14-00000: SECRET member to OSWALD during his specialist training period at El Toro Marine Corps Base . December 1958 _ Septenber 1959. The Warren Commission Report takes note of this: “OSWALD told DELGADO that he was in “touch with Cuban diplomatic officials in this country, which DELGADO at first took to. be ‘one of his lies, but later _ | | believed. '"? . oe a 10. Actually DELGADO's ‘testimony says a lot more of © ‘possible operational significance than is reflected by the Language of the. report, | and its implications do not appear “to! “hive ‘been run ‘down or developed by investigation. Thus, the record of ‘the beginning Of: OSWALD’ s relationship with | i the ‘Cubans. stakes with. a question mark. . iz. The period was one of transition” in U.S. - ‘Cuban, “xelations | after CASTRO'S takeover. | OSWALD, and DELGADO. ‘at . the. outset; were CASTRO sipporters, OSWALD being pakticue vy tay: keen about how to ) get to the island. DELGADO testie Se ee an him, so- - oe I told him the best thing that I know was to — 2 Report to the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. KENNEDY (Washington, 1964), hereafter cited as Report, p. 687. mL
14-00000 . Met oe SECRET get in touch with a Cuban Embassy, you know. ‘But at that time that I told him this - we. were on friendly terms with Cuba, you know, so this wasn't no subversion or malintent, you know. I didn't know what to answer him. I told him to see them. SO a _ "After a while he told me he was: in | contact with them ... | --. I seen this envelope in his faot- ‘locker, wall-locker, and it was addressed to him, and they had an official seal on it, and ~ | as far as I could recollect that was mail from - Los. Angeles, and. he was telling me there was , _— a Cuban Consul. ana just after he’ started: ° es a 4% RS . receiving these letters - you see, he. would es never go out, : but stay near the post all the - time -.- —— : | Moate he- had ‘one visitor after he started " xeceiving letters he had « one visitor.» rt was es “a. man, because I got the call from the MP | . : : guard shack, and they gave me a call that OSWALD had a visitor at the front gate. This oF man had to be a civilian, otherwise they would | . have let him in. So I had to find somebody to Yelieve OSWALD, who was on guard, to go down Fg ee i ee g
SECRET there to visit with this fellow, and they spent - about an hour and a half, two hours, talking, It guess, and he came back. r don* t know | who the man was or what they talked about, . but he looked nonchalant about the whole thing when he came back. - He . never mentioned who he Was, nothing. | _ "Mr. LIEBELER: “How long did he talk to - him, do. you remenber? . | "Mr. DELGADO 2 About an’ hour and half, two hours ee i: 7 : ~ . | a a oT Mr. LIEBELER: | “You never as asked OSWALD who ‘this fellow was ‘that! he ‘€alkea’ ‘to? oe a er “Wir. “RELGADO No. No ee gh | nme. LIEBELERS | ‘Did you connect, this visit | 7 ‘that OSWALD haa at: that time with the Cuban “Consulate? eames DELGADO : LE aid; ‘because. I ‘thought te gonny ‘for pin to ‘be receiving. a \ caller at such’ “Fate: date” - time. | ‘Riso, up: Lo this’ ‘Eine. he. “Hardly ¢ ever received mail; in fact) he seldon a 7 received mail from - home because I ‘made it a. | . policy, I used ‘to pick up “the mail for our unit and distribute it to the guys in there, and very seldom did I ever see one for him. But every sa | #7 of e orten, after he started to gek in canhack whth Soon  & tome come ae eet
14-000003 af “pamphlets and newspapers ... ferent colors on: ity red and’ white; ‘almost . Qo: an SECRE T Peed ~ these Cuban people, he started getting letter " ... and he also started receiving letters, you know, and no books, maybe pamphlets, you know, little~like church, things we get from church, you know, but it wasn't a church. “Mor, LIEBELER: ‘Were they written in Spanish, any of them, do you know? : *Mr. DELGADO : Not that I can recall, no. - "Mr. LIEBELER: _ Did you have any reason . - to believe that’ ‘these things caine to OSWALD» from ‘the Cuban Consulate? "yr. DELGADO” ‘Well,’ r took it for granted ° : ey that they did after I seen the envelope Gy you know .-- something Like | a ‘Mexican eagle, witha big, impressive seal, you knows. They had dif~ . “Looked Like our, ‘colors, “you know. © But I can re . recall the. ‘seal. ca just ‘knew ait was in Latin, United, something like that. Lf couldn'?t under- stand. it was Latin. “Mr. LIEBELER: You don't know for sure whether it was from the Cuban Consulate? wea toe ee: meme igenaen te Ogee Sie me ON me ee : Ft eee Le et aS : 2 a 5 Pr! SEC RE T no Aen
