Originator: HSCA
From: CIA
Document date: 00/00/0000
Document type: NOTES

# DOCID-32271298

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v09-16-96ccr

JFK RECORDS

CrOSS

Reference:

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Status

in System:

AGENCY : HSCA

RECORD

NUMBER : 180-10141-10494

RECORD SERIES :

CIA SEGREGATED COLLECTION

AGENCY FILE NUMBER :

22-06-01

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DOCUMENT

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ORIGINATOR : HSCA

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TO

CIA

TITLE

DATE

00/00/00

PAGES

DOCUMENT TYPE

60

: NOTES

SUBJECT (S)

CLASSIFICATION

: ; DURAN, SYLVIA; CIA, FILES;

UNCLASSIFIED

RESTRICTIONS

CURRENT STATUS

POSTPONED IN PART

OF LAST REVIEW

: 08/04/95

COMMENTS

Date in: 01/26/96

IT F

FF

FFFFFF

F F

F

F

Released under the John F. Kennedy

Assassination Records Collection Act of

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

66000 Date: 11-04-2021

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c. silvi

a Duran

When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated

on November 22, 1963, the United States investigative

agencies--FBI, CIA, Secret Service, etc.--were asked to

investigate the assassination. When the Central Intelli-

gence Agency Mexico City Station learned that Lee Harvey

Oswald had visited Mexico City during late September

and early October, it reviewed the electronic surveil-

lance files and found evidence of phone calls to the

Soviet Embassy made September 27th, September 28th, and

October ist, that could have been made by Oswald. (See

Electronic Surveillance Section.) Review of the electro-

ics surveillance files also produced phone calls on

September 27, 1963 between the Russian Consul and Silvia

Duran, a secretary at the Cuban Consulate, where Oswald

appeared to have been discussed. (See Soviet Electronic

Surveillance Section.) In addition, the Mexico City Sta-

tion found a September 28, 1963 phone call from Silvia

Duran to the Soviet Consulate, where Silvia Duran stated

that there was an American citizen at the Cuban Consulate

who had previously visited the Soviet Consulate.

See

Soviet Electronic Surveillance Section.) "A final phone

call was made on October 3, 1963 where the "alleged"

Oswald identified himself was also found. (See Electronic

Surveillance Section.)

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At this point, the Mexico. City Station

determined

that it would request the Mexican government--with whom

it had a good relationship--to arrest Silvia Duran (as

Silvia Duran was a Mexican citizen, she did not have di-

plomatic immunity) because she might shed some light on

the circumstances surrounding

the assassination.

The Mexico City Station sent a note to the gober-

nacion head, Luis Echevarria, with Silvia Duran's ad-

dress, her mother's address, her brother's address, her

license plate number, her home phone number, her place

of work and a request that she be arrested immediately.

(Note to Luis Echevarria, November 23, 1963, CIA NO. 444;

Cable re Oswald-Duran, MEXI 7029, November 23, 1963, CIA

No. 441; Anne Goodpasture Chronology, WX 7241, Entry 36,

November 23, 1963, CIA No. 635.) The Mexico City Station

also suggested that Duran be held incommunicado until

she could

be questioned on the matter. (Ibid.)

The Mexico City Station did not receive prior au-

thorization from CIA Headquarters

to request the arrest

of Silvia Duran by Mexican authorities:

(See below.)

Headquarters feared that such

a request would jeopardize

the clandestine relationship between certain Mexican 9o0

vernment officials with the CIA, if it was disclosed

that Americans were behind Duran's arrest.

.:(Note written

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by Winston Scott re phone call with jack Whitten,

November 23, 1963; Chronology prepared by Anne Goodpas-

ture, WX 7241, entry 37, November 23, 1963, CIA NO. 635 .)

Jack Whitten, Chief of Western Hemisphere/3, stationed

at Langley Headquarters, telephoned Winston Scott, the

Mexico Chief of Station, requesting that Silvia Duran

not be arrested. (Ibid.) Scott

told Whitten that he

could not rescind the request and that Headquarters should

already have received a cable stating that Silvia Duran

had been arrested. (Ibid.). After Winston Scott's con-

versation with Jack Whitten, Scott called Luis Echevarria

and stated that the Mexico City Station desired that all

information received from Duran be forwarded immediately

to the Mexico City Station and that her arrest and state-

ments not be communicated to any leftist groups. (Chief

of Station phone call to Luis Echevarria, November 23,

1963, CIA No. 440; Flash Cable from Karamissines to Mexi-

co City Station, November 23, 1963, DIR 84916, CIA NO.

403), Chronology of Anne Goodpasture, entry 46, November

23, 1963, CIA No. 636.)

On November 27, 1963, the Mexican government for-

warded..to

the Mexico City Station a copy of silvia Du-

ran's ten-page signed statement.

(Blind Memo re Lee

Harvey Oswald and Silvia Duran, November 26, 1963, CIA

#473. She said, "Upon learning about the assassination

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short

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Silvia Duran and her husband speculated that President

Kennedy might have been assassinated for racial reasons.

When she became aware that the assassin was Lee Harvey

Oswald, she ascertained that it was the same man who a blonde

approximately two months prior had been to the Cuban Con-:

sulate to solicit an intransit visa to Russia. Having

taken his name from the special documentation he presented

she knew that he was married to a Russian woman and be-

longed to the "Fair Play for Cuban Committee." She

checked the data in the Consulate archvies and became

certain that it was the same individual who was blonde,

short, dressed unelegantly and whose face turned red

when angry. The Consul had denied the visa because to

obtain

an intransit visa from the Cuban government, it

was imperative that he previously obtain a visa from the

Soviet Consulate.

Since obtaining a visa from the So-

viets took four monihs and Oswald's Mexican visa expired

soon Oswald became excited and Duran had to call the Con-

sul who had an argument with him. The only aid she could

give Oswald was advising that he see the Soviet Consul,

and calling the person in charge of that office.

The

Soviet official told her that they would have to consült

Moscow which would take four months. That afternoon,

Oswald returned to the Cuban Consulate and Silvia Duran

confirmed that he could get a Cuban visa only after he

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received a Russian visa. She gave Oswald her name

and business phone number but never gave him her ad-

dress because she had no reason to give it to him.

She knew that phoning the Soviet Consulate was not one

of her duties and that if she did so she did it only

to help Oswald. She gave Oswald her business phone

number only because he would have

to call subsequently

to check whether he had obtained a visa. He never called

back."

Silvia Duran was released November 24, 1963

and rearrested November 27, 1963, when the Mexican go

vernment alleged that she was attempting to leave Mexico

for travel to Havana. (Cable from Mexico City Station

to Headquarters, November 27, 1963, MEXI 7101, CIA #493.)

According to the Mexican officials

who detained Duran a

second time, there was no addition to her story. (Cable

from Mexico City Station to Director, December 12, 1963,

MEXI 7364, CIA NO. 557-558.)

The Mexico City Station forwarded Duran's ten-page

signed statement to headquarters on November 27, 1963.

(Cable Mexico City Station to Headquarters, November 27,

1963, MEXI 7105, CIA NO. 479; Chronology of Anne Goodpasture,

November 27, 1963, entry no. 127, CIA No. 656.) The

following day Headquarters sent a clarification cable to

the Mexico City Station seeking to insure that neither

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Silvia. Duran nor the Cubans would have a basis for con-

cluding

that the Americans were behind her rearrest.

(The cable stated, "We want the

Mexican authorities to

take the responsibility for the whole affair; Cable

from Headquarters to the Mexico City Station, November

28, 1963,. DIR 85371, CIA No. 464; Chronology of Anne

Goodpasture, Nov. 28, 1963, WX 7241, entry no. 141, CIA

No. 658.)

When the Central Intelligence Agency began to

work with the Warren Commission, Headquarters cabled

the Mexico City Station that their plan in passing in-

formation to the Warren Commission was to eliminate men-

tion of telephone taps

in order to protect their con-

tinuing operations. (CIA Cable from Headguarters to

Mexico City Station, December 21, 1963, DIR 90466, CIA

No. 549; Chronology of Anne Goodpasture, December 21,

1963, Entry NO. 268, CIA NO. 682)

Headquarters cabled

that the would rely on Silvia Duran's statements and on

the Consular files which the Soviets gave the State De-

partment (Ibid.); (Headquarters stressed that exact,

detailed information from LITAMIL-7 and LITAMIL-9--pene-

tration agents in the Cuban Embassy-on what Silvia Du-

ran and other officials said about Oswald's visits and

his dealings would be valuable and usable corroborative

evidence.)

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When the Central Intelligence Agency forwarded

to the Warren Commission a copy of Duran's signed state-

ment. It read

as follows:

... she remembered... (that Lee Harvey Oswald)

was the name of an American who had come

to the Cuban Consulate to obtain a visa to

travel to Cuba in transit to Russia, the

latter part of September or the early part of

October of this year, and in support of his

application had shown his passport, in which

it was noted that he had lived in that country

for a period of three years; hs labor card

prod a three

from the same country written in the Russian

language; and letters in that same language.

