◆ SpookStack

, ~OP SECRet objected to the Army's proposals, the cos nonetheless had been "instructed" to cooperate •• 27/ In these early weeks of 1959, US representatives in Havana were predict1ng that Castro would have a difficult time holding his government together, and among other things, one report emphasized the proba- bility that Castro would soon find that he would have . to get along with the United States. 29/ The most likely threat to relations with the United States was the existence of the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, but neither CIA nor state Department representa- tives saw any threat to this installation, and this belief was supported ip early March 1959 by a Special National Intelligence Estimate that, at most, Castro "sooner or later (is] likely to ask for major increases • An interesting side note to the discussions at this time was that the Army Attache apparently had planned to use a negro Lt. Col. who was on TDY in Havana to do a study of the new Castro Army. In a memorandum·to the Chief; Western Hemisphere Division, and to the Chief, Foreign Intelligence Staff, Al Cox, Chief, Paramilitary Division reported -- without ever using the term "black" -- that General Erskine (Army Special Forces) believed that a "color barf( did exist in the Caribbean area and that a better choice than Lt. Col. Reuben Horner, the black officer in question, could be made. 28/ - 18 - -r-OP SECRE+-.