AUTHOR INTERVIEWEES
Dariel “Benigno” Alarcón Ramirez (by phone)
Florentino “Tiny” Aspillaga
Lazaro Betancourt
Francisco Compostela
Jaime Costa
Rolando Cubela (AMLASH)
Jean Daniel
Samuel Halpern
Roberto Hernández del Llano
William Hood (by phone)
David Laux
José Maragon
Rolando Martínez
Keith Melton
Miguel Mir
Robert Morgan (by phone and correspondence)
Félix Rodríguez
Nestor Sanchez
Juan Sanchez Crespo
I. C. Smith
Sally Swenson Cascio (by phone and correspondence)
Carlos Tepedino (AMWHIP)
Gustavo Villoldo (by phone)
Joaquín Villalobos and many others who prefer to remain anonymous
SOURCE ABBREVIATIONS
CC | Church Committee (Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, United States Senate; chaired by Senator Frank Church, Idaho) |
CHC | Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami |
FBIS | Foreign Broadcast Information Service |
HA | Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University |
HSCA | Select Committee on Assassinations, United States House of Representatives |
IGR | Report on Plots to Assassinate Fidel Castro, CIA Inspector General, May 23, 1967 |
JFKOH | John F. Kennedy Library Oral History |
NARA | National Archives and Records Administration |
INTRODUCTION
1. Gerald Posner, Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK (New York: Anchor Books, 1993), p. 19.
2. John Donovan Warren Commission testimony (WCT), May 5, 1964. Warren Commission Hearings (WCH) Vol. VIII, p. 293.
3. David Grann, “The Yankee Comandante,” The New Yorker, May 28, 2012.
4. Nelson Delgado WCT, April 16, 1964, WCH Vol. VIII, pp. 240-241.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., p. 242.
7. Thanks to Olivian Cha at the History and Genealogy Department of the Los Angeles Public Library for her assistance in tracking down the location of the Cuban consulate.
8. Emphasis added. “Cuban Government Activities in Mexico,” November 1976, NARA 104-10308-10025.
9. Alfredo Mirabal, HSCA, “Debriefing of AMMUG: The Oswald Case,” May 8, 1964, NARA 104-10088-10174.
10. HSCA interview of J. Lee Rankin, August 17, 1978, NARA 180-10131-10343. Rankin was the Warren Commission chief counsel and staff director.
11. Mack Osborne WC affidavit, May 18, 1964, WCH Vol. VIII, p. 321.
12. John W. Fain WCT, May 5, 1964, WCH Vol. IV, p. 407.
13. Pauline Bates WCT, March 25, 1964, WCH Vol. VIII; Francis Martello WCT, April 7 & 8, 1964, WCH Vol. X.
14. “Fidel Castro Addresses 26 July Gathering,” FBIS, July 29, 1963.
15. Marina Oswald WCT, June 11, 1964, WCH Vol. V, p. 395.
16. Narrative prepared by Marina Oswald, WCH, Exhibit 994, p. 36.
17. J. Edgar Hoover WCT, May 6, 1964, WCH Vol. V., p. 112.
18. Posner, Case Closed, p. 159.
19. Carlos Bringuier, Red Friday: Nov. 22, 1963 (Chicago: Chas. Hallberg & Co, 1969), p. 25.
20. Carlos Bringuier WCT, April 7-8, 1964, WCH Vol. X, p. 36.
21. Francis Martello WCT, op. cit.
22. Priscilla Johnson McMillan, Marina and Lee (New York: Harper & Row, 1977), p. 456.
23. Ibid.
24. The most complete rendition of the interview I have been able to find appeared in the Spokesman Review, Spokane, Washington, September 9, 1963.
25. Johnson McMillan, Marina and Lee, p. 452.
26. Marina Oswald WC narrative, p. 33a.
27. J. W. Fritz, WCT, date uncertain, WCH Vol. IV, pp. 210 & 239.
28. Warren Commission Report, (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1964), p. 733.
29. HSCA interview of CIA officer Balmes “Barney” Hidalgo, August 10, 1978, NARA 180-10131-10342. He said “I took it for granted [Duran] was an agent of Cuban intelligence.”
30. CIA Mexico City station report, Nov 29, 1963, NARA 104-10404-10159.
31. HSCA Interview of Joseph Piccolo Jr., August 11, 1978, NARA 180-10142-10353.
32. John Scelso (alias of John Whitten) Church Committee testimony, May 7, 1976, NARA 157-10014-10083.
33. HSCA “Report on Lee Harvey Oswald’s Trip to Mexico City,” (Lopez Report), date uncertain, p. 238, NARA 180-10142-10302.
34. “Further on Oswald and Kennedy Assassination,” from American Embassy, Mexico, July 13, 1966, NARA 104-10009-10038.
35. Chief of Station Mexico City, “the LIRING-3 Operation,” June 13, 1967, NARA 104-10437-10102
36. “Review of Selected Items in the Lee Harvey Oswald File Regarding Allegations of the Castro Cuban Involvement in the John F. Kennedy Assassination,” May 23, 1975, NARA 104-10103-10271.
37. Oleg Nechiporenko, Passport to Assassination (New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1993), chapter 3.
38. “Meeting with the Warren Commission on 12 March 1964,” NARA 104-10196-10351.
39. “Trip to Mexico City,” April 22, 1964, NARA 104-10011-10097. Emphasis added.
40. Ibid. Emphasis added.
41. “Info from Mann to Rusk . . .” November 27, 1963, NARA 104-10055-10003.
42. Interview of Robert Krandle, March 27, 1978, NARA 180-10140-10189; Jefferson Morley, Our Man in Mexico, (Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press, 2008), p. ix.
43. Interview with Ambassador William T. Price, The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection for Diplomatic Studies and Training. Price served in Mexico as Mann’s special assistant and private secretary, sitting in during sensitive meetings with Scott.
44. David Phillips, HSCA testimony, November 27, 1976, NARA 180-10131-10328.
45. One author wrote that Oswald checked the rates at more than forty cheap hotels for nearly an hour before leaving the bus terminal. But the source he cites provides no such information.
46. Pamela Mumford, WCT, May 19, 1964, WCH Vol. VII, pp. 218 & 223.
47. Former FBI agent William Hosty, who tracked Oswald in Dallas, later wrote that “there were two time periods in which Oswald’s movements were unaccounted for.” He speculated that the assassin might have earlier traveled to Mexico City for clandestine purposes. William Hosty, Assignment Oswald, (New York, Arcade Publishing, 1996), p. 213.
48. Vincent Bugliosi, Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, (New York: W.W. Norton, 2007), p. 719; J. Edgar Hoover, WCT, p. 104.
49. Carlos Bringuier, WCT, p. 35.
50. One example: “Tells of Order to Drop Cuban Probe,” Chicago Sun-Times, June 24, 1976.
51. Interview of Thomas C. Mann by Harold Leap, November 29, 1977, NARA 180-10142-10357.
52. Thomas Mann, Be There Yesterday: The Adventures of a Foreign Service Officer 1942–1966, unpublished manuscript, pp. 210-211. I appreciate the help of Peter Maffitt who provided me a copy of the manuscript.
53. Clark Anderson Church Committee testimony, February 4, 1976, NARA 157-10014-10053.
54. Dean Rusk WCT, May 6, 1964, WCH Vol. V, p. 336.
55. Contrary to a popular misconception, Mann and Johnson barely knew each other before the Kennedy assassination. “The bond that arose came after . . .” William Price interview, op. cit.
