The CUBAN YOUTH TRIBUNAL
Accuses the U.S. in JFK Killing
[This is another reprint from a Cuban newspaper
on their position relative to the JFK assassination. It was a supplement
to the State newspaper Gramma dated 20 August 1978. The original was in english
so the wording is theirs.]
Gramma
Havana, August 20, 1978
AT THE YOUTH ACCUSES IMPERIALISM
INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL
PHOTO [of a committee meeting of persons who were young at the turn of the
century. no caption]
Important
revelations about the CIA plot
to implicate
Cuba in the assassination of
President
Kennedy and the plans for attempts
on the
life of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro.
The assassination
in Dallas was to serve as a pretext for an attack on Cuba by those who have
distorted and concealed information about CIA complicity in the case *U.S.
citizen James Wilcott, a former CIA agent, states Oswald worked for the Agency
*There was great excitement and elation in the CIA over Kennedy's assassination
*The CIA lied to the U.S. Senate and is deceiving the people of the United
States. Testimony by the Cuban consul in Mexico who refused Lee Harvey
Oswald's request for a visa to Cuba *Accounts of direct participation in
plans to kill Fidel with bazookas, poison and other means *Display of electronic
eavesdropping devices which the CIA installed in the Cuban embassy and consulate
in Mexico City
The CIA plot to implicate Cuba in the assassination of President Kennedy
and its manipulation of information about the crime in Dallas highlighted
the presentation of Charge 4 at the Youth Accuses Imperialism International
Tribunal on August 2.
Testimony by agents and officers of the Cuban security agencies who carried
out missions in the ranks of the CIA or in the counterrevolutionary organizations
which it set up, financed and used; by former Cuban CIA agents captured while
engaging in activities against Cuba; and by former U.S. CIA agents point
the finger at those who have tried to conceal and distort the facts to escape
responsibility. New conclusive evidence was also presented about the
numerous attempts on the life of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro which the
CIA organized.
Charge 4, covering political, economic and military agencies of imperialism
and agencies of crime such as the CIA, was read by Jorge Lopez on behalf
of the Cuban National Preparatory Committee.
Dr. Enrique Marimon Roca, a member of the Cuban Investigation Commission,
then presented a detailed report on the CIA's attempts on Fidel's life.
He showed a videotape of interviews with three Cuban CIA agents directly
implicated in these plans, and introduced the personal testimony of two others.
Dr. Idalberto Ladron de Guevara Quintana, also from the Cuban Investigating
commission, presented a detailed report on the CIA's schemes -- revived lately
-- to implicate Cuba in the killing of President Kennedy.
Guevara Quintana introduced witnesses Eusebio Azcue Lopez and Juan Felaifel,
both Cuban officials, expert Nilvio Labrada Vicent and prisoner Rolando Cubelas
Secades.
Presentation of evidence began in the morning when Dr. Enrique Marimon Roca
requested the showing of videotapes of interviews with three Cuban CIA agents
who participated in the CIA's attempts on the life of Commander in Chief
Fidel Castro.
Leopoldina Grau Alsina said that she and her brother were recruited by the
CIA and assigned participation in a plot to poison Fidel.
She said the CIA sent her a bottle of potassium cyanide pills which she gave
to Manuel de Jesus Campanioni Sosa in order to poison some leader of the
Revolution, if it was not possible to poison Fidel himself. Campanioni
had been a bodyguard for Mafia figure Santos Trafficante.
Santos de la Caridad Perez Nunez, a waiter at the Habana Libre Hotel said
Campanioni gave him two of the pills to try to poison Fidel.
He said that after he accepted the assignment he left one of the pills at
home and took the other one to the soda fountain to wait for the right moment,
which came in March of 1962 when Fidel came into the cafeteria one morning
sat down and ordered three milk shakes.
Perez Nunez confessed that he went to get the pill but noticed the dry ice
had ruined it, and he have up his attempts. He said the Campanioni
later asked him to return the other pill, which he did.
He said he has been in the prison for 14 years and has been well treated.
He joined the rehabilitation plan 12 years age, and is paid 150 pesos a month
for his work.
Eugenio Zaldivar Cardenas was the last of the three to testify. He
said he was captured by Cuban security forces when, in May 1966, he tried
to slip into the country through the Monte Barreto area of Miramar with a
group commanded by Herminio Diaz.
