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14-00000 ‘ mes iH | L? damiary 10777 CONTACT REPORT AHO 4 a ; | former staffer 8799 Bay Pointe’ Driva Taapa, Flerida 33415 813-854-8519 SUBJECT: Debriefing on Training and Denolitions Given to Anti- Castro Cuban Exiles PLACE : Holiday Inn (fanpa: Airport ) . Tampa, Florida TINE +: Wt January 1977 0900 - 1445 hours 1. Purpose: To debrief A on questicns posed by tha Department of Justice remarding anti-Castro Cuban axiles., These questions, in general, covered training and explosives/detonation detiess given to these exiles. 2. Meeting: A came to my motel room (503) on Friday morning at 0900 and departed at 1645. During this time, beth of us sat in easy chapis in front of a picture widow on the 5th foor - ir. & did 95% of.the talking. Neither of us got up during this veriod, a strech of abnost 8 hours. A- wwas most intertaining, but enly marginally informative as to specific details on the questions probed to him. Ho spins a good story and remembers people and places very well, by bona fides for the meeting was a call from Ms, Sheila O'Neil to @ ‘ja day before I arrived in Tampa. A isa little ~~ goosy, because of. a DEA connection (below), and checked mp out thru a phone call to the motel by his wife. Incidentally, I used true name with a | , a 3. Results: A  povered the following topice with me: a. Training: On Panama and the facilities used,# the best | could remember, Ft. Shernan was open in about August or September 1960 to train Cubans for about a 2 to 3 month period. There were about 40 to 50 man, mostly ARTIMé followers. When it was decided a bigger group would be needed, which later became Brigade 2506, these people were sent to Retalhuleu (Guatemala) ardxakh in abont November 1960, Actually, the group was split, with some going to Guatemala and others. to.the New.Orleans area. As to other training in Panama, A \has no knowledge. (NOTE: " @® jsurgested that Mr. we A, >, retired staffer currently in the New Orleans area, might be a good source. Ax |was C/Ops for the invasion Task Force, as wo¢l as Deputy for PM and C/Ops for JMWAVE at one time.) S-E~C-R-E-T . r ok . Te CLP et mel fh we 3, A 2
14-00000 Ib. Supplies: As to explosives, Lime delay fuses, remot conprel doviseas, detonation materials, ebe. civen te thase oxi lus, &  |said, “Look over the supply manual for thal time, Apparent by the exiles were given everything that was available and in larie ananb ities. & said he just could not bagin to rive me a list of what had been pass sec. 9 _¢. Infal Toams: After the Bay of Pies invasion, an worked wilh infiltration teams. | Tha Ageney viorked with thosa beans from roughly 1963 to 19%6. They were in two catapories. The first were unilateral teams, training and sponsored by the Agency The other cabarory wa s "political" Coans - that is political rou in souftthern Florida ‘who were sponsoring infiltrations into Cua, The Agency helped this later we catamory by rivine them suppliss. In the case of both, they usually made a caches in Cuba. The unilateral team, as an example, would make a cache on-island, and another group would pick it up and use it (compartnentation), In some cases, teams (both unilateral and volitical) would not actually make the cache and k keep the material in Florida, to be used later at their own convenience, In addition,  ~& ‘was positive that some of Castro's troops obtained some of these caches, due to foul-ups and snitches. These caches containes pistols, rifles and heavier, money and demolitions. Some of the teams cheated by going to the Bahamas and buryinh their stuff on small islands and reporting back to Florida that they had cached in Cuba, A ‘stated several times that there was no effective control over the "political" groups and therefore no control ofer the material riven them, 9 From this, me may surmizge that Agency equipment (demolition included) was in the hands of anti-Castro Cubans in south Florida, as well as Castro's Rebel Army on-island, d. - Brigade. Training:...Further to demolitien. training. to Anti-Castro Cubans, A. reminded me that shortly after the Brirade was ransomed from Cuba, Brigade leaders were taken to Palm Beach and talked with President Kennedy. At that time, the US Govt offered Brigade members the chance to join the U.S. arny. This also included infil team members, who were completely seperate from the Brigade, and members of the Brigade airforce. The Army end of this training was gZiven at Ft. Benning, Georzia and bepan in early 1963. There, Brirade members entered the U.S. Army at roubly equivalent ranks - officers were made 2nd Lts, They received Ranger training, plus. jump training. Thus, A said, if any exiles were training in demo lations and related topics, theta best training was probably pivon at Ft. Benning. Most of these men were in the U.S, Army for oither 6 months or one year. 6. Cubana Bombing: & was specifically asked about the 6 October 1976 bombing he of the Cubana airliner in the Garibbean. 'A i said the street -word among the Cuban community in south Florida | -is that the bomb should have gone off in the plane on the ground. The bombers did not mean to kill ict} of those people. On BOSCH, the community does not particularly like him, but admires him because he had been going at Castro tooth and nail for years. They do not like the idea of terrorism and fault BOSCH and MORALES for this. ro rete ter reenter we