56. William Sullivan, “Interview and Meeting Summary,” April 21, 1976, NARA 157-10014-10061.
57. Interview of Thomas C. Mann by Harold Leap, HSCA Staff Notes # 1905, NARA 180-1014-210357.
58. Warren Commission Report, p. 305.
59. Warren Commission Exhibit 2121, WCH, Vol. XXIV.
60. Warren Commission Exhibits 2450, 3095, 2787, 3074, WCH Vol. XXVI.
61. “Lee Harvey Oswald in Mexico,” NARA 104-10067-10413 shows that Mexican investigators were involved.
62. “Information Developed by CIA on the Activity of Lee Harvey Oswald in Mexico City . . .” February 18, 1964.
63. Sullivan, “Interview and Meeting Summary.”
64. “Trip to Mexico City.”
65. Scott Anderson Church Committee testimony, February 4, 1976, NARA 157-10014-10053.
66. Ibid.
CHAPTER 1: BETTER THAN US
1. CIA, “Clandestine Services Cuban Collection Program,” NARA, 104-10310-10005.
2. James J. Angleton, CC testimony, June 19, 1975.
3. Juan Antonio Rodríguez Menier, Cuba Por Dentro (Miami: Ediciones Universal, 1994), p. 61.
4. Gerardo Peraza, Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism, Judiciary Committee testimony, February 26, 1982.
5. Oleg Kalugin, The First Chief Directorate (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994), p. 192.
6. The CIA War Against Cuba, televised by the Cuban government, July-August 1987; author interviews with Florentino Aspillaga; I. C. Smith, Inside: A Top G-Man Exposes Spies, Lies, and Bureaucratic Bungling Inside the FBI (Nashville, TN: Nelson Current, 2004), p. 96.
7. David R. McLean, “Western Hemisphere Division, 1946-1965,” Vol. 1, p. 234. NARA, 104-10310-10001.
8. “Seven Men: One Fist and One Heart,” Granma Weekly Review, August 2, 1987.
9. “Espionage and Counterespionage in Havana,” Granma Weekly Review, July 19, 1987.
10. “Our Man in the CIA” and “Angel Mateo,” Granma Weekly Review, July 19, 1987.
11. J. C. Masterman, The Double-Cross System in the War of 1939 to 1945 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1972), p. 15.
12. Zayda Gutierrez Perez, “The Improvement of Political-Operational Work Against the Intelligence Services of the USA Through the Intelligence Activity of Penetration Agents,” Ministry of State Security, German Democratic Republic, 1987. I am grateful to Chuck Lane who provided me a copy he translated from the German.
13. Richard Helms, CC testimony, June 13, 1975.
14. Author interview with Miguel Mir.
15. Smith, Inside, pp. 95-96.
16. Ibid.
17. The CIA War Against Cuba.
18. “Espionage and Counterespionage in Havana.”
19. McLean, “Western Hemisphere Division, 1946-1965,” p. 234.
20. Ibid., pp. 234-235.
21. Alan H. Flanigan interview, Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, National Foreign Affairs Training Center (NFATC), June 16, 1997.
CHAPTER 2: ON FIDEL’S ORDERS
1. Florentino Aspillaga, unpublished manuscript.
2. Author interview with Florentino Aspillaga; The CIA War Against Cuba, televised by the Cuban government, July-August 1987.
3. David Leppard, “The Men from Havana,” Sunday Times (London), September 18, 1988; Time, September 26, 1988.
4. Ibid.
5. Author interview with José Maragon.
6. Aspillaga manuscript.
7. Author interview with Lazaro Betancourt.
8. “Castro Speaks on Dominguez, del Pino Cases,” FBIS, July 2, 1987.
9. Brian Latell, After Fidel: The Inside Story of Castro’s Regime and Cuba’s Next Leader (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).
10. Ibid.; “Castro Speaks on Dominguez, del Pino Cases.”
11. Juan Antonio Rodríguez Menier, Inside the Cuban Interior Ministry (Washington, DC, Jamestown Foundation, 1994), p. 5.
12. Granma editorial, September 2, 1989.
13. Rodríguez Menier, Inside the Cuban Interior Ministry, p. 64; José Ramón Ponce Solozabal, Al Final del Arco Iris: Un Psicologo en el Contraespionaje Cubano (Miami: Grupo de Apoyo a la Democracia, 2005), p. 211.
14. Rodríguez Menier, Inside the Cuban Interior Ministry; Jorge Masetti, In the Pirate’s Den (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 1993), pp. 122, 136; Aspillaga manuscript.
15. Author interview with Roberto Hernández del Llano.
16. Aspillaga manuscript.
17. Author interview with Hernández del Llano; Gerardo Peraza, Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism, Judiciary Committee testimony, February 26, 1982.
CHAPTER 3: ROOFTOP STORIES
1. Rolando Bonachea and Nelson Valdes, Revolutionary Struggle, 1947-1958, Selected Works of Fidel Castro (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1972), p. 23.
2. Ibid., p. 24; Robert E. Quirk, Fidel Castro (New York: Norton, 1993), p. 25; Georgie Anne Geyer, Guerrilla Prince (Boston: Little, Brown, 1991), p. 64.
3. Leycester Coltman, The Real Fidel Castro (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003), p. 38.
4. Tad Szulc, interview with Max Lesnick, CHC, August 10, 1984.
5. Memorandum for the Record, NARA 104-10308-10197.
6. Szulc, Lesnick interview.
7. Brian Latell, After Fidel: The Inside Story of Castro’s Regime and Cuba’s Next Leader (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), p. 87.
8. James Blight, Bruce J. Allyn, and David A. Welch, Cuba on the Brink: Castro, the Missile Crisis and the Soviet Collapse (New York: Pantheon Books, 1993), p. 109.
9. Ibid., p. 110.
10. The text can be found in Fidel Castro and Ignacio Ramonet, Fidel Castro: My Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006), pp. 278-279.
11. Tad Szulc response to Peter Kornbluh, Washington Post Book World, November 15, 1992.
12. Laurence Chang and Peter Kornbluh, eds., The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: A National Security Archive Reader (New York: New Press, 1992), pp. 195-196.
13. William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era (New York: Norton, 2003), pp. 150, 169.
14. Nikita Khrushchev, Khrushchev Remembers: The Glasnost Tapes (Boston: Little, Brown, 1990), p. 177.
15. FBIS, October 1, 1990.
16. Khrushchev, Glasnost Tapes, p. 183.
17. Oleg Troyanovsky, “The Caribbean Crisis: A View from the Kremlin,” International Affairs (April-May 1992): 153.
18. Blight et al., Cuba on the Brink p. 107.
19. Fidel Castro interview with Robert McNeil, February 20, 1985.
20. Blight et al., Cuba on the Brink, pp, 106-134; Khrushchev, Glasnost Tapes, p. 178.
21. “Memo for the Record, STEEL-1,” NARA 104-10308-10197.
22. Jorge Domínguez, “Foreword,” in Blight et al., Cuba on the Brink, p. xiii.
23. Henry Kissinger, Years of Renewal (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999), p. 816.
24. Fidel used that number in a fundraising speech at the Flagler Theater in Miami, November 20, 1955, in Bonachea and Valdes, Revolutionary Struggle, p. 286. In Antonio Rafael de la Cova’s authoritative volume, The Moncada Attack (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2007), p. 266, he says that sixty-one of Castro’s men were killed.
