The Warren Commission:"The Hotel Commercio was not especially popular among Cubans..." In a Top Secret MFR regarding David Slawson's trip to Mexico City on behalf of the Warren Commission, Slawson wrote: "We also asked Ambassador Mann to what extent it was known in Mexico City that the Hotel Commercio was headquarters of pro-Castro activities. The Ambassador replied that it was not known generally at all, that this information was current only in intelligence circles." [4.22.64]

OSWALD did not spend much time at the Hotel Commercio. The Warren Commission: "Mr. Rankin, Mr. Slawson, and Mr. Coleman, all expressed concern over the inability of the Commission or of any of the governmental agencies to fill in the very large gaps still existing in OSWALD'S visit to Mexico. We pointed out there were many days during which we knew nothing of his whereabouts and that the evenings of this entire trip were unaccounted for. Furthermore, the testimony of the clerk at the Hotel Commercio seemed to us highly unsatisfactory. The clerk admitted that the hotel registry showed OSWALD'S name, but he completely denies any other memory whatever of OSWALD'S being at the hotel, and all the subordinate personnel, such as cleaning ladies, etc., likewise deny any memory of OSWALD."

Warren Commission Counsels David Slawson, William Coleman, and Howard Willens, found that "after several interrogations, FBI Agent Rolf Larson had found that the hotel maid did remember OSWALD, and was able to give some bits of information about him...he invariably had left the hotel before she cleaned his room at 9:00 a.m. in the morning." S.A. Larson found that the proprietress of the restaurant next door to the hotel was able to identify OSWALD, "although Larson was not completely certain how much she really remembered, and how much she may have picked up by suggestion from newspaper reporters."

A guest at the Hotel Commercio, Lima Juarez, a masonry contractor, told the FBI that OSWALD associated with four Cubans at the hotel on one or two occasions. The FBI located the hotel mates of Lima Juarez: "Will continue to press vigorously the outstanding investigation." FBI Legal Attache Clark Anderson located Ernesto Lima Juarez. Ernesto Lima Juarez heard from his friend Francisco Morales that one of the Cubans was from Florida. Ernesto Lima Juarez said "the fourth Cuban was met by the other three Cubans at the Mexico City Airport on his arrival from Cuba about September 23, 1963. He said this person claimed to have owned a large ranch near Havana which was confiscated by Fidel Castro. The four Cubans expressed anti-Castro feelings and denounced Castro."

The FBI questioned the Mexicans who were at the hotel with Ernesto Lima Juarez: Francisco Morales remembered two Cubans, but not OSWALD. A Potential Security Informant from the San Antonio Office of the FBI was sent to Mexico to speak with Francisco Morales. During a pretext interview Gabriel Contreras Uvina remembered OSWALD, but did not see him speaking with any Cubans. One of the Cubans was located: Julian Huerta Oliva was at the hotel from August 19, 1963 to September 23, 1963. He denied having seen OSWALD.

Clark Anderson had the Mexican Police question Ernesto Lima Juarez. [WR p735] Clark Anderson was questioned about this in 1993: "I don't remember that. I'm not tryin' to duck the question." By August 1964 Ernesto Lima Juarez had recanted. The Warren Commission concluded: "No credible witness has been located who saw OSWALD with any unidentified person while in Mexico City." [WR p305] A footnote in the Warren report stated: "One Lima Juarez has said he saw OSWALD talking to some Cubans, but an intensive investigation indicates that this is a case of mistaken identity." [f.n. #1176 WR p868]

At first Ernesto Lima Juarez furnished a description of one of the Cubans to the FBI that fit the description of HOWARD HUNT. In a later interview he added "dark hair, dark eyes, who appeared to be possibly part Negro." [WCD 1256; WCE 2450; WCE 3074; WCD 1243; CIA 538-801A; FBI 105-82555-4809, 4450, 4478, 4405, 4640]

HEMMING told this researcher: "Juarez is a weeny-wagger, fuck him! Some guy who's hanging out in a hotel lobby, waiting to suck a dick, or something. They wouldn't meet at the hotel. And who would notice it? A day later, an hour later? A faggot. You tell me this guy's a dick sucker and he had the hots for OSWALD and HUNT. Build some credibility for the fucker - he would have been attracted to the guy's fine buns or something - okay. But not some fucking asshole wagging his weeny in a hotel lobby. He ain't gonna remember this shit."

It was more likely that OSWALD met with HUNT in, or near, the Hotel Cuba.

The year 1963 was omitted from Undercover. HUNT was the Subject of several files in the office of the Inspector General of the CIA. There was a October 29, 1962, Personal History statement and files dated February 4, 1963 - Memo to Chief, Appraisal Section, from (deleted). Subject, HUNT," April 18, 1963, April 24, 1963, May 10, 1963, and September 1963. The names Tom Lawler, Helms, Bannerman, Tracy Barnes, Thomas Karamessines, Laurence Parr, Lloyd George, Winters. Internal Review, Colonel Edwards (deleted) John Richards, Chamberlain N/R by Thomas C. Lawler, with attachments. Subject: CIA and Mrs. E. HOWARD HUNT. ATTS: Memo for Director of Security from Lloyd George May 10, 1963. work performed by Mrs. Hunt for Spanish Ambassador. IG File #15 Tab #48 All Memos in IG-45 Tab 8." The file dated April 18, 1963, concerned work performed by Mrs. HUNT at the Spanish Embassy. Mrs. HUNT was informed her employment there would be incompatible with her husband's work, none-the-less, she continued to do translations for the Embassy at home. The matter was finally resolved in February 1963. The document dated February 4, 1963, was an appraisal of HUNT. Much of this memorandum was deleted, although the impression it gave was favorable. HUNT was described as "Ops Officer DDP/CA Staff, Office of Chief." The CIA reported: "As of November 1963 HUNT was assigned to DDP/CA Staff, Office of the Chief, Headquarters, however, apparently Mr. HUNT had collateral duties with DDP/Domestic Operations Division / Facilities Branch. Mr. HUNT was assigned to such tasks from November 1961, to February 1965." On June 14, 1963 HUNT was the Subject of a "Support Branch Verbal Request File No. Chief/DO/OPRP (illegible) Wash Daily (Deleted) OK (Deleted) Station."

In 1963 HUNT was part of a group of CIA officers which was exerting pressure on President Kennedy to approve assassination plots against Castro. Tad Szulc, who had a off-the-record conversation about Cuba with Kennedy in November 1961, reported that the President remained steadfast in his determination to overthrow Castro by means other than assassination. Tad Szulc stated that President Kennedy told him he was morally opposed to assassination. In 1962, to appease the exile community, President Kennedy approved the establishment of the JMWAVE base located on the campus of the University of Miami.

