- OF TRAL POM NO. Le MAY be ATION a we ” Lira . "CIA HAS MO ORYECTION T ; -" CUNYTED STATES os wate GONE IER, [ ry eaves yg iye BEA! ASCII A TIA 7. . i Z “in vv wee Sew ws 25:6 bey ey Pa SD $ A ASIOHOR, | :A EORIMATION a LENT. mB elle © TO : Directc:, ‘FRI (109-12-210) APR hi \ FROM”; } SAC, Mia.i (105 °'7)(P) yey 7 i a ? o S753 DS 2224 Bas } CONTAINED 9 3 2? 5 foe ' SL = = SUBJECT: * FOREIGN POLITICAL MATTERS - CU 258 ws (owe cu “Transmitted herewith are 9 copies of LIM S223 Wy . dated and captioned as above. Z52p2 ¥ aX 6 PE2OneS 2s | REVIEWED BY FBI/JFK TASK FORCEZ 25 ¢ Mi T-l is voce. on’ 2/23/94 Wass 7 ; LEASE IN PART”. Save M4 T-3 is TSF =O TOTAL DENIAL Sse5 EDWIN L, SWRET that he was Zi = Humbolc: #7 at the time "REY S 4 tems & NaC vest the young revolutionaries, % +> PO Cland that all of them were armed and were firing on the a @ x x] Pottee wnen they were killed. - i\ ; ts * This information and memo are submitted to 23 3 | the Bureau at this time because in addition to cox- S. . & <'c  Stant broadcasts from Cuba and news renerts appearing in & 23 = the Cubea newspapers coming out of Cube. cae local Kiami S Bos. papezs are offering numerous possible ovjectives of the DS S220 trial and the matter of the trial is a main diet of con- , © 7, exvsacion in the Cuban exile.colony in Kilami. It is Seale Ce P ing L—t hy 4 & Sy fele that am analaysis at this time of the /ossible Sep B gj Outcome of the trial, as viewed by three Cuban experts = ws & Bs Cathe matter, may be of interest to the Bureau and to Ss = other branches of the United States governmene. ~~ oyRe ° . e * a Sy) ye? Copjes are disseminated locally due to the ‘yi vid imterest of INS and CIA. ; VLG fo iy \ oe aE ER, SC Cs Pe OT ~ a Wo SE" ME a e Bureau (Encls’.” 9) (722) X iS —— (1100-13077) WY SS REAR N on CONFIDENTIAL Classified by PSemG/ace HW 54653 DoclIda:32202130 Page 2? pthvbig dargh . Dectassisy on MADRE) os, by] 5 a TE:
~ UNIX _D STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE - : FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION In Reply, Please Refer to 7 Miami, Florida Rie No 19521747 . Ak boy RE: FOREIGN POLITICAL MATTERS © CUBA (Humboldt #7 Incident) Present Publicity Radio broadcasts emanating from Havana, Cuba, heard clearly in Miami, Florida, and Cuban newspapers "Revolucion" - ..and "Hoy", both under the direction and control of the Cuban . Government, have been devoting lengthy newscasts and news | Feports to a trial presently being conducted in Havana, Cuba, 7 The trial involves the events leading up to the Ly police action at Calle Humboldt #7, Hawana,.on April 20, | se 4 2 1957, which resulted in the deaths of Fructuoso Rodriguez, :: Joe Westbrook, Juan Pedro. Carbo Servia, and Jose Machado --~ - Rodriguez, during which period Fulgencio Batista was President .9£- Cuba. ? 5 All Cuban newspapers in Cuba, since Fidel Castro's @ advent to power on January 1, 1959, refer to this matter as - « . the “assassination of the students" by gunmen in the employ ~ ...0£Esteban Ventura Novo, then Chief of POlice. There are | —. . -killed were wild radicals, all armed, who refused to surrender ir. ...\te the police upon demand. There were, and continue to be, ‘Many. charges and counter-charges regarding the identity of che ‘ . -+s-. i:dnformant ors informants who told the police, that the students “+: "tcf Were Riding at Humboldt #7. amy, wo Castro's Interest is Not Justice — ee - Knowledgeable Cubans, identified below, declare that Fidel Castro has no interest in justice, or in the merits of the case at all; that as a matter of fact, the four student -y » &Y » request aE teantg hs This document is prepared in ‘respamse 10 Your er ee Pal seonmectons by . apansiter I's sy 2s > a. ZL 80 Pet SO i- nation outside your C% me rw rage be Pisciosed io UnawhpOrizeggTR your Commi! @ nel without the express ayprovel of th ane : LAW a HW 54653 DoclId:32202130 Page 3