25. FBIS, April 22, 1963.
26. Fidel Castro interview with Julio Scherer, Proceso, September 21, 1981.
27. Brian Latell, National Intelligence Council Memorandum, “Castro Agonistes: The Mounting Dilemmas and Frustrations of Cuba’s Caudillo,” November 1981, author’s archive.
28. Ibid.
29. Author interview with Moncada survivor Jaime Costa.
30. Anatoly Dobrynin, In Confidence: Moscow’s Ambassador to America’s Six Cold War Presidents (New York: Times Books, 1995), p. 85.
31. Brian Latell, “The Dilemmas and Anxieties of Cuba’s Aging Leader,” in Cuban Foreign Policy: The New Internationalism, ed. Jaime Suchlicki and Damian Fernandez (Miami: University of Miami Press, 1985), pp. 30-55.
32. Fidel Castro, “Nuclear Winter,” Granma, August 23, 2010.
33. Castro speech on inauguration as president, FBIS, March 6, 2003.
CHAPTER 4: COME TO CUBA
1. Orlando Castro Hidalgo, Spy for Fidel (Miami: E. E. Seaman, 1971), p. 37.
2. David A. Phillips, The Night Watch (New York: Athenaeum, 1977), p. 77; author interview with a former CIA officer.
3. David A. Phillips, “Castro’s Spies Are No Longer Teenagers,” Retired Officer, January 13, 1982; David A. Phillips, Secret Wars Diary (Bethesda, MD: Stone Trail Press, 1989).
4. “Biography of Rogelio Rodríguez, Diplomat and Member of Cuba’s Foreign Member Intelligence Service,” NARA 104-10072-10222.
5. Jorge Castañeda, Utopia Unarmed (New York: Knopf, 1993), p. 54.
6. Richard Helms, CC testimony, June 13, 1975.
7. “The Organization of the General Directorate of Intelligence,” CIA report CS-311/00115-64, NARA 104-10185-10149.
8. CIA defector report, January 15, 1965, NARA 104-10239-10409. The source added that when an agent returns to his country after training, he is expected to find a job and support himself. In extreme cases, the DGI subsidized agents but not indefinitely.
9. John McCone, Statement to the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, February 19, 1963.
10. Castro Hidalgo, Spy for Fidel, p. 39.
11. Ibid., p. 40.
12. Christopher Andrew and Vasily Mitrokhin, The World Was Going Our Way (New York: Basic Books, 2005), p. 49.
13. New York Times, June 29, 2010.
14. Andrew and Mitrokhin, World Was Going Our Way, p. 49; Gerardo Peraza, Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism testimony, Judiciary Committee, U.S. Senate, February 26, 1982.
15. “Debriefing Report of Defector from Cuban Intelligence Service,” NARA 104-10247-10389.
16. McCone, Statement.
17. AMMUG report, August 20, 1964, NARA 104-10239-10442.
18. AMMUG reports, NARA, 104-10239-10427 and NARA 104-10185-10111.
19. McCone, Statement.
20. Statement of President Betancourt to Organization of American States Investigating Committee, December 9, 1963, in OAS Council series, February 18, 1964, p. 10.
21. Fidel Castro, “The Bolivarian Revolution and the Antilles,” Granma, February 7, 2010.
22. McCone, Statement.
23. Luis Baez, Secretos de Generales (Barcelona: Editorial Lozada, 1996), p. 122.
24. Author interviews with Lazaro Betancourt, Juan Sanchez Crespo, and Norberto Fuentes.
25. Baez, Secretos de Generales, p. 122.
26. Ibid.; Castro Hidalgo, Spy for Fidel, p. 49.
27. David Phillips, CC testimony, July 31, 1975.
28. Baez, Secretos de Generales, pp. 27-28.
29. Jorge Castañeda, Companero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara (New York: Knopf, 1997), p. 342.
30. Castro Hidalgo, Spy for Fidel, p. 49.
31. Jon Lee Anderson, Che: A Revolutionary Life (New York: Grove Press, 1997), p. 701.
32. Ibid., pp. 698-699.
33. Castañeda, Companero, p. 379.
34. Markus Wolf, Man Without a Face (New York: Random House, 1997), p. 310.
CHAPTER 5: AT DAGGERS DRAWN
1. “Excerpts: Draft History: John A. McCone,” NARA 104-10301-10000; thanks to Keith Melton for technical advice.
2. Ted Shackley, Spymaster: My Life in the CIA (Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, 2005), p. 65.
3. Ibid.; Robert Wallace and H. Keith Melton, Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA’s Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda (New York: Dutton, 2008), p. 438; author interview with Keith Melton.
4. Shackley, Spymaster, p. 52.
5. José Maragon, author interview.
6. Author interviews with captains of the covert navy.
7. Ted Shackley, CC testimony, August 19, 1975; Shackley quoted in Don Bohning, The Castro Obsession (Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, 2005), p. 130.
8. Tom Karamessines, CC testimony, April 14, 1976; Sam Halpern, interview by Ralph Weber, NARA 104-10324-10002.
9. Richard Helms, Rockefeller Commission testimony, 1975, NARA 157-10005-10376; Helms, CC testimonies, April 23 and June 13, 1975.
10. Helms, Rockefeller Commission and CC testimony, April 23, 1975.
11. Regarding the Puerto Rico station: Bill Sturbitts, Rockefeller Commission testimony, April 16, 1975, NARA 157-10011-10083.
12. Brian Latell and Michael Warner, interview with Sam Halpern, April 7, 1998, NARA 104-10324-10000; regarding Houston and Robert Kennedy: Walt Elder, CC testimony, August 13, 1975; regarding JMWAVE opening: Sturbitts, Rockefeller Commission testimony.
13. James Angleton, CC testimony, September 17, 1976.
14. James Angleton, CC testimony, September 19, 1976.
15. Sam Halpern, CC testimony, April 22, 1976.
16. David R. McLean, Excerpts History of WH Division, 1946-1965, NARA, 104-10301-10001; “Minutes of Special Group (Augmented) Meeting,” July 12, 1962, NARA 157-10014-10082.
17. “Clandestine Services Cuban Collection Program,” NARA 104-10310-10005.
18. McLean, Excerpts History of WH Division.
19. Helms, CC testimony, September 11, 1975; Evan Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), pp. 119-120.
20. Bohning, Castro Obsession, pp. 84 and 130; Sturbitts, Rockefeller Commission testimony.
21. David Corn, The Blond Ghost (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), p. 16.
22. Shackley, Spymaster, p. 69.
23. Shackley, CC testimony.
24. “Participacion Directa de la CIA en Ataques a Cuba,” Bohemia, November 8, 1963; Corn, Blond Ghost, p. 105.
25. FRUS, Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath, 1961-63, Vol. 11, p. 886.
26. Helms, CC testimony, September 11 and July 17, 1975.
27. Helms, CC testimony, July 18, 1975; interview with Samuel Halpern by Dr. Mary S. McAuliffe, January 15, 1988, p. 16, NARA 104-10324-10003.
28. Marshall Carter, CC testimony, September 19, 1975; Bohning, Castro Obsession, p. 153; Helms, Rockefeller Commission testimony.
29. Garry Wills, The Kennedy Imprisonment: A Meditation on Power (Boston, Little, Brown, 1981), pp. 211, 234.
30. Church Committee, June 13, 1975.
31. Ibid.
32. Jack Bell, JFKOH, April 19, 1966.
33. Helms, CC testimony, June 13 and July 17, 1975.
34. “Report on the Plots to Assassinate Fidel Castro,” May 23, 1967, NARA 104-10213-10101.
