MEMORANDUM TO: G. Robert Blakey Chief Counsel FROM: Ss, Jonathan Blackmer Staff Counsel, JFK DATE: June 28, 1978 RE: Index of Victor Espinosa Deposition Aleman, Jose p. 101 Alliegro, Anselmo p- 52 American Embassy, Havana pp. 32, 33 Amores, Acelo Pedro p. 13 Artime, Manuel p. 40, 82, 83, 84, 85 Banister, Guy p. 27 Batista, ... po. 4, 7,:9, 46, 47, 48, 50, 55 Bay of Pigs pp. 14, 15, 35, 36, 38, 42, 58, 60, 71, 89, 90 Bayo, Eddie aka Eduardo Perez pp. 41, 42 Bender, Frank p. 32 Benton, Sam pp. 18, 19, 23, 93 Bernardino, Frank . 14 Blanco, Alberto pp. 67, 68, 72, 76, 77, 78 Bongo, Raphael Garcia pp. 103, 104, 105 Bosch, Dr. Orlando p. 86 Callejas p. 9 Carbo, Pedro p. 50 Carol, Alphonzo p- 41 Castro, Fidel pp. 4, 6, 7, 9, 22, 33, 36, 37, AQ, eos 46, 47, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59,.60; 62, 64, 78, 795 81, 83, 84, 96, 107, 108, 109 Castro, Raul p. 55 Chaumon, Porton p. 5 C.I.A. pp. 10, ll, 15, 17, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 41, 63, 65, 66, 67, 70, 71,674, 755 76, 78, 81, 82, 83, 85, 86, 93, 103 Coscaya, General Bayo P- 42 Cubela, Rolando pp. 5, 6, 32, 40, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 7l, 774 78, 79, 80, 83, 84, 86, 102 Customs, U.S. pp. 17, 90 DRE... p:.30.. ; Echeverria, Jose Antonio pp. 95, 43, 44, 46, 47% 48, 50 F.B.I. pp. , 27, 28, 29, 70, 7ly 72, 94 60 Hw 334 DoclId: 32246213 Page 2?
Index of Victor Espinosa Deposition Page 2. Ferrie, David p. 27 Gene, John Koch p. 13 Gill, Fred p. 28 2 Gonzalez, Alfred ~ Guevara, Che pp. 54, 55 Hemming, Gerald Patrick p. 34 Hernandez, Carlos pp. 13, 18, 23, 24, 28, 30, 84 Hunt, Howard p. ll Irco, Colonel Blanco pp. 47, 48, 49 Javitis, Senator p. 73 Gener, Raphael p. 100 Jiminez, Mario pp. 10, 14 Jiminez, Miquel Alvarez pp. 13, 14, 18, 20, 23, 93 Lansky, Meyer p. 97 Lanz, Pedro Diaz pp. 7, 8 Lauchli, Rich Albert pp. 24, 25 Lobo, Julio pp. 86, 87 Machado, FNU (aka Machaletto) pp. 6, 498 Machin, FNU p. 48 Marcello, Carlos p. 28 ~McLaney, Mike pp. 9, 10, 18, 19, 21, 24, 28, 29, 32, 76, 91, 92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 106 McLaney, William pp. 9, 10, 22, 26 Menoyo pp. 54, 55 Morales, Ricardo Nauarette p. 87 Morgan, William p. 54 Nacional, Hotel pp. 9, 95, 107, 108 Naranjo p. 6 Nundez, Calcie p. 14 Paris Cuban Consulate p. 62, 63, 67 Phillips, David p. 33 Pontchartrain, Lake (Bombing Raid) pp. 23, 26, 28, 91, 92 Popich, Nick p. 28 Pujol, Jorge Alonzo p. lol Raminda p. 6 ‘Rodriquez, Nutosa pp. 48, 49 Rothman, "Cappy" pp. 31, 97, 99 Rothman, Norman pp. 31, 32, 98, 99, 101 Robreno, George (Jorg@ pp. 63, 68, 75, 77, 78, 82, 83, 84, 86, (El Maga) Salvat, Manuel p. 30 hell Oil Refinery, Havana pp. 20, 21 a, FNU p. 41 . Smith, Jose p. 7 “Snow, Larry p. 95 Soccaras, Carlos Prio p. 46 State Department p. 74 Sturgis, Frank pp. 8, 33, 89 Taberinalla, FNU p. 49 (Army Chief under Batista) HW 53080 DocId:32248213 Page Bo
Index of Victor Espinosa Deposition Page 3. Tepedino, Carlos Pp. Trafficante, Santo pp. Trasancos pp. Ugarte, FNU p. Usalase, FNU Pp. ‘Vallejo, Colonel p. Vasquez, Antonio Soto p. Veciana, Antonio Dp. Westbrook, Joe pp. Whitehouse, Teddy pp. Williamson (CIA-Madrid)p. 33 96, 97, 104, 105 68, 69, 80 15 49 13 23 88 6, 49 100, 101 66
MEMORANDUM SUMMARY OF DEPOSITION bate. O| 31S] TO: G. Robert Blakey, Chief Counsel | FROM: S. Jonathan Blackmer, Staff Counsel, JFK Shi DATE: July 18, 1978 RE: Summary of Victor Espinosa Deposition Taken June 7, 1978 in Washington, D. C. Background: Association with the Revolutionary _ Council of the University of Havana, 1954-1959. Victor Dominador Espinosa Hernandez was born to a wealthy, landholding family in Cuba. In 1954, he entered the University of Havana, joining two of his childhood . friends Jose Antonio Echeverria and Rolando Cubela in the - student political movement. Cubela and Echeverria, .some- what