Orest Pena's HSCA Testimony

[Benjamin Cole]

On 7/15/2022 at 5:27 AM, Tom Gram said:

Killer stuff David. Do you know if the immunized HSCA testimony of Carlos Eduardo Hernandez Sanchez has been released? Chris Newton mentions it in that thread from 2015 but I can't find the actual testimony anywhere, just HSCA staff notes. Like Newton said, the index reads like a summary of the movie JFK. 

I find the idea of the MDC camp being some sort of limited hangout pretty intriguing. Newton proposes the same about the McLaney cache - but it seems like that's a hell of a lot of quality materials to have turned over to the FBI willingly, IMO. 

One thing mentioned in that thread is the story Ricky Davis told that on the way in from Miami the Cubans had two trucks break down simultaneously and that's why they had to contact the Cuban Catholic Center to assist in logistics. The Catholic Center was the sole conduit of funds and administrator of the federal Cuban exile resettlement program in New Orleans, a program that the CIA was heavily involved in. The head of the Center, Elise Cerniglia, was an FBI informant and looks to have been a liaison between the CIA and the exile community. She connected Bringuier, Quiroga, Blanco and other exiles with CIA recruiters operating under Army cover that were trying to recruit Cubans for military training in New Orleans in Spring 1962. The FBI learned about this operation from Arnesto Rodriguez, but only learned about Cerniglia through a different informant that reported to Army Intelligence. Cerniglia herself was also a CRC member, and chaired the CRC welfare committee. 

Rodriguez's information eventually led to the CIA getting the Justice Department to shut down any further FBI investigation of the CRC in New Orleans - and specifically any military activities. I mentioned this in another thread, and the document is linked in one of my previous comments here, but Warren DeBrueys specifically wrote in a report that any information obtained on CRC military activities would not be put into report form to cover for the CIA. 

The point though is that Davis' tale about the trucks breaking down screams of being a cover story, and that the Catholic Center was a lot more than just an independent charitable organization. Interestingly, the evidence points strongly to Cerniglia as being the person who placed Arcacha, Blanco and Bringuier in adjacent apartments. Ricky Davis lived in the same complex on the same block around the corner.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=84465#relPageId=6

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=34430#relPageId=9

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=80623#relPageId=2

TG-

Looks like you are getting into solid research. You should write some accessible articles.

[Tom Gram]

9 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

TG-

Looks like you are getting into solid research. You should write some accessible articles.

Thanks Ben. I have some really interesting stuff on New Orleans but want to run down a few leads before I write anything. 

I’ve also been waiting almost 90 days for documents that aren’t online to be delivered from NARA. They are delayed due to Covid, according to one of the archivists. 😑

Edited July 16, 2022 by Tom Gram

[Tom Gram]

I found some more stuff on Wilfredo Mas from Weisberg. Pena said he was the top CIA connected Cuban in New Orleans: 

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/W Disk/Weisberg Harold/Personal Appearances/Tour 11-16--12-7-71/Item 22.pdf

Here's a '68 letter from Weisberg to Pena that mentions the comment about Ferrie trying to find SAS and Wilfredo Mas the day before he died. According to Weisberg, Pena also said he saw Mas in the company of Ricky Davis, and that Mas had mahogany interests in Guatemala. The cover story for Davis' MDC training camp was that it was training for a mahogany/lumber camp in Guatemala:

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/P Disk/Pena Orestes Correspondence/Item 35.pdf

It doesn't prove anything but since Davis made specific note of the Karate expert he met with Bannister, I think this helps the case for Wilfredo Morales = Wilfredo Mas. 

Weisberg also interviewed Arnesto Rodriguez, who said that Wilfredo Mas lived in the Clairborne Towers in New Orleans, and was "attached to the "Cuban..????? at 1682 NW 22nd Place, Miami". I couldn't find anything with that exact address listed but there is a large building there that is currently run by a non-profit. Rodriguez also mentioned the lumber holdings. 

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/R Disk/Rodriguez Arnesto/Item 02.pdf

I found a Wilfredo Morales listed as a director of the La Purisima Latin American Benefit Center in Miami that incorporated in 1965... 

Rodriguez also told Weisberg that the "N.O. CIA man Blanco had a nervous breakdown at the end of 1962". This is certainly Manuel Blanco, who was next door neighbors with Arcacha and Bringuier until they all moved out at the end of 1962. Kind of interesting. 

