273. Memorandum for the record, September 81
SUBJECT
- Meeting in the Office of the Under Secretary of State Ball on 8 September 1961 to Discuss Policy with Respect to the CRC
PARTICIPANTS
- Under Secretary Ball, Assistant Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs, Mr. Robert Woodward, Mr. Richard Bissell, Mr. Richard Goodwin, Mr. Park Wollam, Mr. Robert Hurwitch, Mr. Paul Vallen and [name not declassified]
1. Mr. Woodward opened the meeting by referring to the attached document that he had written directed to Mr. Ball on the subject of U.S. relationships with Cuban exile groups. After discussing this document it was agreed to recommend approval of all recommendations with one slight change on recommendation No. 3. That recommendation would be changed from saying that U.S. assistance would be coordinated under the strictest terms of secrecy with a select small group of Cubans to saying it would be coordinated with Mr. Miro Cardona and that Miro would have full responsibility for the security of such information. It was also agreed to add a recommendation that the contacts of CIA with Miro Cardona be stepped up to a higher level in order to keep him happy and to utilize him to the greatest extent possible. It was agreed that the disbanding of the Council would be a loss and an effort should be made to work more effectively with Miro Cardona to try to maintain and increase his usefulness. It was agreed also that a budget would be worked out with Miro Cardona on the $75,000 per month level and that it would probably be more effective to work out an annual rather than a monthly budget. If special operations were proposed by the Council they would be considered for approval by CIA and upon CIA concurrence would be funded apart from the normal budget.
2. Concerning the payments of pensions to dependents of veterans of the invasion force that participated in the 17 April invasion of Cuba, the only ruling that there has been is that the President had informed Mr. Goodwin that payments should be continued for a certain amount of time. It was agreed that it is not yet time to consider cutting off these payments. Mention was made of the fact that trials of certain members of the invasion force were now just beginning in Cuba and [Typeset Page 679] will probably continue for just as long as they are useful to whip up revolutionary fervor in Cuba. Psychologically this would be a bad time to consider cutting off the support we are now giving to dependents of the veterans.
- Meeting among Ball, Woodward, Bissell, Goodwin, et al., re policy with respect to the Cuban Revolutionary Council. Secret. 1 p. CIA, DDO/DDP Files: Job 78–01450R, Box 5, Area Activity—Cuba.↩