He said he had been recruited by the CIA in 1963 and had participated in
two attacks: the first time they strafed the Havana shoreline, and, the second,
they fired on the home of Dr. Osvaldo Dorticos. He explained that they
were really trying to hit the aquarium, but since it was located next to
the Dorticos home, his organization claimed credit for having attacked the
residence of this member of the Political Bureau of the Party.
Prisoner Rolando Cubelas Secades, who has served half of his 25-year sentence,
appeared as a witness in the afternoon session. He said that speculation
by CIA officials to members of a Senate select committee to the effect that
the Am/LASH operation was linked to the assassination of President Kennedy,
by claiming that he was a double agent, was a perfidious lie, fed by the
CIA to the Senate and people of the United States. "It is absurd to
think that a double agent would have spent 12 years in jail," he pointed
out.
Another witness was Humberto Rosales Torres who recounted his participation
in a CIA assassination plot against the lives of Fidel Castro, Raul Castro
and Ernesto Che Guevara on July 26, 1961. The plan also involved an
attack on the Guananamo naval base to have been carried out by the U.S. forces
themselves in order to provide an excuse for an invasion of Cuba by Yankee
marines. Rosales said that after the plot was discovered by Cuban security
forcer he was arrested, tried and given a nine-year prison term, which he
has already served. He said he is now free, living the normal life
of any citizen, without limitations of any kind.
The next witness was Fernando de Rojas Penichet, who was a member of a counter-
revolutionary movement led b CIA agent Antonio Veciana. The movement
carried out various acts of sabotage and planned an attempt on the life of
Fidel Castro, which was scheduled for October 4, 1961, at a meeting to welcome
President Dorticos, to have been held in front of the north terrace of the
old President Palace.
CIA PERSONNEL WERE HAPPY AND EXCITED OVER T HE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT
KENNEDY
After testimony from the witnesses called by Dr. Guevara Quintana, two former
CIA agents --U.S. citizens James Wilcott and Philip Agee -- appeared for
the second straight day.
The former, an electronics technician, said he had been recruited by the
CIA in March of 1957 and assigned to headquarters in Washington and then,
in June of 1960, to the Tokyo station.
He said his work frequently brought him into contact with operations officers,
especially when he was involved in operations against the socialist countries.
Thus, on several occasions, he heard remarks to the effect that Lee Harvey
Oswald was a CIA agent. They told him that when Oswald left the USSR,
he was sent to the Atsugi Naval Air Station, a top secret CIA base in Japan.
PHOTO with caption
Radio transmitter installed in one of the main offices of the Cuban embassy
in Canada.
PHOTO with caption
Window no. 1, from which Cuban embassy entrance in Mexico was observed.
Window no. 2, from which the Cuban consulate entrance in Mexico was observed.
Wilcott added that, just before the Kennedy assassination, there were certain
changes in the daily routine at the station, leading him to believe that
something was going to happen. On November 22, he had traveled out
of the city, but when he returned he was told to report immediately to the
CIA station. Then, his chief, Jack Randall, told him President Kennedy
had been assassinated and that he should be reachable or go to the station
since he might have been assigned an emergency task. He said he went
to the station with his friend George Breen and found a scene of great jubilation
and excitement.
"It was obvious that the majority of the personnel at the station, especially
those who had to do with operations, were excited and overjoyed abut Kennedy's
assassination. This really bothered me because I supported Kennedy,
" he said.
During the next few days, according to Wilcott, the substance of conversation
among operations officers was that one shouldn't think that Kennedy's assassination
was the work of a mad man. They gave specific details about high level,
top secret meetings regarding the Bay of Pigs (Playa Giron) and how Kennedy
was a traitor who deserved to die.
He added that a CIA case officer, who might have been Robert Will, told him
large sums of money had been spent recently for Oswald or for the Oswald
project.
He also heard Oswald had learned to speak Russian at the Atsugi base before
going to the Soviet Union.
Wilcott's colleagues told him the original plan involved passing Oswald off
as a man solidly linked to the Cuban Government, so it would be possible
to claim the assassination was the work of a Cuban agent. This then
would provide the pretext for attacking Cuba. However, it was not possible
to establish solid ties between Oswald and the Cuban Government, and this
part of the plan was dropped.
Finally, Wilcott said all this information was given to the Congressional
select committee investigating assassinations, along with a list of the Tokyo
station personnel he could remember. At Wilcott's request the attorney
for the Committee, a Mr. Goldsmith, called the CIA to ask for a complete
list of Tokyo station personnel with their photos so that Wilcott could identify
them for the investigation -- but the CIA refused to supply the list.