14- 00006 “, ‘going tom _ once he. got out of the Service. - he’ - for discharge from the Marines on 7 December 2959, OSWALD 3 Hearings, Volume VIII, pp. 241 ~ 243. y SECRET "Mr. DELGADO : No. But he had told me prior; just before I found that envelope in his -- wall locker, that he was receiving mail from. them, and one time he offered to show it to me, but I wasn’t much interested because at the time we had work to do, and I never diG ask _ to see that paper again, you know. "Mr. LIEBELER: Did he tell you what bi - Correspondence with the Cuban Consulate VES - you, haa abdht going ‘over to! cuba? 12. ‘was presumably to report there on 20 April 1960. about? “yr. DELGADO. : No, he didn't nn "Mr. ‘-LIEBELER: ‘pid he ever “indicate to you an that. at haa to do with the. conversations that "Mr. DELGADO 2 No. “the: only. thing he ‘told me was’ that right after he haa this con- a versation with the: Cuban people ‘was that he was’). owas, going to Switzerland ae me Baby ee wee = “. ae - .churwalden, Switzerland, was dated 19 Maxch 1959, and he - 2 a AS S 8 i) RE T Destined ‘OSWALD's- application to Albert ‘Schweitzer college, -
14-0000@ led . a? eee ry ? accelerated his exit on grounds of family hardship in early September 1959. On 27 September 1969 he was issued a | U.S. passport valid for travel - among other places to | Cuba and the USSR. He entered the Soviet Union “€rom Finland on 15 October 1959. 13.. DELGADO's testimony has the cast of credibility. "Granting that, it is of basic importance to focus attention on the male visitor who contacted OSWALD at El Toro Camp : and talked with him for between one and a half to two hours. . The event was. unique in | DELGADO! s “recollections, and actually there is nothing like it - on the record - in everything else ie. know about OSWALD's activity in the united States ‘before or ‘after his xeturn to ‘the United States. The record reflects | no identification of the EL Toro contact. - DELGADO’ s presump~ _ < "tion! is’ that het was. ‘Exom the ‘Cuban Consulate in Los Angeles: | Assuming that, the questions are: Who was ity ‘and was ‘there reporting from Los Angeles to Washington and Havana that | could, in effect, represent. ‘the opening - of | a cuban ot a 7 < “PREDICTION” | OF ‘PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S DEMISE BY COMMUNIST _ - PARTY CELL LEADER MORSE BENITEZ ZABOLA, 1962 he 14. Guatemala Station forwarded to Headquarters on 3 January 1964 a duplicate copy of a raw report by a 4 u.S./Cuban diplomatic and consular relations were. Severed on 3 January 1961. oo ; Soe Le eee : ry 1. . . . . »
14-000090 -.. 7. om ° SECRET es penetration dated 5 January 1962 describing events at the - yearly Communist Party cell meeting. The cell leader, ~ Morse BENITEZ Zabola, said that the Communist Party in Guatamala should form a single new party; "We need not — ‘preoccupy ourselves over the politics . of President KENNEDY ney because we know, according to prognostications, that he - will die within the. present year, 1962." 15. This report ‘apparently had been discounted when it was received and was not forwarded until the Station re-reviewed all of its material after the assassination. The file reflects no follow-up ox formal dissemination of the report. ; a 7 ce an mo ENIGMATIC THREATS BY CUBAN THIRD - SECRETARY IN THE HAUGE, | . _7 NOVEMBER 1963 2 ~ . Oe Sa io oN ae sensitiv source, reporting after the: KENNEDY assassination, - indicated that at the Soviet reception on 7 November 1963, the. Cuban Third Secretary, - Ricardo ie SANTOS ‘Pesa,’ discussed the recent. refugee raids _ on- Cuba and their implications with | a 2 hosttcountry: diplomat, concluding with the admonition: "ee gust wait and you will see what we can do. Tt will happen soon.” Asked. to be more specific what would happen soon, SANTOS replied: gust - wait, just wait." 17. These data were passed to the Warren Commission by memorandum, 31 March 1964. SANTOS was reported to have " ow
