Embedded with the MRR
by Jim Nickless
Making contact with Cuban anti-Castro groups in the mid-1960's was not an easy enterprise. After several false starts, my lucky break came when I met a young journalism student, Guillermo Martinez, who started making contact for me. Guillermo got word that Manuel Artime would talk to me but only in Costa Rica. Artime headed a covert exile group — the MRR (Movimiento de Recuperación Revolucionaria or Movement for the Recovery of the Revolution).
As the civil leader of the Bay of Pigs invasion, Artime had met John F. Kennedy in 1962 when the President welcomed back prisoners from Cuba in Miami's Orange Bowl. In the spring of 1963, Artime met with the President again at his Palm Beach home and cemented “the Kennedy connection.” Kennedy told Artime that the U.S. would support the Cuban exiles if they could find host countries to serve as bases for operations and training. President Kennedy had promised “no invasions” by the United States, so operations were covert, with the support of the CIA, probably also the DIA. Nicaragua granted Artime permission to build a naval and paratroop training base, Costa Rica two jungle-training bases and the Dominican Republic the use of its ports for refueling ships.
As directed, I went to the Balmoral Hotel in San Jose where I waited for nearly three days until someone finally contacted me and took me to an MRR radio safe house. It was there that I met Manuel Artime. Felix Rodriguez was the radio operations officer. Artime agreed to allow me to film the MRR training camps on condition that NBC not to identify the country.
I quickly returned to Miami. NBC sent a producer, Walter Kravetz, and a reporter, Geoffrey Pond. I hired Guillermo Martinez away from WSVN as our soundman and translator. We left for Coast Rica in May 1964 — our cover story was that we were doing a piece on a volcanic eruption that was taking place. We visited the training camps and shot footage. Kravetz and Pond returned to New York with my footage and our piece ran on The Huntley-Brinkley Report. Artime was pleased with what he saw and that we had not revealed the location. He invited me to go and visit another camp in Costa Rica near Tortuguero — a radio-training base. I spent about two weeks there, filming.
As time went on, I began to win the trust of Artime, who had decided to allow me to visit the mother ship but not accompany the MRR on any of their missions. In July 1964, I flew to Panama and then traveled to the Dominican Republic under the name Jim Patton. I was met at the Embajador Hotel in Santo Domingo and taken to the mother ship, the Santa Maria, which was docked in the port of Haina. The Santa Maria was a 180-foot-long AKL light cargo ship operated out of Monkey Point, Nicaragua, and was the chief carrier for the combatants – most of whom were Bay of Pigs veterans. It was also the support ship for the swift boats used in raids and to land infiltrators in Cuba. The Santa Maria had been fitted in Hoboken, New Jersey, and was equipped with sophisticated radio devices to receive and send encrypted messages from infiltrators placed in Cuba. The MRR was outfitted with weapons not even yet available to the U.S. military, such as the M16. I was the only gringo on board. Everyone thought I was CIA even though I told them I was there for NBC.
We departed the Port of Haina for some islands off the coast of the Dominican Republic to meet up with the swift boats. From there we went on a raid of a Russian radar station off the coast of Cuba, not too far from Guantanamo. Then we headed to the Bahamas for another raid on the north coast of Cuba that was aborted when we were spotted off the coast. By then I was allowed to go on the missions.
The MRR’s goal was to insert about 100 people into the Sierra Crystal Mountains by parachute, establish a pocket, and expand from there. Artime told me that the OAS had promised if they could put a group in and hold it for a short period, something like 72 hours, the OAS would declare them a government in arms and provide support. The mood was positive — about 600 men were involved in the mission at that time.
It is now acknowledged that the CIA funded the MRR’s efforts during this period. Funds were funneled through the Coconut Grove Bank through a front account, “Maritama Bam.” Al Burt, a Miami Herald journalist who did research on the MRR, said that $11 million had passed through this account.
In September 1964, just after the aborted mission on the north coast, we got word that there was a freighter coming to Cuba that appeared to be the Sierra Maestra, Fidel’s cargo ship. The U.S. Navy sent a patrol plane over that waved its wings and everyone on board took this as additional positive confirmation that the ship was the Sierra Maestra. They went out that night, somehow leaving without me – I was very unhappy. One of the swift boats went around the back of the ship and they saw the word “Sierra” and proceeded to attack the ship, sinking it, and killing three crewmen including the captain. But it turned out the ship was the Sierra Aranzazu, a Spanish ship that was a sister ship to the Sierra Maestra. After the raid, the MRR left, not realizing their mistake. Cuba denounced the U.S. for the attack. Dean Rusk, Kennedy’s Secretary of State, said the United States had nothing to do with the incident. After that mission, I was sort of a prisoner of the MRR because they didn’t want me to get off and tell what really happened. I was finally allowed to leave in December but returned to spend Christmas 1964 on board with the MRR, eating lechon and drinking rosé wine that someone found.