He had presented evidence that he was married

to a Russian woman, and also that he was ap-

parently the leader of an organization in the

city of New Orleans called "Fair ***(Play) for

Cuba," claiming that he should be accepted as

"friend" of the Cuban Revolution.

According-

ly, the declarant, complying with her duties,

took down all of the information and completed

the

appropriate application form; and the

declarant,

admittedly exceeding her responsi-

bilities, informally telephoned the Russian con-

sulate, with the intention of doing what she

could to facilitate issuance of the Russia visa

to Lee Harvey Oswald.

However, they told her

that there would be a delay of

about four months

in processing the case, which annoyed the appli-

cant since, according to his statement, he was

in a great hurry to obtain visas that would

enable him to travel to Russia, insisting on

his right to do so in view of his background

and his loyalty and his activities in behalf of

the Cuban movement.'::The declarant was.unable

to recall accurately whether or not the appli-

cant told her he was a member of the Communist

Party, but he did say that his wife***was then

in New York City, and would follow him;***

(Senora: Duran stated) that when Oswald under-

stood that it was not possible to give him a

•Cuban visa without his first having obtained

the Russian visa, ***he became very excited or

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angry, and accordingly, the affiant called

Consul Ascue (sic), ***

(who) came out and

began a heated discussion in English with

Oswald,

that concluded by Ascue telling him

that

"if it were up to him, he would not

give him the visa," and "a

person of his

type was harming

the Cuban Revolution rather

than helping it," it being understood that

in their conversation they were talking about

the Russian Socialist Revolution and not the

Cuban.

Oswald maintained that he had two rea-

sons for requesting that his visa be issued

promptly, and they were: one, that his tourist

permit in Mexico was about to expire; and

the other, that he had to get to Russia as

quickly as possible.

Despite her annoyance,

the declarant gave Oswald a paper***in which

she put down her name, "Silvia Duran," and

the number of the telephone at the consulate,

which is "11-28-47" and the visa application

was processed anyway.

It was sent to the

Ministry of (Foreign) Relations of Cuba; from

which a routine reply was received some fif-

teen to thirty days later, approving the visa,

but on the condition that the Russian visa

be obtained first, although she does not re-

call whether or not Oswald leter telephoned

her at the Consulate number that she gave

him. (CE 2120 p. 37-40.)

The Central Intelligence Agency had relied on

Duran's statements but had delted Duran's description

of Oswald as blonde and short. (Supra.) It had also

excised Duran's statement, "The only aid she could give

Oswald was advising that he see the soviet Consul, and

calling the person in charge of that office" which

alluded to Oswald asking for some type of aid at the

Cuban Consulate. (Supra, p.

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VI. Information not available at the time of the

Warren Commission

A. Silvia Duran

1. House Select Committee on Assassinations 6/6/78

Interview of Silvia Tirado

Ms. Tirado (Duran divorced Horatio Duran in 1968)

was never questioned by American officials in 1963. Thus,

the Committee established contact with the Mexican go-.

vernment and requested that the Mexican government make

Silvia Triado available for an interview. (Letter HSCA

to Mexican government,

• JEK DOC. #

)

The Mexican government complied on 6/6/78.

Ms. Tirado

told the House Select Committee on Assassinations the

following:

Lee Harvey Oswald visited the Cuban Con-

sulate three times on September 27, 1963, not

twice as the Warren Commission previously re-

ported. (HSCA interview of Silvia Tirado, 6/6/78,

JEK DOC.

P..

Oswald first visited the

Cuban Consulate at approximately 11:00a.m.,

requesting an intransit visa to Cuba with Russia

as the final destination. (Ibid., 523-526) He

showed her some: documents, then, left to ob-

tain photographs needed for his application.

(Ibid., 523-526)

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Oswald returned at approximately 1:00

p.m. with four photographs. (Ibid., p. 526.)

Ms. Tirado typed the application in dupli-

cate, stapled a picture on top of each and

had Oswald sign each in her presence. (Ibid.r

p. 527-8.) As identification, Oswald showed

her documents he had brought: his Russian

labor card, marriage certificate with the

name of his Russian wife, his American Com-

munist Party membership card and his "Fair

Play for Cuba" membership card. (Ibid., p. 531)

Ms. Tirado found Lee Harvey Oswald's be-

havior suspicious because normally a Communist

traveled only with his passport as belonging

to the Communist Party was illegal in Mexico

in 1963. (Ibid., p. 533.)

There was a procedure whereby the American

Communist Party would arrange visa matters for

their members with the Cuban Communist Party.

(Ibid., p. 532-533.) The American would then

come to Mexico, visit the Cuban Consulate, and

receive his visa immediately: (Ibia.r p. 533.)

When Tirado asked Oswald why he did not have

the American Communist Party arrange his trip

to Cuba, he stated that he had not had the time.

(Ibia., p. 532.)

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After explaining to Oswald that he had to ac

quire a Russian visa before he could receive a Cuban

visa, Tirado jotted her name and business phone number

on a piece of paper and gave it to Oswald who then left

to get his Russian visa. (Ibid., p. 549, 534.)

Oswald returned to the Cuban Consulate between

5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., which was after normal working

hours, (10:00 to 2:00 p.m.) (Ibid., p. 543.) The guard

called Tirado, stating that someone who did not speak

Spanish was at the gate inquiring about a visa. (Ibid.,

p. 543-4.) As routine procedure, she asked the guard

to escort the individual to her office. (Ibia., p. 544.)

Oswald told her that hehad acquired a Russian visa.

(Ibid., p. 544. ) Since he did not produce it when asked

she

called th Russian Consulate. (Ibid., p. 545.) The

Consul told Duran that Oswald had been to the Consulate

requesting a visa and had been told that the reply would

take approximately four months. (Ibid., p. 545.) When

she relayed the message to Oswald, he got very excited,

insisting that as a person

who had been in jail because

of the Cuban Revolution he should receive a visa. (Ibid.,

p. 546.) Oswald stated that he could not wait that long

because his Mexican visa expired in three days. (Ibid.,

p. 546).:.

At this point, Ms. Tirado informed Consul,

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Eusibio Azcue, of the situation. (Ibid., p. 546).

Azcue had been in his private office which he

shared

with his upcoming replacement, Alfredo Mirabal. (Ibia.,

p. 546) Azcue politely explained the requisites for an

intransit visa to Oswald. (Ibid., p. 546, 554) When

he noticed that Oswald was a stubborn man he told Os-

wald that he was obviously not a friend of the Cuban

Revolution, because he would otherwise understand

that

Cuba had to be extremely careful with the people it al-

lowed in the country. (Ibid.,, p. 554) Azcue and Oswald

yelled at each other. (Ibid., p. 551) Then Azcue went

to the door, opened it and asked Oswald to leave. (Ibid.,

p. 554) Oswald did not revisit or telephone the Consu-

late. (Ibid., p. 554) Ms. Tirado described Lee Harvey

Oswald as approximately five feet six, with blonde hair,

weighing about 125 pounds, and with very little hair.

(Ibia.. p. 96)

B. The. Cubans

When Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly visited the Cuban

Consulate, Busebio Azcue Lopez, a Cuban citizen, was

the Cuban Consul. Because he had diplomatic immunity!

the Cuban government had never been asked to make him

available for questioning. (Azcue traveled from Mexico to

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Cuba on November 18.) In an effort to investigate con-

tact with the Cuban government the Committee asked the

Cuban government to make Eusebio Azcue available for

Committee and staff interviews.

(Letter from HSCA to

Cuban government,

, JEK DOC. #

) The

Cuban government complied with the Committee's request

on April 1.

During that interview Mr. Azcue alleged that the

man he saw Jack Ruby shoot at the Dallas Police Station

was not the same individual who visited the Cuban Consu-

late in 1963. (HSCA Interview of Eusebio Azcue, April 1

• pp. 12-21, JFK DOC. #

) In addition,

Mr. Azcue stated that Alfredo Mirabal, who in September

1963, had recently arrived from Cuba to assume the Con-

sul's duties, had also been present during Oswald's

visit.. (Ibid., p.

) The Committee traveled to Cuba

a second time to interview Alfredo Mirabal. (See

Cuba procedural write-up trip 2.) Subsequent to this

second trip to Havana, the Committee asked the Cuban

government to make Eusebio Azcue and Alfredo Mirabal

available for the public hearings on September 18, 1978.

(Letter HSCA to Cuban government,

JFK. DOC.

#

The Cuban government complied with the Committee's re-

quest.

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1.

Eusebio Azcue Lopez told the House Select Committee

on Assassinations at the Public Hearings on 9/18/78

the following:

An individual who gave the name Lee

Harvey Oswald visited the Cuban Consulate on

three occasions in late September and early

October. 1963. (Mr. Azcue could not pinpoint

the exact dates of the visit.) (Public Hear-

ing Testimony of Eusebio Azcue Lopez, 9/18/79,

pp. 30-31.) The individual first visited the

Cuban Consulate during workings hours, re-

questing an intransit visa to Cuba with Russia

as the final destination. The man showed the

secretary, Silvia Duran, some documents. (Com-

munist party membership card, Fair Play for

Cuba membership card, Soviet Union residence

card, marriage certificate with the name of

his Russian wife) which he believed would be

sufficient to obtain a visa. (Public Hearing

Testimony of Fusibio Azcue Lopez,

9/18/78.;

p.5-30) When the secretary would not grant

him a visa, the man asked me to see

whether

upon examination of the documents Azue could

grant him a visa: (Ibid:, p: 29-30).

