Zach Robertson
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Some interesting links regarding Generalissimo Rafael Leónidas Trujillo (1891-1961):
TIME Magazine: Dominican Republic - Blood on the Beach excerpt below:
Mud on the Flag. Trujillo threw his 15,000-man army into the fighting, called up reserves, sent his "Anti-Communist Foreign Legion" of retired army men to guard the Haitian border, mobilized the "Horsemen of the East" —a private army led by Cattleman (and former consul in New York) Felix Bernardino.Felix Bernardino - Click here for Background and photo below:
Zach
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Left to right - Andy Messing Jr., Ed Lansdale, unknown, John Singlaub and Oliver North
I believe the photo was taken in the 1980s.
Zach
This photo was taken in 1986, a year before Lansdale's death. Lansdale was meeting with a group of individuals intent on waging the Cold War in Latin America. Left to right Andy Messing Jr., Executive Director National Defense Council; Lansdale; Medardo Justinano; Major Gen. John Singlaub, US Army (Ret.); Lt. Col. Oliver North USMC (Ret.)
North, a controversial figure in the Iran-Contra scandal of the mid-1980s, described himself as "Lansdalian," and according to the Washington Post, "was already Lansdale-ized when he reached the NSC."
Lansdale Papers, Maxwell Air Force Base
see: Edward Lansdale's Cold War By Jonathan Nashel (photos follow p. 126)
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Another photo of an older Lansdale with grayer, whiter hair.
This one is from 1979.
Zach
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Left to right - Andy Messing Jr., Ed Lansdale, unknown, John Singlaub and Oliver North
I believe the photo was taken in the 1980s.
Zach
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The link Zach provided to Conein's interview also leads to in-depth interviews with Halberstam, Lodge, Lansdale, Maxwell Taylor,
Harriman, McNamara, Hilsman, Colby, Westmoreland, Holbrooke, Valenti, Rostow, Moyers, and many many more.
There are printed transcripts of the video interviews to make things easier. It's really an indispensable resource.
The Diem Coup: http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=diem+coup&search_field=all_fields&x=3&y=7
Zach has been posting some important information here, sometimes under the radar, in my opinion.
Thank you Michael!
I think the ZRJEWEL Project [Document 1 and Document 2] and researching the MAAG in both Laos and Vietnam in the early 1960s is very important. That is also a great interview of Conein - thanks for posting up that transcript snippet and the link to the Vietnam: A Television History 'master' page on the Diem Coup.
Speaking of Lansdale, here is his 6 part interview and the transcripts: General Edward Geary Lansdale
A couple other things should be mentioned here:
Lansdale and Conein were best of friends for a long time. In Conein's 1961 Personal History Statement, Lansdale is listed as his top character reference. It also is interesting to see who Conein lists as his references in his 1968 Resume.
Also, I find it very curious that Conein was recommended for a Honor and Merit Award just one month after both Diem's and Kennedy's assassinations. Perhaps Henry Cabot Lodge was responsible for this?
Lansdale and Conein are also both buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Although I do not think Vietnam had anything to do with JFK's death, I believe that a small aspect of the conspiracy had an eye toward war in SE Asia and this included Conein and Lansdale.
Below is a photo of Lansdale and Conein:
Here is a photo of Lansdale and Oliver North. The man on North's right is John Singlaub.
(photo credits: Mr. James Richards)
Last but certainly not least, according to Conein's 1947 Personal History Statement, I am pleased to see that he lists himself as a "Good" basketball player. I can definitely see him as a strong defender/rebounder. Perhaps Conein's basketball statistics can also be dug up through future research?
Zach
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I think to completely understand what Lucien Conein was doing in SE Asia in 1963 one must study a project called ZRJEWEL and figure out exactly what it was.
Can anyone make out what the pseudo is for Conein in the second document? It looks like Arthur R. Schwigmrath?
With a ZR crypt, one would be tempted to believe it had something to do with assassinations. These are the only 2 documents I have found mentioning JEWEL. Conein’s file has been sanitized – virtually all of his documents concern the establishment, maintenance and use of cover during his career with the Agency as a military detailee and Career Agent from 1954-1968.
For further research into Agency activity in Indo China, I think it would be beneficial to look into something called MAAG - Military Assistance Advisory Group - and the people who worked there. Prior to the ‘Americanization’ of the Vietnam conflict, all US Forces in Vietnam at this time [early 1960s] were under command / Employ of MAAG – MAAG, in turn, was run by the CIA.
In my opinion, this would be a good place to start when looking for individuals who had military/special forces training who were capable of performing ‘off the books’ black ops within a project such as JEWEL.
Zach
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In an interview with Dick Russell, Colonel William Bishop talked about having seen that same film.
William Bishop, interviewed by Dick Russell in 1990:I did look into Oswald's background. I'd never met him, but I'd seen him in a training film in New Orleans the past summer. He just happened to be in the group out there at the Pontchartrain camp. Trying to get in with the anti-Castro exiles. I thought even then (after the assassination) that Oswald was a decoy. There's no way in hell he could have fired three shots in that space of time, with that accuracy, with that weapon.