I finally came out in February 1965 and delivered my film to NBC in New York. In March, Chet Huntley narrated a long magazine piece that aired on the Huntley-Brinkley Report and I got credit. But the longer documentary piece never materialized – Lyndon Johnson ended the MRR’s efforts when he came into office, cutting funding so he could focus his attention on Viet Nam. Later, in the 1970's, Manuel Artime stated, "The bullet that killed Kennedy, killed our movement as well."
by Jim Nickless
Making contact with Cuban anti-Castro groups in the mid-1960's was not an easy enterprise. After several false starts, my lucky break came when I met a young journalism student, Guillermo Martinez, who started making contact for me. Guillermo got word that Manuel Artime would talk to me but only in Costa Rica. Artime headed a covert exile group — the MRR (Movimiento de Recuperación Revolucionaria or Movement for the Recovery of the Revolution).
As the civil leader of the Bay of Pigs invasion, Artime had met John F. Kennedy in 1962 when the President welcomed back prisoners from Cuba in Miami's Orange Bowl. In the spring of 1963, Artime met with the President again at his Palm Beach home and cemented “the Kennedy connection.” Kennedy told Artime that the U.S. would support the Cuban exiles if they could find host countries to serve as bases for operations and training. President Kennedy had promised “no invasions” by the United States, so operations were covert, with the support of the CIA, probably also the DIA. Nicaragua granted Artime permission to build a naval and paratroop training base, Costa Rica two jungle-training bases and the Dominican Republic the use of its ports for refueling ships.
As directed, I went to the Balmoral Hotel in San Jose where I waited for nearly three days until someone finally contacted me and took me to an MRR radio safe house. It was there that I met Manuel Artime. Felix Rodriguez was the radio operations officer. Artime agreed to allow me to film the MRR training camps on condition that NBC not to identify the country.
I quickly returned to Miami. NBC sent a producer, Walter Kravetz, and a reporter, Geoffrey Pond. I hired Guillermo Martinez away from WSVN as our soundman and translator. We left for Coast Rica in May 1964 — our cover story was that we were doing a piece on a volcanic eruption that was taking place. We visited the training camps and shot footage. Kravetz and Pond returned to New York with my footage and our piece ran on The Huntley-Brinkley Report. Artime was pleased with what he saw and that we had not revealed the location. He invited me to go and visit another camp in Costa Rica near Tortuguero — a radio-training base. I spent about two weeks there, filming.
As time went on, I began to win the trust of Artime, who had decided to allow me to visit the mother ship but not accompany the MRR on any of their missions. In July 1964, I flew to Panama and then traveled to the Dominican Republic under the name Jim Patton. I was met at the Embajador Hotel in Santo Domingo and taken to the mother ship, the Santa Maria, which was docked in the port of Haina. The Santa Maria was a 180-foot-long AKL light cargo ship operated out of Monkey Point, Nicaragua, and was the chief carrier for the combatants – most of whom were Bay of Pigs veterans. It was also the support ship for the swift boats used in raids and to land infiltrators in Cuba. The Santa Maria had been fitted in Hoboken, New Jersey, and was equipped with sophisticated radio devices to receive and send encrypted messages from infiltrators placed in Cuba. The MRR was outfitted with weapons not even yet available to the U.S. military, such as the M16. I was the only gringo on board. Everyone thought I was CIA even though I told them I was there for NBC.
We departed the Port of Haina for some islands off the coast of the Dominican Republic to meet up with the swift boats. From there we went on a raid of a Russian radar station off the coast of Cuba, not too far from Guantanamo. Then we headed to the Bahamas for another raid on the north coast of Cuba that was aborted when we were spotted off the coast. By then I was allowed to go on the missions.
The MRR’s goal was to insert about 100 people into the Sierra Crystal Mountains by parachute, establish a pocket, and expand from there. Artime told me that the OAS had promised if they could put a group in and hold it for a short period, something like 72 hours, the OAS would declare them a government in arms and provide support. The mood was positive — about 600 men were involved in the mission at that time.
It is now acknowledged that the CIA funded the MRR’s efforts during this period. Funds were funneled through the Coconut Grove Bank through a front account, “Maritama Bam.” Al Burt, a Miami Herald journalist who did research on the MRR, said that $11 million had passed through this account.
In September 1964, just after the aborted mission on the north coast, we got word that there was a freighter coming to Cuba that appeared to be the Sierra Maestra, Fidel’s cargo ship. The U.S. Navy sent a patrol plane over that waved its wings and everyone on board took this as additional positive confirmation that the ship was the Sierra Maestra. They went out that night, somehow leaving without me – I was very unhappy. One of the swift boats went around the back of the ship and they saw the word “Sierra” and proceeded to attack the ship, sinking it, and killing three crewmen including the captain. But it turned out the ship was the Sierra Aranzazu, a Spanish ship that was a sister ship to the Sierra Maestra. After the raid, the MRR left, not realizing their mistake. Cuba denounced the U.S. for the attack. Dean Rusk, Kennedy’s Secretary of State, said the United States had nothing to do with the incident. After that mission, I was sort of a prisoner of the MRR because they didn’t want me to get off and tell what really happened. I was finally allowed to leave in December but returned to spend Christmas 1964 on board with the MRR, eating lechon and drinking rosé wine that someone found.
I finally came out in February 1965 and delivered my film to NBC in New York. In March, Chet Huntley narrated a long magazine piece that aired on the Huntley-Brinkley Report and I got credit. But the longer documentary piece never materialized – Lyndon Johnson ended the MRR’s efforts when he came into office, cutting funding so he could focus his attention on Viet Nam. Later, in the 1970's, Manuel Artime stated, "The bullet that killed Kennedy, killed our movement as well."