CHARLES GOVEA AND FRANCISCO WILFREDO 'PANCHO' VERONA (ALONSO)
Originator: CIA
From: PONCHAY, ANTHONY R., COS, WH/MIAMI
To: SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE
Document date: 06/18/1969
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

## Page 1

104-10109-10162

'superie

2023 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992

533022

SUR

18 June 1969

MEMORANDUM FOi: Special Agent in Charge

Miami Field Office

SUBJECT

: Field Office Memorandum of K June 1969

Re: Charles GOVEA and Evancisco

Wilfredo "Pancho" VARONA (Alonsol

" 1. I have nav read with care the referenced memorandum

which deals specificilly with charges by a former agent Wiltredo

"Pancho" VARONA gainst his handler known as "Frank" or

Enrique. As you wil have perceived from reading VARONA's

file by the time you read this memorandum, Mr. VARONA is not

well regarded by ou: Station and/or the people who have handled

him to date.

This constitutes the reason for his termination. I

would also like you : examine the field traces ou Mr. Charles

GOVEA, an attachrunt to this memorandum. These traces

indicate that Mr. GIVEA has had in the past, and possibly still

may have, some coltact with Castro intelligence organizations.

We are presently wating for a more complete read-out on Mr.

GOVIA from the Ny York Office of the FBI. Understandably,

therefore, you can ice we look somewhat askance at the GOVEA/

VERONA informatio. Although we recognize the integrity of

the unwitting internediary Mr. Winston Guest of Palm Beach,

Florida, we also reognize the implications for "Frank" in Mr.

GOVLA's knowledg: of our affairs given his possible Castro

intelligence connecion.

Axiomatically, we will be interested in

knowing, at some pont in the near future, whether "Frank's"

true identity is knov by either VARONA or GOVEA.

2. I have ducussed this memorandum in detail with

'Frank". Our viev on VARONA's allegations are presented

below, keyed to you: basic memorandum.

SEC

4..123)

Lien an a day

---

## Page 2

14-00000

S308E1

-2 -

a.

11 June 196::

i: paragraph 4 of your memorandum of

03

Pir. VARONA was

recruited sometime

during 1957 sy Mr. (William Murray then assigned to

the Agency' Station in Havana. He was subsequently

handled by ir. Jack Stewart another Agency Officer

presently surioned in Kingston, Jamaica. Later, still

in Cuba, he vas handled by Mr. Frank Belsito now serving

in Panama aid Emilio Rodriguez (deceased.) Mr. Rodriguez

turned Mr. TARONA over to 'Frank" in November 1960.

In August 19i1, Mr. VARONA took asylum in the Brazilian

Embassy in Javana. He was later granted "salvo conducto"

to Rio de Jairo. In the interim "Frank" was exfiltrated

from Cuba te the U.S. When MI. VARONA arrived in the

Florida area during March 1962, he was met by his Havana

Case Office?:'Frank" who continued to handle him until

August 1962, at which time he was turned over to the Greek

Case Office:he refers to. The Greek Case Officer handled

him for appoximately three years. Along about 1965, the

Greek Case Officer turned Mr. VARONA over to Mr. Al

McQuade aki Fred who handled Mr. VARONA until May

1968, at whill time he was turned over to "Pepe" intro-

duced by "Fiank" who served as an intermediary because

of his previms connection with Mr. VARONA. Pepe's

specific job vas to give Mr. VARONA one last chance to

prove that h: could be productive before being terminated.

Pepe, an emerienced agent handler's problems with Mr.

VARONA were precisely like those of his predecessors.

He found r

VARONA to be untruthful, bellicose and

generally unatisfactory for any form of continued employ-

ment by WE Miami. Therefore, after due consideration

of Mr. VAl. NA's potential to cause trouble because of

his long exp: rience with the Agency, the decision was

taken to te rimate him recognizing full well there might

be security i percussions.

---

## Page 3

14-00000

- 3 -

In tis light of the foregoing, it is worrisome

to find out tlut Mr. VARONA is aware that "Frank"

recently recived transfer orders from the Organization.

We need mose information on this. We suspect that the

origin of thie statement is the fact that Mr. VARONA

recently met "Frank"' on the street in Mexico City by

complete hampenstance. During that meeting "Frank"

alluded to th. fact that he was no longer working in

Miami (alth:ugh in fact he was) to confuse MI. VARONA

as to his tru whereabouts. It should be noted that Mr.

VARONA refers to "Frank" as "Frank" because at one

point during the time that he was being handled by

"Frank", otterwise known as Enrique, he instructed

Mr. VARON to introduce him to the Vasco de CUNHA

family as "Frank" Stevens, otherwise he had known

"Frank" unütr the name, Enrique.

