FOREIGN POLITICAL MATTERS - CUBA
Agency: SSCIA
Originator: FBI
From: SAC, MIAMI
To: DIRECTOR, FBI
Document date: 4/6/64
Document type: PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION FORM

AGENCY INFORMATION

AGENCY : SSCIA

RECORD NUMBER : 157-10004-10241

RECORDS SERIES:

CABLE

AGENCY FILE NUMBER : 109-12-210

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

ORIGINATOR : FBI

FROM : SAC, MIAMI

TO : DIRECTOR, FBI

TITLE :

FOREIGN POLITICAL MATTERS - CUBA

DATE : 04/06/64

PAGES : 9

SUBJECTS :

FOREIGN POLITICAL MATTERS - CUBA

CUBA EXILES

HUMBOLDT INCIDENT #7

DOCUMENT TYPE : PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

CLASSIFICATION : U

RESTRICTIONS : 1B, 2, 4, DONOR REST., REFERRED

CURRENT STATUS : X

DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 09/01/94

OPENING CRITERIA :

COMMENTS :

[R] - ITEM IS RESTRICTED

HH 54653

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Date: 09/01/94

Page: 1

Released under the John F. Kennedy

Assassination Records Collection

Act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Note).

Case#:NW 54653 Date: 10-23-2017

CIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO

DECLASSIFICATION AND/OR

RELEASE OF THIS DOCUMENT

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TO

SUBJECT:

пр

OrTATIAL FINIM NO.10

GSA GLM, ALÚ 1ND. :9

UNITED STATIO

N:81

LIVE CONFIDENTIAL

Dircctc:, FBI (109-12-210)

'7) (P)

• FOREIGN

POL

IT

CIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO

DECLASSIFICATION AND/OR

CAL

12.

•ETER

RECASE OF HIS DOCUMENT

2/23/98

'CIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO

DECLASSIMGATION AND/OR

RELEASE OF CIA IFORMATION

IN ThiS DOGUEENi. GMB Z249y

DATE:

APR 6 1954

ALL INFORMACION CONTAINED

HEROIN IS UNGLASSTETED

0TH22: 853

noumn jau

...

not me.

Transmitted herewith are 9 copies of LIM

dated ard captioned as above.

REVIEWED BY FBI/JFK TASK FORCE?

sinisiate

37. ON 8123/94 00

musucop siut

ul policie

1a1 I-2 is e

Ato

PEASE NELLI

RELEASE IN PART

• TOTAL DENIAL

advised SA ED:IN L. SunSI that he was

PA14: 900.

"in iner"s at Humbolcü 17 at the time

the attenge

i was made to arrest the young revolutionaries,

Land tinat all of them were armed and were firing on the

1011

1ox0OsIp 0d

police when they were killed.

10; CIA/State/RAO MUSIA

This information and meno are submitted to

ONI/OSI/ACSI

the Bureau at this time because in addition to con-

stant broadcasts from Cuba and news repunes appearing in

slip for

the Cuban nerspapers coming out of Cuba. Ene local liani

papeis are offering numerous possible oujectives of the

trial and the maiter of the trial is a main diet of con

routing

versation in the Cuban exile.colony in Miami. It is

felt that an analaysis.

at this time of the ‚ossible

All Copy.

Date.

outcone of the trial, as viewed by three Cuban experts

onathe natter, may be of interest to the Bureau and to

other branches of the United

I''CLOSURE

States governmenc.

Copjes are disseminated locally due to the

interest of INS and CI.

1c/1444

Bureau (Encls:" 9) (2)!

NOT I

(2-105-3747

(1-

/ ENCLOSUIL

7|:

(1=

+ 1 2

(1-100-13077)

RECEIP

7) 1B

2,4.

NAT.

HH 54653 DocId: 32202130 Page 2

CONFIDENTIAL

3/2/94

Classified by O5RmB/GCe

Declassifv on DADF(IF)

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In Reply, Ploase Refer 10

File No. 105-1747

• UNID STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

Miam1, Florida

RE:

FOREIGN POLITICAL MATTERS - CUBA

(Humboldt #7 Incident)

Present Publicity

Radio broadcasts emanating from Havana, Cuba, heard

clearly in Miam, Florida, and Cuban newspapers

"Revolucion"

-..and.

"Hoy", both under the direction and control of the Cuban

Government, have been devoting lengthy newscasts and news

reports to a trial presently being conducted in Havana, Cuba.

The trial involves the events leading up to the

palice action at Calle Humboldt 47, Hakana, on April 20,

1957, which resulted in the deaths of Fructuoso Rodriguez,

Joe Westbrook, Juan Pedro Carbo Servia, and Jose Machado

Rodriguez, during which period Fulgencio Batista was President

of. Cuba.

All Cuban newspapers in Cuba, since Fidel Castro's

Cuban police sources, some of whom actually participated in

the action at Humboldt 47, who stoutly maintain that those

killed were wild radicals, all armed, who refused to surrender

to the police upon demand. There were, and continue to be,

many. charges and counter-charges regarding the identity of the

Informant on informants who told the police, that the students

*were hiding at Humboldt 47.

