MEMO:INTERVIEW WITH CHARLOTTE BUSTOS-VIDELA
Agency: CIA
Originator: CIA
From: BRECKINRIDGE, SCOTT D., OLC
To: THE RECORD
Document date: 12/3/76
Document type: PAPER-TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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104-10096-10310

FUSP

SECHET

3

DEC 1376

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

SUBJECT: Interview with Charlotte Bustos-Videla

1. John Leader, Ted Anderson (O/S) and I met with Ms.

Bustos yesterday to discuss her recollections that might bear

"on the Oswald matter.

2. She stated that she has not yet been contacted by Mr.

Kessler. She and her husband have arranged for an unlisted

telephone and a post office box to protect their privacy. Il

contacted she will decline to have any discussions with Mi.

Kessler. Contrary to my understanding she is returning to

Headquarters PCS and will be here for some time.

3. Ms. Bustos stated that the most important person to

whom we can talk is Ann Goodpasture who has retired to Texas.

She stated that Ms. Goodpasture was a case officer in the

station; she "ran liaison;" she handled sensitive things for the

COS; and, after the assassination of President Kennedy she

would have been the one to conduct the reviews at the station.

She was involved in the investigations of the Duran aspect of

the matter (we do not know if Ms. Goodpasture is the person

interviewed by the Downing Committee investigators; she does

not fit the description of a secretary).

• 4. The next person that she mentioned was Milly Rodriguez.

She handled Tasaroff and the Soviet transcribers. Ms. Bustos

feels that Ms. Rodriguez would be more informed on what

happened than Dave (Reardon -sp ?). •

5. Ms. Bustos stated that she got involved from the Cuban

angle, not from the Soviet point of view. It is her present re-

collection, contrary to/what we have been told, that the Cuban

tap was active at the time that Oswald visited Mexico. We dis--

cussed the fact that he called the Soviet Embassy from the Cuban

Embassy and asked if this might explain her recollection that

the Cuban tap was active; she thought not.

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6. Ms. Bustos said that when the report on Oswald came

in from Mexico she did the name trace on him. She took action

to notify the Navy, the FBI, and the field. She states that the

station was told to notify the Legal Attache and the three Military

Attaches. In notifying the "Pentagon" she said that she asked

for a photo of Oswald from his military file which might be used .

in his identification against photography coverage in Mexico City.

She said there was no answer from the 'Pentagon." In response

to our questions she stated that this would mean his military

service, which probably was the Navy as Oswald was a Marine.

She said that she waited for comments and reaction but that there

was no response. By way of explanation she observed that lots

of people were in contact with the Soviet and Cuban Embassies

in Mexico City and no'response at that time might not be unnatural.

She cannot recall if there was a follow up.

7. She stated that initially our telephone taps in Mexico City

were unilateral, bearing the cryptonym LIFEAT. Later, joint

telephone taps were established (she could not recall the date);

it came to be known as LIENVOY. The LIENVOY LP had about

30 lines, 15 each for CIA and Liaison. Most of the embassy

lines were switched to LIENJOY, but LIFEAT continued to have

houses for LP's "all over town." The lines in LIENVOY were

tapped from central, which Ms. Bustos sees as indicating that

there was probably no standdown on the Cuban Embassy so far

as technical reasons are concerned. She felt that the LP case

officer managed the distribution of coverage so that there would

be no duplications in the lines covered. She could not remember

the identity of the person but she said that Win Scott read everything.

Ms. Bustos stated that there was photo surveillance on both the

Soviet and the Cuban Embassies. The Cuban photo surveillance

project (LIONION) was a joint operation.

8. Ms. Bustos said that Ann Goodpasture handled the

material from LIFEAT and she recalled that a person named

Anderson handled LIENVOY. Ms. Goodpasture did the history

of the Mexico Station and would be very familiar with all of it.

As Ms. Bustos did not go to Mexico until 1967 her personal

recollections are a mix of the period commencing when she

arrived PCS and her knowledge from the Headquarters desk.

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9. Ms. Bustos statad that Win Scott retired around 1969

and that the files were purged around 1970. She felt that all

permanent material was sent to Warrenton and would not be

at the station. She said that about 75% of all the paper was

destroyed but that the Oswald file would have been sent to

Washington.

10. Ms. Bustos has no real recollections now about what

she did at the time of the Kennedy death. She recalls only the

Oswald 201-file. Her assumption is that a task force would

have taken over the matter, as was customary of LA Division

handling special matters which would take it out of the Mexican

Branch.

11. We agreed to get some information that might help Ms.

Bustos refresh her recollection and agreed on a later cortact.

S. D. Breckinridge

cc: O/S

-3=

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