104-10408-10814 e- . e ‘ od ‘31 July 1975— >< an . 4h ; N = SS zg oOo ™ 2. MEMORANDUM FOR: LA/EICO So | > ¢ . “Mr. William Sturbitts a 2 > SUBJECT _ a, : Oneview of Lee Harvey OSWALD 201 File. ¢ 2 ‘for Freedom of Information Request g g wee _ -REFERE} NCE 3 Request Number 75- “105, 2 June 1975 — = oO ee co eee oo 1, A review of the Lee Harvey OSWALD file (201-289248) o we has been completed by the Mexican Branch in connection with mid reference Freedom of Information request. Most of the _ Pp information contained in the file that pertains to Mexico came from sensiti methods, such as photo surveillance, and mail intercept operations. Although the mail intercept ang Photo surv * Tiance act 3 Eonsidered sensitive. Ae j ac ; erefore, is sensitive; cs ra “2, The. Mexican information reviewed covered ‘th ee -areas: . Serrecbwamee, pee Mearwane go seepeanervey megaman eves see ae. sylvia DURAN Tirado. A Mexican female “employed by the Cuban Embassy in Mexico who provided|cyey] assistance to OSWALD in his attempts to obtain a Cub visa. Information regarding DURAN appears in the Warren — Report, however, it is not attributed to the Agency. The Government. of Mexico (GOM). did arrest and > interrogate DURAN re her connection with OSWALD, and a copy of the | -GOM deposition appears in the Report. The deposition was > ‘turned over. to the Commission. by the GOM via State Department. ‘Since. knowledge of DURAN's. contact with OSWALD originally - _came to both the GOM! s and Agency' s attention Win theo all mention of Agency knowledge or | pourticipatzrom im DURAN's arrest and subsequent interrogation “has been marked for non- release. FOR FLUE a be Photo of ‘unidentified man taken in front of the Soviet Embassy in Wexico. THis photo was taken by “Station WNexico photo Surveillance of the Soviet Embassy “during the month of October 1963, When news cf the sarrest of’ OSWALD as Kennedy's. assassin became known, “the Station. immediately forwarded copies of. the photo _ sto the FBI in the mistaken ssumption that .the photo. ‘was of OSWALD taken while he was in-Mexico that: fall, “It was. later determined > tha t the ‘photo was not of OSWALD cand in faet had been taken after he had departed Mexico. OSWALD was S in Mexico from. 26 September ‘thru 3 October 1963, ) Even though the photo was not of. OSWALD it had been. shown ‘to OSWALD's wile and motiior, with, the background partially _ 20r LS 48 o.. o C3 Co or ae) C2 LJ ox
13-00000 “KARE 6 OF cropped in an efrort to disguise the place where the phdto had been taken. The photo became somewhat of an issue when the Warren Commission decided it belonged . in the Report as part of the exhibits since it had been shown to the OSWALDs. The Agency finally allowed the picture to appear in the report with the background completely blocked out and with the agreement that no mention would be made about where it had been taken. oe As far as can be determined, the Agency has never admitted publicly that the photo was taken in Mexico, even though there has been a great deal of speculation) to that effect by several authors and journalists. As at -a matter of fact, one of the lawyers who worked with the Commission later leaked information to an author regarding the photo, but erroneously. said it had been taken in-: ‘front of the Cuban Embassy in Mexico by CIA. Still, the Agency has not revealed the actual location, only saying it was taken somewhere outside the U.S, All mention of the photo has therefore been marked to be withheld, because of. sensitive sources and methods involved. ; ; - , ‘Gilberto. ALVARADO ‘Ugarte. ~ ALVARADO, ed Nicaraguan “citizen, walked in to the U.S. Embassy in oo Mexico, claiming’ to have ‘knowledge re Kennedy's assasination. It was learned that ALVARADO was an agent for the Nicaraguan Intelligence Service (NIS), however his story re the assassination was separate from his work for the NIS.° After. lengthy interrogation, including.a polygraph, it. was — determined that ALVARADO. had been fabricating a story claiming -he. had seen OSWALD receive money from a Cuban official at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico. The ALVARADO story: appears in the Warren Report..but it does not reveal his identity... In order to continue to protect ALVARADO and the Nicaraguan ‘government from possible embarrassment all. mention: of. ALVARADO has been marked for Bon- release. ea. A. ‘list | and copies. ‘of douments from the OSWALD file shave ‘been forwarded to your office for review by other LA branches and possibly other- Divisions. The documents are.-marked according to which volume they belong in. the 201 file. (there. are. 57 volumes plus fnany)buiky atachments.) 3.) During the review, at was necessary several times to refer to the Warren Report and the exhibits to ascertain exactly what was already known about the Mexican aspect of the case, It is doubtful that the other branches will find this necessary, but in case they do, the Warren Report is held an the Library. & Jack: Mathews / C/LA/Mexico |