ANTI-CASTRO ACTIVITIES
Originator: FBI
Document date: 4/1/63
Document type: PAPER-TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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JFK Assassination System

Identification Form

Agency Information

Date:

5/5/2016

AGENCY:

RECORD NUMBER :

NARA

176-10030-10164

RECORD SERIES:

NATIONAL SECURITY FILES

AGENCY FILE NUMBER:

Document Information

ORIGINATOR: FBI

FROM:

TO :

TITLE:

ANTI-CASTRO ACTIVITIES

DATE: • 04/01/1963

PAGES:

6

SUBJECTS :

CASTRO, CUBA, EXHILES

DOCUMENT TYPE: PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

CLASSIFICATION: Secret

RESTRICTIONS: 1B

CURRENT STATUS : Redact

DATE OF LAST REVIEW: 06/16/1998

OPENING CRITERIA: SANITIZED 5/8/98

COMMENTS :

NSF: countries: Cuba: Subjects, exhiles, 4/63

v9.1

#H 49061

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tO CONFIDENTIAL, 5408

SECRET CONPENTIAL

'PENDING IK: 13: 298

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

In Reply, Please Refer lo

File No..

Cc-Chase

Cy dent. Durgan

WASHINGTON 25, D.C.

April 1, 1963

ANTI-CASTRO ACTIVITIES

On March 29, 1963, our Savannah, Georgia, Office

Interviewed Private Santiago Alvarez Fernandez, a

. Cuban trainee

stationed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, with the United States

Army•

Private Alvarez identified himself as the son of Doctor

Santiago

Juan Antonio Alvarez Rodriguez, owner of the yacht

"Alisan, " which reportedly was used in the raid against a

Soviet ship off Cuba on the night of March 26, 1963.

He said

his father had telephonically contacted him from Miami, Florida,

on March 28, 1963, to advise that he was back home safe and

that the raid was

successful. He quoted his father as stating

the remainder of the raiding group had returned to a base,

which was not identified.

On March 29, 1963, Santiago Juan Antonio Alvarez

Rodriguez advised our

• Miami

Office as follows:

He was formerly a Senator in Cuba and-a doctor in

Mexico. He resides in Miami and is unemployed at the present

time but owns and operates the "Alisan, " which has two diesel

engines.

The "Alisan" left Miami on March 17, 1963, and went

to the

vicinity of Orange Key on the western edge of the Grand

Bahama Bank of the Bahama Islands, and thence proceeded north

to a rendezvous with a 23-foot boat which took place on March 18,

The 23-foot boat was

taken into tow with the intention that arms hidden in three

separate locations in the Bahamas would be picked up. Bad

weather forced a delay, but on March 24 and 25, 1963, some

arms were collected.

The 23-foot boat was used to make the

attack and seven men participated.

After the attack, the 23-foot boat was then

used to

return the arms to the hiding places, and the "Alisan" subsequently

towed it to a point near the Miami shore.

The "Alisan" is

presently docked at North Miami Beach, Florida.

SECRET CONFIOENTIAL

GROUP 1

Excluded from

downgrading and

declassification

automatio

DECLASSIFIED

Sec. 3.5

GA 3P058 806.356

By_

_ NARA, Date

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Anti-Castro Activities

DI.

Alvarez refused to pinpoint the location of the

hidden arms and would not identify the

other participants.

He

declined to identify where the "Alisan" was stored in Miami

prior to the raid and would not give the present location of

the 23-foot boat.

He clained the arms used were supplied by

the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and were originally to

be delivered to Cuba prior to the April, 1961, invasion.

DI. Alvarez said he made 30 or 40 trips

to Cuba prior to the

April, 1961, invasion, and that these trips were made for CIA.

He indicated he carried many loads of arms on these trips and

hid some of them on small deserted islands in the Bahamas.

According to Di. Alvarez, these hidden arms are used by him

in operations against Cuba and these arms were used in the

March 26, 1963, attack.

DI. Alvarez said an individual named Thompson, who

lives at Cay Sal in the Bahamas,

has cooperated with him in

the past by warning that a British police boat was on the way

to Cay Sal,

which allowed Dr. Alvarez time to unload, arms from

the "Alisan" to be hidden ashore before the British police

searched the "Alisan" and

found no arms aboard.

He said the

bomb used in the March 26, 1963, attack was made in the Bahamas

with materials brought from the

United States.

He denied that

any arms used in the attack were taken out of the United States

or that any were brought back into this country.

