AGENCY RECORD NUMBER RECORD SERIES AGENCY FILE NUMBER AGENCY ORIGINATOR FROM ke) TITLE DATE PAGES ‘ SUBJECTS DOCUMENT TYPE CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTIONS CURRENT STATUS , DATE OF LAST REVIEW COMMENTS oe ee JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION FORM “AGENCY INFORMATION CIA .104-10404-10123 JFK RUSS HOLMES WORK FILE DOCUMENT INFORMATION CIA SILVIA TIRADO BOZAN DE DURAN Date: 02/01/05 Released under the John Kennedy Was5assination Records ollection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Nate). ases#: NW 53320 Date: He—-24-2017 - PERSONAL INFORMATION TAKEN FROM HER INTERROGATIONS ON. ‘23 AND 28 NOVEMBER ‘1963 11/01/1963 42 ~~ INTERROGATION DURAN SILVIA JFK ASSASSINATION RELEASED IN PART PUBLIC - RELEASED WITH DELETIONS PAPER _ UNCLASSIFIED 1B 07/12/04 JFK-RHO2 : F043 : 20040323-1063688 (R] - ITEM IS RESTRICTED 104-10404-10123 HW 53320 BDocld:32389422 Page 1
HW 53320 ~ SILVIA TIRADO BOZAN DE DURAN Personal information taken from her interrogations on 23 and 28 November 1963: "Silvia Tirado de DURAN stated she is Mexican by birth, 26 years old, married, no religion, employed, address in Dept. 3, house no. 143 Constituyentes, Mexi- co City; that she has been married to Horacio. DURAN Navarro since 5 November 1958 and that they have a daughter named Patricia three and one-half years old; that in July or August. of 1961, she was offered em- ployment as coordinator at the Mexican-Cuban Institute of Cultural Relations, then headed by Lic. Augustin Cue CANOVAS. That since that time she had frequently visited officers of the Cuban Embassy, having personal friendship with Ambassador PORTUONDO, the cultural attaches Teresa PROENZA and Luis ALVERU as well ‘as. with other employees. Her contacts were principally with Maricarmen OLAVARRI, Secretary to Consul Eusebio. _ AZCUE, a Spaniard and relative of AZCUE, and who re- ceived 500 pesos monthly. "In December 1961 she and her husband made a trip to Havana by plane. They. paid for their own tickets, but all other expenses of their visit to all the is- lands were paid by the Cuban Institute of Freindship with the Peoples (Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos - ICAP) and the Cultural House.. "She sympathized with the Cuban movement “since its beginning; that she was a coordinator of the Mexican- Cuban Institute of Cultural Relations since July or August 1961 and that she studied for the career of an English-Spanish secretary at the Escuela Bancaria. She mastered English, knows some French, and is study- ing philosophy. She has a leftist idedlogy, by con- viction, and is in accord with communism, but does not belong to any political group nor has she participated in meetings or acts of this nature. That. officers of the Cuban Embassy:, including the Consul, have been in her home; that she knows almost all the prancipal lef- tists in Mexico without being a friend of them;. that except for one visit to Brownesville, Texas, she has not been in the United States." [Memorandum for Mr. J. Lee RANKIN, dated 21 February 1964, from Richard HELMS, Deputy Director for Plans; Subject: Translations of Interrogation Reports of Silvia DURAN.] DoclId: 32369422 "She said she knew Carlos LECHUGA Hevia who was .Cuban Ambassador in Mexico and who arrived here when she was working as Coordinator in the Mexican-Cuban Institute of Cultural Relations. She became friendly with this person but she never did any personal work for him. She said that this Ambassador came to her house to visit her on the occasion of a party which s she held. She considers him as a friend and she saw him frequently Loa "She said. that while she was working in the afore- mentioned Institute, and before working as a secretary in the Consulate she went to the Cuban Embassy to help Teresa. PROENZA. The help she rendered there consisted of answering the telephones and doing secondary tasks. Page 2?
