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a ee cae @ Bender Group, now generally understood by Cubans and many others to represent the CIA, began responding to requests from and giving support to defectors from the FRD and to groups which the FRD considered politically unacceptable, the organization which was supposed to be a world-wide symbol of Cuban freedom and which was being groomed as the nucleus of the next government of Cuba naturally felt that its prestige had been undermined. -Diffusion of Effort 19. This complicated relations between project case officers and the FRD leaders. It also appears to have resulted in some diffusion of effort in the attempts at L clandestine infiltration of arms and paramilitary leaders © into Cuba. It seriously hampered progress toward FRD unity, sharpened internal FRD antagonisms, and contributed to the decline in strike force recruiting efforts. 20. The composite political complexion of the FRD shifted a little to the right in August 1960 with the join- ing of Ricardo Rafael Sardinia, who headed an organization called the Movimiento Institucional Democratico (MID). 21. A source of friction between the FRD and its project sponsors was the effort to induce it to set up its headquarters outside the U.S. The Cuban leaders were finally persuaded by financial leverage to move to Mexico City where the Mexican 7 — . 87 - a a |