OPERATION TROPICAL

OPERATION TROPICAL 

By Major Ralph P. Ganis, USAF, Ret.

From: The Skorzeny Papers, (Skyhorse, NY, 2018, p. 269-277)

With authorization to proceed at full speed against Castro, things now moved in a very serious direction. Eisenhower’s chief National Security advisor, Gordon Gray, later recalled that the president’s original order for covert action in Cuba contained what he termed “drastic” measures, a clear reference to assassinations.

Chapter Nineteen – The Mysterious QJ/WIN

SKORZENY (QJWIN), ZRRIFLE, AND “OPERATION TROPICAL”

One such drastic measure was reportedly conceived by Castro’s Ambassador to Britain, Sergio Rojas Santamarina, who resigned his post in late June of 1960 and returned to Cuba. Information on this assassination attempt on Castro comes from a copy of an unidentified newspaper retained by Skorzeny that he had secured within his papers. 

Before proceeding with the description of events from the article we briefly pause to highlight a memo written by William Harvey, exposed during the Senate Investigation on Assassinations in 1975. The memo stated that the asset QJWIN had been “developed for the original ZRRIFLE project,” (emphasis added). ZR was “a diagraph for Division D”; and the RIFLE designation, a secret code reference for an operation to assassinate Fidel Castro. Harvey’s memo suggests that there were two different versions of this project – the original ZR/RIFLE, and the subsequent one. Much has been written about the subsequent ZR/RIFLE missions involving Harvey and the Mafia boss Johnny Roselli after 1961. This has been analyzed by the author and determined as evidence Skorzeny was involved in the original ZR/RIFLE project, the one referenced in the article retained by Skorzeny in his papers.

We also note, that Santamarina was in London at the time of the Skorzeny’s timely meeting with Colonel Stirling in June 1959, in which it is believed by the author that William Harvey was also present. Santamarina had in fact stated to the press that his resignation was in response to Cuba’s shift toward Communism. His first act was to seek refuge in the Argentine Embassy in Havana, and his second was a mission to remove Castro.

The article begins with details of a meeting at the Argentine Embassy when Santamaria began to collaborate with Dr. Jose Miro Cardona. Cardona had accepted the role as Cuban Ambassador to the U.S. after Castro’s takeover but later resigned around the same time as Santamarina. The two men were aware that plotting already existed in exile circles to remove Castro and decided to initiate their own plan for assassination. It was through discussions, as reported in the article, the idea was hatched to approach Otto Skorzeny to lead the mission.

However, on the surface, the man they selected to approach Skorzeny is a seemingly odd choice. This was a well-known Hollywood press agent and public relations man named Guido Orlando. Orlando was born in Barisciano, Italy, and immigrated to the United States in 1917. It is not clear why Orlando was selected for such a secret matter, perhaps to not draw attention.

Orlando was an interesting character in his own right, having influenced the careers of the famous movie stars Greta Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, and Ingrid Bergman. But, also had a mysterious side, having served in the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War, and had some confidential relationship with Howard Huges involving secret government aircraft projects. A final hint is Orlando’s claim he participated directly in the Italian elections in 1948 to defeat Communists. This makes it possible he was connected to the OSS or early CIA, as were so many others in the public relations and entertainment fields. Regardless, as the article maintains, once Skorzeny heard about Santamarina and Cordona’s plan, he decided to back the venture. 

The information for the plan was then passed to the CIA planners who gave the plan the name Operation Tropical. The approximate date for these events would have been mid-July to early August of 1960.

The article states that in August 1960, planning for Operation Tropical began. That month, the CIA purchased, through Assistant Secretary of Defense Perkins McGuire, the civilian airline Southern Air Transport, or SAT. The airline had been operating out of Miami, Florida, since 1947 and was previously owned by former USAF pilots. The purchase of the airline was explained by Fred C. Moor III, whose father was an original owner. Moor’s small book on the company, Then Came the CIA: The Early Years of Southern Air Transport, gives the details of its acquisition by the Agency. Moor cites a CIA document he acquired in 2010 under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that states that SAT was being acquired as a CIA proprietary due to “operational missions leveled on the Agency.” It went on to say that SAT “possessed certain air rights in the Caribbean which were also of interest to the Agency for contingency operational use.” This was a clear inference to Operation Tropical and other covert missions for the Cuban project. Importantly, SAT was given the CIA code word ZR/CLIFF, establishing a hard link to William Harvey’s Staff D.