. @ Re: Foreign Political Matters - Cuba revolutionaries killed were not in favor of Castro as a leader and he either held them in very low estimate or actually regarded them as rivals for favor and publicity. — It appears further, according to these sources, undoubtedly to be true that Castro loaths and despises Major ~ a+, 1 RolandoNubela, the first leader of the Federacion de Estud- U* dantes Universitarios (Federation of University Students - _ FEU) and Faure-Chomon, Castro's former Ambassador to Russia, | now Minister of Communications; however, Castro now allegedly sees a chance to use Chomon to direct attention to himself, grow still stronger in the ranks of the Communist Party (CP), and uphold his popularity with his Cuban supporters’. to Stage Setting for Retrial of Informant oy Y c£) ATU futicg, QE nite a copy of the newspaper "Hoy” for Maret “ . 4904. Page one arinounces that the death penalty was given ©. — to Marcos Rodriguez Alfonso for informing on his comrades on April 20, 1957. He allegedly confessed he had notified .... "Batistan" Esteban Ventura Novo that the revolutionaries were meeting at Humboldt #7, and in the ensuing raid the above four young revolutionaries were killed. One of the most important witnesses for the prose- cution wes-Faure Chomon, who told the court about the low f - Woral character of the defendant and agreed with other wit- - -‘..Messeg that the defendant had long been suspected of being the informer. a ee . Radio Progreso in its newscast of March 21, 1964, quoted a letter from Prime Minister Fidel Castro to Blas Roca, one of the "old guard" leaders of the CP, and presently r~ Ae . . wud * 1976 HW 54653 DoclId:32202130 Page 4
© Re: . Foreign Political Matters - cuba | Director of "Hoy", which bas long been the official orgen of the Cuban CP. In this letter Castro pointed out there is .8ome confusion concerning the trial of Marcos Rodriguez, and ..some “intriguers" who are trying to make capital of it. He stated some people are "so brazen as to insinuate that the +. Yevolution is afraid to make the whole trial public.” He -said the statement of Comrade Faure Chomon at. the trial did not appear in its entirety, but only sketchy parts of it, - and this has delighted certain elements. who do not have the - slightest concern for truth themselves, elements described “f by Castro aa not being "honest revolutionaries". Castro concluded the letter by instructing Blas -Raca to publish Faure Chomon's whole teatimony, and declared «he was ordering the trial to be reopened. and to be made . public. m a, a Radio Rebelde at 1:00 P.M. on the same date, March 21, 1964, gave a detailed summary of Faure Chomon's testimony © _. at the trial. Chomon pointed out that: Rodriguez had long been a suspect, that he had large sums of money,and had paid for his own trip to Brazil and Costa Rica. Chomwon noted that - -that.Marcos Rodriguez had succeeded in getting a scholarship _ to go to Prague, where he was arrested and returned to Cuba / a8 a-possible agent of CIA, and it was after this that Marcos . Rodriguez confessed his guilt. . oo - t y Chomon read a letter which the defendant sent to Joaquin/Qrdoqui, in which he explained that his mission was - op “k to do intelligence work for the Revolutionary Directory. dn Ordoqui also long-has been an "old guard" member -- .and leader of the CP. He is supposedly in charge of the ni © | | . : . 4 . . HW 54653 DoclId:32202130 Page 5