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'fOfJ SECREt and the Government of Cuba over the lease of Guantanamo Bay. So serious was this issue in fact, that the Agency agreed that all Cubans participating in over- flights of Cuba would be told that Guan- tanamo Naval Base was not to be used as a safe haven, and that if they landed there, they would be turned over to the Cuban authorities. 107/ The Guantanamo Base also presented a major dif- ficulty for the Department of State. Evidence of this surfaced in early October of 1960 when it was reported that during a meeting of the State Working Group on Cuba a suggestion was put forward that the US try to influence Latin American nations to approve US reten- tion of the base. One proposal had been made that this be done through the Inter-American Defense Board (~B), where ,a resolution apparently was about to be introduced asking for a definition of the relations between Cuba and the USSR, with the expectation that this might force Cuba's resignation from membership on the IADB. According to Col. John F. Mallard, the Agency's liaiso~ officer with the State Working Group: In addition, State desires that the IADB, ma~e sane statement on the impor- tance of Guantanamo Bay to Latin American hemisphe::::-e defense. This statement would, in effect, give Latin American approval to U.S. retention of this base. 108/ - 120 - WP ~E€RE+