JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION FORM AGENCY RECORD NUMBER RECORD SERIES AGENCY FILE NUMBER AGENCY ORIGINATOR FROM TO TITLE DATE PAGES SUBJECTS DOCUMENT TYPE CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTIONS CURRENT STATUS DATE OF LAST REVIEW COMMENTS HW 53294 DBocld:32396119 Page 1 AGENCY INFORMATION CIA 104-10104-10269 JFK ; 80T01357A DOCUMENT INFORMATION CIA Released under the John Kennedy Wss5assination Records ollection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Note). ase#:NW 53294 Date: H6—-14-2017 HOUSTON, LAWRENCE, GEN COUNSEL, CIA DCI ROLANDO MASFERRER TRIAL. 11/01/1967 2 TRIAL MASFERRER, ROLA PAPER SECRET 1A 1B RELEASED IN PART PUBLIC - RELEASED WITH DELETIONS 07/28/93 JFK37 : F12 : 1993.07-/28.09:18:59:430620 ITEM IS RESTRICTED 104-10104-10269 al
~OGC 67-2059 1 November 1967 : MEMORANDUM FOR: ‘Director of Central Inteligence on SUBJECT: . oo Rolando Masferrer Trial - - e 1. This memorandum is for information. . -- , ; - | 2. During the past year we have spent a good deal of time working with the Department of Justice and the U. S. Attorney in Miami on possible problems in connection with the trial of Rolando Masferrer which begins on 6 November 1967. Masferrer was: arrested by Bureau of Customs officials for violation of the Neutrality Act when he and a number of other Cubans and some Haitians were about to embark on an expedition against Haiti. _ An indictment was obtained shortly thereafter against Masferrer and certain selected members of hig band.. Neither we nor Justice was informed of the arrest ahead of time, but we raised a question with the Departments of State and Justice as to whether there should be an indictment. State's strong desire for prosecution. of this particular group prevailed a over our worries. 3. We see several areas. of possible trouble for us. From) _the start, Masferrer has indicated that he would claim that the Central Intelligence Agency knew about and endorsed the expedition. In fact, practically everyone in Florida, including CLA knew about _ the expedition, but our Station made every effort to keep away from — ' it and any Cubans and Haitians associated with it. Our association with Masferrer started in the late 1940s but, was cut off completely | 7 in the early 1950s. Certain members of the expedition, however, had had more recent contacts with the Agency. ; 4, The second area of concern arises from the fact that “ certain individuals associated, directly or indirectly, with a oo Masferrer have also cropped up in the Garrison investigation - HW 535294 DoclId: 32398119 Page 2?
HW 535294 in New Orleans. We cannot predict any specific problems heré ~ except that information developed in Miami may well be e grist to Garrison's mill. . 5. Another point involves one David Cabeza, who has done fairly extensive work for us and may be called as a witness. He would probably be willing to talk about his activities for us if such testimony were admissible in evidence. Hopefully the Government lawyers can prevent this. 6. The defense has stated it will call as a witness Cesario Diosado. He is a Bureau of Customs official who became so involved in working with us that for the past few years we have been reimbursing Customs for his salary and he has actually been under our direction. He participated in the arrest of Masferrer and the others. It is possible his relationship with us will come out during the trial. . 7. All of these points have been discussed in detail with the Department of Justice in the hope that it might drop the indictment. It is under pressure from two points, however, The Department of State very much wants to get a conviction under , the Neutrality Act, particularly after the failure of the B-26 case in Buffalo last year. Obviously, the Masferrer case looks like an ideal one to prosecute from its point of view. Secondly, | _ CBS worked with Masferrer's group and apparently filmed all | ' the preparations. It has been cooperating with Justice and has supplied its film to the U. S Attorney. Since this apparently provides convincing information of a gross violation of the Neutrality _ |. Act, Justice feels there is no logical explanation it can be given for . dropping the indictment. As our worries are purely speculative and we cannot predict with any certainty that we will be involved, I do not believe we have sufficient ammunition to contest Justice's. ' position. Justice has spent a great deal of time studying our problems and certainly will make every effort to control the | ‘situation insofar as we are concerned. i : 8. One of my lawyers, Mr. John K. Greaney, will be ‘in Miami working with the U. S. Attorney and his staff ‘fhroughout — the trial. + s/ “cc: DDCI ae LAWRENCE R, HOUSTON DDP — , General Counsel CI tale a subject ¥ =-KENNEDY ASSASSINA TION- GARRISON” OGC eee -~MASFERRER; ROLANDO ; RONO JKG Signer Cae: Ip LR aN DoclId: 32398119 Page 3