BIOGRAPHY
Agency: HSCA
Originator: HSCA
From: CIA
Document date: 00/00/0000
Document type: PAPER-TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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180-10142-10304

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Biography

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as sedacted

Elena Garro de Paz was born of Spanish parents in

Puebla, Mexico on December 11, 1917. Ms. Garro attended

the National Autonomous University of Mexico and later

did graduate work at Berkley in California and at the

University of Paris. In 1963, Elena had long been married

to Octavio Paz, a career diplomat who is also one of

Mexico's finest poets and leading intellectuals. When

Octavio was named Mexican Ambassador to India, the couple

separated by mutual consent. Elena's daughter, also

named Elena, has always resided with her mother.

Since Elena spent seventeen years of her early

life in Europe she had a rather un-Mexican objectivity

about her native land and had a reputation for being one

if its more articulate detractors. At the same time, Elena

was considered emotionally committed to many aspects of

Mexican life and made an important contribution to its

artistic development.

In the 1960's Elena became a significant writer.

Hogar Solido, El Rey Mago, La Senora en su Balcon, Ventura

Allende, Andaise por las Ramas, Parada Empresa, and El Viaje

are plays that have had appreciative audiences in Europe,

where they were translated into German, as well as in Mexico.

Ms. Garro's short stories are collected in a volume called

La Semana de Colores. The literacy Supplement of the London

Times has called her novel, Los Recuerdos de Porvenir, "a

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splendid success."

Critics have said of her:

"For

Elena Garro, there is no frontier between reality and

fantasy; in any case, the latter is a second reality--

perhaps more intense-- to which one may penetrate without

passport or forewarning, thanks to the effectiveness of

a literature fired with passion, flavor and life."

Many

people who knew Elena have asserted that the frontier

between reality and fantasy is' also difficult for her to

distinguish in real life.

Ms. Garro, for many years, was an active worker in

€

the Confederacion Nacional Campesina (CNC), the agrarian

arm of the Partido Reformista (PRI). Because Ms. Garro

was a tireless propagandist and agitator on behalf of the

poorer Mexican peasants, she was on close personal terms

with and enjoyed the respect of peasant leaders from all

over the country.

Elena was considered a witty, urbane and opinionated

woman with an unflagging sense of humor. Her forthright

opinions and sharp wit tended on occasion to ruffle feathers

in Mexico, but her important social, literacy, and political

connections rendered her fairly immune from serious counter-

attack until 1968.

Then, Ms. Garro was forced to flee the

country with her daughter, Elenita and her sister, Deba

Guerrero de Galvan, in the midst of the student strikes.

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Before her disappearance from Mexico, Elena was

well disposed toward the United States and had been

friendly with Embassy officers.

Her broad range of signifi-

cant personal friends, the views of many important to the

American Embassy, made her a useful Embassy target. Through-

out the early 1960's she was carried as a target in the

Embassy's Youth Program.

American Embassy employees dealing with Elena

believed that despite her access to the underground happenings

in Mexico, including peasant unrest, since she had a tendency

to romanticize developments in reporting on them made it

difficult at times to determine what degree of credence

to place on what might truly be useful and concrete information.

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Elena's Story and American Government Agency Follow-up

Elena Garro de Paz' story first came to the American

intelligence agencies' attention on October 5, 1964,

eleven days after the publication of the Warren Commission

Report. The source of The Blind Memo was a Central

intelligence Agency asset known ad ErcOOKIE wx7242, p. 94,

Entry #430, CIA #721; Blind Memo dated 10/5/64, CIA #576).

The memo reported that Elena Garro de Paz, her daughter

and Deba Garro de Guerrero Galvan discussed meeting Oswald

in Mexico in the fall of 1963. The discussion was, reportedly,

sparked by the newspaper coverage given the Warren Report.

Elena and Deba are the first cousins of Horatio, Ruben

and Lynn Duran. Elena, her daughter and Deba were invited

to a "twist party" at the home of Ruben Duran. The party

was in the middle of a week in the fall of 1963. Lee Harvey

Oswald was at this party in the company of "two other

beatnik looking boys." (IBID.) The Americans remained

together the whole evening and did not dance.

When Elena

tried to talk with them, she was "shifted" to another room.

One of Elena's cousins told her at the time that he (or she)

did not know who the Americans were except that Silvia Duran

had brought them to the party.

The day after the party Elena and Deba saw the

same

three people on the Insurgentes, a main avenue in Mexico City.

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The Garro's claimed that they had recognized Oswald's

photograph when it was published after the assassination.

The arrest of Silvia Duran "underlined their certainty"

that the man had been Oswald. (IBID.)

Deba added that Lynn and one of the Duran brothers

had made trips to Texas.

She also said that, even though

they were always poor before the assassination, they were

both driving expensive new cars. A notation on the memo

says that 1/1 (LICOOKTE )

never regained contact with

Elena

Garro de Paz. (IBID.)

The LICOOKIE) meno was not in either the Elena Garro

or Lee Harvey

Oswald "p" files but in a project file. It

was found in December, 1965. See WX 7241, P. 94, CIA #721.)

A marginal notation on WX 7241 says, "Why was this not sent

to Headquarters??" (p. 87, CIA #714.)

