any doubt in this moment in the minds of any that is a student of the Communist tactics and the Communist struggle. The point is that, as I have told several times -- for instance, when they asked me is Castro a Communist, I remember a professor that I had in the law school, that always taught also when you are going to talk about a very important matter you should start sharpening the terminology, and it is important when somebody asks if Castro or is anybody a Communist, it is important to know what do they mean by Communist.

Now, Castro is not a card holder of the Communist Party in Cuba, never has been. But, at the same time, the card holder of the Socialistic Party, or the Communist Party in Cuba, maybe a lot of them are less dangerous and less important members of the Communist machinery.

What happens is that Castro is a member of the Third International, which they don't, have a card never.

I want to affirm, with all my faith and all my knowledge, that Fidel Castro is the most important and most dangerous member in the Western Hemisphere of the Communist International machinery since the Russian revolution.

Senator KEATING. You don't favor the return of Batista, do you?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. We are very, very much opposed to that. We formed a movement, an underground movement, which is working very hard in Cuba, with two principal purposes -- to overthrow the dictatorship of the Communists, and to prevent any possibility of the return to power of Batista.

Mr. SOURWINE. Is that organization the so-called Blanco Rosa, the White Rose?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, Sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you hold a position in that organization?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, Sir; I am the founder and the general secretary.

Senator DODD. Let me ask you a question. You said you thought Castro succeeded because he overthrew Batista. Was there any third place you could have looked for some decent element to control the Government of Cuba?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. That is a very nice question. In that moment, Sir, with the civil war extended, we tried to have that third position, or third possibility, several times.

Senator DODD. Did you have a man who you thought would make a good president of Cuba?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Not personally I, but there was the possibility. There was, for instance, Dr. Marquez Sterling, who was a candidate of the opposition in the election. But what happened is that Fidel Castro had all the weapons, all the backing of the Communist machinery -- money, weapons, propaganda, and at the same time, because of the very intelligent propaganda of the Communist International machinery, he got the help of the right men, and of the right personality -- even of the organization of the founder's rights. So Fidel Castro had at this moment, because of the very intelligent Communist propaganda, he had the help, the decisive help of the Communists and of the enemies of the Communists. So in that moment practically to anybody that studied the Cuban situation, in the middle of the civil war, there was not any other possibility, and the history, the recent history, has proved that we had.

Senator DODD. Did you ever suggest to Batista he withdraw in favor of a moderate candidate?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. We suggested to him to give free elections. We suggested to him in 1956 that -- after the amnesty that favored Fidel Castro himself -- we suggested a partial election of all the House of Representatives, all the Senate, and Governors, In order to have the basis, in order to have a change

of the Government in 1958. And we were advocating that solution openly in the public opinion. And, after that, the Congress had a mediation that didn't succeed because of the gangsterism, subversion of the Castro and the Communist movement -- that threatened any people, even in the opposition, that were threatening the pressmen, since the Sierra Maestra, that were threatening to kill anybody that were opposing the solution -- the only solution of the Communist Party under the Fidelista movement was having -- that is silence in order to get power as they got.

Senator KEATING. Let me ask you a question. You referred to Fidel Castro as, I think you said, the most prominent member of the Communist International movement in the Western Hemisphere but probably or not a card-carrying Communist.

Now, were you in law school with Fidel Castro?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, sir.

Senator KEATING. Can you tell us anything about his activities there of a political character?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes. Right when he started at the university, in 1945, it was very easy for him, and at the same time for the Communists that had and always have had a very powerful branch in the University of Havana -- it was very easy for both of them to get to very nice understanding, because Communists know --

Senator DODD. I think if you just answer the question -- don't give the reasons why. Senator Keating may want to know them later. But tell what he did and what he said.

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes. About what?

Senator KEATING. About his political activities when you were in law school with him.

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Well, he started, as I told you, as a juvenile delinquent, he started killing our fellow students, and united with the Communists, and going in any activity as a front man of the Communists. He had a very well understanding with the Communist movement, because they needed a front man, and Fidel needed them to back him.

Senator KEATING. Was he recognized by the other students as acting in that capacity at the time?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Oh, yes. But he was always very much careful not to appear. And also the Communist -- in order not to appear as Communist.