14-00000 |: . assasSination. ""Duisa" also stated that the party at - CQ. SECRET a history of medical instability and was summarily recalled from The Hague reportedly for reasons related to that fact wo . * . . : - -in April 1966. | - oo 2-0 INTERCEPTED CONVERSATION OF CUBAN EMBASSY EMPLOYEE, LUISA CALDERON, AFTERNOON OF 22 NOVEMBER 1963 ' 18. At 1730 Mexico City time, about five hours after the - KENNEDY ‘assassination, a Cuban ‘Embassy employee named — cd “Tauisa" received a telephone call in Spanish from an uniden— tified male outside... 18. The caller asked her if she had heard the latest 7 news. "Luisa" jokingly xkeplied: “Yes, of course, I knew At. “almost before KENNEDY wee Imagine, one, two, three and . now; that, makes, ‘three [she laughs], what barbarians! ece™ 20:-: Both speakers agreed on ‘the seriousness. o£ the . , Silvia DURAN’ s had been called off so. it would” not appear that they were celebrating the ‘death of KENNEDY, nox would | . 7 they: have the party coincide with the burial. ‘Finally she igaid’ she ‘planned, to ‘move that: night! into the house of a doctor, ta woman) ‘friend. a ; a - eS oa * cee ‘21. ‘Latin hyperbole? Boast ful ex post facto suggestion of foreknowledge? This is. the only item in the intercept | coverage o£ the Cubans and Soviets after the assassination that contains the suggestion of foreknowledge or expectation. 7
14-00000; .. FR Ses - Visits on 27 and 28 September to the Cuban a : ‘S SECRET. 22. ‘The tenuous, enignmatic character of the conversation sharply highlighted by the following facts: . ae "Luisa" was probably identical with Luisa CALDERON, a cadre worker of the Cuban a Directorate General of Intelligence (DGt). She returned to Cuba in 1964 and was reported 7 to be working in DGI Headquarters. ; b. The DGI element in Mexico City in the fall of 1963 was headed by Alfredo MIRABEL Diaz who had arrived on 2 September 1963, formally | "as the replacement of the Consul Eusebio AZCUE ~ (departed 19 November 1963). ‘The deputy DGI ; Chief (and as of Tune 1964, MIRABEL's successor) s- was Manuel Engenio - VEGA- Perez. " €e ‘The "Silvia puRan" named in Luisa‘s conversation was the. receptionist, a Mexican : national, who dealt with OSWALD during his known installation in. connection with a ‘Cuban visa - ae application for stay and/or transit: Silvia DURAN is the sole Live witness on the record regarding OSWALD's activity in Mexico City. Her testimony, however, in its entirety was taken and presented, solely, by - the : Mexican Governmental authorities. A direct Le 5 c 7 oon ca 0 oh
14-00009 |. . seonzs @ confrontation with her was requested by the ‘Warren Commission staff but rejected by the Mexican authorities. It.is from Silvia DURAN 's statements that it was learned that OSWALD became engaged in a personal altercation on 27 September with Eusebio AZCUE. oO a. “Manuel Engenio VEGA Perez, - alias Marcos, and his DGI assistant, _ 'Rogelis RODRIGUEZ Lopez, were. positively - identified in February 1964 by two independent sources as engaged in the active development _ om S and. facilitation of the training of Nicaraguan, agents for the’ purpose of assaséinating "General Annstasio SOMOZA. ; VEGA, it. is estiab— woe COR - . /Lishea, was on “post in Mexico ‘City auring osviaLp" s stay there 27 Septenber - - 2 Octobex 1963. He - Left Mexico ‘city on 3 November 1963 - ‘fox Havana. it was reliably reported about 7 Tos EGR. that all, individuals going, £0, ‘Cuba, Yegally” : “ or ‘illegally, haa to pass through him first. “He took the biographical ‘data and. sént at to Cuba for name checking, a procedureé which normally took fifteen days.> 5 HMexico City from 28 December 1962 - 21 Jannary 1963 . For example, VEGA would have handled the details of the ‘“otvivwisa action and facilitation of the trip to Cuba via that a)
