by Gus Russo
That nation [Cuba] was one of the city’s chief trading partners—typically ranking alongside Brazil as its leading source of imports. . . Almost all of its considerable sugar imports came from that Caribbean island: 92.8 percent in 1955. . . Because much of this Cuban sugar was refined locally, this trade also encouraged the city’s hopes of industrializing by processing Latin American commodities.8
Castro’s revolution wrought major changes. And the transformation of Cuba’s economy directly affected New Orleans’ economy and attitudes. The conversion from laissez-faire capitalism (provided the government was handed its cut) to state socialism tightly controlled by Castro struck the city like a bomb. Rumors had the Mafia losing $70 million in shrimp boats alone when Castro took over (and much of that shrimp had previously been shipped directly to the markets of Louisiana, to eventually make its way into the dishes of such “creole” favorites as shrimp étouffée). Practically speaking, New Orleans was cut off.
The American boycott of Cuban imports formally terminated Louisiana’s long relationship with Cuba, but the citizenry blamed Castro for that, and for everything else. There was a great deal at stake: not only the already-lost, sometimes highly profitable business with Cuba, but also the wider Latin American market. What would happen if communism spread to Central and South America? How great would the damage be if the Cuban model of revolution were exported to Guatemala and Brazil, two examples of then politically shaky countries of great concern at the time? How many trading partners were likely to be roped into the socialist orbit? New Orleans businessmen and city officials viewed Cuba’s threat less ideologically than economically. Even more so than the rest of the country, New Orleans was in a state of financial panic over the events in Cuba.
The link between New Orleans and Cuba was not only a monetary one. There was an ideological component as well. This aspect was a function of the influx of new Cuban residents. But these two components—financial and ideological—did not always overlap.
The Americans’ dislike of Castro was matched (in spades) by Cuban exiles’ hatred for him. They had begun settling in New Orleans from the earliest days of Castro’s victory, and now their numbers were climbing astronomically. “Many people forget that during the summer of 1961, subsequent to the Bay of Pigs fiasco, Cuban refugees were arriving in New Orleans at the rate of as many as five thousand per day,” recalls Layton Martens, a young American volunteer in the Cuban cause. “This was a major crisis to the city of New Orleans,” Martens says. “People are not aware that there were as many as two hundred thousand Latin people in and around the New Orleans area. They didn’t make a lot of fanfare, but they were a major segment of the metropolitan community.”9
New Orleans was, in fact, second only to Miami as a center of Cuban exile activity. That activity, as well as the attitudes in which it was grounded, distinguished the Cubans from other immigrants. Those who had arrived earlier in the United States, as recently as World War II and the postwar period, quickly and invisibly merged into American life, often in communities of their ethnic brothers throughout the country. They embraced America as their new home. Few planned to return to their native countries. The Cuban immigrants during the Castro-era, by contrast, were closer to their native country—and they did plan to return—because they believed Castro would be overthrown, and very soon.
The exiles thus considered themselves temporary residents in America, and made few efforts to assimilate. They were always “exiles,” not “refugees.” Instead of joining the American mainstream, they wished a return to a “liberated” Cuba—for which their many militant organizations planned, plotted, and conducted terrorist raids, which were supported and supplied by civilian volunteers, clusters of right-wing financiers, the CIA, and the Kennedy administration. A local New Orleans writer described the Cuban community in the U.S. at that time:
Because they expected to return to Cuba, the emigrants tended to settle within the Gulf States, especially in Miami and New Orleans. Rather than attempt assimilation into the melting pot, the more militant Cubans stuck together, maintained their political organizations, and plotted for their eventual return.10
Miami, where the largest CIA base in the world was located, remained the center of exile organization and operations. New Orleans was quieter. But beneath the surface, New Orleans’ pre-occupation with Cuba was intense. The city may have seen wave after wave of immigrants from almost everywhere in the world, but it was now hosting and encouraging and supervising something new: a concentrated effort to return the Cuban exiles to their homeland, and the ensuing economic bounty to the United States.
