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W-S, Special Document # 1, Chapter 10 – Extract from the Cuban Program. *The author (Michael D. Benge – a [then] Civilian US Economic Development Officer) spent 11 years in Vietnam, over five years as a Prisoner of War-- 1968-73, and is a diligent follower of the affairs of the region. While serving in the II Corps Military Region, he was captured in South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese, and held in numerous camps in South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and North Vietnam. Michael D. Benge has given permission for the inclusion of the information shown below.
Cuban War Crimes Against American POWs Testimony of Michael D. Benge before the House International Relations Committee Chaired by the Honorable Benjamin A. Gilman, November 4, 1999. ///////////////EXTRACTED FROM THE TESTIMONY OF MICHAEL D. BENGE//////////////// Cubans and Other POWs According to CIA documents Cuban communist party committee members,
Cuban "journalists" Raul Valdes Vivo and Marta Rojas Rodriguez, "visited
liberated areas of South Vietnam where they interviewed [interrogated]
U.S. prisoners of war being held by the Viet Cong."(24) [Many of the
American POWs held in the South Viet Nam, were in fact under the
command-control of the North Vietnamese's Enemy Proselytizing Bureau,
but temporarily farmed-out to Viet Cong.] Rojas told of her
"interviewing" American POWS in South Viet Nam at the Bertram Russel
mock war crimes tribunal in Denmark in 1967.(20) Photographs of some of
the POWs, and related articles, appeared in Cuban and various other
communist media. American POWs **Charles Crafts, Smith, McClure,
Schumann, and Cook were among those interviewed and photographed by Rojas
and Vivo. This leads one to ask, "Why hasn't DOD pursued questioning
Cubans about the fate of American POWs?" ** POWs in COSVN POW Camp B-20, From where SFC Isaac Camacho had escaped on 09 July 1965. Note: To Read the Entire Testimony by Michael D. Benge go to the Web-Site shown below: http://www.pownetwork.org/fonda/fonda_testimony_of_michael_d.htm
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