35. Max Holland, The Kennedy Assassination Tapes (New York: Knopf, 2004), p. 419.
36. Tom Parrott, CC testimony, July 10, 1975.
37. McAuliffe interview with Sam Halpern.
38. Regarding Soviet troops: see The President’s Intelligence Checklist, November 29, 1963, NARA 104-10302-10028.
39. Charles Bartlett, JFKOH, February 20, 1965. Regarding the poll: see Washington Post, November 28, 1963.
40. Laura Bergquist, JFKOH, December 8, 1965.
41. Thomas C. Mann, Be There Yesterday: The Adventures of a Career Foreign Officer, 1942-1966, unpublished memoir. I am grateful to Peter C. Maffitt for sharing his copy with me. Thomas C. Mann, JFKOH, March 13, 1968; Allan Stewart, JFKOH, October 23, 1967.
42. Helms, CC testimony, June 13, 1975; Special National Intelligence Estimate, “The Effects of Hurricane Flora on Cuba,” November 15, 1963, FRUS Supplement 719.
43. The unredacted and most complete account of the meeting can be found in “Minutes of the Meeting to Review the Cuban Program,” signed by Bruce Cheever, November 12, 1963, NARA 104-10306-10014. A shorter version is at FRUS, Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath, 1961-63, Vol. 11, p. 886.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid.
46. Ibid.
47. 303 Committee Meetings (January-December 1963), NARA 104-10306-10024; “Minutes of the Meeting.”
48. Shackley, Spymaster, pp. 74-75. Bohning, Castro Obsession, pp. 162-165.
49. Ibid.
50. CC testimony, Marshall Carter, September 19, 1975.
51. Ibid.
52. Sturbitts, Rockefeller Commission testimony.
53. Ibid.
54. Bohning, Castro Obsession, p. 192.
55. “Minutes of Meeting”; Shackley, Spymaster, p. 72; Castro speech, March 13, 1966, FBIS.
56. “Minutes of Meeting.”
57. Shackley, Spymaster, p. 69; Clandestine Services Cuban Collection Program, NARA 104-10310-10005.
58. Wills, Kennedy Imprisonment, p. 255.
1. Regarding passport: NARA 104-10186-10328.
2. CIA report, May 26 1965, NARA 104-10186-10046.
3. CIA debriefing report, May 26-27, 1965, NARA 104-10186-10046; 104-10183-10343.
4. “Biographic Data,” NARA 104-10247-10399.
5. “Forwarding of Tapes,” May 1, 1964, NARA 104-10183-10284.
6. Raymond G. Rocca, “Memorandum for Deputy Director for Plans,” May 11, 1964, NARA 104-10400-10105.
7. Author phone interview and correspondence with Sally Swenson Cascio.
8. Cable to Headquarters, April 24, 1964, NARA 104-10183-10280.
9. Dispatch from Ottawa to Chief, Special Affairs Staff, May 1, 1964, NARA 104-10185-10319.
10. Hundreds of pages of Rodríguez Lahera’s reporting are available at NARA 104-10185-10398 and 1994:04.26.09.06:29:280005. “Debriefing Report of Defector from Cuban Intelligence Service,” undated, NARA 104-10247-10389 is a detailed account of his case.
11. Harold Swenson, CC testimony, May 10, 1976; “The Organization of the General Directorate of Intelligence,” CIA, July 8, 1964, NARA 104-10185-10149.
12. “Report on Cuban Documentation and Procedures of the General Directorate of Intelligence,” CIA, July 22, 1964, NARA 104-10185-10135; “Selection and Training of Cuban Intelligence Agents Abroad,” CIA, October 12, 1964, NARA 104-10186-10109.
13. “Memorandum for Director of Security,” June 22, 1964, NARA 104-10185-10297.
14. “Request for Cover for AMMUG-1,” May 11, 1964, NARA 104-10183-10280.
15. Ibid.; regarding other cryptonyms: see NARA 104-10185-10290; 104-10054-10014.
16. NARA 104-10234-10322.
17. Memorandum for the Record, March 6, 1964, NARA 104-10102-10117.
18. Memorandum for the Record, October 18, 1976, NARA 104-10506-10022.
19. Ops cable from Santiago, June 18, 1964, NARA 104-10234-10322.
20. Contact report, June 5, 1964, NARA 104-10216-10175.
21. “AMMUG Operational Target Analysis and Non-Surfaceable Leads,” June 19, 1964, NARA 104-10183-10276.
22. Ibid.
23. “Forwarding of Tapes,” NARA 104-10183-10284.
24. AMMUG Operational Target Analysis.
25. NARA 104-10187-10354; 104-10187-10373; 104-10187-10365; and 104-10187-10113.
26. Ops cables from San Salvador, September 24, 1964, NARA 104-10187-10144 and September 26, 1964, NARA 104-10187-10365; memorandum, November 4, 1964, NARA 104-10187-10354.
27. Roque Dalton, Poemas Clandestinas (Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 1984), p. 141.
28. Jorge Castañeda, Utopia Unarmed (New York: Knopf, 1993), p. 64.
29. Ibid., p. 352.
30. Ibid.
31. Juan Antonio Rodríguez Menier, Inside the Cuban Interior Ministry (Washington, DC: Jamestown Foundation, 1994), p. 52.
32. Castañeda, Utopia Unarmed, p. 356.
33. Javier Rojas, Conversaciones con el Comandante Miguel Castellanos (Santiago, Chile: Editorial Adelante, 1986), p. 29.
34. Robert Kagan, A Twilight Struggle: American Power in Nicaragua, 1977-1990 (New York: Free Press, 1996), p. 160.
35. John Lee Anderson, Che: A Revolutionary Life (New York: Grove Press, 1997), p. 749.
36. Ibid.
37. Author interviews with Gustavo Villoldo and Félix Rodríguez; Gustavo Villoldo, Che Guevara: The End of a Myth (Miami: Rodes Printing, 1999), p. 84; Félix Rodríguez, Shadow Warrior (New York: Pocket Books, 1989), p. 70.
38. William Harvey, CC testimony, June 25, 1975. Harvey appears to have been right, but may have been unaware of assassination plots undertaken by Stalin against Yugoslav president Tito. They are described in Robert Service, Stalin: A Biography (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2005), p. 592.
39. Author interview with Rolando Martínez.
40. Rolando Bonachea and Nelson Valdes, Revolutionary Struggle, 1947-1958, Selected Works of Fidel Castro (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1972), p. 283.
41. NARA 124-90135-10285 and 104-10073-10117.
42. Author’s phone interview with Dariel Alarcón Ramírez.
43. Jorge Masetti, In the Pirate’s Den (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 1993), pp. 66-67.
44. Ibid.
45. José Maragon, author interview.
CHAPTER 7: MOUTH OF THE LION
1. “Selection and Training of Cuban Intelligence Agents Abroad,” October 12, 1964, NARA 104-10186-10109.
2. “Debriefing of AMMUG: The Oswald Case,” May 8, 1964, NARA 104-10088-10174; “Debriefing of Cuban Source,” May 5, 1964, NARA 104-10054-10418.
3. Thomas Karamessines, CC testimony, April 14, 1976; Memo for the Record, October 18, 1976, NARA 104-10506-10022.
4. “Review of Selected Items in the Lee Harvey Oswald File Regarding Allegations of the Castro Cuban Involvement in the John F. Kennedy Assassination,” May 23, 1975, NARA 104-10103-10271.
5. “Debriefing of AMMUG: The Oswald Case,” May 7, 1964, NARA 104-10054-10439.