Tad Szulc was the first to reveal that E. HOWARD HUNT was in Mexico City in late September and early October 1963. Szulc stated that HUNT was Acting Chief of Station: "As I mentioned above, HUNT spent August and September 1963, in Mexico City in charge of the CIA Station there. Through an extraordinary coincidence LEE HARVEY OSWALD also visited Mexico City in 1963."

According to a CIA document declassified in 1982, "HUNT served in Mexico City from (deleted) 1950 to (deleted) 1951. From November 1960 until his retirement in 1970, he was assigned to Headquarters. During the period in which HUNT was alleged by Hoch to have been acting Mexico City Chief of Station, August to September 1963, HUNT was assigned to a DDP desk at Headquarters." [CIA 1634-1088]

Tad Szulc discovered HUNT'S presence in 1973, while doing research for his biography of HUNT, Compulsive Spy. On February 10, 1973, an individual or individuals broke into the home of Tad Szulc. Tad Szulc's papers were rifled, but nothing of value was stolen. Szulc filed a lawsuit against former members of NIXON'S Administration including H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and Charles Colson "concerning alleged wiretapping of my house in Washington, D.C., and he break-in which, in the opinion of my attorney, may or may not have been related to the activities of that period. And detectives examined the premises, dusted them and so on. Missing, to the best of my recollection, was a foreign memorial coin of limited importance and six $1 bills from my wife's wallet." [Wise The American Police State p170]

In January 1977 during PHILLIPS' deposition in HUNT v. SPOTLIGHT, PHILLIPS was asked if HUNT was in Mexico City when OSWALD visited there. He responded, "Well, that's horseshit. Tad Szulc wrote HUNT was Acting Chief of Station. Winston Scott was Chief of Station. HUNT wasn't anywhere near there."PHILLIPS was also asked about it in the course of HUNT v. WEBERMAN:

A. He [HUNT] was - at the time I was there, he was never assigned there. I think he visited Mexico City on at least one occasion. I was there for about four years. And I seem to recall his coming to town. And he went to my home for dinner and so forth, because we had known each other before. But I don't recall he was ever assigned to the Mexico City Station during the period I was there.

In PHILLIPS' deposition in HUNT v. SPOTLIGHT, he remembered having seen HUNT in Mexico City, "...some time between September 1961 and March 1965...I must have seen him once or twice before [the Kennedy assassination]."

The testimony of Richard Helms in the same matter was: "I do recall having submitted information that indicated HUNT was in Mexico before the assassination." [Lane Plausible Denial 1992]

In June 1993 Ambassador Thomas C. Mann was contacted by telephone and asked if HUNT was at the Embassy during this period. He advised that the diplomatic list would contain the names of personnel who were there officially. Thomas Mann was told that his name was not on this list. He stated, "Well, then I doubt that he was there."

HUNT told the Rockefeller Commission that he "never went to Mexico or other Latin American country after 1961. First went to Mexico in 1970 for Mullin after retirement from CIA."

Szulc mistakenly stated that HUNT was Acting Chief of Station in Mexico City during the time of OSWALD'S visit. There were no documents that supported Szulc's contention that HUNT was there in an official capacity. The Domestic Operations Division, however, was not located on Pennsylvania Avenue, not at CIA Headquarters. HUNT could have slipped away. HOWARD HUNT was present in Mexico City during OSWALD'S visit there, and secretly met with OSWALD, because DAVID PHILLIPS had duties in Washington at this time.

After the Bay of Pigs, PHILLIPS assumed diplomatic cover and was transferred to the American Embassy, Mexico City, where he remained until March 1964. PHILLIPS worked under Winston Scott in the number three position at the Mexico City station, "the job HOWARD HUNT had held in the early 1950's." In this position, PHILLIPS oversaw the operations being conducted against the Cubans and Soviets in Mexico City during September and October 1963. Former HSCA investigator Dan Hardway stated: "PHILLIPS was in Washington and Miami at that point. PHILLIPS wrote that he was in Mexico City in his book, and we found the documentation that showed that he was TDY out of there. In front of the Committee he acknowledged that evidently he was not there." Gaeton Fonzi agreed. A CIA telex dated October 4, 1963, read: " (Illegible) dad SAN/MOR(Illegible) JMWAVE Mexico City Mr. DAVID PHILLIPS, newly appointed Chief PB (Illegible) Ops in Mexico will arrive [in Mexico City] October 7, 1963, for two days consultation. Not necessary meet or make reservations for Mexi. Mr. PHILLIPS ETA (illegible) Guest Airlines." Other names on this document included Samuel Halpern, J. Albert Hauser (?) R.R. Hathwell (?) And Arthur A. Maloney." [NARA CIA 1993.07.19.14:19:04:590620]

The telephone number and address of the American Embassy in Mexico City were listed in OSWALD'S address book but no marking appeared at the location of the Embassy on OSWALD'S map of Mexico City. OSWALD would not have contacted HUNT at the American Embassy. Except for PHILLIPS, there was no evidence that anyone else at the Mexico City CIA Station was part of the conspiracy. The Mexico City Chief of Station, Winston Scott, might have learned of OSWALD'S presence had OSWALD made contact with the Embassy.

Winston Scott was a former FBI Agent and Naval Intelligence Agent who worked under the cover of Special Assistant to Ambassador Thomas Mann. [Miami Herald 11.27.76] Winston Scott was a mathematician who served with the FBI (1941 to 1944), and Navy (1944 to 1946). He was the London Chief of Station under State Department cover (1947 to 1950), then worked in Washington as a liaison man with other intelligence services. His cover during this period was Executive Officer in the Pentagon. In 1958 he became Chief of Station in Mexico City and served there until 1964.

For months, OSWALD had tried to obtain a Soviet visa which would be valid for a stopover in Cuba. Mexican officials would allow U.S. citizens to board a plane for Cuba even if they had an American passport that forbade travel there, as long as the American had a valid visa. Obtaining a Cuban visa was difficult for an American at this time - Fidel Castro knew the CIA was sending agents into Cuba to assassinate him. Visas to Cuba for Americans were routinely denied. OSWALD was to have visited Cuba, before he was framed for killing President Kennedy. After November 22, 1963, OSWALD would have just returned from Cuba. A Cuban or Soviet visa might have been found either on his person, or among his personal effects. OSWALD would be widely perceived as having received his orders from Fidel Castro and the Soviets. History would have been different had the Soviets or Cubans granted him a visa. America would have put an end to the training ground for assassins 90 miles from Key West. Would the Soviet Union have come to Cuba's aid? Hardway: "Killing a nation's leader is typical grounds for going to war, however, it would not have meant an atomic war under those circumstances. Johnson would have called Nikita and said, 'Look, we're going in and taking Cuba. That's the price you are going to pay to keep the peace, and for us not attacking you for killing our President.' That was what [the OSWALD legend] was designed to do. It was designed to get Cuba back." OSWALD was not granted a visa, but there was a record that OSWALD had desperately tried to obtain one. In Give Us This Day HUNT wrote: "Let this not be forgotten...LEE HARVEY OSWALD was a partisan of Fidel Castro, and an admitted Marxist who made desperate efforts to join the Red Revolution in Havana."

