Released under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Hote).— DATE: 11-14-2017 JFK Assassination System Date: 6/8/2015 Identification Form Agency Information AGENCY : FBI RECORD NUMBER: — 124-90019-10199 RECORD SERIES: HQ AGENCY FILE NUMBER: = 97-4623-180 | Document Information ORIGINATOR: — FBI FROM: HQ TO: TITLE: _ DATE: 02/26/1968 PAGES: 24 SUBJECTS : ALEXANDER RORKE LAUREANO BATISTA FALLA DOCUMENT TYPE: PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT CLASSIFICATION : — Secret « RESTRICTIONS: — 1B; 1C; 4 CURRENT STATUS: — Redact DATE OF LAST REVIEW: — 05/21/1998 OPENING CRITERIA: = INDEFINITE COMMENTS : v9.1 Docld: 32323557 Page 1 SUMMARY
‘Released under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Hote). DATE: 11+14-27017 ‘ { = SECRET ee (continued) | 9/12/é6l, he met Orestes Meneses Garcia (105-102629) at the home. of Juan A. Mesa, an MDC member.(place not Stated).  Laureano Batista was also in attendance. . 105-102629-3 p.3 . a - ” On 12/14/61, Jesus Rasco Bermudez (134-10747) furnished information concerning a two-faction split which occurred within the MDC, namely, the split of the group headed by Laureano Batista I Falla and that of Jose Fernandez Badue, aka "Lucas." Rasco stated #4je¥ that "Lucas" continued as the MDC "representative" to the Revolutimary . Council at Miami, but that "Lucas" didn't actually represent the MDC. Rasco stated that his brother, Jose Ignacio Rasco, a leader in the ‘Batista group of the MDC, arrived back in Miami about 11/29/61, after having been on a speaking tour in Latin America. t - 134510747 -2 p.1,2 vy ; Florida ( On 3/8/62, MM:724-S advised that Laureano Batista Falla conceived the idea to demonstrate peacefully during the visit of ; President John F. Kennedy in the Miami area, on 3/10/62.) As a result of orders issued by the local law enforcement agencies’ in. the Miami area, all demonstrations during the visit of President Kennedy were ‘called off. On 3/9/62, a group of Cuban exiles, members of the MDC and the 30th of November Revolutionary Movemmt (NRM) (105-92196) agreed to commence a peaceful demonstration in the form of ‘a hunger strike in Bay Front Park, Miami. : a £ ‘ a Carlos Rodrigue Quesada; General Coordinator of the NRM, Miami, advised that his movement participated in this hunger strike which was held during March 10 and 12, 1962. -He stated that the strike was organized and staged by Batista, representing a splinter group of the MDC. He stated that Batista called on Cuban refugees in Miami to join in the strike to protect the lack of, activity on the part of the Cuban Revolutionary Council, Miami, and the failure of the US Government to furnish-the Cuban refugees with means of overthrowing the communist regime in. Cuba. 105792196-29 p-I58,17 a SI to para. 2 105292196-24 encl.p.2 Docld: 32323557 Page 2?
‘Released under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 usc 2107 Hote}. DATE: 11+14-2017 pos . 7 : i eC, , eo ‘ an ‘ £ ‘ " Miami 639-S advised that the MDC, headed by Laureano - Batista Falla, planned to picket Miami International Airport, on 4/14/62, protesting the Cuban Prisoner Exchange (105-99200) . J )U 105=99200-117 p.3 (125287 On 4/22/62, Laureano Batista Falla was among a group of ‘Cuban exiles who met at the home of Valdemar Rivas, Vicé Consul. of Guatemala, in Miami. At this meeting, an attempt -was.made to form a Cuban Government In Exile (105-127552), under the sponsofship of ' President Miguel Ydigoras of Guatemala, . Batista participated i thissmeeting. (CIA) )&) [Desmvers~Chitorrepsceb pot he to — ea EA te f “1055127552-39 p.2,4 (27,327 a 4 On 5/10/62, Mrs. Uldd.Eldred, section secretary, Registration Section, Internal Security Division, Department of Justice; advised that a registration, in accordance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act, had been filed by MDC. A check of this registration by the Bureau revealed this was Registration number 1498, filed on 12/7/61, by the MDC, whose principal office was at 1732 N.W. 7th Street, Miami. The person in charge of this office was Laureano Batista Falla, President of the organization. WFO Source of Information, Maria Amelia Fernandez, advised | that, on 6/17/62, following a series of meetings of anti-Castro Cubans in the Washington, D.C. area, a nonpolitical, unity document was signed by a number of