Azcue

answered negatively. (Ibid., p. 30) The indi-

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vidual then left to obtain photographs needed for

his application. (Ibia., p. 20)

The man probably returned on September 27, 1963

with the photographs and completed the applications in

Ms. Duran's presence. (Ibid., p. 32) As the amount of

time required to process this document could have taken

as long as twenty days or the response could have been

negative, Azcue told the man that he could grant him

a visa to Cuba, without consulting his government, if

he had a Russian visa. (Ibid., p. 33) The individual

then left to obtain his Russian visa. (Ibid. p. 33)

After the man left the Cuban Consulate, Azcue

received a telephone call from the Soviet Consule.

(Azuce could not precise the time of the phone call.

(Public Hearing Testimony of Eusebio Azcue Lopez,

9/18/78, p. 34) The Soviet Consul explained

that the

man's documents were legitimate but that the Soviet Con-

sulate could not issue a visa until it received authori-

zation from Moscow. (Ibid. p. 35)

Emphasizing that the Cuban Consulate never re-

ceived visitors after working hours (10:00 - 2:00) Mr.

Azcue opined that the individual probably: returned to

the Consulate on September 28, 1963. (Ibid. p. 36)

When Azcue explained to Oswald that he could not grant

him a visa, the man made statements directed against

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Cuba and called Cuba a bureaucracy. (Ibid. p. 38) At

that point, Azcue became upset and asked the individual

to leave the Consulate (Ibid. p.

Oswald did not

revisit the Consulate. (Ibid. p. 38)

Mr. Azcue described the man who visited the con-

sulate as follows: a white male, between 5;6" and 5'7",

over 30 years of age, very thin long face, with straight

eyebrows

and a cold look in his eyes. (Ibia. p. 50-51)

Azcue alleged that he would never have identified Lee

Harvey Oswald as the man who visited the Cuban Consulate

in 1963.

2.

Alfredo Mirabal Diaz told the House Select Committee

on Assassinations at the public hearings, 9/18/78,

the following:

Lee Harvey Oswald, seeking a visa, visited

the Cuban Consulate twice in September 1963.

(Public Pestimony, Alfredo Mirabal Diez, 9/18/

781 P. 117)

(Mr. Mirabal could not pinpoint

the exact dates of Oswald's visit but opined

that the second visit occurred on September 27,

1963.)

Since Mirabal could not speak English

though he was the new Consul, ex-Consul Azcue

handled the matter. (Ibid. p. 117) On both

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occasions there were such loud arguments

between Oswald and Azcue that Mirabal

thought that the man's visit to the Con-

sulate could be a case of provocation.

(Ibid. p. 118)

Though Mirabal caught only glimpses

of the man, he opined that the person whose

picture appears on the Lee Harvey Oswald

visa application was the same Lee Harvey

Oswald who visited the Consulate. (Ibid. p. 120)

2.

CIA Information not available at time of Warren

Commission

a. LIRING 3 Allegation

In 1967 a report that Silvia Duran had had

intimate relations with Lee Harvey Oswald came to the

attention of the Central Intelligence Agency's Mexico

City Station. (Write-up: Wallace B. Rowton meeting with

LIRING/3, May 26, 1967) The source, LIRING 3 (an

extremely reliable source) stated that he had recently

received a call from Silvia Duran: (LIFEAT coverage

for May 22, 1967, verified the phone call')

and that

he had visited her to renew acquaintances. (Write-up:

Wallace B. Rowton meeting with LIRING/3, May 26, 1967)

During the visit, Duran told LIRING/3 that she had met

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Lee Harvey Oswald at the Cuban Consulate when he applied

for a visa and had dated him on several occasions. (Ibid.)

Duran admitted that had had intimate relations with

Oswald but insisted that she had no idea of his plans.

(Ibid.)

In addition, Duran told LIRING/3 that when the

news of the assassination became public knowledge, the

Mexican government arrested her and during the interro-

gation beat her until she admitted that she had had

an

affair with Lee Harvey Oswald. (Ibid.)

In a subsequent memorandum, Headquarters wrote:

"First that Silvia Duran had sexual inter-

course with Lee Harvey Oswald on several

occasions when the latter was in Mexico

is probably new, but adds little to the

Oswald case.

Secona, the Mexican police

did not report the extent of the Duran-

Oswald relationship to this Station."

(Dispatch Chief of Western Hemisphere to

Chief of Station, HMMA-32243, May 27,

1967, p.

That the Mexican government did not disclose all

the information in their possession to the Central Intr

telligence Agency raises one of two possibilities:

1) the Mexican government did not want to disclose that

one of their citizens had had intimate relations

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with the assassin of John F. Kennedy; or

2) Silvia Duran was a Mexican penetration agent in

the Cuban Consulate and the Mexican government was

protecting their informant.

C. Elena Garro de Paz

On October 5, 1964, eleven days after the publica-

tion of the Warren Commission Report, a story alleging

Lee Harvey Oswald's presence at a party in Mexico City

attended by Cuban government personnel came to the at-

tention of the Central Intelligence Agency (Wx742,1

p. 94, entry #430, CIA #721; Blind memo dated 10/5/64,

CIA #576.)

Elena's Story as Reported October 5, 1964

Elena Garro de Paz* and Deba Garro de Guerrero

Galvan, first cousins of Horatio, Ruben and Lynn Duran,

were invited to a twist party at the home of Ruben Duran

in the middle of the week in the fall of 1963.

Lee Har-

vey Oswald was alleged to have been at this party in the

company of "two other beatnik-looking boys.""

(Ibia.)

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b. The Possibility that Silvia Duran was an Intelli-

gence Agent for Either the Central Intelligence

Agency or the Cuban Intelligence Agency

Since the publication of the Warren Commission

in September 1964, its major critics have written about

the possibility that Silvia Duran was an intelligence

agent for either the Central Intelligence Agency or

the Cuban Intelligence Agency.

i) Was Silvia Duran a Central Intelligence?

In an effort to resolve this question the House

Select Committee reviewed the United States' investga-

tive agencies files on Silvia Duran. The Committee

found no evidence during its file review that linked

Silvia Duran to the Central Intelligence Agency.

In addition, the House Select Committee on Assas-

sinations interviewed most of the Mexico City Station's

employees about the allegation.

Only David Phillips

(Chief of Covert Action in the Mexiço City Station in

1963) considered the allegation possible. Mr. Phillips

stated that "at one time the agency pitched /pitched is

a term used by: the CIA to designate an attempt to re-

cruit an individual/ almost everyone at the Cuban Em-

bassy.". (HSCA interview of David Phillips, 8/3/78, p. 8)

but that "it was possible that she' (Silvia Duran) was

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not pitched because the Station (Mexico City Station)

could not identify any of her weaknesses." (HSCA inter-

view of David Phillips, 8/3/78, p. 8, 9) Mr. Phillips

was then told about LITAMIL 9's statement that all

that

would have to be done to recruit Duran

was to get

a blonde, blue-eyed American, in bed with the little

pita. (Pita is a Spanish term for whore.)

At that point, Mr. Phillips admitted that it

sounded like Duran had been targeted, that the Station's

interest had been substantial and that the weaknesses

and

means had been identified. (Ibid., p. 9) Mr. Phil-

lips pointed out, however, that because Duran had

been targetted did not necessarily mean that she had

been pitched. (Ibid., p. 9.) In addition, he had not

heard that Duran had been pitched. (Ibid., p. 9.)

Another CIA employee, Dan Neiscuir (Neiscuir

worked on an "Oswald Task Force" in late September or

early october of 1975 dealing with 2 or 3 FOIA suits

brought against

the agency concerning the files on Lee

Harvey Oswald) stated that he believed that Duran had

been an agency source. His decision was based on a re-

view of Oswald's 201 file, possibly because of the

agency's attempts after the assassination to protect

Duran. (HSCA Interview of Dan Neiscuir,: 8/29/78, p. 1.)

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- 19 C -

Despite Mr. Phillips and Mr. Neiscuir's state-

ments, the Committee cannot definitely resolve whether

Duran was a Central Intelligence Agency agent.

ii. Was Silvia Duran a Cuban Intelligence Agent?

An an effort to resolve this question, the HSCA

reviewed the United States investigative agencies' files

on Silvia Duran. The Committee found no evidence in

the files that linked Ms. Duran with Cuban intelligence.

sinations

In addition, the House Select Committee on Assas-

interviewed most of the Mexico City Station's

employees about the allegation. Only Barney Hidelgo,

a CIA operative who worked in Mexico City in 1963, con-

sidered the allegation a possibility. Mr. Hidalgo, not

professing to remember all the details, stated that

he thought that Duran was a Cuban intelligence agent.

(HSCA testimony of Barney Hidelgo, 8/10/78, p. 16.)

