The Fair Play for Cuba Committee ( FPCC ) was an activist group set up in New York City by Robert Taber in April 1960. It was active in both the USA and Canada.
22-563: FPCC may refer to: Fair Play for Cuba Committee First Peoples' Cultural Council Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title FPCC . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=FPCC&oldid=932829240 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
44-449: A New Orleans office "at least not ... at the very beginning". In a follow-up letter, Oswald replied, "Against your advice, I have decided to take an office from the very beginning." On May 29, Oswald ordered the following items from a local printer: 500 application forms, 300 membership cards, and 1,000 leaflets with the heading, "Hands Off Cuba". According to anti-Castro militant Carlos Bringuier , Oswald visited him on August 5 and 6 at
66-793: A brief time before arriving in the United States on February 8, 1961. He set up home in New Orleans , and opened a clothing store called "Casa Roca". Bringuier joined the Directorio Revolucionario Estudantil , the Student Revolutionary Directorate (DRE), an anti-Castro group. Bringuier was made New Orleans delegate, and placed in charge of DRE publicity and propaganda. Bringuier's clothing store in New Orleans became
88-551: A radio debate with Bringuier and Edward Butler , executive director of the anti-Communist group Information Council of the Americas (INCA). The debate took place on August 21; both Stuckey and Butler had in the meantime discovered the story of Oswald's 1959 defection to the Soviet Union and confronted him with it. During the debate, Bringuier challenged Oswald to agree with Fidel Castro's denunciation of President Kennedy as
110-587: A ruffian and a thief. Bringuier was pleased with the result of the debate and issued a press release, warning the public about Oswald. After Oswald was arrested for the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, Bringuier gave his account of Oswald to the FBI and other authorities. He testified before the Warren Commission and, in 1967, was involved in Jim Garrison 's investigation of
132-422: A store he owned in New Orleans. Bringuier was the New Orleans delegate for the anti-Castro organization Directorio Revolucionario Estudantil (DRE). Bringuier would later tell the Warren Commission that he believed Oswald's visits were an attempt by Oswald to infiltrate his group. On August 9, Oswald turned up in downtown New Orleans handing out Fair Play for Cuba leaflets. Bringuier confronted Oswald, claiming he
154-569: A trip organised by the FPCC. Subsidiary Fair Play for Cuba groups were set up throughout the United States and Canada . In Canada the organisation had an office in Toronto , which obtained and distributed pro-Castro literature coming from Cuba itself. It also produced its own literature based upon testimonies from those who had travelled to Cuba and wanted to report their experiences on
176-639: Is a Cuban exile in the United States who campaigned against Fidel Castro 's government. Bringuier is principally known for his brief connection with Lee Harvey Oswald , the assassin of US President John F. Kennedy . Bringuier was born in Cuba and studied at the University of Havana where he qualified as a lawyer in 1957. As an opponent of Fidel Castro and his government, he left Cuba on May 4, 1960 and moved to Guatemala ; he also lived in Argentina for
198-554: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Fair Play for Cuba Committee The group was set up as a result of a reception in the Cuban Consulate General in New York City on 1 April 1960 for "friends of Cuba". The Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party was involved in the organisation. The FPCC's purpose was to provide grassroots support for
220-676: The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Its members were placed under surveillance by the FBI . The group organised trips to Cuba and at one point had dozens of chapters across the USA. The Committee was open to members of all races, and on the first anniversary of the Cuban Revolution a group of black civil rights activists, composed of Harold Cruse , Amiri Baraka , Julian Mayfield and John Henrik Clarke , travelled to Havana in
242-566: The Cuban Revolution against attacks by the United States government , once Fidel Castro began openly stating his commitment to Marxism and began the expropriation and nationalization of Cuban assets belonging to U.S. corporations. The FPCC opposed the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961, the imposition of the United States embargo against Cuba , and was sympathetic to the Cuban view during
