(404-10263-10047 : oe ame geg esa, Tals documant consigsz. of _o' =-- pages . a" - wurber of . $7 copies, Sertes ft SECRET ABA = George Lister Visit of Cuben Elle Victor Espinosa Ia accordance with our conversation yeaterday I have set forth below a report on the visit of Victor Espinosa, A Venemuelan Christian Democratic friend of mine, Valmore Acevedo, called me from New York City yeaterday morning to aak @@ @ personal favor that I receive a Cuban exile living there | who had something “amazing” to tell me, When I expressed mild ekepticien, Acevedo urgently repeated his request and I agreed, Within a surprisingly short time the Cuban, Victor Espinosa, arrived at my office (he said he had taken the plane immedi- ately). Espinosa gave his address aad telephone number as follows: 415 East 52nd Street, HA 1-7875. A summary of his etetenents follows. . ‘Espinoes has been involved in Cuban liberation activities — . for many yeare, He oppesed Batista and opposes Castro. He is mot a member of the March 13 Movement, but has long been very -. close to many of its leaders, including Cubelas, Espinosa was. trained by CIA, in both Louistana and Guatemala, and was one. . of thore who was sent into Cuba prior to the Bay of Pigs, He ~ plans to become an American citizen in August of this year, _ He admires the United States and American strength and compee tence in many fields. He asked a New York acquaintenance of ube for the name of somtone in the Department involved in Latin American affairs,’ He was told Acevedo knew such an afdictal, Eépinosa asked Acevedo (without, he claims, re-” wealing his story), and the latter called ne, A little eaxJier thls year Espinosa received a request from one of his reiiabls Cuban contacts in Europe, asking that he come there quickly, Espinosa went to Miami, obtained falae Cuban papers, and went to Paris, There, apparently in the presence of the Cuban Ambassador to France, he met one of the. tep security" mon of the Castro rezime, who had come to Paris for that purpose. During various ueetings, beth in France end BECRE . Grout 4 onan Feolwind frou autowatle dogigvading and déeoluguifivetion + seep ope LCI gig at et eee men cage SE a te eee veteran ae
14-00000 SECRET 72+ a im Spain (which Espinosa entered illegally), Eapinosa was ine i! formed that there is a plan to overthrow the Cestro regime : and to kill Castro and some of his main leaders, The plot is j- led by Cubelag and some of the March 13 Movement, plus (I be- i, lieve) some military officers, They must move very quickly Lu because more and more people are learning of the plot and t: there is growing risk of exposure, They are anxious to have some coordination, or at least cor -1ltation, wich responsible axzericans, They are not confident that they could win an all- out fight against the Castro forces, and are thinking more in terms of taking contrcl for a short time (perhaps only a few hours), killing Castro and-his most: effective men (thug ‘fuining the Castro movement forever), and then trying to hold : eut for as long as feasible, It is essential that they lmagw° = what, if anything, the Americans might do to help, now and/or later, when the coup is attempted, Also, they wished to alert the United States Government to what was being planned. ea pee ee nO mao aS ne at ne He NT GE PEAR ae gine a rT en f ferme co ted artes lao seman tee The Cubans might have turned to the @IA - - .. mia in(Madrid) However, they believe 8 completely = unreliable, A Cuba ent to rid come time age by the Castro people. es fooled by her and, being ~ wery fond of women, set her up ir an apartment in Madrid, He @lgso arranged for her to work with the International Rescue Coomittee, When the proper moment came, four months ago, she flew back to Havana with some very ugeful files, In these 3 he Cuban plotters have no confidence whatever | They urgently asked Espinosa to be their goa between With Felisble American officials. The “top security" man returned to Havana, while one Yepresentative ef the plotters waited in Spain. for en ansver, co, ea Espinosa hurriedly returned to Naw York City, He called O'arien of the New York FBI to ask that the latter arrange for fala to talk with some serious and reliable man from cla, O’Brien did so, Eapinose then told the foregoing. story, and sore, to & CIA man named "Hal", Hal impresacd Espinosa as being intelligent and reliable, Espinosa understands that Hal @F someone else want to Spain to check on nig Story, At ail events, Espinosa was assured CIA understood the urgency of tha - setter Gnu chat he would be callad within a few. daya, A waak hae pacsed, However, no call has come and time is rapidly Mere ener ste: Coe one ER Se Oy 6 LP FE MEE ca nie ve REP PARR neu olin de eee emo * ae 8 atemeae NEE et 9 . cae omy cee me ener + snare pa taro . BECRET © LPN RTIGE Re mae arty enema N+
14-00000 ret tient rated Dee een etn SECRET =J- 0 running out. Espinosa's friends in Paris keep calling him, cautiously asking whether there has been some “response”, but Espinosa has had to keep putting them off. Meanwhile, the Cuban who was waiting in Spain for the answer has had to return, Espinosa keeps waiting to hear whether che Americans will play ball with the Cubelag group. The plot has lasted for over 18 months, and the plotters plan to go ahead very goon no watter whether the Americans “play ball" or not. Ons reason is that they almost have to go ahead now, for tue plot will soon be discovered and then it will be entirely hopeless. Espinosa also referred to a jeweler by the name of teppéizino (spelling?), located at 47th Street, in New York City. Teppeklino worke for CIA and has frequent contact with _ the Cuban Ambassador, in Paris, The Ambassador regularly dia~ ‘ poses of jewelry and other valuables made available from Cuba, He does this through Teppéllino, However, the latter fools ‘GIA. , For exemple, the Ambassador agrees to sell for $80,000. Teppeltino informs CIA thea price is $110,000, and quietly . pockets the difference, On the other hand, Teppeliino and GIA think the Cuban Ambassador does not know he is working for CIA, but. the Ambasaador does now. Bepincea ie determined te bring the very dangerous ; situation of the Cuban plot to the attention of some top level official in the United Statee Government unless he receives at least some reply from CIA. Comment! Eapinosa was not overly tense aud did not indulge in hise trfonics, but I felt he was quits detemmined te push chile matter further if he did not get some response within the very near future, I cannot, and do not have to, judge hia reife ability on the basis of this one conversation, However, if £ hee to guess at thia point I would be inclined to accept most whee he aaid shout eatuel evantea, but of course there are @ll sorts of obvious possibilities, including provecation. In accordance with what we agreed on, while Espinosa was rh ee - rr eer 2 : Te pea me ie gine Came ae i
Laer toyy oe A e & @ said that, unofficially, I had en Espinosa seemed somewhat mollifie by this, RKowever, I doubt very m than two or three days more befor bring this situation to a head, SECRET a However, I added ne calied him, I further Joyed talking with him, d and temporarily . reassured uch that he will wait longer e making another attempt to