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(Testimony of Nelson Delgado)
Mr. Delgado.
to decipher anything in Spanish into English, which is fine, as long as he stays in the lower court, you know, where they are going to speak high Spanish, but when you go to mingle with the people and speak their language, you know, don't go in there with a college Spanish, because, to begin with, they are going to tell right off, you know, well, this guy is a highfalutin fellow, you know, They are not going to have anything to do with him.
You know, common Spanish is quite often overlooked, and that is where we make our mistake When we go---I think when we go abroad, because we try to speak Spanish the way El Camino Real tells you to speak Spanish, and that is not going to do.
If you come, a fellow comes and tries to be friends with you, and he is giving you all these thees and thous, first of all you are not going to hit it off right. Speak like they do. If they say damn; say damn, you know, get with them.
Mr. Liebeler.
You and this agent did not strike it off too well?
Mr. Delgado.
No, I am afraid not. We just spent hours arguing back and forth.
Mr. Liebeler.
Off the record.
(Discussion off the record.)
Mr. Liebeler.
We just referred to the El Camino Real that you mentioned, and you mentioned that that was a Spanish textbook; is that correct?
Mr. Delgado.
Yes.
Mr. Liebeler.
One in which the Castilian Spanish is taught?
Mr. Delgado.
Right.
Mr. Liebeler.
Can you tell us some more about your discussions with Oswald concerning the Castro movement or the situation in Cuba?
Mr. Delgado.
We had quite many discussions regarding Castro. At the time I was in favor of Castro, I wholeheartedly supported him, and made it known that I thought he was a pretty good fellow, and that was one of the main things Oswald and I always hit off so well, we were along the same lines of thought. Castro at the time showed all possibilities of being a freedom-loving man, a democratic sort of person, that was going to do away with all tyranny and finally give the Cuban people a break. But then he turned around and started to purge the Russian purge, started executing all these pro-Batistas or anybody associated with a pro-Batista, just word of mouth. I would say he is a Batista, and right away they would grab him, give him a kangaroo court and shoot him. He and I had discussed about that, and right and wrong way that he should have gone about doing it.
Castro at the time, his brother Raoul was the only known Communist, and I mentioned the fact that he was a Communist, but that although Castro was the leader, I doubt if he would follow the Communist line of life, you know. At the time I don't remember Che Guevra being there. He came in after that. And we talked how we would like to go to Cuba and----
Mr. Liebeler.
You and Oswald did?
Mr. Delgado.
Right. We were going to become officers, you know, enlisted men. We are dreaming now, right? So we were going to become officers. So we had a head start, you see. We were getting honorable discharges, while Morgan--there was a fellow in Cuba at the time, he got a dishonorable discharge from, the Army, and he went to Castro and fought with Castro in the Escambres.
Mr. Liebeler.
A fellow named Morgan?
Mr. Delgado.
Yes; Henry Morgan--not Henry, but it was Morgan, though; and at the end of the revolution he came out with the rank of major, you know.
So we were all thinking, well, honorable discharge, and I speak Spanish and he's got his ideas of how a government should be run, you know, the same line as Castro did at that time.
Mr. Liebeler.
Oswald?
Mr. Delgado.
Right. So we could go over there and become officers and lead an expedition to some of these other islands and free them too, you know, from--this was really weird, you know, but----
Mr. Liebeler.
That is what you and Oswald talked about?
Mr. Delgado.
Right, things like that; and how we would go to take over, to make a republic, you know, because that was another form of Batista, American-
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