- Hidelgo said:

"At the time when this contact told me

of Silvia Duran I tied the two together,

yes, sir.

I don't know, how at that time

it was obvious: to me as an intelligence

agent that there was some connection there

but itwas of no interest whatsoever to me,

I do remember that when I next saw this

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- 19 D -

contact of mine I mentioned the fact to

him and let him proceed to do whatever he

wanted to. " (Ibid., p. 16.)

Mr. Hidelgo further stated that he never resolved

the issue. (Ibid., p. б.)

With no corroborating evidence for Mr. Hidelgo's

memory, the Committee must conclude that Silvia Duran

was probably never employed by Cuban intelligence.

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The Americans remained together the entire evening

and did not dance. When Elena tried to speak with the

Americans, she was "shifted" to another room by one of

her cousins. (Ibid.) The memo does not state whether

Elena had mentioned which cousin had not allowed her

to speak to the Americans.) One of Elena's cousins

told her at the time that (he or shel did not know

who the Americans were except that Silvia Duran (an

employee of the Cuban Embassy and the wife of Horatio

Duran), had brought them to the party.

The day after the

party, Elena and Deba saw the

three Americans on the Insurgentes, a main avenue in

Mexico City. (Ibid.) The Garros claimed that they had

recognized Oswald's photograph when it was published

after the assassination. (Ibid.) Silvia Duran's ar-

rest "underlined the Garros' certainty". that the man had

been Lee Harvey Oswald. (Ibia.)

The source of the memo was a witting Central In-

telligence Agency asset known by the cryptonym LICOOKIE

whom the Committee identified as June Cobb Sharp while

receiving LICOOKIE's file.. According to Elena, Ms

Cobb was

sent to her house shortly after the assassina-

tion for a few days, by a mutual friend, a Costa Rican

writer named Eunice Odio. (CIA NO.'2 580-583, WX-7241,

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Entry #427, p. 92, CIA #719.) Ms. Garro asserted

that while at her house, Ms. Cobb expressed interest

in the Kennedy assassination. (Ibid.) One night Elena's

sister Deba, who was visiting, got drunk and told the

whole story. (Ibid.) Claiming to be a CIA agent, Cobb

suggested that Elena and Deba go to Texas to tell their

story. (Ibid.) Elena stated that when Cobb's suggestion

was

rejected, Cobb stated that she would arrange a meet-

ing with the CIA Station Chief. (Winston Scott was the

Mexico City Station Chief in 1964.) The meeting did not

occur because Ms. Cobb was

asked to leave the Garro

house evidently because she kicked Elena's cat. (CIA

No's

580-583; Wx7241, Entry #427, P. 42, CIA #719.) A

notation on the memo says that 1/1 (Licookie I) never

regained contact with Elena Garro de Paz. (Wx7241, P. 94,

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

#576.)

The Licookie memo was not inserted in either the

Elena Garro or Lee Harvey Oswald "p" (personality) files

but in a local leftist and Cuban project file. The Com-

mittee learned about the memo from wx-7241, a chronolo-

gical history of the oswald case prepared by Anne Good-

pasture for the CIA in 1976.): The memo was found in De-

cember, 1965.

(See Wx 7241, p. 94, CIA #721.) Stanley

Watson found the memo.:.

A marginal notation on Wx7241

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says, "Why was this not sent to Headquarters?" (p. 87,

CIA #714.) The Committee has been able to determine

that the memo was forwarded to headquarters shortly

thereafter.

october 12, 1964 CIA Memo for the Record

On October 12, 1964 the Chief of Covert Action,

Jim Flannery, wrote a memo for the record reporting

that Elena Garro de Paz had told the story

to Eunice

Odio. (The Committee has not been able to determine

if Elena Garro told Ms. Odio the story personally or.

if Ms. Cobb related to Ms. Odio what Elena had told

her) who relayed it to "Tichborn" (Tichborn was Henry

P. Lopez's cryptonym. Mr. Lopez was a witting asset

who wrote propaganda pieces for the CIA.

After care-

ful review of his CIA file, the HSCA has not been able

to establish a link from Mr. Lopez to either Ms. Odio

of Ms. GarIO) on 10/9/64. (10/12/64 memo, CIA #596,

Wx7241, p. 87, CIA. #714.)

The story is not as detailed as the 10/5/64 ver-

sion. There is no mention of Deba Garro Guerrero Gal-

van:

The story, perhaps because it is third hand, dif

fers from the previous story in two areas: the party

was at the Cuban Embassy, not at Ruben Duran's; Elena

talked to a Cuban Embassy official, not one of her

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cousins about the three Americans.

Attached to the memo was a note from Flannery to

the Chief of Station, Winston Scott, which read, "Do

you want me to send the gist of this to Headquarters?"

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. (Ibia.)

B. November 24, 1964 CIA Informant Report

On November 24, 1964 a Central Intelligence Agency

informant (the House Select Committee has been unable to

determine the informant's identity since his name does

not appear in any CIA files) reported information (memo

from Winston Scott to the files, re: June Cobb, 11/25/64,

CIA Nos. 592-593; Wx 7241, p. 88, Entry #404, CIA #715)

derived from "LICHANT/1. (While reviewing LICHANT I's

file the Committee determined that the CIA asset's true

name was Manuel Calvillo. Elena claims that the day fol-

lowing John E. Kennedy's assassination, Calvillo escorted

her and her daughter to the Vermont Hotel for protection;

see also December 25, 1965 Thomas memo for more informa-

tion on Manuel Calvillo.) The informant asserted that

June Cobb was an "American Communist" who rented à room

from Elena Garro.

(Memo from Winston Scott to the files,

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re June Cobb, 11/25/64, CIA NOS: 592-593, Wx 7241,

p. 88, Entry #404, CIA No. 715.)

The informant also

stated that Elena tried to talk to Robert Kennedy when

he was in Mexico because she had met Oswald "and two

friends (Cubans)" at a party at Horacio Duran's house.

(Ibid.) In addition, the informant claimed that Elena

also told her story to an American official. at the

Embassy, who claimed to represent the Warren Commission.

(Ibid.) The Chief of Station noted that he had asked

LICHANTI to pursue the story. (Ibid.) but there is no

indication that he ever complied with this request.

(HSCA Review of Classified CIA Documents.)

1. November 24, 1964 Elena Meeting with Mexico City Legal

Attache Officers

Elena and her daughter also told their story to

the Mexico City Legal Attache. (The Legal Attache in

1964 was Clark Anderson.) They recounted the same story

previously given to June Cobb Sharp.

The date of the

party was given as September 30, October 1 or October 2,

1963•

(EBI 105-825555 Report, December 11, 1964 entitled

Lee Harvey Oswald, P. 1. The agent who wrote the

report

) noted that Lee Harvey

Oswald could not have been identical with the American

allegedly observed by Mrs. Paz at the party if this party

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=.25 =

were held on the evening of October 1 or October 2,

1963. (FBI 103-825555 Report, December 11, 1964

entitled

Lee Harvey Oswald, p. 1) FBI investigation of President

Kennedy's assassination had established that Lee Harvey

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

October 2, 1963 when Ms. Paz stated that she saw Lee

Harvey Oswald walking on Insurgentes. (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 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. (Ibid., p. 3)

The daughter did not take the calls and as a

result

"Alejandro" wrote several letters to the daughter.

(Ibid.: p. 3.). Ms. Garro exhibited two of the letters,

as well as a business card which identified the young

man as Ario Alejandro Lavagnini Stenius. (Ibid P• 3.)

The letter which Ms. Garro said was the first writ-

ten by the young man to her daughter bore the date Septem-

ber 1; 1963 and the Mexico City Post Office postmark:

September 2, 1963:

When Ms. Garro was told this she

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commented that the Communists probably had facilities

for

falsifying postcard. (Ibid.)

To investigate Ms. Garro's story further, the

Federal Bureau interviewed Ario Alejandro Lavagnini

Stenius on November 27, 1964. (Ibid., p. 4.) Lavagnini

recalled that there were approximately thirty people

at the Ruban Duran party, few of whom he knew. He re-

called having met a Mexican girl who had recently re-

turned from living inFrance. He was unable to fix the

date of the party, but felt it was porbably 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 that no Americans present at this

party. He was familiar with the physical description

of Lee Harvey Oswald because of publicity following the

assassination of

President Kenredy but otherwise had

no knowledge of him and

had never seen him except for

news photographs following the

assassination. (Ibid.,

p. 4.) : Levagnini was the only person interviewed by the

FBI who attended parties at the Duran house in the

• Sep-

tember-October time frame:

There is no indication on the FBI document that

this information was given to the Central Intelligence

Agency's Mexico City Station.

(A review of CIA files

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corroborated the above.)

2. Charles Thomas' First Meeting with Elena Garro Where

Lee Harvey Oswald is Discussed

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

at the American Embassy, wrote a

memorandum about a con-

versation 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. (Ibid.)

Elena's story reported here is the same as that

given in the Licookie memo dated 10/5/64, but with

more details. She said that General Jose Jesus Clark

Flores la friend of Ruben Duran's, Silvia Duran,

Eusebio Azcue (a pro-Communist writer-friend of the

Durans), and a Latin American Negro man with red hair

(unidentified) 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 tola 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

Sivlia being the mistress of Oswald?? This is 1965.")

