Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation- Volume 2- Part 2

MUCCIO: As far as he was concerned this was a training
project. As to whether it was going to be
used, where and when it would be used, was
very nebulous to him.*
MOSS: Right. When did you begin to see the thing
build up and change character? I assume that
in the early days it looked rather like a
gerrilla warfare school, much as the Panama
school is. I wonder at what point you began
to sense that this was a major development,
and in what ways.
MUCCIO: Anyone that knew anything about President
(Miguel) Ydigoras (Fuentes) would know that
he couldn't keep anything to himself. Ydigoras
assumed that I knew ~hat was going on and he
talked. Almost every time I saw him he brought
out some new fact of what was underway.
MOSS: Yes. Now let me ask this. As I understand
it, the story broke in the American papers
after -- what is it? --La Bora in Guatemala
picked it up.** It broke in the American
papers around October, just before the elec-
tion; and then was picked up again by a chap
named (Paul P.) Kennedy, curiously enough, for
the New York Times in January, and Kennedy
was expelled from the country over this, as
I understand, and then brought back. What was
your involvement in this little episode?
MUCCIO: Practically none. Ydigoras invited me up to
the two fincas where the training was under-
way, repeatedly, and I repeatedly avoided
going up there. I never did go up there,
except on one occasion. That was when, after
* Apparently Muccio's CIA source was not such a "com-
pulsive talker" as Muccio had indicated or else the
source was not I I -- I Iwas fully aware of
the operational plan.
** Presumably this is a reference to the use of
Guatemalan sites for training the Cubans.
- 249 -
UNCLA/IFIED