Castro'& Interest 18 Not Justice

Knowledgeable Cübans, Identified below, declare that

Pidal Castro bas no Interest in Justice, or In the merits of

...the case at all; that as a matter of fact, the four atudent

This document is prepared in'"ésponse to your remes PaCE MED a ERE"

nation cutside pour Commier,

your Committco and do con' mi meani be disciosed io uncidporizergerson

nel without the express approvül of the FEl.

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Re: Foreign Political Matters - Cuba

revolutionaries killed were not in favor of Castro as a

leader and he either held them in very low estimate or

actually regarded them as rivals for favor and publicity.

It appears further, according to these sources,

undoubtedly to be true that Castro loaths and despises Major.

Cir: Rolando. Cubela, the first leader of the Federacion de Estud-

-lantes Universitarios (Federation of University Students -

FEU) and Faure Chomon, Castro's former Ambassador to Russia,

now Minister of Communications; however, Castro now allegedly

sees a chance to use Chomon to direct attention to himself,

grow still stronger in the ranks of the Communist Party (CP), .

and uphold his popularity with his Cuban supporters.

Stage Setting for Retrial of Informant

4

• A.

1964.

Page one announces that the death penalty was given

to Marcos Rodriguez Alfonso for informing on his comrades on

April 20, 1957. He allegedly confessed he had notified

"Batistan" Esteban Ventura Novo that the revolutionaries were

meeting at Humboldt #7, and in the ensuing raid the above

four young revolutionaries were killed.

One of the most important witnesses for the prose-

cution wee-faure Chomon, who told the court about the low

moral character of the defendant and agreed with other wit-

nesses that the defendant had long been suspected of being

the laformer.

Radio Progreso in 1ts newscast of March 21, 1964,

quoted a letter from Prime Ministar Fidel Castro to Blas

Roca, one of the "old guard" leaders of the CP, and presently

2.

RECT T

-wif

1976

jui

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Re: . Foreign Political Mattars - Cuba

Director of "Hoy", which has long been the official orgen of

the Cuban CP. In this letter Castro pointed out there 18

•some confusion concerning the trial of Marcos Rodriguez, ard

some "intriguers" who are trying to make capital of it. He

stated some people are "so brazen as to insinuate that the

revolution is afraid to make the whole trtal public."

He

said the statement of Conrade Faure Chomon at the trial did

not appear in its entirety, but only sketchy parts of 1t,

and this has delighted certain elements. who do not have the

slightest concern for truth themselves, elements described

by Castro as not being "honest revolutionaries".

Castro concluded the letter by instructing Blas

Roca to publish Faure Chomon's whole testimony, and declared

he was ordering the trial to be reopened and to be made

public.

Radio Rebelde at 1:00 P.M. on the same date, March

21, 1964, gave a detailed sumary of Faure Chomon's testinony

at the trial.

Chomon pointed out that Rodriguez had long been a

suspect, that he had large sums of money, and had paid for

his own trip to Brazil and Costa Rica.

chomon noted that

¡that. Marcos Rodriguez had succeeded in getting a scholarship

to go to Prague, where he was arrested and returned to Cuba

as a possible agent of CIA, and it was after this that Marcos

Chomon read a letter which the defendant sent to

ordoqui, in which he explained that his mission was

to do Intelligence work for the Revolutionary Directory.

end leader of did aloo lose bar ban an ad suard ember

• ie 1a supposedly in charge of the

RECENSE

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Re: Foreign Political Mattaro - Cuba

training of the military and guerilla tactics in the militia

under the present set-up of the Cuban CP which is known as

the PURS (United Party of the Socialist Revolution).

AIP (Agencia de Informaciones Periodisticas - Agency

of Newspaper Reporters) for March 16, 1964, noted that there

had been considerable discussion about the difficulties be-

tween Carlos Rafael Rodriguez, Minister of the National Insti-

¡ a meeting in the Palace, Castro stated "Che" deserved the

very high title of "Worker of the Vanguard", a statement In-

espritart to wean a pat on the back for the Argentine communist

:and an indication of which side Fidel Castro favors.

AIP further noted that the creation of the Ministry

of Industries, and the appointment of "Che" to direct it,

took away soue of the power of INRA, headed by Carlos Rafael

Rodilguez.

Possible Consequences of the TIlal

MM I-1 stated on March 27, 1964, that since Pidel

Castro 1s not actually Interested in justice or in who in-

formed on whom in the matter of the Humboldt #7 affair, he

believes a power struggle is in order in Cuba which may not

have any..great significance, or which may touch off a large-

scale removal from power of certain old line communist

members.