14- 00000. 4 € fat Mea e@ na SECRET .23.. There is no evidence in the OSWALD case file that. Silvia DURAN was subjected to a systematic elicitative interrogation 1 that would have related her dealings. with OSWALD, known or confirmed by intercept, with the data held- on the Cuban DGI, its personalities and. methods, - in, Mexico City. Was it normal for a case like OSWALD's, ‘considering the fuss he allegedly inade with AZCUE, for the applications’ to be handled solely by a Local employee and a lame duck like AZCUE whose slot had been taken by the DGI chief?. “Whatever the answer to these questions, they were not asked: at the time. Ana there’ remains ‘the more | a = me “fundamental question: accepting the DURAN story on its face, could it have Happened w without the knowledge and - me a participation of the DGI ‘personriel above cited?. This Oe, - ~ = seems unlikely especially because VEGA is later cited by . ‘a Cuban DGI defector as having stated: he was aware OSWALD on made Several visits to. the Cuban Consulate. | rt is clear 1 CASTRO? S overseas. intelligence ‘and security service __coula Paecenes ; ‘have. more in its files than was surfaced in - ‘the DURAN | oo oe - was taken by Vincent Theodore LEE, the organizer of the ‘Fair Play Committee for Cuba, with which OSWALD established ‘xelations from Dallas during the period 19 April - | 2 November 1963. There is an overlap between LEE's and VEGA's travels to Havana during that period: VEGA - departed Mexico City on 6 January for Havana and returned / on 13 February 1963. :
boastful self-indulgence than was assumed at the time. '. Cuban Embassy job. In ‘the’ spring of 1967 Silvia DURAN "ais reported by, a reliable and. sensitive source to have ats SECRET statements. Coming back to the beginning: "Luisa" — “Euisa CALDERON ~— as a member . of the DGI unit in Mexico City od . could very well have known something that would make what she said to her unidentified caller less a matter of ot SILVIA DURAN, SUBSTANTIAL. AMPLIFICATION OF ADMISSION OF ALLEGED PERSONAL RELATIONS WITH LEE HARVEY OSWALD, 1967 - 24, The defects viewed in hindsight of the Silvia DURAN testimony already have been suggested above. (In that | . context of criticism it would also be relevant ta reconsider the. implications of the two intercepted telephone conversations on . 26 November 1963 between the Cuban President, DORTICOS, - and. his Ambassador to Mexico, Joaquim Hernandez ARMAS , — | because’ the ‘thiust of the conversation dealt: with the ques~ oe “tion whether Silvia DURAN ‘had been asked about for been. offered?) money payments by her Mexican interrogators.) 25.- As of September 1964 Silvia DURAN gave up her - cut all relations with Cubans. Her account, in 1967, of how she had been. taken into custody and had been interrogated after the assassination repeated what was already known: She added, under circumstances that did not permit the ‘source to challenge or elicit corroborative detail, that 2. oa “ay OTe ote S EC RE
SECRET 14-00000.. °° . she had gone out with OSWALD during his stay in Mexico City. and. claimed she had sexual relations with him. ALLEGATIONS OF CONSPIRATORTAL CONTACT BETWEEN ‘OSWALD AND | CUBAN GOVERNMENT AGENTS WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO. _ ALLEGATIONS OF (A) ELENA GARRO DE PRAZ AND (B) OSCAR | CONTRERAS . “> 26. As the Warren Commission reported, * biterally_ “dozens of allegations of a conspiratorial contact between OSWALD and agents of the Cuban Government have been "investigated eee in6- Among these cases, which consumed: hundreds | of CIA man-hours in Headquarters and abroad. ~ fia similarly thie FBI in the unitea States» ~ was the Bh Sic caragan walkin in | México city; 26 Novenber 1963, er Be Gilberto. [ALVARADO Ugarte. we ae eile gee . . - _ - . mo < . eo . : : ot ~ = Ct 27, the ALVARADO case is taken up in detail by the (Warren Commission under the cxyptograph "Dp. u7 “ALVARADO , . mee “)efaimed that he had seen an American, whom he identified — as. OSWALD, receive money. some. time’ in mid-September 1963" a. a. meeting in a patio of the cuban. Consulate ins . gee - Tote GO . TT : : ~ on ne (nl. See. Report,” p. 305 FE, - Some of the others were the cases - . \6£ Ylario ROJAS Villenueve in Cozumel and Guadaloupe, ° '. the allegations of Enrique Ruedolo GONGORA in New York City, the claims of Robert Edward GALLANT, Santa Clara Prison Farm, California, and the allegations of Ray DOBKIN's,. 7 | . See ‘Report, pp. 307 - 308.