The Mexico City Station did not hear about the Oswald-

Duran "affair" until July 1967 when a CIA Asset

LIRING/3

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reported it. (After reviewing LIRING/3 file at the

CIA the House Select Committee on Assassinations has

been unable to determine with whom LIRING/3 was

asso

ciated who would have had knowledge about Silvia Duran

or Lee Harvey Oswald.)

Elena told Thomas that she and her daughter had

gone to the Cuban Embassy on November 23, 1963 and

shouted "Assassins" and other insults at the Embassy em-

ployees. (CIA #586-587, Wx7241, Entry No. 425, p. 91,

CIA No. 718) That same day a friend, Manuel Calvillo,

an official in the Gobernacion, took her and her daugh-

ter to a small hotel in the center of Mexico City. (Ibid.)

They were kept there for eight days under the pretext

that they were in danger. (Ibid.) Elena claimed to

have told Calvillo that she wanted to tell her story

to the American Embassy. (Ibia.) Calvillo dissuaded

her by telling her that the American Embassy was full

of Communist spies. (Ibid.) 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.

(Ibid., the House Select Committee was

unable to determine the veracity of Ms. Paz'

allega-

tion.::

See HSCA Investigation of Elena Garro de Paz'

allegation.) She said that Ruben Duran, reportedly

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"protected" by General Clark Flores, was very prosper

ous and was driving a big. car. (CIA #586-587, Wx-7241,

Entry No. 425, p. 91, CIA No. 718/) Elena also claimed

that Ruben Duran told her months after the assassination

that he was not really a Communist and that killing Ken-

nedy had been a mistake.

(Ibid.; the House. Select Com-

mittee on Assassinations has not been able to determine

whether Ruben actually spoke to Elena about the assassina-

tion. (See HSCA Investigation of Elena Garra de Paz'

Allegations.)

In addition, Ruben Duran claimed he had

no. reason to tell Elena that killing Kennedy had been a

mistake since he had no involvement.

Charles Thomas circulated a copy of his memorandum

concerning Elena's allegations in the American Embassy

including the Central Intelligence Agency's Mexico City

Station to aid then in their investigation of the John

F. Kennedy assassination. (The House Select Committee

has determined that the Central Intelligence Agency re-

ceived the copy of the Thomas memorandum prior to Decem-

ber 25, 1965, his next meeting with Elena Garro.

See

below.)

The COS wrote a note on the memo: "What an ima

gination she has!?! Should we send to Headquarters?"

The Officer replied,, "Suggest sending. There have

been stories around town about all this, and Thomas

is

NW 66000 Docld:32271298 Page 34

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not the only person she has talked to...If memory

serves me, didn't LICOOKIE refer to Oswald and the

local leftists and Cubans in one of her squibs?" (CIA

No. 588, note from SW to COS.)

The Mexico City Station called the

information in

Thomas' 12/10/65 memorandum of conversations to CIA

Headquarters (Cable from Mexico City to the Director,

MEXI 5621, date out off my copy; CIA Nos. 584-585).

The cable reported that Elena's story would be checked

with LICHANT/1, against the production from the Cuban

surveillance operation "and other sources." (Ibid.)

Winston Scott wrote,

next to the routing indications on

the cable, "Please ask Charles Thomas if he'll 'follow

up. ' Get questions from Anne G. (Anne Goodpasture).

Please let's discuss. Thanks." (Ibid.)

After the December 10 memorandum of conversations.

Winston Scott (Chief/Station) and Nathan Ferris

(Successor

to Clark Anderson as Legal Attache in Mexico) called

Charles Thomas for a meeting. They asked him to get

a more detailed

account of Ms. Garro's story. At this

meeting Winston Scott made it clear that theFBI had full

responsibility for any further investigation in the Oswald

case.?

(State Department: letter from Charles Thomas

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

• )

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3. Charles Thomas' Meeting with Elena Carro on December 25,

1965

Thomas met with Elena again on Decmeber 25, 1965.

That same date he wrote a memorandum of conversation

which provided a much more detailed restatement of Ms.

Garro's alleged encounter with Lee Harvey Oswald. (CIA

Nos. 580-583; Wx-7241, Entry #427, p. 92, CIA #719.)

Elena admitted that she had spoke to two men at

the Embassy, "presumably from the Legal Attache's Office."

(Ibid., The meeting occurred on November 24, 1964. See

supra, p.

) Elena said that she did not tell them

the complete story because "the Embassy officers did not

give much credence to anything she and Elenita said."

(CIA Nos. 580-583; Wx 7241, Entry #427, p. 92, CIA #719.)

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

home. (Ibid.) She was unclear about the date of the

party, (Ibid.) It was a few days before the Soviet As-

tronaut, Gagarin, visited Mexico; she thought that this

would put the party around September 2 or 3, 1963. (Ibid.)

She believed that the party was on a Monday or Tuesday

because it was an odd night for a party. (Ibid.) Elena

could not check her calendar to refresh her memory at

the time of the interview because the calendar was in a

desk that had been stored away... (Ibid.)

NW 66000 Docld:32271298 Page 36

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During the conversation Elena described Oswald

and his companions. (Ibid.) The man who she thought

was Oswald wore a black sweater. (Ibid.) She said he

was quite "and stared a lot at the floor." (Ibid.) One

of his companions "was very tall and slender and had

long blond hair and a rather long protruding chin."

(Ibid.) Theother companion was also tall, with short,

light brown hair and no distinguishing characteristics.

(Ibid.) The three Americans did not dance or mix with

the other guests. (Ibid.) 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

Ctark Flores and his mistress, a doctor from Dalinde

Hospital, a young American couple who were honeymooning

in Mexico, and several other people were at the party.

(Ibid.) 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 attend. (Ibid.)

Elena alleged that 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. (Ibid.)

"They

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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.

(Ibid.) The House Select Committee has been unable to

confirm the conversation between Azcue and Carballido.

(See HSCA Investigation of Elena Garro de Paz' allega-

tions.) Eusebio Azcue stated that the conversation did

not occur.

Elena reiterated that the incident at the Cuban

Embassy, where she and her daughter shouted "Assassins,"

etc. at the Embassy employees, occurred on November 23

at or about 3:00 p.m. (Ibid.) Elena and Elenita were

driven to the Cuban Embassy by Elena's brother who was

embarrassed by their behavior. (Ibid. ) This occurred

before they had seen photographs of Oswald. (Ibia.)

Ms. Garro claimed that later in the day she and

Elenita were visited by Manuel Calvillo who thold them

that they were in serious danger from the Communists

and that he would take them to a small hotel, where they

would be safe, for a few days. (Ibid.) Elena said she

trusted and believed Calvillo because he was a known

undercover agent for the Mexico Government. (Ibid.).

He was also a friend of Noe Palomares (the Minister of.

Immigration) and President Gustavo Diaz

ordaz. (Ibid.)

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Calvillo also told Elena and her daughter that Silvia

Duran had been arrested. (Ibid.) Duran's arrest was

not public information on November 23, 1963.

Elena could not remember the name of the hotel

so that same day (12/25/65) she took Thomas

to the sec-

tion of Mexico City where she thought it was. (Ibid.)

They found the hotel.

. (Ibid.) Elena

said that she as-

sumed that Calvillo had registered them as relatives or

friends. (Ibid.) They stayed at the hotel until the fol-

lowing Friday, November 30, 1963, hardly leaving their

rooms. (Ibid.) (See Legal Attache Report, p.

for

confirmation.)

Elena claimed that while she and Elenita were at

the hotel they saw the photos of Oswald and realized

that he had been the man at Ruben Duran's party. (Ibid.)

When Calvillo visited them at the hotel Elena told him

that she wanted to report it to the American Embassy,

however, Calvillo dissuaded her by stating that the Ameri-

can Embassy was full of Communists. (Ibid.). Elena stated

that when she returned home, guards were posted outside.

(Ibia.):

(The House Select Committee has been unable to

confirm the veracity of Ms. Garro's claim

See HSCA In-

vestigation of Elena Garro's allegations.)

Elena alleged that after she returned home she saw

her sister, Deba Guerrera, who had independently come to

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the same conclusion. Deba was "terrified" because

approximately two months after the assassination

two

"Communists" personally warned her never to reveal

that she had been to a party with Oswald. (Ibid.) Deba,

consequently, would

not accompany Elena to the Ameri-

can

Embassy to tell her story on November 24, 1964.

(Ibid.)

Elena stated that it was "common knowledge" that

Silvia had been Oswald's mistress. (CIA Nos. 580-583;

Wx 7241, Entry #427, p. 92 CIA #719.) When asked who

could verify the allegation she could only remember

one person who had told her this. (Ibid.) Elena claimed

that person was Victor Rico Galan, a "pro-Castro jour-

nalist." (Ibid.) (Victor Rico Galan is dead.. The Com-

mittee could not verify Ms. Garro's allegation. Silvia

Duran denied the allegation.