Edited July 17, 2022 by Tom Gram

[David Boylan]

Some interesting information on Wendall Roache, David Smith and the INS thanks to Bart Kamp and Malcolm Blunt! More later.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CVGp98YhEWDZkpc17OADuQ6louxqIWTg/view?usp=sharing

[David Boylan]

More INS files with a thanks to Bart Kamp and Malcolm Blunt. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UOlJOgNLvgiGpi5u9mg3V-MNzqpsDXW6?usp=sharing

[Tom Gram]

Blunt and Kamp did a phenomenal job at compiling the surviving INS/Customs material and making it all available in one place. The Blunt archive is the best collection on the internet for this stuff. Everyone should go through these files and see for themselves how much from the Church Committee investigation has been “lost”. Thanks for posting the links David. 

[James DiEugenio]

If you read this stuff, its pretty clear someone got to Roache by the 11th. 

[Tom Gram]

2 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

If you read this stuff, its pretty clear someone got to Roache by the 11th. 

Oh absolutely, he completely flipped his initial story and supposedly “lost his memory” when he was debriefed by the Justice Department. However, there is another scenario that also makes sense, IMO. 

Roache initially told Paul Wallach “I’ve been waiting twelve years to talk to someone about this” then corroborated Orestes Pena by saying that he saw Oswald “around all the time” and that Oswald “had an office in…” before Wallach cut him off and told him to come in to testify. Roache obviously wanted to cooperate fully. 

In Wallach’s second call with Roache, the story had already changed to him only seeing Oswald once passing out flyers, but this is the call where Roache stated that Oswald was observed with Ferrie during INS surveillance of Cuban groups. 

Then, when Roache was debriefed by Justice after his testimony, he suddenly lost his memory. However, in that debrief, Roache mentions that he was asked about Ferrie, but he does not mention what he testified to in response. He also makes it clear to Justice that his testimony is classified and will not be shared with anyone outside the Committee. 

The only significant shift that appears to have happened between Roache’s intial phone call with Wallach and his testimony is him concealing his personal knowledge of and relationship to Oswald. Thus I think he may have been advised by the Church Committee to shut the hell up and act effectively as an off-the-record deep background source. I think he testified to Oswald being observed with Ferrie, the INS surveillance, and god knows what else, but kept his own involvement secret to cover his own ass, most likely on advice from Paul Wallach himself.

Viewed through this lens, Roache’s debrief can be interpreted as both Roache and the Church Committee giving the Justice Department a snow-job on what was really going on and how much the Committee knew. Other Committee documents reveal that they were furious at CIA for reneging on their agreement to provide un-expurgated files, so once the Committee realized that Orestes Pena was telling the truth, and that Oswald was in some form a government agent, they may have decided to keep their cards close to their chest. 

Obviously this is speculative and can’t be proven without the missing files, but I think it’s a plausible alternative explanation for Roache’s sudden “change of heart”.

[David Boylan]

On 7/13/2022 at 4:25 PM, David Boylan said:

Another possible reason this doc was withheld for a bit is the info that is on page 15 (16 by arrow). Pena mentions Juan Caballero, the CIA training camp and the Cadre.

The Camp was Belle Chasse aka JMMOVE. The "cadre" was made up of the original group of Brigade members. Most of these 30-40 were followers of Manuel Artime. Their purpose was to become proficiently trained in paramilitary tactics - weapons, explosives, infiltration, maritime. Some would train to be "frogmen" (Ramon Orozco) and others train as paratroopers (Nestor "Tony" Izquierdo). They were screened by Ernie Sparks, given lie detector tests, and processed through Useppa Island by Carl Jenkins and "Gordon." Jenkins and Col. Glen "Rocky" Farnsworth would train these guys in Panama. The idea was for these first recruits to train the next few batches of recruits. This is how the "cadre" ended up at JMMOVE. They were to help train Nino Diaz's (AMNORM) group. Diaz's group was to be the "feint" that drew Castro's men away from the Bay of Pigs.

The cadre, most were members of the AMHAZE team, would become raiders and small infiltration teams. This group would later continue to work with Rip Robertson, Grayston Lynch and David Morales deputy chief of Ops, Bob Wall.