Fidel Castro told the HSCA: "It was always very suspicious to me that a person who later appeared to be involved in Kennedy's death, would have requested a Cuban visa. Because I said to myself, 'What would have happened had, by any chance, that man come to Cuba, visited Cuba, gone back to the United States and then appeared involved in Kennedy's death?' He had been to Cuba in October and then in November the President of the United States would have been killed? I interpreted it as a deliberate attempt to link Cuba with Kennedy's death...a gigantic provocation.

"Well, that man did not come to Cuba because that was the norm - we rejected visa applications like that. In those days the mechanism was very rigid because, of course, we had suspicions of anyone who tried to come to Cuba. People in charge of granting visas would ask themselves: 'Why does this applicant want to come to Cuba? What kind of counter-revolutionary activity could he carry out in Cuba?' Maybe the people thought that the person was a CIA or FBI agent, you know, so it was very difficult for a North American, just from his own wishes, to come to Cuba - because systematically we denied them. So I think there could always be an exception, but in those times it was very difficult to have anyone from the United States come into Cuba because there was a tremendous suspicion and because, in general, permits to travel to Cuba were denied. Now if it was a transit visa going to another country - let's say - had the Soviet Union granted the visa, you may be sure that our Consul would have granted the transit visa because the person would not be coming to Cuba only, but would be going to another country. The person would have to come [here] and if the Soviets would have granted the visa, then that would have accredited the person, and the person would have been given a transit visa, because I feel that if the Soviets had granted the visa, then he would have come here..."

What reason was OSWALD given for going to Cuba? Some evidence indicated OSWALD thought he was part of an assassination plot directed at Fidel Castro. During the Odio incident, Leopoldo reportedly described OSWALD as "the kind of man that could do anything, like getting underground in Cuba, like killing Castro." [11WH367; WCE2943] When the FBI went through OSWALD'S possessions it found:

"ITEM 178: Book published in Moscow 1961 - Fidel Kastro 1. Possibly by mistake book copy included one page from libretto of Pikoyaya Dama - OSWALD'S notes are the translations of Russian words, but OSWALD paid special attention to the words - 'You will receive the death blow...'"

ITEM 180: Program of Russian opera -- Pikovaya Dama (Queen of Spades) with notes of LEE OSWALD.

1. "Then it means you are pronouncing the death sentence (in Russian)."

2. On another page - "Zakalyvat"sya, zakalyveyetsya (twice)." [CIA Misc. Person. Corr. 1007-951]

OSWALD might have believed that an assassination attempt against Castro was the purpose of the Cuban trip. In Cuba, using the cover of Fair Play for Cuba Committee leader, OSWALD would make contact with Cuban and Soviet officials. [HUNT Day p39] OSWALD was going to try to meet with Fidel Castro. Other Fair Play for Cuba Committee officials had been introduced to Fidel Castro. Maybe he would have the opportunity to finger Fidel to a hit team?

HEMMING stated that OSWALD would not have been the actual assassin in a plot against Fidel Castro: "He's not a fucking shooter, he's a snitch. He don't do that kind of shit. The guy would never fucking go. People who are used in this kind of business are not told what the target is, and that anything this person does has any connection with that type of activity. OSWALD'S handler said, 'We have to build you a cover, send you down to Cuba.' He figures he was there for a very low level thing, no sweat, go on in, see what you can see, get acclimatized, then come out. 'Nobody's gonna contact you while you're in there.' When he does make a couple of friends in there, it's only later that he's shown these people have a connection. I had people going into Cuba through Mexico City, American citizens, I knew the whole goddamned routine. OSWALD would go to Cuba like his old buddy, GERRY, did."

Due to the transit visa loophole, OSWALD could have undergone a security check in the Soviet Union which was less stringent than the Cuban's security check, but ultimately he would have been admitted to Cuba. OSWALD had applied by mail for a Soviet visa in June 1963, but was still awaiting a reply from the Soviet Embassy, Washington. OSWALD'S operation depended on solely on the issuance of a visa by the Soviets. OSWALD would offer the Soviets information, in return for the visa.

OSWALD arrived in Mexico City at 10:00 a.m. The Warren Report stated that the first call OSWALD made that morning was to the Soviet Embassy. The notes and transcription of David Slawson related: "Friday, September 27, 1963 - 10:37 a.m. A person who sounds like an American speaking poor Spanish, later identified as LEE HARVEY OSWALD, telephones the Soviet Embassy."

OSWALD: May I speak to the Consul?

Inside Voice: He is not in.

OSWALD: I need some visas in order to go to Odessa.

Inside Voice: Please call at 11:30 a.m.

OSWALD: Until then?

Inside Voice: (Hangs up)

A CIA document, dated "probably around November 1963," read: "On Friday, September 27, 1963, OSWALD was in Mexico City to ask for a visa so he could go to Odessa, USSR. There is no special reason for linking this call to OSWALD."

Another CIA reported: "Friday, September 27, 1963 - A man phones the Soviet Military Attache and says he needs a visa to go to Odessa. Man answering says he should call 15-60-55 and ask for Consul. Caller asks for address, and it is given him."

The CIA was clearly confused about OSWALD'S first phone call. Half of the documents had OSWALD having called the Soviet Embassy, and half had him having called the Soviet Military Attache. The original transcript of the tap at the Soviet Embassy indicated the call was recorded at 10:37 a.m. on line 15-60-55, the telephone number of the Soviet Embassy. OSWALD'S address book contained the entry: "Embajada de La Union de das Republicas Sovietilas Socialistas 15-61-55 Dept de Asuntos Consulares."

Some of the documents had OSWALD asking for a visa to Odessa, others indicated he asked for a visa simply to the Soviet Union. David Slawson had OSWALD speaking Spanish.

The CIA: "On September 27, 1963, at 10:37 a.m. the Soviet Embassy received a call from an unknown individual speaking Spanish who said he wanted visas to go to Odessa. He was told the Consul was not in, and to call back at 11:30. OSWALD is known to have arrived at the Flecha Roja bus terminal on bus no. 516 at about 10:00 a.m. on September 27, 1963. It was, therefore, possible for him to have made this call. But granting this, it is unreasonable to believe the calls were made by OSWALD for the following reasons:

a. The caller wanted visas, and specifically for Odessa. OSWALD was seeking a visa and never in any context did he specify the Black Sea port of Odessa as a destination.

b. The call was directed to the correct Soviet consular number: 15-60-55. On October 1, 1963, OSWALD first called the wrong number, 15-69-87 (the military attache's number), and had to redirect his call to the correct number, 15-60-55. It seems unlikely he would have made what would have been an initial call, on Friday, September 27, 1963, to the correct number, and called the incorrect number on October 1, 1963.

c. The use of the Spanish language would exclude OSWALD unless he made use of an intermediary, which seems unlikely from what is known of his modus operandi. [CIA 14-1C]

The CIA: "Apparently the decision that the telephone call [to the Soviet Military Attache] was not made by OSWALD, was not made until 1975. There is no indication in the files that headquarters or Mexico City Station had made a determination before then that this telephone call was not made by OSWALD."