Of course, when Oswald was killed, the Warren Commission's investigation was a big joke. The whole bit - Military Intelligence, CIA, FBI. Where the mistake was made, the intelligence reports coming in from various men in the field were not assimilated and categorized and broken down to get some logical conclusion. The Warren Commission went into this thing with a preconceived idea. Overly simplified, in Oswald's case they tried to take a round peg and drive that son of a bitch into a square hole. And they did it.
-- Zach
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Firstly, here are a couple links on WerBell:
American Mercenary Video 1-5 (it was removed from youtube)
Our Man in Powder Springs + Discussion
Here is an interesting interview with Mitch WerBell in Saga Magazine, 1981
ERINGER: You formed your school about two years ago...WERBELL: It existed before, but got formalized two years. Its purpose is to train law enforcement people, private bodyguards, security personnel, etc. It's a very concentrated course in which we teach all the countermeasures against poltical assassinations, terrorists--that sort of thing.
ERINGER: Could it not be said that a school for antiterrorists could double as a school for terrorists?
WERBELL: Well, hoe can you tell?
ERINGER: Precisely.
WERBELL: We investigate everybody that comes here very thoroughly--right down to their socks. They have to furnish us with authentic documents testifying to their good reputation--no criminal activity, not being nuts or alcoholics. Now, everything you do in a countermeasure, of course, teaches you how they're going to do it, so you can counter them. You never know who's going to turn bad. But even the CIA has that same problem.
ERINGER: Have you ever rejected applicants to your school?
WERBELL: Yes, indeed. We have canned a couple. Tossed 'em out.
ERINGER: For what reasons?
WERBELL: Bad attitudes. We felt that some of them were potential danger spots I say some--we're only talking about two people.
ERINGER: You charge $2,500 for your 10-day course, and that doesn't include accommodations and most meals. How much if that do you make in profit?
WERBELL: (Laughs.) I can can tell you, but you'd be horrified at how little it is.
ERINGER: What I'm getting at is this: Is money the motivation for running the school?
WERBELL: Well, naturally, partially, but it really is not a big profit producer at all. We've got too many top-notch, high-priced instructors.
ERINGER: So what is your major motivation?
WERBELL: Well, I guess there's really several things. One of them is, of course, I felt there is a tremendous need for it. Plus the fact that I can't stand just not doing anything.
ERINGER: Do you recruit mercenaries from graduates of your school?
WERBELL: Well, in some cases, yes.
ERINGER: You can find employment for those that have successfully gone through your course?
WERBELL: We don't claim to do that. We can recommend them in certain areas where we get enquiries.
ERINGER: Do you keep track of Cobray graduates?
WERBELL: Oh, yeah.
ERINGER: In what sense?
WERBELL: We have a continuous on-going record of what they're doing because they all check in with us, which is extraordinary, too.
ERINGER: Suppose they don't check in with you. Do you keep track of their activities?
WERBELL: Yeah. So far none of them have turned bad.
ERINGER: That's reassuring, considering what they've been taught.
WERBELL: Well, once again, even in the CIA you have people turn bad.
ERINGER: Do you report the activities of your graduates to any U.S. intelligence agencies?
WERBELL: Nope.
ERINGER: How about your students from foreign countries? When they return to their respective countries do you report their activities to their governments?
WERBELL: Yep. The government send them.
ERINGER: What government sends them?
WERBELL: You know, there are certain things I really can't talk about. But frankly, we/'re expecting a number n of Thai students over the next few months. Others come from Central and South American countries. Most of our students are Americans.
ERINGER: Students sigh a waiver relinquishing Cobray from responsibility in case of injury or death. Have there been any injuries or deaths?
WERBELL: I think one guy got a couple cracked ribs --through his own fault. He was a smart-ass and our martial arts guy tamed him down a little bit.
ERINGER: Let's go back in time. When did you first become involved in this kind of work?
WERBELL: World War II--1942--when I joined the Office of Strategic Services.
ERINGER: What missions did you undertake?
WERBELL: China, Burma, and then I went into French Indochina, before the war was over when the Japanese were occupying it.. Out outfit brought Hi Chi Minh out of hiding. And, of course, Ho Chi Minh was a big buddy of the United Stated States in those days. What spoiled it was our stupidity in going to the aid of the French.
ERINGER: Tell me about one such mission.
WERBELL: I went in on prisoner recovery, and I also took the surrender of General Sumita with 80,000 Japanese the day the atomic bomb was dropped. That was in San Che Province.
ERINGER: What did you do after the OSS was disbanded?
WERBELL: We were in an outfit called SS Unit, which was the next phase of our clandestine operations, before the CIA--which doesn't mean we played in the band.
ERINGER What does it mean?
WERBELL: Special Operations, which is the parachute-behind-the-lines unit. I made a number of jumps.
ERINGER: Did you join the CIA when it was formed in 1947?
WERBELL: I have never been CIA. I have worked very closely with them.
ERINGER: Have you ever been paid any anount of money by the CIA?
WERBELL: Boy, that ios the question that keeps popping up.
ERINGER: What is your response?
WERBELL: Nope.
ERINGER: But in his book, Spooks, Jim Houghan wrote that you "worked under contract to the CIA in the 1960s, organizing amphibious landings against Cuba from a base in the Dominican Republic."
WERBELL: I was with an entirely different facility.