In addition to Perkins McGure the purchase of SAT included Percival Brundage, former Director of the Bureau of Budge. Brundage was heavily involved with “black budgets,” dealing with covert operations of the CIA and military. Brundage, a Unitarian, was, curiously, founder of the American Friends of Albert Schweitzer College, the mysterious university in Switzerland that Lee Harvey Oswald applied to but never attended. The timing and purchase of Southern Air Transport by McGuire and Brundage placed a major CIA air propriety at the disposal of Otto Skorzeny.

According to the article, training began in September 1960 at secret locations. The final plan involved a classic Skorzeny-style airborne commando operation, with the objective not only to assassinate Fidel Castro, but Raul Castro and Che Guevara as well. It is likely that Southern Air Transport was tapped to supply the aviation assets for the paratrooper commandos.

On the suggested timeline for the operation, intelligence would have been provided by the CIA Chief of Station James A. Noel, who was in contact with secret assets throughout the country. Later, in November 1963, Noel would be assigned as the chief of station in Madrid. One of Noel’s chief contracts in Cuba was Bernard Barker, a former member of Batista’s secret police who had worked with the FBI. At this point, it may come as no surprise to the reader that Barker was a future Watergate burglar.

The ambush site selected for Operation Tropical was a remote area near a Cuban military training base. Intelligence had been received that Castro would be returning to Havana from a visit to the base. Intelligence also reported Castro had a bodyguard contingent of thirty well-armed men. The force for Operation Tropical consisted of forty-seven paratroopers, including twenty Cubans, twenty Germans, and seven headquarters personnel. According to the plan, Skorzeny was to personally lead the raid. 

The Commando unit trained for seven months, and millions of dollars were spent in its preparations. The commando group was reported to have trained at secret locations in the Florida Keys. As a note of curiousity, the CIA had a secret training base on the coast of South Carolina, known as “Isolation Tropic,” at the same time.

Coinciding with the suggested start date of Operation Tropical was the initiation of what appears to be a simultaneous propaganda campaign, a task set out under the original Cuba committee orders. Right on cue, both Santamarina and Skorzeny became involved in the psychological warfare effort by making public statements directed at Cuban leadership. Skorzeny’s quip came first, when he took an opportunity during the same Canadian television interview mentioned above involving Pierre Berton. This aired on September 15, 1960, for the Canadian Broadcasting Company TV show Close-Up. Berton began by asking Skorzeny if he had been approached since the war to conduct operations like the type he did during the war. Skorzeny answered yes, that many countries had approached him, including the United States. When asked to elaborate what he did, Skorzeny simply said with a smile, “Oh,….some special work.” When Bertron continued to press, Skorzeny added, “I wouldn’t say it, you don’t talk about such things.”

Berton then asked if Skorzeny had been approached by Cuba. Skorzeny answered honestly but with little detail, replying, “I was not officially approached but, unofficially, I was approached also.” Berton quickly returned, “Was that by Castro?” Skorzeny mused, “It was first by Castro and NOW by the enemies of Castro.” (emphasis added). Here, Skorzeny appears to be making a point. Given the orders for psychological warfare, Skorzeny’s reference in the present tense, “and now by the enemies of Castro,” appears to be for effect. This is supported by the fact that, at that very moment, the initial training phase of Operation Tropical was underway. These “mind games” are precisely in line with Skorzeny’s war fighting principles as recorded in Charles Foley’s book Commando Extraordinary – In Skorzey’s words, “That is the psychology of panic. Broadcast that you will hit a certain (target) – and hit it.”

Santamarina joined in on October 24, 1960, with headlines in U.S. newspapers announcing a coming struggle to regain Cuba – “Fidel Revolt Aim of Ex-Envoy.” It said Suntamarina had managed to escape Cuba and get back to Britain, and now was preparing to fly to Florida to join in the formation of a counter-revolutionary army of 150,000 Cuban émigrés. He warned, “It will be civil war – another Korea,” and colorfully added, “Castro is a mad dog. He must be wiped out.” He stated that he had been “having important talks with people all over Europe” for three weeks, and “this is not just another Latin-American Revolution,” but “a battle against Communism in the Caribbean.” Shortly after the newspaper interview given by Santamaria, he flew from London to the U.S. His exaggerated statements for the paper intentionally inflated the Cuban exiles’ capabilities and served to deflect from the actual planning being conducted for Skorzeny’s “surgical” strike.