6. Silvia Duran, HSCA testimony, June 6, 1978.
7. Alfredo Mirabal, HSCA testimony, September 18, 1978; Eusebio Azcue, HSCA testimony, September 18, 1978. Both can be found at http://jfkassassination.net/russ/wit.htm#a.
8. J. Edgar Hoover, Warren Commission testimony, May 14, 1964.
9. NARA 180-10117-10101.
10. Vincent Bugliosi, Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy (New York: Norton, 2007), p. 562; Nelson Delgado, Warren Commission testimony, April 14, 1964.
11. Jean Davison, Oswald’s Game (New York: Norton, 1983), p. 96; Gus Russo and Stephen Molton, Brothers in Arms: The Kennedys, the Castros, and the Politics of Murder (New York: Bloomsbury, 2008), pp. 68-69.
12. Bugliosi, Reclaiming History, p. 938.
13. Ibid., p. 940.
14. Marina Oswald Porter, HSCA testimony, September 13-14, 1978.
15. Albert H. Newman, The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: The Reasons Why (New York: Clarkson Porter, 1970), p. 23.
16. Cited by Bugliosi, Reclaiming History, p. 937.
17. Patricia Johnson McMillan, Marina and Lee (New York: Harper & Row, 1977), p. 340; Warren Commission Document 82.
18. Marina Oswald Porter, HSCA testimony; The Warren Commission Report, issued September 24, 1964 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, n.d.), p. 301.
19. Raymond G. Rocca memorandum to Deputy Director for Plans, “AMMUG Information on Lee Harvey Oswald,” May 11, 1964, NARA 104-10400-10105; Rocca, HSCA testimony, July 17, 1978).
20. Howard Willens, HSCA testimony, July 28, 1978).
21. “Proposed Questions on Oswald Case,” May 1, 1964, NARA 104-10052-10065.
22. “Debriefing of AMMUG: The Oswald Case,” May 8, 1964, NARA 104-10088-10174.
23. Ibid; “Debriefing of Cuban Source,” May 5, 1964, NARA 104-10054-10418.
24. CIA Office of Current Intelligence, November 29, 1963, NARA 104-10302-10029.
25. Daily Summary, November 29, 1963, NARA 104-10302-10022.
26. Ibid. Memo for the Record, STEEL-1, NARA 104-10308-10197.
27. Daily Summary, November 25, 1963, NARA 104-10302-10021; Central Intelligence Bulletin, November 25, 1963, NARA 014-10302-10006. “Castro on Death of President Kennedy,” FBIS, November 26, 1963.
28. “Havana’s Response to the Death of President Kennedy and Comment on the New Administration,” FBIS Radio Propaganda Report No 12, December 31, 1963; Current Intelligence Weekly Summary, November 29, 1963, NARA 104-10302-10005.
29. CIA Bulletin, November 25, 1963, NARA 014-10302-10006; George Lardner Jr., “Castro ‘Frightened’ After JFK Killing,” Washington Post, August 20, 1997.
30. “Havana’s Response to the Death of President Kennedy.”
31. WAVE to DIR, November 27, 1963, NARA 104-10079-10310. “Cuban Government Activities in Mexico,” November 1976, NARA 104-10308-10025.
32. Fidel Castro, “An Impressive Gesture,” Granma, April 24, 2009.
33. “Castro on Death of President Kennedy,” FBIS, November 26, 1963.
34. Daily Summary, November 29, 1963, NARA 104-10302-10022.
35. “Castro Talks to University Students,” FBIS, November 29, 1963.
36. Ibid.
37. “Debriefing of Cuban Source,” May 5, 1964, NARA 104-10054-10418.
38. NARA 1993.07.19.15:59:57:590280. HSCA Box 18, #506.
39. “Debriefing of AMMUG: The Oswald Case,” May 8, 1964, NARA 104-10088-10174; Ray Rocca, HSCA testimony, July 17, 1978.
40. Mirabal, HSCA testimony.
41. NARA 104-10054-10021.
42. NARA 104-10183-10284.
43. John Barron, Operation SOLO: The FBI’s Man in the Kremlin (Washington, DC: Regnery, 1996), p. 113.
44. Ibid., pp. 43-44.
45. Letter from Jack Childs to Gus Hall, John Barron Collection, Box 1, Folder 17, HA; regarding CIA and Roa: “Interim Working Draft,” February 10, 1977, NARA 104-10103-10072.
46. Letter from Jack Childs to Gus Hall; Memo from Jack Childs, John Barron Collection, Box 2, Folder 18, HA.
47. John Barron Collection, Box 1, Folder 17 and Folder 1, HA
48. Ibid.
49. Letter from Childs to Hall.
50. Hoover letter to Rankin, June 17, 1964, John Barron Collection, Box 2, Folder 5, HA; Gerald Posner, Case Closed (New York: Doubleday, 1993), p. 103.
51. Letter from Childs to Hall.
52. “SAC New York to Director, FBI,” June 12, 1964, NARA 124-10274-10338.
53. Ibid.
54. Davison, Oswald’s Game, p. 211; re McCone-John Goshko, “Oswald Reportedly Told Cubans of Plan to Kill JFK,” Washington Post, November 13, 1976.
55. Davison, pp. 213-14.
56. Castro interview, HSCA, April 3, 1978.
57. CIA report, “Cuban Activities in Mexico,” NARA 104-10163-10332; re Mirabal, NARA 104-10187-10330.
58. “Cuban Government Activities in Mexico,” November 1976, NARA 104-10308-10025.
59. Respuesta al Cuestionario del Comite Selecto sobre Asesinato de la Camara del Congreso de los Estados Unidos a Luisa Calderon, NARA 180-10105-10341.
60. Cuban Government Activities in Mexico.
CHAPTER 8: WHIPLASH
1. “Report on Plots to Assassinate Fidel Castro,” (CIA Inspector General Report, May 23, 1967, NARA 104-10213-10101); “Rolando Cubela Secades, New Cuban Military Attache to Spain,” April 29, 1959, NARA 104-10400-10200.
2. “Biographic Data: Cubela Secades, Lazaro Rolando,” November 1963, NARA 104-10215-10216; “Handwriting Analysis-AMLASH-1,” April 7, 1965, NARA 104-10216-10441; Nestor Sanchez, CC testimony, July 29, 1975; “Mr. Weatherby,” CC testimony, August 11, 1975.
3. Hugh Thomas, Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom (New York: Harper & Row, 1971), p. 890.
4. IGR.
5. Edward Gunn, Rockefeller Commission testimony, May 17, 1975; IGR.
6. Tad Szulc interview with Ramiro Valdes, CHC, July 5, 1985.
7. William Harvey, interview, CC staff, April 10, 1975.
8. Lawrence Houston, CC testimony, June 2, 1975; Félix Rodríguez, Shadow Warrior (New York: Pocket Books, 1989), pp. 69-72; Scott Breckinridge, CC testimony, June 2, 1975.
9. William Harvey, CC testimony, June 25, 1975; IGR.
10. Mary McAuliffe, interview with Sam Halpern, January 15, 1988, NARA 104-10324-10003.
11. William Harvey, CC testimony, July 11, 1975; Richard Helms, A Look Over My Shoulder (New York: Random House, 2003), p. 152.
12. Regarding Harvey alias: NARA 104-10319-10013; also Bayard Stockton, Flawed Patriot: The Rise and Fall of CIA Legend Bill Harvey (Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2006).
13. “TO Director; FROM Paris,” October 12, 1963, NARA 104-10215-10381.