ERINGER: So when you left the SS Unit, what did you do?
WERBELL: Well, I became a civilian. At that time I was a captain in a parachute unit and I didn't like it. So I transferred into Military Intelligence and stayed in there in reserve and didn't do a damn thing. So I quit and went into the advertising business. I was advertising director of Rich's department store, the biggest department store south of New York. That ladted about a year, and then I got back into geopolitics.
ERINGER: You missed the excitement?
WERBELL: Well let me tell you a little story. You see, a guy went to a house of pleasure. And he picked up this broad and took her upstairs--the $100-a-whack type. And she had a beautiful accent. He said, "My goodness, where are you from?" Well, she was raised in Haverford-Philadelphia, Mainline, you know, comes from a socially prominent family. He says, "Holy Christ, what's a cultured, charming woman like you doing in a whorehouse." And she said, "I guess I just got lucky." You get it? I guess I was just lucky.
ERINGER: So how did you make your comeback?
WERBELL: What do you want me to do, pull down my pants and show you my palms?
ERINGER: I'm just asking how you got back in the business.
WERBELL: Like the babe said, I guess I just got lucky. One of my major assignments--it was about 1957--was to keep Batista in business. Not that everybody was favorable towards Batista, but we knew at that point what Fidel was all about. Actually, Fidel never fought a battle. Fidel never did a goddamned thing. The students did all the fighting. That son-of-a-bitch never fought a battle, he never fired a round. However, my job at the time was to keep Batista in.
ERINGER: What went wrong?
WERBELL: The New York Times, The Washington Post--those no-good crap liberal bastards we have in this country. That's what went wrong.
ERINGER: What do you mean?
WERBELL: The s0-called liberal press that is communist bought and owned. The New York Times--what a bunch of crap those guys are. The Washington Post. They're traitors. Quote me on that.
ERINGER: At what point did you start Military Armaments Corporation?
WERBELL: About 1967. It was originally called Sionics. We produced silencers.
ERINGER: To whom did you sell them?
WERBELL: The Philippines. Thailand. South Vietnam. The Israelis. The raid on Entebbe was all done with my weapons and silencers.
ERINGER: Is that company still operational?
WERBELL: I saw the writing on the wall. They wanted to retire me because I was such a prickly thorn.. First, I was president, then I was chairman of the board, and you know what happens when you're chairman of the board at a young age. Next step is the boot. I told 'em, the only way to retire me is buy my stock. So I sold my stock and two years later they folded and went under. Now I've got Defense Systems International.
ERINGER: Have you ever gotten into trouble with the U.S. Government because of your international arms dealings?
WERBELL: The Firearms, Alcohol and Tobacco people are always bugging me. I've had some real battles with those bastards. I think they're all pinheads.
ERINGER: What sort of battles?
WERBELL: Concerning their regulations. And they've come up with the most goddamned stupid ones I've ever heard.
ERINGER: Are you still engaged in mercenary recruitment?
WERBELL: What a question. You know it's illegal in the United States? We don't recruit mercenaries. We recruit security personnel.
ERINGER: You still doing that?
WERBELL: Under certain conditions.
ERINGER: What conditions?
WERBELL: I can't get into that.
ERINGER: Is it true you once bombed Vietnam with live rats infected with bubonic plague?
WERBELL: (Laughs.) Yeah.
ERINGER: Was that bombing sanctioned by the U.S. Government?
WERBELL: No.
ERINGER: It was all on your own?
WERBELL: It was special operations.
ERINGER: For whom?
WERBELL: (Laughs.) The group that I worked for.
ERINGER: And who was that?
WERBELL: That's unimportant.
ERINGER: Are you a religious man?
WERBELL: I don't believe in organized religion. I'm religious in the sense that I committed myself to Jesus a long time ago. I don't make a big stink about it. And the Pope, incidentally, sent me a blessed cross when he was here in the States. And the Pope himself sent word that they were including me on the mass for the sick every week, which is very flattering. The way it happened is this: his major Bishop assistant was the nuncio in the Dominican Republic when I was leading the loyalists in the revolt. I'm rather proud of that.
ERINGER: The Pope realizes you're sick?
WERBELL: Yeah, I've got cancer. We think we've got a piece of it under remission, but I don't know. There's no real way to find out except surgery and I've got a legal document that prevents any of them from doing tricks while I'm in surgery.
ERINGER: Tricks?
WERBELL: No life support and no bags hanging or anything like that. It's not my lifestyle.
ERINGER: Is it true you're taking Laetrile, the controversial vitamin derived from apricot pits banned by the FDA?
WERBELL: Yep. I'm convinced that Laetrile had a major effect pulling me through the first bout. When I came back from five weeks at the clinic in Alabama, one of my conventional doctors said, "I don't know what the hell you'r doing, but keep mit up. it seems top be working." But I couldn't take all the damn vitamin pills. I was taking 50 pills with every meal.
ERINGER: What would you most like to be remembered for?
WERBELL: I don't give a damn about being remembered. But if I've got to be remembered for something, I'd like it to be for being a good military officer and a patriot.
Mitchell WerBell III died in 1983.
-- Zach
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Thomas & Robert--
Thanks, and thank you for all the invaluable information. Great thread!
