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\ re * DRAB? Cuban-American In Book V of the final report of the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations on the performance of the intelligence agencies in the investigation of the assassination, the FBI and CIA are criticized for their apparent failure to fully pursue leads surrounding the — assassination of President Kennedy and then to fully report to the Warren Commission the results of the investigations they did undertake. One such lead concerned the travel from Texas to Mexico City of ap-unidentiffed Cuban- Amexican on November 23, 1963, and then his flight to Havana on November 27. 1/ The lead was made more "interesting" by the fact that the Cuban-american reportedly attended a meeting of the Tampa chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee on November 17, 1963. 2/ The House Select Committee on Assassinations examined the documents connected to that lead to determine: . (a) whether the facts which were known by the FBI and CIA about that individual warranted © further investigation | and what investigation was’ undertaken;, (b) whether any of that, information was reported to the Warren - Commission; and (c). whether the. known. facts suggest. any. involvement in the assassination of president Kennedy.
on this lead amplifies 1 Cuban-American...page 2 e FBI and CIA information which was in the A chronology of the activities possessi the two agencies. CIA Investigation The first information on the travel of the Cuban- American appeared err, December 1963. At that time the Mexico Station of the CIA sent a classified. message {dentified as{ LITEMPO/4) had requested of the Mexico (Cit Chief of Station at 1300 hours to CIA headquarters that a source on that date ' ‘urgent traces on U.S. citizen -Gilberto P. Lopez.” 3/ The source said Lopez arrived in Mexico on November 23 en route to Havana and that Lopez had disappeared with no record of his txip to Havana. According to the nessage, Lopez had a tourist card, carrying number 24553, which he obtained in Tampa on November 20, 1963 and his passport number was 310162. | The message stated that Lopez left. Mexico for Havana, on November 27. via “Cubana (Airlines). _ The classified message ‘listed the cryptonym(LterRe Jas cheeeipan source of information’ on | Lopez" s travel. rt indicated the Mexico ie Station had no- ‘traces on: hin: 4/ ue lebe In another classified message (dated December 3, va the Mexico nee giant to CIA headquarters, the station reported also that the FBI office in Mexico City had been advised by Mexican authorities that Lopez entered Mexico on November 27 at Nuevo Laredo. 5/
i Cuban- American...page 3 | get rhs next Sdy — In another piassities message Gated December 4, 190 to the Mexico EF station from CIA headquarters, the Agency reported that the State Department check on ‘Lopez. had produced noth: “yet because of the difficulty-in tracing records using only a name and passport number. 6/ The message contained this paragraph: We assume you have not ster Yves] that Lopez flew to Cuba on 27 TEHEDY because you do not want to blow the LIFIRE Joperation. This problem is up to you. 7/ The (LIFIRE) operation referred to in the classified pated ; i ae ob trhnvit Foo Hexican officials also: had their own program to “photograph the sf passports of ‘the passen ers arriving from Havana. _8/ ; ee On December 5, 1963 ‘the Mexico. City | Station reported z OLFI GP ot that 7 a had stated that Gilberto Lopez had | . = crossed the Mexican border at Laredo, Texas on November 23, - i 1963 and registered in the Roosevelt Hotel y Mexico City on Ae Tee Nisyp Sowt oR November 25 at 1600 hours in Room 203. 9/ ¢- lso reported that Lopez departed on a Cubana flight on
Cuban-American...page 4 ~~ November 27 for Havana. That classified message stated SAR Stu on oe additionally that GITEMPO/D had, oe “Good photograph of Lopez. 10/ . The photograph of Lopez contained in his CIA 201 file has "27 November 1963" stamped on the back. In the photograph Lopez is shown wearing dark glasses and the background in the photograoh is dark and jndistinguishable. - . Fix, foMgveins g Sr oor In a dispatch G@ated"Decémber-5, 1963}from the Chief of Station in Mexico KE to headquarters, copies of the "photograph of nope2 were attached, and the dispatch stated oo {1963 at the Mexico City airport y Mexican a thorities as % spare eet emer Sra eter a a atoes, oo estar orem the previously reported information of the numbers of Lopez's passport and tourist card and his entry | into | and departure ‘from Mexico. The dispatch contained the additional information that Lopez was (isted 4s) the only passenger on. Cubana. flight #465 on November 21, 1963 to Havana; the Flight contained a’ crew of. nine Cubans. “rt said he used a U.S. passport and a “Cuban ‘courtesy visa. “12/ the dispatch > = had the following message: "Source states’ the timing and , circumstances surrounding subject's travel through Mexico and . departure for Havana are suspicious." 13/ The dispatch Said also that the source "urgently" requested all available data on the individual.