According to Dr. Alvarez, the "Alisan" frequently

makes trips to the Bahamas to engage in anti-Castro activities

and is usually stopped and

searched by United States authorities

on its departure and upon its return. He said no arms are ever

found aboard. Dr. Alvarez also noted that British authorities

have stepped up patrolling activities around Cay Sal Bank.

DI. Alvarez said his anti-Castro activities are financed by

friends and noted that the March 26, 1963, raid used up all

the available money.

He denied receiving any United States

aid or backing for the raid and said no Americans are in any

way connected with his group.

On March 29, 1963, our Miami Office interviewed

Eulalio Estevez Viera, a native of Cuba presently residing in

Miami, who admitted participation in the raid. He said he was

picked up at his residence on the morning of March 18, 1963,

by Cubans whose names he did not desire to disclose and intended

to accompany them on a trip to Cuba. His account of the raid

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Anti-Castro Activities

was similar to that furnished by Di. Alvarez and he admitted

that Antonio Cuesta and Antonio Perez Quesada participated in the

raid, as did Dr. Alvarez.

Antonio Cuesta del Valle told our Miami Office on

March 30, 1963, that he participated in the raid and had

originally left Rama Marina, North Miami Beach, Florida, on

March 18, 1963, in the 23-foot boat.

He said the "Alisan"

had also left from Rama Marina. Cuesta, a Cuban national who

entered the United States as a parolee in June, 1960, described

the raid substantially as did Dr. Alvarez and Eulalio Estevez

Viera, and added that approximately 20 cannon shells were fired

into the Soviet vessel.

Cuesta named seven additional Cubans as participants

in the raid and said two non-Cubans, Andrew St. George and an

unidentified assistant, did

not participate in the actual

attack but remained on

the "Alisan" while it was going on.

Agents of our Miami Office observed the "Alisan"

at the Rama Marina in North Miami Beach on March 29, 1963.

The

dockmaster at the Marina stated it arrived there on March

and that six lubans left the boat following its arrival.

Our interviews with individuals having firsthand knowledge of

this matter are continuing.

It is noted that CIA has previously advised that it

had no connection whatsoever with the March 26, 1963, raid.

During the interview of Private Alvarez at Fort Jackson,

he claimed that other Cuban trainees at Fort Jackson had tora

him small arms, ammunition and hand grenades were being stolen

by the trainees.

A check with military officials at Fort Jackson

by our Savannah Office failed to substantiate that any such thefts

had occurred:

On March 28, 1963, a United States Army representative

it Fort Jackson advised that an Army source had learned of

meeting in Columbia,

South Carolina, on March 24, 1963, of the

Cuban exile organization known as Agrupacion Montecristi.

Reportedly, 12 Cuban trainees from Fort Jackson attended

this

meeting, which was directed by the group's General Secretary,

Dr. Francisco Carrillo of Miami.

The trainees reportedly were

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Anti-Castro Activities

requested to recruit members in each platoon of the regiment

composed of Cuban trainees and to attempt to secure small

arms, explosives and ammunition. Dr. Carrillo was quoted

as

stating that his organization had plans to form small groups

to conduct raids against Cuba from a land base or from a ship.

On March 29, 1963, Fort Jackson authorities furnished

the following additional information obtained from their

source concerning the Montecristi group at Columbia, South Carolina.

Reportedly, this group had numerous .50 caliber and .30 caliber

machine guns, as well as 75 and 20 millimeter cannons, with

The leader of the group was identified as

Sergio Lopez Mesa, an instructor at Benedict College in Columbia

who allegedly is married to the daughter of Jose Miro Cardona,

well-known anti-Castro leader. According to the source,

tentative plans had been set

up for a small raid on Cuba in

the immediate future, possibly during the week end of March 30-31,

1963, primarily to secure publicity on which a fund drive might

be based.

The source, who was in close touch with leaders of

the group, reportedly left South Carolina on March 29, 1963,

en route

to Florida, carrying "action plans" of the group which

he would give to Dr. Carrillo.

The source reportedly would

keep Army authorities currently advised, including full details

of any raids to be conducted

when plans

were formulated.

This source further advised that the Montecristi group

planned a raid on the mainland of Cuba in the future with the

raiders wearing United States Army fatigue uniforms, so as to

give the impression that the United States Army was attacking

Cuba.

In this regard, Fort Jackson authorities advised on

March 29, 1963, that about 80 fatigue uniforms have been reported

missing.