24

Conte car top tests, l wist ye, leases un

October, 1963, that Raul Boa Houri, Cuban Ambassador to

Brazil, and son of Cuba's Minister of Foreign Relations,

RECE! -

•J.*

-"1

1376

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Re:

Foreign Political Matters

• CUBA

• : •/•:

RaulyRoa, Garcia, had stated that a movement would begin in

Cuba in the not too distant future which would not be an

actual purge in the sense of putting leading old line members

of the CP to death, but which would remove them from posts

of responsibility and gradually reduce them to positions of

less and less importance.

MM T-2 stated on March 30, 1964, that Castro's

action in demanding this retrial cannot be imagined by any-

one familiar with Castro or with Cuban politics, as being

evidence of an interest in justice, MM T-2 stated that Castro

actually loaths and despises Faure Chomon.

want de recalled that Faure Chomon withheld fron

the new Castro government a large amount of ammunition and

guns immediately after January 1, 1959. It was his possession

of these weapons which led to Castro's now famous slogen, :

"Armas, para que?" (Arms, for what?) He made Chomon turn in

his arms and allegedly sent him to Moscow for two reasons.

One reason was that he had promised Chomon, when fighting in

the mountains, that if and when Cuba established relations

w1th Russia, -Chomon would be Cuba's first Ambassador to

•Russia. The second reason allegedly was to get rid of Choron.

MM I-2 stated that Castro also has nothing but dia-

dain and contempt for Major Rolando Cubela. It is, of course,

a matter of common knowledge that chomon and Cubela are

Widely regarded, by Cubans in a position to known) them well,

as perverts apd as having no real moral or political scruples.

MM I-2 stated Ordogui has been naming some of his

political cronies to important positions in the PURS, which

sould correspond to Commissars in the Soviet Union.

While

he 1s only. an old man, MM I-2 stated that Ordoqui has been

growing in stature, to the annoyance of Fidel Castro.

5

RECT

ii.'

cr.-

1979

DU:

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Re: Foreign Folitical Matters - Cuba

MM I-2 concluded that ordoqui may now be reduced

greatly in importance. Fidel Castro may use the trial as

& springboard to show that other people guessed wrong and

that the "old guard" of the CP, Including Carlos Rafael

Rodriguez, mide some serious mistakes, since the informer,

•Marcos Rodriguez, admittedly was a member of the Cuban

Communist Youth Movement for many years and even enjoyed a

position of confidence among old Cuban Coumunist leaders.

MM T-2 stated Carlos Rafael Rodiiguez may again be reduced in

Importance, as well as Edith suchaca, also a Communist Party Cel.

• leader, former wife of Carlóa Rafaél Rodriguez, who is

presently married to communiet leadey Joaquin ardoge:

MM I-2 sald that no American observer should be

Illuded that this indicates any kiad of break between Fidel

Castro and the CP. It is merely to show: (1) that Fidel

Castro is still the "maximum leader" of the Cuban revolution

ard the Cuban people; and (2) that while those downgraded

are communists, he will direct all of his energies and

speeches to showing they aze bad communists who have made

- serious mistakes and errors in judgment. MM I-2 concluded

that in all probability those downgraded for mistakes and

errors in judgment, since they are in no position to defy

Fidel Castro, can-expect no backing from their Russian

_masters. - -

2,4

MM T-3,

Meet an doug penn a wrong ti, stated on March 30,

1964, that It'Is a well known fact that Faure Chomon and

Rolando Cubela, both fest friends and degenerate perverts,

were part-time. Informers of the Cuban police. According to

-his Information, they each received part of the money which

1a8. Pala to marcoa Armando sodriguez alionso, the one who

they cach

allegedly gave the information directly to Venture Novo.

.

REU..

FROM

1976

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Re: Foreign Political Matters - Cuba

According to MMI-3, it 18 not even a secret, but

18 generally known, especially to Cuban revolutionary leaders

Ilke Fidel Castro, that Chomon and Cubela were unscrupulous,

conniving informers, who many times played both sides against

the middle. He therefore agreed with the other Cuban sources

above to the extent that Castro is not interested in the cause

of justice, but is intereated in turning this case into a

powerful political weapon for his personal aggrandizement,

and in order to weed out certain individuals he considers to

be a hindrance ta his progress and to his control over the

In their judgment in the past.

This document contains neither recomendations nor conclusions

of the FBI. It 1s the property of the FBI and is loaned to

your agency; it and its contents are not to be distributed

• outside your agency.

8*

REGE * FROM

.. 1976

JOJ

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+0.J211H97.

• 1.29.:11

In Reply, Placee Rejor ta

File No.

UNITED STATES DEPARTLENT OF JUSTICE

FEDERAL BURGLO CZINVESTIGATION

Miami, Florida

Title FOREIGN POLITICAL MATTERS - CUBA

Character

Reference memo dated and captioned as above.

All sources (except any listed below) whose identities

are concealed in referenced communication have furnished reliable

• information in the past.

=

RECEIVED FRO?.

1.n • 1976

Đ0:

Ala document contane nolther recommendatione aor conclusions of lhe FBI. It la the propor

I (he FBI and la loaned lo your agoncy; Il and lla contents are nol lo be diatributed autoidi

your agoacy.

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