Nonetheless, LIRING 3, a

CIA asset, reported the same story in 1967.

During these conversations Elena also said that

she "understood" that. Oswald had been in Mexico more.

than once. (Ibid.)

(The HSCA has been unable to deter-

mine the exact date.)

Subsequent to December 25, 1965, Thomas wrote in

the December 25, 1965 memo that Elena had found her ca-

lendar and had reconstructed the date of the party as

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late September and not early September. (CIA Nos. 580-

583, Wx-7241, Entry #427, p. 42, CIA #719. When Tho-

mas went to ferris' office and informed him, Ferris re-

plied that Elena had given the late September date when

she had originally reported her story at the American

Embassy. (FBI Report, 9/30/69, Pp. 3-4, JFK DOC. NO.

However, Mr. Ferris explained to Thomas that someone who

had been at the twist party had stated that there were no

Americans there. (Ibid.) Mr. Ferris did not tell Mr.

Thomas that Ario Alejandro Lavagnini Stenius Ferris in

a 1964 interview had provided this information in 1964.

Supra, p.

) Mr. Ferris suggested that it was not

necessary for Thomas to pursue Elena's

allegations since

he considered the Oswald case closed and had heard all

the rumors before. (FBI Report, 9/30/69, PP. 3-4, JFK

Doc. No.

The State Department forwarded (the same day) a

copy of the Charles Thomas memorandum to the Central In-

telligence Agency's Mexico City Station to aid in their

investigation of the John F. Kennedy assassination.

On the first page of the memorandum of conversation

Winston Scott wrote,

"Shouldn't we send to Headquarters?"

someone resonded, "of course." (CIA NOS. 580-583; WX 7241,

Entry #427, p. 92, CIA #710 .)

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December 27, 1965 Legal Attache Memo to the United States

Ambassador re Elena Garro

On December 27, 1965 Nathan Ferris wrote a memo

to the Ambassador reporting that Elena and her daughter

were interviewed on 17 and 24 November 1964 by the Legal

Attache's office in Mexico City. (Memo to the Ambassador

from the Legal Attache, 12/27/65, CIA #578; WX-7241,

Entry 429, p. 94, CIA #721.) The memo recorded that

Elena and her daughter had furnished information simi-

lar to the informant reported in Thomas' 12/10/65 memo.

(Ibia.) The memo further stated,

"Inquiries conducted at that time (Novem-

ber 1964), 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 pre-

viously checked out without substantiation,

no further action is being taken concerning

her recent repetition of those allegations.

(Ibid.)

The Legal Attache forwarded a copy of the memoran-

đụm to the Central Intelligence Agency's Mexico City

Station.

The House Select Committee has determined

that the copy was forwarded prior to 12/29/78. See

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below.) Winston Scott superimposed a note to Anne

Goodpasture on this memo which read, "Can we send in

a report to Headquarters 'dismissing' our cable?"

Goodpasture responded, "Done." (Memo to the Ambassador

from the Legal Attache, 12/27/65, CIA #758, WX-7241

Entry #429, P. 94, CIA #721.) The cable Winston Scott

wanted dismissed was MEXI 5621. (Supra., p.

A cable written by Anne Goodpasture on December

29, 1965 reporting the Legat interview with Elena and

the Legat Office's failure to substantiate Elena's story

was sent to Headquarters. (Memo from Mexico City to the

Director, 12/29/65, MEXI 5741, CIA #575; WX 7241 Entry

#430, p. 94, CIA #721.) The cable promised to keep

Headquarters advised if any further information were

to develop. (Ibid.)

LICOOKIE's 10/5/64 memo is attached to the 12/29/65

WX-7241 explained this in a marginal comment, "This

document by LICOOKIE was not in (Oswald's file), but

was copies from (a project file) and attached to MEXI

5741, 29 Dec. 65." (Ibid.)

A note stapled to this cable by Allen White stated,

"I don't know what FBI did in November 1964, but the

Garros have been talking about this for a long time

and she is said to be extremely bright." Anne Goodpasture

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wrote that the FBI had found Elena's allegations un-

substantiated but

that "we will try to confirm or

refute Ms. Garro de Paz's information and follow up."

Win Scott wrote, "She is also 'nuts.'" (Ibid., CIA #574)

CIA Investigation of Elena's Allegation that She Created

A Disturbance at the Cuban Embassy on November 23, 1963

On February 3, 1966 Anne Goodpasture forwarded

Thomas' December 25, 1965 memo to the Cuban section at

the Mexico City Station with an attached note asking

them to check whether Elena was "seen creating such a

disturbance as they claimed in front of the Cuban Em-

bassy." (It is apparent that the Mexico City Station was

attempting to either refute or corroborate some of Elena

Garro's allegations.) (Note from Anne 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." (Ibia.)

(There is no indication that the penetration agents in

the Cuban Embassy were queried about Elena's allegation.

Ibid., that there are not pictures-is reasonable since

Elena claimed that-the. event happened: 1) on a Saturday

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at 3:00 p.m. when the Cuban Embassy was not normally

photographically surveilled; and 2) the "disturbance"

occurred inside the Cuban compound.

HSCA Examination

of

the CIA Cuban Embassy photographic surveillance

showed no surveillance on 11/23/63. (Classified Sum-

mary of Staff Review of CIA Documents, undated, p. 3,

CIA #763.)

Legal Attache 2/23/66 Memo to the United States Ambassador

Regarding Elena Garro's Allegations

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

Ambassador reporting that "extensive investigation"

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. (Memo from Legat

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

p. 95, CIA #722.) The memo reiterated that no further

action was being taken by the FBI because Elena's alle-

gations had not been substantiated: (Ibia.)

The Legal

Attache forwarded a copy of this memo to the Central In-

telligence Agency's Mexico City Station.

(The House Se-

lect Committee on Assassinations has been unable to

determine when the copy was forwarded to the CIA.) A

marginal comment made by Anne Goodpasture next to this

entry in WX-7241 says, "How can it be ascertained that

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Oswald did not travel to Mexico prior to early Septem-

ber 1963? There must be some basis for Elena's report-

ing." (Ibia.; referenced to Thomas; 12/25/65 memo.)

Legal Attache Memo to Winston Scott re Elena's Allega-

tion that she Had Stayed at the Hotel Vermont from the

Day After the Assassination until November 30, 1963

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

the CIA/COS reporting that a reliable confidential in-

formant had reported that the records of the Hotel Ver-

mont disclosed that "Elena Paz, housewife from San Luis

Potosi," had registered at the Hotel Vermont on Novem-.

ber 23, 1963. She left on November 10, 1963. (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.; (The House Select Committee on Assassinations

has been unable to determine why the Central Intelli-

gence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigations

waited until 1966 to investigate this aspect of Elena's

story.) The memo said, "The above individual may or

may not be identifical with Elena Garro de Paz. (Ibid.)

Charles Thomas! 12/25/65 memo corroborates Elena

Garro's presence at the Hotel Vermont.

It states.,

"She

and her daughter did not personally register at the

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hotel. She thinks Calvillo registered them as rela-

tives 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.)

Charles Thomas' September 30, 1969 Letter to State Depart-

ment and Legal Attache's Response

No further report on Elena's story was generated

until 1969 when Charles Thomas was

"selected out." ("Se-

lected 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.) . At that time, he wrote a memorandum

to the Secretary of State which included a

cover letter

stating, "Since I was the Embassy Officer in Mexico

who acquired this intelligence information, I feel a re-

sponsibility for seeing it through to its final evalua-

tion." (State Department: Letter from Charles Thomas

to William Rogers, Secretary of State, July 25, 1969)

Charles Thomas' memorandum stated that "he-got no

reaction from Nathan Ferris and Winston Scott" regarding

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

Letter from Charles Thomas to William Rogers, Secretary

of State, July 25, 1969)

In addition, Thomas wrote

that the only person to speak to him about the Decem-

ber 25, 1965 memorandum, Clarence Boonstra (Deputy Chief

of Mission, State Department, Chief of Affairs at the

time of President Kennedy's assassination and subsequent

Oswald investigation) told him that Oswald had not been

in Mexico on the date given for the party. (Ibid.)

(State Department: Letter from Charles Thomas to william

Rogers, Secretary Of State, July 25, 1964) Thomas noted

that even when he reitereated that Elena had not changed

her story but rather that she had now given a more ac-

curate account, Boonstra stated that the date was wrong

and dismissed the entire affair. (Ibid.)

One of the Mexico City Legat Officers, Nathan Ferris,

in reply to Thomas' letter and memorandum, asserted

that Thomas' office had been advised by memoranda that

Thomas' office had been advised by memoranda dated Decem-

ber 27i

1965. and February 23r 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.

(FBI Report, 9/30/69, Pp. 3-4, JFK Doc. NO.

). In

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their report, the Legat's Office concluded that either

the Counselor for Political Affairs did not route the

memoranda to Charles Thomas or that Thomas did not re-

call receiving them. (Ibid.)

