Agency: HSCA
Originator: HSCA
From: CIA
Document date: 00/00/0000
Document type: PAPER-TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

## Page 1

180-10142-10406

Cuban-American.. page 7

BoX 24 = 40

#

CIA HAS N

DECLASS

RELEASI

TION TO

.....T

•N9355

which had been carried out in Key West, Florida. The report

stated that Lopez's

counsin, Guillermo Serpa Rodriguez, told the

FBI

that Lopez came to the United Stated for the first time some

time after Castro first came to power. 27/ He stayed approximately

one year and then returned to Cuba. 28/ Rodriguez stated that

Lopez returned to Cuba because he was homesick and missed

his family; he had parents and four brothers who still resided

In Cuba. 29!

Rodriguez stated also that Lopez's brother Selito was

a member of the Cuban militia at that time. 30/ Another

brother, Raimundo Policarpo Lopez, had reportedly been

sent to the Soviet Union to study by the Cuban government,

according to Rodriguez. 31/

Rodriguez told the FBI that Lopez returned to the United

States in 1960 or 1961 because he was afraid he would be draited

into the Cuban militia if he remained

in Cuba. 32/

The FBI learned that Lopez married an American woman in Key

West in August, 1962. 33/ According to Lopez's wife, he worked

for a time with the Pepsi Cola Co. in 1962 and at the Molina

and Murgia Bakery in Key West, which was owned by cousins. 34/

She said that he also worked for a construction company in

Tampa in June, 1963. 35/

THIS COPY IS NOT

FOR RELEASE.

10142-10406

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## Page 2

Cuban-American... page 8

Lopez's wife told the FBI that Lopez began suffering from

recurrent attacks

of epilepsy and had to be confined at Jackson

State Hospital in Key West in early 1963. 36/ She stated that

he was treated by doctors from Coral Gables and Key West for the

epilepsy. 37/ She stated that she did not believe he had a

history of epilepsy before coming to the United States. 38/

She believed his convulsions were brought on by nervous tension

and worry over his family in Cuba and may have been a reason

for his return to Cuba in 1963. 39/

The wife said that in approximately November, 1963,

she received a

letter from Lopez saying he had returned to

Cuba. 40/ The wife stated that she was surprised he had returned

but that he had mentioned he was going back to Cuba when he

left for Tampa in November, 1963. 41/

The wife gave her opinion

that he returned because of his close relationship with his

parents. 42/ The wife stated that she received another letter

from him later from Cuba. 43/ According to the letter, he was

working as an elevator operator in Havana. 44/ In that letter

Lopez said he had received some kind of financial assistance

for the trip from an organization in Tampa. 45/ According to the

wife, Lopez did not have sufficient personal funds to pay the

expenses to Mexico and Cuba. 46/ She said that he had never had

contact with Cuban refugee organizations to her knowledge. 47/

---

## Page 3

Cuban-American... page 9

Rodriguez told the FBI that Lopez left Key West

in late. 1963 to go to Tampa with the hope of being

able

to return to Cuba. 48/ Rodriguez said he believed Lopez wanted

to return to Cuba because he was afraid of being drafted into

the U.s. military. 49/ Rodriguez said Lopez was not involved

in any pro-Castro activity while living in Key west, but that

Lopez was "definitely" pro-Castro. 50/ Rodriguez recounted that

in one instance he and Lopez actually had a fist-fight over

Lopez's pro-Castro sympathies. 51/

In a report in March 1963, the FBI reported that Lopez

had attended a meeting of the Tampa Fair Play for Cuba Committee

on November 20, 1978. 52/ The report also stated that at a

meeting of the group on November 17, 1963, Lopez stated that he

had

been

refused travel back to Cuba. He said at that time

that he was

waiting for a phone call from Cuba to get worc on

his departure to Cuba. 53/

According to that report in March, 1964, a member of the

Tampa FPCC stated that she called a friend in Cuba on December 8,

1963 and was told that Lopez had arrived safely. 54/ The member

had attempted to locate Lopez in Cuba through friends there becausé

Lopez had not delivered gifts to persons in Cuba from people

in Florida as he had promised to do. 55/ The member stated

also that the Tampa chapter of the FPCC had given Lopez

approximately $190 for the return trip to Cuba. 56/ The member

said that Lopez had gone to Cuba by way of Mexico because he did

not have a passport. 57/

---

## Page 4

fiscalscie

Cuban-American.. page 10

CSX0E3

The March 1964 FBI report listed Lopez's passport as

#310162, which had been issued in January, 1960, and his

Mexican tourist card as "M8-24553, issued November 20, 1963

in Tampa. 58/ It stated that Lopez entered Mexico by private

auto at Nuevo Laredo on November 23, 1963 and departed for

Havana

on November 27 as the only passenger on a Cubana flight,

carrying a Cuban courtesy visa. 59/

According to the FBI file, Lopez's mother, Esperanza

Rodriguez, was

born in Key West, Florida. 60/. The file

listed three cousins and four uncles who resided and worked in

the Key West area with their families. 61/

Lopez's FBI file contains a memo from the Tampa office

dated October 26, 1964 which states:

