David Boylan

Larry and I presented on some of this for Lancer. I'll post some of it here. Victor Espinosa Hernandez' CIA Profile (AMHINT-24)

Sandy, McKeown was arrested along with Jorge Sotus. They were supplying arms to Castro. Artime, Hernandez, Izquierdo, and Rafael Quintero were all there as part of Artime's "Commandos Ruales" who were working with Castro during these days. McKeown would have recognized Hernandez from this encounter. From The Wheaton Lead: There remains an open question as to whether information shared among select Cuba Project mission cadre could have been related to the reported appearance of Cubans associating with Lee Oswald in Texas in the fall of 1963. As an example, in early 1961, Carlos Hernandez served on a handpicked infiltration team with Jorge Sotus. The two men, both early MRR members inside Cuba, spent considerable time together in advance of the mission. Sotus had been one of the founders of MRR inside Cuba along with Manual Artime. As a senior MRR military officer Sotus worked with an American (Robert McKeown) in smuggling arms into Cuba for the revolution against Batista. Sotus was among those charged with neutrality violations for the smuggling, when McKeown was arrested for his weapons dealings. When Sotus managed to escape from prison on the Isle of Pines, he made his way to Miami and he too joined the CIA project. Both men had a lengthy history with MRR and with Artime and when a plan to insert Artime into Cuba to stimulate on-island resistance was developed, Sotus specifically requested Hernandez to be part of a select three-man team to be inserted into Cuba in advance of Artime's return. The Sotus/Hernandez relationship is especially interesting in that McKeown related that he had previously encountered the man who had accompanied Lee Oswald in a visit in which they attempted to buy weapons and a high caliber, scope-equipped rifle. He remembered that man as someone involved with his earlier weapons smuggling into Cuba, but could only recall a last name, "Hernandez". ............................................. Manuel Artime Busa (crypt AMBIDDY-1) had been one of the Cuban exiles meeting with Senator John Kennedy as early as the Democratic Convention in July 1960; he became well acquainted with his brother Robert Kennedy. Artime became one of the more well-known Cuban exile political figures. Known widely inside Cuba for his anti-Batista activities, he became a highly symbolic figure in the American anti-Castro efforts. While the CIA would ultimately back away from the idea that a wide scale uprising against Castro was part of the plan for sending the Cuban Expeditionary Force on to the island at the Bay of Pigs, we now know that to be false. In fact, we know that their plans involved sending Artime into Cuba in advance, with special groups of pathfinders and scouts, to link up with active resistance groups on the island. A number of the personnel used in those infiltration teams, taken from the CIA's Guatemala camp, were as of January still under the command of Carl Jenkins. Others were taken from maritime operations teams (AMHAZE) which had been established at bases in the Florida Keys. One handpicked three-man infiltration team (Jorge Sotus, Carlos Hernandez and Jorge Giraud) staged out of Ramrod Key. [ xii ] ........................................................ One of the earliest 1963 AMWORLD recruits was Carlos "Batea" Hernandez Sanchez (Cuban Brigade trainee 2523). Carlos was personally close to Artime, having been a member of Artime's "Commandos Rurales" in Cuba, along with Nestor Izquierdo and Rafael Quintero. Hernandez was a black belt in judo and a sharpshooter. It was his expertise in judo and his friendship with Artime that had led Artime to request Hernandez as his personal bodyguard while traveling in Latin America early in 1960. Carlos had also been one of the first volunteers for the CIA's Cuba project - receiving training as part of a small number of exiles to be inserted into Cuba. Their mission would be to join on-island resistance groups, stimulating guerrilla activities and triggering a counter-revolution against the Castro regime. Carlos Hernandez began his CIA paramilitary training under Carl Jenkins at the CIA's Panama camp (JMRYE). Training included infantry combat, guerrilla operations, and sabotage as well as radio communications. Following training in Panama, Hernandez was moved into an advanced group, ultimately receiving special training in the use of explosives and infiltration skills, at a CIA camp operated outside Belle Chasse, Louisiana (JMMOVE). [ xvi ] A number of the earliest Cuban exile volunteers went through Panama training and moved on to Belle Chase - that list includes Nestor Izquierdo, Carlos Hernandez, Victor Espinosa Hernandez, Jorge Giraud, and Frank Bernardino. Those individuals were then "sheep dipped" as malcontents and officially taken out of the program - instead they were actually moved into safe houses and then into Cuba infiltration missions (AMHINT, AMHAZE, etc.) managed out of the CIA's base in the Florida Keys (JMFIG). [ xvii ]