The Army source further reported that Leslie Nobregas,

described as a boatman in the Miami area, reportedly handled the

securing of boats and acted as a naval guide for the various

anti-Castro raiding parties

leaving from the Miami area.

Nobregas

was said to be currently in

a Miami hospital

recent heart attack.

Sources of our Miami Office have advised that the

Agrupacion Montecristi group, with headquarters in Miami, is

headed by Francisco Carrillo and its membership is made up

primarily of professional men, including lawyers, bankers and

physicians.

The group is affiliated with the anti-Castro

federation, the Cuban Revolutionary Council, and reportedly

receives funds from that organization.

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On March 30, 1963, authorities at Fort Jackson

advised our Savannah Office

that there were no known shortages

of weapons at that base.

Fort Jackson officials are conducting

a check to locate the missing fatigue-type uniforms and to

definitely establish whether all weapons assigned to the base

can be accounted for. Our Miami and Savannah Offices are

wheth want anal

conducting expedite inquiries concerning the Agrupacion

Montecristi group pursuant to the request of Assistant Attorney

General J. Walter Yeagley, who authorized an investigation on

March 30,

1963, to determine whether there are possible violations

of neutrality statutes.

United States Army authorities have

made dissemination to interested agencies and to the International

Situation Room at the White House of the data secured from

the Army source relative to the activities of the Agrupacion

Montecristi group.

On March 28, 1963, our Miami Office interviewed

Felipe Vidal Santiago,

who identified

himself as Secretary. of

an anti-Castro organization known as the United Front of National

Liberation. Vidal, who had been previously identified

anti-Castro leader

who planned to head a strike against targets

in Cuba, denied making any plans to attack Cuban targets.

said his organization had been in contact with the anti-Castro

underground inside Cuba and had been making plans to infiltrate

supplies and weapons to those individuals, but had canceled such

plans after learning the Castro government had wiped out those

individuals to whom the supplies and weapons would have been

sent.

Vidal noted that his group did not own a boat and actually

did

not have the capacity to get the supplies and equipment into

Cuba since the person who was to lend his organization a boat

failed to produce the boat when needed.

On March 29, 1963, our San Juan, Puerto Rico, Office

advised that the L-66

which carried

out the attack on the

Soviet vessel had filed a certificate of incorporation on

December 4, 1962,

under the name Comandos L 66, Incorporated.

Its principal office in Puerto Rico was listed as Bayamon,

Puerto Rico, and Pedro Guillot Solis was given as the person in

charge of the office.

An account was opened on behalf of this

group at the Santurce, Puerto Rico, branch of the First National

City Bank of New York with a deposit of $76.75 on November 26,

1962. The account was closed on February 19, 1963, at which

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Anti-Castro Activities

time

the balance was $250.

Three individuals identified with

I-66 in Puerto Rico advised on March 28, 1963, that they had

no previous knowledge concerning the date the

L-66 raid would

take place and that representatives of the group in Puerto Rico

had furnished nothing but money for this raid.

It was stated

the group's funds in Puerto Rico have been exhausted and that

what little money

had been available was sent to Pedro Muina

in Miami, Florida.

Concerning the March 18, 1963, raid on Cuba conducted

by members of Alpha 66 and the Second National Front of Escambray

(SNFE), our Miami Office on March 29,

1963, interviewed

Armando Fleites, a leader of the SNFE, who

has previously been

identified as having participated in this raid.

Fleites

claimed that all boats and weapons which figured in this raid,

as well as all participating personnel, are still located in

an area of the Caribbean which he declined to identify.

However,

he insisted that no part of the action or preparation therefor

occurred in United States territory, including Puerto Rico or

the Virgin Islands.

He declined to

be more specific or to

identify the participants in this raid, but claimed that no

Americans were involved.

With regard to the use of British territory in connection

with these raids, it is noted that the British territory in

closest proximity to Cuba is the Cay Sal Bank, located 40 miles

from the northern coast of cuba. This Bank includes many

uninhabited islands and stretches over hundreds of miles of

water.

A representative of British Intelligence who is located

at Nassau, Bahama

Islands, advised our Miami Office on March 19,

1963,

that the British Government in the Bahamas has very few

patrol boats and that the Cay Sal is difficult to patrol because

of its great distance from Nassau.

He acknowledged that the

majority of recent anti-Castro raids have reportedly been

conducted from islands located in the Cay Sal Bank.

SECRET

CONFIDENTiAL

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