persons as delegates of several anti-Castro Organizations. Among those signing was Rafael Madan, 6506 Payne Street, ~ Falls Church, Va., as a delegate of Democrata Cristtana. On 7/6/62, Fernandez advised that she believed Democrata Cristiana, of which Madan was a delegate, was identical with the MDC, with headquarters in Miami. Fernandez did not know whether Madan was a delegate of — the faction under the leadership of Jose Fernandez Bodue, . which was a member of the Consejo Revdlucionario De Cuba (CRC) (105-107224) or of the faction led by Batista, which was not a member of CRC. “105,107224-48 p.2 (2, -5- eR eee se = STORET | , Docld: 32323557 Page 3
Released under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 19927 (44 USC 2107 Hofey. DATE: _ii- 14-2017 . a . 0 . : Spe om { er CRET: . On 10/10/64, “nrique Abascal, as a representative of the MDC, attended a meeting- of the Democratic Revolutionary Alliance (105- 134875) held in NYC. He remained at the orn) ag until 10:00 p.m., when he. ‘left to meet Laureano Batista Falla. (CIA) G ») en Lever teehTE Aeon 1057134875-4 p.2 U4 In December 1964, Henri Clermont (97- 4922) a Haitian exile leader from NYC,:. arrived in Miami and established a training camp for Haitian exiles in the Florida Everglades. While in the Miami area, Clermont had several meetings with Laureano Batista Falla, an MDC leader. They arrived at a working agreement, but Batista said that he would ,not become involved in a shooting conflict with Haiti. Batista stated that he had a boat on a base in the DR which could pe ue’ to smuggle Haitians in am out of the DR, for Clermont. (&. / Later this training camp was disbanded and, eqn Clermont and his small group of Gy 539-s11G0U NYC. ( ae The. following references in the file captioned "Second National Front of Escambray" (SNFE), contain information concerning . the activities of Laureano Batista during the period 1963 - 1965, in connection with SNFE. Batista, leader of the MDC, was with some of his men in an SNFE camp located in the DR. This camp. was used as a base for operations against. Cuba. The “Sigma X," owned by the MDC, was stationed at the SNFE camp. In 1963, this launch had been used in operations against the Bahamas. REFERENCE SEARCH SLIP PAGE NUMBER 105-112098-251 p.3,4° -586 p.3,4 ~591 encl.p.5 ~612 p.12 “628 encl.p.l ‘The following references in the file captioned "Anti-Fidel Castro Activities," contain: information concerning the activities (continued) _.SECRET a Docld: 32323557 Page 4
SS _Miami, furnished information concerning the Representacion Cubana Latin America" (105-158980), contains information concerning the MDC Florida and Puerto Rico in operations against Cuba. He also planned ' Released under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Hote}. DATE: 11-14-2017 SECRET . On 2/8/65, Henri Clermont, an MDC (105-137631) leader, arrived in Miami. He planned to. stay in Miami for about a week and would try to raise money. He would probably confer with m 639-8) KU Batista Falla concerning problems of mutual interest. (MM 639-S) (hey encl.p.2 On 2/10/65, Laureano Batista Falla, head of the MDC in Del Exilio (RCDE) (105-126039), an anti-Castro organization. ‘Batista Stated that without financial and military aid from the US, i:2¢ the RCDE program could not succeed. ° | 105-426039-24 p.5 (4) On 2/10/65, Laureano Batista Falla, military leader of MDC, advised that he had never heard of Eulalio Estenez, or his so-called organization, Freedom Fighter Commandos (105-119902). 1057119902-7 encl.p.2 (34) This reference, captioned "Christian Democratic Parties, activities of Laureano Batista Falla during the period of February 1965 to May 1966. During this period, Batista was active in Cuba, to make a trip to Venezuela to pick up an undetermined amount of mone During this period he made an offer, as head of the MDC, . ., to join forces with Haitian exiles in. an attempt to, overthrow Haitian ~ dictator Francois Duvalier y ®) Pademtf SAPS CELE Ae fw CTR REALS at «| C) 105-158980-1 p.279, 281,287,288, 2 a 290-292 2 | (52 2 ) 9 | : On 9/14/66 Kemfi125 Syadvised that Victor Antonio Jose Delgado Aguiar's (105-151578 ife was the daughter of Laureano . Falla, who held vast sugar holdings in Cuba prior to the advent (7) * (cohtinued ) | -17- | ! SECREP a) eee ee ees = ae rr Rg Docld: 32323557 Page 5