Cuban-American...page 5 Also on OSSRSBSE 5, T9634 CIA headquarters cabled the Mexico (City /Station and identified this Cuban-American as Gilberto Policarpo Lopez, who was born on January 26, 1940. 14/ - It stated also that Lopez was not identical with a Gilberto | Lopez who had been identified as active in pro- Castro groups in Los Angeles. i5/ zy Aaoorshes essed (Op March A9,) 1964, [sen a classified message (Eo headquarters Eo estquates> ter that enrique Ruiz Montalvo, a Ga. agent of the. Mexican Federal Judicial Police] had) stehecl informed the Choehat one of( Ruiz" 5 pontacts reported | | in late February, 1964, that an American citizen named Gilberto Lopes was _involved in the Kennedy assassination. 16/ The message saigfeuiz' s)contact reported that Loves entered Mexico on foot from Laredo, Texas about 1200 hours on November 13 carrying UL: passport #319962, which was issued July 13, 1960. 17/ According to the dispatch, the contact related also that Lopes proceeded by bus to Mexico City "where he entered Cuban embassy"; it said that | he left the Cuban Embassy on November 27 and was ‘the only | passenger for Cuba on Elight #465. 18/ £ said the ‘contact ‘reported that Lopes was issued Mexican ‘travel form B, #24553, Nuevo ‘Laredo. 19/- According to the a that he could not verify the contact's information, | but thought it might be of interest to the United States government. 20/
Cuban-American...page 6 The cable stated also that backround information 0 a pete | contact, with] [Ruizywas concerning the| [2 Area tT Fay contained in a. aoispatch ‘dated March 18 which was “being pouched to headquarters, 21/ | a Thu. wOXT AA 5 . On March ye, the Deputy Chief of the Mexico City Station . cabled a classified message to headquarters in which it was stated that the information contained in the earlier dispatch which discussed (& [rseuccey — ‘ . station. by Grimm F early December 1963." 22/ "4ibes fully with that provided’ A 201 file was. opened on Gilberto Policarpo Lopez by “Agency headquarters on December 16, 1963. 23/ At that time his records indicated that no earlier 201 file had existed. The file contains a “Review of 201 file on U.S. Citizen” by q } an operations officer for the LAM/FI component of the Agency. 24/ In that. review the file was classified as a "counterintelligence case (i.e. , involving a foreign intelli- gence or security service). " 25/ The date of entry of. that ow category in Agency records is indicated as January 22, ass) in o. Lopez! s file. 26/ ann sae on ae | FBI tnvestigation In a report dated August 26, 1964, the FBI documented the results of its investigation on Gilberto Policarpo Lopez
Cuban-American...pade 7 which had been carried out in Key West, Florida. The report ‘Stated that Lopez's counsin, Guillermo Serpa Rodriguez, told the | FBI that Lopez came to the United Stated for the first time some - time after Castro first came to power. 27/ He stayed approximately one year and then returned to Cuba. 28/ Rodriguez stated that Lopez returned to Cuba because he was homesick and missed his family; he had parents and four brothers who still resided in Cuba. 29/ | | . Rodriguez stated also that Lopez's brother Selito was a member of the Cuban militia at that time. 30/ Another brother, Raimundo Policarpo Lopez, had reportedly been , sent to the Soviet Union to study by the Cuban government, according to Rodriguez. 31/ | Rodriguez told the FBI that Lopez returned to the United States in 1960 or 1961 because he was afraid he would be’ drafted into the Cuban militia if he remained in Cuba. 32/ _ The FBI learned that Lopez married an American woman in Key West in 1 August, 1962. 33/ According to Lopez' ‘s wife, he worked for a time with the Pepsi Cola co."in 1962 and at the Molina. . and Murgia Bakery in Key West, which was owned ‘by cousins. 34/ aa She said that he also worked for a construction ‘company in Tampa in. June, 1963. 35/
Cuban~American..-page 8 rh Lopez's wife told the FBI that Lopez began suffering from recurrent attacks of epilepsy and had to be confined at Jackson State Hospital in-Key-West in early 1963. 36/ She stated that he was treated by doctors from Coral Gables and Key West for the epilepsy. 37/ She stated that she did not believe he had a history of epilepsy before coming to the United States. 38/ She believed his convulsions were brought on by nervous tension and worry over his family in Cuba and may have been a reason for his return to Cuba in 1963. 39/ | The wife said that in approximately November, 1963, she received a letter from Lopez saying. he had returned to. Cuba. 40/ The wife stated that she was surprised he had returned. but that he had mentioned he was going back to Cuba when he ‘left for Tampa in November, 1963. 41/ The wife gave her opinion that he returned because of his close relationship with his parents. 42/ The wife stated that she received another letter. _ from him later from Cuba. 43/ According to the letter, he was “working as an elevator operator in ‘Havana. 44/ In that letter Lopez. “said he had received some “kind of financial assistance _ for the trip from an. organization in Tampa. 45/ ‘According to the | wife, Lopez did not have ‘sufficient personal funds.to pay the expenses to Mexico and ‘cuba. 46/ She said that he had never had -- contact with Cuban refugee organizations to her knowledge. 47/