On 10/12/64 the Chief of Covert Action, ENU Flannery,

wrote a memo for the record. (10/12/64 memo, CIA #596;

WX-7241, P. 87, CIA #714.) This memo reported that Elena

Garro de Paz had told her story to Eunice Odio who relayed

it to ErICHBORN on 10/9/61.

The story is not as detailed as the 10/5/64 version.

There is no mention of Deba Garro Guerrero Galvan.

The

story, perhaps because it is third hand, differs from the

previous story in two areas. The party was at the Cuban

Embassy

not at Ruben Duran's. Elena talked to a Cuban

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Embassy official not one of her cousins about the three

Americans.

A note,

attached to the memo, to the Chief of

Station, Winston Scott, from Flannery reads, "Do you want

me to send the gist of this to Headquarters?."

Scott

replied "Yes, but we should follow up first." Flannery

then wrote:

"Nothing further."

Scott then noted that

the memo should be filed. The file indications show that

the memo went into the Oswald "p" file and the Elena

Garro "p" file. (IBID.)

On 24 November 1964 a CIA informant reported some

information he had learned from LICHANT/1.

(Memo from

Win Scott to the Files, re: June Cobb, 11/25/64, CIA NoS.

592-593; WX-7241, P. 88, Entry #404, CIA #715.) June Cobb

is an "American Communist" who rents a room from Elena

Garro. Elena told

LICHANE/E

that she tried to talk to

Robert Kennedy when he was in Mexico because she had met

Oswald "and two friends (Cubans)" at Horacio Duran's house

at a party.

Elena also said that she had told her story

to an American official, at the Embassy, who claimed to

represent the Warren Commission. The COS noted that he had

asked the informant to get lucHant/lito pursue the story.

(IBID. )

There is no indication that cHANT/1 pursued the

story.

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On November 24, 1964 Elena and her daughter met

with Mexico City representatives of the Legal Attache's

office. They recounted the same story previously given

tO LICOOKIE

The date of the party was given

as September

30, October 1 or October 2, 1963. (FBI 105-825555 Report,

Dec. 11, 1964 entitled Lee Harvey Oswald, P.1) The agent

who wrote the report noted that the FBI investigation of

the John F. Kennedy assassination had established that Lee

Harvey Oswald had departed Mexico City by bus at 8:30 a.m.

on October 2, 1963.

Lee Harvey Oswald could not have been

identical with the American allegedly observed by Mrs. Paz

at the party if this party were held on the evening of

October 1 or October 2, 1963. (IBID. p. 3)

Elena was questioned regarding the identity of other

persons

attending the party at the Ruben Duran home who

might have been in a position to observe the three Americans.

Elena stated that in the course of the party her daughter

Hat3

met a Young man named "Alejandro" at the party and danced

with him.

He was apparently quite smitten with the

daughter and tried to call her on several occasions after

the party.

The daughter did not take the calls and as

a result "Alejandro" wrote several letters to the daughter.

Ms. Garro exhibited two of the letters, as well as a

business card which identified the young man as Ario Alejandro

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Lavagnini Stenius. (IBID)

The letter which Ms. Garro said was

the first

written by the young man to her daughter bore the date

September 1, 1963 and the Mexico City Post Office postmark

September 2, 1963.

When Ms. Garro was told this

she

commented that probably the Communists have facilities

for falsifying postcards. (IBID)

To further investigate Ms. Garro's story the Federal

Bureau interviewed Ario Alejandro Lavagnini Stenius on

November 27, 1964. (IBID.) Lavagnini recalled that there

were approximately thirty people at the Ruban Duran party,

few

of whom he knew. He recalled having met a Mexican girl

who had

recently returned from living in France. He was

unable to fix the date of the party, but felt it was

probably early in September because of a heavy rain which

occurred as they were leaving the party about 2:00 a.m.

(IBID. p. 4)

Lavagnini noted no Americans present at this party.

He was familiar with the appearance of Lee Harvey Oswald

because of publicity following the assassination of President

Kennedy but otherwise had no knowledge of him and had never

seen

him except for news photographs following the assassina-

tion, (IBID. p. 4)

There is no indication on the document that this

information was given to the Central Intelligence Agency's

Mexico City Station.

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On 12/10/65 Charles Thomas, a political officer

at the American Embassy, wrote a memorandum about a

conversation with Elena Garro de Paz. (CIA #586-587,

WX-7241 Entry No. 425, P. 91, CIA No. 718) The meeting

with Elena had been about other matters but she mentioned

knowing Oswald. Thomas noted that she was reluctant to

talk but did.

Elena's story reported here is the same, but with

noze details, as that given in the acookimo. she

said that General Clark Flores, Silvia Duran, Eusebio

Azcue, Emilio Carballido, and a Latin American Negro man

with red hair were at the party. A marginal comment by this

entry in WX-7241 says, "How did Elena know about a red-haired

Negro?"

Elena also told Thomas that she had later learned

that Silvia Duran had been "Oswald's mistress while he

was there." (A note by this entry in WX-7241 says "How

did Elena Garro know about Silvia being the mistress of

Oswald??

This is 1965. Station heard fromLTRING/3Jin

July 67; see also WX-7241, Entry 613, p. 116, CIA No. 743.)

