HSCA Volume X (p. 40)…Gaeton Fonzi wrote:
….(134) From August 1968 until June 1972, Veciana worked in La Paz, Bolivia, as a banking advisor to Bolivia’s Central Bank. (49) His contracts were financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development, (50) and his office was located in the passport division of the American Embassy. (51)
Veciana believed that Bishop was instrumental in his getting the AIR job because he himself was surprised that the Agency would hire a known “terrorist” and anti-Castro activist. (52) The records indicate that Veciana was hired by the Agency even though his application form was never signed. (53)
(135) While suposidely employed as a banking advisor in Bolivia, Veciana actually did very little such work, but instead was engaged mostly in an anti-Castro and anti-Communist activities with Bishop. (54) Among the operations instigated by Bishop at the time was an attempt to assassinate Castro in 1971. (55)
(136) According to Veciana, that aborted assassination attempt eventually led to the dissolution of his relationship with Bishop. (56) Although Bishop directed the operation and provided Veciana with intelligence information, (57) Vecuana himself recruited anti-Castro Cuban associates in Caracas to take part in the attempt. (58) Without his knowledge, Veciana and these associates introduced a new element into the plan, a scheme to blame the assassination on certain Russian agents in Caracas. (59) The associates even produced phony documents and photographs. (60) When Bishop later found out about this unauthorized part of the scheme, he was extremely upset and accused Veciana of being part of it. (61) Although Veciana told Bishop he had no knowledge of it, Bishop apparently did not believe him and eventually suggested that their relationship be terminated. (62).
(137) On July 26, 1973 Bishop arranged for Veciana to meet him in a parking lot…..At that time Bishop gave Veciana a suitcase…..with $253,000 in cash.
IN HIS BOOK THE NIGHTWATCH – 25 YEARS OF PECULIAR SERVICE (pp. 240-241) David Atlee Phillips wrote:
On a weekend in late July an unnerving cable arrived from Mexico City. A source had reported that a man presented himself to the Chilean embassy – walked in Mexico City. He told a Chilean envoy that he had just defected from the CIA because the agency had been persecuting his family. As bona fides he offered Allende’s ambassador “Plan Centaur,” which he described as CIA’s program to overthrow the Chilean government. He had a number of documents and microfilm in code which, he said, only he could decipher. He offered these secrets in return for safe haven in Santiago.
I went into the office on Sunday morning to read the cable. I was not concerned about the validity of Plan Centaur because I knew it did not exist; I was worried that a disaffected staff officer from my Division was using his general knowledge of our operations to enhance a fabrication. The unidentified walk-in, according to the Mexico City information, was an American black, about thirty-five and slim, who claimed to be an expert in codes and ciphers….But I had an uneasy feeling that I hadn’t heard the last of Plan Centaur.
On Monday morning Abe chastised me gently. Abe, who always describe himself as “a lover not a fighter,” told me I must learn that I was now a manager, not an operator. An officer from our Mexico section should have spent Sunday on duty in the office on the Plan Centaur case. The Division Chief had to delegate even the most intriguing cases and allow others to enjoy the excitement of running operations.
Abe was right. I soon found that 95 percent of my time must be devoted to mundane management matters and only a precious few moments to the more interesting development and direction of operations…..
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