Walker's take on it -

I'm glad to see Gayle's work getting some exposure. Gayle is a member of this forum and hopefully will contribute to this most interesting subject. Great info Greg.

Thanks for the encouragement, Gene. This might be relevant to this thread. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=155433#relPageId=7 Manuel Artime's (AMBIDDY-1) house was broken into around 2/1/65. One of the items stolen was a 300 Magnum scoped rifle that was given to Artime by his friend Frank Fiorini/Sturgis. Frank had "AMBIDDY-1, Leader of Revolution, Frank Fiorini" engraved on the rifle. I'd sure love to know the provenance of that rifle. The report is by AMCLATTER-1 (Bernard Barker). The AMWORLD security chief is Mole. It's amazing how much Sturgis got around. He's got members of the Miami PD calling him, Mole calling him, closely working with Barker...And the two stayed close up until Watergate. Maybe Haldeman was right when he brought up "that whole Bay of Pigs thing." Oh, and Hernandez was close friends with Artime (bodyguard) and Barker. He and Barker used to drive around Miami together.

The Latest From JFK Facts Giving Tuesday Is Time for Full JFK Disclosure You can support the Mary Ferrell Foundation's lawsuit against Biden and the Archives. JEFFERSON MORLEY NOV 29 SAVE ▷ LISTEN It’s not easy or fun or cheap to sue the President of the United States and the National Archives for failure to implement the 1992 JFK Records Act. It’s just necessary. While mainstream news organizations avert their eyes, the Mary Ferrell Foundation, is acting. We are under no illusions about the challenges we face but we are confident we can prevail. You can help by making a tax-deductible donate here. Yes, the federal courts are loathe to challenge to the prerogatives of the president and the national security agencies. In my lawsuit, Morley v. CIA, Judge Brett Kavanaugh ruled the CIA deserved “deference piled upon deference” in its handling of JFK files. But there are independent jurists. In a stinging dissent Judge Karen Henderson punted Kavanaugh’s reasoning as capricious and unfounded in law. Yes, the CIA has unlimited legal resources and a consistent track record of obfuscation on the JFK case, going back to May 1964 when deputy director Richard Helms told the Warren Commission that the Agency’s information about Oswald before the assassination was “probably minimal.” Helms lied, as the declassification of pre-assassination file on Oswald confirmed in 2001. In fact, a handful of top CIA officers had maximal information on the suspected assassin eight days before Kennedy was killed. But we know from experience that American democracy can compel the CIA to do what it would prefer not to do. The Agency never wanted to release its pre-assassination file on Oswald but the box office success of Oliver Stone’s “JFK,” embarrassed the Congress into passing the JFK Records Act, which forced the CIA to disgorge what it wanted to keep secret. President George H. Bush opposed the JFK Records Act but he signed it into law because it had overwhelming support and he didn’t want to be on the wrong side of public opinion. We have the law and public opinion on our side. We have the excellent counsel of two experienced litigators, Bill Simpich and Larry Schnapf. We are getting positive news coverage from mainstream media organizations like NBC News, CBS News, and CNN. So, objectively speaking, we have a good shot at winning. But it’s going to take time and resources. You can help. Support Mary Ferrell Foundation in its relentless campaign for full JFK disclosure by clicking here. All contributions are tax-deductible.