-- Zach
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Zach,
Unfortunately your images didn't "take".
--Thomas
Thomas,
That is troubling to hear.
Do the links below work? If not, I will have to try again...
http://s3.postimage.org/x6l9rjhe/mex_63_22.jpg
http://s3.postimage.org/x6hyouhu/Claude_Barnes_Capehart.jpg
If anyone else besides me can see the pictures above, please let me know so I know I am not losing my mind.
Zach
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This is not a complete document, but I did go to the trouble of including some rather pertinent data.
Home/Archive/Documents/JFK Assassination Documents/JFK Documents - Central Intelligence Agency/HSCA Segregated CIA Collection/HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 40/
NARA Record Number: 104-10110-10377
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: CAPEHART, CLAUDE BARNES
http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=14169
Birth: 15 Ocotber 1924, Omeka, Oklahoma
Marital Status: Robert Mary Nee: BALTEY b. 2 Dec
1922, Winsboro, La.; Address: Same as Subject.
Parents: Capehart, Henry Hayes b. 15 Oct 1876, Stamps,
Arkansas; Deceased.
Capehart, Laura Jefferson; Nee: GARBROUGH;
b. 1 April, 1873, Memphis Tennessee; Deceased
Children: Capehart, Neal Henry; b. 11 Aug. 1953 Bakersfield,
California; Add: Box 7011 Reno, Nev.
Military: September 43-July 46, U.S. Army Sergeant # 39145469
Claude Barnes Capehart aka Claude Buster Capehart
Social Security 566-22-5896
Date Added: June 1973
I believe there is a photo of someone in front of the TSBD who looks like Claude Capehart. I have been unable to find it, but if I recall, it bears a resemblance to these embassy photos. Anyone have a copy of that photo and can post it? This Capehart thread is interesting and Jim D did a story on Claude Capehart in his publication Probe V4 #1 entitled "The Capehart Caper"
I couldn't upload the Jim Murray photo but here's link to it on Robin Unger's great website:
http://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=41&pos=18
--Thomas
Hi Thomas,
I missed this earlier, for whatever reason, but the above link is dead -- is this the photo?:
This picture was snapped right after the assassination in front of the TSBD. The guy on the left walking thru looks familiar.
He looks like this man at the Cuban Embassy:
What do you think?
-- Zach
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Zach, I always enjoy reading your posts.
Michael,
Thank you for your kind words; the feeling definitely is mutual
James Richards of Australia was the first to find and post this photo of Sague a few years ago, but I thought it would be beneficial to put it back up. Here are a couple of other related items worth reading:
I would also like to echo Mr. John Kelly’s statement from last April:
I think to identify this man [Mexico City Mystery Man]; we need to look at who David Phillips was handling at the time. There is also the possibility that this man was an associate of Bernardo Torres and was mixed up in the hit on Lettelier.JK
Zach, could you post the picture(s) of Tony Cuesta?Todd
Hi Todd,
Here is the photo of Antonio Cuesta Valle.
It would appear to me that this picture was taken in May of 1966 when Tony and his team infiltrated Cuba. Two team members were killed, one being Sandalio Herminio Diaz Garcia, and two were captured, including Tony. Cuesta, who always vowed that Castro would never take him alive, attempted suicide by setting off a grenade, which blinded him and blew off his right hand. Cuesta spent a long time in hospital as a result of his serious injuries. The story is told on page 75 of Castro’s report: No Title
No doubt this was a major victory for Castro in capturing the leader of Comandos “L.”
Here is another photo you may have not seen, a young AMLASH:
-- Zach
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Church Committee Interim Report: Cuba
When it came to Fidel Castro, the Agency spared no effort across a quarter of a century. DCI William Colby admitted to the Church Committee that the Agency tried and failed to kill Castro several times.“It wasn’t for a lack of trying,” Colby observed.
In August 1975, Fidel Castro gave Senator George McGovern a list of 24 alleged attempts to assassinate him in which Castro claimed the CIA had been involved.
The Committee forwarded this list to the CIA and requested it to respond to those allegations. The CIA’s fourteen-page response concluded:
“In summary, of the incidents described in Castro’s report, the files reviewed
indicate that CIA had no involvement in 15 of the cases: i.e., never had any contact with the individuals mentioned or was not in contact with them at the time of the alleged incidents.
In the remaining 9 cases, CIA had operational relationships with some of the individuals mentioned but not for the purpose of assassination.
Of the cases reviewed, nothing has been found to substantiate the charges that CIA directed its agents to assassinate Castro.
The Committee has found no evidence that the CIA was involved in the attempts on Castro’s life enumerated in the allegations that Castro gave to Senator McGovern. The CIA’s involvement in other plots against Castro and the top figures in his Government are set forth below…”
-- Zach
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Hi Bill,
The photo is from "Castro's Black Book" that was given to Senator George McGovern in 1975. McGovern in turn handed it over to DCI William Colby. By that time there were about 30 attempts made on Castro's life, but official CIA records could only account for 5 or 6.
The "Black Book" was later used by the HSCA in this report: No Title
There are photos of Tony Cuesta and Rolando Cubela in there as well among many others. Sague is on page 8.