. AW 53320 - 2 - The Cultural Attache PROENZA never assigned her any work outside the Embassy. She said that she had know PROENZA before she had been coordinator for the Institute since she was a good friend of Paul FLORES Guerrero, the husband of DURAN's sister-in-law, who died about three and a half years ago. It was through FLORES that DURAN met PROENZA. "She stated that she has had her present ideology for about five years, and that it is based on convic- tion and studies. She said she had not belonged nor does she belong to any student groups. "DURAN indicated she was acquainted with the Leninist Spactacus League (Liga Leninista Espartaco) but that she is not in agreement with it, and that her husband shares her opinion. They admire Jose REVUELTAS as. a writer but not as a politician since they are in disagreement with his book entitled "The Headless Pro- letariat" (Proletariado sin Cabeza) in which he tries to prove the inexistence of the Mexican Communist Party (Partido Communista Mexicano, PCM) while it is obvious that this party does/indeed exist, although it is dis- organized. She said that she had not belonged to this organization but that she is friendly with its leaders such as Jose REVUELTAS and the two LIZALDES. "She disclaimed membership in the PCM, and said she had not tried to joon it because she was in disa- greement with it except for its support of Cuba." {Memorandum for Mr. J. Lee RANKIN, dated 21 February 1964, from Richard HELMS, DeputymDirector for Plans; Subject: Translations of Interrogation Reports of Silvia DURAN. ] At the time of her arrest on 23 November 1963, DURAN had been employed by the Cuban Consulate in Mexico City as a temporary replacement for Maricarmen OLIVARRI upon the latter's death in July 1963. Mari- carmen OLAVARRI had served as secretary to the Cuban Consul Eusebio AZCUE, who left Mexico on 18 November 1963 after having been replaced by Alfredo MIRAVAL Y DIAZ. DURAN's duties included the preparation of visas and the handling of visa applications which were for- warded to the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs for approval. [MEXI-7065 (IN 67737), 25 November 1963; FBI Report, dated 18 May 1964.] Horacio DURAN Navarro - Mexican by birth; an industrial designer, forty years old, and lives in Mexico City at Constituyentes, Dept. 3. He lived the first eight years of his life in Los Angeles, California; he then lived in Chile for one and a half years before returning to Meixco. He received a degree from the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas. Formerly married to Lucille but divorced her on 5 November 1958 after six years of marriage. He then married his present wife Silvia Tirado de DURAN. [DIR 85668, 29 November 1963. ] Docld: 32389422 Page 3
HW 53320 26 November 1962 | : (Date of dissemination) A usually reliable and sensitive source in Mexico City reported that on 26 November 1962 Gladys LECHUGA, wife of Carlos LECHUGA, Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations, formerly Cuban Ambassador to Mexico, said that she had received two letters from her husband in New York. He asked for separation and said that the person in whom he is interested is Silvia T. de DURAN; that she is "of his ideas" and was willing to go to Cuba. According to source, Teresa PROENZA, Cultural Attache at the Cuban Em- bassy in Mexico City said that DURAN had never been a Marxist or a communist. Another usually reliable source with good contacts in the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City reported in November 1962 that LECHUGA and DURAN did have an affair. The Cuban Embassy was aware of it, but efforts were made to keep it from be- coming known. Information from a source whose reliability could not be judged reported that LECHUGA had offered to marry DURAN , a Mexican married woman, after divorcing his wife, since. she (Silvia DURAN) was ready to accompany him to Cuba. [DIR 84950, 25 November 1963; dissemination to the FBI.] DoclId:3238942> Page 4
HW 53320 27 September 1963 : In mid-afternoon, Silvia DURAN informed the Soviet Embassy that a male American citizen had requested a visa to transit Cuba on his way to the Soviet Union. She wan- ted to know who the American had talked with at the Soviet Consulate. Also, she indicated that the Cuban Consulate could grant him the visa and arrange immigration detaiis if the concession 6f a Soviet visa were assured. [Memorandum for Mr. J. Lee RANKIN, dated 31 January 1964, from Richard HELMS, Deputy Director for Plans; Subject: Information Developed by CIA on the Activity of Lee Harvey OSWALD in Mexico City, 28 September - 3 October 1963. ] 27 September 1963 At 1605 hours (Mexico time) on Friday, 27 September 1963, Silvia DURAN, a Mexican national, a local employee of the Cuban Embassy, Consular Section, a receptionist [sic] speaks with an unknown male at the Soviet Embassy. Silvia DURAN tells the man that the American citizen was there, the one who wants a visa for Cuba on his way to the Soviet Union, and he wants to know with whom he was talking there because she (Silvia DURAN) had sent him to the Soviet Em- bassy saying that if they accepted him and gave him a visa, then the Cubans (Embassy) would also give him a visa without further paper work, only advising immigration in Cuba. The American, she says, wants to know with whom he had talked there because he says he was told there would be no problem. The man in the Soviet Embassy says to ‘wait a moment. A different Soviet speaks, and Silvia DURAN explains the same thing to him. This man says to leave a name and telephone number and says he will call. back. Silvia DURAN gives the telephone number 11-28-47 (Cuban Consulate). She also takes advantage of the conversation and stated she has moved and wants to advise the Soviet Embassy of her change of address so that she can receive the Soviet Embassy's bulletin. The man says to call KOUKHARENKO to give her new address, then Docld: 32389422 Page 5
- 4 - he asks the name of the Consul or Cultural Attache. Silvia DURAN says the name is Teresa PROENZA and the telephone num- ber if 14-13-26. The man says thanks. [Memorandum for Deputy Chief, Operations Staff, dated 2 May 1975, from Raymond G. ROCCA; Subject: Review of Agency Holdings Regarding Photograph of Unidentified Individual in Mexico City Published hy the Warren Commission. ] 27 September 1963 : Pursuant to her inquiry, Silvia DURAN received a con- firmation from the Soviet Embassy that the American had been to the USSR installation. He had shown them a letter from the Soviet Consulate in Washington indicating that he had been long awaiting a visa for himself and his wife to go to the USSR. No answer had come from Washington; however, the waiting period was sometimes four or five months. The Ameri- can also had a letter attesting that he was a member of a pro-Cuban organization but he had claimed that the Cubans would not give him a visa unless he had atready received a Russian visa. _ Although the American was still at the Cuban Consulate, Silvia DURAN repeated that she could not give him a transit visa unless a Soviet visa was forthcoming, notwithstanding the American's wish to go to Cuba to wait there for his So- viet visa. According to DURAN, the American knew no one in Cuba and she intended to annotate appropriately the American's card. The Soviet official echoed her statement that the American was not known. [Memorandum for Mr. J. Lee RANKIN, dated 31 January 1964, from Richard HELMS, Deputy Director for Plans; Subject: Information Developed by CIA on the Activity of Lee Harvey OSWALD in Mexico City, 28 September - 3 October 1963.] 27 September 1963 : At 1626 hours (Mexico time) on Friday, 27 September 1963, an unidentified male, a Soviet, calls the Cuban Con- sulate, asks Silvia DURAN if the American had been there. Silvia DURAN says he is there now. The Soviet says the HW 53320 DBocld:32389422 Page 6.