The basis for Mr.

VARONA saying that he believed "Frank" mishandled

the WOFIRMprogram in many ways appears to be

vituperation plus frustration.

The vituperation being

a basic ingrrient in his opportunistic character.

b. Ie paragraph 5 of your memorandum of

11 June 196!:

That "Frank" had certain responsibilities

re Juanita Cistro is very true. "Frank" was funda-

mentally resonsible for the defection of Juanita Castro

although Mr.. VARONA furnished the lead. The "Frank"/

Juanita Castro relationship is now quasi-legendary. He

did not fumbu the very difficult handling of this contro-

versial persi. Mr. VARONA would have been in no

position to laow the load placed upon "E rank" by the

Agency in irring to gain operational mileage from Miss

Castro. Is he information that "Frank" was in posses-

sion of infornation which could have resulted in the

assassinatim of Fidel Castro, the following comment

must be mali::. This refers to the Plan RAPHAEL which

EMET

---

## Page 4

14-00000

- 4 -

involved Mi. VARONA's brother. "Frank" was not

the Case Offier on this operation, although he had

originally recruited Mr. VARONA's brother in Cuba

prior to his filtration. The Case Officer for the

RAPHAEL geration, if one considers that there was

a case office, would have been Stephen P. Mangello.

•Re Mr. VARINA's charge that five of his family went to.

jail in Cuba ind four of his friends "went to the wall" in

Cuba because of the shortcomings of "Frank, " "Frank" has

the following specifically to say in rebuttal:

"VAIONA was continuously admonished from

the time of fis arrival in the U.S. in March 1962 to

be discreet soncerning his connection as well as his

relatives' cinnection with the Agency. It was common

knowledge ir the exile community that VARONA and

his family vere dedicating their lives to the overthrow

of Castro. No member of VARONA's family was

molested by Castro until the exfiltration of VARONA's

brother in 164. VARONA's brother left a wife and

two childrer: behind and later within a period of three

months initated divorce proceedings. VARONA'S

brother anc probably his wife, and possibly other

members o: the family knew of Plan RAPHAEL. It

would be dificult, if well nigh impossible, to ascertain

who could lüve been the cause of the arrest of members

of VARON's family, since besides the family members,

other agens who were also involved in this Plan were

arrested ai approximately the same time. Re the four

friends "wiu went to the wall, " this appears to be sheer

embellishrent on the part of Mr. VARONA."

c. Re paragraph 6 of your memorandum of

11 June 191,?:

Re, Mr. VARONA's statement that the Cuban

who holds ie highest position for the Agency in Miami

and who wicks directly for 'E rank" is one Joaquin .

"SANGENT: this again is embellishment. Mr.

VARONA

has obviouly known for some years that Mr. SANGENIS

heads the IMOT Organization.

---

## Page 5

14-00000

- 5 -

Mr. VARON: is not informed on other Station

operations, : it is understandable that in his

attempt to bring attention to himself that he

would focus in those things he is aware of.

Mr. VARONI's opinion of Mi. SANGENIS and

his handling if money is his own opinion. The

Station's viev is that it is lamentable that Mr.

VARONA, oer the years, did not show the same

amount of prisonal dedication to getting the job

done that M: SANGENIS has shown. Again, it

appears to i one more vituperative allegation

which has litle basis, based on information so far

provided by Mr. VARONA.

d. Je paragraph 7 of your memorandum of

11 June 196%

TARONA was in fact the messenger sent

by "Frank" is the person who was going to conduct

the exfiltraton of "Frank" and several co-workers

in June 196! He did not, as he

suggests, have a

prime or owanizing role in this exfiltration which

was, in fac:. handled by the NORBREGAS family,

long time aets of the Havana Station. Whether he

was actuall involved in the exfiltration of Pedro

DIAZ (Lanz and Manuel ARMIME is not known. It

"is probable hat he was somewhere on the periphery

as was true in "Frank's" case.

e. li paragraph 8 of your memorandum of

11 June 19r':

' is true that M

VARONA is a good

friend of thu Vasco de CUNHA family. He got to

know this fantly when Vasco LITAO Was Ambassador

to Cuba.

Tie Ambassador gave lim asylum during the

BATISTA puriod, and this formed the basis of their

friendship. From time to time over the years, the

---

## Page 6

14-00000

finds.

- 6 -

Agency fouri it useful to use this friendship as a

means of coitrolling MI. VARONA when he became

unmanageaii.

f. Le paragraphs 9 and 10 of your memorandum

of 11 June 1169:

Ve know that Ms. VARONA has written

at least one irticle for VIpA LATINA.

