Agency: HSCA
Originator: HSCA
From: CIA
Document date: 00/00/0000
Document type: REPORT

## Page 1

v09-16-96ccr

JFK RECORDS

Cross Reference: None

Status

in System:

AGENCY : HSCA

RECORD NUMBER : 180-10142-10046

RECORD SERIES :

SEGREGATED COLLECTION

AGENCY FILE NUMBER : 22-20-02/3

Other Agency Equity: None

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

ORIGINATOR : HSCA

FROM

: CIA

TO

TITLE

DATE

: 00/00/00

Released under the John

F. Kennedy

Assassination Recorde

Collection Act of 1992

i44 USC 2107 Notel .

Case#:NW 53080 Date:

06-01-2017

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

COMMENTS : Box 11

Date in: 01/26/96

ITFFFFFF

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* CLAHAS NO DRISCIONTO

DECLASSIRICATION AND/OR

RELEASE OF THIS POPUMENT

as redacted

contimedatperps1

Calderon

- Item 2-3

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 advance stage in its investiga-

tion. The record reflects that Mssrs. Willens, Slawson,

and Coleman did not review the production until they

visited Mexico City on April 9, 1964. At that time, they

reviewed a number

#from the Soviet and rihan

Embassies. Thest

fre? uded one call to the

soviet Embassy on Septemher ¿7y believed to have been

made by Oswaldy two calls mar?- hy Silvia Duran from the

Cuban Consulate to the Sovi : Consulate, and one call from

the Soviet Embassy to the Cuban Elbassya made by an uni-

dentified caller (Cite SalwsOn ... uf Apied 41, 1004.),

on september 28 the

operation recorded a

call by Silvia Duran at thè Cuban Consulate to the Soviet

Consulate. (Cite.)

On October 1

the

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

with

the

two conversations that

transpired between the Cuban President Dortic&Sand the

Cuban Ambassador to Mexico, Armas. These conversations

concerned Silvia Duran's arrest, whether Oswald had been

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CIA MAS NO OBJECTION TO

DECLASSIFICATON AND/OH

POOLSTENT

HELCASCOF MIS

- 2

as relicter

offered money while at the Cuban Embassypand the general

state of affairs at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City

following the assassination. (Slawson memo of April 22,

1964,

pp. 45-46).

The Committee's

review of CIA files •

corro-

borateen of slawson's monorantum ne thi

provided to and reviewed by the

commissior.

CIA document,

supportin setaid meterd titled "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 includedthree of the

conversations

September 27 listed above, one call of

September 28, two calls of October 1, and one call of

cheat

October

document

While this does not correspond to the listing of

set forth

by Slawson, it does independently establish

X 8ñ November 22, 1963 were shown to

the Warren Commission.

In addition, this document corroborates the showing

of the two Dorticas-Armas conversation of November 26,

1964

the Warren Commission

The Committee has queried former Commission and CIA

representatives in an effort to determine if a transcript

of the Calderon conversation was ever shyon to the warren

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CIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO

DECLASSIFICATION AND/OR

RELEASE OF THIS DOCUMENT

- 3-

Commission. The response an 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.

The, the available evidence supports the conclu-

sion that the Warren Commission was never given the informa-

tion of 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

given more serious investigative consideration to her dend

potential

Knowledge of Oswald and the Cuban governments

the possibilityof cuban knowledge about Aswald er

possible involvement in a conspiracy to assassinate President

Kennedy.

volat

(Quote Rankin on whAt

would have been done.)

Two difficult issues

remain which are raised by

the Committee's finding. First, why didn't the Agency

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-4.-

provide the Calderon conversation to the Warren Commis-

sion; secondly, why didn't the Agency reveal to the War-

ren Commission their 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 could have also been withheld deliberately

has toeen unable toes

adetinitive

*2g, on tie on t a one too dan state, nonevor, that

Calderon

acecer

whatever the truth may be, the conversation did belse

e and the transgiprt was not provided the warren com-

mission.

s for the question surround

• 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-

cantly, the May 8 memorandum written by dau

Joseph tangosen

following his debriefingof AMMUG-1 indicated that AMMUG-1

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OSCLASSISIOSZIORE ANIMORT

MELEASE OF TH

as renacles

- 5 -

Calderon

and a second Cuban Intelligence officer believed Fix 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. for It wour daul

demonstratedthat a CIA operative,

well placed in the Cuban Embassy, may have possessed in-

formation prior to the assassination regarding Oswald

and/or his relationship to Cuban Intelligenceservice

"and that

Services possible involvement in a conspiracy to assassinate

President Kennedy•

Regarding

possible association with the CIA,

the Countutco has exatined calderonta file. Amate too Azan,

files reveare

reveale 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

If (CIA asset) can further

identify the sister, our domestic exploita-

tion section might be in a position to follow

up on this lead...Please levy the requirement

on (CIA asset) at the next opportunity.•

1935, Sept. 1, 1963)

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DEOLASSS147

TON ANDOR

RELESSE OF

CUDENT

-6-

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--

of her mother may make the trip--details

not clear.

1849, July 31, 1965)

At the very least, the above dispatched evidenced

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-

tacted by the CIA's "domestic exploitation section.".

David Ronis, the dispatch's author, 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 with responsible for recruitment and handling

of

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

of tea

or leads on various persons. Ause he would receive no

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CIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO

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RELEASE OF THIS DOCUMENT

-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; d

Interview of August_, Piccolo, Interview of_)

Thus, the AgencysfilenCalderon

and the testimony of former

have

between

CIA employees revealeno connection t Calderon

do the

Yet, as indicated earlier, this

5 Calderon's

kercryptic remarks following the assassination of President

Kennedy.

HIH

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