480-10441-10494 ItK <> Be C. Silvia Duran | ) When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, the United States investigative agencies--FBI, CIA, Secret Service, etc.--were asked to investigate the assassination. When the Central Intelli- gence Agency Mexico City Station learned that Lee Harvey Oswald had visited Mexico City during late September and early October, it reviewed the electronic surveil- lance files and found evidence of phone calls to the Soviet Embassy made September 27th,.September 28th, and October lst, that could have been made by Oswald. (See Electronic Surveillance Section.) Review of the electro- ics surveillance files also produced phone calls on September 27, 1963 between the Russian Consul and Silvia Duran, a secretary at the Cuban Consulate, where Oswald appeared to have been discussed. (See Soviet Electronic Surveillance Section.) In addition, the Mexico City Sta- tion found a September 28, 1963 phone call from Silvia Duran to the Soviet Consulate, where Silvia Duran stated that there was an American citizen at the Cuban Consulate who had previously visited the Soviet Consulate. (See Soviet Electronic Surveillance Section.) A final phone call was made on October 3, 1963 where the "alleged" Oswald identified himself was also found. (See Electronic Surveillance Section.) [oiyg 1044
~2- At this point, the Mexico City Station determined that it would request the Mexican government--with whom it had a good relationship--to arrest Silvia Duran (as Silvia Duran was a Mexican citizen, she did not have di- plomatic immunity) because she might shed some light on the circumstances surrounding the assassination. The Mexico City Station sent a note to the gober- nacion head, Luis Echevarria, with Silvia Duran's ad- dress, her mother's address, her brother's address, her license plate number, her home phone number, her place of work and a request that she be arrested immediately. (Note to Luis Echevarria, November 23, 1963, CIA No. 444; Cable re Oswald-Duran, MEXI 7029, November 23, 1963, CIA No. 441; Anne Goodpasture Chronology, WX 7241, Entry 36, November 23, 1963, CIA No. 635.) The Mexico City Station also suggested that Duran be held incommunicado until she could be questioned on the matter. (Ibid.) The Mexico City Station did not receive prior au- thorization from CIA Headquarters to request the arrest of Silvia Duran by Mexican authorities. (See below.) Headquarters feared that such a request would jeopardize the clandestine relationship between certain Mexican go0 vernment officials with the CIA, if it was disclosed that Americans were behind Duran's arrest. (Note written
by Winston Scott re phone call with Jack Whitten, November 23, 1963; Chronology prepared by Anne Goodpas- ture, WX 7241, entry 37, November 23, 1963, CIA No. 635.) Jack Whitten, Chief of Western Hemisphere/3, stationed at Langley Headquarters, telephoned Winston Scott, the Mexico Chief of Station, requesting that Silvia Duran not be arrested. (Ibid.) Scott told Whitten that he could not rescind the request and that Headquarters should already have received a cable stating that Silvia Duran had been arrested. (Ibid.) After Winston Scott's con- versation with Jack Whitten, Scott called Luis Echevarria and stated that the Mexico City Station desired that all information received from Duran be forwarded immediately to the Mexico City Station and that her arrest and state- ments not be communicated to any leftist groups. (Chief ‘of Station phone call to Luis Echevarria, Noverber 23, _ 1963, CIA No. 440; Flash Cable from Karamissines to Mexi- ‘co City Station, November 23, 1963, DIR 84916, CIA No. 403), Chronology of Anne Goodpasture, entry 46, November 23, 1963, CIA No. 636.) On November 27, 1963, the Mexican government for- warded to the Mexico City Station a copy of Silvia Du- ran’s ten-page signed statement. (Blind Memo re Lee Harvey Oswald and Silvia Duran, November 26, 1963, CIA £473.) She said, “Upon learning about the assassination
‘Silvia Duran and her husband speculated that President Kennedy might have been assassinated for racial reasons. When she became aware that the assassin was Lee Harvey Oswald, she ascertained that it was the same man who approximately two months prior had been to the Cuban Con-" sulate to solicit an intransit visa to Russia. Having taken his name from the special documentation he presented she knew that he was married to a Russian woman and be- longed to the "Fair Play for Cuban Committee." She checked the data in the Consulate archvies and became certain that it was the same individual who was blonde, short, dressed unelegantly and whose face turned red when angry. The Consul had denied the visa because to obtain an intransit visa from the Cuban government, it was imperative that he previously obtain a visa from the Soviet Consulate. Since obtaining a visa from the So-. viets took four months and Oswald's Mexican visa expired soon Oswald became excited and Duran had to call the Con- sul who had an argument with him. The only aid she could give Oswald was advising that he see the Soviet Consul, and calling the person in charge of that office. The Soviet official told her that they would have to consult Moscow which would take four months. That afternoon, Oswald returned to the Cuban Consulate and Silvia Duran confirmed that he could get a Cuban visa only after he
Silvia Duran nor the Cubans would have a basis fer con- cluding that the Americans were behind her rearrest. (The cable stated, “We want the Mexican authorities to take the responsibility for the whole affair; Cable from Headquarters to the Mexico City Station, November 28, 1963,.DIR 85371, CIA No. 464; Chronology of Anne Goodpasture, Nov. 28, 1963, WX 7241, entry no. 141, CIA No. 658.) When the Central Intelligence Agency began to work with the Warren Commission, Headquarters cabled the Mexico City Station that their plan in passing in- formation to the Warren Commission was to eliminate men- tion of telephone taps in order to protect their con- tinuing operations. (CIA Cable from Headquarters to Mexico City Station, December 21, 1963, DIR 90466, CIA No. 549; Chronology of Anne Goodpasture, December 21, 1963, Entry No. 268, CIA No. 682) Headquarters cabled that the would rely on Silvia Duran's statements and on the Consular files which the Soviets gave the State De- partment (Ibid.); (Headquarters stressed that exact, ‘ detailed information from LITAMIL-7 and LITAMIL-9-—pene- tration agents in the Cuban Embassy--on what Silvia Du- ran and other officials said about Oswald's visits and his dealings would be valuable and usable corroborative evidence.)