Wilcott has spent the last ten years attempting to make public this and other
information about crimes and illegal activity by the CIA, but it has been
very difficult.
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DID NOT EXERT PRESSURE TO GET A COPY
OF THE LIST WHICH MR. WILCOTT WANTED
The next witness was Philip Agee who testified for the second day.
He said the House of Representatives had not exerted any pressure to get
a copy of the list which had been suggested to the select committee.
He added that in spite of the fact that this was clearly important information,
they didn't dare exert such pressure.
Agee also said it was important to note that the person who requested a visit
at the Cuban consulate in Mexico is not the same one charged with being Kennedy's
assassin, a fact that can be determined by the photos.
Other inconsistencies Agee mentioned were the undue haste of the CIA in sending
the FBI a memo saying that evidence showed that Oswald acted as a home assassin
and the fact that the CIA and FBI said they had not contacted Oswald when
he returned from the Soviet Union.
"This is inconceivable," Agee said, "because it is a case of an alleged defector
from the country (the United States) who later returns and these people are
always contacted."
He said Oswald was taken from Moscow to Amsterdam by train, the trip paid
for by the U.S. embassy and held a meeting on his arrival in a CIA safe house.
It is not known who paid for his return to the United States," he said.
DOCUMENTS ABOUT CIA INTERFERENCE IN PANAMA AND ARGENTINA IN 1953
Marshall Perlin, who distinguished himself as one of the attorneys for the
Rosenbergs, also appeared before the Tribunal. He said that, with documents
on the Rosenberg case, he had received papers dealing with CIA intervention
in Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Panama and Argentina during 1953.
The attorney said that the same government which murdered the Rosenbers was
responsible for genocide in Vietnam, sabotage of a Cuban plane resulting
in more than 70 deaths and for other atrocities as well.
Additional witnesses at the session were Alfonso Cabrera Toscano, a Colombian
political leader; Olga Martinez, a Uruguayan student; Cost Rican student
Oscar Barrante Rodriguez; Benjamin Liberoff, a Uruguayan student; and Frank
Shaffer Corona, from the United States.
PHOTO with caption
Powerful interests in the United States have tried to cloud the issue
of President Kennedy's assassination.
*Dr. IDALBERTO
Ladron de Guevara Quintana, an expert from the Cuban Investigating Commission,
presented a detailed report dealing with the campaign of slander unleashed
by imperialism in its attempt to implicate Cuba in the assassination of President
John F. Kennedy.
He added that, from available evidence and the results of the investigations
undertaken it can be surmised that the assassination of the President of
the United States at that time was the focal point for a conspiracy instigated
by powerful political and economic interests in the United States composed
of the most reactionary circles, which strongly disagreed with both the foreign
and domestic policies of John F. Kennedy.
He emphasized that, although this policy by no means constituted a radical
change in the structure and objectives of the capitalist system in the United
States, the changes introduced affected to some extent the interests of various
U.S. monopolies (especially the military-industrial complex and the oil companies)
as well as those of the Cuban-born counter revolutionaries, the Mafia and
especially the CIA.
He said powerful interests in the United States have tried to cloud the issue
of President's Kennedy's assassination, and that certain groups have tried
to convince world public opinion of the gross slander that the Dallas assassination
was the result of an international leftist plot, in which Cuba played a key
role. In keeping with this, imperialism has tried to make it appear
as if Lee Harvey Oswald carried out a plan directed by the Cuban Government
for which a complicated intelligence operation had been orchestrated.
The alternative open to imperialism to explain the Dallas crime would, in
one way or another, remove suspicion from the real motives -- that is, those
which sprung from the clash of interests in the United States -- and, in
the final analysis, would confuse and complicate the trial of the investigation.
He referred to the way the CIA manufactured a cover story for Oswald and
used false evidence to try to influence U.S. and world public opinion, so
that people would think or have the feeling that Cuba organized or at least
gave tacit approval to the plot.
One of the goals oft this intelligence operation was to obtain definite results
in the confrontation with the Cuban Revolution. If the United States
was able to "demonstrate" that Cuba was responsible for the death of President
Kennedy, any action against Cuba would be fully justified, including a direct
attack. We should bear in mind that at the same time the CIA was engaged
in dangerous plots against the life of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro.
