MF: 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-32390607

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Date: 02/12/05

JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION FORM

AGENCY INFORMATION

AGENCY : CIA

RECORD NUMBER : 104-10408-10411

RECORD

SERIES

:

JFK

AGENCY FILE NUMBER : RUSS HOLMES WORK FILE

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

AGENCY ORIGINATOR : CIA

FROM : C/LA/MEXICO

TO : LA/EICO

TITLE : MF: REVIEW OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD 201 FILE FOR FREEDOM

OF INFORMATION REQUEST.

DATE

07/31/1975

PAGES :

2

SUBJECTS: DURAN,

SYLVIA

DOCUMENT TYPE

PAPER

CLASSIFICATION

SECRET

RESTRICTIONS

1B

CURRENT STATUS

: RELEASED IN PART PUBLIC - RELEASED WITH DELETIONS

DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 11/24/98

COMMENTS

JFK-RH04 : F108-IV : 1998.11.24.15:51:04:293108

Heleased under the John F. Kennedy

Assassination Records Collection act ol

1992 (44 USC 2107 Note]. Case#:Nvy

65990 Date: 11-01-2021

[R]

- ITEM IS RESTRICTED

104-10408-10411

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XAAZ- 36409

•31 July 1975

MEMORANDUM FOR:

LA/EICO

Mr. William Sturbitts

SUBJECT

Review of Lee

Harvey OSWALD 201 File

for Freedom of Information Request

for FOlA Review on

Document Number

REFERENCE

Request Number 75-105, 2 June 1975

NOV

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

1976

has been completed by the Mexican

Branch in connection with

1186-999

reference Freedom of Information request.

information contained in the file that pertains to Mexico

came from sensitive sources and methods,

such as photo

surveillance, bilateral teltap)and mail

intercept

Although the mail intercept and photo

surveillance activities have been dicontinued, the fact

that they were in operation in Mexico continues to be

TRAVEL PROGRAM

considered sensitive.

(The bilateral teltap is still

E ESSTRAGT

active, and, therefore, is sensitive?

KRECARE FOR FAMING

2.. The Mexican information reviewed covered

three

(C5 P5. (2, 5)

KOH COI DO

areas:

Sylvia DURAN Tirado.

A Mexican female

employed by the Cuban Embassy

Mexico who provided

assistance to OSWALD in his attempts to obtain a Cuban

Information regarding DURAN appears

in the Warren

Report, however, it is not attributed

"The Government of Mexico (GOll) did arrest and interrogate

DURAN re her connection with OSWALD, and

a copy of

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 Goll's and

Agency's attention Gia the

bilateral teltap, all mention

of. Agency knowledge or

participation in DURAN's arrest and subsequent interrogation

marked for non-release.

Photo of unidentified man

taken in front of

the Soviet Embassy in lexico.

Station Mexico photo surveIlance of the Soviet Embassy

during the month of October 1963.

When news of the

carrest of OSWALD as Kennedy's. assassin became known,

the Station immediately forwaided copies of the photo

sto 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 OSKALD

tact had been taken after he had departed Mexico.

S00 0UO0.8

20 Soptember thru 3 October 1963.

though the phots was

not of OswalD it had been shown

to OSWAlD's wile and mother, with the background partially

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XAA8-36409

cropped in an

eriort to disguise the place

where

photo had been

taken.

The photo became somewhat

of an

issue when the Warren Commission decided it belouged

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

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

but

erroneously

front of

photo ine Cuban Embassy

said it had been taken in

Still,

the Agency has not revealed the actual location, only

saying it was taken somewhere outside the U.s.

All

mention of the photo has therefore been marked to be

withheld, because of sensitive sources and

methods

involved.

Gilberto ALVARADO Ugarte.

ALVARADO, a

Nicaraguan citizen,

walked in to the U.S. Embassy

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

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,

determined that ALVARADO had been fabricating a story claiming

he had seen OSHALD receive money from a Cuban official at

the Cuban Embassy in Mexico.

The ALVARADO story appears

in the Warren Report but it

does not reveal his

identity.

order to continue to protect ALVARADO and the Nicaraguan

government from

possible enbarrassment all mention

ALVARADO has been marked for

non-release.

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 atachments.)

During the review,

it was necessary several times to

refer to the Warren Report

exactly what was already known about the Mexican aspect of the

It is doubtful that the other branches will find this

necessary, but in

case they do, the Warren Report is held

the Library.

Jack Mathews

C/ LA/ Mexico

201-0289248

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