Elena told Thomas that she and her daughter had

gone to the Cuban Embassy in November 1963. Once inside

the

gates they shouted "assasins" and other insults at

the Embassy employees. Shortly after this

incident a

friend, Manuel Calvillo, an official in the Gobernacion,

took her and her daughter to a small hotel in the center

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of Mexico City. They were kept there for eight days

under the pretext that they were in danger.

Elena

claimed to have told Calvillo that she wanted to tell

her story to the American Embassy. Calvillo dissuaded

her by telling her that the American Embassy was full

of Communist spies. Elena said that some of the other

people who had been at the party were taken to Veracruz

where they were "protected" by Governor Lopez Arias.

She said that Ruben Duran, reportedly "protected" by

General Clark Flores, was very prosperous and was driving

a big car.

The COS wrote a note on the memo which says: "What

an imagination she has!?! Should we send to Headquarters?"

The Officer replied, "Suggest sending. There have been

stories around town about all this, and Thomas is not

only person she has talked to...If memory serves me, didn't

(LICOOKIE

efer to Oswald and the local leftists and Cubans

in one of her squibs?" (CIA No. 588, note from SW to COS.)

The information in Thomas' 12/10/65 report was

cabled to CIA Headquarters (Cable from Mexico City to the

Director, Mexi 5621, date cut off my copy; CIA Nos. 584-585 .)

This cable reports that Elena is the wife of the "prominent

Mexican poet Mexican Ambassador Delhi Octavio Paz Lozano. "

(IBID.) The cable informed Headquarters of the substance

of Thomas' report including the fact that Elena claimed

that Ruben Duran later told her that he was not really a Communist

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and that killing Kennedy had been a mistake. (IBID; see

also Thomas' 12/10 report.)

The cable said that Elena's

story would be chaoked with remiNin

against the pro-

duction from the Cuban surveillance operation "and other

sources."

(IBID.)

Scott wrote, next to the routing

indications on the cable, "Please ask Charles Thomas

if he'll "follow-up".

Get questions from Anne G. Please

let's discuss. Thanks."

After the December 10 memorandum/conversations

Winston Scott (Chief/Station) and Nathan Ferris (Legal

Attache) called C. Thomas for a meeting. They asked him

to get

more detailed replay of Ms. Garro's story. At

this meeting

Winston Scott made it clear that the FBI

had full responsibility for any further investigation in

the Oswald case. (State Dept: letter from Charles Thomas

to William P. Rogers, July 25, 1969, JFK DOC. #

Thomas met with Elena again on December 25, 1965.

The same date he wrote a memorandum of conversation which

provided a much more detailed and accurate restatement of

Ms. Garro's alleged encounter with Lee Harvey Oswald and

subsequent developments. (CIA Nos. 580-583; WX-7241, Entry

#427, p. 92, CIA #719)

Elena admitted that she had spoken to two men at

the Embassy "(presumably from the Legal Attache's Office)."

She said that she did not tell them the whole story

because "the Embassy officers did not give much credence

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to anything she and Elenita said" (Ibid.)

She stated that the party had been at Ruben Duran's

home.

She was unclear about the date of the party. It

was a few days before the Soviet Astronaut, Gagarin,

visited Mexico; she thought that this would put the party

around September 2 or 3, 1963. She believed that the party

was on a Monday or Tuesday because it was an odd night for

a party. The memo noted that September 1 and 2 were

indeed a Monday and Tuesday. Elena could not check her

calender to refresh her memory at the time of the interview

because the calender was in a desk that had been stored

away.

During the conversation Elena described Oswald

and his companions.

The man who she thought was Oswald

wore a black

sweater. She said he was quiet "and stared a

lot at the floor."

One of his companions "was very tall

and slender and had long blond hair which hung across his

forehead. He had a

gaunt face and a rather long protruding

chin."

The other companion was also tall, with short,

light brown hair and no really distinguishing characteristics.

The three Americans did not dance or mix with the other

guests.

Elena saw the same three men on the street the

next day. (IBID.)

Elena was certain that Eusebio Azcue, Horacio Duran,

Silvia Duran, Lydia Duran, Deba Guerrero, General Clark

Flores and his mistress, a doctor from Dalinde Hospital,

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a young American couple who were honeymooning in Mexico,

and several other people were at the party. She said

that Ricardo Guerra, whom she claims converted Horatio

Duran to Communism, and his wife, Rosario Castellanos,

were supposed to be at the party but did not show up.

(IBID.)

The red-haired man and Emilio Carballido were not

at the party that Oswald attended but at another party

where Carballido and Azue got into a heated argument

about

President Kennedy. "They came to the conclusion

that the only solution was to kill him." (IBID.) Elena

was not clear on whether this party was before or after

the party where

she met Oswald.

Elena said that Carballido "is a known Castro

agent in Mexico." After the assassination he spent a year

in Cuba. He then got a job teaching at Rutgers University

through Dr. Jose Vasquez Amaral.

The incident at the Cuban Embassy, where Elena and

her daughter shouted "assassins", etc., at the Embassy

employees, occured on November 23rd at or about 3:00

p.M.

Elena and Elenita were driven to the Cuban Embassy

by Elena's brother who was embarrassed by their behavior.

This occured before they had seen photographs of Oswald.

Later that day they were visited by Manuel Calvillo

who told them that they were in serious danger from the

Communists and that he would take them to a small hotel,

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*92099

0320008

where they would be safe, for a few days.

