CUBA AND THE CARIBBEAN MONDAY, JULY 27, 1970 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTER-AMERICAN AFFAIRS, Washington, D.C. The Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs met, pursuant to notice, at 10 o'clock in room 2200 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Dante B. Fascell, chairamn of the subcommittee, presiding. Mr. FASCELL. The subcommittee will please come to order. We meet this morning to hear testimony from the private sector in connection with the Cuban refugee program and issues relating to Cuba and the Caribbean. It is our pleasure to have as a witness Mr. Manolo Reyes, a distinguished citizen of Miami, a man who is a leader among the Cuban exiles residing in that community, dedicated to the cause of a free Cuba, and who has gained a great deal of prominence as a broadcaster and director of Latin American news at Station WTVJ in Miami. Mr. Reyes, I might add, has for years been the voice of warning, and has taken his share of accolades and abuse because of his determination that everybody shall have the best information that is available. Always uppermost in his mind is that some day Cuba will be returned to the Cuban people with a form of government of their own free choosing. Without objection, I would like to put in the record a more complete biographical summary on Mr. Manolo Reyes. (The biographical sketch follows:) MANOLO REYES Manolo Reyes started in broadcasting at Havana radio station CMQ as a 13-yearold singing talent in 1938. He continued in various capacities in broadcasting while carrying on his studies at La Salle Roman Catholic School and later at the University of Havana where he graduated with a degree in Diplomatic Laws in 1948, receiving his Law Degree in 1949. He was admitted to the Havana Bar Association in 1949 and in 1953 was named Director of the Official Bulletin of that association. When television came to CMQ, Mr. Reyes added to his schedule the duties of panel moderator of "The Great Jury of the People", a series of informal debates on legal and moral matters. He held the position of Sales Manager of CMQ from 1955 until 1960, when he and his family left Cuba for the United States to avoid Communist indoctrination of his children in Cuba's schools. Settling in Miami, Mr. Reyes was appointed Latin News Editor for Television station WTVJ in 1960. He has presented News en Espanol daily, except Sundays, since joining WTVJ and in this capacity serves the Spanish-speaking people in the Greater Miami area, aiming his newscasts to help Latin Americans adapt to new ways of life in the United States. In addition to supplying other media in the United States and Latin America with news of special interest to Latin America, he also has provided taped interviews to the U.S. Information Agency. Mr. Reyes is the recipient of many awards and citations from civic organizations and news associations for his work in both the news media and community leadership. Mr. FASCELL. Will you proceed, Mr. Reyes. STATEMENT OF MANOLO REYES, LATIN NEWS EDITOR, TELEVISION STATION, WTVJ, MIAMI, FLA. Mr. REYES. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for your kind words. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, as a Cuban, I would like to thank you for this opportunity to discuss the Cuban case with you. But, above all, I feel it is my responsibility to bring you a message. Far from any political representation, which I do not have, but knowing my people after having been involved in public life for 32 years with them, I am sure that they would like me to take advantage of this opportunity to express to all of you a message of friendship, confraternity and gratefulness for what the United States has done during 111⁄2 years of welcoming us to this great land of the free and the brave. This reaffirms our traditional friendship. And the Cuban exodus, in its dramatic ordeal, beyond any doubt, has already won in the history of mankind a page of rebellion against tyranny, but it has also marked a marvelous example of humanity as given by the American and the Cuban people working together. There is a historical law that says: "Revolution Devours its Men." And faster, if the so-called revolution is not really a revolution, because it was not made for the benefit of its people. That is the case in my country. Fidel Castro came into power through complacency and apathy, and claimed he was making a revolution. Eleven and a half years have gone by. Yesterday Castro commemorated the 17th anniversary of that hideous day when his movement started back on July 26, 1953, by attacking the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba in Oriente Province. Of course this is a very well-known fact among the Cubans-he arrived late for that attack. And today we can see that Castro is a tyrant. Today we can see that the Cuban people from one end of the nation to the other reject him, and many of Castro's initial