The working hours of the Cuban Consulate were from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. [CIA 700-304; HSCA 180-10001-10309] OSWALD entered the Cuban Consulate Friday, September 27, 1963. The Warren Commission Report, and the testimony of Cuban Consular officials, place the time of his visit in the morning. The Cuban Consul in Mexico City, Eusebio Azque, told the HSCA that: "On that same day he might have made the first two visits to the consulate; one during the morning very early, and the second one a little later...the consulate is open at 10:00 a.m. and closed at 2:00 p.m." [Azque HSCA Test.] Consular secretary Sylvia Duran told the HSCA that OSWALD'S first visit took place at between 10:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.

The CIA photographed the entrance to the Consulate on September 27, 1963:

Film No. 251

Photo No. Hour View

9:12 Justo Urbieta arrived.

9:15 D-307 left.

1. 9:30 Two employees left and came back few minutes later.

2. & 3. 9:40 Three men going in.

IT IS RAINING

9:45 A. Armona Ramos arrives.

9:50 D-528 arrived.

4. 10:20 Young boy takes out books.

5. 10:25 Lady sent to the Consulate.

6. & 7. 10:35 D-314 left.

10:47 Dr. Fernendez Roa arrived.

8. 10:50 Man sent to Consulate.

9. 10:52 D-528 left.

10. 11:15 Man who left with Justo Urbieta and A. Aroma Ramoz

in car plate number 12-47-26.

11. 11:17 Two men who had just left, one with a camera.

11:25 Truck with window glasses went in.

12. 11:30 Man sent to the Consulate he came in a car plate

number 26-02-01.

13. 11:40 Man leaving.

11:45 D-138 left, returned ten minutes later.

11:45 D-528 arrived.

11:47 Dr. Fernandez Roa left in a taxi.

14. 11:50 Young man sent to Consulate.

12:10 The Ambassador and a lady left in D-314.

12:15 Rogelio Rodriguez arrived in C-27, with two men.

15. 12:25 Man who left with two ladies.

16. 12:25 Man leaving.

17. 12:35 Man leaving.

18. 12:40 Man leaving.

19. & 20. 12:45 Two men who came in car plate number 13-08-28.

21. 12:45 Lady sent to Consulate.

22. 12:55 Man going in.

1:20 C-27 left.

1:25 Manuel Vega left in D - 138.

23. 1:25 Couple leaving.

24. 1:30 Lady leaving.

1:45 Edelberto Torres Espinoza arrived.

1:45 The Ambassador arrived in D-314.

1:55 Manuel Vega arrived.

The Warren Commission reported that OSWALD told Sylvia Duran, a Mexican national who worked there, that he wanted a Cuban visa. He claimed the Soviets would transmit his Soviet visa to the Soviet Embassy, Havana, where he would pick it up. He said he intended to go to Cuba on September 30, 1963, and to remain there for "two weeks, longer if possible," and then travel to Russia. Sylvia Duran told the Mexican police: "According to his statement, he was in a great hurry to obtain visas that would enable him to travel to Russia, insisting on his right to do so in view of his background and his loyalty and his activities in behalf of the Cuban movement...his wife was then in New York City and would follow him..." OSWALD told the Soviet Embassy that his wife was in Washington.

Sylvia Duran typed the following on OSWALD'S application for a visa: "For Use of the Mission. Comments: The applicant states he is a member of the American Communist Party and Secretary in the New Orleans chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, and that he lived in the Soviet Union from October 1959 to June 19, 1962, and that he married a Soviet citizen there. He displayed documents as proof of his membership in the two aforementioned organizations and a marriage certificate. He appeared at the Embassy of the U.S.S.R. in this city and requested that his visa be forwarded to the Soviet Embassy in Cuba. We called the Consulate of the U.S.S.R. and were told they had to await authorization from Moscow in order to give the visa and that it would take about four months. [Handwritten notation reading] Hotel del Commercio, Room 18 46-5061."

A footnote to the Warren Commission Report stated: "When questioned by the Mexican police shortly after the assassination, Señora Duran did not recall whether OSWALD had in fact told her he was a member of the Communist Party...Because of the mass of papers OSWALD did present showing his affinity for communism, some in the Russian language which was foreign to Senora Duran, and because further investigation indicated that OSWALD was not a member of the party, Senora Duran's notation was probably inaccurate." [WR 837, 289]

The FBI: "It is suggested that OSWALD may have displayed copies of correspondence with the Communist Party, and with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, and in this way convinced the Cuban Consulate that he was affiliated with both organizations." [FBI Brennan to Sullivan 9.4.64]

In November 1963 Sylvia Duran signed the following statement for the Mexican police: "OSWALD applied for a visa to Cuba, in transit to Russia, and based his application on his presentation of his passport in which it was recorded that he had been living in the latter country for a period of three years, his work permit from that same country written in the Russian language, and letters in the same language, as well as proof of his being married to a woman of Russian nationality, and being the apparent Director of the City of New Orleans 'Fair Play for Cuba' with the desire that he should be accepted as a friend of the Cuban Revolution."

In February 1977 Sylvia Duran, who still resided in Mexico City, was contacted by telephone by this researcher. She stated: "I really don't remember very well what documents he showed me to prove he was in the Communist Party, but I think that he showed me one letter or something like that... it was a letter. He was asking for some information, or something like that...and he showed me a card that he was President of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee."

In 1978 the HSCA interviewed Sylvia Duran: "He show me letters to the Communist Party, the American Communist Party, his labor card from Russia, his marriage pact, yes that he was married with a Russian, and a clipping that he was with two policeman taking him by his arms, that he was in meeting to support Cuba. And a card saying he was a member of the New Orleans Fair Play for Cuba Committee."

In September 1963 Mexico City Cuban Consul Eusebio Azque was in the process of training his replacement, Consul Alfredo Mirabell Diaz. The CIA reported: "The DGI element in Mexico City in the Fall of 1963 was headed by Alfredo Mirabell Diaz who had arrived on September 2, 1963, formally as the replacement of the Consul Eusebio Azque (departed November 19, 1963). The deputy DGI chief (and as of June 1964, Mirabell's successor) was Manuel Vega Perez." Both Cuban diplomats spoke with OSWALD. The HSCA testimony of Consul Alfredo Mirabell Diaz: "I noticed that he presented a card or credentials as belonging to the United States Communist Party...I was surprised by the fact that the card seemed to be a new card...generally we do not use credentials, or a card, to identify ourselves as party members. It would be interesting to know how he obtained the card. It did have his name, and it did coincide with the name that appeared in the other document. My impression from the very first moment was that it was a provocation. He insisted on the urgency of his need for a visa. He indicated that he was being persecuted. He indicated that he could not stay long in Mexico, that he had an urgent need to travel to Cuba, and from there to go to the Soviet Union."

