(404-10103-10836 some i ~7 oe ao + PA coer g ° ° This docunen’t consisis‘of cneesscasneegtes sess pages Io i 7, . 7 ¢ liuaber... te. ol... C= oonias , Series. Fi, a SECR3T Vy, fe | a : | aquhnS SOW, ARA/CCA - Mr. Stevenson July 9, 1965 ese! 670 | ARA - George Lister © (7° © 4s fo a “Visit of .Cuban Balle. Victor Espinosa... to “ [ne ve “In accordance. with « ‘our - ‘conversation yesterdayI have. wget forth, below a:Feport on the. Nisit. Of Victor, Bapinogas eons: cle a at i Z om co are ‘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: -Tequest -and.I- agreed, Within-a@ surprisingly.short::time the- Cuban, .Vietor Espinosa, + : arrived.at my-office (he.said he. hhad..taken.the plane. immedi-...- ately); ; Espinosa gave-his.addresa. and. telephone. ‘number 4s - follows: 415 East 52nd Street, Ha ABD, A (Summary of his statements, followasis ne: we costeligg Tay Vilik§ewcon ase ous “Hapinosa.baa. bees involved. ‘in ‘Guban.Liberation. activities for. many -years,.‘,He opposed-Batista and. opposes.Castro,,...- ‘He is not a-member ofthe March.13.Movement,.but-has long.been ‘very close-to. many of -lts-leaders, including: Cubelag’... _Espinosa was trained. by CIA, -in: both. Lovisiana .and. Guatemala, and was one.. of those who was. sent-into. Cuba . -prior ta :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 York acquaintenance. of: his for the name of .someone in the Department; involved in tin American affairs, . Hewas told.Acevedo Imew such an official, Espinosa asked Acevedo (without, he claims, re- vealing, his atory), and the latter. called. Mee: nek! A Little: earlier ‘this | ‘year. “Espinosa received . a ‘request - from one of his reliable. €uban contacts in-Rurope, asking that he come there quickly... Espinosa went to. Miami, obtained false Cuban papers, and went. to. Paris. ‘There, . apparently. ‘in-the =... presence oi 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. During ‘various meetings, | both. in- France. sand SECRET : Fe
ry : a . . as . , By = oni re . va reruburs cia ackground Use Oni SECRET © . )x@6Not Reproduce | nm 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  Cubele# and some of the 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.is growing risk of exposure, They are anxious to have ' some coordination, :or at least consultation, with responsible Americans, ~! They are:not :confident that they could win an all- _ | out fight against the Castro forces, and ere thinking more in’ _ - terms of taking control for a short time (perhaps only e few hours), -killing Gastro and his most ‘effective men ‘(thus 7 - xuining -the Castro movement ‘forever), end then trying to ‘hold out..for as long as -feasible, ‘It+is essentiel that ‘they know . what, if anything,::the Americans might-de to help, ‘now and/or - jater, when.the-coup. is. attempted.-: Algo, they wished to elert the United States Government::to what was being planned.'°" "|. tery the. Cubans: mightshave turned to. men in-Madrid,:<Hewever, they be lievé unreliable: A Cuban_ciri-uwse sont. to the Castro: people? Irs fooled by her and, being very fond of women, 6€€ her up in an apartment in Madrid, He a&iso arranged for her .to’work with the International Rescue _ Committee, «When. the proper moment: came®four months _8go, she ° flew beck to Havana with-:some “very useful files, In these | circumstances:the:Cuban-“plotters have no confidence whatever in They urgently asked Espinosa to be their go-~ be reliable American officials. The “top security" mén-returned to Havana, while one representative of the plotters waited in Spain. for an anéwer, | ~~ Espinosa hurriedly ‘returned ‘to ‘New York City, He called . O'Brien ofthe New York FBI. to ‘ask ‘that ‘the letter arrange for hie to telk with some serious and reliable man from CIA, O'Brien did so,- Espinosa then:told the ‘foregoing story, and more, to e CIA men named "Hal", Hal impressed Espinosa as being intelligent and reliable, Espinose understands that Hal or someone else went. to Spain to check on his story. At all events, Espinosa wes assured CIA understood the urgency of the matter and that he would be called within a few days. “A week / hes passed, However, no call has come and time is rapidly SECRET mal e_ .
- €. SECREE | A rrurn TO CIA 3. | Bp ound Use Oni - . aN © Not Reproduce running out. Espinosa's friends in Paris keep calling him, 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 return.’ Espinosa keeps waiting to hear whether the Americans will play ball with the Cubeldg “group. . The plot has lasted for over 18 months, and the plotters plan to go ahead very soon rio 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. Es inosa algo referred to a jeweler by the name of TeppelZino (spelling?), located at 47th Street, in New York City. Teppéiino works for CIA and has frequent contact with the Cuban Ambassador, in Paris. . The Ambassador regularly dis~ poses of jewelry and othe valuables made available from Cuba, He does this through Tepp no. However, the latter fools CIA, , For example, the Ambassedor agrees to sell for $80,000. Teppeliino informs CIA the price is $110,000, and quietly pockets the difference. On the other hand, TeppéJdino and CIA think the Cuban Ambassador does not know he is working for CIA, but the Ambassador does know. TPM nenes eee - Espinosa is determined to bring the very dangerous 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- ebility on the basis of this one conversation, However, if I had to guess at this point I would be inclined to accept most cof what he said about ectual events, But of course there are all sorts of obvious possibilities, including provocstion, In accordance with what we agreed on, while Espinosa was SECRET re see eet wae wt ome te aL ae ahs
74-90000 9 : . : ae ‘ 6 ‘ . . > « e ® a . ° : e a : & . a a retubnto CIA wy Backyround Use Only An o Not Reproduce: SECREL , -& = waiting, t turned and © 1a him at some iength that o£ course ‘this was not the gort of thing We got into. However » 1 added that i would 8¢ to it that someone call y further gaia that, gficiallys a enjoy® talking ith him. Espinosa 5 ed S Lili fie _and remporarL+y sreagsured ; py this. However » qT doubt very much that he will wait Longest ©