older than Espinosa, were at the time already firmly established as the leaders of the Revolutionary Council of the University of Havana, primarily directing their efforts against the Batista regime. Numerous clashes with the police and general inattentiveness to studies prompted. ‘Espinosa's father to send Espinosa to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in 1955. (pp. 3-6, 43-47) When Espinosa became eighteen years of age in ap- proximately 1956, he left L.S.U. and returned to Cuba to manage the ranch-estate left to him by the death of his grandfather. Upon his return, his political fervor some- what tempered, Espinosa was content to go about his business, and spend long weekends in Havana-’once a month pursuing less idealistic endeavors such as gambling and women. (p. 47) During one of these sojourns in Havana, Espinosa received a telephone call from Cubela advising him that Echeverria had just returned from a meeting in Mexico with Castro, and wanted to assemble the "old" group, as Castro wanted them to step up their activities against Batista. As a result of the meeting, action groups were | formed under the direction of Cubela and Echeverria. Each group consisting of approximately four men was given the - task of assassinating a designated high ranking official of the Batista Government. Among the targets were Blanco Irco, - head of military intelligence; Taberinalla, head of the army; Usalace, chief of police. (pp. 47, 48, 49, 50) HW (53080 Docld:32248713 Page 5
Summary of Deposition Victor Espinosa Page Two Espinosa's group, with Cubela and Pedro Carbo, was immediately successful, killing Blanco Irco within the week of their assignment. Although not suspected at first, Cubela nevertheless fled to Miami, while Espinosa, the youngest and least Suspect, remained in Cuba. Cubela eventually returned in 1957, and fought Batista from the Sierra Maestra Mountains, independently of Castro. (pp. 51, 52) Thus by late 1957, there were three groups fighting Batista: Castro's group in Oriente Province, William . Morgan's group and Cubela's group. Castro wanted control Over all the groups, and having Morgan under control, sent Che Guevara to consolidate the other "fronts". Guevara's mission was first to assassinate Rolando Menoyo, then Cubéla. By October of 1958, Guevara had taken Menoyo and Cubela into custody, but released them after four days. (pp. 54, 55) When Batista abdicated in January of 1959, Castro's group was the only one left intact as the others had been — decimated by fighting, especially Cubela's after an assault on the Presidential Palace. As Espinosa described the scene, "no :one knew what to do; we were fighting a war and the war was over; we didn;t have any ambition of power. Our aim was to get the guy (Batista), when these people's (Castro's) aims were very well planned for far ahead." (p. 56) Thus by late 1959, with Castro in power, Espinosa, seeing the student movement ending, left for the United States and exile, (p. 58) (especially after Espinosa had been ar- rested by Castro for attempting to smuggle the entire contents of an army arsenal to Panama and was released only after | Cubela's intervention). (pp. 57-59) II. Espinosa's Relationship with Mike McLaney ae ee A. 1954-1959 Espinosa often frequented the gambling casinos in Havana while a student at the University of Havana. Through a social friend, FNU Callejas, who was the manager of the Hotel Nacional, Espinosa was introduced to Bill McLaney, ‘brother of Mike, and then through Bill; to *Mike. Their relationship, according to Espinosa, was purely social during the remainder of their years in Cuba, not involving any Clandestine activities directed at either Batista or Castro. Espinosa is not aware of any activities of that nature by either of the McLaneys during this time: (pp. 9, 10)