Report
Originator: FBI
Document date: 11/19/1968
Document type: Paper

## Page 1

Released under the John F. Kennedy

Assassination Records Collection Act of

992 (44 USC 2107 Note). Case#:NW

54954 Date: 11-14-2022

Date :

10/19/98

Page :

1

JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION FORM

AGENCY INFORMATION

AGENCY : INSCOM/CSF

RECORD NUMBER : 194-10003-10165

RECORDS SERIES : FOREIGN PERSONNEL AND ORGANIZATIONS

AGENCY FILE NUMBER : C8005823W

- PAGES 2679-2683

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

ORIGINATOR : FBI

FROM

TO

TITLE : REPORT

DATE

: 11/19/68

PAGES

5

SUBJECTS

: [ RESTRICTED ]

I RESTRICTED 1

ANTI-CASTRO ACTIVITIES

CEPERO, JAVIER VERNIER

DEL TORRO, FERNANDO, AKA:

RODRIGUEZ, RAMON

THE "JOHNNY EXPRESS"

ARTIME, MANUEL BUESA

DOCUMENT TYPE : PAPER,

TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

CLASSIFICATION : UNCLASSIFIED

RESTRICTIONS : 4

CURRENT STATUS : RELEASED WITH DELETIONS

DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 09/06/98

OPENING CRITERIA

: COMPLETION OF REVIEW BY FBI

COMMENTS

: COORDINATION WITH THE FBI HAS BEEN COMPLETED AND

DETERMINED TO BE RELEASE W/ RESTRICTION,

PER LTR DTD

10 SEPT 98.

NW 64954 Docld:34517435 Page 1

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## Page 2

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

C8005823

Miami,

Florida

November 19, 1968

- SECRET -

In Reply, Please Refer to

File No.

2-165

78.94

CLASSINTO BY 5668 SID/K

DECLASSIFY ON: 25X.

(JFK)

CARI

INTI

CARLOS PRIO SOCARRAS

INTERNAL SECURITY - CUBA

202264

SLOPSR 10-6-97 (JFK)

мм T-1,

another government agency which conducts

intelligence investigations, on June 4, 1968, advised CARLOS

PRIO SOCARRAS, former President of Cuba, claimed he had

given $5,000 to several Cuban exile groups in an effort to

unify

them in the objective of eliminating FIDEL CASTRO

RUZ. (8)

JAVIER CEPERO VERNIER, who fled Cuba via Guantanamo

Naval Base, arrived in Miami on

April 16, 1968. On May 2,

1968, CEPERO claimed he represented a group of

officers

and former officers of the Cuban Armed Forces, who planned

to assassinate CASTRO and then enter the mountains as

guerrillas. CEPERO and FERNANDO DEL TORRO, alias RAMON

RODRIGUEZ, who fled Cuba with CEPERO, claimed to have contacts

with members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Cuba. (S

On about May 15, 1968, a ship called "Johnny Express,"

owned by TEOFILO BABUN, left Miami and carried two men on

an infiltration mission into Oriente, Cuba.

These two men,

FERNANDO DEL TORRO and ALFREDO ISALAYA VALERO, on May 17, 1*

1968, landed in Cuba. (5)

On hay 28, 1968, ALEJANDRO BROOKS, Captain of

the "Johnny Express," gave BABUN personal documents of the

infiltrators and the exact location of the infiltration

point. ts)

On Day 20, 1968, ATON CONSTANZO PALAU, * Cuban

emigre, told BABUN that the landing had been successiu, and

that the mission would be completed by June 14, 1968, atX

- SEERET -

Group 1

| REVIEWED BY FEWJFK TASK FORCE

Excluded from automatic

ON

10/5/97 cla

downgrading and

declassification

Сору

.of.

-Copies

RELEASE IN FULL

F: RELEASE IN PART

267.9

Page.

..of

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2118340-1

I TOTAL DENIAL

902d #S-6 / 227

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## Page 3

- SECRET -

RE:

CARLOS PRIO SOCARRAS

which time the infiltrees would re-enter the United States

through the Guantanamo Naval Base.(5)

MM T-2, another government agency which conducts

intelligence investigations, on October 14, 1968, advised

that CARLOS PRIO SOCARRAS was helping in a plot proposed for

inside Cuba.

MM T-2 said that PRIO was willing to help

with money donations, but was not certain that the person

he was trying to help was really the person he previously

knew in Cuba. (4)

On October 15, 1968, MM T-3, a Cubanexile closely

associated with Cuban revolutionary matters in Miami, advised

that PRIO continues to be in the construction business in

Puerto Rico, but also maintains a residence in Miami.

PRIO is a former law partner of MIGUEL SAN PEDRO, Second

in Charge of the Cuban Nationalist Movement (CN™), an

anti-CASTRO organization in Miami.