14-00000 . SECRET Mexico city. ALVARADO's story was ultimately broken by the use of the polygraph, on which ALVARADO showed evidences of deception, and by bringing ALVARADO's former Nicaraguan security service control into the case. | 28. The ALVARADO story is a particularly acute repre- . sentation of the difficulties that beset the evaluation of observed evidence: certain elements of the story persist despite the impeachment of its major premises. ALVARADO whose account did not become public until the release of the Warren Report in October 1964, talked consistently of the presence in the Cuban Consulate transaction of a Negro: with red-dyed hair. - a 29. Elena GARRO de Paz is a mecurial,. articulate and socially. promigent Mexican writer, married, but ‘separated m . - from a high-ranking Mexican ‘foreign service “official. She CY antipathy between the two ‘women descending from *“ 4S also the cousin of Horacio DURAN, the husband. of ‘Silvia DURAN, ‘cited above. “There isa 1 Strong personal | ee - Elena GARRO' s "trenchant anti-Communist. . Lo . “30. “Prom October 1964 until his retirement in the fall “of 1969, a U.S. “Embassy officer, Charles THOMAS , persistently kept up a stream.of reports and: memoranda reflecting GARRO's account of what had actually gone on between OSWALD, the Cubans and in particular Silvia DURAN in September 1963, 2h o EOCRE TT _ Aincluding a repeated reference to a Negro with red-dyed hair. _
14-00000 : . ee am E RET 31. The first reference to the GARRO story was noted in a Mexico Station Memorandum of Record dated 12 October 1964: © "Elena GARRO [said] that she and her daughter were invited to a party at the Cuban Embassy during the period she now finds out that OSWALD was here in Mexico prior to the assassination. She was invited by a Mexican secretary in the Cuban Embassy whose husband “is. a cous in of the GARRO family [Horacio DURBIN} At the paxty she saw three Gxingos, not drinking, not mixing and more or less ‘just _ - "standing around together like three bumps ona tog. They were so obviously. out of place that _ t _ she asked someone. in the Cuban Embassy about... << a them and wag told that ‘they 1 were just passing - through. She claims that on the way these a ce ‘three Gringos’ stood out she took a good look . an i at them as did her daughter. When the | assassination occurred’ and ‘oswan's picture ‘was ae “spread into the | newspapers, poth Elena and her daughter immediately said that he was one of the three Gringos ‘without a doubt! at the party." . . 32. GARRO repeated her story to Mr. Charles William THOMAS, an Embassy political officer on 10 December 1965: _
SECRET In September 1963 after her.return from abroad; she went to a party, accompanied by her daughter, at the home of ' Ruben DURAN [emphasis added]. Ruben is one of the two brothers of Horacio DURAN, who married her cousin. She met OSWALD and two other young Americans. At the party ‘She was discouraged from talking with him. Other guests were the Cuban Consul AZCUE, General Clark FLORES, Silvia DURAN , who she later learned was OSWALD's mistress while he was here, Emilio CARBALLIDO and.a.Latin American Negro man with red hair [emphasis added} « - In November "1963 7 when the identity of the’ assassin became known, she and | “her, daughter went to the > Cuban Enbassy ‘ana shouted — "assassins" and other insults at the staff “there. ? ‘Shortly 7 ty aftexvard, she and her daughter were’ ‘visited by a friend, LS Manuel CARVILLO lor, CALVILLO], then an. official in ‘the "Secretariat. of the Gobernacion and were told he had orders to escort them to: a. small and. obscure hotel, in the center of. town.” “They \ were 2 kept there for. ‘eight: days under pretéxt a that ‘they. were in danger. When’ ‘she. told cARvIELO she wanted —_ to go. to the American Embassy. and explain what she knew of eo. - OSWALD, she was told that: the American Embassy was Full of | . ‘Communist spies. 33. On 25 December ‘1965 and 3 January 1966 in further interviews with THOMAS, GARRO and her daughter elaboratea and eee ee pr a anne rt EP yA Pe anf ahaa RANA AR ORT IN MAM Phase parbhiculars were not contirmad hy indenendenh observers at the time. a 23
