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i, See a ee oo on eee 34. Under the guidance of Bender he became a strong force for unity in the FRD during its most difficult period, the virtual political interregnum before the inauguration of President Kennedy. Miro was influential in bringing Ray into the Revolutionary. Council which was formed on 20 March with Miro as chairman. Visit to Training Camp 35. Miro, with other Council members, visited the strike force in Guatemala on 29 March in a much-needed effort. to spur troop morale. There had been far too little contact between the . FRD and the soldiers being trained in its name. Artime, Varona, and Antonio Jaime Maceo Mackle had been there in February in an attempt to calm mutinous spirits. The last previous visit had been made in the fall of 1960 by Col. Eduardo Martin Elena, head of the FRD’s military staff and a former constitutional Army officer. Martin Elena antagonized the trainees, and with the beginning of straight military training under a U.S. Army officer, who had no interest in Cuban politics, a ban was placed on visits to the camp by Cuban politicians. 36. This was probably a mistake and an unreasonable inter- ference in the Cubans' management of their own affairs. Con- trolled contact between the FRD and the troops could have done much to improve the morale and motivation of the troops and make the training job easier. There was nobody in the Guatemala camp who could answer the political questions of the trainees, who - 92 -