COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS THOMAS E. MORGAN, Pennsylvania, Chairman CLEMENT J. ZABLOCKI, Wisconsin L. H. FOUNTAIN, North Carolina E. ROSS ADAIR, Indiana WILLIAM S. MAILLIARD, California J. IRVING WHALLEY, Pennsylvania E. Y. BERRY, South Dakota BOYD CRAWFORD, Staff Administrator NANCY PEDEN, Staff Assistant SMA SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTER-AMERICAN AFFAIRS JOHN S. MONAGAN, Connecticut WILLIAM S. MAILLIARD, California F. BRADFORD MORSE, Massachusetts MARIAN A. CZARNECKI, Staff Consultant (II) CONTENTS [WITNESSES Hurwitch, Robert A., Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter- Palmatier, Howard H., Director, Cuban Refugee Program, Depart- Holmes, Adm. E. P., U.S. Navy, Commander in Chief, Atlantic_ Lang, William E., Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Inter- Biographical sketches of Robert A. Hurwitch and Robert L. Funseth, Memorandum of Understanding between the Embassy of Switzerland, at Cuban refugee program: Three basic periods in flow of refugees; tabula- 2-3 Joint resolution expressing the determination of the United States with respect to the situation in Cuba, text of Public Law 87-733, approved House resolution to express the sense of the House of Representatives Letter dated July 7, 1970, from Representative Claude Pepper to Repre- Status of lists and airlift (of Cuban refugees) as of July 5, 1970, tabulation.. Prepared statement by USCINCSO (Gen. George R. Mather) for the Map, Canal Zone, Panama Military Assistance Officer P.ogram positions. Biographical sketch of Hon. G. Warren Nutter, Assistant Secretary of Page 33 36 40 55 56 58 61 69 83 94 102 Biographical sketch of Adm. E. P. Holmes, U.S. Navy, Commander in 106 Map, the Caribbean_ 128 Biographical sketch of William E. Lang, Deputy Assistant Secretary of 134 Reimbursement to the United States for pay and allowances of U.S. military advisers__ 135 136 Department of Defense Comment on U.S. military personnel carried on host country military rolls. Letter dated March 7, 1969, from Hon. William B. Macomber, Jr., Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations, to Hon. Dante B. Fascell, relative to Cuban refugees.. Assistance to refugees in the United States-number of Cuban refugees Biographical sketch of Manolo Reyes, Latin news editor, televison station "Open letter to the Exile and Public opinion,' 140 159 163 172 Exhibits provided by Manolo Reyes relative to Soviet military and naval buildup in Cuba... 175-178 Biographical sketch of Dr. Horacio Aguirre, editor, Diario las Americas, 187 Memorial to the Congress, Committee for Continued U.S. Control of the Panama Canal, 1970 209 "Battle of the Levels-A Succession of Bugbears," additional statement 224 230 APPENDIX Text of protocol relating to the status of refugees between the United of America and other governments (Jan. 31, 1967) and text of convention relating to the status of refugees (July 28, 1951) _-. 233 CUBA AND THE CARIBBEAN WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 1970 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTER-AMERICAN AFFAIRS, Washington, D.C. The Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs met at 10 a.m. in room 2200, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Dante B. Fascell (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. FASCELL. The subcommittee will please come to order. We meet this morning to begin a series of hearings on Cuba and the Caribbean. The subcommittee has invited high officials of the Department of State, our key military and naval commanders responsible for our security posture in the Caribbean region, and officials of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, to discuss these subjects with us. This morning, we are pleased to welcome Hon. Robert A. Hurwitch, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs; Mr. Robert L. Funseth, Coordinator of Cuban Affairs in the Department of State; Mr. Howard H. Palmatier, Director of Cuban Refugee Program in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; and Mr. Glynn W. Baker, Finance Management Officer, Cuban Refugee Program, HEW. Today's and tomorrow's hearings will be held in open session. Beginning Friday morning, however, the subcommittee will go into executive session to receive the testimony of Gen. George R. Mather, Commander in Chief, U.S. Southern Command; Maj. Gen. Walter P. Leber, Governor, Panama Canal Zone; Adm. Ephraim P. Holmes, Commander in Chief, Atlantic; and Hon. G. Warren Nutter, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. The subcommittee wants