It is felt that information developed

regarding the subject is not sufficient

to merit consideration for the Security

Index: 62/

The only information transmitted by the FBI to the Warren

Commission on Lopez concerned a check at the Passport Office. 63/

The information the Bureau did send to the Commission a bout the

Tampa chapter of the FPCC did not include any information on

Lopez's activities. 64/ The CIA apparently did not provide

any information on Lopez to the Warren Commission. As pointed

out in the Senate report, this omission is made more egregious

---

## Page 5

Cuban- Anerican... page

by

the fact that sources had reported within a few days of

Lopez's departure for Havana and of the assassination that the

circumstances

surrounding his travel

seemed "suspicious" and

that in March, 1964, while the Warren Commission was well

underway into its work into the investigation of the

assassination, Lopez had reportedly been involved in the

Kennedy assassination.

In the 1977 report of the Inspector General of the

CIA, the Agency attempted to refute several "inaccuracies"

in the Senate report regarding the reporting on Lopez's

travel. That is apparently the only follow-up by the

Agency on the lead after the Senate report appeared.

In the first place, the Inspector General's report

corrected the statement in the Senate report that sources

reported that Lopez appeared "suspicious" when he was

surveilled in Mexico. 65/ The IG report explained that the

internal CIA document of December 5, 1963 which characterized

the man as suspicious was merely "cryptic and

impressionistic

rather than constituting a tangible basis for dramatic

activity or final conclusions. " 66/

The report stated additionally that the March 19,

1964 cable from the Monterrey base which recounted the

information on Lopez from the contact of

the Mexican police

and claimed Lopez was involved in the assassination was

---

## Page 6

Cuban-American... page 12

MiDstas

incorrect on several points: Lopez's name was misspelled

"Lopes"; it stated that Lopez entered Mexico on foot when

the CIA repeated the FBI's conclusion that he had traveled

by auto; it gave incorrect digits in Lopez's passport

number; it stated that the Mexican tourist visa was

issued

in Nuevo Laredo and not Tampa; and it reported that he

stayed at

the Cuban Embassy. 67/ Based on these inaccuracies,

the Inspector General concluded that "the source patently

was extensively misinformed." 68/ Based on that observation,

the Inspector General completely discounted the cable

by the Deputy Chief of Station in Mexico City on March 20,

1964 that the Mexican police source information "jibed"

with what had earlier been reported by the CIA's source. 69/

Presumably the discrepancies pointed out by the

Inspector General are meant to explain the

fact that the

CIA did not take more aggressive investigative steps to

ascertain whether there might have been some connection

between Lopez and the assassination.

In that regard, the

1977 Inspector General report explains that the Agency

had no other means of investigating Lopez at his disposal

and had

carried the lead as far as it was able by

questioning a Cuban defector about Lopez. While the fact

: of the CIA's lack of access to further information about

---

## Page 7

Cuban-American.. • page 13

Lopez may well be the case, that fact does not explain either

the failure of the CIA to take more seriously the suspicions

of the sources, or most importantly, to report whatever

information it had to the Warren Commission.

In that

regard, the attempts of the Inspector General to denigrate

the value of the information provided on Lopez do not

diminish the apparent negligence of the Ayency in seriously

pursuing the information as it was received. The Agency is

not to be faulted for the strength of its intelligence

gathering, but rather for the judgment which kept that

intelligence from the governmental body, the warren

Commission, which was mandated to pass on the strength of

exactly that kind of

information.

From the information collected by the FBI, there

appear to be well-explained reasons both for Lopez's

desire to return to Cuba and his solicitation of the help of a

local FPCC chapter for that travel. His contacts in Florida

appear on their face to be innocent and nonpolitical and not

in any way connected with the assassination. Despite the

suggestion by the Senate report of suspicion in the fact

that Oswald "may" have been in touch with that same FPCC

chapter, no evidence

appears to suggest that Oswald

was

actually in touch with the Tampa FPCC, or that Lopez was

connected in any way with Oswald or Dallas.