14. IGR; Memo for the Record, March 27, 1961, NARA 104-10215-10122.
15. “Anti-Communist Leaders Driven into Hiding at University of Habana,” American Embassy, Havana, May 24, 1960, NARA 104-10308-10155; CIA cable to JMWAVE, June 8, 1961, NARA 104-10216-10022.
16. “Mr. Weatherby,” CC testimony, August 1, 1975.
17. IGR.
18. IGR; “Mr. Weatherby,” CC testimony, August 1, 1975; “Summary of Contacts with AMWHIP-1 and AMLASH-1,” September 1962, NARA 1994.04.26.11.24:25:530007.
19. “Mr. Weatherby,” CC testimony; CIA cable, August 3, 1962, NARA 104-10215-10073.
20. NARA 104-10295-10001.
21. “Mr. Weatherby,” CC testimony; NARA 104-10216-10034.
22. “Summary of S/W Training & Issuance of Materials,” August 29, 1962, NARA 104-10295-10001; NARA 104-10215-10210.
23. “Mr. Weatherby,” CC testimony; Helms, Look Over My Shoulder, p. 229; “Castro Interview on Return from Soviet Trip,” FBIS, June 6, 1963.
24. CIA Dispatch, December 7, 1962, NARA 104-10309-10006.
25. “Mr. Weatherby,” CC testimony.
26. Ibid.
27. Halpern, CC testimony, June 18, 1975.
28. Helms, CC testimony, April 23, 1975; Donovan Papers, Box 39, HA.
29. “Prospects for and Limitations of a Maximum Covert Action Program Against the Castro Communist Regime,” April 17, 1963, FRUS, Cuba, vol. 11, Supplement 655.
30. “Situation and Prospects in Cuba,” NIE, 85-63, June 14, 1963, FRUS, Cuba, vol. 11, p. 834.
31. “Interview with Sam Halpern by Brian Latell and Michael Warner,” April 7, 1998, NARA 104-10324-1000; Harold Swenson, CC testimony, May 10, 1976.
32. Juanita Castro, Fidel y Raul Mis Hermanos: La historia secreta (Miami: Aguilar, 2009), pp. 275-276; regarding Ramón: HA; Georgie Anne Geyer Collection, Box 13, Folder 17, and suggestive reference in Juanita Castro.
33. “Dispatch: Operational/TYPIC/MHAPRON/AMCROAK: Views of Bernardo Milanes López,” NARA 104-10309-10007. Regarding recruitment: NARA 104-10308-10020.
34. Ibid.
35. “Operations to Split the Castro Regime,” February 10, 1977, NARA 104-10103-10072.
36. The three were conducted by Ralph Weber, October 1987, NARA 104-10324-10002; Brian Latell and Michael Warner, April 7, 1998, NARA 104-10324-10000; and Mary McAuliffe, January 15, 1998, NARA 104-10324-10003.
37. Memo for the Record, November 12, 1963, NARA 104-10306-10014. “Briefing of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” July 31, 1963, NARA 104-10307-10010.
38. “Fidel Castro’s Growing Military Power,” December 13, 1963, FRUS, Cuba, vol. 11, Supplement 728; Piero Gleijeses, Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington and Africa, 1959-1976 (University of North Carolina Press, 2002), pp. 41-44.
39. Gleijeses, Conflicting Missions, p. 44.
40. ONE Draft Memo, May 7, 1963, NARA 104-10307-10023.
41. “Memo for the Director, New Covert Policy and Program toward Cuba,” April 19, 1963, FRUS, Cuba, vol. 11, Supplement 656.
42. Ibid.
43. Memo for the Director, “Cuba a Year Hence,” April 22, 1963, FRUS, Cuba, vol. 11, Supplement 665.
44. Memorandum to the DCI from Desmond FitzGerald, March 19, 1963, FRUS, vol. 11, Supplement 634.
45. Ibid.; “Contingency Plan for Cuba,” October 31, 1963, NARA 104-10307-10007.
46. “Advertencia a Los Mandos Militares,” Bohemia, April 5, 1963.
47. Mary McAuliffe, interview with Sam Halpern.
48. Memorandum from the Secretary of the Army’s Special Assistant, April 9, 1963, FRUS, Cuba, Vol. 11, p. 754.
49. Author interview with Nestor Sanchez.
50. Ops cable from Porto Alegre to Director, September 7, 1963, NARA 104-10309-10006.
51. Ibid.; regarding photo: Un Panel de Comandantes, Bohemia, May 10, 1963.
52. Ops cable from Porto Alegre.
53. Sanchez, Rockefeller Commission testimony, May 19, 1975, NARA 178-10002-10335.
54. Interview with Halpern by Brian Latell and Michael Warner.
55. Helms, A Look Over My Shoulder, p. 229.
56. Helms, CC testimony, June 13, 1975.
CHAPTER 9: THE BIG JOB
1. Author interview with Nestor Sanchez; Rolando Cubela, HSCA testimony; author interview with Cubela.
2. “Extracts: AMLASH Comments on 13 Cubans,” NARA 104-10215-10328.
3. Ibid.
4. Fidel Castro interview, HSCA, April 3, 1978.
5. Charles Porter, “An Interview with Fidel Castro,” Northwest Review (Fall 1963).
6. “Castro Assails Kennedy Tactics,” New York Times, September 9, 1963.
7. The most complete rendition of the original wire service story I have been able to find appeared in the Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Washington.
8. “Review of Selected Items in the Lee Harvey Oswald File,” May 12, 1975, NARA 104-10322-10001.
9. Sam Halpern, CC testimony, April 22, 1976.
10. CC testimonies; IGR.
11. Fidel Castro interview, HSCA, April 3, 1978.
12. “AMTURVY Operation,” NARA 104-10506-10031.
13. Arkady N. Shevchenko, Breaking with Moscow (New York: Knopf, 1985), p. 124; Granma, April 11, 2009.
14. Jack Bell, JFKOH.
15. Brian Latell and Michael Warner, interview with Sam Halpern, NARA 104-10324-10000; Evan Thomas, The Very Best Men (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), p. 200.
16. “Briefing of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” July 31, 1963, NARA 104-10307-10010; “Briefing by Mr. Desmond FitzGerald on CIA Cuban Operations and Planning,” September 25, 1963, NARA 202-10001-10028.
17. Ted Shackley, CC testimony, August 19, 1975.
18. Briefing by Desmond FitzGerald, September 25, 1963; FRUS, Cuba, vol. 11, p. 871; Shackley, CC testimony; Thomas, Very Best Men, pp. 324-325.
19. “The Situation and Prospects in Cuba,” NIE 85-2-62, August 1, 1962, FRUS, Cuba, vol. 11 Supplement 288.
20. Briefing by FitzGerald.
21. Nestor Sanchez, CC testimony, July 29, 1975; Richard Helms, A Look Over My Shoulder (New York: Random House, 2003), p. 230.
22. Mary McAuliffe interview with Sam Halpern; Halpern, CC testimony, June 18, 1975; IGR
23. “A Contingency Plan for a Coup in Cuba,” October 31, 1963, NARA 104-10307-10007.
24. “Possible Soviet Reactions to an Anti-Castro Coup,” October 28, 1963, NARA 104-10307-10020.
25. “Status of AMTRUNK MHAPRON Recruiting Efforts,” April 17, 1964, NARA 104-10216-10110.
26. “Chronology of Significant Documents in AMTRUNK File,” NARA 104-10213-10262.
