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troops was apparently rescinded, for on 22 April a cable from Managua to Washington indicated that Presi- dent Somoza had approved delaying the removal of the Cubans until 24 April. Somoza himself was characterized as continuing to be quite cooperative with the Agency representatives but fearful that with the reopening to commercial air traffic of Puerto Cabezas that the de- tainees in TIDE would be discovered and consequently his cover story for TIDE activities would be exposed. ~/ In any event, the Cubans who were being held prisoner were returned to the United States aboard the Atlantico which, upon the collapse of the invasion, had returned to Puerto Cabezas and thence to the US via Key West, Norfolk, and Baltimore. From the last port, the prisoners were then sent to Washington, and from Wash- ington on down to Miami and thence to Cuba. 68/* * The Agency's relations with Nicaragua also became \ somewhat strained because Miro Cardona was never brought to Nicaragua to meet with President Somoza, despite the fact that this had been requested by Somoza on several occasions. Why Headquarters was so reluctant to approve such a meeting is, in hindsight, difficult to understand. Just prior to moving the operation from Guatemala to Nicaragua, Miro Cardona was completing a tour of the TRAV/MADD installations. Why he could not have been taken on to the JMTIDE area at that time is not made clear in either the cable traffic or other data that are available. 69/ -1:2L TOP1CRET