When the Central Intelligence Agency. forwarded to the Warren Commission a copy of Duran's signed state- ment. It read as follows: ...she remembered... (that Lee Harvey Oswald) was the name of an American who had come to the Cuban Consulate to obtain a visa to travel to Cuba in transit to Russia, the latter part of September or the early part of October of this year, and in support of his application had shown his passport, in which it was noted that he had lived in that country for a period of three years; hs labor card from the same country written in the Russian language; and letters in that same language. He had presented evidence that he was married to a Russian woman, and also that he was ap- parently the leader of an organization in the city of New Orleans called "Pair ***(Play) for > Cuba," claiming that he should be accepted as a "friend" of the Cuban Revolution. According- ly, the declarant, complying with her duties, took down all of the information and completed the appropriate application form; and the declarant, admittedly exceeding her responsi- bilities, informally telephoned the Russian con- sulate, with the intention of doing what she could to facilitate issuance of the Russia visa to Lee Harvey Oswald. However, they told her that there would be a delay of about four months in processing the case, which annoyed the appli- cant since, according to his statement, he was in a great hurry to_obtain visas that would enable him to travel to Russia, insisting on his right to do so in view of his background and his loyalty and his activities in behalf of the Cuban movement. The declarant was unable \ to recall accurately whether or not the appli- cant told her he was a member of the Communist Party, but he did say that his wife***was then in New York City, and would follow him,*** (Senora Duran stated) that when Oswald under- stood that it was not possible to give him a Cuban visa without his first having obtained the Russian visa,***he became very excited or
angry, and accordingly, the affiant called Consul Ascue (sic),*** (who) came out and began a heated discussion in English with Oswald, that concluded by Ascue telling him that “if it were up to him, he would not give him the visa," and “a person of his type was harming the Cuban Revolution rather than helping it," it being understood that in their conversation they were talking about the Russian Socialist Revolution and not the Cuban. Oswald maintained that he had two rea~ sons for requesting that his visa be issued promptly, and they were: one, that his tourist permit in Mexico was about to expire; and the other, that he had to get to Russia as quickly as possible. Despite her annoyance, the declarant gave Oswald a paper***in which she put down her name, "Silvia Duran," and the number of the telephone at the consulate, which is "11-28-47" and the visa application was processed anyway. It was sent to the Ministry of (Foreign) Relations of Cuba; from which a routine reply was received some fif- teen to thirty days later, approving the visa, but on the condition that the Russian visa be obtained first, although she does not re- call whether or not Oswald leter telephoned her at the Consulate number that she gave him. (CE 2120 p. 37-40.) The Central Intelligence Agency had relied on Duran's statements but had delted Duran's description of Oswald as blonde and short. (Supra.) It had also excised Duran's statement, “The only aid she could give Oswald was advising that he see the Soviet Consul, and calling the person ‘in charge of that office" which alluded to Oswald asking for some type of aid at the Cuban Consulate. (Supra, p. )
VI. Information not available at the time of the Warren Commission A. Silvia Duran lL. House Select Committee on Assassinations 6/6/78 Interview of Silvia Tirado Ms. Tirado (Duran divorced Horatio Duran in 1968) was never questioned by American officials in 1963. Thus, the Committee established contact with the Mexican go-. vernment and requested that the Mexican government make Silvia Triado available for an interview. (Letter HSCA to Mexican government, , JFK Doc. # ) The Mexican government complied on 6/6/78. Ms. Tirado told the House Select Committee on Assassinations the following: Lee Harvey Oswald visited the Cuban Con- sulate three times on September 27, 1963, not twice as the Warren _Commission previously re- ported. (HSCA interview of Silvia Tirado, 6/6/78, JFK Doc. p- ) Oswald first visited the Cuban Consulate at approximately 11:00 a.m., requesting an intransit visa to Cuba with Russia as the final destination. (Ibid., 523-526) He showed her some documents, then, left to ob- tain photographs needed for his application. (Ibid., 523-526)
vidual then left to obtain photographs needed for his application. (Ibid., p. 20) The man probably returned on September 27, 1963 with the photographs and completed the applications in Ms. Duran's presence. (Ibid., p. 32) As the amount of time required to process this document could have taken as long as twenty days or the response could have been negative, Azcue told the man that he could grant him a visa to Cuba, without consulting his government, if he had a Russian visa. (Ibid., p- 33) The individual then left to obtain his Russian visa. (Ibid. p. 33) After the man left the Cuban Consulate, Azcue received a telephone call from the Soviet Consule. ' (Azuce could not precise the time of the phone call. (Public Hearing Testimony of Fusebio Azcue Lopez, 9/18/78, p. 34) The Soviet Consul explained that the man's documents were legitimate but that the Soviet Con- sulate could not issue a visa until it received authori- zation from Moscow. (Ibid. p. 35) Emphasizing that the Cuban Consulate never re- ceived visitors after working hours (10:00 - 2:00) Mr. Azcue opined that the individual probably returned to the Consulate on September 28, 1963. (Ibid. p. 36) When Azcue explained to Oswald that he could not grant him a visa, the man made statements directed against