ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the circumstance that, along with the execution of the counterrevolutionary plans, the U.S. administration explored a new path in its policy toward the Cuban government, consisting of taking advantage of the unofficial channel opened by the lawyer James B. Donovan, with the purpose of exploring the possibility to approach the Cuban leadership. Donovan represented the families of the mercenaries captured at the Bay of Pigs who were imprisoned in Cuba, and he negotiated a solution with the Cuban government where the prisoners were exchanged toward medicine and food for children. In connection with these negotiations Donovan had a number of informal meetings with Fidel Castro. The chapter also covers Donovan’s contacts with the Kennedy administration and his unofficial “mission,” as well as the contradictory fact that at the same time that this way was approached, new conspiratorial plans, attacks against Castro and other Cuban leaders, acts of sabotage and measures aimed at increasing the blockade and obstructing the economy of the island were planned.
