222. Memorandum From the Deputy Director of the Office of Caribbean and Mexican Affairs (Little) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Rubottom)1
SUBJECT
- Meeting on Cuba with Mr. Murphy
At 11:10 a.m. this morning Mr. Devine asked me if I would attend a meeting in Mr. Murphy’s office at 11:30 to brief Mr. Murphy principally on the emerging labor picture in Cuba, he having read and been interested in Habana’s telegram no. 793 of January 8 (attached).2 Mr. Devine said that both yourself and Mr. Snow were at a meeting with [Page 353] the Draper Committee and that Mr. Porter had said that a representative of CMA, with Mr. Stephansky, would be suitable in view of your being in the other meeting.
At the meeting it developed that Mr. Murphy was interested in all phases of events in Cuba in the past week, ARA’s evaluation of those developments, and our prognosis for the future. The discussion ranged over such matters as the makeup of the government, Castro’s control over future policy decisions, the program of the government, the likelihood of further executions, the government’s anticipated attitude to foreign investment, and the future status of the U.S. military missions to Cuba. Mr. Stephansky also discussed in some detail the labor picture and the significance of the communists being allocated five of the twenty-two places on the new executive committee of the United Nationalist Labor Front (FONU).
Prior to the discussion of the above matters, however, Mr. Murphy expressed dissatisfaction over the information which had been furnished in the past to him, the Under Secretary, and the Secretary respecting the activities in the United States of Cuban rebel movements. He referred in this connection to rebel contacts with Members of Congress, conspiratorial activities, and illegal export of arms and ammunition to Cuba. In response to my comment that it was my impression that information on these activities had been available to him, Mr. Murphy said that neither he nor the Under Secretary had been sufficiently informed, adding that the sort of thing he would have wished to have, for example, were periodic reviews of these activities. I stated at this point that those of us concerned (I was thinking of SCA but did not specifically refer to that Bureau) with these matters had had many discussions and meetings on these illegal activities with the responsible law enforcement agencies of the U.S. Government. I mentioned specifically Justice, Immigration and Naturalization, Customs and the CAA. In response to his question whether our liaison included the FBI, I said that it did.