Although PRIO

and

SAN PEDRO are close personal friends, PRIO refused to

make a $3,000 donation to SAN PEDRO's organization.

MM T-3 explained that PRIO has been contacted by

a majority of the anti-CASTRO organizations in Miami, but

has not donated money to them for the past two years.

On October 22, 1968, the records of the Immigzation

and Naturalization Service (INS), Miami, Florida, reflected

that JAVIER CEPERO VERNIER, Alien Registration #A17 698 493,

born June 18, 1941 in Cuba, single, and a student, claimed

be was in Jail in Cuba from 1961 to 1966,

and formerly

resided at Reparto Fontanar, Avenue #183, 8813, Havana,

Cuba.

CEPERO entered the United States on April 16,

1968, and listed his address as in care of Mr. WILLIAM KAYRUZ,

3495 Broadway, Apartment #94, New York City, New York.

INS

records reflected CEPERO's present address in Miami was

unknown.

2.

- SECRET -

2680

Copy.

Page-

01.

.Copies

-Pages

NW 64954 Docld:34517435 Page 3

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## Page 4

- SECRET -

RE:

CARLOS PRIO SOCARRAS

On November 12, 1968,

MANUEL ARTIME BUESA, Head

of the Movimiento de Recuperacion Revolucionaria MRR -

Revolutionary Recovery Movement), advised PRIO is not

active in Cuban revolutionary matters, but has given some

money donations to several anti-CASTRO organizations in

Miami.

ARTIME said that PRIO's donations have generally

been to Spanish-language newspapers in the Miami area for

the purpose of obtaining favorable press publicity.

MM T-4, who has been involved in Cuban revolutionary

matters for the past several years, on November 12, 1968,

advised ATON CONSTANZO PALAU, exile activist in Miami, is

not liked by MANUEL ARTIME BUESA, because a fewjears ago he

stole some military equipment from ARTIME'S warehouse in

Hialeah, Florida.

On November 8, 1968, CONSTANZO sent one of his

associates to tell ARTIME that AMOCHE MOSQUERA, also known

as YARAY, infiltrated into Oriente Province, Cuba, with nine

men.

About one week ago, (first name unknown) CEPERO left

Cuba via Guantanamo Naval Base, and on arrival in Miami,

requested ARTIME be contacted

and asked for arms to be

sent to YARAY. Thereafter, CEPERO left Miami and presumably

went to Chicago, Illinois.

ARTIME replied he knew YARAY, in that they had

both been in a camp in CentralAmerica together, and ARTIME

considered him an expert in guerrilla warfare.

ARTIME said

he would be willing to make arms available for delivery to

YARAY.

ARTIME said he would leave Miami on about November 12,

1968, to go to Nicaragua to obtain arms and arrange delivery

of them to CBBERO, so that they could be taken to YARAY.

3.

- SECRET

2681

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Page..

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2.

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## Page 5

- SECRET -

RE: :

CARLOS PRIO SOCARRAS

ARTINE stated that the only condition he would demand

was

that arms would go to Cuba and not to Miami. He said he

would be willing to supply anyguerrilla band in Cuba after

February 1, 1969, and claimed he, himself, had a base near

Oriente Province, Cuba.

CONSTANZO's representative interpreted this

as meaning that perhaps ARTIME has a base in Haiti.

CONSTANZO said he had an appointment to see

CARLOS PRIO at 6:00 PM in Miami on November 12, 1968.

MM. T-4 felt that CONSTANZO would seek financial aid from

PRIO:

MM T-4 explained that CONSTANZO is generally

considered untrustworthy, unreliable, unscrupulous, and

is attempting

to obtain arms from ARTIME for CONSTANZO's

personal benefit and use.

CONSTANZO indicated he had no

intention of delivering these arms to CEPERO.

PROPERTY OF FBI - This document contains neither

recommendations nor conclusions of the FBI. It is the

property of the FBI and is loaned to your agency; it and

its contents are not to be distributed outsid your agency.

4.*

- SECRET -

2532

Copy

Foge.

-0f

-Copies

NW 64954 Docld:34517435 Page 5

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## Page 6

FD 323"

(Rev. 11-29-61)

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

Miami, Florida

November 19, 1968

In Reply, Please Refer to

File No.

2-165

T1tle

CARLOS PRIO SOCARRAS

Character

Reference

INTERNAL SECURITY - CUBA •

Memorandum, dated

and captioned

as above, at Miami, Florida.

All sources (except any listed below) whose identities

are concealed in referenced communication have furnished reliable

information in the past.

2683

This document contains neither recommendations nor conclusions of the FBI.

of the FBI and is loaned to your agency; it and its contents are not to

It is the property

be distributed outside

your agency.

NW 64954 Docld:34517435 Page 6

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