---

## Page 8

Cuban-Anerican.. •page 14

Despite what is now known about Lopez, the Warren

Commission may well have wanted

to lay to rest

suspicions which would remain about Lopez, and satisfy

itself

that these circumstances

in no way indicate

foreign

involvement in the assassination. The CIA has contributed

to those suspicions by not airing the matter and explaining

circumstances which could shed light on otherwise sinister

appearing events.

The Committee has documented instances where the CIA

decided to forego passing information to the Warren Commission

out of a desire to not lay bare extremely sensitive sources

and

methods of intelligence. The LIpIRE operation

certainly falls within that category

and as soon as the CIA

began receiving

information that LIFIRE Jas the source of

the

information about Lopez's travel, the cabies and

messages reflected the desire to not reveal that method.

It also seems plausible that the FBI likewise chose not to

divulge what it had learned about Lopez because in doing

so, it would have had to reveal the sensitive CIA operation

which generated the initial information on Lopez's travel to Cuba

on November 27.

---

## Page 9

Cuban-American footnotes

1/

The Investigation of the Assassination of President

John E. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence

Agencies, Book V, Select Comm. to Study Governmental

Operations, 4/23/76, p.61, Senate Report No. 94-755.

2/ Id.

4/ Id:

3/ Classified CIA Document Mexi IN 72615, 3 Dec. 1963..

5 Classified CIA Document Mexi IN 72829, 3 Dec. 1963.

6/ Classified CIA Document

-, 4 Dec. 1963.

// Id.

8/

2/ Classified CIA Document Mexi 7253, IN 74227, 12/5/63=

10/ Id.

12/ Id.

11/ Classified CIA Document HMMA-22579, 12/5/63.

13/ Id.

14/ Classified CIA Document

• 5 Dec. 1963.

15/

Id.

16/ Classified CIA Document MNTY J0829, IN 43194, 19 Mar. 1964.

17/ Id.

18/

Id.

19/

Id.

20/ Id.

21/ Id.

22/ Classified CIA Document Mexi 8740, IN 43940, 20 Mar. 1964.

---

## Page 10

Cuban-American footnotes.-page 2

100/020

SIMI

23/

Classified CIA Document, Personality File Action Request,

16 December 1963, #201-741600.

Classified CIA Document.

24/

25/

Id.

26/ Id.

27/

28/

Ibid. at

29/

Ibid. at

30/

Ibid. at

31/

Ibid. at

32/

Ibid. at

33/

Ibid. at

34/

35/

36/

37/

38/

39/

40/

FBI Report,. 8/26/64, Serial 105-126109-12, p.

47/

---

## Page 11

Cuban-American footnotes...page 3

49/

Ibid. at

According to Lopez's FBI file, he registered with the

selective service at key West on July 29, 1960 and

was classified 4-F on February 23, 1962 due to a

language barrier.

2223S

LOGOSA

50/

51/

2/

53/

Ibid. at

54/ Ibia.

55/

56/

57/

58/

59/

60/

61/

62/

63/

FBI Report, 3/31/64, Serial 105-126109-9.

64/

65/

66/

FBI Report, 10/26/64; Serial 105-126109-13.

Senate Report, The Investigation of the Assassination of

President John

F. Kennedy, Book V, p.63.

Id.

See Senate Report, p. 104.

CIA Classified Document, 1977 Inspector General's Report,

Tab B, p. 16.

67/ Id.

68/

Id.

: 69/

Ibid. at 17.

---

## Page 12

DRAFT

Cuban-American

In Book V of the final reportion the performance of

the intelligence agencies in the investigation of the

assassination(of the Senate Select Committee to Study

Governmental Operations,

the F.B.I. and C.I.A. are criti-

fully

cized for their apparent failure to pursue leads surrounding

the assassination of President Kennedy and then to fully report

to the Warren Commission the results of the investigations

travel from

they did undertake. One such lead concerned the demakuxe

Texas to Mexico City

of an unidentified Cuban-American AK&KraX& on November 23,

1963, and then his flight to Havana on November 27. The

lead was made more "interesting" by the fact that the Cuban-

American reportedly attended a meeting of the

Tampa chapter

of the Fair Play for Cuba Cormittee on November 17, 1963

The House Select Committee on Assassinations examined the

whether

documents connected to that lead to determine a)

the

facts which were known by the F.B.I. and C.I.A. about that

•warranted further

investigation

andwhat- investigation

individual; (b) whether any of that information was reported

was undertaken

the Warren Commission and (c) whether the known facts

suggest any involvement in the assassination of President

Kennedy.

