Involvement with Cuba June Cobb




1 involvement cuba

1.1 meeting castro
1.2 working castro
1.3 cia recruitment





involvement cuba
meeting castro

cobb visited havana in february 1959 , later recounted meeting fidel castro s minister of health regarding campaign against vice , cooperation doctors bolivia, peru, , colombia against use of coca leaves. during trip given copy of castro s 1953 history absolve me speech. when returned united states, set translating speech english. cuban journalist luis conte agüero learned of translation , visited cobb in new york. wrote prologue booklet , assisted printing costs.


after castro sworn in cuba s prime minister, visited united states in april 1959. 1 evening in new york, cobb accompanied agüero statler hotel introduced castro. had brought copy of translated speech. castro pleased when saw booklet had made , ordered print run of 1,000 copies made , distributed in new york. cobb met castro s private secretary celia sánchez, invited havana work under castro in ministry office.


working castro

cobb agreed, traveling cuba afterwards. duties in havana included translating castro s speeches , working public relations assistant. translated castro s new land reform laws english. worked on 18th floor, down hall castro s office. , william alexander morgan americans gain sort of influence in new regime.


cobb returned united states in june 1959, , again medical treatment in september , december of year. while recuperating surgery, cobb stayed @ beach house owned castro , sánchez.


cobb disagreed castro openly on turn authoritarianism , marxism, anger becoming evident communist influence on him became obvious. cobb had hoped cessation in bombing of cuban cane fields prevent castro s turn towards dictatorship.


in 1960, during castro s second trip new york, tabloids reported 17-year-old marita lorenz had been raped cuban leader. pregnant, , cobb later said father castro s bodyguard, jesus yanez pelletier. lorenz s mother later reported cobb had called , offered employment if return cuba daughter. che guevara conducted investigation of incident , cobb included in roundup of suspects. protected castro , sánchez, relationship cooled , lost access had had before.


cia recruitment

cia agent harry hermsdorf, undercover european journalist in cuba, first met cobb in havana hilton s hotel coffee shop while having coffee jorge losada, editor of vision, latin american magazine. losada introduced cobb hermsdorf, using alias heinrich heubner. following brief conversation, cobb agreed arrange meetings cuban officials hermsdorf , der spiegel correspondent claus jacobi.


from may 24–26, 1960, cobb met hermsdorf, evaluated @ hotel. without mentioning cia, offered long-term employment opportunity , invited meet him somewhere outside of cuba. arranged meet @ drake hotel in new york on june 3. cobb traveled united states in june 1960. stopped in washington, d.c., stayed @ raleigh hotel. cia arranged surveillance of hotel room , of polygraph took.


cobb made verbal agreement work cia , returned havana on june 7, , paid 200 cuban pesos per month plus expenses. jean t. pierson designated cia handler. hermsdorf asked cobb monitor activities of chief of prensa latina , head of free china news agency. requested determine antonio núñez jiménez had accomplished on recent trip soviet union , pass on names , contacts of soviet , satellite citizens dealt cuban government. in june cia memo hermsdorf, wrote if miss cobb can controlled , accepts steering, perhaps desirable mould long-range asset having become cozy communist leaders , become, overtly, ever more rabid revolutionary movement. later perhaps used elsewhere in latin america, among rabid left wing youth groups becoming increasingly anti-american , more powerful in various areas.


cobb left cuba in september 1960, , on september 12 formalized contract cia, stipulated received $200 each month year-long operation, called jmarc, penetrate cuban government in effort obtain information on present , planned activities of castro regime. cobb given cryptonym amupas-1. september 21 29, cia maintained surveillance of cobb s hotel room in new york city. cobb acquainted kennedy advisor richard n. goodwin, , had direct access white house through him.


while in havana, 1 more 1 occasion, cobb met cia operative david sánchez morales @ house of geraldine shamma.


cobb s first cia operation involved befriending cbs newscaster richard gibson, co-founder of fair play cuba committee. cobb determined gibson had made trip cuba, met castro , osvaldo dorticós torrado, , received money operating expenses , maintain fpcc new york office. in later testimony, cobb said had firsthand knowledge cuba funding committee. during 1961, gibson wrote number of letters cobb.








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