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2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992

SCORET

14 January 1977

MEMORANDUM

SUBJECT: Jose Ricardo RABEL Nunez (AMLEO-3) (201-249386)

1. Born 7 April 1922 in Havana, Cuba, the son of a

native-born American citizen, RABEL was brought up in comfor-

table circumstances. He attended high school in Cuba, com-

pleted the last year in New Orleans, Louisiana, and entered

Tulane University in September 1938. He enlisted in the U.s.

Army in December 1940 and eventually saw combat in France,

Belgium, Germany and Austria. After discharge in December 1945,

RABEL returned to Cuba to attend the University of Havana

and this began a life of job changes, moving back and forth

between the U.S. and Cuba, and, in general, rootless living.

2. RABEL's background reads like that of a man with no

allegiances.or loyalties and no particular goals. Viewed in

retrospect, his career presents a picture of unreliability.

It is probable that RABEL's rootlessness and apparent

unreliability applied both to his relations with CASTRO and to

those with the Agency. It is quite possible, therefore, that

he not only served the Agency in a superficial way but that

he did the same for CASTRO at various times when it suited his

purposes. Without postulating this sort of dual role (one

which fits very well with his previous life) it is almost

impossible to explain some of the reasonably good things he

did for the Agency and the quite certain allegations that

he was a CASTRO agent. This explanation is not fully satis-

factory, but it does explain his career better than the charge

RETURN TO CIA

Background Use Onty

Do Not Reproduce

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that he was a CASTRO agent from the beginning. The question

that must remain unanswered is whether he betrayed the AMTRUNK

Operation. He was not arrested until September 1965 (when

AMTRUNK had already run its course) but it appears quite

certain that he cooperated with the DSE after his arrest and

while he was in prison.

3. RABEL joined in the clandestine activities against

BATISTA in March 1952, first amongst the exiles in the U.S.

and then after late 1952 from inside Cuba. He joined the

Cuban armed forces to further his plotting and was assigned

to the Cuban General Staff. He was the Cuban liaison officer

with the U.S. Army mission in Cuba from November 1954 until

April 1956. During his entire period in the Cuban army,

RABEL was involved with dissident Army elements; when they

attempted

a coup in April 1956, RABEL Was arrested. He was

released shortly thereafter, worked in the chicken business

for a year and then returned to the U.S. and worked with one of

his brothers (Luis RABEL Nunez). In October 1957 he returned

to Cuba and became involved with the 26th of July Movement

but had to leave a year later when he was brought to the

attention of the BATISTA forces because of a bomb explosion.

He smuggled weapons to Camilo Cienfuegos for about a year

and then in October 1958 he joined the Cienfuegos group.

Shortly after the CASTRO victory, CASTRO called upon RABEL to

set up a Cuban Marine Corps, a job he held until February 1960,

at which time he was appointed Chief of Viviendas Campesinas.

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He held this job until he defected to the U.S. in December

1962. It is worth noting that he rarely pursued one activity

in one place for more

than a year at a time from 1945 to

1962.

4. RABEL gave Alfonso RODRIGUEZ the following reasons

for his defection:

a. Communist pressure, hounding, and the basic

enmity of the Communist Party toward him. (This appears

very reasonable in view of his service in the U.S. Army

and training in some aspects of intelligence, such

as

prisoner interrogation. In addition, his schooling in

the U.S. and the reasonable economic circumstances would

not have been recommendations from the Communist point

of view.)

b. Strong backing by Fidel which protected him from

more serious attacks from the Party. (This, too, seems

entirely reasonable. His family farm was near the farm

Fidel's father managed and RABEL and Fidel had known each

other

as children. In addition, RABEL's long involvement

in the anti-BATISTA movement and with Camilo Cienfuegos

were probably in his

favor in CASTRO's view.)

c. An obligation

to protect the non-Communists in

his department, which prevented his earlier defection, and

uncertainty of his reception in the U.S. (In view of the

number of defections from RABEL's department, there were,

in fact, people to protect. Since RABEL had served in

the U.S. Army, and probably felt the U.S. was his second

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country, he could well have had questions about his

reception after serving in the CASTRO government.)

--d. His resentment against the confining nature of

a Communist State. (Since he never stayed in one place

more than a short time in his entire life, to have been

restricted to Cuba must have seemed a

a punishment.)

5. RABEL was used to pitch' Dr. Marta FRAYDE BarraueJin

(aris in Euly 1963, and to check out leads for the ANTRUNK

Operation. One of his leads led to the recruitment of AMTRUNK-10.

Later, in early 1964, RABEL was leader of the Rebel Army Group

supported by the American Legion in Miami and was involved in

the Rebel Army Radio program.

6. There is no specific evidence (except the accusations

below) that RABEL was involved in a suspicious way with the

CASTRO regime during this period, but his desire to exfiltrate

his wife and children was a constant source of difficulty

between him and the Station. This problem led to his eventual

termination in July 1964 and to a great deal of resentment on

his part.

He conspired constantly, from mid-1963 until his

capture in Cuba in September 1965, to get into Cuba to

exfiltrate his wife and children.

7. RABEL was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment but was

set free in July or August 1967, which is a strong indication

that the charges that he worked for the DSE while in prison

were true.

Moreover, there is some indication that he may have

attempted

a provocation at Cuban behest immediately after his

capture.

There

are two firm accusations that RABEL was a

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Cuban agent as early as July 1963 (which would have been

when he was screening names for the AMTRUNK Operation), one

from CITAMIL-9, and the other from Fernando REY reported by

[VASLOUCH-1. As mentioned above, these charges could

well

be true; yet RABEL could have fulfilled his duties for CASTRO

superficially, for his own purposes, and not necessarily

have compromised his work with the Agency until he was captured.

The difficulties he had in exfiltrating his wife could have

been, partially, punishment by CASTRO for not fulfilling his

duties as an agent; otherwise, had his work in the U.S. been

valuable, CASTRO could have facilitated the exfiltration of

RABEL's wife so that RABEL could continue his work as

an

agent undisturbed.

03

LAD/JFK Task Force 1977 (Marty Millery rp

Copy filed: 201-249386

Attachments: 4

A- 10 Feb 1964 Memo for the Record

B-. 6 Mar 1963 dispatch UFGA-7998 with Att.

C- 20 Feb 1963 cable WAVE 4730 (IN 71127)

30

Sep

1963 dispatch UFGA-11375

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