. « ? ft. A had read tha recent arLiclos in thn papers about the introduction of Swine Fever into Cuba bs tho Ac: in 1972. Ho had no Knowledea of this, A didi ack Af eo hacl cheekedl with DIA??? “Ho said vhen he had boon with the Army as a- opecial Forces type, it was unbelieveable what the Army had doye in the wa, of Glo Wachars Cesiniuyg in ine States, te nNentioned ans fe HAVIN 2 Lrainine exercise in RYC, when a fake substance was Anbo- 007 duced into the water of a hotel where Pres, Hisenhower was Stayin, In any event, kyrk & said if Svine Fever had been introduced into Cubs, he wouldn't doubt that the Arny/DIA had some hand in ib,” espocially if the se-called sources claimed it cama out of Ft. CGaliek, f&. Assassinations by the Agency: FR said he had absolutely no knowledgs of assassinations, attempts or plans, by anyone in the Agency during his tour. Not only wera they prohibited by the Agency, hay were counter-productive, Tk was explained to hin during hie Agency tour that! there was a good chance of an assassination back- firing; that we (U.S.) are more vulnurable to assassinations than the Cubans or Soviets, Therefore, as far as he was concerned, were strictly verboton. Editorializinge, Ae (Said ib was too bad that the upper-echolonsdid not believe in this restriction. On ton of that, they approached mafiosa to help them. (NOTE: & (is rather anti-Kennedy, especially Bobby, with whom he was in 4 shoubine . match during a hearing on the Bay of Pigs invasion. ) & . they er : : h. Assassination of Peruyero: Juan Jose Pernyero, a Bay of Pigs veteran and leader of the Brigade 2506, was runned down last week as he left his homa in Miami. A ‘said tho wort on the streal aniong tha than, community is that this was done by the DGl as a warning to the anti-Cubans in Miami. Feruyero had no enemies - he was not into drugs, crimo, politics, etc, By killing him, the Cubans vere warning the community that they could strike anywhere and anyone. Thus, watch out and lay off Cuba and Cuban citizens. If anyone else -had been killed, perhaps the killing could have been blamed en the mafia, drug dealers, politicians, ete. A copy of an aditorial from the Tampa* Tribune of 14 Jan 77 is attached, below, S-E-C-R-E-T Se [ec
74-90000 =O aR oa i. Assassination. of Iettalior: While on assassinations, this case entered S conversation, He has no pers sonal knowleden of whatihapponed. Again, however, ha favo me the “street word," Joe Siawi, the Cuban community is Saying that the same people who did Pa SGGTST Eo sor Perma) bine fet tall Be eae Dat ae | Sante Grifhesnt- arranged for the Lettalier killing - hired and paid the killers. “ For this reason, the Chica Aa) family of the Mafis is furious with Traficante, because he is/or will bring heat on the Mafia. The reason for feet ante doing it??? Fidel Castro hired him and pate him well to do it, The word is that Traficante has been coopenalin with the DGI and Fidel since he daparted Cuba, Fidel wanted Rosselli killed, because of Rosseli's part in the assassination attempt againat Fidel, A emphasized that that this is not his theory, burt word from the Street in Miami. J. CBS Show on Cuba: A said CYS is pl annine a show on the "Lagacy of of ‘the Bay of Pigs,” which should ba broadeast in 4 avont. May 1977. CBS has alroady shot xcanx interviews in Miami, ineluding ono with Peruyero (above) before he was killed, plus vering the aftermath of his assassination. Currently, the CBS crevi js in Cuba - they hops to film the beaches at the Pay of Pirs - which had been suggested to them by A, & ‘has also been interviowed amd has given his opinions for the TY showing. wWhils in Cuba, the CRS crew hopes to also interview Fidel -—‘also at the sucpastion of A: The fellow behind the show is named CRILE ant he has talked to” __ & J extensivoly. Accordins to A | the show would have bosn very anti- Agency in its comments, but he ~ A} has turned this around almost 180 degreesii! As planned, the show will be two hours and shown in May 1977. ‘ - k. Brigade 2506: On the Brigade, -@& ‘said he had been an apolitical organization. Individuals of any political shade had been members and politica had not really entered Brigade Association business, Last year, however, they joined with Orlando BOSCH ,. amonr others, to help form CORU. Now, the Brigade is embarrassed and wished they had never joined CORU. They with-drew shortly after the Cubana bombing in October 76. However, the damage has been done to the Brigade Association, which A  jconsiders a shame. On the CBS film (above), A ‘said he was filmed attending an anniversary meeting, Thikts same meeting was where CBS filmed Peyuyero. 