However, international reaction to the assassination and the domestic turmoil
which followed it, the failure to prepare the doctored evidence with which
Cuba was to be implicated, the promise which the United States had made not
to invade Cuba, the determination of our people to defend their Revolution
at any price, and the International balance of forces itself were the factors
which finally scuttled the plans of aggression against the Cuban people.
He pointed to the evidence fabricated by the CIA to link Oswald to Cuba and
charged that Lee Harvey Oswald "had been a CIA agent since 1958, recruited
and trained at the Atsugi Naval Air Station, a military base in Tokyo, Japan,
used by the CIA to conceal its special operations."
He enumerated facts which reveal the CIA's participation in the plot against
Cuba, and recalled the picture supplied by the CIA to the Warren Commission,
obtained by the Agency from its espionage center which maintained constant
surveillance on visitors to the Cuban embassy and consulate in Mexico City
and made use of electronic eavesdropping techniques as well.
He said that as part of the plan against Cuba, the CIA -- fully aware of
the Mafia's role in the Kennedy killing -- has tried to link our country
to such elements through people like Jack Ruby and Santos Trafficante.
The witness characterized this move as "a bogus and crude provocation."
He also mentioned the CIA's maneuver in the face of its constant failures
to implicate Cuba in the Kennedy case, which involved speculating on the
possibility that prisoner Rolando Cubelas Secades was a "double agent" who
supposedly -- according to the CIA -- informed Cuban officials of the plots
against the life of the top leader of the Cuban Revolution. Then, as
a reprisal, Cuba supposedly decided to assassinate President Kennedy.
This new scheme by the CIA, said Dr. Ladron de Guevara, "is simply aimed
at throwing the investigation off the track of those actually responsible
for the crime, and once again at linking Cuba to the assassination of President
Kennedy."
The Cuban expert stressed various aspects of the slanderous campaigns against
Cuba, "which have been maliciously and deliberately fabricated at one time
or another, to create, promote or revive the focus of this grotesque CIA
scheme: blaming Cuba for t he killing of President Kennedy."
The witness recalled that since the events in Dallas more than 100 people
linked in some way to the case have died under mysterious circumstances.
He concluded by saying that this was further proof that the investigations
had to be carried through to the end.
PHOTO with caption
"Bugging" expert leaving espionage center set up across the street from the
The Cuban embassy and consulate in Mexico City front 1960 to 1972.
PHOTO with caption
*Dr. ENRIQUE Marimon Roca, an expert jurist and member of the Cuban commission
in charge of investigating attempts on the lives of political leaders, stated
in his well-documented report to the Youth Accuses Imperialism International
Tribunal that the elimination of political leaders and heads of state was
a U.S. Government policy carried out through its agencies of subversion,
mainly through the Central Intelligence Agency.
He called attention to the fact that the U.S. Senate Select Committee investigating
the CIA's activities publicly admitted in its conclusions the existence of
several of the CIA's innumerable plots to assassinate leaders in various
parts of the world. He added, however, that the CIA told the Senate
nothing about its involvement in the assassination of many figures of the
progressive and revolutionary movement nor about many of its plans for assassinating
leaders of the Cuban Revolution.
"Although the assassination of political leaders is not the only method utilized
by the CIA in its so-called covert actions -- which range from destabilization
and blackmail to the overthrow of legally established governments -- assassination
and terrorism are the most frequently used methods of this Agency at the
service of U.S. imperialism," he said.
The Cuban expert asserted that the CIA had lied to the Senate committee in
charge of investigating the Agency's activities, and, at the same time, was
trying to confuse U.S. citizens and world public opinion in general by giving
a false image of its participation in such unscrupulous and criminal activities.
He said that in August of 1975 our Commander in Chief gave Senator McGovern
a list of 24 unsuccessful plans for assassination attempts against Fidel
himself and other leaders of the Revolution.
Dr. Marimon Roca asked the Tribunal to consider -- as both an example and
an indictment -- a plan concocted by the CIA to be put into effect in October
of 1961 at a rally to be held in front of the north terrace of the old Presidential
Palace in Havana.
This plan to assassinate the Commander in Chief and other leaders of the
Cuban Revolution was conceived in Washington as far back as March 14, 1960,
by Allen Dulles, then head of the CIA, and J.C. King, head of its western
hemisphere section. They were following the instructions of Dwight
Eisenhower, then President of the United States, who, on December 11, 1959,
has suggested to the head of the CIA the possibility of eliminating Fidel
Castro.
