v09-16-96ccr JFK RECORDS Cross Reference: None Status in System: AGENCY : HSCA RECORD NUMBER : 180-10142-10046 RECORD SERIES CIA SEGREGATED COLLECTION AGENCY FILE NUMBER 22-20-02/3 Other Agency Equity: None oe ee Peleased under the John DOCUMENT INFORMATION Kennedy ORIGINATOR : HSCA issass ination Records FROM : CIA Ollection Act of 1992 TO : (44 USC 2107 Note). TITLE : ase#: NW S3080 Date: DATE : 00/00/00 6-01-2017 PAGES : 7 DOCUMENT TYPE : REPORT SUBJECT(S) : WC; CUBAN EMBASSY IN MEXICO CITY; CALDERON, LUISA; CIA, FILES; CLASSIFICATION : UNCLASSIFIED RESTRICTIONS : 3 CURRENT STATUS : POSTPONED IN PART DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 08/07/95 COMMENTS : Box i1 Date in: 01/26/96 TT FFFFFF FFFFFFFF HW 53060 Docld:32271350 Page 1
con tins darter (> o1 Mim 2-3 Cartdarenr ; As discussed in an earlier section of this report, the Warren Commission did not gain access to the CIA's production from it | in Mexico City until an advancet/fstage in its investiga- tion. The record reflects that Mssrs. Willens, Slawson, - Scot ASatees lect: €. opmet conf and Coleman did not review the production“until they visited Mexico City on April 9, 1964. At that time, they reviewed a number 3)£rom the Soviet ard Mihan Embassies. Thes Included one call to the - Soviet Embassy on September 27g believed to have been made by Oswaldy two calls mae- hy Silvia Duran from the Cuban Consulate to the Sovi -: Consulate, and one call from the Soviet Embassy to the Cuban E.bassya made by an uni- dentified caller (Cite Salwson ..-... Cf Aprii 41, 1004.) | sonst On September 28 th eration recordéda call by Silvia Duran at the Cuban Consulate to the Soviet Consulate. (Cite.) - e On October 1 ne Operation recorded two calls made by a person later identified as Lee Harvey Oswald to the Soviet Embassy. (Cite.) The Commission representatives were also supplied - oe f ‘ with AN f @Be two conversations that r ' transpired between the Cuban President Dortic@Sand the Cuban Ambassador to Mexico, Armas. These conversations concerned Silvia Duran's arrest, whether Oswald had been HW 530680 Docld:32271350 Page 2
offered money while at the Cuban Embassy pand the general state of affairs at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City following the assassination. (Slawson memo of April 22, 1964, pp. 45-46). T Ke Comen eters &# review of CIA files »—hiessss “ omore ndiem ahi . borat@Ga of Slawson's =< che >) rovided to and reviewed by the Commission. 3% On-@ f £kieS lawson! s recera iS CIA document, blind memorandum f entitled "Material from P-8593 shown to Warren Commission" (Station Oswald File) and is dated April 10, 1964. (FOIA 653-828). This document records that the Warren Commission was shown calls made by Oswald to the Soviet Embassy. These included three ofWh ComSSAk ions orem. September 27 listed above, one call of September 28, two calls of October 1, and one call of we October a Thonn While thiS”does not correspond to the listing of aiis set forth ¥e Slawson, it does independently establish Cer tLnatfio cats November 22, 1963 were shown to the Warren Commission. In addition, this document corroborates the showing ~~ of the two Dorticas— TArmas conversation§$of November 26, 1964 ; SS ommittee = has queried former Commission and CIA representatives in an effort to determine if a transcript of the Calderon conversation was ever shypn to the Warren HW 53060 Docld: 32271350 Page 3
. . On -° Ag Hg somes ror mre i: -3- reste eae | ee ‘Commission. The response @n both accounts has uniformly been that the Calderon conversation was never made avail- able to the Commission nor was its existence ever made known to the Commission. (Rankin. dep; Slawson interview, Willens response to letter, but see Rocca deposition wherein he states that he is sure. the Commission knew of it, Helms hearing.) In addition, the Calderon 201 file bears no reference to the conversation nor does it indi- cate that it was ever made known or, provided to the War- ren Commission for its analysis. eee, “The available evidence supports the conclu- sion that the Warren Commission was never given the informa- tion or the opportunity by which it could evaluate Luisa Calderon's significance to the events surrounding Presi- dent Kennedy's assassination. Had the Commission been expeditiously provided this evidence of her intelligence background, association with Silvia Duran, and her com- mentary following the. assassination, it may well have poterkial given more serious investigative consideration to her @zmd Knov ledge oe OsWalAaA Arr abe Co an Save cv Saks posible involvement in a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. (Quote Rankin on Hille would have been done.) Two difficult issues remain which are raised by the Committee's finding. First, why didn't the Agency HW 53080 Docld: 32271350 Page 4