Elena said

she trusted and believed Calvillo because he was a

known undercover agent for the Gobernacion. He was

also a friend of Noe Palomares and Gustavo Diaz Ordaz.

Calivillo also told Elena and her daughter that Silvia

Duran had been arrested.

Duran's arrest was not public

information at the time.

Elena could not remember the name of the hotel so

she took Thomas to the section of Mexico City where she

thought it was.

They found the hotel. It was the Vermont

Hotel, Calle Vermont 29. Elena said that she assumed

that Calvillo had registered them as relatives or friends.

They stayed

at the hotel until the following Friday, Nov.

30, 1963 hardly leaving their rooms.

While they were at the hotel they saw the photos

of Oswald and realized that he had been the man at Ruben

Duran's party.

When Calvillo visited them at the hotel

Elena told him that she wanted to report it to the

American Embassy. Calvillo dissuaded her by stating

that the American Embassy was full of Communists.

When

Elena returned

to her home, guards were posted outside.

After she returned home Elena saw her sister,

Deba Guerrera. Deba had also come to the same conclusion

independently of Elena.

Deba was "terrified." Approximately

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two months after the assassination two "communists" had

visited Deba and threatened

her never to reveal that

she had been to a party with Oswald. Deba, consequently,

would not accompany Elena to the American Embassy to tell

her story.

Elena said that a few days after the assassination

Emilio Carballido took the Duran's to Jalapa, Veracruz and

"kept them out of the way until the initial shock of the

assassination wore off."

Elena also said that shortly after the assassination

an American named June Cobb spent several days in her

house. Ms. Cobb had been sent to Elena by a mutual friend,

Eunice Odio. Eunice Odio was a Costa Rican who had been

Vasquez Amaral's mistress when Amaral was with the Rockefeller

Foundation. In 1965 Ms. Cobb and Ms. Odio were roommates.

While Ms. Cobb was at Elena's house she expressed an interest

in the Kennedy assassination. Deba got drunk one night

and told Ms. Cobb the entire story. Ms. Cobb wanted them

to go to the American authorities. Claiming to be a CIA

agent, Cobb advised

against going to the American Embassy.

She suggested that Elena and Deba go to Texas to tell their

story. When her suggestion was rejected, Cobb said that

she would arrange a

meeting with the CIA Station Chief.

The meeting did not occur because Ms. Cobb was asked to

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leave the Garro house; evidently because she kicked

Elena's cat.

Ruben Duran visited Elena around the end of

January, 1964.

He was worried that Oswald's visit to

his home might be discovered and that he might lose

his Mexican citizenship. Ruben told Elena that it had

been Silvia who had gotten him involved with Oswald.

Rubeh added that he was not really a communist and

had opposed the assassination.

Elena

said that she had told her story to Noe

Palomares of the Gobernacion about six months after the

assassination. He advised against going to the American

Embassy and told her that if she did anything at all

she should merely write an anonymous letter.

Elena stated that it was "common knowledge"

that Silvia had been Oswald's mistress. When asked who

could verify the allegation she could only remember one

person who had told her this. That person was Victor

Rico Galan, a "pro-Castro journalist."

During these conversations Elena also said that

she "understood" that Oswald had been in Mexico more

than once. (IBID.)

On the first page of Thomas' December 25 1965

memorandum of conversation Winston Scott wrote "Shouldn't

we send to Headquarters?"

Someone responded "Of course."

(IBID. )

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Charles Thomas wrote July 25, 1969 that "he got

no reaction from Nathan Ferris and Winston Scott" regarding

his memorandum of December 25, 1965. (State Department:

Letter from Charles Thomas to William Rogers, Secretary Of

State, July 25, 1969). Thomas wrote that Deputy Chief

of Mission, Clarence Boonstra (State Dept.) who was in

charge of Affairs at the time of the John F. Kennedy

assassination and subsequent Oswald investigation told him

that Oswald had not been in Mexico on the date given for

the party. Boonstra also stated that the informant had

changed her story. Thomas further wrote that even when

he reiterated that Elena had not changed her story but

that rather she had now given a more accurate account,

Boonstra stated that the date was wrong and dismissed

the whole affair. (IBID. P. 2) The Legat's Office in

Mexico City replied that Thomas' office had been advised

by memoranda dated December 27, 1965 and February 23, 1966

that since Elena Garro's allegations had previously been

investigated without substantiation, no further action

was being taken concerning her recent repetition of those

allegations.

The Legat's Office concluded that either the

Counselor for Political Affairs did not route the memoranda

alicias

to Charles Thomas or that

Thomas did not recall them. (FBI

Report, 9/30/69, pp. 3-4, JFK Document No.

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Subseguent to December 25, 1965, Thomas wrote in

the Dec. 25, 1965 memo that Elena

had found her calendar

and had reconstructed the date of the party as late

September not early September. When Thomas went to

Ferris' office and informed him, Ferris replied that

Elena had given the late September date when she had

originally reported her story at the American Embassy.

However, Mr. Ferris explained that someone who had been

at the party had stated that there were no Americans

there.

Mr. Ferris did not reveal that Ario Alejandro

Lavagnini Stenius Ferris had provided this information.