It is also discussed here: A List of Assassins
As to when the photo of Sague was taken, I can only guess [maybe July, 1960; when he was nabbed in Havana by authorities unloading weapons which had been secretly smuggled into Cuba?] but in my opinion, it does not look like Sague is the Mexico City Mystery Man based on these images.
-- Zach
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Mario Tauler Sague below:
Comparison to Mystery Man:
-- Zach
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The following is from Larry Hancock's book Someone Would Have Talked pp 206-207:
November 19, 1963At Red Bird Airfield in South Dallas, Woburn Incorporated had been in the process of selling off a small fleet of DC3 transports that it had purchased to fulfill a contract that ended in 1963. The last of the aircraft was sold in November and the new owner had arrived at Red Bird to collect his aircraft on November 18. As part of the deal, Woburn had agreed to completely check the aircraft and perform any required repairs. They had contracted with Wayne January, a partner in an aviation company at Red Bird, to meet the new owner and the pilot that came with him. The pilot spoke English with no accent, but told January that he had been born in Cuba, and eventually revealed that his boss was an Air Force Colonel. The Cuban pilot was extremely proficient with the DC3 and later told January that he had flown that type of aircraft in Cuba as an officer in the Cuban Air Force.
During the next few days, the two men became friendly with each other and the man made remarks which January kept to himself over more than two decades, finally contacting and communicating with a JFK researcher/author only in 1992. Matthew Smith gives the details of the Red Bird incident in Chapter 7 of his book Vendetta.
By Thursday, November 21, January and the Cuban had become close enough to talk somewhat freely. During their lunch break after a period of silence, the Cuban looked at January and said: “They are going to kill your president.” January could tell the man was not joking. He had shown no sign of being less than serious before this in any conversation. When January asked him why he was saying this, the Cuban talked about being involved in the Bay of Pigs and about being told how his friends had died because Robert Kennedy had talked John Kennedy out of sending the air support they had been promised for the invasion. He talked about the pain and the embarrassment of those involved. “They are not only going to kill the president, they are going to kill Robert Kennedy and any other Kennedy who gets in that position.” January knew the man was serious, but it was too much for him to believe and he said so. The Cuban closed the conversation with, “You will see.”
The DC3, its new owner, and the Cuban pilot departed Dallas the afternoon of November 22. January saw the Cuban again briefly right after the initial report of shots being fired at the motorcade. The Cuban, appearing rather sad, simply said, “It’s all going to happen like I told you.”
We do know that Manuel Artime was acquiring transport aircraft in the second half of 1963. A memo copied to “AM/WORLD Aircraft” discusses chartering a C-47 transport through Sociedad de Responsabilidad. The memo is from AM/WORLD CIA officer Raul Hernandez in regard to a conversation with Artime. It is also interesting that the C-53 was resold by Houston Air Center after approximately 18 months, at the point in time in which the Artime off-shore exile initiative had finally been shut down by President Johnson. It may also be relevant to point out that a CIA proprietary airline (Southern Air Transport; crypt ZR/CLIFF) had flown out of Houston. Reportedly, while flying a Douglass 553 transport for Southern Air Transport, David Ferrie kept his plane at the ZR/CLIFF facilities in Houston.
Below is the LIFE photo of Manuel Artime (right) and Hector Varone (left) with a DC-3 / C-47 in the background.
An image of Mr. Wayne January:
-- Zach
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During the implementation of the AMWORLD program in the spring of 1963, several high level meetings were held by Stanley R. Zamka [David Morales], Andrew K. Reuteman [Theodore Shackley], and Nelson L. Raynock with AMBIDDY-1 [Manuel Artime].
One meeting lasted for 4 and a half hours. The role and obligations of Artime were spelled out. Here is the detailed cable: Meeting with AMBIDDY-1. Along with that, here is AMBIDDY's Progress Report. Here is a cable from the summer of '63 where Zamka, Reuteman, and Raynock met with AMBIDDY-1 again to "placate his impatience with ZRMETAL [Washington DC]" June Meeting to Director
Anyone know who Nelson L. Raynock might be? Here is a cable about how he is returning to WAVE after spending time in Mexico City: RAYNOCK
A clue might be that RAYNOCK dealt with AMTHRILL-1. AMTHRILL-1 in turn would later deal with AMBANG-1 who was Manuel Ray Rivero, leader of the Revolutionary Movement of the People (MRP) and later Junta Revolucionaria Cubana (JURE). Maybe I missed something, can anyone help me out?
Zach
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Some information on the AMOT program:
After leaving Havana, David Morales assumed the responsibility for training and organizing an exile counter-intelligence/security operation: AMOT – the CIA’s shadow intelligence organization – in support of the 1962 effort against Castro. AMOTS were Cubans in Miami who gathered information primarily from debriefing Cuban refugees. The AMOT program involved more than two dozen people and lasted for several years.
John Koch Gene received AMOT training. Some information below:
AMOT Report on Exile Groups Recruiting Cubans for Services
Zach
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For those who may be interested, here is a video interview with Lucien Conein in 1981 accompanied with a complete transcript.