Cuban-American...page 9 Rodriguez told the FBI that Lopez left Key West in late 1963 to go to Tampa with the hope of being able to return to Cuba. 48/- Rodriguez said he believed Lopez wanted to return to Cuba because he was afraid of being drafted into the U.S. military. 49/ Rodriguez said Lopez was not involved in any Pro- Castro activity while living in Key West, but that Lopez was "definitely" pro-Castro. 50/ Rodriguez recounted that in one instance he and ‘Lopez actually had a. fist- fight over Lopez’ S pro- Castro sympathies. Pal | | 7 In a report in March 1964, the FRI reported that Lopez | had attended a meeting of the Tampa Pair Play for Cuba Committee - on November 20, 198. 52/ The report also stated that at a 7 meeting of the group on November 17, 1963, Lopez stated that he had been refused travel back to Cuba. He said at that time | _ that he was waiting for a phone call from Cuba to get word on his departure to Cuba. 53/ | According to that report — in March, (1964, a nember of the | Tampa FPCC stated that she called a friend in Cuba on ‘December 3, 1963 and. was told that Lopez had arrived safely. 54/. ‘The ‘member. had attempted to locate, Lopez in Cuba through friends there re mecaute Lopez had ‘hot delivered gifts to persons in Cuba from peo; ' “in Florida as he had promised to do. 55/- The “member stated also that the Tampa chapter of the FPCC had given Lopez approximately $190 for the return trip to Cuba. 56/ The member said that Lopez had gone to Cuba by way of Mexico because he did not have a passport. 57/
“ Cuban-American...page 10 The March 1964 FBI report listed Lopez's passport as #310162, which had been issued in January, 1960, and his Mexican tourist card as "M8-24553, issued November 20, 1963. in Tampa. 58/ It stated that Lopez entered Mexico by private auto at Nuevo Laredo on November 23, 1963 and departed for Havana on November 27 as the only passenger on a Cubana flight, carrying a Cuban courtesy visa. 59/ According to the FBI file, Lopez's mother, Esperanza - Rodriguez, was born in Key West, Florida. 60/ The file | listed three cousins and four uncles who resided and worked in ‘the Key West area with their families. 61/— | | . Lopez's FBI file contains a memo from the Tampa office dated October 26, 1964 which states: - It is felt that information developed regarding the subject is not sufficient to merit consideration for the Security Index. 62/ . The only information transmitted by the FBI to the Warren ‘Commission on Lopez concerned a check. at the ‘Passport Office. 63/, The information the ‘Bureau did send to. the Commission a bout the ‘Tampa | chapter of the FPCC, aia not ‘include any, “information on Lopez’ Ss activities. 64/ ‘The CIA apparently. did not provide / any information on ‘Lopez ‘to the Warren Commission. As pointed oe out in the Senate report, this omission is made more egregious
Cuban- American...page 11 by the fact that sources had reported within a few days of Lopez's departure for Havana and of the assassination that the circumstances surrounding his travel seemed "suspicious" and that in March, 1964, while the Warren Commission was well underway into its work into the investigation of the : assassination, Lopez had reportedly been involved in the Kennedy assassination. ; nd ConA Tas Riesceleipoar In the 1977 \ropent-of the -Encpeotos-Conenal ofthe: “Stas the Agency attempted to refute several “inaccuracies” in the Senate report regarding the reporting on Lopez's travel. That is apparently the only follow-up by the Agency on the lead after the Senate report appeared. dp the first phase, The Solved Fig Coes corrected the statement in the Senate report that sources reported that Lopez appeared "suspicious" when he was. : _TFR a surveilled in Mexico. 65/ The I6-sepext explained that the internal CIA document of, December 1963 which characterized . ‘the man as suspicious was merely ' ‘cryptic and impressionistic rather - ‘than constituting a tangible basis for. dramatic | activity or final conclusions." 86/ - - O° Ee De The report. stated sdaitionally that the March: rs ee eacamaemnnees aman... (1964 cable[_____ which recounted the | Loe d rn nace Sa. ont ae oe information on Lopez from the cor contact of & Mexican 1 police, and claimed Lopez was involved in the assassination was Duy