A chronolgyof the activities of the F.B.I. and C.I.A.

on this lead amplifies the information which was in the

possession of the two agencies.

---

## Page 13

DRAL'T

Cuban-American

In Book V of the final report of the Senate Select

Committee to Study Governmental Operations on the performance

of the intelligence agencies in the investigation of the

assassination,

the FBI and CIA are criticized for their

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 investigations

they did undertake. One such lead concerned the travel

from Texas to Mexico City of an unidentified Cuban-

American on November 23, 1963, and then his flight to Havana on

November 27. 1/ The lead was made more "interesting" by

the fact that the Cuban-American reportedly attended a

meeting of the Tampa chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba

Committee on November 17, 1963. 2/ The House Select

Committee on Assassinations examined the documents connected

to that lead to determine: (a) whether the facts which were

•known by the FBI and CIA about that individual warranted

further investigation and what investigation was undertaken;

(b) whether any of that information was reported to the warren

Commission; and (c) whether the known facts suggest any

involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy.

---

## Page 14

Cuban-American.. page 2

A chronology of the activities of the FBI and CIA

on this lead amplifies the information which was in the

possession d the two agencies.

CIA Investigation

The

first information on the travel of the Cuban-

American appeared on December 3, 1963. At that time the

Mexico City Station of the CIA sent a classified message

to CIA headquarters

that a source identified as

LITEMPO/ 4/

haả

requested of the Mexico City Chief of Station at 1300 hours

on that date "urgent traces on U.S. citizen Gilberto P.

Lopez." 3/ The source said Lopez arrived in Mexico on

November 23 en route to Havana and that Lopez had

disappeared with no record of his trip to Havana. According

to the message, Lopez had a tourist card, carrying number

24553, which he obtained in Tampa on November 20, 1963 and

his passport number was 310162. The message stated that Lopez

•left Mexico for Havana on November 27 via Cubana (Airlines).

The classified message listed the cryptonyn partasjas the

source

of information on Lopez's travel. It indicated the Mexico

City Station had no traces on him. 4/

In another classified message dated December 3, 1963 from

the Mexico City Station to CIA headquarters, the station

reported also that the FBI office in Mexico City had been

advised by Mexican authorities that Lopez entered Mexico on

November 27 at Nuevo Laredo. 5/

---

## Page 15

Cuban- American... page 3

In another classified message dated December 4, 1963

to the Mexico City Station from CIA headquarters, the Agency

reported that the State Department check on Lopez had produced nothin

yet because of the difficulty in tracing records using only

a name and passport number. 6/

The message contained this

paragraph:

we assume you have not tola [LITEmpo

that Lopez flew to Cuba on 27 November

secause you do not want to blow the

LIFIRE operation. This problem is ur

to you.

IneL FIRE operation referred to in the classified message

to the Mexico city station involved cooperation between the

CIA and Mexican federal officials who participated in a

plan of photographing passengers of flights departing for Havana

and obtaining the passenger lists of the Cubana flights.

Mexican officials also had their own program to photograph the

passports of the passengers arriving from Havana. 8/

On December 5, 1963 the Mexico. City Station reported

that the ITEMPO/s source had stated that cilberto lopez had

crossed the Mexican border at Laredo, Texas on November 23,

1963 and registered in the Roosevelt Hotel in Mexico City on

November 25 at 1600 hours in Room 203. 9/(LITEMPO) aLSO

reported that Lopez departed on a Cubana flight on

---

## Page 16

Cuban-American... page

November 27 for Havana. That classified message stated

additionally tha

LITEMPO/ 4

had a good photograph of

Lopez. 10/

The photograph of lopez contained in his CIA 201 file l

has "27 November 1963" stamped on the back. In the photograph

Lopez is shown wearing dark glasses and the background in

the photograph is dark and indistinguishable.

In a dispatch dated December 5, 1963 from the Chief of

Station in Mexico City to headquarters, copies of the

photograph of Lopez were attached and the dispatch stated

that the photograph was taken on the night of November 27,

1963 at the Mexico City airport by Mexican authorities as

Lopez was boarding a Cubana flight. Il/ The dispatch gave

the

previously reported information of the numbers of Lopez's

passport and tourist card and his entry

into

and departure from Mexico. The dispatch contained the

additional information that Lopez was listed as the only

passenger on Cubana flight #465 on November 27, 1963 to Havana;

the flight contained a crew of nine Cubans. It said he used

a U.S. passport and a Cuban courtesy visa. 12/ The dispatch

had the following message:

"Source states the timing and

circumstances surrounding subject's travel through mexico and

departure for Havana are suspicious." 13/ The dispatch

said also that the source "urgently" requested all available

data on the individual.

