180-10442-10167 | Classi fication: a 257 | (This form is to be used for material extracted from ClA—controlled documents.) ‘VII. Analysis of Lee Harvey Oswald's activities in Mexico ae THIS COPY IS NOT ‘ A. ees | FoR RELEASE. After the Warren Commission tavesticetren published its report two very important allegations related to Lee Harvey Oswald' S-activities in Mexico City ‘nave—come to the attention of the United States. investigative agencies. In 1964, Elena Garro de Paz reported that she had seen Lee Harvey Oswald, accompanied by two other men, at a party \ at the home of . Duran Navarro, the brother-in-law of Silvia Duran.” © See~Geetioriene. ) In 1967, Oscar Con- treras Lartigue reported that he met Lee Harvey Oswald on . . . fotel. the campus of the National Autonomous University cf Mexico. (UNAM) In addition, the testimony of the Warren Commission's » primary witness, related. to Mexico City, Silvia Tirado Duran, 4 deters Horevghis + the fears. fob 2) a has been’ called ‘into question. (See Warren Report—pp_299-. Some of the in -ermativn thet 15 tncansisteat we th vt Hs. Deran's Bri ging! Stetyg == That Oswatd visebed the Coasulete FA “& é a yet mee On pus 666 4 & Pion s whieh were fhe only pines the saw him ox ue at * * Act east Was available at the time of The Werren Commissions ; aie ee 1863 in formetian oN PA QUIrY althevgh FF was vanseed, Sone of the i ed a has developed of Wy De) IIE RHODRI — tm RREUNCRCRUR NNR
Classification: _ — 260 (This form 15 to be used for meteria! extracted from ClA—controlied documents.3 . soul after the publication of the Warren Report. (See Seorians will be dealt with in separate sections below, 11 The Garro and Contreras allegations, in conjunction with the weakening of Ms. Duran's story, raise three major (1) questions: did Lee Harvey Oswald or an imposter visit the. () - Cuban Consulate in Mexico city? other than his visits to the Cuban Consulate,. what were Lee Harvey Oswald's acti- (3) vities in Mexico City?; and, was Lee Harvey oswald travel- ling alone in Mexico? %These ‘three questions SOPmEMT CCE SS é. cee a overlap somewhat in detail; RQ OTR LE ; if Oswald was not caiveling alone, did one of his companions impersonate ane theless : him at the Cuban Consulate? Sach of the three questions “slightly redunde it is bgcause “Othe. questions. J. ane In. ‘an attempt ‘to answer ther Guestions, posed_above the House: select ‘committee ‘on Assassinations has: ‘)inter- oes” : rea viewed Mexican: and. Cuban citizens. who could have Knowledge J of Oswald” ‘s visits | to the cuban consulate; 2) interviebed Gt.- “106 Mexican citizens’ ‘tino could have knowledge of Oswald's ‘acs tivities and assockations - in Mexico City: 3) Conducted an extensive review of the files of the central Intelligence
(This form is to be used for material extracted e from ClA—controlied documents.) er Agency and the Federal Bureau of Tnvestigation » that pertain 126 to Oswald's sojourn in Mexico City. && B. Did Lee Harvey Oswald or an Imposter. Contact the Cuban and Soviet Consulates in Mexico City? Lee Harvey Oswald himself probably visited the Cuban Consulate at least once since his application for a Cuban , pou intransit visa bears his signature.’ (Gi-be—to-Hendwrtting af w ceratysie: Though the Cuban Consulate allowed visa appli-- “cants to take blank applications out of the Consulate to . co. ttle Fhe | be returned when completed, Silvia Duran, was certain that . youd Oswald signed the application in her presence. (#$GA—Enter- : £ Sauer dir —6y6-L 8, i Eee Besument Sole. 31- 38) Oswald's signature on the Cuban visa application, , 5 . however, does not by itself rule out the possibility that someone impersonated Oswald in contacts with the - Cuban and Soviet Embassies. ~An analysis of. the telephone conversations(wnich Qe - ; . . 4 . the CIA's Mexico City Station intercepted by tapping the » Thad “Soviet Consulate and the tele- -phone reveals that someone, later identified as Oswald, visited the Cuban Consulate at least two times and the mo (o72, Soviet Consulate at least thre@s times. { See GSC TOTES aly ‘Classified by derivation: y¥ —