Senator DODD. How do you know he was a Communist when he was

student?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I knew that he started together with them, because I knew who were the Communists by name. They were open.

Senator DODD. Were you told this by others?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No, I knew that by myself.

Senator DODD. You saw him associating with them. Do you know

he was a member? How do you know that?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No, he was not in that moment a member. He as just in that moment an opportunist leader that wanted to promote himself.

Senator DODD. So your answer is he was associated with people you think were Communists?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No. In that moment he was associated with people that I know were Communists, because they told to everybody.

Senator DODD. He associated with them. Do you know any more than that?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. And after that, in that procedure, was that when they started to be very useful to each other. I know all the process, because I had to leave the country in 1947 to come to the United States, because I was opposed to Castro.

Senator DODD. We know that. Tell us any more you know.

Mr. DIAZ BALART. About his Communist activities?

Senator DODD. Yes, about Castro when he was a student at the university. That is what Senator Keating asked you.

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Exactly he told me that he was going to go with the Communists because it was the best way for a young leader that was thinking in the future to promote himself to the highest rank.

Senator DODD. Castro told you that?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes.

Senator DODD. All right. That is an answer to the question. What else?

Mr. SOURWINE. Did you know Leonel Soto?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Was he a Communist?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, he was an open leader of the Communist movement.

Mr. SOURWINE. What, if any, were Castro's dealings with him?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. He was also always very well connected to him, and to other Communists.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know Alfredo Guevara?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. Is that the same as "Che" Guevara?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No, sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. Will you identify Alfredo Guevara?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, he was a student leader of the Communist branch in Havana University, and of the intellectual branch, and now he is the head of the Cinematographic Institute in Cuba, and the head of the indoctrination program of the Army forces.

Mr. SOURWINE. Is he related to "Che" Guevara?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I don't think so.

Mr. SOURWINE. Was Castro associated with Alfredo Guevara?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know General Pedraza?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Never I have talked with him.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you have any knowledge respecting Castro's association with General Pedraza, if any?

Mr DIAZ BALART. General Pedraza?

Mr. SOURWINE. Yes.

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No, I don't know.

Mr. SOURWINE. Did you know Mas Martin?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Who was he?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. He was a leader of the Communist youth.

Mr. SOURWINE. Communist youth?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Where?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. In Cuba, Havana.

Mr. SOUR WINE. At the Havana University?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No, in Cuba.

Mr. SOURWINE. While Castro was attending Havana University, was he connected in any way with Mas Martin?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, in all his activities he was having the backing of the youth movement of the Communist Party that Mas Martin was one of the leaders.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know Flavio Bravo?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Was he a Communist?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, he was also a leader of the youth.

Mr. SOURWINE. Was Castro associated with him?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, sir, also.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know a Valdes Vives?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Valdes Vives? Yes; he was also a well-known Communist leader.

Mr. SOURWINE. Was Castro associated with him?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Also.

Mr. SOURWINE. Did you know Fabio Grobart?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Not personally. I knew of his presence in Cuba.

Mr. SOURWINE. Who was he?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I think from what I heard, he was a, commissar of the Communist movement. Maybe the highest ranking representative of the Third International in Cuba in that moment.

Mr. SOURWINE. Was Grobart a Cuban?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I don't think so.

Mr. SOURWINE. What was his nationality?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I think Yugoslav, but I am not sure, because I think that he used to use different names.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know where he is now?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I don't know.

Mr. SOURWINE. Was he ever associated with Castro, or vice versa?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Well, I think through these other people that you have --

Mr. SOURWINE. Please, not what you think. Do you know?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No.

Mr. SOURWINE. Did you know one Leonel Gomez?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, I know who he was.

Mr. SOURWINE. Who was he?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. He was the leader of the secondary institute of Havana.

(At this point, Senator Keating withdrew from the hearing room.)

Mr. SOURWINE. Was be the president of the student body in Havana No. 1 High School?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. That is right.

Mr. SOURWINE. Is he alive now?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. He is still alive?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. He is still alive.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you recall that he was shot in 1947 on Ronda Street in Havana?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know who shot, him?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, sir. Fidel Castro.

