◆ SpookStack

story was soon blown because the photograph of the B-26 from TIDE which wasgiveri to Stevenson showed a metal nose, rather than the plastic nose characteristic \ of the FAR aircraft.* One writer, in speaking of the Bay of Pigs operation, stated: A prominent victim of the air strike was Adlai Stevenson, at the time the United states Ambassador to the United Nations. Ironically enough, along with Senator Fulbright and Chester Bowles he was one of the few with some prior knowl- edge of the invasion project, who was completely opposed to it. However, he * Interestingly enough this must have been an agon~z~ng time for Senor Roa. In mid-July 1960, one of the daily reports of Dave Phillips's propaganda activity noted that there was "a defection pitch for Cuban UN delegate. The sky is the limit if this one can be accomplished dramatically in the UN meeting." 77a/ A memo from Jake Esterline to Mr. Bissell on 11 April 1961 revealed the· identity of the Cubans: Our contact with Raul Roa reports that this defection attempt is still alive although Roa would make no firm commit- tment [sic] or promise on whether he would defect in the U.N. Roa has requested that no further contact be made at this time. 77b/ The planned defection did not come off, and Roa continued as Castro's Foreign Minister until the 1970's. Currently (1979) he is Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly and a member of the Counc~l of State. - 239 -