Mr. Ferris suggested that it was not necessary for Thomas

to pursue the matter since he considered the Oswald case

closed and had heard all the rumors before. (IBID.)

The Legal Attache, Mr. Ferris wrote in his September

30 memorandum--that he did not tell Mr. Thomas that someone

else who was at the party had stated that there were no

Americans there. (FBI Report, 9/30/69, p. 4 JFK No.

Mr. Ferris also wrote that he had told Thomas that it

would not be necessary for him to pursue the matter any

further since Elena's story had been heard before and investigated

without being substantiated.

He wrote that he told Thomas that

Elena's story was considered a closed issue not that the Oswald

case was closed. (IBID.)

That there had been no Americans at the party puzzled

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Thomas.

He had assumed that Elena could have

clearly been mistaken about the identity of the Americans

she saw there, but never doubted that she had seen some

Americans.

Thomas wrote that he had never discussed the

Oswald case with Ms. Guerrero de Galvan but that her

grown son had told him that he was convinced that his

mother had seen Lee Harvey Oswald. (State Department:

Letter from Charles Thomas to William Rogers, Secretary

of State, July 25, 1969).

On December 27, 1965 the Legal Attache wrote a

memo to the Ambassador regarding Elena. (Memo to the

Ambassador from the Legal Attache, 12/27/65, CIA #578;

WX-7241 Entry #429, P. 94, CIA #721.) This is one of

the memos the Legal Attache refers to in the Sept. 30, 1969

memo.

It reported that Elena and her daughter were inter-

viewed on 17 and 24 November 1964. The memo

said that

they furnished information similar to that in Thomas'

12/10/65 memo. The Legat memo goes on to say "Inquiries

conducted at that time, (November '64) however, failed to

substantiate the allegations made by Mrs. Garro de Paz and

her daughter.

In view of the fact that Mrs. Garro de Paz'

allegations have been previously checked out without

substantiation, no further action is being taken concerning

her recent repetition of those allegations." (IBID.)

Win

Scott wrote a note to Anne Goodpasture on this

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memo.

The note says,

"Can we send in a report to

Headquarters

'dismissing' our cable?"

responded, "done." (IBID.)

Goodpasture

The cable being dismissed is Mexi 5621 (see above).

The next entry in Oswald's Mexican file is a cable

written by Ann Goodpasture.

(Memo from Mexico City to

the Director, 12/29/65, Mexi 5741, CIA #575; WX-7241 Entry

#430, p. 94, CIA #721.) The cable reports the Legat

interview and the failure to substantiate Elena's story.

The cable promises to keep Headquarters advised if any

further information is developed. (IBID.)

In the file LICOOKIE's

10/5/64 memo is attached to

this cable. WX-7241 explains this by saying, in a

marginal comment, "This document by Licooktalwas not in

(Oswald's file), but was copied from (a project file)

and attached to Mexi 5741, 29 Dec. 65."

(IBID. )

A note attached to this cable by

Allen White stated

"I don't know what FBI did in Nov 64, but the Garro's

have been talking about this for a long time and she is

said to be extremely bright." Ann Goodpasture wrote that

the FBI had found Elena's allegations unsubstantiated but

that "we will try to confirm or refute Mrs. Garro de Paz's

information and follow up." Win Scott wrote, "She is also

'nuts'." (IBID; CIA #574)

On 1/9/66 Charles Thomas wrote another memo about

a conversation with Elena. (Memo of Conversation, 1/9/66,

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CIA #573; WX-7241, Entry #451, P. 95, CIA #722.) This

memo reported that Elena said that Victor Rico Galan had

told her that Eusebio Azue was "one of the most powerful

men in Cuba." Elena said that Azcue was a Spanish Cuban

who had fought in the Spanish Civil War and, by his own

admission, had served at that time as a French intelligence

agent.

The above mentioned memo is attached to a State

Department Memo (Memo #A-727 to Department of State from

Amembassy, Mexico, 1/22/66, CIA No. 572; WX-7241 Entry

#451, p. 95, CIA #722/) This memo reports that Victor

Rico Galan is a Spanish born Mexican journalist who has

been one "of the most prolific and ardent apologists for

Castro's Cuba in Mexico."

On February 3, 1966 Anne Goodpasture sent Thomas'

memo to the Cuban section with an attached note asking

them to check whether Elena was "seen creating such a

disturbance as they claimed in front of the Cuban

Embassy." (Note from Ann Goodpasture to "Cubans",

2/3/66, CIA No. 579; WX-7241, Entry 428, p. 94, CIA #721.)

One Cuban section officer responded, "No bells

ring with me." Another one wrote "Me neither." The

third officer wrote "No pictures either." (IBID.) There

is no indication that the penetration agents in the Cuban

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22822291

Embassy were queried about this. (IBID.) That there are

no pictures is reasonable since Elena claimed that

the

event happened: 1.) on a Saturday at 3:00 p.m. when

the Cuban Embassy was not normally photographically

surveilled; and 2.) the "disturbance" occured inside the

Cuban

compound. HSCA Examination of the CIA Cuban Embassy

photographic surveillance showed no surveillance on 11/23/63.

(Classified Summary of Staff Review of CIA Documents,

undated, P. 3, CIA #763.)