provide the Calderon conversation to the Warren Commis- ; sion; secondly, why didn't the Agency reveal to the War- {ts , ren Commission Jsese full knowledge of Calderon's intel- ligence background, her possible knowledge of Oswald and her possible connection to the CIA or some other American intelligence apparatus. The first question can be explained in benign terms. It is reasonably possible that by sheer oversight the conversation was filed away and not recovered or recol-_ lected until after the Warren Commission had completed its investigation and published its report. However, this conversation oe have also beeMiwi th € 1 as aes The Committee, hewumefinneans—te=deierrrembinetanslempieeri — xe! ANN AKI an Soe HAS raprnigg 's eer tnas t ReGceeriaO-Seeeinscaaectory - The Committee can state, however, that CalAa@eren eccer whatever the truth may be, the conversation did eke page and the. transfipst was not provided the Warren Com— mission. & "¢ As for che-question Shamed oading fe withholding of information concerning Calderon's intelligence back- ground, the record reflects that the Commission was merely informed that Calderon may have been a member of the DGI. (Cite 5 May memo.) The memoranda which providedmore ex- tensive examination of her intelligence background were not made available for the Commission's review. Signifi- | DWoegapk tearses cantly, the May 8 memorandum written by a following his debriefing de AMMUG-1 indicatedthat AMMUG-1 HW 53080 Docld:32271350 Page 5
HW 53060 Cy | Adoron and a second Cuban Intelligence officer believed We to be a CIA operative. It is possible that this information was not provided the Warren Commission either because there was no basis in fact for the allegation or because the allegation was in fact true. If the allegation were true, the consequences for the CIA would have been serious, fer Jt woul demonstratedthat a CIA operative, well placed in the Cuban Embassy, may have possessed in- .formation prior to the assassination regarding Oswald | . . ; ences? and/or his relationship to Cuban Intelligence7”~ and that t Services possible involvement in a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. iy on § Regarding possible association with the CIA, | ile. DMWAAETYe aw _fsp—, y evi edcd - reveal@ no ostensible connection between Calderon and the CIA. However, there are indications that such contact between Calderon and the Agency was contemplated. A September 1, 1963 CIA dispatch from the Chief of the Spe- cial Affairs Staff to the CIA's Chief of Station in Mexico City states in part: ..- Luisa Calderon has a sister residing in Reynosa, Texas, married to an American of Mexican descent. If (CIA asset) can further identify the sister, our domestic exploita- Me tion section might be in a position to follow up on this lead...Please levy the requirement on (CIA asset) at the next opportunity. - ( ‘Joss, Sept. 1, 1963) DoclId: 322771350 Page 6
HW 53060 An earlier CIA dispatch from the CIA Chief of Station in Mexico City to the Chief of the CIA's Western Hemisphere Division records that: Wilfredo of the Cuban Consulate, Tampico, reported that Luisa Calderon has a sister residing in Reynosa, Texas...Luisa may go up to the border to visit her sister soon-- or her mother may make the trip--details not clear. “p1849, July 31, 1965) At the very least, the above dispatche evidenceA an interest in Calderon's activities and those of her family. Whether this interest took the form of a clan- destine-agent relationship is not revealed by Calderon's 201 file. ‘The Committee has queried the author of the above- cited dispatch requesting that Calderon's sister be con- David Ronis, the-dtspetcits~ruthor, was a member of the CIA's Special Affairs staff at the time he wrote the dispatch. He worked principally at CIA headquarters and was #0 responsible for recruitment and handling of agents for collection/intelligence data. Mr. Ronis, when interviewed by this Committee, stated that part of his responsibility was to scour the Western Hemisphere division for operational leads related to the work of the Special Affairs staff. Ronis recalled that he normally would send requests to CIA field stations for information or leads on various persons. —2gjgi he would receive no DoclId: 32271350 Page 7
response to these requests. It was Ronis' recollection that the above-cited domestic exploitation section was a task force within the Special Affairs Staff. He also stated that in 1963 the CIA's Domestic Contacts Division might have been requested to locate Luisa Calderon's sis- ter. Ronis told the Commiftee that he had no recollection of recruiting any person associated with the Cuban Intel- ligence Service. He did recall that he had recruited women to perform tasks for the Agency. However, he did “not recall ever recruiting any employees of the Cuban Embassy/Consulate in Mexico City. Finally, Mr. Ronis stated that he had no recollection that Luisa Calderon was associated with the CIA. (HSCA Staff Interview August 31, 1978) | Various present and former CIA representatives were queried whether Luisa Calderon had ever been asso- ciated with the CIA. The uniform answer was that no one recalled such an association. (Cites: Helms, Hearing, August 9,.1978,..p. 136;.Rocca, Dep. p.148, July 17, 1978; \giiaend®. Interview of August__, Piccolo, Interview of _) Calderon Thus, the Agency's file’ “and the testimony of former CIA employeed Yevea ho connection 7 Calderon a the CIA. Yet, as indicated earlier, this file i incomplete i. ence S raenG ay Cdlecokl the most glaring*mission being&th® +__—E Cecchesserr' s hey cryptic remarks following the assassination of President HW 53060 Kennedy. Docld:322771350 Page &