Mr. SOURWINE. How do you know this?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Because Fidel Castro told me that. He invited me to participate with him in the killing of that student, and I refused, because I am a Christian, I am against killing, and besides that, there was not any reason to.

Mr. SOURWINE. Why did he want to kill Gomez?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Because he thought at that moment that Gomez, being a personal friend of President [Grau San] Martin, at that moment the President of Cuba, he was going to be a big obstacle before the ambition of Castro.

Mr. SOURWINE. Was Gomez a Communist?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No; I do not think so.

Mr. SOURWINE. Was he an anti-Communist?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I think so.

Mr. SOURWINE. Now, was Castro in your home immediately after the shooting of Gomez?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. What was he doing there?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. He was trying to hide.

Mr. SOURWINE. He was there by your invitation?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No; he was there because he was my friend.

Mr. SOURWINE. Did you know Manolo Castro?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Was he any relation to Fidel Castro?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No; no relation.

Mr. SOURWINE. Who was Manolo Castro?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. He was the leader and president of the Federation of University Students of Havana University, a great leader of the student body.

Mr. SOURWINE. Is he alive?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No; he was killed by Castro.

Mr. SOURWINE. By Castro?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Personally?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I think so.

Mr. SOURWINE. How did he kill him?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. It was in the middle of a street in Havana. This was very much publicized by all the papers in Havana. And Castro before, some weeks before, had told publicly in Havana University that he was going to kill Manolo Castro.

Mr. SOURWINE. You told us that Fidel Castro had told you that he had shot Leonel Gomez. Did he ever tell you anything about killing Manolo Castro?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No; I was not in Havana then.

Mr. SOURWINE. You did not see the murder?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No.

Mr. SOURWINE. Was Fidel Castro ever accused of this murder?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes; very much. He had to go before the court.

Mr. SOURWINE. Was he tried for the murder?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No.

Mr. SOURWINE. You said he had to go before the court. What did you mean?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. In the preliminary procedures of the court -- but he did not continue with that. He went, to Bogota at that moment.

Mr. SOURWINE. Fidel Castro went to Bogota?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Did the Court absolve him of the killing of Manolo Castro?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No. I think it was not held -- the hearing was not held.

Mr. SOURWINE. Did you know Fernandez Caral?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes; he was a sergeant of the police body of the Havana University.

Mr. SOURWINE. Is he still alive?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No; he was killed by Fidel Castro.

Mr. SOURWINE. How do you know this?

Mr. Diaz BALART. Because Fidel Castro had told to all my friends after he killed Castro that he was going to have to kill Fernandez Caral, because the sergeant had told that he was going to put Fidel in jail because of the previous killing.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you have any personal knowledge respecting the killing of Caral?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No; through my brothers, and through the other friend -- I was not in Havana.

Mr. SOURWINE. You have no personal knowledge?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No personal knowledge.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know Carlos Rafael Rodriguez?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I know who he is.

Mr. SOURWINE. You do not know him personally?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No.

Mr. SOURWINE. Who is he?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. He is one, of the biggest leaders of the Communist Party in Cuba, the intellectual branch.

Mr. SOURWINE. Does he have, any connection with Fidel Castro?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes; I think that he is a very close adviser of Fidel Castro, and he is the editor of the newspaper Hoy, the official newspaper of the Communist Party in Cuba today. Incidentally, he was just given by the Government a position for the first time in Havana University, an open Communist, a position of professor of economics that was created by him especially.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know Raul Castro?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. He is Fidel Castro's brother?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, Sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know whether he is a Communist?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. He is a very well trained Communist agent.

Mr. SOURWINE. How do yon know this?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Because he went to Prague, after he had already become a member of the Communist movement, ideology -- he was trained there. When he came back, he was got by the police in the airport with Communist propaganda, and when he was released from the prison, he talked with my brother, Waldo, and he, told to him that he was in prison, but that he was ready not only to be in prison, but to die for the Communist cause.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you how Raul Castro became a Communist?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, because Fidel Castro put him in contact with the intellectual machinery of the Communist Party, being Raul a very young man, and they indoctrinated him.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you remember telling us that Fidel Castro gave his brother Raul copies of Marx's works?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes. That was part of the indoctrination that I just told you.