---

## Page 17

Cuban-Anerican..• page 5

Also on Decmeber 5, 1963, CIA headquarters cabled the

Mexico City Station and identified this Cuban-American as

Gilberto Policarpo Lopez, who was born on January 26, 1940. 14/

It stated also that Lopez was not identical with a Gilberto

Lopez who had been identified as active in pro-Castro groups in

Los Angeles. 15/

On March 29, 1964, the Monterrey station sent a

classified message to headquarters that Enrique Ruiz Montalvo,

an agent of the Mexican Federal Judicial Police, had

informed the CIA

that one of Ruiz's contacts reported

in late February, 1964, that an American citizen named Gilberto

Lopes was involved in the Kennedy assassination. 16/ The message

said Ruiz's contact reported that Lopes entered Mexico on

foot from Laredo, Texas about 1200 hours on November 13 carrying U.S.

passport #319962, which was issued July 13, 1960. 17/ According

to the dispatch, the contact related also that Lopes proceeded by

bus to Mexico City "where he entered Cuban embassy"; it said that

he left the Cuban Embassy on November 27 and was the only

passenger for Cuba on flight #465. 18/ It said the contact

reported that Lopes was issued Mexican travel form B, #24553, at

Nuevo Laredo. 19/ According to the dispatch, Ruiz reported

that he could not verify the contact's information,

but thought it might be of interest to the United States

government. 20/

---

## Page 18

Cuban-American... page 6

The cable stated also that background information

concerning

I the Monterrey base'S contact with Ruiz was

contained in a dispatch dated March 18 which, was

being pouched

to headquarters on March 20. 21/

On March 20 the Deputy Chief of the Mexico City Station

cabled a classified message to headquarters

in which it was

stated that the information contained in the earlier dispatch

which discussed Ruiz's contact "jibes fully with that provided

station by_LITEMPO A early December 1963. " 221

A 201 file was opened on Gilberto Policarpo Lopez by

Agency headquarters on December 16, 1963. 23/ At that time his

records indicated that no earlier 201 file had existed. The

file contains a "Review of 201 file on U.S. Citizen" by

Barry Gibson, Jan operations officer for the Lai/FI component

of the Agency. 24/ In that review the file was classified.

as a "counterintelligence case (i.e., involving a foreign intelli-

gence or security service)." 25/ The date of entry of that

category in Agency records is indicated as January 22, 1975 in

Lopez's file. 26/

FBI Investigation

In a report dated August 26, 1964, the FBI documented

the results of its investigation on Gilberto Policarpo Lopez

---

## Page 19

C.l.A. Investigation

The first information on the travel of tre Cuban

More by dron tie it a deter time a source

identified as LITENPO/Ahad requested of the Mexico City

Chief of Station at 1300 hours on that date tom urgent traces

on U.S. citizen Gilberto P. Lopez." TKEXXab1*XX*Xxxeaxxxxxx

XXxxXxXxxxxx the source said Lopez arrived in Mexico on

November 23 en route to Havana and that Lopez had disappeared

with no record of his trip to Havana. According to the mable,

Lopez had a tourist card carrying number 24553, which he

obtained in Tampa on November 20, 1963 and toek his passport

The message

number was 310162.

It stated that Lopez left Mexico for

Havana on November

27 via Cubana (Airlines). The busted message

listed the cryptonyn

• LI FIRE

s the source of information on

Lopez's travel. It indicated the Mexico City station had

no traces on him.

alässified message

In anothersabie dated December 3, 1963 from the

lexico City station to C.I.A. headquarters, the station

reported also that the F.B.I. office in Mexico City had been

advised by Mexican authorities about Lopez that

51

Mexico on November 27 at Nuevo Laredo.

entered

In another classified message dated December 4, 1963

to the Mexico City Station from C.I.A. headquarters, the

Agency reported that the State Department check on Lopez

had produced nothing yet because of the difficulty in

tracing records using only a name and passport number. The

---

## Page 20

message contained this paragraph:

We assume you have not tolaIrEPO 7

hat Lopez flew to Cuba on 27 Novembe

recayse you do not want to blow thel LI-

FIRE operation. This problem is up to you. t

The LI FIRE operation referred to in the classified message

to the rexico city station involved cooperation between the

C.I.A. and Mexican federal officials who participated in

a plan of photographing passengers of flights departing

for Havana and obtaining the passenger lists off theCubana

Mexican officials had their own program tc

flights. The mperation also badthe capacity to photo-

graph the passports of the passengers arriving from

Havana.