Consul Eusebio Azque testified before the HSCA: "He is exhibiting or producing documents such as one attesting to his membership in the U.S. Communist Party. Also another indicating that he is a member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Also another document indicating his residence in the Soviet Union, as well as a marriage certificate to a Soviet citizen. He came with a book of Lenin under his arm, and I didn't like that; I understand that a Communist doesn't need a book by Lenin to be able to express his tendencies." Azque also stated:

A. He requested the visa and came with a document that accredited him as being in the American Communist Party.

Q. You were saying that the first time that OSWALD came to your office he showed you his documents and they had to do with his membership in the Communist Party?

A. Yes, but I didn't analyze them.

Q. Were these documents at some time attached to the visa request?

A. No. That was a form of introduction.

When the FBI searched OSWALD'S possessions, it found membership cards for the Fair Play for Cuba Committee signed by "A.J. Hidell, Secretary, Fair Play for Cuba Committee" which indicated that OSWALD was a member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, but found no documents that indicated OSWALD was Secretary of the Fair Play for Cuba's New Orleans Chapter. This honor was bestowed upon A.J. Hidell. The FBI determined that A.J. Hidell's signature was probably not prepared by OSWALD. [NARA 124-10164-10011] The FBI found his marriage certificate which he had displayed to Duran. The FBI did not find his Communist Party membership card.

Sylvia Duran believed that membership in the Communist Party was a sure way to get into Cuba: "If you're Mexican, and you're a Communist Party member, you don't have to go and apply for a visa because the Party writes to the Cuban Communist Party, and they arrange everything...At first he said he was a Communist. That was strange. Because it would really be easy for him to get the visa through the Communist Party...What I said is that when he said he was a member of the Party, of the Communist Party, the American, I said why don't they arrange, the Party, your Party, with the Cuban Party and he said he didn't have time to do it." [HSCA V3 p58]

Note how the statements of Sylvia Duran about membership in the OSWALD'S Communist Party, and his presidency of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, changed over the years. Sylvia Duran downgraded OSWALD'S forged Communist Party membership card into a letter OSWALD wrote to the Communist Party. Her first report, where she had the documents in front of her, was the most accurate. OSWALD carried a counterfeit Communist Party membership card. This indicated that he was running an operation against the Cubans using false identification. OSWALD was ordered to destroy or return these two documents. They were too sophisticated to be another OSWALD do-it-yourself project. They needed other signatures.

HUNT and PHILLIPS had an unimaginative mentality, and when they ran OSWALD in Mexico City they made him a card-carrying member of the Communist Party. HEMMING told this researcher: "That could be. It's not hard to do, the cards are on file."

Sylvia Duran said that OSWALD showed her a Russian marriage certificate and work permit. These documents were written in Russian, a language that Sylvia Duran did not speak or read. [WR p288] How did she know these were genuine? Sylvia Duran said OSWALD showed her "a clipping that he was with two policemen taking him by the arms." There was no photograph printed in any newspaper of OSWALD'S arrest in New Orleans. OSWALD was referred to the Soviets and asked to get photographs for a visa.

Sylvia Duran said she advised OSWALD he would need photographs of himself. He left the Consulate to get them. OSWALD'S visa application photographs were not taken in Mexico City. First, the FBI checked every photograph studio within an eight mile radius of the Embassy. None of them had photographed OSWALD. [FBI 62-109060-NR 199 6.15.64] In the photographs OSWALD was wearing a sweater; the temperature in Mexico City in late September did not require a sweater in the daytime. The photographs looked like they were taken by machine. The FBI reported: "The clothes which OSWALD was wearing in the photograph which appears on the application appear to be the same as some of those found among his effects after the assassination, and the photograph itself appears to be from the same negative as a photograph found among his effects." [WR p304] Photograph machines did not produce negatives. The Warren Commission: "The passport photographs may have been obtained in the United States." [WR p734]

OSWALD had previously applied for visas, and knew that photographs were required. Who did he meet with during the time he was allegedly getting these photographs that he had brought with him from the United States?

The normal hours of the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City, according to the CIA, were 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. [CIA 700-304] Some time between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. OSWALD appeared at the Soviet Embassy. There was no CIA photographic surveillance during these hours.

The word "camera 335" appeared on page 13 of OSWALD'S address book. The Secret Service transcribed the word as "Carracas (?)." "Camera 335" was followed by the word "gun" directly beneath it. Oleg Nechiporenko reported that OSWALD took a revolver with him when he visited the Soviet Embassy. The word "camera" appeared again on the same page followed by the word "us" or "U.S." The word "gun" appeared a second time on that page of the address book, followed by the words "me; watch her; ring sell." This seemed to be a list of things OSWALD sold before he left the USSR. The word spy appeared on this page, disguised as the Russian word for wedding ring. Double click here to see this page from OSWALD'S notebook.

HEMMING was asked if OSWALD'S gun would help convince the Soviets he was a provocation: "I knew that, but there are assholes like HUNT and others who wouldn't know that shit. They got their head up their ass. The dinosaurs at the Agency, at the time, had a stereotypical view of Castro and the whole fucking deal. That's why things came apart. They couldn't understand what reality was. Castro is not about to recruit some fucking nut that takes shots at General Walker. He doesn't give a rat's ass. These are embarrassing fucking people. They're psychopaths."

At the Soviet Embassy, OSWALD spoke with Valeriy Vladimirovich Kostikov [201-305,052] who was "first spotted as a KGB man because of his travels around Mexico, his habitual association with known KGB officers, and because consuls, in Soviet practice, are usually KGB men." The CIA: "Valeriy Kostikov is an identified KGB officer. He was a case officer in an operation which is evidently sponsored by the KGB's Department 13 (responsible for sabotage and assassination)." Department 13 of the KGB was also known as "the department of liquid affairs."The CIA also reported "Kostikov's involvement in (Deleted) is the only reason to believe that he is connected with the 13th Department. Kostikov was in clandestine contact with (Deleted) (as definitely confirmed by (deleted) photo identification) and arranged (Deleted's) contact in the U.S. with a KGB colleague of Kostikov's." [CIA 182-621] The CIA stated that this department "conducts interviews or, as appropriate, file reviews, on every foreign military defector to the USSR, to study and to determine the possibility of utilizing the defector in his country of origin." [CIA 509-803]