The two “Psyop” efforts described above were part of an overall plan that had many other examples, including a CIA leaflet drop on Havana by ex-Cuban Air Force officer name Pedro Luis Diaz and Frank Sturgis, the future Watergate burglar mentioned earlier.

Two important events occurred in the late fall of 1960 hat would have directly impacted Operation Tropical. First, was an exploding crisis in the Congo that started earlier that summer and the second was the presidential election. The Congo crisis temporarily diverted Skorzeny from Operation Tropical and sent him on an emergency reconnaissance to assess the situation in the African nation for the CIA…..The disruption in the Operation Tropical timeline had other implications since Vince President Nixon wanted to remove Castro before the US elections, thus helping his bid for the presidency. The final assault date for Operation Tropical was set for April 18, 1961. This date coincides with the eventual Bay of Pigs operation that occurred (the previous day).

According to the article on Operation Tropical, although millions of dollars were spent and thousands of hours conducted in training, the mission would not go down. In November, Nixon lost his bid for the presidency to Senator John F. Kennedy. In January, within 24 hours of leaving office, Nixon arrived at Perkins McGuire’s island resort home in the Bahamas. It should also be pointed out that after the election of John F. Kennedy, McGuire left his position as the Assistant Secretary of Defense and became an executive-level CIA contract officer.

Also present was Lindsay Hopkins of Zenith Technical Enterprises, a cover company for the CIA deeply involved in covert actions against Cuba. Some plan of action relative to Operation Tropical must have been discussed, including briefing the new president. At this point, things were evidently still proceeding, as former Cuban Ambassador Santamarina was reported as the leader  of anti-Castro forces.

The Operation Tropical article intimates that President Kennedy was briefed on the full details of the assault, including the use of Otto Skorzeny. The article also states that those in attendance also included CIA Director Allen Dulles, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and Senator J. William Fulbright (the man Kennedy wanted as Secretary of State), and Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Fulbright was reported as shocked at the revelation concerning the use of Skorzeny. Rusk, McNamara, and Dulles were in favor of the action, but Robert Kennedy and Senator Fulbright worried that if the mission failed, the political fallout of using Skorzeny would be disastrous. Kennedy concurred with Senator Fulbright and canceled the mission.

The validity of the Operation Tropical article seems highly probable. More analysis is needed but preliminary findings appear to confirm the accuracy of events. Interestingly, President Kennedy abolished the Operations Control Board, the government’s covert action approval body at the point in the timeline he would have received the Operation Tropical briefing. Irony is also not lost on the fact that President Kennedy kept a picture of Skorzeny on his desk in the oval office.

Kennedy went on to approve other Cuban operations but ones not involving Otto Skorzeny, including an invasion by Cuban paramilitary forces. This revised plan became the Bay of Pigs operation, which failed on the beaches for lack of U.S. support. Retired U.S. Army Colonel Anthony Herbert, who, as a Captain, had been slated to lead an army pathfinder team in the invasion, noted the anger and frustration over the cancellation of the mission. “When the invasion was called off, I began to hear generals and colonels cursing President Kennedy as weak-kneed, candy-assed, chicken-livered coward.” The colonel went on to point out that their anger over missing “their chance for glory” was misguided, as “There were international complications and considerations, and that the civilian commander-in-chief had given an order.” Ironically, Captain Herbert had earlier attended Skorzeny’s School of Commando Tactics.

The fact that historians have never mentioned Operation Tropical is interesting since there were references to it in the newspapers. Perhaps this was because the basic storyline seems sensational, or the lack of evidence at the time confirming Otto Skorzeny as a covert asset of the United States. This book presents just such evidence throughout its pages thus changing the view of Operation Tropical…..

The Mafia and Cubans had nothing to do with the central assassination but were connected to the Skorzeny network and may have had uses in post assassination cleanup operations. Regardless, digging into these links (and for that matter Operation Tropical) would eventually expose the Skorzeny’s paramilitary assassination group. A group that was fully active and in Dallas on November 22, 1963.