[ros-10103-10340 a - a e . oi cORS H a 8 Space nent, TRE s docus man stout ARA/CCA - Mr, Stevegson July 9, 1965 'ARA'~ George Lister © 0 © 0 fee. pA ea Visit of Cuban Exile Vistor Espinosa. oe “Ta accordance. with‘ ‘our. ‘conversation ‘yeaterday. Zt have. eet forth. below. a ;Feport. On the visit. of, Victor Bapinosae yz: ale t a ‘A Venezuelan. ‘Christian. ‘Democratic friend ‘of, mine, Valmore Acevedo; called me..from New York. City. ‘yesterday: morning..to. ask as. a.personal favor: -that.-I receive a Cuban-exile.living there who had something... "amazing". to. tell »me,.,,When. 1 - expressed ‘mild skepticism, Acevedo -urgently repeated his-request and.I- agreed, Within-a. surprisingly.short : tine the-Cuban,.; Victor Espinosa, : arrived.at my office (he.said he had. taken.the plane. immedi-.. ately). ; Espinosa gave-his-address. and.. telephone number as follows: 415 East 52nd Street, HA 1-7875, A summary of his statements, follows ens © Bites Cte te tes Tak a Lika eves estat ceva fie ye we =“. gear Lat, we Ra BR te Sa ant ert PS 3 “¥spinosa.has: ‘been involved. ‘in ‘Cuban.1iberation. activities for ‘many. -years,,’ He opposed ..Batista. and. opposes Caatro,,,. He is not.a-member ofthe March.13.Movement, .but-has long.been very _ close-to. many of -its-leaders, including: Cubelag’s.- Espinosa .was trained. by CIA, -in:-both, Louisiana .and. Guatemaia, and was one. of those .who was. .sent- into. Cuba. -prior to :the ‘Bay of Pigs. . He plans..to. become an American citizen. in August. of this. -year,.- ‘He admires the United. States. and American. strength and, _compe= tence.in many fields. .He. asked a New Nork acquaintenance of: his for. the. name of someone in.the Department iavolved in Latin American. affairs, . He-waa told-Acevedo Imew such an official. Espinosa asked Acevedo (without, he claims, re- vealing his atory) » .# and the latter. called, me,- |. 7 A Little: earlier ‘this’ “year ‘Espinosa “received a a request from one of his reliable €uban contacts in-Zurope, asging that he come there quickly... Espinosa went to. Miami, obtained false Cuban papers, and went to. Paris. ‘There,. apparent ly:.; ‘in.the = .: presence of the Cuban Ambassador to France, he met one.of. the. “top security” men.of the Castro regime, who-had come to- Paris for that purpose, ducing various meetings, both in -France .and_ SECRET oq
ce €~. < + - 2 “ ip in Spain-(which Espinosa entered illegally), Espinosa was in- formed -that. there is a.plan to-:overthrow the Castro regime and to kill. Castro and .some.of- his main’ leaders, The plot is led by: Cubela# -and- some ofthe. March 13° ‘Movement, plus (I be-— lieve) some military officers,. / They must move very quickly _ because: more ‘and ‘more ‘people are, learning of the plot and ~ there-1s growing risk of : exposure . “They are anxious to have some coordination, ‘or -at leaet consultation, with responsible Americans. .' They :are:-not:confident: that they could win an ‘all- out fight against: the. Cestro forces, and are ‘thinking more in terms of taking control for a short time (perhaps only e few hours) , -killing ‘Castro and his most ‘effective men “(thus ruining -the Castre movement - forever) , ‘and then trying to hold out..for ag -long as :feasible. © It «is essential ‘that they know ~ what, if anything,::the Americans might-do:to help, now end/or — later, when. the-coup. is.attempted,-: Also, they wished to. alert the United, States Government. to what’ was: being: Planned.’ wt be Soret: vt ge Pa er othe: Cubans: ind ght: have: tured to |: the GIA the Castro- people, ::; was fooled by her and, being ‘wery fond of women, set her up in an apartment in Madrid, He also arranged: for her:to‘work with: the- International Rescue Comittee, «When: the: proper momentcame?“four months ago, she ~ flew. back to Havana with-sone ~very-useful files, In these ~ circumstances «the: ‘Cuban:plotters have no confidence whatever in | They urgently asked Espinosa to be their go- -be “teliable American officials, The “top security" man.- returned to Havana, while one representative of the plotters waited in Spain: for an answer, men. in Madrid.:<However, they: believe] is completely. unreliable.:-A ‘Cuban a sent. to Badrid some time ago by - wt Eepinoa- hurriedly: ‘returned « ‘to ‘New York: ‘City. “He called . O'Brien of ‘the New York FBI. to ask that ‘the latter arrange for~ -his to -telk with some serious and reliable man from CIA, O'Brien did. so.- Espinosa then told the ‘foregoing story, and more, -to ea CIA men named “Hal, Hal impressed Espinosa as being intelligent and reliable, Espinase understands that Hal or someone elée went. to Spain to check on his story, ‘At all events, Espinosa was assured CIA understood the urgency of the _metter- “and that he would be called within a few days. A week hee paceed, However, no call has come and time is rapidly. SECRET |
“Teppe ¢ running out. Espinosa's friends in Paris keep calling hin, ceutiously asking whether there has been some "response", but Espinosa has had to keep putting. them off, Meanwhile, the Cuban who was waiting in Spain for the answer has had to xeturn. Espinosa keeps waiting to hear whether the Americens will play pall with ‘the Cubelag ‘group. The plot has lasted © for over 18 months, and the plotters plan to go ahead very — soon tio matter whether the Americans “play ball" or not. — One reason is.that they almost have to go ahead now, for the plot will soon be discovered and then it will be entirely hopeless. Espinods aleo referred to a jeweler by the name of ino (spelling?), located at 47th Street, in New York City. TeppéJtino works for CIA and has frequent contact with the Cuban Ambassador, in Paris, _ The Ambassador regularly dis~ poses of jewelry and other valuables made available from Cuba, He does this through Teppeltino, However, the latter fools CIA, , For example, the Ambassador agrees to sell for $80,000. Teppeltino informs CIA the price is $110,000, and quietly pockets the difference, On the other hand, Teppéeldino and CIA think the Cuban Ambassador does not know he is working for - CIA, but the Ambassador does know. _ Espinosa is determined to bring the very dengerous situation.o€ the Cuban plot to the attention of some top level official in the United States Government unless he receives . *- at least some reply from CIA. Comment: _ Espinosa was not overly tense and did not indulge in his- trionics, but I felt he was quite determined to push this matter further if he did not get some response within the very. near future, I cannot, and do not have to, judge his reli- ability on the basis of this one conversation, However, if I had te guess at this point I would be inclined to accept most of what he said ebout ectual events, But of course there are all sorts of obvious possibilities, including provocation, In accordence with what we agreed on, while Espinosa was — SECRET ee ee a ey
74-90000 by | i . urned ‘and told him at | ngth hat of course ort’ got into. Howev es » { added £u : ther - co it that someone 4 hin. . gaia that, ‘wno pally. tL. Lking with him. seemed 8 awnat mollified: and temporarily jreassured very much “ he will wait Longer kin her attempt to nr anil