ae ~ . - . , © ., os + £OPTIONAL FORM,NO. 10 . 5010-107-02 ~ “ : f Lo. an Se MAY"1962 EDITION io : : - GSA GEN: REG. NO. 27 ao UNITED STATES. G ERNMENT Memorandum “To: Director, FBI fas4-15268) " DATE: 8/23/66 / rom: Fay SAC; ‘Miami [Gis4-1292) (Py 2 | V oe SUBJECT: RrPoD J. B bw ae oe 1-4 a, 5 » as ~~ F Po ~ § te . ™ Sa ‘ re 4 eae * a] - %@ » , On August 16, 1966, MM {1154-S was interview at length] ollowing his return from the was, interviayse Republic on August 14, 1966, Despite detailed “questioning for specifics, "he seemed to have difficult in recalling{ day to day activities of his visit; “ThelS interviewing Agent concluded, however, that the~in- | formant was not withholding any information, but that = oo he could not recall more information that he furnished Perr as set out below: 5) . 2A | Demin on (July 28,) 1955 on 0 GA , WERSBEL was unable WER BEL:: is. subject i) a e informant left Miami, flight, uflaccompanied, as |MITCHE 2 to obtain a visa to enter the DRY +. of Miami file 105-11409, ‘ : WH! oe Upon his arrival in the DR, the i formant._| C LEN . to the house of a friend who lives © ator Marial, oo ° al, where [he e remaine for a.week. .The following day (S$ & Went to. Gee. Commodore rANOM(EMELTONGINENEZ. Chief of a aff of the minican Navy,{whom the informant has ~ known he approximately (18 monthsjand who is conside ede k PAgs (fo b informant's beSt contactlin the DR. From L$. FIMENEY ¥ Ene informant received permission]to go to(§ -the Hainai Base to«check equipment which originally: | belonged to the anti-CASTRO organization JURE, when Sw! that organization. had a base in the DR, ‘This’ base js; “ ‘ located 14 kilometers from downtown Santo Domingo, (ine informant went £3) the Gase and began) C to inventory the JURE equipment which consisted o 50 caliber machine guns, a recoilless cannon, numerous, ( small arms, ammunition and. explosives. The informan a , Boece ; / ° ca Mgmt (RM) cog. REG SA 7 et oy : Espparonnt oth a a 3 AUG 24 1966 JEM: J MS —eeptes made & een: Lift revi ew ‘at $2780 by \ Q:. : 1A Hiya tat for T nt HR were 9 Val MEL ips C _FReequestos -'t a . Nee eines eee i‘. ay iP HW 54462 Docld:32335538 Page 2?
‘Do Me ia HW 54462 MM\ 134-1292 estimated] the worth of the arms and explosives asl "I between $8,000 and $10,000. This equipment was | originally under the control of JOSEXRABEL who is now a prisoner in Cuba. The, equipmen is now under i\the control of the inFornant eq) For approximately the next 5 days, (he —) informan ited in\santo Domingo for the arrival feb. or LAWRENCE XMITCHELL and MITCHELL WER BELLS) LAWRENCE MITCHELL is a veterinary by professién, who resides in Georgia, and who is a friend of MITCHELL WER BEL, ee While waiting for the arrival of\MITCHELL C4) and WER BEL, {the informant visited|the Immi vation Department.to obtain a document which woul@ permit 4mXtoJenter and leave the DR without any problem. “3 e”also|made arrangements to obtain a temporary residence visa which (he felt) he would need ifyhe C was to continue to participate in business ventures in the DR. (¥ < uring this time, (the informant ascertzined ae why] MITCHELL WER BEL had been unable to obtain a( 3) viza. When WER BEL had been in the DR previously, he was involved in an automobile accident in which a small, boy was injured, WER BEL also passed a bad check in the amount of $5,000 in the DR. Such past — activities on the part of WER BEL prevented him from obtaining a visa, During the first week fhe informant Jwas inl So the DR, he met several Cubans(with whom hea yas ac- quainted.) He identified them aS follows: , Vi A "FATTY'A GARCIA, who wi las connected with CIA and the Frente Revolucionario Demogratico é (FRD), GARCIA was acquainted with WER BELjJand re~.- quested informant to “hinge BEL GARCIA's regards the next time he sees him Vil a, \ \. a Docld: 32335538 Page 3