On 2/23/66 the Legal Attache wrote a memo to the

Ambassador regarding the Garros allegations. (Memo from

Legat to Ambassador, 2/23/66, CIA #571; WX-7241 Entry #455,

p. 95, CIA #722.) This memo reports that "extensive investi-

gation" failed to disclose that Oswald had traveled to

Mexico prior to September 26, 1963 and that no information

had developed that would show that he had not been in

New Orleans in the early part of that month. The memo

repeated that no further action was being taken by the

FBI because her allegations had not been substantiated.

(IBID.) A marginal comment by this entry in WX-7241 says,

"How can it be ascertained that Oswald did not travel

to Mexico prior to early Sept. 63? There must be some

basis for Elena's reporting." (IBID; referenced to

: Thomas' 12/25/65 memo.)

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On 7/13/66 Charles Thomas wrote another memo.

(Memorandum of Conversation by Charles Thomas, 7/13/66,

CIA #565; WX-7241, Entry 460, P. 96, CIA #723.)

Elena had received an invitation to visit Cuba

from Ambassador Joaquin Hernandez Armas. She gave

Thomas two letters to support the claim. She said the

letters had been delivered to her home by a driver from

the Cuban Embassy. The envelopes gave her address as

Vermont 38. Because of her stay at the Hotel Vermont

she saw the letters as a threat and was frightened.

Thomas also reported that Elena had recently run

into Lydia Duran. Elena said that Lydia was now very

poor and had a job with the Difusion Cultural at the

Anthropological Museum. (IBID.)

On 10/13/66 the Legal Attache wrote a memo to

the CIA/COS reporting that a reliable confidential

informant had reported that the records of the Hotel Vermont

disclosed that "Elena Paz, housewife from San Luis Potosi"

had registered at the Hotel Vermont on November 23, 1963.

She left on November 30, 1963. The memo said that "the

above individual may or may not be identical with Elena

Garro de Paz."

(Memo from Legat to Winston Scott, 10/13/66,

CIA No. 564; WX-7241, Entry #466, P. 98, CIA #725; Thomas'

7/13/66 memo.)

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Charles Thomas' 12/25/65 memo said, "She (Elena)

and her daughter did not personally register at the hotel.

She thinks Calvillo registered them as relatives or friends

of his from San Luis Postosi." (Memo of Conversation by

Charles Thomas, 12/25/65, p. 3, CIA #582.)

The entry for the 10/13/66 Legat memo in WX-7241

bore the notation "This is what Elena claimed and no one

would believe her."

(wX-7241, Entry, #466, P. 98, CIA #725.)

On 2/7/67 Charles Thomas wrote another memo.

(Memorandum of Conversation, 2/7/67, CIA #563.) Elena

told Thomas that Horatio Duran presently worked for Joaquin

Cisneros, the private Secretary of Mexican President Diaz

Ordaz. Elena says that Horatio Duran recently interviewed with

Cisneros to order the Gobernacion to grant an entry visa

for the son of Eusebio Azcue. (IBID.)

No further reports on Elena's story were generated

until 1969 when Charles Thomas was "selected out."

("Selected out" is a phrase used when an officer is retired

after having been in one grade for the maximum period of

• time and is not considered qualified

for promotion to a

higher grade). Then, he wrote a letter and memorandum

to the Secretary of State

saying, "Since I was the Embassy

Officer in Mexico who acquired this intelligence information,

I feel a responsibility for seeing it through to its final

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## Page 25

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Page

25

evaluation." (State Dept.: Letter from Charles Thomas to

William Rogers, Secretary of State, July 25, 1969. In the

letter, Mr. Thomas also writes, "whereas the FBI has

discounted Elena Garro's allegations, the CIA is still

considerably disturbed by them." (IBID.) The Legat's

office in response wrote that Alan white from the CIA had

indicated that he was aware of Elena's unreliability.

(FBI report, 9/30/69, p. 7, JFK Document No.

)

The Legat's office further wrote that the concept that

every person who passes on to another government agency

information relating to matters within the jurisdiction

of that agency has the responsibility and authority

to review and evaluate the action taken by that agency

is, of course, untenable. (IBID.)

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House Select Committee on Assassination

Investigation of Elena Garro's Allegations

The House Select Committee on Assassinations

investigated Elena Garro's story both through file reviews

and personal interviews.

The Committee requested and

reviewed the CIA's, FBI's and State Department: Files, when

they existed, on Elena Garro de Paz, Elenita Garro de Paz,

Manuel Calvillo, Noe W. Palomares, June Cobb Sharp,

Victor Rico Galan, Eunice Odio, Sylvia Duran, Lydia Duran,

Ruben Duran, Betty Serratos, Horatio Duran, Eusebio Azcue,

and Emilio Carballido. Only the Elena Garro de Paz file

contained information on her allegations. Though all the

names listed above played a role in Elena Garro de Paz'

story, not one of their files included a reference to

Elena Garro de Paz.

Furthermore, the House Select Committee on

Assassina-

tions requested and reviewed the Central Intelligence

Agency's (LICOOKIE I, LICHANT I, LIRING 3, LIHUFF I and

FICHBORN files. once again not one of the files included

a mention of Elena Garro's allegations. The House Select

committee on Assassinations learned that LICOOKE I was

June Cobb Sharp uho first reported Elena's allegation. (Supra p. 4)

The Committee also learned that LICHANT I.