On July 21, 1960, a cable was received at the CIA station in Havana which
read as follows: "Possible physical elimination of three top leaders being
seriously considered by central office."
On October 4, 1961, the counterrevolutionary organization People's Revolutionary
Movement (MRP), led by CIA agents Bernardo Paradela Ibarreche and Antonio
Veciana, worked out plans for sabotage and the assassination of leaders of
the Cuban Revolution.
The acts of sabotage were aimed at arousing the indignation of the people,
thus ensuring a large turnout at the rally to be held in front of the old
Presidential Palace, where Commander in Chief Fidel Castro was to speak.
The assassination attempt would be made that day by firing a bazooka at the
rostrum where the Commander in Chief and other leaders would be seated.
The bazooka was to be located in apartment 8-A, on the eight floor of the
building at 29 Avenida de las Misiones.
A woman who was caught while trying to plant an incendiary device in a Sears'
department store in Havana disclosed the plan. She named Juan Izquierdo
Diaz, MRP head of operations, as one of those responsible for the plan.
Izquierdo had taken over his post from Antonio Veciana, who had slipped out
of Cuba to the United States the day before the attempt was to be carried
out.
Izquierdo Diaz revealed all the details of the plan, stating that it had
been worked out by Veciana before he left Cuba.
The plan was foiled by the state security agencies, and Raul Venta del Maso,
Raul Fernandez Trebejo, Jesus Arguelles, Bernardo Iglesias and several others
were arrested as the main participants.
Numerous weapons and explosives were confiscated in the operation.
Another plan concocted by the Pentagon and the CIA was to be put into action
on July 26, 1961, in the former province of Oriente.
The main objective was to assassinate Fidel Castro, Raul and Ernesto Che
Guevara and, at the same time, fake an attack on the naval base in Guantanamo
and carry out further acts of sabotage and terrorism throughout the country.
After calling attention to several other plans to assassinate the leader
of the Cuban Revolution, Dr. Marimon named the CIA directly responsible for
these sinister lots. He also denounced, as direct participants in the
plans, a number of Cuban-born terrorists, among them Antonio Veciana Blank
(known in international crime circles as Victor or Mario) who was recruited
by the CIA in 1960 and has followed specific CIA instructions to assassinate
Fidel Castro.
PHOTO with caption
Surveillance agent carrying transmitter with which to communicate with other
agents.
The witness referred to the activities of counterrevolutionary CIA agent
Venecia Blank an to his participation in the plan to assassinate Fidel Castro
in Chile. He mentioned that the Miami Herald of January 20, 1977, ran
an article by columnist Jack Anderson in which he named Veciana as the coordinator
of assassination attempts against Fidel Castro in 1961 and 1971. Anderson
also said in May 1977 that Veciana was linked to the assassination of President
Kennedy. Dr. Marimon said that it was also Anderson who revealed that
Veciana, before the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee investigating
the assassination of President Kennedy, admitted that he had been summoned
to Dallas by CIA officer Maurice Bishop and that Lee Harvey Oswald, Kennedy's
presumed assassin, was also present at their meeting.
PHOTO
The CIA
and the Cuban-born counter revolutionaries rejoiced over Kennedy's death
*CUBAN
WITNESS Juan Felaifel Canahan made important declarations in his appearance
before the International Tribunal on August 2.
Felaifel,
as a member of the Cuban state security agencies, carried out its orders
to infiltrate the CIA by first pretending he belonged to the counterrevolutionary
organization known as the Movement of Revolutionary Recovery, and by making
use of his contacts with his brother Anis, a CIA agent who also belonged
to one of the counterrevolutionary organizations.
On the orders of the stat security agencies, Felaifel traveled to Miami in
April 1963 and went to work almost immediately for the CIA. He was
given training in subversive activities and espionage.
He carried out 21 missions of infiltration into Cuba before returning to
Cuba permanently on February 21, 1966.
Through his contacts with the Cuban-born counter revolutionaries abroad,
he learned that President Kennedy had promised to give support to mercenary
brigade 2506, organized by the CIA for the attack at Playa Giron.
CIA officers and the Cuban counter revolutionaries in Miami knew of Kennedy's
later refusal to give direct support to the mercenaries once they had landed
in Cuban territory. Some within the CIA and among the counter revolutionaries
were of the opinion that Kennedy had taken a weak stand toward the Cuban
Revolution and the socialist camp in general, Felaifel said, and the president's
prestige among these CIA groups and Cuban-born counter revolutionaries took
a nose dive.