Vietnam: A Television History, Episode 103
Zach
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John Koch's Case Officer was Ross Crozier AKA "Harold R. Noemayr," "Roger Fox," and "Clarence Smeryage." Crozier was mentioned in Gaeton Fonzi's great book The Last Investigation under the name Ron Cross. Among other things he confirmed David Atlee Phillips was "Bishop."
Crozier was the liaison between JM/WAVE and the Miami DRE, run by Carlos Bringuier. Crozier has stated that the DRE was the first to report the missiles in Cuba, but the information was ignored. Despite this, the DRE remained the most troublesome anti-Castro organization in the United States. It had concluded 1962 by publishing verbal attacks on President Kennedy and Crozier failed to adequately control the student group to the satisfaction of station chief Ted Shackley.
The DRE refused to spend its money as ordered or confine its activities to propaganda (which David Atlee Phillips oversaw) rather than sabotage. With financial backing from wealthy cold warriors like William Pawley and Clare Booth Luce, the DRE was on its way to setting up an independent military capability (which David Sanchez Morales oversaw).
Richard Helms stepped in and assigned George E. Joannides, a young, well-educated, and experienced junior officer on a fast track inside the agency, to take over as the DRE's contact officer. Helms picked Joannides because Ross Crozier had failed to earn the respect of the DRE and therefore had little control over these CIA assets. When Joannides took over, all of this changed.
Joannides was the chief of the Psychological Warfare Branch of the Miami station for more than a year before the JFK assassination. He was the directorate's paymaster, keeping the exile group in funds to the tune of $25,000 a month. More than any other CIA officer, Joannides, who worked under the name Walter Newby (code name "Howard"), knew about the real operational purpose behind Oswald's staged pro-Castro activities in New Orleans and his carefully scripted contacts with the DRE during the month of August 1963, just weeks before he left for Mexico City.
In November 1963, Joannides was working on psychological warfare operations in the CIA's Miami station [JM/WAVE]. The purpose of psychological warfare, as authorized by U.S. policymakers, was to confuse and confound the government of Fidel Castro, so to hasten its replacement by a government more congenial to Washington. The first revelation was that Joannides had agents in a leading Cuban student exile group [DRE], an operation code-named AMSPELL in CIA files. These agents had a series of close encounters with Oswald three months before JFK was killed.
This was the reason Helms worked so assiduously to keep Joannides's name from ever surfacing in any of the investigations into the JFK assassination. Even when the so-called 1992 JFK Records Act forced the CIA to surrender Joannides's 201 file, the file was purged. It was Helms' concern that if John Whitten, who Helms initially appointed to undertake the Agency's in-house investigation, was allowed to continue he would discover the FBI reports on Oswald's "pro-Castro" activity in New Orleans and concentrate the inquiry on the CIA's JM/WAVE station.
In 1963, with a team of thirty agents and a staff of thirty clerical workers Whitten might have shaken loose any operational secrets involving Joannides and the DRE and exposed a clearer picture of the CIA's interest in Oswald. Helms was determined to keep these "family jewels" securely locked away and out of reach of a colleague whose ethical integrity made him a poor risk as a co-conspirator. It was this looming threat that prompted Helms to remove Whitten from the investigation and turn it over to James Angleton. Angleton, like his professional counterpart, J. Edgar Hoover, dropped the Cuban angle in the assassination and turned the investigation over to Counter-intelligence's Soviet Division to determine whether the KGB had influenced Oswald in any way.
John Koch's Tradecraft below
-- Zach
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Actually guys I think that list is from 2004-05. I don't think Andy has updated his webpage. I think the best thing to do is call to check on the availability of certain books. I hope to make a trip up to the shop soon.
Zach
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From Organización Auténtica, Brigada 2506
Castro Develops Deadly Biological WeaponsThese days a small country led by a malevolent dictator dog do a lot of damage. Aided by Both Russia and Communist China, Fidel Castro is sophisticated biological Developing Weapons on a large scale and using communications technology for espionage and Interference with U.S. Air Traffic Control.
Mass killing possesses no moral problem for Castro. Let Us Not Forget That beginning in 1962 Soviet Khrushchev to fire nuclear missiles based in Cuba at the United States. Such an irresponsible act wiped out Could Have Vast Populations in U.S. metropolitan areas. Our response to the attack Also Would Have Devastated the Cuban people. He has over 10.000 Executed Dissidents and Hundreds of Thousands Have languished in historical 130 Political Prisons under cruel conditions. But Castro's ego is larger events Perhaps Than That of Saddam Hussein. I Would Not Mind going down "in a blaze of glory" Taking millions with him, to Be Remembered in history as a "fearless leader."
Not much information has been released by the U.S. Government regarding Castro's production of biological Weapons 90 miles From Our Shores "Perhaps so as Not to interfere with the current Administration's proffers to Castro of good relationships.
However, in May 1998 Secretary of Defense William Cohen in Congress Testifier That Cuba possessed advanced biotechnology and is capable of mass-producing agents for biological warfare.
Former Deputy Chief of the ex-Soviet Union's biological warfare program. Colonel Ken Alibek, Revealed That recently to the CIA, concealed in Cuba's medical research complex, Castro is Carrying out a sophisticated program for high-capacity production of germ warfare agents During The Last Few Years. Dr. Alibek tells us That Castro's program started in 1981 when to Former Soviet Premier Brezhnev visited Cuba and Castro Promised to help with the technology.
