John Simkin (Education Forum JFK Assassination
Debate) Sparticus
As members know, I believe the Gene Wheaton story
that a CIA operation that used Cuban exiles trained to kill Fidel Castro was
turned against JFK. However, the problem is that it has been difficult to
identify this operation. The CIA story is that the plot against Castro involved
the Mafia and not Cuban exiles. However, a recently released document reveals
that there was indeed a CIA-Cuban Exile operation to kill Castro.
This evidence appears in a report entitled “Separate
Tracks: Agency Planning – Mafia Plotting” that had been written by Jack
Pfeiffer, the CIA’s in-house historian, in September 1983. Pfeiffer writes:
“For purposes of this report, CIA’s records have been searched for evidence of
a direct relationship between the invasion planning and plans to assassinate
Fidel Castro or his key associates.”
During his research Pfeiffer interviewed Richard D.
Drain, Chief of Operation WH/4. The tape of this interview still remains
classified but some really interesting comments from Drain appear in the
report. For example, Drain raises questions about the supposed CIA/Mafia plot
to kill Castro: “Well, I promise you that until it came out in 1975, this
allegation… that Shef Edwards and Mr. Maheu were working with the Mafia to
assassinate Castro, concurrent with the Bay of Pigs operation, that is the
first time I ever heard about it.” Why Drain is so surprised about this is that
as head of WH/4, he was in charge of the operation to kill Castro.
Pfeiffer quotes from a memo written by Drain that is
dated 24 February 1961: “Asked Ed (Edward Lansdale), Dave P., Hinkle, Moore,
and Jake (Jacob Esterline) why not proceed with Operation AMHINT to set up a
program of assassinations.” Dave P. is obviously David Atlee Phillips. When
questioned about this memo, Drain cannot explain why Phillips did not tell him
about the Mafia-CIA plot. He also pointed out that he worked closely with
Richard Bissell over the plan to kill Castro. Once again he is shocked that Bissell,
who apparently oversaw the Mafia plan, never told him about the operation.
A note in the report claims that “AMHINT was related
to the work of the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE).” Pfeiffer then
goes on to say that he found a document that included AMHINT request of 14
January 1961 for “Silenciadores”. These were rifles with silencers and
telescopic sights.
In another part of the interview Drain says: “We put
out an awful lot of bullxxxx to the Cubans about the restoration of democracy and
all that. Those Cubans that were working with us were not, I submit, working
for the re-establishment of the Mafia as a controlling factor in Havana. I had
a helluvalot rather, in contemplating the assassination of Castro, contemplated
it the way that we were contemplating it – that is, can we get a Rip Robertson
close to him.”
These are AMSPELL files. I do not believe that they
have been released yet.
Document # 104-10015-10108 is a one page cable from
JMWAVE to Director, CIA. It follows up on the previous document.
"AMHINT-53 reports AMSPELL delegate had radio debate with Lee H. Oswald of
Fair Play for Cuba Committee sometime in August 63 on New Orleans station WDSU.
According AMSPELL files, Oswald former U.S. Marine who had travelled Moscow 59
at which time renounced American citizenship and turned passport over to
American consulate.
Allegedly lived in home Sov Foreign Minister for two
months. In course radio debate subj confesses he Marxist. Above info has not
been passed ODFOAM, ODACID, or ODENVY as AMSPELL plans news release circa 1300
hours 22 Nov.
For the answers you seek, you may wish to track down
Luis Fernandez Rocha. He was an Agency asset (AMHINT-53) and was one of the DRE
leaders. He also worked for Radio Swan.
In November 1963, Joannides was serving as the chief
of psychological warfare operations in the CIA's Miami station. The purpose of
psychological warfare, as authorized by U.S. policymakers, was to confuse and
confound the government of Fidel Castro, so to hasten its replacement by a government
more congenial to Washington. The first revelation was that Joannides had
agents in a leading Cuban student exile group, an operation code-named AMSPELL
in CIA files. These agents had a series of close encounters with Oswald three
months before JFK was killed.
AMHINT-26 is John Koch Gene
Pfeiffer interview transcript Bissell
Looks like Victor Espinosa Hernandez was AMHINT-25
AMHINT-19 reference
"we had been operating a damned Murder Inc. in
the Carribean."