Following the exchange of the mercenaries and their return to the United
States, there was a welcoming ceremony at which President Kennedy promised
to return a Cuban flag to the mercenaries "on Cuban soil after communism
is eradicated."
Felaifel said that the whole thing boomeranged on Kennedy because in the
opinion of the Cuban exiles and CIA officers, the flag had been "put on ice"
due to Kennedy's weakness and his moves to restrict and control CIA activities,
in addition to Robert Kennedy's habit of meddling in the affairs of the counterrevolutionary
organizations, the CIA and the Mafia.
He said that at the outset of the October Crisis the exiles were worried
about how the president would react in the face of communism. Their
worries disappeared for the moment when Kennedy declared a quarantine of
Cuba, since they thought this was the prelude to an invasion.
Their hopes vanished, however, when rumors began to spread that there had
been an agreement in which Kennedy, promised not to invade Cuba. The
president's attitude was then considered as one more act of treason against
the exiles and the CIA.
As a result of the agreement putting an end to the October Crisis, control
over the counterrevolutionary groups and the CIA was stepped up. The
measures annoyed the counter revolutionaries, who claimed that Kennedy sympathized
with the establishment of a socialist state in Cuba. This, plus Robert
Kennedy's interference in the affairs of the CIA, the Mafia and the counter
revolutionaries, created a climate of hostility against the Kennedy brothers,
who were accused of trying to make the United States adopt a conciliatory
line toward the socialist camp. Felaifel noted that, thus, the foundation
was already laid for the approval of any action against the Kennedys.
He went on to say that as a result of the propaganda spread against Kennedy,
the Cuban exiles and the CIA agents were thrilled when they heard the news
of Kennedy's death, saying that finally firm steps would be taken against
the Cuban Revolution.
He called attention to the reaction of Bob, a high-ranking CIA leader of
Sicilian descent who had a penchant for using mafioso language. Bob
was watching television with the CIA team to which Felaifel belonged when
Kennedy was assassinated. When he saw the news, he burst out, "We finally
got rid of the ‘pinko' in the White House!"
He said that a few days later Bob called his team together at the CIA safe
house in Miami and told them that operations against Cuba would be stepped
up, with no limits on expenses and no control of any king because the vice-president,
who was now the head of state, was a rabid anti-Castroite and anti-communist.
Present at that meeting were Jose Enrique Daussa, the CIA's top agent; and
Nicolas Salado, Porfirio Ramirez Ruiz and Reynaldo Rodriguez Reyes, all members
of Felaifel's infiltration team.
PHOTO with caption
939-927K
Photo of the alleged Oswald which appears in the Warren Commission report.
It was taken from the CIA espionage center across from the Cuban embassy
and consulate in Mexico City.
PHOTO with caption
Green Opel, licence plate 91-NBG, used for surveillance.
The number of CIA teams and counterrevolutionary groups was increased and
their respective activities -- infiltration, sabotage and attacks on Cuban
fishing boats and merchant ships -- stepped up.
Felaifel also learned that the CIA, acting in collaboration with the counterrevolutionary
organization Movement of Revolutionary Recovery and, specifically, with its
leader Manuel Artime Buesa, planned another assassination attempt against
Fidel Castro. The plan was worked out by CIA headquarters in Virginia,
and the assigned to the Miami CIA station through agent Artime, who was to
coordinate the action with Rolando Cubelas Secades.
Artime received large sums of money from the CIA under the cover of business
transactions, using as a front the Tabraue jewelry shop, on Flagler Street
in Miami. Its owner, Guillermo Tabraue, was a Cuban counterrevolutionary
whom Artime had recommended to the CIA as the middleman for handling the
funds sent by the CIA to the counterrevolutionary organization and to Artime.
Artime worked out the execution of the plan in France and Spain, meeting
with Cubelas in Spain.
Felaifel learned of the plan through CIA agent Anis, head of intelligence
for Artime's organization. Anis, Artime and a man known as Gallego
Sanz built a silencer for an FAL 7.62 rifle similar to the one Cubelas had
in Cuba. The silencer was tested in the Everglades of Florida, and
later Gallego Sanz sent it to Spain with a Tasco telescopic sight, both to
be delivered to Cubelas.