WaS, Manuel Calvillo

who hid Elena Garro and her daughter in a hotel the day

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Page. 27

following the assassination.

(Supra p. 13) He also told Elena that

Sylvia Duran had been arrested before it was public

knowledge.

Since a file review lead nowhere, the Committee

decided to arrange interviews in Mexico with Sylvia Duran,

Elena Garro, Elenita Garro, Horacio Duran, Ruben Duran,

Lynn Duran, Emilio Carbillido and Betty Serratos.

The

Mexican Government informed us that Elena and Elenita

Garro had disappeared in 1968 during the student uprisings

and had never returned to Mexico. The officials stated

that Elena and her daughter might be in Spain. (See Mexico

City Procedural Write-up Trip 1.) Emilio Carballido

could not be found. The others were interviewed between

June 1 and June 6, 1978.

Betty Serratos, Lydia Duran, Ruben Duran, and Horatio

Duran all stated that Elena was not the dancing type and

therefore did not attend any of the twist parties at the

Duran homes.

6/6/78, •p. 6, JFK Document No.

(See: HSCA Staff Interview of Betty Serratos,

; HSCA Staff

Interview of Lydia Duran, 6/5/78, p. 6, JFK Document No.

; HSCA Staff Interview of Ruben Duran-Návarro,

6/6/78, p. 16, JFK Document No.

; HSCA Staff Inter-

view of Horatio Duran Navarro, 6/5/78, p. 25, JFK Document

No.

When Sylvia Duran was asked if Elena or Elenita Garro

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ever attended twist parties at the Duran homes, she stated

that she recalled Elena attending one twist party at

Ruben's home in 1963 when she returned to Mexico from

France.

(HSCA Staff Interview of Sylvia Triado Bazan,

6/6/70, p. 90, JFK, Document No.

• All the Durans

denied that Lee Harvey Oswald had attended any party at

one of their homes.

The Committee next asked the Central Intelligence

Agency to provide for interviews

LICHANE/1

(manuel

Calvillole LICOOKIE/A (June Cobb), along with a list of

other assets that might help clear the Lee Harvey Oswald

trip to Mexico City. (

The Agency declined to aid the Committee. (

The Committee decided to return to Mexico and

attempt to locate the individuals. The Mexican govern-

ment told the Committee that June Cobb Sharp received a

tourist permit, number 72781, on June 27, 1947 when she

entered Mexico through Nuevo Laredo She asked, but was

denied, permission to represent the magazine, Modern Mexico.

On June 21, 1948, she received a courtesy permit, number

25556. She disappeared in 1954 and never returned to

MexICO. (See Procedural Writeup Trip 2 Mexico City) The

Committee knows the information is incorrect. Ms. June

Cobb was also in Mexico from 1961 through 1966. (CIA

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Report, 1965, June Cobb File, 201 No.

The Mexican government told the Committee that

Manuel Calvillo did not live at Cuahtemoc 877-5 as the

Committee had stated. Their agent in charge had spoken

to the superintendent at the apartments for the past

twenty-five years who said that no Manuel Calvillo had

ever resided there. When Committee staffers gave the

Mexican government Calvillo's pen name, the Mexicans

gave the same answers. (See Procedural Write Mexico City

Trip 2) The Committee is quite certain that Mr. Calvillo

lives at this address since it acquired the address from

a recent CIA document. (

The Committee believes that there is a possibility

that the Mexican government received orders from the

Central Intelligence Agency (to)not aid it. (See: Procedural

WIite-Up Mexico City Trip 2). The Committee did interview

Noc W. Palomares who told the Committee that "Elena was

so brilliant that anything she imaged became real."

(See HSCA Staff Interview of Noë W. Palomares, 8/10/78, p.

1,

JFK Document NO.

The Committee made every attempt possible to locate

Elena. On July 7, 1978 a Committee staffer telephoned

her published Mortiz in Mexico City and asked about her

whereabouts...(HSCA Staff Contact Report, 7/7/78, JFK Docu-

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ment No. 10016) The publisher stated that Ms. Garro

was living in the Hotel S.A.C.E. in Madrid, Spain. The

Committee staffer telephoned the Hotel in Spain and spoke

to the manager who told him that Ms. Garro had moved out.

(HSCA Staff Contact Report, 7/7/78, JFK Document No.

On July 14, 1978 a Committee staffer recalled her publisher

who told him that he should call the Mexican Embassy

in Madrid, Spain. He stated that all her checks were .

sent there because she was so paranoid that she did not

even trust her publisher with her address. (HSCA Staff

Contact Report, 7/14/78, JFK Document No. 9950) The com-

mittee staffer called the Mexican Embassy in Madrid,

Spain and spoke to Adolfo Padilla, an employee who stated

that when Elena visited the Embassy a couple of weeks

before to pick up a check she looked financially poor.

He stated that when he asked Elena her new address she

declined to give one, stating that she would return every

few weeks to pick up checks and mail. The staffer left

the Committee's number and a message asking Elena to tele-

phone the Committee collect. (HSCA Staff Contact Report,

8/31/78, JEK Document No.

)

On September 5, 1978, Elena Garro called the

Committee staffer. When the staffer explained that the

Committee wished to talk to her in person and would pay

both her daughter's and her travel from Spain, Ms. Garro

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asked why she should believe the staffer was who he claimed.