Tennent Bagley reported: "Kostikov was born on March 17, 1933, in Moscow. In 1959, Kostikov applied for a visa to accompany Khrushchev's party to the United States, but we have no record of him having come to this country. Kostikov served as an interpreter at international conferences at Madrid and Barcelona in 1958 and 1959. In late 1959 and early 1960 he attended Soviet exhibitions in Mexico City and Havana. He is known to have been in Cuba from January 6, 1960 to March 7, 1960. He was assigned to the Soviet Embassy, Mexico City, as Vice Consul on September 19, 1961. A fluent Spanish speaker, he had traveled abroad at least three times before this permanent assignment." The CIA: "Kostikov's physical description quite accurately fits that of a Soviet case officer." Valeriy Kostikov "handled a Soviet agent who was trained to do sabotage work." In 1968 Valeriy Kostikov was expelled from Mexico, after he was arrested for holding two Mexican engineers at gunpoint. He returned several years later, but was pulled out by Moscow in 1971, after a defector threatened his cover. [Barron KGB p307]

On January 13, 1964, ANGLETON advised Sam Papich that "the CIA had received no request from the Warren Commission concerning Department 13...CIA did receive a call from Guy Richards, the author, who talked to the Press Officer at CIA and wanted information on the identity and functions of the 'Assassination Section' of the KGB...ANGLETON communicated with Allen Dulles, who advised that he also got a call from Guy Richards asking if the Commission was looking into the activities of Department 13...ANGLETON also advised that Guy Richards had also contacted other agencies of the government...Department 13 was first mentioned by Golitsyn. He described it functions as including sabotage, assassination...Golitsyn's information was subsequently, in the Summer of 1963, collaborated by (deleted)..." [FBI 62-109090-NR 1.24.64 Sullivan to Branigan] Guy Richards was a writer for the New York Journal American. On December 28, 1963, he wrote an article titled "Assassinations Fit Red Pattern - Probe Seeks OSWALD-Castro Link," which relied on information supplied by Nathan Weyl.

The Warren Commission claimed that, speaking in Russian, OSWALD explained to Valeriy Kostikov that he wanted a Soviet visa and displayed a letter from the Soviet Consulate, Washington, which indicated OSWALD had long been awaiting this visa for his wife and himself. He gave Valeriy Kostikov his 1959 passport showing that he had lived in Soviet Russia for two and a half years. OSWALD showed Valeriy Kostikov his marriage certificate, which indicated his marriage to a Soviet national. According to Oleg Nechiporenko, who also questioned OSWALD, OSWALD said the FBI was persecuting him and his wife. He was informed that he could not expect an answer for about four months.

Yuri Nosenko stated that after OSWALD'S first visit, the KGB's Mexican Legal Resident cabled KGB Headquarters, Moscow, and requested information on OSWALD. In October 1963 Nosenko claimed he had been sitting in the office of Seventh Department Chief, K.N. Dubas when the cable arrived. The cable, which Nosenko said he did not personally see, specified that OSWALD had dealt with Soviet Foreign Ministry personnel only, and not with the KGB. When ANGLETON showed Nosenko a photograph of Valeriy Kostikov he noted: "No comment from N." [CIA FOIA 261091] Yuri Nosenko claimed that the First Chief Directorate, Counter-intelligence Abroad, had no information on OSWALD, so it telephoned the Second Chief Directorate, Tourism, and was given a rundown on OSWALD. It was determined the Legal Resident should not recommend OSWALD to the Cubans nor issue him a visa. Yuri Nosenko: "We said absolutely not, because he is completely undesirable." [CIA 498]

William Coleman and David Slawson wanted copies of the cable, which had presumably been intercepted by the CIA, and "discussed (deleted) both during the time of OSWALD'S visits there in September, October 1963, and immediately after the assassination. (Deleted.) We then discussed briefly the possibilities that the National Security Administration might be able to break the codes for the times when OSWALD was in Mexico City, using as a key (deleted). They felt that code-breaking might be possible and should be tried."

If Yuri Nosenko was dispatched, then he would have said that the Department of Tourism made the decision, to protect the identity of an informant in the Dallas White Russian community. Had this informant alerted Counter-intelligence Abroad that OSWALD associated with Russian exiles? HEMMING told this researcher: "The Communists had agents there. Just like the Marielitos. They get inside the community, hear these Russian speakers, talking all kinds of Romanov and Czarist bullshit. They got their people in there listening to them because these people are money-connected. What has OSWALD been saying to these people? We don't know that. We can't get a straight story on that. If he wanted to ingratiate himself with the White Russian Community who have become Bible-thumping Baptists to survive in Texas, then he's gonna be a reborn turkey. He's gonna say 'I was wrong, and I am a witness now, brothers. I've been to the Soviet Union and I lived there. Let me tell you the truth. I'm a reborn freedom-lovin' American.' Do we know that was his posture? We don't know what his fucking posture was. If he was posturing that way with the White Russians and one of the KGBniks that's in there is some kind of dedicated fuck that now hates OSWALD because OSWALD is coming in with this new truth, which this guy secretly knows is the truth because he's living in luxury, and he's gonna be there for a long time. He's fucking asleep, but he's a dedicated Marxist, or a dedicated money-grubber. OSWALD either pisses him off, or OSWALD has given clues that he has trade craft. Here's a guy that has come in, has been in the Marine Corps, has lived in the Soviet Union, and is now dealing with anti-Castro Cubans. I mean this guy is a competitor for Edwin Walker. I mean this guy is a real live fucking hero. There are probably a couple of people who got upset about that. I can see a KGBnik saying, 'Wait a minute, we have a guy here that was in the Soviet Union. Now he's becoming very popular and he's talking about connections with anti-Castro groups.'"

Support for the theory that the KGB was apprised of OSWALD'S contacts with the Russian exile community came from Pavel Golovachev, who told Peter Wronski that he "continued to report to KGB Officer Kostikov until May 1962, when the OSWALD'S left for the U.S.A. Golovachev testified he had no contact with the KGB until either in July or August 1963, he was suddenly asked to report to KGB headquarters with everything that OSWALD had left behind, and all correspondence in the United States, with him. Why the KGB suddenly renewed their interest in OSWALD in the summer of 1963, Golovachev doesn't know." Pavel Golovachev only told this story to Peter Wronski. [Golovachev, Wronski Third Decade] A 1992 Izvestia article reported this interrogation took place in November 1963, after Pavel Golovachev sent a condolence letter to Marina Oswald that was intercepted by the KGB. After OSWALD was shot, Pavel Golovachev was arrested and subjected to a hostile interrogation. He was accused of being a CIA collaborator. His father never spoke with him again. James Hosty believed the alleged interrogation of Pavel Golovachev in August 1963 was a result of OSWALD applying for a Soviet visa: "Why did the KGB suddenly believe he was an intelligence agent when they had him for three years?"