Paul, We had a pretty good discussion on Pena here -

Gene, I realize that I never answered you about what happened to Hernandez. We know that he left the US "black" in the late November/early December time frame because the CIA was working with the INS to get his and another 9 Cuban exiles immigration status updated so that they could re-enter the US at a later date (I-512 form). There were two groups that "exfiltrated" to Costa Rica during this time period. One from Baltimore via The Joanne, the other via a DC-3. Hernandez was one of Rafael Quintero's commandos. It looks like Hernandez was successful because by June of 1964 Henry Hecksher (Case officer for AMWORLD) and Desmond Fitzgerald were desperate(?) to get him back to Costa Rica/Nicaragua. By 1965 when the AMWORLD project was winding down, Tom Clines approached Quintero to ask if any of his guys were available for er, "additional projects." These guys would be on call as needed. Kind of like a "Have Gun, Will Travel" team. By 1967 he no longer was involved in exile activities. He worked for the Miami Herald as an accounting clerk.

Thanks Doug!

Judge Richard Seeborg, the chief United States district judge for the Northern District of California, will hear the lawsuit Mary Ferrell Foundation vs. Biden, filed in San Francisco last month. The lawsuit alleges that President Biden and the National Archives have failed to enforce the JFK Records Act, resulting in mislabelling and withholding of thousands of assassination-related records. Judge Seeborg to Hear JFK Files Case - by Jefferson Morley (substack.com)

Pete, Well, that leaves out Cal Hicks and Jim Pekich. And probably Bob Moore although Moore did use an alias of Bishop. They didn't look like Phillips. That still leaves Kent and possibly Rene "Ray" Dubois. All these guys did do early case work for the MRP the forerunner to JURE. Veciana was a member of the MRP that was headed by Manuel Ray.

A very interesting conversation. If I heard it right, Malcolm is still looking at Veciana and believes that Phillips was his case officer briefly in 1960 and that he was passed on to another case officer. And there was the point that Veciana was working for both Army Intel (ASCI) and the CIA. Anyone have a photo of William Kent?

I believe that Rolf Mowatt-Larssen spoke at the Lancer(?) CAPA(?) conference a few years ago with pretty much the same thoughts. If it was a conspiracy it came from members of JMWAVE and possibly the Domestic Contacts Division.

Let me say that Paul has done a great job bringing this altogether for us to look at and hopefully make some progress on identifying some of LHO's escorts.

Here's some more info on Del Valle. https://isgp-studies.com/miscellaneous/death_list/data/1967_04_30_National_Inquirer_del_Valle_ties_to_Ferrie_Harold_Weisberg_archive.pdf

He was stocky and had a "cyst" over his left eye:

Hi Gene, Carlos was not related to Celso. Carlos was an early recruit to the Cuba Project and was a member of the "cadre". His trainers read like a who's who on the early paramilitary staff - Carl Jenkins, Rip Robertson, Tom Clines, Rocky Farnsworth, "Alton Pirnack" and was a close friend of Bernado Barker of Watergate fame. Originally a member of Artime's MRR. He was Artime's bodyguard in 1960 (he had a black belt in judo). He was a trainer of Nino Diaz's team in New Orleans (JMMOVE) just prior to the BOP. After the BOP he joined up with his friends in the DRE where he became a military trainer in 1962. Carlos travelled to Helsinki in July 1962 with members of the DRE where he appeared on stage with Juan Salvat and Anna Diaz-Silveira (see my post above). He was action oriented and would work with other groups. In March of 1963 he was working closely with Laureano Batista's MDC. Batista would later send a group of his guys to the New Orleans area across from Lake Pontchartrain lead by Angel Vega. Carlos and friends set up his own "camp" at Bill McLaney's (Victor Espinosa Hernandez was a close friend of Carlos and Mike McLaney) place just outside or New Orleans in July 1963. This was the famous raid that never was. They were to bomb an oil refinery in Havana. I haven't been able to find any good photos on CH but there is this below. This was his original recruitment photo from 1960. The CIA reused this photo on 9/18/63 when he was given his 4th(?) POA (Provisional Operational Approval). His POA was for the AMWORLD Project where he became a member of Quitero's Commandos.

