Bush Document

[Gary Buell]

AGENCY: CIA

RECORD NUMBER: 104-10073-10155

RECORD SERIES: JFK

AGENCY FILE NUMBER: 80T01357A

[Redacted]

St. Petersburg, Fla.

October 5, 1961

Dear Bush:

Three weeks ago I finally left Cuba, fortunately with no trouble to speak of. I have been visiting my family in St. Pete, after having spent some time in Miami getting my bearings among the "active exiles", and expect to head North in about a week. I plan to spend a few days in Washington and then go on to New York. I would like very much to keep in touch with the Cuban situation and to remain as active as possible, within the limitations of whatever job I get.

Although a lot of water has gone over the dam since last we spoke, about which the less said the better, I remember your comments about the feasibility of an arrangement along these lines. I would therefore like to encourage from you any suggestions you may be able to offer in this respect. I am naturally very interested in receiving the opportunity of discussing the situation and my possible contribution with qualified persons in Washington. What do you think? So far my only contacts are Senator Smathers, whom I hope to see here in St. Pete on the 9th, and a man named Raskin who answered a letter I wrote Bundy asking for an appointment. Raskin is on Bundy's staff.

Bush, you may be out of touch with the Cuban problem, but in case you are not and have any ideas I will appreciate hearing from you. I expect to be here another week and then drive up in a little VW I bought in Miami. In Washington I will be staying at my cousin's, [redacted] Bethesda, Maryland. In any event I will look forward to seeing you soon.

Best Wishes,

[Redacted]

Edited July 7, 2005 by Gary Buell

[Gary Buell]

I have added a scan of this document at:

http://coverthistory.blogspot.com/2006/03/...ord-number.html

[Pat Speer]

I have added a scan of this document at:

http://coverthistory.blogspot.com/2006/03/...ord-number.html

So who is it? Who left Cuba AFTER the Bay of Pigs? Felix Rodriguez? Any ideas?

[Ron Ecker]

Felix Rodriquez infiltrated Cuba before the BOP invasion, and after it he took asylum in the Venezuelan embassy. In September 1961 he was granted safe conduct out of the country, arrived in Caracas on September 13, and arrived in Miami on October 1. (From his book Shadow Warrior)

[Ron Ecker]

It's interesting that according to the letter (assuming Rodriguez wrote it, as the facts indicate), Bush and Rodriguez had talked about a job before the BOP. Yet in Rodriguez's book there is no mention of Bush till long after BOP. In the book Rodriguez says word went around that Cubans were being recruited for an invasion of Cuba, and as he and others joined up they thought some rich Cuban was behind it, but came to understand that it was the CIA.

Then after BOP and Rodriguez's return home, he reminds Bush in the letter about their previous talk about a job, and says he's planning to head north to Washington to try to get one. Yet in the book there is no such trip. Rodriguez goes right to work for the CIA Miami Station, as a "principal agent," acting as a cut-out between his case officer Thomas Clines and his fellow Cubans working for CIA.

This clearly indicates that Bush had clout with the CIA as early as 1961. Unless, of course, this letter was written to "some other Bush." Or unless Rodriguez getting a job as a CIA principal agent right after this letter was written was just another dadgum coincidence.

[Gary Buell]

Checking our Felix Rodriguez online I find that he was infiltrated into Cuba before the BOP and then got asylum at the Venezuelan embassy. On page said that he left Cuba Sept 13, 1961 for Caracas, which would tie in very well with this letter.

[Pat Speer]

Checking our Felix Rodriguez online I find that he was infiltrated into Cuba before the BOP and then got asylum at the Venezuelan embassy. On page said that he left Cuba Sept 13, 1961 for Caracas, which would tie in very well with this letter.

Of course, if it was Rodriguez, it has other ramifications. It makes one wonder if Rodriguez wasn't protected on some level during the Iran/Contra and cocaine-trafficking investigations. If he'd known that Bush was a CIA cut-out or CIA agent back in the sixties, he would have had a lot of leverage over the man. In 1976, we should remember, Bush told congress he'd had no previous experience with the CIA before he became its director. If he'd lied to congress about his previous involvement with the CIA, so that when he left the CIA he could return to politics without the taint of being a life-long spook involved in the Bay of Pigs, and Rodriguez had exposed him, it would have ended Bush' career. And his son would never have been Governor of Texas, let alone POTUS.