1. A & DEA: “hon A ‘retired from the Arency, he moved to Key Wast. Ho came to the attention of DYA, especially to Lou Conine, an ex-Agency 6fficer now with DEA. & ‘calls Conine an SOB and. worse. He went, into a long explaination of his activitios with DEA in Key West. .In summary, he was a P/A and ran a string of informants, Because of internal DEA politics, he was blown and left dangling on a’string in Key West. He had to leave town within 24° hours and left his people (informants) there without calling or warning then. As a result, he lost friends, prestige with his informants (mariy of them Cuban exiles) and his business in Key West, In peneral terms, he was treated very shabbily by DEA and regrets ever having mixed with them. He is still in contact with one of SE ene Rtn emer a RR BA Bt Ne - Tete tame ton nae SETI UA: Qe SI SSR eo
our ox-afficor o> » Accepting ta A, GB [wilt te relurting ta the Aceney Shortly, 3 fis familiar with the operation in Kay dost, Another ex-Arcency amblovee uas also in- volved in this operabioan, ono Se, The vwadersirned knew Join Fielaay - he was oa conbecack eenloves af abadh @t.% ates Dis\ he amickly rose to GS-lté and was directing the Key “lest operation,  _ “men Lt folded, acconting to AQ, _& was busted to GS-13 an} sent back to “ashineton, where he is now working in DSA's Inspection Diviston (similar to our TG Stat), A ;was also aware of anotnar ox-Agoncy employon, (fm) ro » Who was bo co Lo Mexico tinder DEA "Jeep cover", According. to A i 7 wan Lo be invelyer! in assassination opsrations arainst Mexican dealers am} pushers, Instead, Or ended up in El Paso for about a year and is nox in Miami, The umlersigned personally know o » bub did not know of his spocific assigmnent within DEA. (NOT@: while the abare 2 is a little rambling, this is the way.tho debriefine of A. went ‘all afternoon!) ; - t ‘ ™, fs Marnseript: Thad read ®t s moouseripl, "The Bay of Pigs" before departing Washineton, Lynch explained Chat he had dictated this paper and had a couple of seeretarias type ib out, Jt is only in very rouch form and he wanted to #et his thourhts down on papsr. As he indicates in the paper, ha wanted to get the facts straight. fe feels that since he was there and part of the invasion, he has a unique vkew point of the Bay of Pies and wants bo sea that history reflects his pobition, As indieated earlier, A is rather bitter azainst the New Frontier, the Kennedys anl Camelot, This is reflected in his manuseript, Be claimed that much of his paper had been "stolen" in that he explained the invasion, for instance, to the CBS crew and they were using sonm of his material in the soon to hee he shown prosrram daseribed above. In addition, | & mentioned that he had spoken to tha Agency historian - can't recall his aame ~ on who is also writing a book (classified) on the invasion, As to publication, ib seems to be in the distant fubure, He does not phan to po to a publisher, where he would xex raceive royalty payments of around 5%. Rather, he. plans to publish on his own, probably in Miami, and realize close to 100% profit. It micht cost him kha in the area of $5,000, but he could realize a profit of about, $30,000 depending on sales. n. Misc,: fs falso spoko about personalities within the Arency. He mehtioned Ted Shackley, "Dam*Dum"Dinmer, many people in LAD who had a part in the invasion or JMWAVE. | A. is a member of the retired Agency employees association that Dave Phillips formed, As such, he has appeared several times on Tampa radio and TV shows. To. me, he appears to be an articulate defender of the Agency. 4, Conclusion: For me, this was a most interesting interview, As far as results, the interview indicated to me that we can ret broad-brush overviews from retired Agency employaes, and few details, To answer specific questions from Congeress and/or the Department of Justice, we must continue to dig and come up with documents from 5-H-C-R-[-P Rie eee erin nme ee oe
cS - . * ‘ * a . 4 : * Aconey Ciles., Unfortunsatly: these docunants appear to be most diffienlt to locate and retriave, many of them burled in retires, file holdings. . 5. Recommondations: de should continue to seek information from retired &eency Cmployees, especially when it appears that thoy Rive 6 Seed a weey tabinelbely, dlavoived da vac pauticular evenk or wil beity te which we are interested. This should be a selective procass and used only when we believe tha retiree could contribute to our jimaediate inquiry. The documented facts, howevar, are still neetet to.answer questions posed to us officially by other Govarnmant entities, S-E-~C-R-8-T Sonne PETER STR SR Oe PE NRPS" gant SRE ernie Tes PRG oo