14-00000 Pa . . OM, ° e —~ In tiv. light of the foregoing, it is worrisome to find out tlat Mr. VARONA is aware that 'Frank"' ‘recently rectived transfer orders from the Organization. We need maze information on this. We suspect that the origin of thie statement is the fact that Mr. VARONA recently mot'"F rank" on the street in Mexico City by complete haypenstance. During that meeting "Frank" _ alluded ‘to thr fact that he was no longer working in Miami (alth:ugh in fact he was) to confuse Mr. VARONA as to his tri: whereabouts. It should be noted that Mr. VARONA re@rs to "Frank" as "Frank" because at one point during the time that he was being handled by "Prank", otherwise known as Enrique, he instructed Mr. VAROR®®.to introduce him to the Vasco de CUNHA family as "Frank" Stevens, otherwise he had known "Frank! untir the name, Enrique. The basis for Mr. _VARONA saxing that he believed "Frank" mishandled the WOFIRM program in many ways appears to be vituperation lus frustration. The vituperation being a basic ingrstient in his opportunistic character. b. Pe paragraph 5 of your memorandum of 1] June 196%. Tat "Frank" had certain responsibilities re Juanita Cistro is very true. "Frank'' was funda -~ mentally resonsible for the defection of Juanita Castro although Mr. VARONA furnished the lead. The 'F rank''/ Juanita Cast:o relationship is now quasi-legendary. He did not fumbe the very difficult handling of this contro- versial persin. Mr. VARONA would have been in no position to laow the load placed upon "Frank" by the Agency in trring to gain operational mileage from Miss Castro. Ke -he information that ''Frank'' was in posses- sion of information which could have resulted in the assassination of Fidel Castro, the following comment . must be mace: This refers to the Plan RAPHAEL which ee ne ere a ceemctmamgemme qrats som te tat pee NaND Ca NRG NEE mi fe tere nt uniba® am «Spr * ate grememipnaneemman emer oem mens fame cmee ewe eT On eur eon sep mmm 8/6 me wean stan S981 Reg nH mate iN Ae NOE 2 MEE co et eT HETTR  NERORENEY HeeeNR) Eee we:
14-00000 involved Mr. FARONA's brother. "Frank" was not the Case Offi:er on this operation, although he had originally re:ruited Mr. VARONA's brother in Cuba prior to his exfiltration. The Case Officer for the RAPHAEL overation, if one considers that there was a case officer, would have been Stephen P. Mangello. -Re Mr. VARONA's charge that five of his family went to. ~ jail in Cuba and four of his friends 'went to the wall" in Cuba because of the shortcomings of "Frank," "Frank" has the following specifically to say in rebuttal: NVAZONA was continuously admonished from the time of ‘is arrival in the U.S. in March 1962 to be discreet soncerning his connection as well as his relatives! cmmnection with the Agency. It was common knowledge ir the exile community that VARONA and his family vere dedicating their lives to the overthrow of Castro. No member of VARONA's family was molested by Castro until the exfiltration of VARONA's brother in 1964. VARONA's brother left a wife and two childrer. behind and later within a period of three months inithted divorce proceedings. VARONA's brother ant probably his wife, and possibly other members o: the family knew of Plan RAPHAEL, It would be diZicult, if well nigh impossible, to ascertain who could tave been the cause of the arrest of members of VARON£'s family, since besides the family members, other agems who were also involved in this Plan were arrested atipproximately the same time. Re the four friends "wio went to the wall, '' this appears to be sheer embellishrunt on the part of Mr. VARONA." c. Re paragraph 6 of your memorandum of 11 June ith®: Re, Mr. VARONA's statement ¢ who holds “ne highest position for the Agenc anthwhowigks directly for "Frank" is one Joaquin, ~SANGENL, this again is embellishment. Mr. ARONA --Fa's obviawuliy known for some years that Mr. SANGENIS heads the 4MOT Organization. This is one ,gf the WH/Mianu Station's several projects. Fes nately, -
14-B0000 ~-if phobable hat he was s on * me o%, f * — Mr. VARON:. is not informed on other Station operations, :o it is understandable that in his attempt to bung attention to himself that he would focus m those things he is aware of. Mr. VARON#'s opinion of Mr. SANGENIS and his handling af money is his own opinion. The Station's viev is that itis lamentable that Mr. VARONA, over the years, did not show the same amount of personal dedication to getting the job done that Mz. SANGENIS has shown. Again, it appears to bz: one more vituperative allegation which has litle basis, based on information so far provided by Mr. VARONA. d. Xe paragraph 7 of your memorandum of 11 June 196%: XARONA was in fact the messenger sent by 'Frank''vo the person who was going to conduct the exfiltration of "Frank" and several co-workers in June 1961. He did not, as he suggests, have a ‘prime or oxfanizing role in thi’? éxfiltration which was, in faci. handled by the amily, long time assets of the Havana Stafion. Whether he stall: involved in thé exfiltration of Pedro- — —" an (Lanz-and Manuel AR E is not known. It exhere on the periphery as wad\true in "Frank's? e. le paragraph 8 of your memorandum of 11 June 19e!: J. k VARONA is a good % is..true thax M friend of thu Vasco ‘de CUR family. He got to know this falitty when V, sco LBITKODwas Ambassador to Cuba. Tie Ambas sado¥ gave htm asylum during the BATISTA period, and this form d basis of their friendship. From time to time over the years, the