'Buttle' referred to in above referenced document is
probably not 'Tuttle' but 'Butler'
AM crypto = Cuban ops
AMSPELL delegate = Carlos Bringuier - DRE
AMHINT-01 is unknown, but DRE
AMHINT-02 is unknown
AMHINT-05 is unknown
AMHINT-19 is unknown
AMHINT-25 is Victor Espinosa Hernandez - DRE
AMHINT-26 is John Gene Koch - DRE, 2506 Koch Gene,
Herman---- I believe this was his brother that was killed during the BOP action
- 'looks white'
AMHINT-40 is unknown, but DRE
AMHINT-46 - Mother wrote letter to AMHINT-2,
AMHINT-5, AMHINT-53 and AMBARD-34[94?]
AMHINT-53 is Luis Fernandez Rocha - DRE, Wave ASSET,
worked with Radio Swan which connects him to DA Phillips
AMHINT-56 Juan Francisco Blanco Fernandez, participated
in DRE raids on Cuba, Wave asset, 201-332676
CABLE: PROP TEAM ASSIGNED CRYPTOS AMHINT 1,2,3,4 pg
1
Found in: HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm
- reel 17: Ruiz - Webster)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
DOCUMENT INFORMATION ORIGINATOR CIA FROM DIRECTOR TO JMASH TITLE CABLE PROP
TEAM ASSIGNED CRYPTOS AMHINT 1,2,3,4 DATE 11/06/60 PAGES
RIF#: 104-10181-10346 (11/06/60) CIA#: 80T01357A
CABLE: PROP TEAM ASSIGNED CRYPTOS AMHINT 1,2,3,4 pg
2
Found in: HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm
- reel 17: Ruiz - Webster)
In,D CJ= ACtP~A S/C 2 I t t o t .1-MASH KABANA
SANTIAGO DE CUBA 1Nf0 HAVA SACU F.v.a C ECTOR CONT .e. C 100'i-NG tI tOUTINE
.RIOEITY OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE N c t Ro Ninr PROP TEAM ASSIGNED CRYPT% 1 2 3 4
IDEI FOLLOW J D ,LSTZRLDCE C/WH/4 AVTRIMTICAT$N
RIF#: 104-10181-10346 (11/06/60) CIA#: 80T01357A
Gerald McKnight
As to AMHINT I have a few fugitive thoughts. Clearly
Drain had some kind of scenario which involved a kind of Hollywood special
Rambo-type of operation involving Rip Robertson. In short, an all-American
"executive action" operation. In his interview with Pfeiffer he
pleads ignorance of any Agency concpiracy to take out Castro by using the Mafia
concurrent with Operation Zapata. (Perhaps "concurrent" was the
weasel word here).
As you say Drain is head of WH/4 and Cuba is part of
the Western Hemisphere, etc., etc.
As I recall by 1963 when John Whitten ("Scelso")
I believe held that post he was not privy to any assassination programs against
Castro.
Assuming he is being honest with Pfeiffer (perhaps a
giant leap of credulity in this case) then I'd conclude for the following
reasons that the CIA was running several separate and independent operations
(all on need to know at the very top) to take out Castro and settle the
Agency's grudge fight with Castro ignited by the Bay of Pigs disaster.
In May 1962 the Kennedys learned for the first time
that the CIA was running an assassination operation against Castro. The program
involved CIA cooperation with the Mafia (Rosselli, Giancana most prominent
figures). When Bobby confronted Sheffield Edwards he was told that this program
was a tightly held agency operation involving only six persons; and that the
project was never part of Operation Zapata, etc. There were no written
documents or memoranda or written agreements, etc. This project had former FBI
agent Maheu as the go-between the Agency and the Mafia chieftans, etc. I am not
telling you anything new here, I know.
Apparantly all this was new to the Kennedys.
Apparantly the presdent's pay scale was not high enough to warrant bringing him
into the picture. The memo I am familiar with written by Edwards was dated May
15, 1962. As far as I know this was the first time the Kennedys were made aware
of the "Executive Action"programs targeted against Castro. In the
Edwards memo the good colonel asserted that this CIA-Mafia program was not an
integral part of Operation Zapata.