Oleg Nechiporenko had an entirely different version of events than Yuri Nosenko. He claimed that on October 25, 1963, the Deputy Chairman of the KGB Secretariat, S. Bannikov, made the decision not to issue OSWALD a visa. Yuri Nosenko, on the other hand, asserted that the First Chief Directorate of the KGB (Intelligence Abroad), initially learned of OSWALD at this time. This was false. Oleg Nechiporenko stated OSWALD was linked with this Directorate in 1959. The file turned over to the Warren Commission by the Soviet Embassy, Washington, indicated the First Chief Directorate would have known of OSWALD as early as February 1963 when Marina Oswald requested to return home. [CIA Rep. on Op. Act. (1958-1960) DC/Amer. Brit. Common. Sec.] Yuri Nosenko claimed OSWALD had no contact with the KGB in Mexico City. This was also false.

OSWALD received special treatment from Sylvia Duran. He was admitted to the Cuban Embassy Friday at 4:00 p.m., after working hours, because of her. The HSCA questioned Duran about this:

Q. When do you recall him returning?

A. He came in the afternoon.

Q. About what time?

A. Five or six.

Q. And that would have been, according to what you told us earlier, not normal visiting hours. Is that correct?

A. Yes.

Q. How were you able to speak to him on this occasion?

A. Because somebody came to the doorman and was speaking another language that wasn't Spanish, he used to call me and say somebody's here that doesn't speak Spanish, someone sent me to you, so he takes the people to the Consulate.

Q. And the doorman came and got you?

A. Yes.

Duran also told the HSCA: "The first visit was late in the morning, the second visit was early afternoon."

From telephone lines to the Soviet Embassy, the Mexico City CIA station had a complete daily account of conversations between Soviets inside the embassy, and callers from without. Since a telephone call occurred during OSWALD'S first visit, a CIA document indicated the meeting occurred at 4:00 p.m., when the consulate was closed to the public.

Sylvia Duran told the HSCA about OSWALD'S second visit to the Cuban Consulate:

A. Well, he came in and said that he already had his Russian visa and he want to get his Cuban visa. And I said that was not possible, because it has to be first sent to Cuba, and then wait for the answer, no, it was necessary that he had to have first a Socialist visa, the Russian visa.

Q. Did he show you his passport with a visa in it? From the Russian Embassy?

A. No. No. I don't remember exactly but what I remember is that he says that he already has his Russian visa and I said I don't see it, and well I don't remember what we discussed in that moment. But he was very stubborn. So I say, 'Well I'm going to call the Russian Consul.' I said 'Here's a man that says he already got his Russian visa.'. And he said, 'Yes, I remember it. He came to us for a visa but the answer will be in three or four months, that was the usual time.'" [HSCA Duran Test. p108, 47]

The CIA's version of events: "Friday September 27, 1963, 4:05 p.m. - The Cuban Consulate phoned the Soviet Consulate. Sylvia Duran, Mexican national and Cuban Consulate clerk, talked to a Soviet official saying that a male American citizen was at the Cuban Consulate asking for a transit visa to pass through Cuba on his way to the Soviet Union. She wants to know to whom he talked in the Soviet Consulate, and who told him he would have no problem about it. If a Soviet visa is assured, the Cuban Consulate can grant him a transit visa, and simply notify Cuban immigration authorities. The Soviet first asks her to wait, and then she has to explain the whole thing over again to another Soviet official, who takes her telephone number and promises to call her back. Sylvia Duran concludes this call by telling the Soviet she herself has moved, and gives her new address for the Soviet Embassy bulletin. He asks her to phone (Sergey Semenovich) Kukharenko (Second Secretary who puts out the Bulletin) to give him the new address and he asks who the Cuban Cultural Attache is. Sylvia Duran gives the Attache's name as Teresa Proenza and adds her telephone number."

Another CIA document stated: "Just after 4:00 p.m. the Soviet Consulate received a call from the Cuban Consulate (Sylvia Duran) who said she had there a U.S. citizen who had requested a transit visa to Cuba because he is going to the USSR. Duran wants to know with whom he spoke at Soviet Embassy because she sent him over to them, telling him that if the Soviets approved the visa then the Cubans would give him one without anything more, advising the Department of Immigration in Cuba. She wants to know with whom he spoke at the Soviet Embassy because he says he doesn't know either with what person and who told him that certainly there would be no problem. The Soviet asks Duran to wait a minute. After a short wait Duran explains the same thing to another Soviet. This Soviet tells her to leave her telephone number and her name and someone will return the call. Duran gives her name and telephone number 11-28-47 then says as a personal thing, she has moved and has not advised them of a change of address so will not receive their Bulletin and can give it to them now. The Soviet asks her to call Koukhardenko in order to change that address and asks for the name of the Cuban Cultural Attache. Duran says it is Teresa Proenza whose number is 14-13-26. The Soviet thanks her." The Mexican Police stated: "The declarant, admittedly exceeding her responsibilities, informally telephoned the Russian Consulate, with the intention of doing what she could to facilitate issuance of the Russian visa to OSWALD."

At 4:26 p.m., Friday, September 27, 1963, a Soviet calls from the Soviet Embassy Chancery to the Cuban Consulate and asks for Sylvia Duran. He asks Duran if the American has been there. Duran: Yes, he is still here.

Soviet: According to the letters that he showed from the Soviet Consulate in Washington, he wants to go to Russia to stay for a long time with his wife who is Russian, but also the answer has not been received by him regarding his problem. That accordingly these transactions take four or five months, but without prior approval from the U.S.S.R., they have to request and even then, they could not issue here (in Mexico City) without asking Washington. Yet accordingly this man (the American) showed him a letter in which he (the American) is a member of an organization in favor of Cuba and said that the Cubans could not give him the visa without the Russian visa and now the Soviet doesn't know what to do with him, because he has to wait for the answer from Washington.

Duran: ..with them also, because the problem with him (the American) is that he doesn't know anyone in Cuba and in that case it is very difficult to give him a visa because he was thinking of processing his visa because he knew it was going to take a long time waiting for the Russian visa and then going on to the USSR.

Soviet: That the thing is that if his (the American) wife were in Washington (and) going to receive the visa right now, or the permission from the USSR to return to her country, (if) she is going to receive her visa in Washington, then having permission, for example, here or in any other place (he) can receive it, but right now they do not have them.

Duran: ...certainly and neither can (the Cubans) give him a letter because I don't know if the visa will be approved.

Soviets: They can only give the visa according to his instructions.

Duran: Then that is what she will put on his application.

Soviet: Neither can I give him a letter of recommendation, because I don't know him, and pardon me for bothering you.

Duran: It was no bother, thank you very much.