Mr. SOURWINE. How do you know he did?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Because I was there, and I knew both of them.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know how it came about that Raul Castro met "Che" Guevara?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I think that was in Mexico, through Raul Castro and through other Communists, Cuban and Mexican.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know how this came about? Not what you think -- do you know?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. No, I was not in Mexico at that moment.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know Vera Lestovna de Zalka?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Who is she?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Not personally.

Mr. SOURWINE. Not personally. Who is she?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I think she is a, very high ranking member of the Communist machinery in America, in Latin America, through the diplomatic ways.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know this to be true?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I cannot assure, you; I think. I have the impression. To me it is sure, but not to tell officially to the committee.

Mr. SOURWINE. Does she have diplomatic connections?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Pardon Me?

Mr. SOURWINE. Does she have diplomatic connections?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes; I think she is the wife of a Hungarian Ambassador in South America.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know what country?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I think this is in Argentina. All that story has been published in the very well-known magazine, Vanguardia, by one of the ranking Communist writers of South America, Mr. Rudolfo Alvenas.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know of any connection between Fidel Castro and this woman?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Not. exactly. I know the connection of Fidel Castro throughout Latin America. Maybe, I think that Fidel Castro now is more important than any other agent in Latin America.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you recall giving us the names of two Russians whom you said arrived in Cuba in May 1959, to inaugurate a new type of labor movement in South America?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, I recall that. That was almost a year ago.

Mr. SOURWINE. Who were those two Russians?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I think the name Timofei, and another name I do not recall, because I do not have a very good memory fo Russian names.

Mr. SOURWINE. One, name you gave us is Eremev Timofei?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. That is right.

Mr. SOURWINE, And the other name you gave us Ivan Arapov?,

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I think so; yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Did you or didn't you?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Pardon me?

Mr. SOURWINE. Did you give us those names?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. How did you know of the arrival of those two Russian in Cuba ?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I was informed by my underground movement that they were in a specific hotel, for one of the people that was serving them was a member of my movement.

Mr. SOURWINE. Are you able to tell us how Fidel Castro was able to get support and money for his revolution?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I think there was something like a circle, working out above all through very nice propaganda. Of course, some of the situation of the regime in that moment was, naturally, maybe helping him. And through a very well -- by a very well integrate propaganda -- for example, some articles by Herbert Matthews, of the New York Times, that were helping him very much, was in the Sierra Maestra, at the beginning of Castro, and he published in the New York Times that he had seen personally hundreds and hundreds of very well trained soldiers, was a high morale, anti-Communist, and so forth.

And now the Castro people had published, after they got power, and there is in the Cuban magazines, that in that moment they just had about 12 or 13 men. And propaganda like this -- you can see that they were given the impression that they had already a very strong movement, a very high moral movement, and so forth.

And I think that the Communists got the idea that there was an opportunity to help that movement.

Mr. SOURWINE. Did the 26th of July Movement have support from the United States before Castro's regime came to power?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. A lot of support.

Mr. SOURWINE. Where was that support centered, if you know?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Pardon me, sir?

Mr. SOURWINE. Where was that support centered, if you know?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Well, I think that it was centered in New York City, in Miami, and even they got some help from the naval base in Guantanamo.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know where, the headquarters of the 26th of July Movement in New York City is?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Right now it is in the Belvedere Hotel.

Mr. SOURWINE. The Belvedere Hotel?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. The Belvedere; yes, sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. That is 319 West 49th Street, New York City?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, I think so. Yes. Sir.

Air. SOURWINE. Can you name any of the persons in this country who are presently working for Castro, outside of the Cuban Embassy?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Besides the people of the Embassy?

Mr. SOURWINE. Outside.

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Outside, yes.

Although they are not any more registered in the Justice Department, they represent the Cuban Government -- they have had headquarters, as I told, in Hotel Belvedere.

There is a Secretary General called Mr. Jose Sanchez. They Have a link through a man called Jose Vazquez. And they give money through the consulate and through the Cubana Airlines. They have, according to their own statement published in the newspaper -- they have what they call commando actions in New York City and Miami, that they use in New York City and Miami, in order to threaten every Cuban that is against Castro, that is not a Communist, and is not pro-Castro.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you have any information respecting the use of violence by the 26th of July organization to break up a celebration in Central Park in honor of Jose Marti in January of this year?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, Sir.