A small excerpt from The Red Bird Leads: All of which takes us back to the questions regarding DRE visitors to Dallas in October, as well as the reports unidentified anti-Castro activists suddenly appear on the scene and themselves engaging in speaking and activities. In one such event the unidentified speaker made extremely hostile remarks about President Kennedy, stating that something was going to be done to deal with him. After the speech, and upon learning he had been taped, the speaker took it by force - warning that he held a black belt in martial arts. It is impossible to identify that speaker, but for reference, DRE member Carlos Hernandez is noted in CIA documents as being both skilled in martial arts, and regarded as a sharpshooter. Records of at least some “official” DRE activities in Dallas are available. According to Anna Diaz-Silveira, two meetings were on October 13, 1963. The first one was at 1:00 PM for Spanish speaking people at the Dreyfus Club, attended by over 70 persons. A second meeting for English speakers was at 8:00 PM in a conference room over a bank at a shopping center. General Edwin Walker attended the second October 13th meeting and donated five dollars. The third meeting was on October 20th at a bank at Fort Worth on the expressway running from Fort Worth to Dallas. According to Jaoquin Martinez de Pinillos, the DRE also had meetings at the University of Dallas (where Sarita Odio was a student), at Southern Methodist University and a high school in Dallas. Pinillos, Diaz-Silveira and Manuel Salvat spoke at these meetings. While there is no concrete evidence that Lee Oswald attended any of these meetings, Manuel Salvat told HSCA investigators that he heard a rumor that Oswald was at one of the meetings, but he did not see him. If that were true it would indicate that for some reason Salvat and the DRE had no interest in the October reappearance of Oswald within the exile community in Dallas – when they had been so eager and active in exposing and propagandizing him in New Orleans only two months earlier. The activities of Salvat and Anna (Anita) were also commented on by Colonel L. Robert Castorr and his wife Trudy. They had been unable to attend the October 13th 8:00 PM meeting, but later met two unidentified members of DRE who were speaking in small meetings at both Sarah Castillo’s apartment and Ed Twilly’s house. Castillo was a Dallas fund raising delegate for the DRE. Trudy Castorr described the DRE meeting: “These two men came to the Twilly home in the company of a very attractive Cuban girl who represented this student group and also Dean Perkins, whom I know very well, Dean and his wife Jan; I believes they are from the St. Bernard Parish and they were interested in the resettlement of the Cubans long before I ever became interested. And also, Sarah Castillo came to this meeting.” The Castorrs were involved in both the Dallas Cuban relief effort and Dallas conservative society. They were friends with Robert Morris, General Edwin Walker, H.L. Hunt and Dallas Police Lieutenant George Butler.

Fonzi asked her about Hall, Howard and Seymour. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=60438#relPageId=3

This is my favorite redacted document on Luis Angel Castillo: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=148969

Huffington Post. This is getting some good traction. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mary-ferrell-foundation-biden-lawsuit-jfk-files_n_6350072be4b051268c4feba0 Add CBS News - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lawsuit-president-joe-biden-national-archives-jfk-assassination-records/

The book, Uncovering Popov's Mole has just been released: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJN2XFX1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3O9HKL6TCN3UV&keywords=UNCOVERING+POPOV'S+MOLE%3A+THE+ASSASSINATION+OF+PRESIDENT+KENNEDY+VOLUME+IV&qid=1666200392&qu=eyJxc2MiOiItMC4wMSIsInFzYSI6IjAuMDAiLCJxc3AiOiIwLjAwIn0%3D&s=books&sprefix=uncovering+popov's+mole+the+assassination+of+president+kennedy+volume+iv+%2Cstripbooks%2C57&sr=1-1

Let me correct that add thanks to Larry Schnapf, Mark Adamzyk, Adrew IIier, and of course Rex Bradford.

Thanks to Bill Simpich for filing this!