Thomas wrote that when

he went to Nathan Ferris'

office to inform him that Elena had found her calendar

and had reconstructed the date of the party as late

September, Ferris replied that Elena had given the

late September date when she had originally reported

her story at the American Embassy. (State Department:

Letter from Charles Thomas to William Rogers, Secretary

of State, July 25, 1969.) Thomas noted that Ferris

explained that someone who had been at the party had

stated that there had not been any Americans. (Ibia.)

He wrote that he had assumed that Elena could have clear-

ly been mistaken about the identity of the American

she saw

there, but never doubted that she had seen

some Americans. (Ibid.) Thomas wrote that Ferris had

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 Office's reply to Thomas' memo stated

that Mr. Ferris had not told Thomas that someone who was

at the party had stated that there had not been any Ameri-

cans present. (FBI Report, 9/39/69, p. 4, JEK DOC. NO:

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The Legal Attache's memo asserted that Thomas had

been told that it would not be necessary for him to

pursue the matter any further since Elena's story had

been investigated previously without being substantiated.

(Ibid.) In addition, the memo stated that Thomas had

been told that Elena's story was considered a closed

issue, not that the Oswald case was closed. (Ibid.)

House Select Committee on Assassination's Investigation

of Elena Garro's Allegations

The House Select Committee on Assassinations in-

vestigated Elena Garro's story both through file reviews

and personal interviews. The Committee requested and

reviewed the CIA's, FBI's and State Department's files,

when available, 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 refer-

ence to Elena Garro de Paz.

Furthermore, the House Select Committee on Assassina-

tions requested and reviewed the Central Intelligence

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

and TICHBORN files. Once 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 to

the CIA Elena's allegation. (Supra, p. 4.) The Commit-

tee also learned that LICHANT I was Manuel Calvillo

who had hidden Elena Garro and her daughter in a hotel

the day following the assassination. (Supra., p. 13.)

He also told Elena that Silvia Duran had been arrested

before this fact had become public knowledge. (Ibid.)

Since a file review was inconclusive, the Com-

mittee decided to arrange interviews in Mexico with

Silvia Duran, Lynn Duran, Emilio Carbillido and Betty

Serratos. The Mexican Government informed the House

Select Committee on Assassinations that Elena and Elenita

Garro disappeared in 1968 during the student uprisings

and have never returned to Mexico.

The officials stated

that Elena and her daughter might be in Spain.

(See

Mexico City Procedural Write-up Trip 1.):: The Mexican

government reported that Emilio Garballido could not be

found. (Ibid.) The others were interviewed between

June 1 and June 6, 1978. (Ibid.)

Betty Serratos, Lydia Duran, Ruben Duran and

Horatio Duran all stated that Elena was not the dancing

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type and therefore did not attend any of the twist

parties at the Duran homes.

(See" HSCA Interview of

Betty Serratos, 6/6/78, p. 6, JFK Document No.

HSCA Staff Interview of Lydia Duran, 6/5/78, p. 6, JEK

Document NO.

; ESCA Document NO.

; HSCA

Staff Interview of Horatio Duran Navarro,: 6/5/78, p. 25,

JFK Document No.

) When Sivlia Duran was asked

if Elena or Elenita Garro ever attended twist parties

at the Duran homes, she

recalled Elena attending one

twist party at Ruben's home in 1963 when the Garros

returned to Mexico from France. (HSCA Staff Interview

of Silvia Tirado 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. (String

cites.)

The Committee next asked the Central Intelligence

Agency to arrange staff interviews with LICHANT/1 (Manuel

Calvillo), LICOOKIE/1 (June Cobb), along with a list of

other assets who may have had information related to Lee

Harvey Oswald's trip to Mexico City:

The Central Intelligence Agency declined to aid the Com-

mittee inthis aspect of the investigation.

The Commitee returned to Mexico City and attempted

to locate June Cobb Sharp and Manuel Calvillo.

::See Pro-

cedural Write-up Trip 2 Mexico City.) The results of the

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Committee's work were as follows:

The Mexican government told the Commit-

tee that June Cobb Sharp received a tourist

permit, number 72781, on June 27, 1947 when

she entered Mexico through Nuevo Lardeo.

She asked, but was denied, permission to re-

present the magazine, Modern Mexico.

On

June 21, 1948, she received a courtesy per-.

mit, number 25556. Furthermore, the Mexi-

can government explained that she disappeared

in 1954 and never returned to Mexico. (See

Procedural Writeup Trip 2 Mexico City.)

The Committee believes there is a possibility

that this information is incorrect. According to Ms.

Cobb's CIA file she worked for the agency as an asset

in Mexico from 1961 through 1966. (CIA Report, 1965,

June Cobb file, 201-

)

Elena also stated that

Ms. Cobb resided at her home in 1964. (Supra p.

The Mexican government told the Committee

that Manuel Calvillo did not live at Cuohtemoc

877-5 as the Committee had informed them.

Their

agent-in-charge had spoken to the superintendant

at the apartments at which Lamuel Calvillo was

believed to reside, the superintendent who had

worked at the apartments for twenty-five years,

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said that no Manuel Calvillo had ever re-

sided there. When Comnittee 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 certain that Mr. Calvillo lived at this

address since it acquired the address from a recent CIA

document. (CIA Report, 1976, Manuel Calvillo file,

201-

The Committee believes that there is a possibility

that the Mexican government received orders from the Cen-

tral Intelligence Agency to refrain from aiding the Com-

mittee with this aspect of its work. (See Procedural Write-

up Trip 2 Mexico City.)

The Committee made every attempt possible to locate

Elena.

On July 7, 1978 a Committee staffer telephoned

her publisher Moritz in Mexico City and asked about her

whereab uts. (HSCA Staff Contact Report, 7/7/78, JFK DO-

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

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

Spain. (Ibid.)

The Committee staffer telephoned the Hotel in Spain and

spoke to the manager who told him that Ms. Garro had

moved out. (Ibid.) (HSCA. Staff Contact Report, 7/7/78,

JFK Document No.

) On July 14, 1978 a Committee

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staffer called her publisher again and was told to con-

tact

the Mexican Embassy in Madrid, Spain. (HSCA Staff

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

publisher stated that all Elena's payments were sent

there because she did not even trust her publisher

with her address. (Ibid.)

The Committee staffer called the Mexican Embassy

in Madria, Spain and spoke to Adolfo Padilla, a Mexican

employee of the Embassy who stated that when Elena

visited the Embassy a couple of weeks before to pick

up a check she looked financially poor. (HSCA Staff

Contact Report, 8/31/78, JFK Document No.

He

stated that when he asked Elena her new address she de-

clined to give one, stating that she would return every

few weeks to pick up checks and mail. (Ibid. ) The Com-

mittee gave Padilla a telephone number and a message

asking Elena to telephone the Committee collect. (Ibid.)

On September 5, 1978 Elena Garro called the Com-

mittee staffer.

When the staffer explained that the Com

mittee wished to talk to her in person and would pay

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

asked why she should believe the staffer was who he

claimed to be. (HSCA Staff Contact Report, 9/5/79, JFK

Document, No.

The staffer asked Ms.: Garro to call

back collect in the next few days when he could explain

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to her when and where she could receive a Committee let-

ter delineating why the Committee wished to interview

her. (Ibid.) The Committee wrote the letter

and made

arrangement.s

with the State Department for a letter to

be hand-delivered to Elena at the American Embassy in

Spain. (See attached letter: also, HSCA Staff Contact

Report, 9/5/78, JFK Document NO.

On September 7, 1978, Elena Garro called the Commit-

tee staffer and asked when the letter would arrive.

(HSCA Staff Contact Report, 9/7/78, JFK Document No.

The Committee staffer explained that the letter could

)

be gotten on Monday, September 11, 1978 from George

Phelan, the Counsellor for Consular Affairs at the Ameri-

can Embassy. (Ibid.) Ms. Garro stated that she would

get the letter on September 11, 1978 and follow our

suggestions. (Ibid.)

Ms. Garro never went to the American Embassy in

Spain to get the Committee's 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 air tickets for both Elena

and her. daughter. (HSCA Staff Contact Report, 9/12/78,

JFK Document No.

Elena did not get the tickets at

the airport. (HSCA Staff Contact Report, 9/15/78, JFK

Document No.

The Committee was

not contacted

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by Ms. de Paz again.

The Committee also investigated whether Thomas'

"selection out" was related to the Oswald case.

After

interviewing his widow, Ms. Cynthia Thomas, the Committee

has concluded that his dismissal was unrelated. (HSCA

Staff Interview of Cynthia Thomas,

, p.

, JEK

Document NO.

In sum, the House Select Committee on Assassinations

has not been able to confirm the evidence that would

indicate that Lee Harvey Oswald, on one night while he

was in Mexico, attended a "twist party" at the home

of Ruben Duran Navarro, the brother-in-law of Silvia

Duran. In addition, the House Select Committee on Assas-

sinations has been unable to confirm the allegation

that Lee Harvey Oswald travelled while in Mexico City

with "two beatnik-looking boys."

