Victor Espinosa Hernandez

[Thomas Graves]

I've decided to start a thread on Victor Espinosa Hernandez by posting here (and editing) a recent post I made about him on the "Lawrence Howard and LHO" thread. I highly recommend that everyone read about Hernandez in Larry Hancock's excellent book, Someone Would Have Talked.

According to his 1960 Spanish-language "Profile" for the Mexico-based Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front (FRD), Victor Espinosa-Hernandez was 5'11" and weighed 175 lbs. ( There's a small photo of his face on the document.) I couldn't post it directly, so go to document #10 on this list. The info I quoted is on page 3 of a 107-page CIA "201" file on Espinosa-Hernandez.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/docset/getList.do?docSetId=1123

On page 3 it says, in Spanish, that Espinosa-Hernandez "He studied at Valley Fort [sic] Academy in the United States.

This contradicts his CIA "Profile" on page 113, same Mary Ferrell document, which says that he "Graduated from Belen [Jesuit Preparatory] School 1954. Spent last year at Maristas School. Entered U. of Havana 1954 studying Chemical Engineering. Subject was engaged in anti-Batista activities at the university in 1954. [...] Having been jailed twice for this activity, subject parents sent him to La. State University, Baton Rouge, LA. where he studied mechanical engineering for one year."

The Belen School and the Maristas School were in Havana, Cuba at the time.

I couldn't find anything on a "Valley Fort [sic] Academy" on the Internet, but Google Search asked me if I was looking for Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania, instead. Later, I found out that Hernandez's probable landlord in Miami, a well-know anti-Castro Cuban, had graduated from that academy in 1953. (see below)

On this same page 3, the Spanish-language document says that Espinosa-Hernandez's U.S. address in 1960 was "1145 S.W. 23 Ave." [unspecified city and state]

I googled it and came up with that exact address in Miami at the top of the google "hit list." Then I discovered that the house at that address is presently owned by an "Alfredo R. Duran." ( The fact that the address is in Miami suggests that the FRD office was in Miami, too.)

http://florida-house-values.findthedata.org/l/727126/1145-Sw-23-Ave

The name "Alfredo Duran" sounded familiar to me in the context of anti-Castro Cubans and the JFK assassination, so I googled it and found out that Alfredo Gonzalez Duran, who in the 1960's was a prominent anti-Castro Cuban (and who may have been photographically "captured" standing in the crowd in some 11/22/63 Dealey Plaza photos http://www.manuscriptservice.com/FFiDP-2/ ), has two sons, one of whom is named Alfredo R. Duran. This leads me to believe that Alfredo Gonzalez Duran (who now lives in Coral Gables, FL), lived at 1145 S.W. 23 Ave., Miami, back in 1960 and allowed Victor Espinosa Hernandez live there, too, or at least let him use it as his mailing address.

Question: Were Alfredo Gonzalez Duran and Victor Espinosa Hernandez known to associate with each other back in 1960?

What's really interesting is that the Wikipedia article on Alfredo Gonzalez Duran says that he studied at Valley Forge Military Academy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfredo_Duran

I verified that by finding him mentioned on this website for the 1953 VFMA yearbook: http://www.tree52.com/Groups_Class.php?csc=1953&csi=2206

As Larry Hancock points out in Appendix E of SWWHT, Victor Espinosa Hernandez attended Louisiana State University for one year in 1955 before returning to Cuba for a few years. It's well known that Alfredo Gonzalez Duran graduated from LSU, so maybe Victor Hernandez and Alfredo Duran were classmates at LSU.

If, like Alfredo Duran, Victor Espinosa Hernandez studied at Valley Forge Military Academy before attending LSU, as his 1960 FRD application seems to indicate, maybe someone can get a good photo of him from the academy's yearbook. If he didn't study there, I wonder why his FRD profile says that he did?

Iit's interesting to note that page 6 of his CIA 201 file says that, as of September 30, 1960, CIA's CI/OA (Counterintelligence Operational Approval and Support Division) held a restricted folder on Victor Espinosa-Hernandez. See page 6 of document # 10 on this list: http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/docset/getList.do?docSetId=1123

--Tommy

Edited December 21, 2013 by Thomas Graves