wa, (This. form is to be used for material extracted from ClA—controlled documents.) The, argu- ment between Azcue and the individual probably occured - IsS¥ during this visit. (See Sections V, C, and VI, B, above.) . . . - “a Ms. Duran stated that Oswald's third, and last visit, er in the late afternoon after working hours on the fos 27th /  loeer in tecuicte 6/6 HT SMC DOET FORGE AT, ) This visit is confirmed py (tne CIA' s} tap on the Soviet | ) -  Jofo . . Consulate. (Gee~sbews —r \ 7 1p addition to the alleged Oswald visits to the Con- sulates, there were other telephonic contacts that may 109f have been between Oswald, or an imposter, and the Consulates. f7—~—several details about Oswald's visits to the Cuban Consulate, and telephonic contacts with both Consulates 3 ti dey’ mse 02 wf oar a oth Cty stir? ereiiwet ec that the individual involved wes. not’ Oswald- sifltfe « Duran's description of Oswald did not Te rS resemble Oswald's true physical appearance. tHSCA-inter- rly. report See | etortetette. This” BF agentgnions Hen appeared early “in. the reporting Of. ins [[ coxmacion. obt ained from Ms. Duran. was ‘deleted from. subse- {quent reports: z and_ was not at all mentioned, in the Warren. o ° Report CC see Sections’ V, C, for details. ) Eusebio: Azcue' s description of Oswald was similar to Silvia Duran' S, ‘but
£ {fis form is to be used for material extracted from ClA——controlied documents.) oat more détailed. (Azvcers™edtes ) Perhaps the most remarkable thing about these descriptions is their similarity to Elena Garra Me Paz' description of one of Oswald's alleged ~Loa f/f). companions? ”  rammpeenSetsesaaaeE _yplits~oowetd , visited the Consulate is the 9/28/6 inter- ‘ nan Duran adamantly denies that Oswald visited the Cuban Consulate on Saturday, September 28, 19632" tn light off the c1a intercept or that date, Ms. Duran has either lied to the Committee, or the individual who visited the Consulate on September 18 was not Oswaia. “7* ( ; ' teed p is Y Cone Mse—Berar- wrt the~tinrformatron->}- Ms. Duran, in light of the inconsistencies detailed in Sections V, C and VI, A above, may not be the most credible witness) but there are Andications: that she was truthful when she stated that Os- - wald aid not visit the Consulate on “September (28. The Septenber 28, 1963 conversation was _ linked to Oswald be~ cause of the marginal notations made by the CIA translator pfs on the transcript. ' abaiee. ) The translator noted on the transcript that the | web cusia : lassifiedl by derivation: OT OT aR
Trseet TY Wores the pos bs iby, ber does WoT Conctrle, The Committizc ECO BO SAAT . ; whether th MISS 1A production Lerom ths; Pulse Gamer wd the LELyRic basze has rt Thin +o cdo woth thos possib-lipy +howt Samroms im ereson ated Os woAlA i WMexica. -
a felt, "Sats Gabd bs ets .tion is sufficient to ¢ ° a hone, x ere foe ~ ate re « Pees od som, owe x, ° Wicissiicanaon: (This form is to be used for material extracted from ClA—controlled documents.} flee caller spoke "terrible, hardly recognizable Russian." (Grremtranrscripe. ) On October 1, .1963, a man called the Soviet Consulate and identified himself as “Lee Os- ‘ytel wald." (€bree—txaensestpe.) This man also stated that he : gon had been at the Consulate on Saturday, the 28th. prt) The translator noted that this was the same man who had ‘ _ called the Consulate "a day or so ago" and: had spoken in broken Russian. From this information, and possibly - ud to a voice comparison (see-Seettonm IV;7—8;—abeve) the 9/28 1109 ‘caller was ; identified as Oswald. The problem with assum— sofa ing that the caller on 9/28 and 10/§ was Oswald is that Wek Oswald spoke fluent Russian. | (Cites. ) Granted, Ms. Duran's denial of the Saturday visit ‘and the proficiency of the caller's Russian is not s ificient evidence to conclude that the person who visited the Cuban Consulate on Saturday and who called the Soviet Consulate on Satur- day and on October lst.was an imposter. Yet the informa-~ er enn = question the assumption ON that it was Oswald, especially in light of Azcue's and Duran’ s alleen . descriptions and Blena Garro de Paz' Str we Low. eur Three calls: that also occured early on ‘September = 27, 1963" may have been made by an imposter. At approxi- mately 10: 30 a.m. a man called the Soviet Mili tary Attache | Classification: : Coed by derivation: __ ;