A possible conclusion is that at this time the CIA
was in a kind of intra-agency competition to settle its grudge fight with
Castro and there were independent "need to know" seperate and
independent half-ass operations targeting Castro. I'd like to believe that all
that patina of super-cool associated with the first generation of spooks was
largely Cold War hoopla. A bunch of aging frat boys with self-asserted
liscences to kill in an intramural contest to see who could nail Castro's hide
to the barn door and bask in Cold War glory for the rest of their days.
By 1963 my sense is that Des Fitzgerald and the,
what, the Special Affairs Group (no more than 6 heavy breathing members) or
something were in exclusive control of the Agency's get-Castro crowd.
Jefferson Morley:
First of all, thanks to all for these informative
posts.
AMHINT was the name given to the leaders of the DRE;
AMSPELL was the cryptonym for the CIA's relationship with the DRE. AMSPELL
files refer to the group and its activities; AMHINT files refer to the
individuals.
Document # 104-10015-10108 has been released.
The Pfeiffer report is the only documented instance
I know of connecting AMSPELL to a Castro assassination plot. Former DRE leaders
disclaim such knowledge, either out of embarassment or forgetfulness. I don't
judge. My sense is that these were half-assed plots that Agency people quickly
realized were half-assed. Out chauvinism if not racism, CIA men thought it
would be easy to get to Castro and kill him. Until they tried. Then the CIA plotters
moved from talking to the likes of the DRE boys to talking to the Mafiosos.
They needed real heavies.
What new any and all this says about JFK and the
events of 1963 is not clear to me.
It is true that the AMHINTs were trusted agency
assets in 1963. More than one of them had Provisional Operational Approval from
the agency, a standard designation for a cooperative agent. At least one AMHINT
(Salvat) went to Dallas in October 1963 but disclaims any connection with
Oswald or the assassination. I have no reason not to believe him. Other AMHINTS
were in contact with the House Un-American Activities Committee in September
1963 and right after the assassination. On 11/29/63, the AMHINTs backed out of
an invitation to testify to HUAC about Oswald and several of them left the
country at that time.
What, if anything, case officer Joannides knew about
Salvat's trip to Dallas is unknown. What he knew about HUAC's invitation to the
DRE leaders to testify about Oswald is unknown. I am fairly sure (but cannot
prove) that Joannides knew about the AMHINTs travelling outside of the country
after 11/22.
Beyond that lies mostly speculation, fun and often
interesting but ultimately pointless.
The significance of the story, insofar as it can be
learned 46 years later, is in the Joannides files.
Please help force the release of those files by
joining this Facebook cause.
Lee Forman:
AMSPELL would be the overarching program, and AMHINT
and AMBARB would be projects under that AMSPELL program. The AMHINT project
would be composed of AMHINT agents, ditto for AMBARB.
AMSPELL\AMHINT
AMSPELL\AMBARB [as of July 1962, around 80 agents in
the field, Evelio Ley acting as coodinator]
Any idea on additional crypto's that could be added
to the tally?
AMHINT-02, 'Secretary General in Exile,' July, 1962,
had not returned from Helsinki, so meetings had to be postponed. One of the
acting Secretary Generals for the DRE at that time would be Luis
Fernandez-Rocha - AMHINT-53 [nom de guerre, or war name - 'Felippe.] - not
clear on who the Secretary General in Exile may be for AMHINT-02.
E. Leading Personalities: In U. S. : Luis
FERNANDEZ-ROCHA Rodriguez, Sec Gen; Juan Manuel SALVAT Roque; Pedro YNTERIAN
Garcia; General FATJO Miyares; Luis GUTIERREZ; Bernabe PENA; Isidro BORJA; Elio
MAS Hernandez; Ernesto FERNANDEZ Travieso. In Cuba; Alberto MULLER Quintana,
Orig. Sec Gen, in prison; Antonio GARCIA-CREWS, in prison; Miguel GARCIA
Armengol, in prison; Hans HENGLER, in prison; Ricardo MENENDEZ, in prison;
Roberto QUINTAIROS Santiso, Gen Coord.; Julio Cesar HERNANDEZ Rojo, executed
Oct. 1962; Antonio CENTURION; Lester GARCIA Rosales, Civil Natl Coord; Juan
PEREIRA Varela, killed.
