◆ SpookStack

~p SECRET Cubans back into the exile communitYi and they would charge that the United States "feared to undertake t..."re task of ousting Fidel Castro. This, in turn, would mean that the US would lose face in the eyes of the Democratic Latin American republics. Jake Esterline speculated that Mann did not believe that the Cubar5 were willing to support an insurrection a~ainst Castrc. A suggestion which was made to counter the possible Mann proposals was that: To strengthen our position, therefore, we are bending every effort to get at least one supply airdrop into the target country, prior to the Assistant Secretary's return to the United States ••• Success- ful action in this area should weig~ heavily on Assistant Secretary Mann's alleged new attitude. 97/ Just how one -- or even more -- successful air drops would in any way influence Mann's opinion about the receptiveness of the Cuban population to a pos- sible insurrection effort was hot explair.~d. That there were dissidents on the island was ~s~estio~~d, the problem was the degree of strength and effecti7e- ness that they might be able to demonstrate.* * Fortunately for the continuation of Pr~=ect J~L~:E, the hurry-up air drop to which Jake Esterline refe=r~6. did not set the criteria for the continu2tian or cis- solution of the project. This air drop ~as a corn;:et~ (footnote continued on fcllowing ~=g~) - 112 - ,