Ciussiticotion: Lal : a ‘This form is to be used for material extracted . be From ClA-—controlied documents.) ; iv looking for a visa to Odessa and was referred to the $So- viet Consuiate.!"At 10:37 a.m. a man called the Soviet Consulate and asked for a visa to odessa!’ “te was told to call back at Ill: 00. nt 1:25 p.m. ama “return the Sew td Embe S84 and was told rhe Consel vould of Coma@arit” between 4:00, and 5:00 p.m. that day. Voste only the callers’ requests for a visa to Russia’ (Odessa) connect these calls to Oswald, the HSCGA believes that they do fit logically into a time sequence ww created by what is known from testimony, and (the electroni¢ -« for eq om pie intercepts Jabout} his actions on that day. (The following is a reasonable possible chronology of Oswald's actions on 9/27/63 based on analysis of the available evidence. Oswald probably arrived in Mexico around 10:00 a.m. on September 27. {Cite-WR.) By 10:30 Oswald had ‘time to arrive at the Hotel del Comercio and to place a call to Wey i the Soviet Military Attache.who referred him to the Consul. fo The military attache also gave the caller directions to oo + Ts < the Consulate.’ Baring the 10:37 a.m. “call to the Con- 4 ; - Souver7 Wg “sulate,the: caller learned that he could. contact. the, Consul ; , gaa - afi sete d ahe | at ii: 00 a. ms This done, Oswald then - went—to~the Cuban, vee oe eae tn s a wh Siviey =, consulate,where he arrived around il: 00 a.m, tHSCA tte rs ». , Classified by derivation:
a We re fa satel ov we ae he. re a < a “Massificatio ; Classiticati a \ 208 (This form is to be used for matericl extracted from ClA—centroiled documents.) | (BubtieTtestimony-of alfredo Mirabet Diaz7 9/18 /787-pr-119, 7 wars TRLA Seftor CRSA Oswald to obtain photographs and to the Russian wit Embassy to get the necessary Russian visa. (HSCA Hitex- v4 , : : - - 5815 - .) Oswald returned to the Cuban Consulate around 1:00 p.m. “2° (bth ps 3) At this point pé had his, encounter with cati) € Azcue. aBd completed ¥his vy. application?” (xbidr) Oswald probaptry realized at this point that he would have preb- Tho baal lems obtaining the visas. After this visit to the Cuban Consulate, which lasted approximately Fifteen minutes (tu3 (Ptibtic—testimony of -Atfredo Mirabal Diaz;—97i6/78,—pr-H9) Oswald tried to contact the Soviet Consul whom Oswald ; claimed had assured him that he would have no problems tos . 24 at : as obtaining a visa. (Gite) Hence, the 1:25 call. Duringe this conversation Oswald learned that the Consul wouid wc be in that evening between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Os- ¥ wald returned to the Cuban Consulate at 4:00 and Jpexsuaded\ 2. | CAE Silvia Duran bo thtercedeswieeh the Soviet Consul on his (| penate. “ifsc tererview ot stiri Suren7 6/6/78 JEK Dos. - £624687—-po-37.) Hence; “the 4: 05, and 4: 26" :[p. m. calls in- _ en ls > eee : 7 -. volving Duran. . But there isa problem with attributing the first three calls on. September 27, 1963 to Oswald. The -conversa-
Ah ee wee be used for material extracted 5€ Py form #6 PO de tesa ClA-—controlied documents.) feo? fot? sions are all in Spanish. With the exception of Delgado ;! ‘ie evidence indicates that Oswald did not speak Spanish. “*° / wee (Gitess) Hence, either the above-detailed calls were not spanish. made by Oswald or Oswald could speak ehglish. There is not enough evidence to*firmly conclude that some one did impersonate Oswald in Mexico. On the ae “other hand, the evidence is of such a nature that the pos- . . _ sibility cannot be dismissed. _ aa ° Oe sn y
x70 C. What were Lee Harvey Oswald's Activities in Mexico City? When the Warren Commission wrote about Lee Harvey Oswald's activities in Mexico City, it concluded: cr -By Saturday, September 28, 1963, Lee 2 Cubaufana i had failed to obtain visas at both the Cuban/and jis, \é i Soviet Embassies. From Sunday, September 2 2 Oa ad through Wednesday morning, October 2, when he as Pr J a | left Mexico City on a bus bound for the United 7 iv Oo States, Oswald spent considerable time making AR | his travel arrangements, sightseeing and checking uy again with the Soviet Embassy to learn whether anything had happened on his visa application. ''3! (HWarren—Commission Report; —pr—3o4. ) Subsequent to the Warren 32 Commission's Report, the allegations Of Elena Garro (See~Seetton ytd? “VWi;-T, abeve:) and Oscar Contreras Lartigue (See-Seetiren-VI, In-——aBbore:) came to the attention of the United States inves- tigative agencies. The main allegation of both these people, that they met Lee Harvey Oswald in Mexico City, remains to this : day without direct corroboration. Yet the Committee feels that withey + Tada Oe them any Consideration iad it cannot dismiss these allegations, The testimony of Silvia Duran and the Cuban Consulate’ Officials Azcue and Mirabal place Oswald's last contact with .. ; u3q > the Cuban Embassy on Friday evening, September 27, 1963. (See—-Section—-Vit;~—B;—abeve.) The transcripts Fron the CIA's ~* wiretaps on the Soviet Consulate place Oswald" s last visits to the Soviet and Cuban Consulates on Saturday morning, Sep- it> ; tember 28, 1963. ’ t ’ ' ' -) Oswald's last telephonic contact with the Soviet Consulate 3% a . . - came on Tuesday, Octé6beér 1, 1963. (¢#bpta™ Oswald's activities he We on the days between September 28 and October 1, are not clearly Uy ae oy. MPS | recorded. The Warren Commission speculated that he spent v4 ran é