Pena mentioned Juan Caballero's brother and cousin. The cousin supposedly looked like Oswald. Juan's brother was most likely Conrado Caballero. Conrado was an early recruit (Brigade number 2547) and was at Belle Chasse. He would later work for Rip Robertson running infiltration and sabotage missions in Cuba. Some would join up with Artime for his AMWORLD program run by Henry Hecksher and Carl Jenkins.

Conrado at AMWORLD. Item 8 as a recruiter - https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=227#relPageId=8

Another possible brother or cousin of Juan Caballero would be Armando Caballero-Parodi. Armando was a member of the AMTABBY team along with Antonio "Tony" Soto. (Soto goes to the Congo) Armando was recruited by Segundo Borges (Item 1) for AMWORLD where he would become part of Borges commando team in Costa Rica.

 

Borges - The Wheaton Lead

It appears that the CIA may have performed its own internal investigation of those missions in the mid-1970s. Two memoranda from June and August, 1975 record the statement of a Cuban CIA officer (in 1961 a contract employee) that he participated in three abortive Cuban infiltration missions, including an effort to land him near Varadero Beach. The objective of that mission was a long range rifle attack on Fidel Castro. One of the memos mentions the names of two Cubans involved in the mission, "Felix" and "Segundo". Based on this information, it appears that Carl Jenkins may have been transferred out of Guatemala to manage a number of covert infiltration missions, involving at least one which involved Felix Rodriquez and a sniper attack on Fidel Castro.

Segundo Borges

The "Segundo" mentioned in the CIA document is Segundo BORGES Ransola. Felix Rodriquez verified Segundo's identity and role in the Castro assassination project in an interview many years later - stating that both he and Segundo trained in Panama and then were asked to volunteer for the infiltrations. Rodriquez noted that both he and Segundo were only 19 years old when they entered training in the Panama camp and then were prepared and sent on special missions into Cuba prior to the Bay of Pigs. In the summer of 1963, Segundo Borges joined Manual Artime for a recruiting trip to Fort Benning, Georgia. The stated goal was to recruit men for a new combat effort based out of offshore camps. Although Borges was initially identified as one of Artime's aides at the "Nicaraguan Revolutionary Training Camp" his real role was leader of the AMWORLD maritime infiltration team. [ xiii ] During a November, 1963 recruiting visit to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Borges reportedly told trainees that Artime had money to buy arms and ships and many places where he could establish a training base.

 

[Joe Bauer]

On 7/12/2022 at 4:05 PM, James DiEugenio said:

Dave:

 

What do you think of Pena?  You know Henry Hurt put some stock into him.  And I think Mellen said he was the key to the info about Oswald and Customs.

Do you buy DeBrueys and his excuse for dissing Pena?

I think DeBrueys was Hoover's boy in New Orleans.

Orest Pena.

The Rick Blaine of early 1960's New Orleans with his dark, dank and dingy Latino sailor spy hangout "Club Habana" version of "Rick's Cafe American' " 

An obscure comment by Orest Pena to the Warren Commission regards a specific visit to his club by Lee Harvey Oswald, accompanied by a mysterious Mexican sparked a curious question.

Pena described Oswald's actions and comments after he came in and sat down in his club.

Oswald's comments were simply complaints about the too high capitalist pig drink prices to Pena's brother "Ruperto" who was the club bartender regards their ordered drinks. Teetotaler Oswald ordered a lemonade. He was charged 25 cents.

Pena then says after Oswald drank the lemonade that he ( Oswald ) "vomited."

Vomited?   Really?

No follow up question by the WC questioners?

I conjectured that maybe Orest Pena's bartender brother Ruperto spiked Oswald's lemonade with grill cleaner or some other toxic fluid.

To vomit minutes after finishing a simple lemonade suggests something was slipped into that drink.

Oswald seems to have always gotten the short end of the stick, everywhere he went.

Sickened by a spiked lemonade. Jumped and smacked around by Bringuier and his boys. Berated by Banister for stupidly using the Camp Street address on his FPFC leaflets. Missing a turkey shoot shot at General Walker. Rejected in Mexico City. Fired by Reily Coffee. No better job prospects than 1.25 an hour book order filling. No better living quarters that an $8 a week main entrance side room with shared kitchen and bath at North Beckley? Always relegated to taking buses or asking others for rides.

Eventually losing his wife Marina to Ruth Paine.

One degrading poor life set back after another.

Maybe Oswald one day just gave up and said to himself...F*** it all.

Edited September 15, 2022 by Joe Bauer