We have no

information however, to the effect that he is being

at all succesful in re-establishing and/or revitalizing

the old "Autntico" Party. Given his unfavorable

reputation ir the Cuban community, it is unlikely that

he would enpy any success in this endeavor.

g. Fe paragraph ll of your memorandum of

11 June 196?

I should be noted that Mr. Osorio DAVILA;

presently ling in Miami, is the brother of a prominent

Communist i Cuba today and should be viewed in that

light.

"Frais's" recollection of the situation involving

servants ani the ASPRU home, which he took over with

the servants does not jive with Mr. VARONA's report.

There were vo white and two black servants in the

house. The light of the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban

Internal Serrice sent agents to the ASPRU home to pick

up "Frank.' One colored and one white servant were at

home at thai time and they told the DSE agents that

"Frank" was 'a gay blade" and would not be home until

early the ne: morning. The DSE left the residence

leaving behirl a note for "Frank" to report to their

headquarter: the following morning. In this context,

it should be luted that 'Frank's" cover in Cuba during

the period in question was that of a professional gambler;

a cover whin served him well during most of his service

there.

•J-

---

## Page 7

14-00000

- 7-

h.

Fe paragraph 12 of your memorandum of

11 June 1965:

(a) "Frank" has no knowledge of the material

referred to. A further check will be made to determine

if this infornation was passed to "Pepe" who no uld have

made it available to the Station.

(2) This material apparently was passed to

"Pepe" and subsequently analyzed by the Station. DSE

personalitie: were carded. MI. VARONA's statement

that "Frank' did not properly utilize the information

again appears to be another vituperative attempt to.

strike at "Fnk" who he apparently blames for his

downfall wit: the Agency.

(s), (d), (e), (f). No Comment.

(E), (h), (i), (j). This is probably completely

fabricated material. Nevertheless because of its rather

sensational iature, the Station would be interested in

receiving tri copies of this material so that it can be

analyzed in te light of specific, positive collection,

evidentiary naterial at hand.

It would also be appreci-

ated if your cifice could glean the source or sources of

this allegedit sensational material.

Fs: (k), (1), (m).

(i. No comment.

/6. Henri VIXAMAR'is a Haitian exile living

most of his zine in Carada. There is no information

that Mr. VElveR is a Communist.

(= As in (g), (h), (i), (i) above, the Station

would like to know the source of the alleged photograph

which MI. TARONA refers to. This again appears to

be sheer fahrication.

SIONE

-".:

---

## Page 8

14-00000

- 8 -

(=) No commént. Nicolas GUILLEN is

a well-know= Mexican Commünist poet.

2. If you read the foregoing analysis in the light of Mr.

VARONA's file, I believe you will clearly ascertain that we

put little, if any, cinfidence in any statements made by Mr.

VARONA. We are deeply troubled, however, by the fact that

Mr. VARONA has used one Mr. Charles GOVEA as his means.

of getting to the eminent American citizen Mr. Winston Guest,

who in turn used his good offices to establish contact with you.

We consider it highy important to determine whether Mr. GOVEA

has any current corection with Cuban intelligence and to that

end, we have urgeniy requested from the Bureau any and all

current information bearing on the matter. Although Mr.

VARONA cannot previde Cuban intelligence through Mr. GOVEA

anything really current, he could albeit unwittingly provide a

tremendous amount of information dealing with Agency modus

operandi which we vould not like them to have. This becomes

quite important in view of the fact that we have several indications

of aggressive DGI/LV operations to gain information on the AMOT

as well as our AMCRAFT operations.

3. Your paigraph 15 clearly reveals the fact that

VARONA has an ax: to grind and he has chosen this way of

reingratiating hims:If with the Agency by passing information

on "Frank" the man who handled him for the longest period of

time. For tactical elitical reasons you may deem it wise to

"receive his report under no circumstances, however, would

we want this to be wed as a bridge to become involved in again

with a man in whos: integrity or objectivity we have no confidence

whatsoever. To reterate re the previous paragraph, we are most

concerned about GOTEA and if we can develop any current infor-

mation on Mi. GOVIA's contacts with Cuban intelligence, we

believe it will be newssary to get some word to Mr. Guest to

disengage himself f:: contact with this person.

SECRET

D:A:

---

## Page 9

- 9-

4. This menorandum has not been completely researched.

It is suggested, howver, that you forward it with your memorandum

of 1l June 1969 to yur office so that this matter may be placed in

perspective:

5.

I would spreciate notification when you forward your

memorandum to your Headquarters as I would like to furnish a

copy simultaneously along with my analysis of the situation. I

appreciate your pronpiness in bringing the VARONA/GOVEA

contact to my attention.

Anthony R. PONCHAY

Chief of Station, WH/Miami

Attachment: a/s

SISTET

---