AGENCY : . RECORD NUMBER : RECORD SERIES : AGENCY FILE NUMBER : ORIGINATOR : FROM : TO: TITLE: DATE: PAGES: SUBJECTS : DOCUMENT TYPE : CLASSIFICATION : RESTRICTIONS : CURRENT STATUS : " DATE OF LASTREVIEW: OPENING CRITERIA : COMMENTS : JFK Assassination System Identification Form Agency Information HSCA 180-10108-10059 NUMBERED FILES. 015107 (FOLDER 1 OF 4) . Document Information HSCA FONZI, GAETON. INTERVIEW WITH ROLANDO OTERO. 03/20/1977 3 CIA, ADMINISTRATION. OTERO, ROLANDO; INTERVIEW. LEADS & INFORMATION. FBI. MEMORANDUM. Unclassified Consulted Withhold 06/24/1993 Box 297. FBI tabbed 297-1. Date: 10/13/20 Peleased under the John Kennedy Assassination Records oOllection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Note). asef#: NW 56629 Date: 4-13-2018 v9.1 HW 56629 Docld: 322762490 Page 1
as "3 MEMO - 3/20/77 TO: -... Tanenbaum FROM: Fonzi “Ret. Interview with Rolando Otero I spoke with Rolando Otero on March 16, 1977, at the Okaloosa | County Jail, near Eglin Air Force Base, Fort "Walton Beach, Florida. I-was with- his® attorney, Bob Rosenblatt of the Miami Public -Defender' s Office, who had earlier contacted our office about Otero's wanting to talk with us about the Kennedy assassination. Otero was scheduled to be sentenced the following day and both he and his attorney expected a long term, perhaps 10 years. _ They. were convinced the judge had been swayed-by. the FBI and was. prejudiced against Otero. . Otero had been convicted on-one. ‘of nine charges involving the: bombing of public buildings in the’ Miami area. Earlier last year ‘he had been found innocent of the very same charges in a Federal court, so when the State brought the same-charges against him, Otero and his attorney Claim, the FBI went all out to get. him convicted in order. to -.¢over its embarrassment of his earlier acquital. The Federal | judge-.in the-case,-District. Judge: Norman -Roettger,-specifically.— . commented before the verdict in Otero's first trial that the _ Government's case was "weak." _ There is a very strong. case to be made for Otero's innocence, which is relevant to his now. feeling that he has suffered. the last straw in the American system of .justice.: The FBI's case against him was originally | _made by their veteran informant, Riccardo Morales, a CIA contract agent now working for the Venezuelan, security police. -Otero believes Morales: set the bombs he is charged for and, in fact, may be a Castro double agent. Otero: admits he is a terrorist ‘bomber who has devoted his life to fighting Castro and communism, but claims . he would never plant bombs within. the United States, which is exactly, - “he says, why Morales would want hims out of the way. ~ All of the “above is relevant to why Otero wanted to speak with us. '. At this point, he said, he has nothing to lose. He asked for ° nothing for himself in return for the information he gave. And, in fact, his evaluation of his situation seemed to be verified on the. day after I spoke with him when the Okaloosa. County Circuit “Court Judge Clyde Wells sentenced him to 40 years: in prison. The day after that, Otero took an overdose of tranquilizers in an attempt to commit suicide. He was in critical condition for two days but this morning seemed to be recovering. According to Otero himself, his knowledge of ‘the Kennedy assassination is. based. on. two factors: Second-hand information and his long association with and knowledge of the tactics and procedures of. CIA operations. (Although his opinions are strong, Otero was anxious: that we do-not evaluate too highly the quality of the _ information he provided, since it is not first hand.) Otero's involvement with the CIA goes back to when he was 18 and a member AWU56529 Do ad: 6249.0 . Page : : . . ‘y
mn S77 of ‘Brigade 2506 that was captured at the Bay of Pigs. He spent 18 months in a Cuban jail and since his release in December of 1962 was involved in a series of anti-Castro operations. in the Caribbean and Latin America,. including an aborted assassination attempt on Castro in Venezuela in 1975. He appears to have always been a lower-level, front-line operator and so his direct knowledge of the. . Strategic directors of most of his operations is limited. Even - in: reviewing the conversation with Otero, it is’ difficult: to filter out the specific details from the general analysis — he provides. ‘of numerous. aspects of the Kennedy assassination. | ‘He insists, — ‘first.of all, that. any involvement of the Mafia _ with it is, in his word, “bullshit,” deliberate misinformation planted by the CIA to. throw. off a legitimate investigation. - He feels the Mafia angle was first injected at.the time of Garrison's investigation when the Agency decided. that it was -a way of short-circuiting his efforts. It has since, says ' Otero, further developed the misinformation.scenario. The. attempts against Castro's life involving: the: CIA and the. “Mafia were, says Otero, very lightly: considered; never- ‘got beyond the conversational stage, if that, but aremnow being. advanced as having been: of serious: significance.. ‘He feels~ that any attempt’ to. lay thesblame for the Kennedy assassination on Castro is part of the ploy to throw the investigation off _ the true track. Oswald, says Otero, was sent to Russia as a CIA agent and that the decision to kill Kennedy was made before his return to the United States. He says he has no specific knowledge but he figures, from his general knowledge of CIA operations and from what he has-heard about it over the years, that there were between 30 and 35 CIA agents in Dallas on the day Kennedy was killed, including the actual hit team. He figures there were at least three on the hit team, at least one in front and one in. the rear of Kennedy. , ; Otero. says” he heard that most of the final planning and coordination took place at meetings held in the Dallas YMCA building... - Otero says he also heard that at least three unsoived murders of ‘Cubans in Miami over the last several years were connected: with the Kennedy assassination. He doesn't know the men killed but gave me the locations, which I'1l have to check-out. ‘This, he | emphasizes, is not hard information. These are the people Otero says were involved in the ‘Kennedy assassination: Howard Hunt, Bernardo Torres, Norman Diaz, Orlando Urra, Nildo Acevedo. Otero says he was told by a source, that Torres worked with Oswald and was posing as a ‘photographer on Dealey Plaza on November 22nd. He says he does not know how directly involved the others were, although he says he does know there were a few - recent attempts on Diaz" 's life. follow up. I'll also send Separately copies of notes Otero made - Docld: 32262490 Pa e. Bo .
before and during our interview. The interview was taped but '. because Otero thought there was a possibility that the room “in which we were was bugged, he often gave me vocally contrary answers to questions while indicating on paper the real - answers. - Otero has been transferred to another jail since his .. =.” sentencing and suicide attempt. — -Since it's closer to Miami, this will make it a bit easier for me to re-contact hin. for additional information. 56829 Docld: 32262490 _ Page. 4