MEMO:REVIEW OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD 201 FILE FOR FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST
Originator: CIA
From: C/LA/MEXICO
To: LA/EICO
Document date: 1975-07-31 00:00:00
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

# DOCID-32394097

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JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION FORM

AGENCY INFORMATION

AGENCY

RECORD NUMBER

RECORD SERIES

AGENCY FILE NUMBER

CIA

104-10422-10307

JFK

RUSS HOLMES WORK FILES

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

AGENCY ORIGINATOR

FROM

TO

TITLE

DATE

PAGES

CIA

C/LA/MEXICO

LA/EICO

MEMO: REVIEW OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD 201 FILE FOR FREEDOM

OF INFORMATION REQUEST

07/31/1975

3

SUBJECTS : OSWALD, L H

DOCUMENT TYPE : PAPER

CLASSIFICATION

: UNCLASSIFIED

RESTRICTIONS

• 1B

CURRENT STATUS : RELEASED IN PART PUBLIC - RELEASED WITH DELETIONS

DATE OF LAST REVIEW

: 12/04/98

COMMENTS :

JFK-RH11 : F212 1998.12.04. 08÷28:44:483120

DUPLICATE OF 104-10061-10393. THIRD PAGE IS ROUTING

AND RECORD SHEET.

Heleased under the John F. Kennedy

Assassination Records Collection Act of

192 (44 USC 2107 Note]. Case#N

99n Date: 11-01-20

[R] - ITEM IS RESTRICTED

104-10422-10307

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UNELASSIFIED

INTERNAL

USE ONLY

ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET

CONFIDENTIAL

SECRET

SUBJECT: (Optional)

FROM:

Freedom of Information Request

Judy. Clin

LA/Mexico

rm. 3E04

TO: (Officer designation, room number, and

building)

(DU-7)

DATE

RECEIVED

FORWARDED

1.

C/LA/ Mexico

: 1 AUG 1975

2.

EXTENSION

9041

OFFICER

NITIAL

NO.

DATE

31 July 1975

COMMENTS a ere acos column of t on from moti

3.

C/LA/EICO

•Mr. Sturbitts

4.

5.

DDO/Fio

o. =

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

USE PREVIOUS

CONFIDENTIAL

INTERNAL

USE ONLY

UNCLASSIFIED

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31 July 1975.

MEMORANDUM FOR:

?...

SUBJECT

LA/EICO

Mr. William Sturbitts

Review of Lee Harvey OSWALD 201 File

for Freedom of Information Request

REFERENCE

:Request Number 75-105, 2 June 1975

'A review of the Lee. Harvey OSWALD file (201-289248)

has been completed by the Mexican Branch in connection with

reference Freedom of Information request. Most of the

information contained in the file that pertains to Mexico :

came from sensitive sources and methods, such as photo

surveillance, bilateral teltap and mail intercept

operations:

Although the mail intercept and photo

surveillance activities have been dicontinued, the fact

that they were in operation in Mexico continues to be

considered sensitive. The bilateral teltap is still

active, and, therefore, is sensitive.

2. The Mexican information reviewed covered three

.areas:

Sylvia DURAN Tirado.

A Mexican female

employed by the Cuban Embassy in Mexico who provided

assistance to OSWALD in his attempts to obtain a Cuban

visa.

Information regarding DURAN appears in the Warren

":..

Report, however, it is not attributed to the Agency.

The Government of Mexico. (GOM) did arrest and interrogate

DURAN re her connection with OSWALD, and a copy of the :

GOM deposition appears in the Report. The deposition was

turned over to the Commission by the GOM via State Department.

Since knowledge of DURAN's contact with OSWALD originally

came to both the GOM's and Agency's attention via the

bilateral teltap, all mention of Agency knowledge or

"participation in

DURAN'S

arrest and subsequent interrogation

has.

been marked for non-release.

b. Photo of unidentified man taken in front of

the. Soviet Embassy in Mexico. This photo was taken by

Station Mexico photo surveillance of the Soviet Embassy

during the month of October 1963. When news of the

• arrest of OSWALD as Kennedy's assassin became known,

the Station immediately forwarded copies of the photo

to the FBI in the mistaken assumption that the photo

was of OSWALD taken while he was in Mexico that fall.

It was later determined that the photo

was not of OSWALD

and in fact had been taken after he had

departed Mexico.

(OSWALD was in Mexico from 26 September thru 3 October 1963.)

Even though the photo was not of OSWALD it had been shown

to OSWALD's wife and mother, with the background partially

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• cropped in an effort to disguise the place where the

photo had been taken. The photo became somewhat of an

issue when the Warren Commission decided it belonged

in the Report as part of the exhibits since it had been

shown to the OSWALDs. The Agency finally allowed the

picture to appear in

the report with the background

completely.blocked out. and with the agreement that no

mention would be made about where it had, been taken.

As far as can be determined, the Agency has never

admitted publicly that the photo was taken in Mexico,

even though there has been a great deal of speculation

to that effect by several authors and journalists. As

a matter of fact, one of the lawyers who worked with the

Commission later leaked information to an author regarding

the photo, but erroneously said it had been taken in

tre Agence shot messed the acto b location, llly

saying it was taken somewhere outside the U.S.

A11

mention of the photo has therefore been marked to be

withheld, because of sensitive sources and methods

involved.

c .

Gilberto ALVARADO Ugarte. ALVARADO, a

Nicaraguan citizen, walked in to the U.S. Embassy in

Mexico, claiming to have knowledge re Kennedy's assasination.

It was. learned that ALVARADO was an agent for the Nicaraguan

Intelligence Service (NIS), however his story re the

"assassination was separate from his work for the NIS.. After

lengthy interrogation, including a polygraph, it was

determined that ALVARADO had been fabricating a story claiming

he had"seen.

¿OSWALD. receive money from a Cuban official at

'the Cuban Embassy in Mexico. The ALVARADO störy appears

in the Warren Report but it

does not reveal his identity.

In

order to continue to protect ALVARADO and the Nicaraguan

government from possible embarrassment all mention of

ALVARADO has been marked for non-release.

2. A list and copies of douments from the OSWALD file

have been forwarded to your office for review by other LA

branches and possibly other Divisions.

The documents are marked

according to which volume they belong in the 201 file (there

are 57 volumes plus many bulky attachments.)

3. During the review, it was necessary several times to

refer to the Warren Report and

the exhibits

to ascertain

exactly what was already known about the Mexican aspect of the

case.

It is doubtful that the other branches will find this

recessary, but in case they do, the Warren Report is held

in the Library.

;

Jack Mathews

C/LA/Mexico

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