For all the business community’s desire to help liberate Cuba, the New Orleans locals, suffering from a depressed economy, had very little money to donate to the cause. At the government’s urgings, William Dalzell, a retired CIA officer, was a founder of one of the fund-raising organizations, The Friends of Democratic Cuba (FODC). “New Orleans had long been the center of banana-republic war intrigue, and by the early 1960’s the residents were tired of it,” recalls Dalzell. “I was contacted by CIA officer Lloyd Ray—’Mr. Ray of the CIA’— prior to the Bay of Pigs invasion, wanting me to help the [Cuban] exiles. Thus began the Friends of Democratic Cuba. I got 2,000 empty cans to use for collecting contributions. But there was no interest. I think we made five dollars.”11
Sergio Arcadia Smith, a Cuban exile leader and one of the intended recipients, agrees, “They [FODC] never gave me any money.”12 Julian Buznedo, who lived with the Arcadia’s for a time while they helped him write a book on his Bay of Pigs experiences, remembers this period as rather stoic. “Very often,” he says, “our dinners consisted of K-rations, right out of a tin can.”13 An internal CIA investigation by the Miami station later revealed that the FODC “was actually created for the personal gain of the promoters.”14
Most of the non-governmental financial aid came from right-wing anti-communists, like the John Birch Society, and sympathetic religious groups, especially the Catholic Church. The church tried to make up for the lack of public donations in other ways: contributing clothes, medical supplies, rural property for homesteading, etc. The conservative groups tended to contribute large sums of money and weapons, used in training at the half-dozen “camps” established around the perimeter of the city, especially on Lake Ponchartrain. The Mafia also contributed weapons and money to the exile camps (expecting payback in the form of new casino licenses in liberated Havana).
As in Washington, the official policy in New Orleans was “hands-off Cuba,” but the reality was far different. Virtually all of the government agencies that were represented in New Orleans were encouraging the exiles. A local magazine noted, “By closing their eyes to the activities of these anti-Castroites, the federal government was tacitly encouraging them to retake Cuba.”15
In fact, the encouragement was far more than “tacit.” Sergio Arcadia’s organization, the Cuban Revolutionary Coundl, was cited in the records of the New Orleans Police Intelligence division as “legitimate in nature and presumably [has] the unofficial sanction of the Central Intelligence Agency.” Arcadia himself proudly admits his close working relationship with the FBI’s Special Agent in Charge in New Orleans, calling Warren DeBrueys “the nicest man I ever met.”16 DeBrueys would later testify that he contacted Arcadia “maybe six to ten times.”17
Some prominent businessmen also came to the aid of the exiles. The founder of the renowned Ochsner Clinic, Dr. Alton Ochsner, for instance, had a wing of his hospital built solely to provide free medical treatment to Latin American patients. Ochsner was a prime contributor to anti-communist groups in New Orleans. Donations also derived from such high-profile right-wing contributors as oil tycoon H.L. Hunt of Texas. Thus, the exiles, backed by the government, churches, and business community, went about the business of planning the liberation of their homeland.
Friends in High Places
At the time of the Castro takeover, the mayor of New Orleans was a popular four-term incumbent,
DeLessups “Chep” Morrison. Chep’s reputation as a friend of the Cuban exiles, and of Latin American liberation in general, was widely known. Among his papers are Certificates of Appreciation from Sergio Arcadia Smith, leader of the local Cuban Revolutionary Council.
Mayor Morrison was also a good friend and ally of both John and Robert Kennedy. Their relationship dated back to the 1956 Democratic Convention, when Chep Morrison, then a delegate from Louisiana, introduced the young Senator from Massachusetts, a dark-horse candidate for the vice-presidential nomination, to the rest of the Louisiana delegation at a group breakfast. “My relations with the President were cordial and highly informal,” Morrison has written. “He had been my guest in New Orleans several times; our paths crossed often.”18 When Kennedy became President, he appointed Morrison Ambassador to the Organization of American States, a highly important spot given the new administration’s emphasis on Central and Latin America.
Morrison was closer to Robert Kennedy than John Kennedy. Among Morrison’s papers at the New Orleans Public Library is correspondence between him, as Mayor, and the Attorney General; also, there are many notes of phone calls to and from Kennedy, often signed “Bob K.”
