TOP SECRET - SENSITIVE
APPENDIX B
DRAFT
MEMORANDUM FOR THE COORDINATOR, INTERDEPARTMENTAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE FOR CUBAN AFFAIRS
Subject: Cuban Actions (U)
1. On 21 March 1964, the Joint Chiefs of Staff informed the President that they would continue to review the problem of putting additional pressures on Castro and that the President would be advised if any new and promising courses of action were uncovered.
2. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have forwarded a study on the feasibility of undermining the Castro regime by attacking the Cuban sugar industry. The study examines the world sugar market and the vulnerabilities of Cuba's sugar industry, and proposes a phased interagency program which would:
a. Initially reduce Cuban sugar production by approximately 30 per cent from the anticipated 1966 production level.
b. Expand US influence in the world sugar market by assignment of quotas and other actions to insulate the free market from the effects of Cuban sugar losses.
3. Apart from economic measures, the proposals made in the study are within existing or attainable military capabilities. Several actions are proposed. Key among these is the introduction into Cuba of Bunga, a plant parasite against sugar cane. It appears feasible to introduce gradually Bunga into Cuba and maintain a basis for plausibly disavowing US involvement.
GROUP 1 Copy
EXCLUDED FROM AUTOMATIC DOWNGRADING
Lyndon B. Johnson Library
TOP SECRET - SENSITIVE
Appendix B
NW 50955 DocId:32423566 Page 157