Sea SECRET < in certain particulars significantly modified her earlier account. She also acknowledged that she and her daughter had been interviewed by Embassy officers to whom she claimed they did not give a very complete story because the | _ Embassy officers did not appear to. give much credence to anything they said. 34.. It developed that GARRO and daughter had been interviewed by the Legal Attache on 17 and 24 November 1964. Her information had been similar to what she claimed in hex account to THOMAS but had not been substantiated by inquiries. The FBI representative therefore considered the mattex closed and reaffirmed his. disengagement from the matter to. the CIA: “Chief of ‘Station on. 27. Récenber 1964 and to the ambassadoz on 25 February. yes | ony a we Sn 35. The Embassy Political ‘Officer, however," persisted in. ‘his interviews and repotting. In a memorandum of: convérsation, | 13 guly 1966, 'GARRO identified the place to which she. had been. taken by CALVILLO as. the Hotel Veimont. (this. detail checked ont affirmatively. . GARRO was: at. the Hotel 23 ~- 24e 25.) - 27 and 28 — 30 Noventber 1963. . In . another, on 7 February 167, _ GARRO'Ss continuing vicissitudes with: the Cubans are set out. -. And finally, upon THOMAS" s retirement from U.S. Government his reporting of the Elena GARRO interviews. service, the Department of State, at his request, - 28 August 1969, disseminated to CIA and FBI a compilation of 2a SECRET
~S ECRET 36. There the matter rests. GARRO's chronology of the ‘events she described as having occurred in the Mexican capital in September 1963 never coincided with the confirmed data of OSWALD's presence there. Her story, however, had two points congruant with allegations by: others kegarding OSWALD: a. ALVARADO's allegations regarding the Negro with the red~dyed hair. [this detail could, however, have been gleaned from the _ Warren: Commission' Ss published account of the , np" case} and — re °F Silvia DURAN* 's later claim of : . intimate personal contacts with OSWALD. 37. Beginning in March and amplified in. May 1967, the American, Consul, Benjamin J. RUYLE, in Tampico developed a contact with a local Mexican journalist, ‘Oscar CONTRERAS Lartigue, who claimed to have encountered OSWALD with other pro-CASTRO students at the University of Mexico campus in September L963. a ~ 38. “In June 1969 CONTRERAS was interviewed by. a cra officer: ‘He studied iaw at the University of Mexico for three years, approximately 1960 - 1964. He belonged to a clandestine pro-CASTRO revolutionary _ group at the University. Regarding the OSWALD
14- 00000 - ° hela in the. faculty of Philosophy. OSWALD 2 told | the group at was urgent that he. visit SECRET case he was extremely cautious and although he. “was not able or willing to give dates and ; _ names, he said OSWALD visited the University of Mexico campus ‘shortly “after the Cuban Embassy refused him a visa to visit Cuba. OSWALD made inquiries regarding pro- ~Cuban evolutionary groups” at ‘the University and was directed to CONTRERAS and his friend. _ . OSWALD met CONTRERAS and four. other persons as they came out of a round-table discussion _ 7 : cuba and: the Cuban Embassy. had denied him a - (; aayy t that’ night. and part of the next day. | OSWALD | tat em oe allowed OSWALD | ‘to accompany ‘them ‘the rest of the on “was. very. introverted and appeared to be ‘slightly “wise ‘He gequested aia fron CONTRERAS’ group. CONTRERAS and cthers mistrusted OSWALD because they felt he was a CIA provocation. The group - ‘eo - te . . oad ° 7 . ~ * . “crazy. ‘OSWALD made no mention of an assassination’ ~ plot but kept bringing up ‘the point he had to travel to Cuba immediately. 393. At this point, with FBI knowledge, the matter \ was turned over to the Mexican author ities who determined that CONTRERAS was indeed at the University of Mexico but only 26 snc RE T sti att «oat eB te OA Whig ne = Maa cn an nahn ta acbentnecm tn 1! a ce ntenaet eee cae ‘ scien sneee - eR A Ee ER ADT APOE ORE
14-00000 : -, SECRET for the years 1959 _ 1960 and that he had been publicly associated in protest activity for the Student Revolutionary _ Bloc (BER) in January 1961. However, the group ceased functioning as such in the middle of 1962, and Oscar CONTRERAS was never one of its leaders. No further 7 work is reflected in the files on the CONTRERAS allegations. “Apart from the unsustained claims made by CONTRERAS about _ his own presence at the University, there. is an additional element that undermines the credibility of his account: OSWALD" Spanish, which was barely ‘adequate to get him meals near the hotel, seems hardly Likely ‘to have permitted him ‘to - carry on for an extended period with a University student 24 wy 3 Ci 4 ee