Cusan= American...page 12 incorrect on several points: Lopez's name was misspelled "Lopes"; it stated that Lopez entered Mexico on foot when the CIA repeated the FBI's conclusion that he had traveled by auto; it gave incorrect digits in Lopez's passport number; it stated that the Mexican tourist visa was issued in Nuevo Laredo and not Tampa; and it reported that he ‘stayed at the Cuban Embassy. 67/ Based on these inaccuracies, RR, the 1 concluded that "the source patently was extensively misinformed. ” 68/ Based on that observation, TERK PACA, the 1 completely discounted the,cable by the_ Deputy Chief of Station in Mexico CZ March 20, a ae 1964) that th Giexican’ boric) source information "jibed" ae i with what had earlier been reported by the CIA's source. 69/ _Presumably the discrepancies pointed out by the EK x 1 are meant to explain the fact chat. the CIA did not take more aggressive investigative steps to ascertain whether there might. have been some connection between Lopez and the assassination. In that regard, the I a - 1977 -Enepecton Generel, ‘report explains that the Agency on had no other ‘means of investigating Lopez at his disposal and had carried ‘the lead” as far. as it was able by 7 a questioning a “cuban defector about Lopez. While the fact . os of the CIA's lack of access to further information about
‘; Cuban-American...page 13 Lopez may well be the case, that fact does not explain either the failure of the CIA to take.more seriously the suspicions of the sources, or most importantly, to report whatever information it had to me Warren Commission. In that TTFR regard, the attempts of the Enspeetor—Generar to denigrate the value of. the information provided on Lopez do not expla SI Ate | Abbas the apparent negligence of the agency 2 seriously pursu€s the information as it was received. The Agency is not to be faulted for the strength of its intelligence gathering, but rather for the judgment which kept that intelligence from the governmental body, the Warren Commission, which was mandated to. pass on the strength of exactly that ‘kind of information. oe From the information collected by the FBI, there Pils 662. appear to he wetl-exebetred reasons both for Lopez's desire to return to Cuba and his solicitation of the help of a local FPCC chapter for, that travel. His contacts in Florida appear on their face to ‘be innocent and-ronpotttiess and not in any way connected with the assassination. Despite the suggestion by the ‘Senate report of suspicion in the fact that Oswald "may" have been ‘in touch with that same FPCC Hm fSC4 honed i a chapter, ,no evidence appeans to suggest. that Oswald was actually in touch with the Tampa FPCC, or that Lopez was connected in any way with Oswald or Dallas.
" Cuban-American...page 14 pespite what is now known about Lopez, the Warren Commission may well have wanted to lay to rest suspicions which would remain about Lopez, and satisfy itself that these circumstances in no way indicate foreign involvement in the assassination. The CIA has contributed to those suspicions by not airing the matter and explaining circumstances which could shed light on otherwise sinister appearing events. | | The Committee has documented instances where the CIA decided to forego passing information to. the Warren Commission - out of a desire to not lay bare extremely sensitive sources and methods of intelligence. the (LtFrrE operation certainly falls within that category and as soon as the CIA began receiving information that(LIFIRE was the source of the information aboat Lopez's travel, the cables and messages reflected the desire to not reveal that method. '. It also seems plausible that the FBI likewise chose not to divulge what it had. learned about Lopez because in doing “go, it would have had ‘to reveal the ‘sensitive CIA operation which generated the initial information on Lopez’ s travel to Cuba - on November 27.
The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies, Book V, Select Comm. to Study Governmental Operations, 4/23/76, p.61, Senate Report No. 94-755. Id. Classified CIA Id. Classified CIA Classified CIA Id. Classified CIA Id. Classified CIA na. . . Id. Classified CIA Id. Classified CIA Id. | Id. Ida. Id. “Id. Document Mexi IN 72615, 3 Dec. 1963. Document Mexi IN.72829, 3 Dec. 1963. Document Document Mexi 7253, , 4 Dec. 1963. IN 74227, 12/5/63. Document | }22579, 12/5/63. Document Document(___ho829, , 5 Dec. 1963. IN 43194, 19 Mar. 1964. Classified CIA Document Mexi 8740, IN 43940, 20 Mar. 1964.
PVyatae Cort me-Amorican Footnotes...pagqe 2 Classified CIA Document, Personality Pile Action Request, 16 December 1963, #201-741600. Classified CIA Document. Id. ‘Id. FBI Report, 8/26/64, Serial 105-126109-12, p. Ibid. at 7 Ibid.-at Ibid. at Ibid. at Ibid. at Thid. at
. h Cuban-Amorican footnotes...page 3 a _ 50/ 51/ wi a ™ wi “J ~ ul co ™~s un te ™~ oO Q ™ fon) a ™ oO nN ™~ | or es ™ Ibid. at According to Lopez's FBI file, he registered with the Selective Service at Key West on July 29, 1960 and was classified 4-F on February 23, 1962 due toa language barrier. FBI Report, 3/31/64, Serial 105-1261909-9. Ibid. at Tbid. FBI Report, 10/26/64, Serial 105-126109-13. Senate Report, The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Book V, p.63. Id. See Senate Report, (P. 104. / TASK force CIA Classified ‘Document, 1977 Sespestor—cenezek*s Report, Tab B, p.16. Id. - Ia. Ibid. at 17.