27. IGR; “AMTRUNK Operation,” February 14, 1977, NARA 1993.08.13.13:59:45:430028.
28. “AMTRUNK Operation,” April 25, 1977, NARA 104-10308-10186.
29. David Corn, The Blond Ghost (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), pp. 102-103; “Operations to Split the Regime,” February 10, 1977, NARA 104-10103-10072.
30. Al Burt, “Defector Reveals Anti-Castro Conspiracy,” Miami Herald, October 20, 1963; Corn, Blond Ghost, pp. 113-114.
31. IGR; author interview with Dave Laux.
32. Author interview with Sanchez.
33. CIA ops cable Paris to DIR, October 7, 1963, NARA 104-10215-10372.
34. Ops cable from Paris, NARA 104-10215-10381.
35. Evan Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), p. 271; Helms, CC testimony, September 11, 1975; Sanchez, CC testimony.
36. Interview with Sam Halpern by Brian Latell and Michael Warner, April 7, 1998, NARA 104-10324-10000; Helms, CC testimony, June 13, 1975; “Senate Select Committee Request (Charles Ford),” September 4, 1975, NARA 104-10309-10014.
37. Helms, Look Over My Shoulder, p. 230; “Chronology of Significant Documents”; IGR.
38. Author interview with Cubela; Dean Rusk, JFKOH, March 30, 1970.
39. Ops cable from Paris, October 11, 1963, NARA 104-10215-10381.
40. Ibid.
41. Special National Intelligence Estimate, “The Effects of Hurricane Flora on Cuba,” November 15, 1963, FRUS, Cuba, vol. 11, Supplement 719.
42. FBIS, October 9 and October 21, 1963. In a speech on January 21, 1964, at a Kremlin reception, Fidel said: “Over a thousand workers and peasants perished.”
43. Castro speech, October 20, FBIS, October 23, 1963; Castro communiqué, October 12, 1963, FBIS October 14, 1963.
44. Castro speech.
45. Ibid.
46. “Participacion Directa de la CIA en Ataques a Cuba,” Bohemia, November 8, 1963.
47. “Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Special Group,” November 5, 1963, NARA 104-10306-10024.
48. Ibid.
49. Piero Gleijeses, Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington and Africa, 1959-1976 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), p. 43.
50. Regarding El Salvador and the Dominican Republic: NARA 104-10247-10389; regarding Che: Cuba Socialista (September 1963), and Bohemia, September 20, 1963; regarding Argentina: Jon Lee Anderson, Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life (New York: Grove Press, 1997), pp. 576-579.
51. “Report on Cuban Propaganda,” No. 11, FBIS, November 21, 1963.
52. Helms, CC testimony, September 11, 1975; Helms, Look Over My Shoulder, p. 226; Daily Summary, December 9, 1963, NARA 104-10302-10019; Daily Summary, November 29, 1963, NARA 104-10302-10022. Nonetheless, some authors—not unreasonably—have speculated that the cache was actually planted by the CIA. But evidence provided by Rodríguez Lahera and a report by the US Army General Counsel, indisputably confirm Cuban responsibility. See “Interim Report by US Military on Venezuelan Arms Cache,” December 23, 1963, NARA 198-10004-10089 and “Debriefing of Defector from Cuban Intelligence,” n.d., NARA 104-10247-10389.
53. Helms, Look Over My Shoulder, p. 227.
54. Herbert Matthews, interview with Fidel Castro, Butler Library, Columbia University.
55. Ibid.
56. Tad Szulc, interview with Ramiro Valdés, CHC.
57. Richard Mahoney, Sons and Brothers (New York: Arcade Publishing, 1999), p. 286.
58. “Subject: Tepedino, Carlos,” September 22, 1965, NARA 104-10183-10410. I appreciate the help of archivist Mary Kay Schmidt at the National Archives, who helped me locate this document. Tepedino took a second CIA polygraph exam on January 5, 1966. Report dated January 19, 1966, NARA 104-10183-10271.
59. Church Committee, Book V—”The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies,” pp 78-79.
1. Ted Shackley, CC testimony, August 19, 1975; Harold Swenson, CC testimony, May 10, 1976.
2. Richard Helms, A Look Over My Shoulder (New York: Random House, 2003), p. 231.
3. “Contact Plan for Dainold Meeting with AMLASH,” NARA 104-10215-10365.
4. Ibid.
5. Helms, Look Over My Shoulder, p. 231.
6. Author interview with David Laux; Evan Thomas, The Very Best Men (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), p. 302.
7. Author interview with Rolando Cubela; IGR.
8. Memo for the Record, November 13, 1963, NARA 104-10215-10364; Nestor Sanchez, CC testimony, July 29, 1975; IGR; Rolando Cubela, HSCA testimony, August 28, 1978.
9. IGR; Sanchez, CC testimony.
10. IGR; letter to Robert Blakey with attachment, NARA 104-10400-10090.
11. Interview with Sam Halpern by Dr. Mary McAuliffe, January 15, 1988, NARA 104-10324-10003; Scott Breckinridge, CC testimony, June 2, 1975; Thomas, The Very Best Men, pp. 333-334.
12. Joseph Burkholder Smith, Portrait of a Cold Warrior (New York: Ballantine Books, 1976), pp. 377-378; Thomas, p. 303.
13. “Entire AMLASH Group Insecure,” June 23, 11965, NARA 104-10216-10403; “Victor Dominador Esponosa,” June 12, 1965, NARA 157-10004-10240; Castro University Speech, FBIS, March 14, 1966.
14. Operational AMLASH/AMOT, July 29, 1969, NARA 104-10216-10027; “Operational lead/ Cuba,” May 20, 1980, NARA104-10216-10003.
15. IGR.
16. “Castro on US Subversion and Hurricane,” FBIS, October 31, 1963.
17. Ibid; “Presento Fidel Las Pruebas de un Siniestro Complot de la CIA,” Bohemia, November 8, 1963.
18. “Presento Fidel Las Pruebas . . .”
19. Ibid.
20. “Participacion Directa de la CIA en Ataques a Cuba,” Bohemia, November 8, 1963; Juan Antonio Rodríguez Menier, Cuba Por Dentro (Miami, Ediciones Universal, 1993).
21. “Fidel Castro’s Growing Military Power,” CIA, December 13, 1963, FRUS, Cuba, vol. 11, Supplement 728.
22. Ibid.; “Millon y Medio de Hombres al Servicio Militar Obligatorio: Texto Completo del Proyecto de Ley,” Bohemia, November 15, 1963; WAVE 7356, NARA 104-10308-10017. Daily Summary, December 9, 1963, NARA 104-10302-10019.
23. “Fidel Castro’s Growing Military Power.”
24. Regarding Cubela’s position in regime: Nestor Sanchez, CC testimony, July 29, 1975; “Mr. Weatherby,” CC testimony, August 11, 1975.
25. “AMWHIP meeting,” New York, NARA 104-10295-10154. IGR.
26. “Plans for AMLASH contact,” November 19, 1963, NARA 104-10215-10360;
27. Ibid.; Sanchez, CC testimony.
28. Ibid.
29. Sam Halpern, CC testimony, June 18, 1975.
30. Contact Report, November 25, 1963, NARA 104-10215-10227; author interview with Nestor Sanchez.
31. Contact Report.
32. Miami Herald, November 19, 1963.
33. Ibid.; Statement of Fact, November 12, 1963, NARA 104-10307-10008.; McCone calendar, NARA 104-10306-1000; “Suggestions for Additional Administration Statements on Cuba,” FRUS, Cuba, vol. 11, Supplement 723.