Here is a segment of an AMHINT document
Home/Archive/Documents/JFK Assassination
Documents/JFK Documents - Central Intelligence Agency/HSCA Segregated CIA
Collection (microfilm)/HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 26: DRE
- JURE)/
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT DRE INFILTRATION OPERATION
104-10171-10042
Date: 28-May-1962
Title: REPORT OF INDEPENDENT DRE INFILTRATION
OPERATION
To: CHIEF, TASK FORCE W
From: CHIEF OF STATION, JMWAVE
Subjects: DRE; AMHINT
Comments: JFK64-26:F5 1998.02.07.10:10:43:420109:
b. On this operation the vessel crew was
AMHINT-42 - Captain
AMHINT-43 - Navigator
AMBOUY-2 - regional intelligence and guide
Bernabe Pena Ballate - gunner
Manuel Quisa - gunner
9. Upon return to the base the JUANIN crew was
warned by AMHINT-42 of security implications and responsibilities of the
operation, i.e. any leak in Miami could result in the compromise of AMHINT safe
housing in that area as well as the death of the infiltrees.There was no
contact with ODYOKE agencies upon departure or re-entry PBPRIME.
Yes saw some of these - by 'infiltration' this
refers to landings in Cuba. I saw a few reports of successful penetration of
Cuba by AMHINT assets - would be fantastic if some documentation could be found
which made it clear that AMHINT assets were among the agents infiltrating Cuba
on William K. Harvey's nod during the middle of the missile crisis - and among
them the one that performed a CYA with RFK. Sure everyone has seen it before -
start at about 3:00 below.
Arthur Schlesinger : It was discovered during the
Cuban Missile Crisis that Harvey had sent in a team of people into Cuba – the
Kennedys were very concerned that this crisis could explode into a nuclear war.
Robert Kennedy particularly was in a rage….”
RFK: At the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis they
were going to send sixty people into Cuba right during the Missile Crisis.
Nobody knew what they were doing. I just heard about because one of the fellows
that was gonna go wrote to me, or got in touch with me and said, “We don’t mind
going, but we want to make sure we’re going because you think its worthwhile.’
And I checked into it and nobody knew about it….And I pinned it down to the
fellow who was supposed to be in charge of it, and he said, ‘We planned I
because the military wanted it done. And I asked the military and they never
heard of it…..It’s the same fellow who put the tunnel under Berlin (Wall),
which was a hell of a project….”
In 1963, the government of the United States offered
to a group of terrorists of Cuban origin, mostly members of Brigade 2506,.... a
special course of training at the military academy at Fort Benning, in the
State of Georgia. Among the "distinguished" fellow [sic] in the]
course, many of them pupils from Yankees trainers, there were a large group of
criminals that years later, and still today, continue forging plans against
Cuba. This explains the close ties that exist between them and the complicity
of those who trained from the outset in this dirty war that lasts more than 40
years.
On November 21, 1963, after completing the training
at Fort Benning ...joined a group of armed terrorist infiltrated the area of
Santa Cruz del Norte
TO THE FREE MEN OF THE WORLD
In the month of March 1963, the U.S. Government
offered the officers of Brigade 2506 a special training course at Fort Benning,
Georgia. The men of the well known Brigade, many still under the influence of
22 months of Communist prison, others still feeling the wounds of battle,
enthusiastically took the opportunity offered by the friendly government [u.S.]
to train in the use and techniques of combat and modern weapons, for the
purpose of being more ready to the cause of liberating the country. [Cuba]
The photos presented represent notable instances
during the development of the course, a hope of freedom for all Cubans.
Taking a step forward in shortening the suffering
days in which the country bleeds, has been the purpose of each and every one of
the Cuban officers participating in the course. In this, they have obtained
knowledge to win the art of warfare, war that undoubtedly will happen one day
in Cuba. And which undoubtedly will participate, in the war in Cuba, the
officers of the 2506 Brigade, and by the conclusion of this course they leave
us a graphic memento of their many activities. Martyrs of Giron, your fellow
Brigade members continue the fight that on the 17th of April 1961 started with
the heroism of titans...
List of Photos of Ft. Benning officers
[The 207 names were not in alphabetical order in the
original reference. Some photos were not available. In all cases the names were
scanned with the photo or the blank space stating "picture not
available". Each photo contained the name of the individual and/or
position that person held in Brigade 2506. A few names were spelt incorrectly
but were corrected, when known, in the following list.]
