Dec. 13, 1964 - More than 100 Cuban exiles demonstrated strongly but peacefully yesterday against Maj. Ernesto (Che) Guevara, who was under unusually tight police security as the result of a bazooka attack on the United Nations last Friday.
Cuba’s Minister of Industry, the target of violent demonstrations that accompanied the bazooka shelling, was guarded by policemen placed on roofs and at high windows as he was interviewed in a CBS‐TV studio at 524 West 57th Street. Held behind barricades outside, the pickets protested loudly.
The police bomb squad had made a thorough search of the building, and special passes were required for admittance. On the East River, across which the bazooka shell was fired, two police patrol launches were on an around‐the‐clock patrol.
The bazooka, a mobile rocket launcher, has been returned to the police, it was disclosed today, after an examination by Lieut. Col. Henry T. Jackson of the Picatinny Army Ordnance Depot in New Jersey.
Colonel Jackson, called into the case as an ordnance expert, said: “We were able to answer exactly most of the questions the police had about the bazooka.” He declined to elaborate.
The police officer in charge of the bazooka investigation reported “absolutely no leads” after questioning scores of persons, including prominent members of anti‐Castro groups here.
The police also reported no progress in determining who left three sticks of dynamite near a garage at First Avenue and 33d Street on Saturday.
Today’s demonstration at the television studio lasted two hours, and then the pickets marched to the headquarters of the Cuban Mission at 6 East 67th Street, where Guevara is staying. They stayed there about 45 minutes.
In both places, the demonstrators stood behind police barricades, chanting slogans that denounced Guevara and singing their national anthem.
The pickets arrived at the television studio half an hour before the Guevara did and immediately set up a chant of “carnicero” and “asesino,” Spanish for “butcher” and “assassin.” Many of them carried signs with slogans such as “Cuba Will Be Free.”
At one point, the demonstrators were addressed briefly by Governor Rockefeller, who had appeared earlier on another television show in the same building.
In fluent Spanish, the Governor said: “I sympathize very deeply with your position. Only as freedom can be established in Cuba can the Western Hemisphere prosper.”
Then he shook hands up and down the line, lingering in the grip of one woman after another, as they explained their personal grievances. After a few minutes, he left, assuring them that “America will always be on the side of freedom.”
Among the demonstrators was the young woman arrested at the United Nations Friday when she charged across a police line brandishing a knife. The woman, who has used several names, was booked as Gladys Perez. She is free on bail, for a hearing Wednesday on a charge of felonious assault.
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