14-00000 he would enny any success in this endeavor. home at thai:ime and they told the DSE agents that Agency fount it useful to use this friendship as a means of corrolling Mr. VARONA when he became unmanageain:. of 11 June 1!69: Wa know that~Mre-VARONA has written at least one zrticle fox VIDA information however, to t at all succersful in re-est&bNshing and/or revitalizing the old "Autmtico" Party. Giken his unfavorable reputation ir.the Cuban community, it is unlikely that TINA? We have no effect that he is being { i i | f. Ke paragraphs 9 and 10 of your memorandum | | | g. ke paragraph 11 of your memorandum of 11 June 196% should be noted that Mr. OsgrfO\DAVILA,---~ presently liung in Miami, is ‘the brothex“of a prominent’ Communist in Cuba today and should be viewed in that light. "Fraik's" recollection of the situation involving servants ant the ASPRU home, which he took over with the servants, does not jive with Mr. VARONA's report. There were ~vo white and two black servants in the house. The tight of the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Internal Service sent agents to the ASPRU home to pick up "Frank.' One colored and one white servant were at "Frank" was ‘a gay blade'' and would not be home until early the ne: morning. The DSE left the residence leaving behiul a note for 'Frank" to report to their headquarter: the following morning. In this context, it should be ivted that ''Frank's" cover in Cuba during the period i:.-;uestion was that of a professional gambler; 7 a cover whic served him well during most of his service , there.
14-00000 h. Ee paragraph 12 of your memorandum of 1l June 196%: i) "Frank" has no knowledge of the material referred to. A further check will be made to determine if this information was passed to ''Pepe" who wo uld have made it avaiable to the Station. , (:) This material apparently was passed to "Pepe" and subsequently analyzed by the Station. DSE personalitie: were carded. Mr. VARONA's statement that "F rank’ did not properly utilize the information . again.appeazs:to.be another vituperative attempt to. strike at "Feank" who he apparently blames for his downfall wit: the Agency. tc), (a), (e), (£). No Comment. ‘), th), (i), G). This is probably completely fabricated material. Nevertheless because of its rather sensational sature, the Station would be interested in receiving trie copies of this material so that it can be analyzed in tte light of specific, positive collection, evidentiary material at hand. It would also be appreci- . ated if your zffice could glean the source or sources of this alleged}: sensational material. Ba: (k), (1), (m). ‘R'is a Haitian exile living most of his =m There is no information (=) As in (g), (h), (i), (Gj) above, the Station would like ta know the source of the alleged photograph which Mr. VARONA refers to, This again vee to be sheer fabrication. a * oS ote . : vad * eee ts ate tes Sage 1-1 agape oe | GPU eR TAS CTE TCA eA AOE DOTTED EER ET ON NS cece eee teen cen toe a se omemepeen mereenintins me 4 ee ene een emmy seerartstneseanabemnanae A
14-00000 who in turn used his iz) No comment. - Nicolas G LLEN is een ae a well-know: Mexican Cominitnist poet. 2. If you read the foregoing analysis in the light of Mr. VARONA's file, I helieve you will clearly ascertain that we put little, if any, c:nfidence in any statements made by Mr. VARONA. We are deeply troubled, however, by the fact that Mr. VARONA has used one Mr. Charles GOVEA\gshis means? of getting to the enmiment American citizen Mr. Wi has any current comection with Cuban intelligence and to that end, we have urgentiy requested from the Bureau any and all current information bearing on the matter. Although Mr. VARONA cannot provide Cuban intelligence through Mr. GOVEA anything really current, he could albeit unwittingly provide a tremendous amount of information dealing with Agency modus operandi which we ‘vould not like them to have. This becomes quite important in véew of the fact that we have several indications of aggressive DGI/EN operations to gain information on the AMOT as well as our AMCAAPT operations. 3. Your pacagraph 15 clearly reveals the fact that VARONA has an ax: to grind and he has chosen this way of reingratiating hims:<!f with the Agency by passing information on "Frank" the man who handled him for the longest period of time. For tactical yclitical reasons you may deem it wise to "receive his report;' under no circumstances, however, would we want this to be ued as a bridge to become involved in again with a man in whose integrity or objectivity we have no confidence whatsoever. To rezserate re the previous paragraph, we are most concerned about GC'EA and if we can develop any current infor- mation on Mr. GOV®©A's contacts with Cuban intelligence, we believe it will be ne::ssary to get some word to Mr. Guest to disengage himself f::m contact with this person.
14-00000 4. This menorandum. has: not been completely researched, It is suggested, how:ver, that you forward it with your memorandum of 11 June’ 1969 to ¥: mur. office ‘$0 ‘that this matter. may be Placed in , perspective. ce 5. 1 would enpreciate notification when you forward your ‘memorandum to your Headquarters. as I would like to furnish a ‘copy’ simultaneousty along with my: analysis of the situation. I appreciate your promptness in ‘bringing. ‘the. VARONA/ GOVEA ‘ ‘contact, ‘to my attention. 7 a Attachment: | Anthony R: PONCHAY Chief of Station, WH/Miami. a/s