On December 5, 1963 the Mexico City station reported

that the LITEM PO

4 ourse had stated that ailberto roper.

had crossed

the Mexican border at Laredo, Texas on November

23, 1963 and registered in the Roosevelt Hotel in Mexico

City on November 25 at 1600 hours in Room 203

LITEM PO NOS

a

also reported that Lopez departed on Cubana flight on

November 27 for Havana. That classified message stated

101

additionally that LITMPo 4 had a good photograph of lopez.

The photograph of Lopez contained in his 201 file/

has "27 November 1963" stamped on the back. In the photograph

Lopez is shown wearing dark glasses and the background in

the photograph is dark and indistinguishable.

In a dispatch dated December 5, 1963 from the Chief

copies of

of Station in Mexico City to headquarters, the photograph

the dispatch

of Lopez ruse attached and in stated that the photgraph

---

## Page 21

was etchen on the night of November 27, 1963 at the

as Lopez was boarding

Mexico City airport by Mexican authorities. The dispatch

a Cubana

flight, w

gave the previously reported information of the numbers of

into

Lopez's passport and tourist card and his entry and depar-

ture. from Mexico. The dispatch contained the additional

information that Lopez was listed as the only passenger

on Cubana flight #465 on November 27, 1963

to

Havana;

the flight contained a crew of nine Cubans. It said he

13/

used a U.S. passport and a Cuban courtesy visa. The

dispatch had the following message: "Source states the

timing and circumstances surrounding subject's travel through

131

Mexico and departure for Havana are suspicious."

The dispatch

said also that the source "urgently" requestedall available

Also on December 5, 1963 C.I.A. headquarters cabled

data on the individuals

the Mexico city station that to els

Lopez

was not identical

with a filberto Lopez who had been identified as active

in pro-castro groups in los Angele ana identified this Cuban-

American as filberto Policarpo Lopez, who was born on January

26, 1940,

on March 19, 1964 the Monterrey station

sent a class1-

• fied message to headguarters that Enrique Ruiz Montalvo,

an agent of the Mexican federal Judicial police, (bad informed

the C.I.A. Jhat one of nastitoxia contacts reported in late

February: 1964 that an American citizen named Gilberto Lopes

16/

was involved in the Kennedy assassination. The message said

nantitious contact repoxted that lopes entered Mexico on

foot from Laredo, Texas about 1200 hours on November 13

---

## Page 22

carrying U.S. passport #319962, which was issued July 13,

1960. Accodding to the dispatch, the contact reladeed also

that Lopes proceeded by bus to Mexico City "where he entered

Cuban embassy"; it said that he left the Cuban Embassy on

November 27 and was the only passenger for Cuban on flight

121

#465.

It said the contact reported that Lopes

was issued

Mexican travel form B, #24553 at Nuevo Laredo. According

to the asipatch, hastare reported that he could not verify

the contact's information, but thought it might be of interest

201

to the United States government.

The cable

stated also that background information

concerning the

Monterrey base!

s contact with Ruiz were

Contact in a dispatch dated March 18 which was being pouched

santact

to headquarters on March 20.

On March 20 the Deputy Chief of the Mexico City

station cabled a classified message to headquarters in which

it was stated that the information contained in the earlier

dispatch which discussed Ruiz's contact "jibes fully with

that provided station byLAPO a Jearly December 1963. "28)

A 201 file was opened on 3 ilberto Policarpo Lopez

21

by Agency headquarters on December 16, 1963. At that time

his records indicated that no earlier 201 file had existed.

The file contains a "Review of 201 file on U.S. Citizen" by

(Barry Sibson,

and operations officer for the LAM/FI CoM-

294

ponent of the Agency. In that review the file was classified

as a "counterintelligence case (i.e., involving a foreign

291

intelligence of security service)." The date of entry tota

in Ageray

records

of that category is indicated as January 22, 1975 in Lopez's

file.

---

## Page 23

CUBAN-AMERICAN (CONT.)

F.B.1. Investigation

In a report dated August 26, 1964, the F.B.I. docu-

mented the results of its investigation on Gilberto

Policarpo Lopez which had been carried out in Key West,

Florida. The report stated that Lopez's cousin, Guillermo

Serpa Rodriguez, told the F.B.I. that Lopez came to the

United States for the first time some time after Castro

271

first came to power. He stayed approximately one year

28/

and then returned to Cuba. Rodriguez stated that Lopez

returned to Cuba because he was homesick and missed his

family; he had parents and four brothers who still resided

in Cuba.

