106. Editorial Note

On July 17, Ambassador Smith met with Foreign Minister Guell, who conveyed to him the irritation caused by the delay in the release of the American hostages. Guell said that his government would soon like to discuss various preventive measures to avoid the repetition of such acts. Smith told the Department of State that he anticipated a Cuban Government proposal for joint action. In order to avoid this, and because the Embassy believed that the U.S. Government should take a firm stand to deter the future kidnapping of Americans, Smith recommended that the Department issue a warning to the rebels that the United States would "not again countenance such acts." Smith believed that a strong statement, issued immediately upon the release of the last hostages, might suffice. (Telegram 95 from Havana, July 18; Department of State, Central Files, 737.00/7‑1858) No reply by the Department of State has been found.

That evening Consul Park Wollam reported by radio to the U.S. base at Guantanamo that Raúl Castro had apparently approved a decision to release four captives a day and that all would be released by July 21. Wollam also said that the local population was frightened by the prospect of government forces' retaliation and wanted the rebels to slow down the release of the captives. Wollam expressed his belief that Chicago Tribune newsman Jules Dubois, who had gone into the hills to tell Raúl Castro to "stop this nonsense", had little chance of success. (Telegram 97 from Havana, July 18; ibid.)

On July 18, the rebel forces unexpectedly released the remaining 14 American hostages, who were taken by helicopter to the Guantanamo base. Raúl Castro sent a letter to Admiral Ellis, Commander of the Base, informing him that in view of the "international situation" (presumably a reference to the Lebanon crisis), he felt that all U.S. servicemen should be at their posts. (Telegram 105 from Havana, July 18; ibid.) However, the released hostages reported that four men had recently arrived at their place of detention after traveling for 8 days from the Sierra Maestra. Wollam speculated that they may have been couriers and that this might have been the real reason for the release of the last hostages. (Telegram 109 from Havana, July 19; ibid., 737.00/7‑1958)

On July 19, Wollam, Wiecha, their radio operator, Dubois, and a CBS newsman who was in the hills with the rebels all returned to the U.S. base at Guantanamo. For Dubois' recollections of these events, see Jules Dubois, Fidel Castro: Rebel‑Liberator or Dictator? (Indianapolis: Bobbs‑Merrill Co., 1959), pages 269‑279.