Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency dossier on Cuban exile leader Manuel Ray Rivero was released in 2023 under the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Act. It contains biographical sketches of Ray as Castro's Minister of Public Works and later leader of the MRP and JURE, a 1965 report on his views of anti-Castro tactics, a Spanish report on his 1965 Madrid visit, and 1977 cables answering an FBI request. Those cables note he was declared persona non grata in Jamaica in December 1976.
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# Costa Rican's Call for Talks With Castro Shocks Exiles BY JEREMIAH O'LEARY Star News Costa Rica's President Figueres has thrown the Western Hemisphere's half-million Cuban exiles into a state of shock by his declaration that they should seek a dialogue with Fidel Castro. It happened at an exile banquet in San Juan, Puerto Rico, last week attended by many anti-Castro leaders and by the leading officials of the island commonwealth, including Luis Munoz Marin and the new governor, Rafael Hernandez Colon. Figueres had seemed to be an ideal choice as the speaker to the exile leaders because no Latin American leader has been a more open and vigorous enemy of Castro. The occasion was the 18th birthday celebration of Jose Marti, Cuba's national hero and a man idealized by both the exiles and by Castro supporters. For most of his speech, the eloquent and democratic-minded Figueres gave a stellar performance, combining fine oratory with wit. But then, toward the end of his speech, "Don Pepe" Figueres dropped his bombshell. ## Seek a Dialogue He said the Cuban exiles should seek a dialogue with Castro because there is no prospect of overthrowing him. And he offered himself as an intermediary. "If I have to share with you actions which are not pleasurable but bitter, and mediate with Fidel, Russia or the devil, I am at your disposal." Figueres said to the stunned audience. Such exile leaders as Jose Maria Cardona and Manuel Ray, who once were active in imitant attempts to overthrow the Communist regime set up by Castro, were described as barely able to restrain themselves. ## Interpretation Figueres appeared to have second thoughts about what he had said later in the week when he arrived in Panama. Reporters asked him about reports that he had offered to be a mediator among the Cubans and Figueres replied evasively that he had said nothing specific. The surprise declaration by Figueres was greeted with almost total silence, although a few women reportedly cried at his words. "I am always at the disposal of the Cubans for whatever they please," he told Panamanian newsmen. Asked if it was true that the militant exile organization Alpha 68 had rejected his offer, Figueres said he was not familiar with the organization. ## Close to Exiles Well-informed sources on Caribbean and Central American affairs say Figueres knows as much as any man about the Cuban exile movements and the men who lead them. After the Bay of Pigs disaster, some of the survivors of the invading force went to Costa Rica. Figueres himself, in his youth, was a leader of guerrilla forces fighting against such dictators as Rafael Trujillo and Anastasio Somoza Garcia. WASH STARNEWS, 9 FEB 1973 But Figueres also is known as a realist man. When Costa Rica found itself with a huge coffee surplus, Figueres established diplomatic relations with Russia and sold his entire surplus to the Soviet Union. His Marti dinner speech seems to mean that he has decided that, realistically, Castroism is here to stay and will have to be accepted. Only Figueres, however, would have chosen a Cuban exile conclave to state his new stand.
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 219 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.