Felaifel. Also learned that Cubelas had trouble with the silencer and had
asked Artime to sent him another one. Taking into account that the
first silencer was a home-made job, Artime asked the CIA to send him a professional
one. The new silencer was delivered to Cubelas in Europe.
Felaifel testified regarding these events in the trial on March 8, 1966,
in which Rolando Cubelas and others involved in t he case were convicted.
PHOTO
Imperialist
economic, political and military institutions and its criminal agencies such
as the CIA denounced for activities against the peoples.
*THE CUBAN
youth, representing the youth and students of the world, expressed their
condemnation of imperialist economic, political and military institutions
and criminal agencies such as the CIA before the Youth Accuses Imperialism
International Tribunal.
PHOTO with caption
The CIA also installed a listening device in the Cuban consulate in Jamaica
PHOTO with caption
Window used by surveillance agent from a fixed point to check up on Cuban
embassy and consulate in Mexico City, The photo was taken while the agent
was trying to open the window to watch the entrance to
the embassy. The operation was repeated every day
as he got ready to begin his espionage work with a camera.
Representing
the Cuban Young Communist League, Jorge Lopez formulated the charges of the
Tribunal's fourth day of work. The CIA, he said, serves as the arm
of U.S. imperialist intervention and plunder throughout the world.
Speaking
about the CIA, he added, "Characteristic of the methods used by this apparatus
for subversion and espionage are the assassination of political leaders and
officials, robbery, fraud, bribery, destabilization, the overthrow of legitimately
constituted governments and corruption of every sort."
Though
he pointed out that the list of the CIA's monstrous crimes throughout the
world would be endless, Lopez mentioned that among the most notable were
the plots carried out to assassinate Congolese nationalist leader Patrice
Lumumba; Chilean army chief, General Rene Schneider; and former Chilean foreign
minister under the Popular Unity Government, Orlando Letelier -- the latter
assassinated in a conspiracy with DINA (the Chilean secret police) and Cuban-born
counterrevolutionary terrorists.
He denounced
the CIA plots to murder the top leader of the Cuban Revolution, Commander
in Chief Fidel Castro, and noted that the U.S. Senate Committee report on
U.S. intelligence activities had acknowledged these criminal and illegal
plans.
Lopez
emphasized that although the information given by the CIA to the U.S. Senate
was designed to demonstrate that the attempts on the Commander in Chief were
carried out only between 1960 and 1965, events have proved these declarations
completely false. He gave examples of CIA plots against Fidel Castro
after 1965.
Lopez
said that reliable evidence exists to show that the Central Intelligence
Agency has planned more attempts on the Cuban leader than were admitted to
the U.S. Senate Select Committee.
The Cuban
representative charged that international credit agencies such as the International
Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(World Bank), the Inter-American Development Bank and others, serve as colonizers
for U.S. imperialism. He termed the Organization of American States
a despicable instrument of the darkest designs of Yankee imperialism.
He denounced NATO as an aggressive military pact used by imperialism, under
the direction of the United States, to justify its most flagrant violations
of contemporary principles of International Law. He also characterized
SEATO CENTO, the Rio Pact and others as "cold war" instruments which back
up aggression against and exploitation of the peoples.
He condemned
the system of military bases maintained by U.S. imperialism around the world,
citing as examples the cases of Puerto Rico, Panama and Guantanamo.
PHOTO
Statement by former Cuban consul in Mexico City
*EUSEBIO
AZCUE Lopez, who in September 1963 held the post of Cuban consul in Mexico
City, gave the Tribunal full details of the visa request made at that time
at the Cuban consulate by a U.S. citizen calling himself Lee Harvey Oswald.
The witness
explained that a person who claimed to be Lee Harvey Oswald presented himself
at the consulate for the first time on September 27, 1963 and was taken care
of as usual, by Silvia Duran, the Mexican secretary who received visitors.
She informed
the supposed Oswald that in order to apply for the visa he requested he would
have to fill out an application form and attack six ID-size full faced photos.
The person
showed documents that made him out to be a member of the Communist Party,
USA; a former resident of the USSR; the husband of a Soviet citizen, and
a member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.
When informed
by the secretary that it was obligatory for him to fill out the form, submit
it with the six photos and await a reply from the immigration office in Havana,
the supposed Lee Harvey Oswald asked to speak with Azcue to try to insist
on not going through this procedure.