to cover all aspects of the U.S. policy toward Cuba; issues affecting our security posture in the Caribbean; as well as the broader question of Cuba's present and foreseeable status in the inter-American community. We have many subjects to cover in these next 4 days. If necessary we will extend the hearings. Nearly 8 years have passed since the crisis of 1962, when the basic issues of our national security and the prospect of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union hung in the balance as the late President John F. Kennedy moved to deal with the threat of offensive Soviet missiles being implanted on Cuban soil. The whole civilized world was involved in that crisis. One misstep, one miscalculation, could have led to a disaster of global proportions. Today, 8 years later, that grim possibility is still with us. But in the meantime, the framework in which a nuclear crisis could develop in the Caribbean has changed drastically. The new presence of Soviet warships in the Caribbean, it seems to me, limits the U.S. capacity to deal with any security crisis in that area and instantly raises the stakes of a U.S. military response to a renewed threat of offensive missiles being stationed a few miles off our shores. This concerns me greatly. I am raising this issue today because I want to find out from our policymakers in the Department of State, and from our military leaders, whether, given the presence of Soviet naval units in the Caribbean-or any other Soviet action-the United States would be able to deal effectively with the repetition of the 1962 crisis or with Cuban, or Soviet, military intervention in some other country of the Caribbean. In short, do we still retain the flexibility which we once possessed— or is the United States being checkmated in an area in which our vital national security interests are involved? Are our naval and military facilities in the vicinity of the Caribbean region-in Florida, in Key West, in Puerto Rico, at Guantanamo Bay, and in the Canal Zoneadequate to enable us to cope with any serious threat to our country? We will pursue these questions during the next 4 days. But to begin, we will ask Assistant Secretary Hurwitch to outline for us the present U.S. policy toward Cuba-the factors which may cause it to change and the prospects of any such development in the foreseeable future. At this point in the record, without objection, I shall insert a brief biographical sketch of each of the witnesses testifying today. (The biographical sketches follow:) ROBERT A. HURWITCH Robert A. Hurwitch, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, was born in Worcester, Mass. and received his A.B. degree from the University of Chicago. Mr. Hurwitch joined the Foreign Service in 1950 after seven years in the U.S. Army. In 1956 he was assigned to Bogota as Labor Attaché and in 1960 he was transfered to Washington where he served as Deputy Director of the Office of Caribbean-Mexican Affairs and then Special Assistant for Cuban Affairs in the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs. In 1963 Mr. Hurwitch was selected to attend the Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy at the State Department's Foreign Service Institute; in the same year he received the Department's Distinguished Service Award. In 1964 Mr. Hurwitch became first secretary and served in Santiago, Chile and as Consul General and Counselor in La Paz, Bolivia for several years. In 1967 he was appointed Deputy Chief of Mission in Vientaine, Laos, which was his last post prior to his present post which includes responsibilities for Central America (including Panama), Mexico and the Caribbean area. HOWARD H. PALMATIER Howard H. Palmatier was appointed Director, Cuban Refugee Program of the Social and Rehabilitation Service, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, by Secretary Finch in May 1969. Born in Maybrook, New York, Mr. Palmatier was educated in the United States and Europe. After wartime service in Africa and Italy he was assigned to refugee operations in Trieste. Sworn in as a career Foreign Service Officer in the Department of State in 1952 he was assigned to refugee operations in Germany, Italy, Turkey, Greece and other countries of the Middle East, becoming Director of Escapee Activities for all Middle East nations in 1959. In 1961 Mr. Palmatier was appointed Operations Officer of the Refugee and Migration Affairs Section of the U.S. Mission to the U.N. in Geneva. Reassigned to Washington in 1963 he was detailed to the Cuban Refugee Program, HEW. In 1966 he became a career employee of HEW |