27! fal most of this time sightseeing and making travel arra¥ngements. iWarrenReport,—_p.—301..+ It is entirely possible that Oswald : did spend some of his time during this weekend sightseeing and making his travel arrajngements. It is also entirely possible that, after his failure to obtain his visas on Saturday, September 28, that Oswald did not give up completely and did attend a party where he would have come into contact with the Cuban Consular officials and, later, sought helps from pro-Castro students. x It is entirely possible that Ruben Duran had a “twist cus% party" on September 30, or October 1 as Elena Garro has claimed. Ruben, Horacio, Lydia’and Silvia Duran all admitted that they art frequently had twist parties in 1963. recalled Elena Garro attending any of the "twist parties" at AYO the Duran's home. She recalled Elena and Elena's daughter, iy Elinita, attending one twist party at Ruben's home in 1963. t——~) otter acd attended At fhe Durans ,adamantly deng that Cau Oswald had been Cue atwist perty at one ef-therr bones ( 4 eny-party—at—any—of their homes . -) Many of the details of Elena Garro's allegations have ‘not been, or cannot be, corroborated. For example, Elena's allegation that some of the people who had been at the party were taken to Veracruz under the protection of Governor Lopez Arias has not been verified. Ruben Duran denied that he
272 v¥ i .) Eusebio Azcue denied that he had discussed President Kennedy had ever discussed the assassination with Elena Garro. ( with Emilio Carballido at. a party at the Duran's home as ak alleged by: Elena Garro. “{ -) The Committee has not been able to verify whether or not gards were posted out- Z side of Elena's home in 1963 as she claims. ae Ver But other details of Elena's story ™: tole a edi » aammceetitite Perhaps the most striking is the sugges- daxtunnies taint Mle trtrns ey ence, Toa rine et setet elk atar te ey EAA tion that Oswald's relationship with Silvia. Duran was more extensive than just: ‘the business contacts in the. ‘Cuban, te Consulate. Another detail is thé manner in ee allegations were handled, and the manner in which this Committee's attempts to investigate those allegations have qT been frustrated. NESS In 1965 Elena Garro reported that Silvia Duran fA had been Oswald's mistress while he was in Mexico City. In 1967 this report was confirmed bv CIA agent) who talked 7044 to Silvia Duran. The CIA Station did not consider the information significant fnd told the agent to end his i contact with Ms. Duran) (See-Section-Vi;7 a7 27 abeve fexr-deteils.) If that information is accurate then Sulvia an ar inviterng Oswald to a party would not have been meet surprising. Silvia Duran admitted that the Mexican police had questioned her on this point but denied that she had had an affair (il -) with Oswald. / Ms. Duran denied having any extra-marital affairs while She was married to Horacio Duran. ( ). This denial is not consistent with evidence of her reputation
eet SO en mM SEO + fe » 0 St OT OTSA SEIT ONE EEE POET RE EAE RAPT TEE | TB RRR RENS sas" PT AED, The Ca mission undertook an intensive investigation to determine Oswald’. purpose and activities on this journey, with specific reference to r ports that Oswald was an agent of the Cuban or Soviet Gover‘nment As a result of its investigation, the Commission believes that it ha been able to reconstruct and explain most of Oswald’s actions during}: this time. i a ES me ofr ah at Mission 4 ~ “ under} : ‘ Aa k pur Ook ‘ / *¢ poris oe and activiti ntensive in 1 S that Osy 8S On th ation . TI ; Sar ult ld wa an 8 ry. } leter ing le Ce bee a its Iny tioneen’ Cun. Sp c refers Oswal hig ¢ Const. sation an ) €NCe to im t and ex, ommj Viet Gory . €xplaj is: ernme Plain Most of O rangenss that i¢ ‘f wo"S actions g “ urmn | i \ 1 } i i t fe eer cae emnremntteeetietimpt ten «mate