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#1732772742552264-705: The mailing list of the organisation. The FBI had informers in the FPCC, such as Victor Thomas Vicente in the New York chapter, and its members and activities underwent surveillance by the Detroit Police Department . The Committee was the subject of investigation from both the Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security and the House Un-American Activities Committee . CIA interest in the FPCC
286-557: The New Orleans chapter of the FPCC in May 1963 and was its sole member. Bringuier then called William Stuckey, a reporter who hosted a weekly radio program called "Latin Listening Post" on local station WDSU . Bringuier informed Stuckey of Oswald's background and Stuckey went to see Oswald, persuading him to be interviewed on radio; the interview was recorded on August 17. A few days later, Stuckey invited Oswald to take part in
308-421: The crowd with his story that Oswald had tried to join his anti-Castro movement and that Oswald was actually a communist and supporter of Castro. Hernandez grabbed Oswald's leaflets and a fight broke out. Oswald and the three Cubans were arrested for disturbing the peace. After the arrest, Bringuier and his Cuban friends were able to post bail, whereas Oswald's bond was posted by an Oswald family friend. Oswald
330-700: The island. The first Canadian chapter was founded by Vernel and Anne Olson, they held their first meeting in February 1961 at the First Unitarian Church in Toronto. On May 26 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald wrote to the New York City headquarters of FPCC, proposing to rent "a small office at my own expense for the purpose of forming a FPCC branch here in New Orleans". Three days later, the FPCC responded to Oswald's letter advising against opening
352-497: The local headquarters for anti-Castro Cubans. On August 5, 1963, according to Bringuier, Lee Oswald visited him at his store and posed as a friend of the Cuban exiles, offering to join the fight against Castro. The next day, Oswald again visited the store and left his Guidebook for Marines for the absent Bringuier. Bringuier testified to the Warren Commission that he was uninterested in Oswald's offer. On August 9, 1963, Oswald
374-420: Was a plot to get leaders arrested by luring them with prostitutes. In December 1961 the FBI mailed anonymous leaflets to select members of the organisation "for [the] purpose of disrupting FPCC and causing split between FPCC and its Socialist Workers Party (SWP) supporters", a tactic they noted was "very effective". Due to the help of an informant the FBI also possessed photographs of the FPCC financial records and
396-783: Was also documented by the Church Committee in 1975. It uncovered a memo dated to 16 September 1963 which stated that the CIA is "giving some thought to planting deceptive information which might embarrass the Committee in areas where it does have some support". By December 1963, the Fair Play for Cuba Committee was defunct, largely in part to the fallout from the assassination of John F. Kennedy by FPCC member, Lee Harvey Oswald. FBI investigations concluded in 1964. Carlos Bringuier Carlos Jose Bringuier (born June 22, 1934)
418-477: Was found guilty, fined $ 10, and released. Before leaving the police station, Oswald asked to speak with an FBI agent. Agent John Quigley arrived and spent over an hour talking to Oswald. To garner information on the New Orleans chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee , Bringuier said that he sent his colleague Carlos Quiroga (who posed as a Castro sympathizer) to question Oswald. Oswald had established
440-469: Was spotted by Celso Hernandez (a friend of Bringuier) handing out pro-Castro Fair Play for Cuba leaflets at the intersection of Canal Street and St. Charles. Hernandez told Bringuier of Oswald's leafleting and the two of them, along with another anti-Castro militant, Miguel Cruz, decided to confront Oswald over his duplicity. As the Cubans accosted Oswald, a crowd began to gather. Bringuier attempted to incite
462-427: Was the branch's only member and it had never been chartered by the national organization. In 1961 the Committee was the target of the FBI's COINTELPRO program. In June 1961 FBI director J. Edgar Hoover approved "establishing counterintelligence programs in Cuban field in an attempt to disillusion current members of such pro-Castro groups as July 26 Movement and Fair Play for Cuba Committee". Among these suggestions
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#1732772742552484-432: Was tipped off about Oswald's leafleting by a friend. A scuffle ensued and Oswald, Bringuier, and two of Bringuier's friends were arrested for disturbing the peace. Prior to leaving the police station, Oswald requested to speak with an FBI agent. Oswald told the agent that he was a member of the New Orleans branch of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee which he claimed had 35 members and was led by A. J. Hidell. In fact, Oswald
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