When Lee Oswald arrived in New Orleans, official Washington’s political interests pervaded New Orleans. Some of those interests involved secret government agendas, many of which were played out one block from where Lee Oswald would find work. The extent to which those agendas were actually the agendas of Robert Kennedy is previously unreported. The main actors in the Attorney General’s mini-drama were, by tragic coincidence, part of the fabric of Oswald’s neighborhood-to-be. Among them were Guy Banister, Sergio Arcadia Smith, David Ferrie, and Mike McLaney’s brother, William.
Guy Banister
In 1955, Chep Morrison, the new “reform” mayor of “The Big Easy,” wanted to give at least an appearance of tackling the problem of police corruption.19 He hired Guy Banister to do the job.20 Banister, a native of New Orleans, had just retired after a twenty year stint with the FBI, most recently as the Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office. During World War II, he had served in the Office of Naval Intelligence. While in Chicago, he had founded the Anti-Communist League in the Caribbean (which assisted in the overthrow of the Jacabo Arbenz government in Guatemala).21
As Deputy Superintendent of Police (with the understanding that he would later become Superintendent), Banister was hired to investigate corruption in New Orleans, but fell from favor when his investigation came too close to some of Mayor Morrison’s appointees.22 Banister was suspended and soon fired, but remained on good terms with Morrison and with his successor, Mayor Schiro. They both would know and approve of his actions on behalf of the Cuban exiles (as well as those of Morrison’s friend, Robert F. Kennedy).23 Soon after Castro’s declaration that his revolution was Marxist, Banister became one of the central figures in the New Orleans “underground” determined to topple him.
After his firing, the ex-ONI, ex-FBI stalwart founded “Guy Banister and Associates,” a private detective agency. He was not much interested in acquiring private clients because he was kept busy, and presumably rewarded, by activities in aid of government agencies and government-sponsored endeavors. If he had sought clients, his looks would have been a considerable asset. He could have played a forbidding and sometimes remorseless—but essentially principled—football coach in a 1940’s movie. Despite the edge of ruthlessness in his eyes, he could also have played the president of a university or the Director of the FBI, a distinctly handsomer one than the bulldog-like Hoover. Tall and relatively trim, Banister dressed for business in dark suits only, and always carried two guns, one a long-barreled .44. He was rarely seen without a jacket and tie, rarely called anything less formal than “Mr. Banister.”
Banister was the picture of an extreme right-winger, a fervent segregationist, and an anti-communist who saw enemies under every bed. He was a member of the White Citizens Council that would contribute so much hate-filled opposition to the civil rights movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s.24 Banister also worked for the Louisiana State Committee on Un-American Activities, while Guy Banister and Associates published a thin report called the “Louisiana Intelligence Digest.” The first offering, in February, 1961, defined itself as “a militantly conservative publication. . . devoted to the exposure of the operations of the Socialist and Communist organizations in Louisiana, and the dupes, fellow-travelers, and do-gooders who give them aid and comfort.”25
It is a fact that Banister disliked President Kennedy’s politics—just as he hated the decisions of Chief Justice Earl Warren, another favorite target of abuse from the far right. Like many who occupied a position near the political fringe, Banister would have been happy for Kennedy to be out of office. But there is no credible evidence whatever—and none is likely ever to appear—that his dislike would express itself in the violence of November 22nd. When Banister’s research assistant heard the news on the radio that day, she told him she was glad the President had been shot. “Don’t let anybody hear you talk like that,” he replied. “It’s a terrible thing that someone could shoot the President.” Banister was shocked. He closed his office early and kept it closed for several days, out of respect. “He didn’t like the President, but he was a loyal FBI man,” the research assistant would remember.26
But Banister’s covert activities would play into the hands of conspiracy-minded writers. It is now known that his company was engaged in what would today be called “dirty tricks.” These tricks would have scandalized at least part of the public: they were for the benefit, and under the supervision, of people high in the government who had the power to prevent a proper investigation. When many of Banister’s most sensitive files were never found, some assumed that they contained information on Oswald and the Kennedy assassination, when in fact the missing material dealt only with sensitive local scandals.