29

Rodriguez stated also that Lopez's brother Selito

301

was a member of the Cuban militia at that time. Another

brother,

Raimundo Policarpo Lopez, had reportedly been

sent to the Soviet Union to study by the Cuban government,

according to Rodriguez.

Rodriguez told the F.B.I. that Lopez returned to

the United States in 1960 or 196l because he was afraid he

would be drafted into the Cuban militia if he remained in

3Z

Cuba.

The F.B.I. learned that Lopez married an American

331

woman in Key West in August, 1962. According to Lopez's

wife, he worked for a time with the Pepsi Cola Co. in 1962

and at the Maina

Mona and Murgia Bakery in Key West, which was

34

owned by cousins.

She said that he also worked for a construction

company in Kasabase in June, 1963.35/

Tampa

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## Page 24

vacate r

6202431

670322:

Lopez's wife told the F.B.I. that Lopez began

suffering from recurrent attacks of epilepsy and had to

be confined at Jackson State Hospital in Key West in early

1963. She stated that he was treated by doctors from

Key wast

Coral Gables and Miam:

for the epilepsy. She stated that

she did not believe he had a history of epilepsy before coming

to the United States. She believed his convulsions were

brought on by nervous tension and worry over his family in

Cuba and may have been a reason for his return to Cubain 1963. 3V

The wife said that in approximately November, 1963 she

received a letter from Lopez saying he had returned to Cuba.

40/

The wife stated that she was surprised he had returned but

to Cuba

that he had mentioned he was going back bathe he left for

Tampa in November, 1963. The wife gave her opinion that he

returned because of his close relationship with his parents.

43

The wife stated that she

According to

ne to the letter, detes forking asan ele-

later from Cuba. ratefaerflater loplavaara he had received

for the trip

some

kind of financial assistance from an organization in

45/

Tampa. According to the wife, Lopez did not have sufficient

personal funds to pay the expenses to Mexico and Cuba.*

She said that he had never had contact with Cuban refugee

organizations to her knowledge.

Rodriguez told the F.B.I. that Lopez left Key West

in late Maxenkaxx 1963 to go to Tampa with the hope of

431

being able to return to Cuba. Rodriguez said he believed

Lopez wanted to return to Cuba: because he was afraid of

being drafted into thet so military. rodriquez said lopez

was

not involved in any pro-Castro activity while living in

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## Page 25

0223520

Key West, but that Lopez was "definitely" pro-Castro.

50g

Rodriguez recounted that in one instance he and Lopez

actually had a fist-fight over Lopez's pro-Castro sym-

pathies.

Sy

In a report Exem March, 1963, the F.B.I. reported

that Lopez had attended a meeting of the Tampa Fair

Play for Cuba Committee on November 20, 1978. The report

also stated that at a meeting of the group on November 17,

196, Lone state that me to been can bac

He said at that time that he was

to Cuba. Cuba to get word on his departure to Cuba, 53, a phone Call from

According to that report in March, 1964,

a member of the Tampa FPCC stated that she called

a friend in Cuba on December 8, 1963 and was told that

Lopez had arrived safely. The member had attempted to

locate Lopez in Cuba through friends there beccause Lopez

had not delivered gifts to persons in Cuba from people

as he had promised to do. 3

in Florida. The member stated also that the Tampa chapter

The

Of FPCC had given Lopez approximately $190 for the return

Sold

trip to Cuba. The member stated that Lopez had gone to Cuba

by way of Mexico because he did not have a passport:

51/

The March 1964 F.B.I. reported listed Lopez's passport

as #310162, which had been issued in January, 1960 and his

Mexican tourist card as "M8-2455,ssued Nov. 20, 1963 in Tampa.

581

• It stated that Lopez

entered Mexico by private auto at Nuevo Laredo on November 23,

1963

and departed for Havana on November 27 as the only

passenger on Cubana flight, carrying a Cuban courtesy visa.5V

According to the F.B.I. file, Lopez's mother, Esperanza

Rodriguez, was born in Key West, Florida. The file listed

three cousins and four uncles who resided and worked in the

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## Page 26

Key West area with their families.