Mr. SOURWINE. What do you know about that?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Pardon me?

Mr. SOURWINE. What do you know about the use of violence on that occasion?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Well, the White Rose organization asked for a permit to the Police Department of New York City in order to put a wreath of flowers before the Marti monument in Central Park South, and when we were arriving there having the wreath, we were attacked and the police of New York were attacked by them, by a bunch of gangsters headed by a man named Hector Duarte, who is a cop killer, that had arrived before with a diplomat passport. And the police of New York, although they questioned him, was not able, to act because of the diplomatic passport. And they started attacking also with irons and stones and so forth. And after that they published in the Revolution newspaper the picture of the act and how these people received orders from the commando action in order to attack violently us. And in fact there was the intention to kill Colonel Merob Sosa and myself.

Mr. SOURWINE. Does the 26th of July Movement conduct fund-raising activities in the United States, to your knowledge?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes. I have a card of one of the acts that they had in 691 Columbus Avenue, between 93d and 94th Street in New York, Saturday, 23d of April, for instance, where they are electing a Queen of the Land Reform in New York -- 50 cents every one of these cards.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you have any knowledge respecting a meeting of the 26th of July Movement at 914 Prospect Avenue in the Bronx, on April 22, 1960?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, Sir. There was there talking the Consul Rogelio Guillot and Mr. Jose Vazquez.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you have any knowledge regarding a meeting held in Union Square, New York City, May 1, 1960?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes. At that meeting a special agent of the Communist movement in the labor organization of Cuba, Mr. Gustavo Mas, arrived there to address in that meeting in Union Square on the question of Negro unrest in the United States, and the question of the independence of Puerto Rico, and other international and national questions of the United States of America, in order to start a movement that they have been organizing very well to provoke troubles within the United States.

Mr. SOURWINE. Was this meeting in Union Square held under the auspices of the 26tb of July Movement?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. I am not sure what auspices, because I was already here in Washington. I think that was the 26th of July Movement, or some American organization. I am not sure about that. I know that Gustavo Mas was there and talked about these things.

Mr. SOURWINE. Who is Gustavo Mas?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. He is a high-ranking labor leader of the Communist movement in Cuba.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you know what Fidel Castro's aim is with regard to the United States?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes. I think -- I mean I know that the Communists, as any man that studies a little bit of the procedure of the Communists, they know by elementary knowledge of the geopolitics that it is not possible to have a common state here in the Western Hemisphere. So it has been published very much, they have the theory of what they call terra arras sol, that is to say, I think, the theory of the complete destruction of the land, which is the theory of Mao Tse-tung the Communist leader, which, is one of the best theoretical minds of the Communist movement, and that is what they are trying to do in Cuba, to destroy absolutely the land and to provoke from Cuba a struggle within the United States, taking advantage of some situations in the United States -- taking advantage of some situation between the United States and other countries of Latin America, and to promote a revolution, or if not a revolution at least a struggle, a provocation, a big fighting, within the United States and in other countries of Latin America.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do I understand correctly that through your organization, the White Rose, you have an information flow from Cuba to you? You get information from Cuba?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes; quite often.

Mr. SOURWINE. Does this information give you any knowledge respecting the aims of the Castro regime as against other countries in Latin America?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes. They have got already a very good base in Cuba, which they are using as a center for the provocation in all Latin America, and in the United States, and between the United States and Latin America.

Mr. SOURWINE. A provocation of what?

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Struggles confusion, troubles. For instance, there is a situation in the Negro problem in some of the United States, that only those States maybe understand. Now, that has been having a peculiar situation, and what would happen if -- what would happen if some provocateurs, Communist provocateurs, try to form mobs, besides the natural feeling of those that I do not judge, because I am not a citizen of this country.

Besides that is the very well-trained Communist agitator, go there and start mobs, and that mob start, exercise violence, like they have done in other countries, when it would be necessary to have one killing -- that killing starts more violence and more bad feelings. And that is the way that they work all throughout the world.

As an example -- we have examples throughout the world now.

Mr. SOURWINE. I have no further questions.

Senator DODD. Very well. You may be excused. Thank you very much.

Mr. DIAZ BALART. Thank you very much.