In the years before John Kennedy’s death, Banister was a key player in preparing the local Cuban exile contingent for the Bay of Pigs invasion, especially the Santa Ana, piloted by Nino Diaz. It is also known and documented that his office, and the building in which that office was located (the Newman Building) later became a “Grand Central Station” for the Cubans, through which arms were tunneled to various Latin American concerns as well as Cuban exile groups. Banister’s office was in the same building as Arcadia’s CRC office, and it is known that he saw David Ferrie, Arcadia’s assistant, with some regularity.
Banister never discussed any connection with Arcadia, but FBI files indicate that Banister was performing at least one critical function for Arcadia’s group. Arcadia told the local papers that many New Orleans Cubans were recruited for the Bay of Pigs invasion force from local universities.27 A future Congressional investigation would conclude:
[Banister] ran background checks on those Cuban students at Louisiana State University who wished to be members of Arcadia’s anti Castro group, ferreting out any pro-Castro sympathizers who may be among them.28
Today Arcadia denies Banister ever did this for his organization. Arcadia, however, had a more powerful ally in his corner: the Attorney General of the United States, Robert F. Kennedy.
Sergio Arcacha Smith
“Whenever we needed anything in New Orleans, I’d call Bobby Kennedy and he’d help us right away. He was always there for us. I stayed in touch with him until the end.”
—Sergio Arcacha Smith, May 14, 199429
In pre-Castro Havana, President Batista appointed Sergio Arcacha Smith Cuba’s ambassador to India. Arcacha had actually attended high school with controversial young Fidel Castro, whom he disliked. However, he held President Kennedy and his brother Bobby in high esteem. “Kennedy lacked experience, but he had charisma,” Arcacha offers. “The proof of his charisma is that when he died, people in every country cried.”
After the revolution, Arcacha went to Venezuela. “The original idea was to set up the Frente [Frente Revolutionario Democratico (FRD)] there. However, the Fr
ente was formed in Mexico,” Arcacha recalls. After a brief stopover in Miami, the Frente leadership sent him to New Orleans to oversee that city’s outpost, an umbrella organization known as the Cuban Revolutionary Council (CRC).
Shortly before the April 17, 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, the United States, attempting to coordinate the various exile groups, formed the CRC. It was an activist organization whose stated purpose was “to establish a democratic government in Cuba through the use of military force.”30 According to the CIA, which helped form the alliance, the CRC was “created. . . to coordinate and direct FRD activity. . . [It] had direct access to President Kennedy and top White House aides. . . Arcacha Smith became the [CRC] delegate in New Orleans.”31 On the CRC’s board of directors sat such Bobby Kennedy exile intimates as Manuel Ray and Manuel Artime. This was not by accident. Prior to the Bay of Pigs invasion, the White House had called upon the Council to monitor pro-Castro activists who threatened to kidnap JFK’s children. When the CRC opened its branch in New Orleans, it tapped Arcadia to be its delegate.
Arcachia is protective of his friends, and it is only now, three decades after the fact, that he made himself available for the first time to talk about certain aspects of his time in New Orleans. To newsmen in the 1960’s, Arcadia used to claim he received funds from the State Department and say he was under the Department’s thumb. That was in public; in private, he called it the CIA.32 He even occasionally admitted he was working for the CIA.33
Arcachia’s most important superior was Robert Kennedy. Arcadia is discreet when asked about Bobby Kennedy directly, saying only, “In 1961, I started working with the U.S. government.” He would first acknowledge their relationship (off the record) to Dick Billings, former editor of Life, in April 1967. This magazine had long involved itself in anti-Castro operations. “Off the record,” Arcadia insisted, “because I do not want to involve Mr. Kennedy and do not think it would be right, we used to call Mr. Bobby Kennedy whenever we had anything to report or ask advice. He knew what we were doing all the time. But please don’t use this, as it’s off the record. That’s the way it was. We would call Mr. Bobby Kennedy and he would take care of it.”34