D. Oscar Contreras

On March 16, 1967, B. J. Ruyle, the American Consul

in Tampico, reported to the American Embassy that he

had spoken to a reporter whom allegedly had met Lee Har-

vey oswald at National Autonomous University of Mexico

City (UNAM) in 1963: (American Embassy Incoming Tele-

garn #A-43 570, P: 110, CIA #737) Stressing

that he had

only a fleeting contact with Oswald, the reported had

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claimed to know only about Lee Harvey Oswald's desire

to travel to Cuba and the Embassy's unwillingness to

grant him a visa. (Ibid. ) When B. J. Ruyle asked the

reporter for permission to cable the story to the Ameri-

can Embassy, the reporter declined stating that he

feared losing his job. (Ibid.) Subsequent to the assas-

sination, the reporter had told his editor about his

contact with Lee Harvey Oswald, who had advised him not

to report it. (Ibid.) The reporter granted B. J. Ruyle

permission to cable the story to the American Embassy

when Ruyle promised that it would be handled with the

strictest confidence. (Ibid.) Ruyle wrote that he

thought the reporter was genuinely concerned about his

job. (Ibid.)

A letter from B. J. Ruyle to the State Department

dated May 11, 1967 provided additional details of the

reporter's story. (Letter to Wesley D. Bowles, Chief of

Mexican political affairs, Office of Mexican Affairs,

Department of State from B. J. Ruyle, American Consul,

Tampico, 5/11/67; WX 7241 entry #597, p. 114, CIA #741)

The reporter alleged that he and some fellow students

had met Lee Harvey Oswald as they exited the Cineclub at

the Escuela de Filosofia (School of Philosophy) at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico. (Ibid.) Oswald

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told the group that he had gone to the National Autono-

mous University of Mexico looking for pro-Castro stu-

dents who might help him persuade the Cuban Embassy to

grant him a visa. (Ibid.) Oswald claimed that he was

from California and was

a member of a pro-Castro group

in New Orleans. (Ibid.) Oswald remained with the stu-

dents the rest of that day and evening, as well as the

following day. (Ibia.) The reporter described Oswald

as a strange and introverted individual who spoke very

little Spanish. (Ibid.)

On

, the State Department forwarded

a copy of Ruyld's letter to the Central Intelligence

Agency. (The Committee could not determine when the

State Department forwarded the letter to the CIA.) On

June 14, 1967 CIA Headquarters sent the Mexico City

Station a copy of Ruyle's letter to Bowles.

(Dispatch

from the Director to Mexico City, 6/14/67, HMMW 15557;

WX 7241 Entry #616, p. 117, CIA #744) CIA Headquarters

considered Ruyle's report "the first piece of substantive

into about Oswald's sojourn in Mexico" since the assas-

sination. (Ibid.) Consequently, Headquarters cabled

that, though they understood the source's relectance to

become involved "the fact remains that this info cannot

continue to be withheld or concealed.": (Ibid.) Head-

quarters instructed the Mexico City Station to elicit

the identity of the source from Ruyle.

In addition,

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Headquarters asked the Mexico City Station to bear in

mind, while interviewing Ruyle's source, that Lee Harvey

Oswald was a momosexual. (Ibid.) The final sentence of

the dispatch, "It is our hope that the facts obtained

through these interviews will help to confirm that

several of Garrison's allegations about involvement of

anti-Castro Cubans, the CIA, etc. are false," (Ibid.)

explained the Central Intelligence Agency's motives

for purusing the story.

On June 29, 1967, the Mexico City Station cabled

Headquarters that a station officer had gone to Tampico

where he had interviewed Ruyle's source, Oscar Contreras.

(Cable from Mexico City to the Director, MEXI 1950, 6/29/

67; Wx 7241 entry #622, p. 118, CIA #745) The cable re-

ported that Contreras was a reported for ElSol (a news-

paper, The Sun) in Tampico; was circa 30 years old;

married with three children; studied law at the National

Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) Erom 1960 to

1964; belonged

to a pro-castro group at UNAM; was per-

secuted by the Mexican police for this affiliation and

moved to Tampico to escape the persecution. (Cable from

Mexico City to the Director, MEXI 1950, 6/29/67; WX-7241,

entry #622, p. 118, #745.)

Contreras told the Mexico City Station official

that he and four other individuals (When Contreras was

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asked to identify the other four individuals who had

met Lee Harvey Oswald, he refused

to reveal their

names because he feared that informing on them might

endanger his family.) had met Oswald as they exited a

roundtable discussion held at the School of Philosophy

at UNAM. (Cable from Mexico City to Director, MEXI 1950,

6/29/67; MW 7241, entry # 622, p. 118, CIA #745) Contre-

ras

stated that Oswald had made inquires on the UNAM

campus about pro-Cuban groups and had been directed to

his group. (Ibid.) Contreras reported that though the

group initially mistrusted Oswald fearing he was a "CIA

provocation," they allowed Oswald to remain with them

that day and night and part of the following day. (Ibid.)

Contreras noted that Oswald never mentioned assassination

but kept emphasizing that he had to get to Cuba. (Ibid.)

In addition, Oswald had exhibited no homosexual tenden-

cies while he was with the group. (Ibid.)

On July 4, 1967, Headquarters cabled the Mexico

City Station that Contreras'

story. should be explored

to the fullest even though he might have fabricated it.

(Cable from the Director to Mexico City, 7/4/67, DIR

16823, WX 7241, Entry 626, P. 119, CIA #746) Headquarters

suggested that the FBI handled the story. (Ibid.)

The

following day, July 5, 1967, the Mexico City Station

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cabled that it preferred turning Contreras' case over

to the Mexican authorities and to the F.B.I. (Cable

from Mexico City to the Director, 7/5/67, MEXI 1991;

WX 7241, Entry 627, p. 119, CIA #746.) Headquarters

suggested. that the E.B.I. handle the story. (Ibid.)

The following day, July 5, 1967, the Mexico City Sta-

tion cabled that it preferred turning Contreras' case

over to the Mexican authorities and

the F.B.I. (Cable

from Mexico City to the Director, 7/5/67, MEXI 1991;

Wx 7241, Entry 627, p. 119, CIA #746.) The same day,

the Chief of Station informed the Legat of Contreras'

story, but asked him not to take any action without

previously consulting the Mexico City Station. (Memo

to Legat, 1/5/67 from Chief of Station; WX 72X1, entry

628, p. 119, CIA #746.)

On July 10, 1967, Jeremy K. Benedum ("JKB") wrote

a memo delineating the results of a Mexican government

review of Oscar Contreras' file. (Memo from JKB re

Oscar Contreras, 7/10/67: WX 7241, Entry #634, p. 120,

CIA #747) According to the memo, a lone Oscar Contreras

appeared in the UNAM law school records, Oscar Contreras

Lartigue, dob 2/14/39 in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas:

(Ibid.) The memo also reported that a newspaper article

appearing in "Excelsior" listed an Oscar Contreras

as

a signer of a protest for the Bloque Estudiantil Revolu-

cionario which had been formed mid-1961. (Ibid.) (The

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leaders of the group were Victor Manuel

• Carlos

, Hugo Castro

, Antonio Teniro Adame,

Jose

Guerrico, Carlos Ortiz Fijeda, Daniel

Holma,

Hibam Garcia, Pedro Sainz Cepeda, Alberto

Balvez, Humberto Hiriante, Oscar Gonzales,

• Jose

Eduardo Pascual, Juan Saldana, Martin Reyes Baissadel,

Vicente Lvillamas, Rubilio Fernandez Dorado and Jesus

•) The memo speculated that Contreras probably

signed the protest as a front man to protect the real

leaders of the group. (Ibid.) The Mexico City station

called the information to Headquarters the following

day, June 11, 1969..

(Dispatch from Mexico City to

Director, HMMA 32497, 7/11/67; WX 7241, Entry #635, p.

121, CIA #748.)

E. Cubana Airlines

-In Book V (the performance of the intelligence

agencies

in the investigation of the John. F. Kennedy

Assassination) of the Senate Select Committee to Study

Governmental Operations, the CIA is criticized for its

apparent failure to fully pursue leads surrounding

the

assassination of President Kennedy and then to fully

report to the Warren Commission the results of the in-

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vestigation they did undertake.

One such lead discussed was a reported five-

hour delay (6:00 p.m. EST to 11:00 p.m. EST) of a Cu-

bana flight from Mexico City to Havana the evening of

President Kennedy's assassination, November 22, 1963.

The Investigation of the Assassination of President

John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agen-

cies, Book V, Select Committee to Study Governmental

Operations, 4/23/76, p. 30, Senate Report No. 94-755.)

The most intriguing aspect of the SSC account involved

the alleged delay of a Cubana flight to await the arri-

val at 10:30 p.m. EST Of aprivate twin-engined aircraft.

(Ibid. p. 60. ) The aircraft deposited an unidentified

passenger who boarded the Cubana

aircraft without cus-

toms

clearance and traveled to Havana in the pilot's

cabin. (Ibid., p. 61.) The source of that lead was an

Italian diplomate, Mario Mauri, who allegedly was on the

same flight. (

Analysis

In the 1977 Inspector General Report, the CIA at-

tempted to refute several. "inaccuracies" in the Senate:

Select Committee report regarding the "alleged" Cubana

Airlines flight that is apparently the only follow-up by

the Agency on the lead after the Senate report appeared.

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