MM is4-1202 (4) Clem spoke with/IGNACIO}CASTRO, a Cuban businesSman in Santo’ Domingo, ngjsaid’ that he had heard that ROLAND SFERRER, was coming to Santo 7; [fhe int on August 1 966,{| but other than this, eft t fer t 2 fot he informant received re) de inite information re=- ative to the whereabouts of MASFERRE pet (He recalled that he/had been introduced to | 3 poe, lke SANTIAGOAREY in the la@bby of the Embajador Hotel by “Deh some Cubans, names not recalled. sane never 3 met]REY until this time. ~ Informant also ocalled| that while (he was C J talking with JCommodore JIMENEZ, JIMENEZ(mentioned } C $7} \ that a group of members of the "Movimiento Democratico Cristiano (MDC) of LAUREANO BATISTA FALLA have a boat’ which JIMENEZ referred to as a Sigma, which they are using for fishing in the Bay of Ma zanillo. This is the only Cuban activity encountered{ by the informant during his visit JS) . \ . ms) Cinite in the DR, the informant also Jpaid a Ce visit to Colonel HOLMES, who is attached to the American Embassy,. and had lunch with HOLMES, This. ‘was merely a social contact +S) é LAWRENCE MITCHELL arrived on August 4, 1966 but without MITCHELL WER BEL, who still had not_gb= tained a visa. On August 6, 1966 , xtornans and gee. »MITCHELL went to Santiago in a rentéd car (where they J aches) - pom “\to meet a business associate of MITCHELL named EDMUNDO u | ALLE, MITCHELL and VALLE had been in the banana —_— usiness but are now planning to attempt to develop ,a ‘peanut oil refinery in Santiago. MITCHELL (and the ie informant|\spent the day examining an oil refinery that MITCHELL expects to lease for this business venture. MITCHELL, will pay a commission lor percentage to the cs informant) should any of his ventures in the DR develop financially. &) - 3 - - ; ns Ser ee nar ard ; H JY ¥ HW 54462 Docld:32335538 Page 4
Ree MM 134-1293(($) discusse informan buy a fa : x Wie Vii) te b aa The following day, which was Sunday, AuguSt % 7; \ BERMUDEZ, a Domint 1 £ J. Armando Bermudez, a rum distillery. is a long-time friend of )JBERMUDEZ, and BERMUDEZ several business propositions(with the ” t, ™ Ge 1966, MITCHELL (and the informant Jvisited FRANK CS can millionaire and the President (int ormant C3) cluding the possibility that he would r the informant to operate Jand also€ $ the possibility that he would buy the VENUS, which would be outfitted for commercial use except that BERMUDEZ would have the use of the vessel once or twice a month for pleasure purposes and fishing. The VENUS is owne d, by MANUEL RAY and was formerly operated by JURE, | ITCHELL{Gnd the informant)returned to C¥J Santo Do took|\MITCHELL to time (the informan had borrowed $11, go on Monday, and on Tuesday (informant C eet Commodore JIMENEZ, At this #Y advised JIMENEZ thatMJOSE RABEL 00 from LAWRENCE MI LL, which h had used to repair the VENUS, purchase arms and gasoline, was captured in Cuba. told/ JIMENEZ that/in o turning over contro of}the arms to MITCHELL in order that MITCHELL could attempt to sell the arms and recover his $11,000, RABEL had not repaid this money when he Accordingly, the informant ON r to repay) MITCHELL (he was £ JIMENEZ then asked MITCHELL if he, MITCHELL, had any intention of trying to move _the arms from the Naval Base, and MITCHELL said he wanted nothing to do with the arms but would like to sell them and recover his money. {Informant indicate that JIMENEZ had no intention of releasing the arms to MITCHELL if MITC possession of them 1966, HW 54462 Docld: 32335538 Page 5 omg had wished to take personal The following two or three days were spent by MITCHELL[and the informant)in for their{ passage back to Miami, “Significant contacts made during “1908.('s) to get out of Santo ~) attempting to arrange and there were no that time. {They were Domingo on August 14, Ao3