With Respect to electronic espionage, Castro's capability, with current Aid from Communist China, has made great Advances. Maintains still Russia, and recently upgraded to Remarkable electronic listening post in Cuba near the town of Lourdes. Castro pays Russia $ 200 million per year for the facility is capable of That eavesdropping on telephone calls in Washington, DC
Let us Consider this: Almost Every country, Including the U.S., Carries out espionage on Some Current or Potential enemies or for economic information. What is hard to swallow Is The Fact That We Are and Our Allies viable financially aiding Russia, while They, in turn, spend $ 200 million per year to spy on us from inside Cuba!
The Chinese Have Also ESTABLISHED for Themselves a sophisticated network of electronic espionage in Cuba to be Used Against the U.S. The bases Are Operating under the cover of Radio China short wave transmissions to Latin America and the U.S. Are Their main bases at Bejucal and near Havana. THEY ARE capable of interfering with U.S. air traffic control, According To the FCC. On the 13th of May at 4:48 pm, the Chinese sat a communication to the air traffic control in New York, Falsely Identifying Themselves as OPEC21 to U.S. Military C130 plane. This is a Dangerous Game!
We Need to keep a close eye on Castro's Cuba. It Would Be Difficult to Prevent a tragedy Such As Our historical sneaking across porous border with small container of germs to put in a city reservoir to kill off Hundreds of Thousands of Citizens.
The Above Described Activities Have Not Been Reported That by Any major newspaper this writer knows of. The Nuevo Herald sources Have Disclosed personal and the gravity of the situation.
Recently the FBI agents arrested 12 Castro caught spying in the United States, Including Military Installations. Since Castro has no military Need For real data, it is likely remove That He is selling That type of information to the Chinese or Perhaps Saddam Hussein.
For Those Who Think That Our Castro sweetly treating him will change Into a freedom-loving democrat, a Recent speech by the dictator Declared That Communism is still the best system for Cuba, That It Would Never Change, And That Were Not NECESSARY elections.
It is of course a noble idea to help people everywhere Against oppression. Rather But it seems strange to go half-way around the world and spend billions of dollars to help the Yugoslav province and Completely ignore the people of Cuba Neighboring Who Suffer from Lack of freedom under an oppressive and cruel dictator.
God help the Cuban people and help us to Keep Our eyes open and deal with the real world.
END
Hal Feeney
Hal Feeney, a retired intelligence officer, Participate in the Bay of Pigs operation and chaired the Naval Intelligence's Cuban branch During The Cuban missile crisis. In 1994, He Was Awarded the Medal of Valor by the Cuban exile Assault Brigade 2506 in Miami for missions I made inside Cuba after the Bay of Pigs invasion. He lives in Corpus Christi)
Pigs Journal
Official Publication of the Association of Combatants of Bahia de Cochinos
Brigade 2506
1999
and
Moral ObligationsBecause of the Bay of Pigs betrayal, this country has a moral obligation to help free Cuba of Fidel Castro Itself.
Hal Feeney (Cmdr., U.S. Navy, Ret.) Served in Naval Intelligence, Including participation in the Bay of Pigs operation. He lives in Corpus Christi and Continue to serve as an adviser to an agency of the U.S. Government.
The beginning of the end for Castro Is Now Taking Place. It is time to yank historical chain, or see His people face Another 12 years or so of His cruel Dictatorship.
There is a clamor in the media for the United States to help get rid of Fidel Castro's Communist Government by lifting the embargo. Many believe it Would cause Castro to change Give His Ways and democracy and a free-market system to historical people.
First, the embargo Castro Which wrongly calls a "Blockade" does not exclude medicine or Humanitarian Aid.
Neither does it from Cuba BUYING Prevent food from country clubs Such as Mexico, Canada and European Countries with Which it has Diplomatic and trade relations.
Simply Cuba not does have money to pay for it. Moreover, the island is a very rich agricultural country and it is only the Communist system grossly That encumbers Ineffective agricultural production and distribution to STIs More Than 10 million people. THEY ARE uncomfortable, But Not like people starving in Somalia.
That Those Who predict a lifting of the embargo will hasten the downfall of Castro or cause him to change Into a Democratic Cuba Are Extremely naïve state.
Fidel Castro has an ego bigger Than That of Saddam Hussein. I have not is about to Admit That He Was Wrong about communism or to make a Voluntary exit.
Lifting the embargo in FACT Would Give him a chance to hang on to power while personal historical Manipulating the U.S. Government by making cosmetic, Rather Than Substantive changes.
Among my Cuban Friends Are Many Who Went to school with Fidel. One Was with Castro in the hills as a chief lieutenant in the Fight Against Batista. Those Who Know Castro laugh at the idea of making historical Democratic Change That Might Powers dictatorial historical lesson. They Say That in the present crisis is Castro Taking great pleasure in treating the U.S. Government like a yoyo, calling the shots as our new "Minister of Immigration." According To Them I've always Had a Pathological hatred for the United States.
Despite Clinton's bold statement the United States That Would Not Stand for Another Mariel Boat-lift, historical Subsequent actions passive responses Have Been Complicated That Have the problem and very Are Costly to the U.S. Taxpayer.