The staffer asked Ms. Garro to call back collect in the

next few days when he could explain to her when

and

to

whom she could go in the American Embassy to pick up a

letter from the Committee explaining when and why we

wanted to see her.

(HSCA Staff Contact Report, 9/5/78,

JFK Document No.

) The letter was written and

arrangements were made with the American Embassy in Spain

so that Elena could pick up the letter. (See attached

letter: also, HSCA Staff Contact Report, 9/5/78, JFK DO-

cument No.

)

On September 7, 1978, Elena Garro called the

Committee staffer and asked when the letter would arrive.

The Committee staffer explained that the letter should

be picked

up on Monday, September 11, 1978 from George

Phelan, the Counsellor for Consular Affairs at the Ameri-

can Embassy. Ms. Garro stated that she would pick up

the

letter and follow our suggestions.

(HSCA Staff

Contact Report, 9.7/78, JFK Document No.

Ms. Garro never picked up the letter. (HSCA Staff

Contact Report, 9/15/78, JFK Document No.

The Committee, hoping she would pick up the letter before

her flight date, proceeded to purchase tickets for both

Elena and her daughter. (HSCA Staff Contact Report,

9/12/78, JEK Document No.

) Elena never picked

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up the tickets at the airport. (HSCA Staff Contact Report,

9/15/78, JFK Document No.

/ the Committee never

regained contact with her.

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Page

6

Embassy official not one of her cousins about the three

Americans.

A note, attached to the memo, to the Chief of

Station, Winston Scottimu

from Flannery reads,

"Do you want

me to send the gist of this to Headquarters?."

Scott

replied "Yes, but we should follow up first." Flannery

then wrote:

"Nothing further."

Scott then noted that

the memo should be filed. The file indications show that

the memo went into the Oswald "p" file and the Elena

Garro "p" file. (IBID.)

On 24 November 1964 a CIA informant reported some

information he had learned from

"LICHANT1

(Memo from

Win Scott to the Files, re: June Cobb, 11/25/64, CIA Nos.

592-593; WX-7241, P. 88, Entry #404, CIA #715.) June Cobb

is an "American Communist" who rents a room from Elena

Garro. Elena told

LICHANT/1

hat she tried to talk to

Robert Kennedy when he was in Mexico because she had met

Oswald "and two friends (Cubans)" at Horacio Duran's house

at a party.

Elena also said that she had told her story

to an American official,

at the Embassy, who claimed to

represent the Warren Commission.

The COS noted that he had

asked the informant to get LicHAN/lo pursue the story.

(IBID.) There is no indication that gICHANT/1 pursued the

story.

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House Select Committee on Assassination

Investigation of Elena Garro's Allegations

The House Select Committee on Assassinations

investigated Elena Garro's

story both through file reviews

and personal interviews. The Committee requested and

reviewed the CIA's, FBI's and State Department: Files, when

they existed, on Elena Garro de Paz, Elenita Garro de Paz,

Manuel Calvillo, Noe W. Palomares, June Cobb Sharp.

Victor Rico Galan, Eunice Odio, Sylvia Duran, Lydia Duran,

Ruben Duran, Betty Serratos, Horatio Duran, Eusebio Azcue,

and Emilio Carballido. Only the Elena Garro de Paz file

contained information on her allegations. Though all the

names listed above played a role in Elena Garro de Paz'

story, not one of their files included a reference to

Elena Garro de Paz.

Furthermore, the House Select Committee on Assassina-

tions requested and reviewed the Central Intelligence

Agency'sLICOOKIE I, LICHANI I, LIRING 3, LIHUFF I and

TICHBORN files.Uonce again not one of the files included

a mention of Elena Garro's allegations. The House Select

Committee on Assassinations learned that LICOOKIE I was

June Cobb sharp who first reported Elena's allegation. (supia p.

The Conmittee also learned thatLICHANT I was Manuel Calvillo

who hid Elena Garro and her daughter in a hotel the day

]

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ever attended twist parties at the Duran homes, she stated

that she recalled Elena attending one twist party at

Ruben's home in 1963 when she returned to Mexico from

France.

(HSCA Staff Interview of Sylvia Triado Bazan,

6/6/70, p. 90, JFK, Document No.

) All the Durans

denied that Lee Harvey Oswald had attended any party at

one of their homes.'

The Committee next

asked the Central Intelligence

Agency to provide for interviews

LICHANT/1 (Manuel y

Calvillo), LICOOKIE/ (June Cobb)galong with a list of

other assets that might help clear the Lee Harvey Oswald

trip to Mexico City. (

The Agency declined to aid the Committee. (

The Committee decided to return to Mexico and

attempt to locate the individuals. The Mexican govern-

ment told the Committee that June Cobb Sharp received a

tourist permit, number 72781, on June 27, 1947 when she

entered Mexico through Nuevo Laredo She asked, but was

denied, permission to represent the magazine, Modern Mexico.

On June 21, 1948, she received a courtesy permit, number

25556. She disappeared in 1954 and never returned to

Mexico. (See Procedural Writeup Trip 2 Mexico City) The

Committee knows the information is incorrect.

Ms. June

Cobb was also in Mexico from 1961 through 1966. (CIA

---