followers have been executed or put in prison by Castro himself. Some examples are: Dr. Humberto Sori Marin; William Morgan; Jesus Carreras; Hubert Matos; Cristino Naranjo; Camilo Cienfuegos; and so many others. Through the analysis of the Cuban situation, we can see that Castro has been supported by five elements: The Army, the so-called Defense Committees of the Revolution (or block by block espionage committees of the nation), the Militia, the Communist Party, and the Soviet Union. During these 112 years Castro has been losing this support, now having only the one given by the hardcore members of the Communist Party in Cuba and the Soviet Union. That is why we believe the Soviet Union has been offering lately a show of force in Cuba, apparently trying to obtain several goals with that attitude: 1. Embarrass the United States. 2. Support Castro internally, warning the Cuban people that a Hungary or a Czechoslovakia can be repeated in our hemisphere. 3. Give encouragement to Communist forces in the American Continent in their subversive activities against constitutionally and free elected governments. 4. Use Cuba as a focal point of negotiation if an international crisis erupts. 5. Use the Caribbean as a private lake and embarrass ships of other nations, as it has been done by the Soviet warships in the Mediterranean. 6. Put a foot in the Western Hemisphere door. And if time goes by and nothing happens, the Soviet Union would have established a solid and permanent base in the heart of the American Continent. On August 7, 1962, we publicly denounced on television, through WTVJ, channel 4, in Miami, Fla., that there were 5,000 Russian troops in Matanzas Province near the Canimar River. This happened only a few weeks before the missile crisis of October 1962. On April 28, 1969, we again denounced the beginning of the Soviet military buildup in Cuba, not only through channel 4, but also through different news media, including the international news wire services. We got the reports from the Cuban underground sources, from Cubans arriving in the United States, plus other means. We said at that time that after Castro supported the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Soviets started to strengthen its military power in the island. Some people believe that our statement was aimed to produce a confrontation between the United States and Cuba in the hope of overthrowing Castro. The months that followed confirmed what we had said in April of 1969. SOVIET PRESENCE IN CUBA Three months later, a Soviet flotilla went to Cuba in a so-called courtesy visit. On May 14 of this year, the Soviet naval squadron with a nuclear submarine went to Cuba to refuel and resupply. Cuba was used as a military base by the Soviet Union. At this point in the statement, I would like to tell you that in the Washington Post of this morning, on page A-8 appears a picture of one of the submarines that went to Cuba on May 14. This picture was taken approximately at Parallel No. 24, which means 30 miles from the Florida coast. We have at WTVJ, channel 4, all the films taken of this submarine and the Soviet warships and a tanker of the Soviet Union in this naval squadron 30 miles from Key West. Also, as a proven fact there is the visit of Marshal Greschko to Cuba for a 9-day visit, and the constant reconnaissance flights of the Soviet TU-95 Bear plane in this part of the hemisphere, using Cuba as a base. During the last month, we have reported at least two Soviet military convoys, without Castro's soldiers, seen in Cuba: One in Pinar del Rio, and another in San Antonio de los Banos in Havana Province. We have also reported that at the beginning of this month two freedom flights were delayed in Cuba because there were Soviet MIG planes flying or staying around the American plane when it was waiting to take off. That information said that they were MIG-21's equipped with a gear that looked like short-range missiles. This is the first time MIG-21's have been shown in an open field in a Cuban airport. All this put together proves that Cuba has been converted into a Soviet military base and poses a threat not only to the Caribbean but to the rest of the Western Hemisphere as well. CUBAN REFUGEES That is why the Cuban people are trying to get out of Cuba, and that is why the Cuban patriots are fighting for the freedom of the island. Since Fidel Castro took over on January 1, 1959, more than 600,000 Cubans have come to the United States, out of which there are approximately 305,000 in Miami and Dade County. There are still some 120,000 who, accepting the invitation extended to them by the President of the United States on October 5, 1965, filed their applications to get out of Cuba and come to this Nation and are still waiting in Cuba. As you must realize, they are subject to humiliations and are considered traitors of the Castro regime. Most of them are in the middle of the Cuban fields, or in Castro