Operation 40

[Ian Kingsbury]

On 11th December, 1959, Colonel J. C. King, chief of CIA's Western Hemisphere Division, sent a confidential memorandum to Allen W. Dulles, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. King argued that in Cuba there existed a "far-left dictatorship, which if allowed to remain will encourage similar actions against U.S. holdings in other Latin American countries."

As a result of this memorandum Dulles established Operation 40. It obtained this name because originally there were 40 agents involved in the operation. Later this was expanded to 70 agents. The group was presided over by Richard Nixon. Tracy Barnes became operating officer of what was also called the Cuban Task Force. The first meeting chaired by Barnes took place in his office on 18th January, 1960, and was attended by David Atlee Phillips, E. Howard Hunt, Jack Esterline, and Frank Bender.

On 4th March, 1960, La Coubre, a ship flying a Belgian flag, exploded in Havana Bay. It was loaded with arms and ammunition that had been sent to help defend Cuba's revolution from its enemies. The explosion killed 75 people and over 200 were injured. Fabian Escalante, an officer of the Department of State Security (G-2), later claimed that this was the first successful act carried out by Operation 40.

One member, Frank Sturgis, claimed: "this assassination group (Operation 40) would upon orders, naturally, assassinate either members of the military or the political parties of the foreign country that you were going to infiltrate, and if necessary some of your own members who were suspected of being foreign agents... We were concentrating strictly in Cuba at that particular time."

Over the next few years Operation 40 worked closely with several anti-Castro Cuban organizations including Alpha 66. CIA officials and freelance agents such as Porter Goss, E. Howard Hunt, David Morales, Bernard L. Barker, Frank Sturgis, Barry Seal, and William C. Bishop also joined the project. Cuban figures used by the Operation 40 included Antonio Veciana, Luis Posada, Orlando Bosch, Roland Masferrer, Eladio del Valle, Guillermo Novo, Carlos Bringuier, Eugenio Martinez, Antonio Cuesta, Hermino Diaz Garcia, Felix Ismael Rodriguez, Juan Manuel Salvat, Ricardo Morales Navarrete, Isidro Borjas, Virgilio Paz, Jose Dionisio Suarez, Felipe Rivero, Gaspar Jimenez Escobedo, Nazario Sargent, Pedro Luis Diaz Lanz, Rafael Quintero, Jose Basulto, and Paulino Sierra.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKoperation40.htm

The picture below is of interest. This photograph was taken in a nightclub in Mexico City on 22nd January, 1963. It is believed that the men in the photograph are all members of Operation 40. It has been suggested that closest to the camera on the left is Felix Rodriguez. Next to him is Porter Goss and Barry Seal. It has been claimed that Tosh Plumlee is attempting to hide his face with his coat. Others in the picture are Alberto 'Loco' Blanco (3rd right) and Jorgo Robreno (4th right).

I would be interested in the opinions of Gerry and Tosh on this photograph.

Tosh for sure could finally end the dispute (demopedia) between you and Daniel Hopsicker who claims in "Barry and the Boys" that the guy hiding his face is Frank Sturgis.

George

ps: somewhere I read that the first guy on the right is William Seymour (?)

Tosh for sure could finally end the dispute (demopedia) between you and Daniel Hopsicker who claims in "Barry and the Boys" that the guy hiding his face is Frank Sturgis.

The guy who is hinding his face is Frank.

Fiorini or Kaiser?.

[Chuck Schwartz]

Recent posts (that have since been deleted by the author )about Operation 40 caused me to re-read this thread.

[David McLean]

Op 40, or the 40 Committee etc etc fail to take up Tosh Plumlee's advice that it refers to "operations" stemming from NSC directive 5412. Deducing from all ops under this rubric, they all deal with exclusion of Communism particularly the Soviet kind from the Western hemishere. Hence the reference to the historic anti Russian slogan "54-40 or Fight", re   the  latitudinal limit of Russia in NW North America way back when. As such ops fall under that directive they are neither purely CIA, or Pentagon or private but are goal oriented and the goal is of course anti-communism. It is my belief that after November 22, 5412-Ops were extended to  include actions anywhere against the "Sino-Soviet Bloc", ie Vietnam. And so the Cold War was re-kindled. IOW all that stuff about the number of operatives is a diversion or smokescreen, IMO.