Lopez's F.l.I. file contains a memofrom the lampa office

dated October 26,1964

which states:

It is felt that information developed

regarding the subject is not sufficient

to merit consideration for the Security

The only information transmitted by the F.B.I. to the

Warren Commission on Lopez concerned a check at the Passport

Office. The information the Bureau did send to the Commis-

sion about the Tampa chapter of the FPCC did not include

any information on Lopez's activities. The C.I.A. apparently

did not provide any information on Lopez to the Warren

As parried out in the senate rapart,

Commission. This omission is made more egregious by the

fact that sources had reported within a few days of Lopez's

and of the assassination

departure for Havanaßthat the circumstances surrounding his

travel seemed "suspicion."

and that in March, 1964, while

well under way into

the Warren Commission was want its work into the imest gation of

the assassination, that Lopez had reportedly been involved in

the Kennedy assassination.

AGADES

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## Page 27

In the 1977 report of the Inspector General of the

C.I..., the Agency attempted to refute several "inaccuracies"

in the Senate report regarding the reporting on Lopez's

travel. That is apparently the only follow-up by the Agency

on the lead after the Senate report appeared.

In the first place,

the Inspector General's report

corrected the statement in the Senate report that sources

reported that Lopez appeared "suspicious" when he was

65%

surveilled in Mexico. The IG report explained that the

1963

internal C.I.A. document of December 5, which characterized

the man as suspicious was merely "cryptic and impressionistic

rather than constituting a tangible basis for dramatic

activity or final conclusions."

The report stated additionally that the March 19, 1964

cable from the Monterrey base which recounted the information

on Lopez from the contact of the Mexican police and claimed

Lopez was involved in the assassination was incorrect on

several points: Lopez 's name was misspelled "Lopes"; it

stated that Lopez entered Mexico on foot when the C.I.A.

repeated the F.B.I.'s conclusion that he had traveled by

auto; it gave incorrect digits in Lopez's passport number;

it stated that

the Mexican tourist visa was

issued in

Nuevo Laredo and not Tampa; and it reported that he

67/

stayed at the Cuban Embassy. Based on these inaccuracies,

the Inspec#or General concluded that "the source patently

was extensively misinformed." Based on that observation,

the Inspector General completely discounted the cable

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## Page 28

3350000

93229533

by the Deputy Chief of Station in Mexico City on March 20,

1964 that the Mexican police source information "jibed"

with what had earlier been

reported by the C.I.A.'s source.

Presumably the discrepancies pointed out by the

Inspector General are meant to explain the fact that the

C.I.A. did not take more aggressive investigative steps

to ascertain whether there might have been some connection

between Lopez and the assassination. In that regard the

1977 Inspecotr General report explains that the Agency

had no other means of investigating Lopez at his disposal

and had carried the lead as far as it was able by questioning

a Cuban defector about Lopez. While the fact of the C.I.A.'s

lack of access to further information about Lopez may well

be the case, that fact does not explain either the failure

of the C.I.A. to take more seriously the suspicions of the

sources,

dad most importantly, to report whatever information

it had to the Warren Commission. In that regard, the attempts

of the Inspector General to denigrate the value if the

information provided on Lopez dows not diminishthe-apparent

negligence of the Agency in seriously pursuing the information

as it was received. The Agency is not to be faulted for the

strength of its intelligence gathering, but rather for

the judgment which kept that intelligence from the governmental

body, the Warren Commission, which was mandated to pass

on the strength of exactly that kind of information.

From the information collected by the F.B.I., there

appears to be well-explained reasons both for a desire

---

## Page 29

to return to Cuba and his solicitation of the help of

a local FPCC chapter for that travel. His contacts in

Florida appear on their face to be innocent and non-

political and not in any way connected with the assassi

nation. Despite the suggestion by the Senate report of

suspicion in the fact that Oswald "may" have been in

touch with that same FPCC chapter, no evidence appears

to suggest that Oswald washin touch with the Tampa epee,

or that Lopez was connected in any way with Oswald or

Dallas.

Despite what is now known about Lopez, the Warren

Commission may well have wanted to lay to rest suspicions

which would remain about Lopez, and satisfy itself that

these circumstances in no way indicate foreign involvement

in the assassination. The C.I.A. has contributed to those

suspicious by not airing the matter and explaining

circumstances which could shed light on otherwise sinister

appearing events.

The Committee has documented instances where the

decree

C.I.A. delood to forego passing information to the

• Warren

Commission out of a desire to not lay bare extremely

sensitive

sources and methods of intelligence. The ErrIRE

operation certainly falls within that category and as sson

as the C.I.A, began receiving information that LIFIRE was

the source of the information about Lopez's travel, the

cables andressages reflected the desire to not reveal that

method. It also

seems plausible that the F.B.I. likewise

chose not to divulge what it had learned about Lopez, because

---

## Page 30

in doing so it would have had to reveal the sensitive C.I.A.

operation which

generated the initial information on Lopez's

travel to Cuba on November 27.

---