* AGENCY: RECORD NUMBER: RECORD SERIES: AGENCY FILE NUMBER: FROM: SUBJECT: DOCUMENT _ TYPE: ORIGINAL CLASSIFICATION: REVIEW_DATE: ~ STATUS COMMENTS: TO: TITLE: AGENCY INFORMATION Released under the John U . Kennedy FBI Wssassination Records Ollection Act of 1992 124-10004-10023 (44 050 2107 Note). DL ase#: NW 54027 Date: ne—-29-2017 100-10461-SEE COMMENTS DOCUMENT INFORMATION ORIGINATOR: DOS DATE: 00/00/0000 PAGES: 34 - SEE FBI 105-82555-5612 ‘PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT Secret NEW CLASSIFICATION: 09/25/1997 ~ UPDATE DATE: 11/03/2000 Redact RESTRICTIONS: JFK Act 6 (1)(B) 100-10461-9199,9200,9201,9202,9203,9204,9205,9206,9207,9208,9209,9210, INC DOS MEMOS, LIST, AIRGRAMS, CIT LTR HW 54027 DoclId:32114649 Page 1
HW 54027 ” - 1 “eet CIA HAS No OBJECTION To DECLASS EAT 4 3 IN ORMATION a tr l&e 1S ASS F/ED - iba Mil “as MEMORANDUM CBRACKETED silke CeAssiFrEen ten. C1A — Add UPGRADED Te eae 1. While serving as Political Officer.in ‘thé -City from 1964 to 1967 T became quite fri ; right, Elena Garro Paz. An intellégent, ; ource ‘of political gossip: * and personal history on significant Mexican personalities.: She introduced my wife and me to many important people in Mexico. She was also. parti- cularly knowledgeable about agrarian affairs. A biographic report that I prepared on her on May 3, 1966 is attached (Tab A). / I found Her a very,GsefuT-if sometimes biased ‘s i 2. On one occasion, Miss Garro inadvertently mentioned to me that she had been at a party with Lee Harvey Oswald and two American companions when Oswald was in Mexico just before the Kennedy,“assassination,. The party had been at the home of her cousin, Ruben,Duran. ~ The memorandum of that conversation, dated December 10, 1965,is attached ‘(Tab B). I had not read the Warren Report, but I assumed that if Oswald had been to such a party in Mexico, it would have been well known to the Embassy. I also knew Miss Garro to be something of a professional anti-communist who tended to see a communist plot behind any untoward political event. However, the episode about her being escorted into hiding’ at an obscure hotel intrigued me. Accordingly, I decided to report the matter in writing. I gave the memorandum of conversation limited distribution within the Embassy, and did not send any copies to Washington. . + who headed the Epbassy' olitical Research Sectiow#(CIA). Also present was Mr. Nathan Ferris, the Embassy's Legal Attache (FBI). They had noted with interest,my December 10 memorandum of conversation. They pointed out that there had been a great many rumors about Oswald at the time of the assassination and that some could not be verified and others had proved false. They asked me, however, to try and get a more-detailed . replay of Miss Garro's story. Mr. Scott made clear that ° the. responsibility for any further investigations of the Oswald‘ case 00 -/O CES 4. In a memorandum of conversation dated December 25, 196 Tab- -provided a much more. detailed and accur te. restatement.:of.} alleged encounter with Oswald and su equent developments in my original presentation were rected. Miss.Ga date “of the party at her éotisinvS house was” in” éa Fp admitted that she had gone tp”the Embassy to repoft on an earlier occasion. oy, 3. A few days latet I & called to the office of Mr. Winston Scott, DoclId: 37114649 Page 2?
HW 54027 -Durans after the assassination about.a party which Oswald had reportedly attended, but that the transcript. of the interrogation was entirely. unsatisfactory by normal investigatory standards. Furthermore, the party inquired. about was not the one at Ruben Duran's. house, reported by | ~ Elena Garro, but at an entirely different place. ‘This transcript may - well be the source of Mr.*Ferris'.belief. that ‘Elena Garro' s story'l had ‘been -- checked - out and found ‘to be. untrue." 10. It would appear that whereas the FBI has discounted the Elena Garro allegations, the CIA is still considerably disturbed by them. The CIA “may not have pressed for further investigation, however, for a number of- reasons: 1) considering the sensitive overlap and subtle competition between two intelligence. collecting: -agencies, it had to yield to the FBI's clear jurisdiction;."2). there are obvious complications in conducting such an investigation in a foreign country; 3) there is_a close and delicate relationship between the CIA Station Chiepiand the former NiniseN a of Interior -- President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz;fand 4) som@*of the people ‘ appearing in the Elena Garro. scenario: may well be agents of the CIA. Under the circumstances it is. unlikely‘ that. vany further investigation of this matter will ever take, place. unless ait: is.ordered by a high official in ‘Washington, . ae “11. If all the allegations. in. the. attached memoranda were true, they would not, in themselves, prove that there was a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. . However, if they were ever made public, those who have tried to discredit the Warren Report could have a field day in. ' speculating about their implications.. The credibility of the Warren Report. ‘would be damaged all the more if it were learned that these allegations. - were known and never adequately investigated by the competent American authorities. ‘ 12. Reference is made again to.the biographic report (Tab A) on Elena Garro. She is hardly an ordinary or average person. Her strengths and. weaknesses become exaggerated precisely because she is not. It would be easy and convenient to sweep this matter under the rug by claiming that Miss Garro is an unreliable informant since she is emotional, opinionated, and "artistic." I have been affected at times by that . temptation, myself. No American official, however, knows her better than Ido. On the basis of the facts that I have presented, I believe that, on balance, the matter warrants further investigation. — , 13. Finally, the record should show that a representgtive of a major ' American publication has at least sone knowledge of f is story. | DoclId: 37114649 Page 3