The CIA-trained Cuban terrorists created in the plans
for the Bay of Pigs invasion became major purveyors of this history of secrecy
and lies. In December 1962, Cuba released more than a thousand prisoners of
Brigade 2506, the Bay of Pigs invaders. They joined thousands of other Cuban
émigrés to be given further training by the CIA. From 1963 through 1966, about
300 CIA agents like E. Howard Hunt worked out of a CIA station based at the
University of Miami. They controlled thousands of Cuban operatives in a
campaign of constant armed attacks, sabotage, infiltration, propaganda, arson,
and murder.
Some Bay of Pigs veterans enrolled at Fort Benning
for CIA training that gave them commissions as Army lieutenants. Within the
time frame of this forum, I’ll follow briefly only one of these trained
terrorists: Luis Posada, but Posada had three important buddies at Fort Benning
-- Jorge Mas Canosa, Orlando Bosch, and Félix Rodríguez -- all of whom became
connected in some form or other to terrorism. Decades later, Luis Posada told
New York Times reporters that “the CIA taught us everything -- everything.” He
said, “They taught us explosives, how to kill, bomb, trained us in acts of
sabotage.”
When he arrived in Miami, Mas, like most of the
young exile men, saw U.S.-backed violence as the only means available for the
overthrow of the revolutionary government. He later modified, but never
abandoned, this methodology. The young Mas joined the CIA's Bay of Pigs
invasion expedition, but never set foot on the island. The CIA assigned him to
a decoy ship.
After the April 1961 Bay of Pigs fiasco, Mas turned
to radio, doing biweekly anti-Castro broadcasts into Cuba over the CIA's Radio
SWAN. He married Irma, his high school sweetheart. To earn his living he began
delivering milk; subsequently he sold shoes in Miami's Little Havana.
In 1963, the CIA offered a select group of Bay of
Pigs veterans a chance to enroll in an intelligence training course at Fort
Benning, Georgia. Mas met two Cuban exiles there, Felix Rodriguez and Luis
Posada Carrilles, who became his lifetime buddies after undergoing this special
training with him. Like other Bay of Pigs veterans selected as "special
cases," Mas received a commission as second lieutenant, but - like many of
his compatriots - quit the army when he discovered that the U.S. government had
no immediate plans to invade Cuba.(2)
Mas Terror
Following his 1963 Fort Benning experience, Mas met
Jose "Pepin" Bosch, kingpin of the Bacardi rum family, and abandoned
his shoe-salesman career in Little Havana. How does a former shoe salesman with
little record of accomplishment get into millionaire Bosch's league? Did the
CIA suggest that Bosch back Mas, yet another among many Cuban exiles plotting
terrorist raids against Cuba, as a leader of RECE (Representacion Cubana en el
Exilio)? Former House Assassinations Committee investigator Gaeton Fonzi says
that the CIA, not Bosch, financed RECE. Fonzi cites an FBI document that has
Mas delivering $5,000 to Luis Posada, then a CIA contract agent, to blow up a
Soviet or Cuban ship docked in Veracruz, Mexico.(3)
During the month of June 1963, Manuel Artime, a
leading political figure among the Cuban refugees in Miami, Florida, came to
Fort Benning, Georgia, for the purpose of recruiting people to go to a
revolutionary camp in Nicaragua. Artime informed this group that the U.S.
Government was not going to do anything for Cuba and that he had obtained aid
and instructors from Europe." "Help should start to be received by
Artime after November 1963." "Muina is working for, or with, Artime.
Muina has indicated that Cuba will not gain its liberty with the assistance of
the United States, but needs to look for help from another country. Muina
believes that the United States has decided to apply the principle of
co-existence towards Cuba." "There is a group of officers with the
Cuban Officers Training Program at Lackland Air Force Base who contemplate
submitting their resignations if the United States has not done anything for
the freedom of Cuba by December 1963. Many officers have indicated their desire
to resign in order to join Manuel Artime who is supposedly organizing a
training camp in Nicaragua. Artime has some contacts that have been undermining
the present training program by spreading dissention among their fellow
officers
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