Our reaction to the Castro-engendered Refugee crises-the "slow motion Mariel"-is yet another example of U.S. foreign Almost Total Lack of contingency planning by the Clinton administration Which Gets Into Deep Water "playing it by ear."
The president has-been urged to make Political Contingency Plans for an Almost Certain military coup Against Castro and the Subsequent Struggle for power, Which Could eat at Any Time, Especially if we do Not Come to Castro's rescue by doing his bidding on the embargo issue. So far the Clinton White House Has Not Made Such contingency plans.
Even Though Clinton flatly Stated That the United States is only now Engaging in mid-level talks on Immigration Issues, Political Pressures Almost Certainly will lead him to waffle and expand the talks, Thus Giving in to Castro's agenda again.
Obviously Cuba is Not of the Same Strategic Importance to us as It Was During The Cold War, But It Is Certainly more so Than Haiti, Which Are we Apparently Preparing to invade.
Should Have No American soldier to set foot on Cuban soil to liberate it from STIs Communist dictator. Obviously That is a job for Cubans to do.
However, it behooves us to help Those Cubans inside and Outside the island in Every Way feasible, MOST Especially by Not interfering with Their Efforts to unseat Castro. For Those who feel reticent about That idea. An interesting Precedent Mexico in September 1959 by sheltering Fidel in Mexico and turning a blind eye to historical Preparations, Including the arming of historical group on board the boat Granms in Which I departed to begin the Struggle Against Batista.
It is ironic That We went halfway around the world, covertly, to help Afghanistan rid of a Communism Themselves Have Been harassing, arresting and jailing Cuban exiles Who try by boat. Clandestinely, to Provide supplies to the anti-Communist underground and the Dissidents in Cuba. We Should Make It Easier for Them, Provided They Do Not Engage in Terrorism.
The pressure is growing Cuban military Especially Among Officers Who are bitter about the wasted years fighting as Soviet surrogates in Africa and the Unjust execution of Their Most Popular Overall, Arnold Ochoa.
If We Can Be Supportive of the anti-Castro Cuban forces, the dictator May Be ouster by a military coup soon. We Should Not bolster Castro at a time when to historical and moral Political Stature Are at Their Weakest. It is time to yank historical chain, or see His people face Another 12 years or so of His cruel Dictatorship. We Should Participate in and support human rights and labor organizations worldwide Which Are protesting the overuse of Castro's regime.
The beginning of the end of Castro is now Taking place in Cuba. The Recent riot and demonstration in Havana Had two significant characteristics: It was the first open spontaneous demonstration by Cubans against the Castro Government and Castro's police Were Reluctant to fire on demonstrators or use Violence Against.
A Recent incident of insurrection reported by underground sources in Eastern Province in the half But Not Involved in general Castro Who Was Executed When the effort "failed.
In my view, We Have a moral obligation to the Cuban people for HAVING who betrayed those brave men, three decades ago tried to liberate their homeland at the Bay of Pigs. I feel a sense of national shame for that betrayal and the historical Consequences of failure to liberate Cuba in 1961 and Earlier because young president did not have the experience or gumption to follow through on U.S. Foreign Policy decision.
Must I confess That I May Be Somewhat subjective in the way I think about What Happens in Cuba. I hope my readers will indulge me for feeling a sense of brotherhood with patriots Those Who tried in 1961 to Achieve What is still the goal in Cuba today. FREEDOM!
END
Editor's Postscript: In April, Feeney was Awarded a medal for courage by the Assault Brigade 2506 Cuban exile in Miami for His heroics in saving Cuban Freedom Fighters at the Bay of Pigs)
Hal Feeney
PUBLIC FORUM
Corpus Christi Caller Times
September 4, 1994
Cubans trained at Fort Benning: from left to right, Reinaldo Torrente, Tomas Vasquez, Humberto Cortina, Dr. Rene Lamar, Noelia Montero Duque and Felipe Silva
--Zach
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Here is some more background on Feeney:
COMMANDER HAROLD FEENEY:
Great friend of the Cuban
Commander Harold Feeney, U.S. Navy (ret.) served in the Intelligence Service of the Navy, sometimes serving the CIA and DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency), where he was Head of Cuba during the "missile crisis" in Cuba (1962). He was Chief of Intelligence of the Guantanamo Naval Base.
He served as a U.S. Navy Intelligence Officer in several countries in Europe and Latin America. He was Naval Attaché at the American Embassy in Paris and ten years later Chief of Intelligence Plans SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (NATO) in Paris.
He served in the Intelligence Department of the Army during World War II. He was then professor of languages at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Southern California. In 1949-50 he worked for the State Department in Ecuador as Director of the Ecuadorian-American Cultural Relations.
Feeney Commander speaks eight languages (including Mandarin Chinese). A member of the Veterans Association of Special Missions and Honorary Member of the Assault Brigade 2506.
Pigs Journal
Official Publication of the Association of Combatants of the Bay of Pigs
Brigade 2506
1999
Operation Cobra, Plan to overthrow Castro
--Zach
A Trujillo Sponsored Assassination
in JFK Assassination Debate
Posted
Norman Gall Publications
Trujillo murder victim Jesús de Galíndez below
Zach