The former
Cuban consul stated that he attended the person, that it was the first time
he had seen the fellow, and that he confirmed what the secretary had told
the visitor. Azcue, according to his testimony, further explained that
it was impossible to obtain a visa in that office without prior consultation
with the Foreign Ministry, after submitting both the form and the photos.
After
insisting on his visa, pulling out the aforementioned documents to back up
his case, the supposed Oswald left the consulate. "He seemed extremely
vexed," said Azcue, who also gave a physical description of the person.
The former
diplomat explained that later this Mr. Oswald formalized his visa request,
again insisting on seeing the consul. Azcue said the man seemed upset,
asking how long it would take to get a reply from Cuba. "I explained
to him that if he had someone in Cuba who knew him and would vouch for him,
it might shorten the process," Azcue said.
Oswald
returned to the consulate the next day, the 28th of September, to insist
once again that he be granted a visa. Azcue told him that without a
USSR visa already stamped in his passport, he could not give him a transit
visa for Cuba. The supposed Oswald became incensed, began shouting
and called the people of the consulate a bunch of bureaucrats. Azcue
responded angrily and ordered the man out of the consulate, who walked away
muttering and slammed the door.
On all
his visits, the so-called Mr. Oswald discussed only the request for a visa,
never going into unrelated matters. He had no contacts at the consulate
other than with Silvia Duran and Eusebio Azcue.
When in
November of 1963, once more in Cuba, Azcue found out that a U.S. citizen
named Lee Harvey Oswald had been accused of murdering Kennedy, he immediately
remembered the man who visited the Cuban consulate in Mexico and called the
Foreign Ministry to alert them.
Azcue
met with Comrades Dr. Raul Roa, then foreign minister, and Nilo Otero, a
Foreign Ministry official, and told both about the incidents related to Oswald's
visa request.
Azcue
said that a short time later he saw a newsreel on the murder of Oswald by
Jack Ruby, and realized that the victim bore no resemblance to the man who
had visited the consulate. Late he observed that the photographs turned
over to the Warren Commission by the CIA -- photos which supposedly depicted
Oswald on his visit to the consulate -- did no picture either the person
who had made the visa request at his office or the Oswald accused of assassinating
President Kennedy.
PHOTO
Electronic spying by CIA in Cuban consulate and embassy in Mexico City
*CUBAN
ELECTRONICS engineer Nilvio Labrada Vicent also testified before the Youth
Accuses Imperialism Tribunal, concerning electronic bugging devices installed
by the CIA in the Cuban consulate and embassy in Mexico.
The expert,
who showed the Tribunal and spectators the devices that had been used, told
how a very sensitive miniature amplifier had been installed by the CIA behind
the telephone dial for purposes of eavesdropping on all conversations in
the area of the telephone.
The instrument,
which is a common one used by the CIA in its telephone spying, functions
when the receiver is hung up and runs on the voltage from the telephone line.
He said
that the device's microphone could pick up conversations up to six meters
away an transmit them, via telephone line, a distance of more than one kilometer,
with the desired quality and fidelity.
When the
phone is taken off the hook, the voltage drops below the necessary level,
and the equipment stops working so that the user doesn't perceive that he
is being checked on. The equipment can be activated from a distance.
Labrada
Vicent also discussed the remote control radio receivers installed in armchairs
in The Cuban diplomatic headquarters. This equipment is self-charging
and I embedded in wood for camouflage, thus facilitating its transportation
and installation.
The radio
receivers were designed to pick up conversations in the area where they were
installed and to transmit them via radio frequencies.
With the
use of remote control devices it is possible to lengthen the life of the
batteries by turning them on and off at will. This type of check is
usually paired with a visual one, to make sure the transmitter is used efficiently.
Labrada
Vicent emphasized that this equipment is similar or identical to equipment
discovered and captured on other opportunities; and that the type of component
used comes from the United States.
He emphasizes
that the equipment is highly sophisticated, specially designed and manufactured.
He repeated finally designed and manufactured. He repeated finally
that these instruments are among those used by the CIA in their sinister
espionage activity.
Hector
Hernandez Pardo and
Gabriel
Molina
Photos:
Liborio Noval
DOCUMENT [not readable] with caption
The Cuban
Ministry of Foreign Affairs turned down an application
for a visa made by U.S. citizen Lee Harvey Oswald on October 15, 1963
End of Page
Copyright 1998-2006
Cuban Information Archives. All Rights Reserved.
