Emilio Echarte Pedroso When ECHARTE and YURI arrived in Los Angeles shortly before Christmas, they found that ECHARTE's wife and child had already arrived by air. They all spent Christmas day, December 25, 1967, in an unrecalled hotel in the Los Angeles area. A total of about four days were spent in Los Angeles, and shortly after Christmas, they all departed in ECHARTE's car for Mexico City. ECHARTE insists he made no intelligence contact with anyone in California, and that the entire stay there was spent shopping and having fun, . ECHARTE said he traveled to Mexico City by Mexico Route #1 and pased through Tijuana and Mexicali. He asserted that he and ge his wife used their own. truetndmestion in crossing the border, and “ thagt he did not, at that. time, have the identification papers of LUIS ARRERO. He and his wife claimed birth in Puerto Rico. In Mexico City, ECHARTE and his companions registered at the Maria Isabel Hotel, and shortly after arrival, ECHARTE, using his code name, "POCHO", telephonically contacted "MICKEY" to let: him know he had arrived in Mexico City. ECHARTE recalls that he . and his companions spent New Year's Eve, December 31, 1967, at the Maria Isabel Hotel. ECHARTE conferred with "MICKEY" on about: three occasions at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City, and met him once or twice on the street at the Maria Isabel Hotel. YURI happened to appear one time when ECHARTE was talking with "MICKEY" on the street at the hotel, and ECHARTE introduced them to each other simply aS Abed "MICKEY" and "EDDIE". ae tae ECHARTE identified a photograph of LENRI QUENCICAR } aRavats > as being identical with "MICKEY", and stated fie ié believes "MICKEY" had the rank of Lieutenant in Cuban G- 2.,ECHARTE said his wife never met "MICKEY", ECHARTE estimated that he and his companions stayed in Mexico City about 7 to 10 days. During this period, "MICKEY" _ 48° Nforwed ECHARTE that Cuban G-2: headquarters wanted him to assassinate eer" FELIPE MRIVERO, leader of the Cuban Nationalist Movement, an anti- 7 CASTRO organization. ECHARTE insists that "MICKEY" gave him no money and passed him no messages to deliver to anyone in the United States. However, ECHARTE gave “MICKEY” a pistol he was carrying and which ECHARTE claims he had "bought on the street" months earlier, from an acquaintance, name unknown, in Washington, D. C. He described this gun as a Japanese-made PPK 9mm. pistol. —SEERET Reece a Se iad HW 55355 Docld:32304240 Page 11
} a a f . ' SEGRE Emilio Echarte Pedroso ,) “Goa}in insisted that he nevergutilized [radio in conaunicating with {Cuban G-2}in Haiti. He said that prfor to hrs departure from Cuba, he fwas ld to buy a.well-made(five band radiof, no specific o4 brand but he never did. S) 6) He also divulged he never used secret inks o codes) in any of his messages. He attempted to explain the {Gode thal been taught but was unable f° recall it in detail, He jndicated it was a (Five digital ct pheefly ystem by whi Gach letterfuf a message cee gactphereg) n is feonverted aPhe was ot ofone and tw gigit number e sai the fk key woraPR e was given was fORGANIZARE/?4but that to the st of his recgllection, he was to use only theffirst seven lettersPof this Word: JHe could only recallysthe basic format used which, he said, he believed looked as Follows: C O'R'GtAHtI*ZtAtREs gt ttt bot bot se 2 4 He said he distinctly recalled thatthe [w word see pe he Ss @iaced across the to and that there were ree eral n the left side[)He believed ese Gumerals were 9 £ and 4 appeared in the ordgr indicated above.: He insisted ue a he never ncoded any messagefdfter he completed his training, and that . . Consequently he cannot now recall the steps to be taken in developing the {numerical substitutionf{necessary to (Encipher ses) ECHARTE tigre sSuho a photograph oM MRA taken in 1960 as Og’ MRS being identical wit ho was his superior in Cuban G-2, ECHARTE was asked if he knew or had heard of any other agents sent to the United States by Cuban G-2,. He denied knowing the identity of any such agent, but said he had no doubt that some Cuban. agents had been infiltrated into the United States under the guise of refugees. He said he would be most suspicious of able-bodied males |: of military age who had been granted permits to Jeave Cuba. He added i \ he also suspected that he was not the only G-2 agent who had ever J | "escaped" from Cuba by boat. When ECHARTE and@MRSRwere dev, 164, plans for ECHARTE's "escape", the guidance furnished b waeins ECHARTE to believe that this was not the first beans had GSO helped evolve .such plans, and that probably such arrangements had been made on previous occasions to infiltrate G-2 agents into the United States. -ll- ; | Crm ™ ON Oe as HW 55355 Docld:323042740 Page 12
LL | 7 | | | Emilio Echarte Pedroso “~~ ECHARTE said that many personal associations in the Garb de Cuban Revolutionary Government are based old abe ies a as his former working relationships wi th{Secung Z nd due nT | Cuban G-2 were based on his prior. friend fp-with ea he believed that even today, were--he. incarcerated, he could re-establish telephonic contact wit nRsFand re- ~establish himself with Cuban G-2, He was undle to name anyone else in Cuban G-2 that he could effectively contact today other than possibly "MICKEY" in the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City. With regard to the Cuban establishments in Canada and the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in New York, ECHARTE stated that there was no doubt in his mind that the personnel assigned to these establishments are Cuban G-2 agents, but he said he never knew any of them in Cuba and that, therefore, this was his opinion and he was not in a position to prove it to be a fact, He indicated that had he known anyone at te Cuban Mission to the. United Nations in New York, he would not have traveled to Canada and had he any previous relationship with anyone in the Canadian establishments, he probably would not have had to return to the United States. Crh With regard | to DAVIDATEE. in Washington,DC... ECHARTE - said he used to frequent LEE's restaurant because LEE had a Spanish group of ifus#cal entertainers. ECHARTE enjoyed their music and as often as twice a week went to the restaurant to eat, drink and to hear the Spanish group play. LEE recognized ECHARTE as a fairly steady custoter and apparently was friendly with E€HARTE to encourage his business. ECHARTE claims he has known LEE about. two years, and that their relationship was never more than customer -owner friendliness. A, pee ECHARTE said that LEE had indicated ihe had been to Cuba as oF" a tourist prior to CASTRO's advent to power. However, his conversations ~~" with LEE never disclosed any mutual Cuban friends. He also said that vac -he could, not recall ever, introducing any of his acquaintances, such " as EDDI UAREZ, CARLO RRET, EDDIE YURI, or anyone else to LEE, He added that he had never met anyone through LEE. oo ECHARTE stated LEE impressed him as a successful, well-to-do capitalistwho. would have no time for Castroism or Communism. He stated that if LEE made money in any way other than through his restaurant business, illegally or otherwise, he was not aware of it. ECHARTE repeated tha his wife did not borrow money from LEE to post his bond with INS in 1968. He said this was fabricated so that INS would not become aware of his resources and: make the bail- considerably higher. “a SECRET -12- . N HW 55355 Docld:32304240 Page 13 ) x