concentration camps, waiting for the notification to come to this country. If the flights are discontinued, these people will be abandoned to the fury of the Castro regime. The Cuban exodus has triggered a new and healthy situation in Miami. In 1960—I was a witness because I was there before any American Federal program or Cuban refugee program-there were 65.000 Cuban refugees in Miami, without a penny. When the program began in 1961, there were 72,000 Cubans receiving $100 per month. Today, 10 years later, there are only some 15,000 Cubans in Miami receiving the Federal $100, and around the nation approximately 48,000, out of 600,000 in the whole nation. In Miami and Dade County, each Cuban invests in toothpaste, soap, milk, et cetera, around $10 per week. That means approximately $3 million per week, more than $12 million per month. CONTRIBUTION OF CUBAN REFUGEES TO U.S. ECONOMY Since the Cubans came to Miami, more than 10,000 new businesses have been opened. More than 250 restaurants in Miami have been opened by Cubans. On a monthly basis, the Cubans spend about $2 million in new cars and there are some 35 Cuban car dealers in Miami. There are three presidents of banks of Cuban extraction in Miami, more than 12 senior vice presidents and vice presidents, and more than 60 bank executives of Cuban extraction. There are more than 500 Cuban teachers in the Dade County School Board System. Nearly 50,000 Cuban youngsters attend Dade County public schools, parochial schools and private schools, Cuban exiles contribute tax as U.S. citizens do, and thousands of Cuban exiles have been recruited by the U.S. Armed Forces and have gone to Vietnam to fight there against Communist aggression. There is no visible criminal index among the Cuban colony, and there is almost none for juvenile delinquency. There is a sharp contrast between Cuba and Miami. Moneywise, the 305,000 Cubans living in Miami have more power to sell and to buy than the 7 million people on the island. The strip of Southwest Eighth Street called the Tamiami Street has more commercial lights and neon signs than Cuba has right now from one end to the other of the island. This is the story written by the Cubans through the free enterprise system in the United States, particularly in Miami and Dade County. It is almost the story of West Germany and East Germany repeated in the Western Hemisphere. The American people, especially in Miami and Dade County, have done a tremendous job handling the foreign policy of the United States by welcoming the Cubans and working with them. Miami itself is a vast laboratory of democracy, and really shows to the world that all of us are brothers under God. Thank you. Mr. FASCELL. Thank you, Mr. Reyes, for a very fine statement. TREATMENT OF CUBANS REGISTERING FOR IMMIGRATION What does the Castro government require from an individual who registered to leave Cuba and come to the United States? Mr. REYES. Mr. Chairman, the last of the so-called forms or "planillas" were given in 1966. The Castro regime has not given any more planillas. That is why I said there are 120,000 still waiting there. As soon as they file the form or application to get out of the island, they are considered traitors under the Castro regime, and they are called, for example, one day in the afternoon and they have to go to a focal point where they meet with the rest of the Cubans who are waiting to get out of the island. They are sent to the camps, to the so-called agricultural labor fields. First of all, as soon as they file the applications, they are fired from their jobs. There is one sole owner in Cuba, the State, so you cannot get another job. The only way to support himself or herself, if one is 40 or 60 or 70, is to go to the fields and cut cane, plant seeds, work in the agricultural way. Of course, we know that these are concentration camps, and they are there 6 months, a year, 2 years, waiting until they receive a telegram from the Castro regime saying that they are allowed to leave the island. These people come on the freedom flights sometimes with broken hands because they have been working in jobs that they are not used to doing. The small property that they can have, belongings, are taken away as soon as they file the applications, and they are put out of the system, out of the regime, as traitors. Of course, it goes without saying, there is the humiliation, the verbal attacks, and sometimes the physical attacks on these people. Mr. FASCELL. They lose all their money and property and lose their jobs? Mr. REYES. All. Mr. FASCELL. The State assigns them to whatever work the State wants them to perform? Mr. REYES. Right, Mr. Chairman. Mr. FASCELL. Usually in the cane fields? Mr. REYES. Usually there. Mr. FASCELL. Do these people who have registered for immigration live right at the cane fields in some kind of temporary barracks, or what? How does the Cuban Government take care of them, in other words? |