34. Sanchez, CC testimony; author interview with Rolando Cubela; Cubela HSCA interview, August 28, 1978.
35. Cubela HSCA interview.
36. IGR.
37. Ibid.
38. Jean Daniel, “When Castro Heard the News,” New Republic, December 7, 1963; author interview with Jean Daniel.
39. Ibid.
40. Author interview with Aspillaga.
41. Tad Szulc, interview with Fidel Castro, January 28, 1984, CHC.
42. Jean Daniel, “Unofficial Envoy: An Historic Report from Two Capitals,” New Republic, December 14, 1963.
43. Author interview with Jean Daniel.
44. James Reston, “Kennedy and His Critics on Cuba,” New York Times, April 21, 1963; regarding White House Staff: author interview with Jean Daniel.
45. Box 40, Chrono, James Donovan papers, HA; H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace, Spycraft (New York, Dutton, 2008), numerous citations; Gertrude Samuels, “How Metadiplomacy Works,” New York Times Magazine, April 13, 1963.
46. Richard Helms memo to McGeorge Bundy, August 27, 1963, NARA 104-10310-10244; memo from Helms to McCone, June 5, 1963, FRUS, Cuba, vol. 11, Supplement 685
47. Daniel, “Unofficial Envoy”; John Nolan, “Notes of April, 1963 visit to Cuba and meetings with Castro.”
48. Daniel, “Unofficial Envoy.”
49. Author interview with Daniel.
50. Herbert Matthews papers, Box 27, Butler Library, Columbia University.
51. FRUS Cuba, vol. 11, p. 780.
52. “The Situation and Prospects in Cuba,” NIE, June 14, 1963, FRUS vol. 11, Supplement 687.
53. Matthews interview with Fidel Castro.
54. Graham Greene, “Return to Cuba,” New Republic, November 2, 1963.
55. Arthur Schlesinger letter to Tad Szulc, March 3, 1986, Szulc collection, CHC.
56. Castro’s Fourth Anniversary Speech, FBIS, January 3, 1963.
57. Juan Antonio Rodríguez Menier, Inside the Cuban Interior Ministry (Washington, DC: Jamestown Foundation, 1994).
58. Robert Dallek, An Unfinished Life (Boston: Little, Brown, 2003), p. 664.
59. Ted Sorensen, Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History (New York: HarperCollins, 2008), p. 352; interview with Sam Halpern by Mary McAuliffe.
60. Inigo Thomas, “A Night in Havana,” George (October 1999); Fidel Castro and Ignacio Ramonet, Fidel Castro: My Life (New York: Scribner, 2006), p. 591.
61. Daniel, “When Castro Heard the News.”
62. Daniel, “Unofficial Envoy”; author interview with Daniel.
CHAPTER 11: CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE
1. Gus Russo and Stephen Molton, Brothers in Arms: The Kennedys, the Castros, and the Politics of Murder (New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2008), p. 457.
2. Fidel Castro and Ignacio Ramonet, Fidel Castro: My Life (New York: Scribner, 2006), p. 289; Fidel Castro, HSCA interview, April 3, 1978; regarding the essay: HSCA report on Lee Harvey Oswald’s trip to Mexico City, NARA 180-10110-10484.
3. Castro, HSCA interview.
4. G. Robert Blakey and Richard N. Billings, The Plot to Kill the President (New York: Times Books, 1981), p. 148.
5. HSCA report on Oswald.
6. Ibid.; NARA 180-10117-10098.
7. Alexander Haig with Charles McCarry, Inner Circles: How America Changed the World (New York: Warner Books, 1992), pp. 115-116.
8. Max Holland, The Kennedy Assassination Tapes (New York: Knopf, 2004), p. 424-426.
9. Richard Helms, HSCA testimony, September 22, 1978; Richard Helms, Warren Commission testimony, May 14, 1964.
10. Maria Teresa Proenza, HSCA testimony, August 28, 1978, NARA 180-10115-10106; Juan Antonio Rodríguez Menier, Inside the Cuban Interior Ministry (Washington, DC: Jamestown Foundation, 1994), p. 42.
11. Re Calderon not a CIA asset—CIA letter to Robert Blakey, HSCA, February 15, 1979, NARA 104-10079-10040.
12. Albert H. Newman, The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, (New York, Clarkson N. Potter, 1970), p. 27.
13. Vincent Bugliosi, Reclaiming History (New York: Norton, 2007), p. 770.
14. Ibid., pp. 765 and 771.
15. Warren Commission Report, September 24, 1964 (reprinted, St. Martin’s Press), p. 414.
16. Bugliosi, Reclaiming History, p. 783.
17. Ibid., p. 785.
18. Oswald Address Book, Warren Commission Exhibit 18, p. 47, NARA.
19. “Respuesta al Cuestionario del Comite Selecto sobre Asesinato de la Camara del Congreso de los Estados Unidos a Luisa Calderon,” NARA 180-10105-10341; Cable from Mexico City, December 3, 1963, NARA 104-10213-10367.
20. Bugliosi, Reclaiming History, pp. 1282, 1294.
21. Memo for the Record, STEEL-1, NARA 104-10308-10197.
22. Jorge Masetti, In the Pirate’s Den (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2002), pp. 126-127, 109.
AFTERWORD
1. “Political Action Operation in Cuba, the Proenza Case,” NARA 104-10145-10381. NARA 104-10276-10049, 104-10052-10096, 104-10079-10291, and 103-10074-10303.
2. Political Action Operation in Cuba.
3. Ibid.
4. CIA report, “The Following List of Personnel were Stationed in Mexico City,” NARA 104-10307-10067; John Scelso, CC testimony, May 7, 1976; David R. McLean, Western Hemisphere Division, 1946-1965, NARA 104-19391-10001; “Request for Project Renewal,” NARA 1104-10052-10208; Manuel Vega Perez, July 31, 1963, NARA 104-10276-10045; Cable Mexico City to Director, July 11, 1963, NARA 104-10276-10049.
5. Political Action Operation in Cuba.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid; Teresa Proenza, “Homage to Diego Rivera,” Mainstream, March 1958.
8. Maria Teresa Proenza, HSCA interview, NARA 180-10115-10106; Miguel Barroso, Un asunto sensible (New York: Random House Mondadori, 2010).
9. Vincent Bugliosi, Reclaiming History (New York: Norton, 2007), p. 1050; David A. Phillips, The Night Watch (New York: Athenaeum, 1977), p. 133.
10. Ted Shackley, Spymaster: My Life in the CIA (Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, 2005), p. 18.
11. Philip Agee, Inside the Company (New York: Penguin, 1975), p. 532.
12. S. D. Breckinridge Memo for the Record, September 20, 1978, NARA 104-10322-10138; General Escalante on Kennedy Assassination, FBIS, December 28, 1993; Bugliosi, Reclaiming History, pp. 1200-1201.
13. John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr, and Alexander Vasiliev, Spies (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009), p. 541.
14. Dom Bonafede, “Castro’s Spy Network Reaches Deep in U.S.,” Miami Herald, September 8, 1963.
15. Bill Gertz, Enemies: How America’s Foes Steal Our Vital Secrets—and How We Let it Happen (New York: Crown Forum, 2006), p. 216; Scott W. Carmichael, True Believer (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2007), pp. 29, 157-158.
16. Juan Tamayo, “US Now has Zero Tolerance for Cuban Spies,” Miami Herald, June 14, 2009.
17. Carmichael, True Believer, pp. 16-18.
18. Author interview with Miguel Mir.
19. Ibid.