During OSWALD'S absence, Sylvia Duran spoke with Cuban Consul Eusebio Azque, who told her that despite his credentials, he would still need a Russian visa. Consul Eusebio Azque explained: "She might have believed that because of the fact that he was a resident in the Soviet Union, and [because] he was a member of the North American Communist Party, she might have believed that we might have been in a position to make an exception..."

Sylvia Duran gave OSWALD another chance to persuade Consul Eusebio Azque to issue him a visa. She suggested Consul Eusebio Azque speak with OSWALD again. According to Sylvia Duran, she did this because OSWALD "became very excited and angry, and accordingly Duran called Consul Eusebio Azque...who came out and began a heated discussion with OSWALD in English which concluded with Azque telling him that, 'If it were up to me, I would not give you the visa. You are harming the Cuban Revolution, not helping it.' Consul Eusebio Azque stated: "OSWALD was carrying documents which he believed would be sufficient for the visa, and the secretary could not resolve the case, she then calls upon me to see whether, upon examination of those documents, I can proceed to immediately issue the visa. I answered negatively. He was interested in telling me...that which he believed would be sufficient to obtain the visa. And our conversations were always extremely brief, because I used to put an end to these conversations, referring to my government's instructions...to obtain its prior authorization before issuing any visa. [OSWALD thought] that I may be in a position to provide him, without prior consultation with Cuba, with a transit visa, but [not without] the visa of the Soviet Union already affixed to his passport. Everything went around that issue."

OSWALD maintained that he had two reasons for requesting that his visa be issued promptly, and they were: One, that his Mexican tourist permit was about to expire; and the other, that he had to get to Russia as quickly as possible. Sylvia Duran "gave OSWALD a paper...in which she put down her name, and the Consulate telephone number, and the visa application was processed anyway. It was sent to the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations, from which a routine reply was received some 15 to 30 days later, approving the visa, but on the condition that the Russian visa be obtained first. She does not recall whether or not OSWALD later telephoned her at the Consulate number that she gave him."

Mexico City

Colsulado de Cuba

Zamora y f Marquez

11-28-47

Sylvia Duran (Different ink)

-------------------------------------------

Embajada De La Union

de Las Republicas Socialistas

15 61 55 (15 60 55) (Different ink)

-------------------------------------------

Cubano Airlines

Paseo De La Reforma

56 (Overwritten)

35 (Overwritten)-79-00

--------------------------------------------

U. S. Embassy Lafragua 18

46 94 00

Warren Commission Counsel David Slawson wrote:

"Examination of the address book in the original shows that OSWALD used pens and inks of many different kinds in making various entries. For example, on the page which contains the names and addresses of the Embassies in Mexico City, all these names and addresses are obviously from the same pen and the same ink, but the name Sylvia Duran is in a different ink, and was probably written with a ball point pen.

"This strongly indicates that OSWALD got the names and addresses of the embassies at some earlier time, perhaps before he left New Orleans, and that he wrote down Sylvia Duran's name after he met her at the Cuban Embassy. It would be interesting to know if the same ball point pen that was used to write her name was also used to make other entries in the notebook. This would be especially significant, because what appears to be an alternate telephone number for the Russian Embassy in Mexico City seems to be from a pen which is different from both that were used to write 'Sylvia Duran' and from that used to write the names and addresses of the several embassies.

"This points to the fact that OSWALD did not have a pen with him, but was borrowing pens to make these entries, and therefore probably borrowed one pen at the Cuban Embassy to write 'Sylvia Duran' and another at the Russian Embassy to write the alternative telephone number. It follows from this that if any other entry in the notebook is from the same pen and ink as the 'Sylvia Duran' entry or the alternate telephone number, that it was probably made at the same time and place as these other entries were made."

"To carry this conjecture out even further, there is what appears to be a floor diagram on page four of this notebook and it is written in an ink that could be the same as the ink used to write 'Sylvia Duran' in the notebook. If this proves to be the case, it could mean the floor plan was drawn when OSWALD was at the Cuban Consulate. Obviously my analysis so far is much to highly conjectural, but it indicates the kind of inferences that could legitimately be taken from a closer analysis of the address book. I recommend we ask that a CIA expert on this sort of thing be assigned the task of analyzing the entire notebook to give us a report on what entries were probably made by OSWALD with the same pen and ink." [UnID WC Doc. Declass. 6.21.73-Rankin/Helms]

J. Lee Rankin also wrote: "It would be of interest to know which entries were made with the same inks for the purpose of establishing relationships between entries. Special reference was made to a page in the booklet reserved for entries under the Russian equivalent for the letter K."

On February 26, 1964 J. Lee Rankin wrote: "In connection with this page, it appears to the layman's eye that the great majority of words written thereon were written with the same ink pen...However, the entry 'Sylvia Duran' seems to have been inserted later, apparently by OSWALD, with a dark, blue ball point pen. Another entry apparently was added - perhaps by OSWALD - with a lighter ball point pen. This appears to be an alternative telephone number of the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City. On this page there is also the matter of an overwriting, again probably by OSWALD with a ball point pen - of four numerals which appear to have been originally with the ink pen previously referred to. The Commission believes that some possibly valuable information might be obtained from a analysis resulting in a determination as to which entries in the address book were made with the same inks."

The FBI prepared a first response to the Warren Commission which went undelivered. The signature of William Branigan appeared on the document with a slash mark running through it. S.A. Griffith, who drafted the FBI response, wrote: "I don't think this went out - G."

"Dear Mr. Rankin:

"Reference is made to your letter of February 25, 1964, with which you enclosed a small address book covered in grey plastic, Item B-29 (WCE 18), with a request for certain specified analyses of entries appearing therein.

"The figures 15-60-55, and the overwritten figures 35 56 in ball point pen ink were not written with the same ball point cartridge used to write the name Sylvia Duran on the page to which your letter made reference.

"It has not been possible to determine whether the figures 15-60-55 and the overwritten figures, 35 56 were, or were not, written with the same ball point pen cartridge. A further determination would require removal of small samples of these inks from the page. This may prove the two to be different or that their dye composition is similar. However, similarity of composition would not be sufficient to establish that the same pen or ink was used.

"Under microscopic examination there were observed some indications that the name, Sylvia Duran, in blue ball point pen ink was added after the drawn horizontal line in black which it touches." [W. D. Griffith to Conrad 2.23.64 FBI 105-32555]

On March 4, 1964, Branigan added this paragraph to the letter to Rankin: "Inks are not susceptible to identification with one another and similarity of composition would not establish that the same pen was used in preparing the two questioned writings. Ink identifications are not scientifically possible..." [FBI 105-82555-2424; WC Rankin to Hoover 2.26.64 Invest. & Evidence 3-6]

The question of what other entries were made in the same ink as the floor plan was never answered by the FBI.

Sylvia Duran told the HSCA that she discussed her suspicions of OSWALD with Consul Eusebio Azque: "It was strange, I mean because if you are a Communist, and you're coming from a country where the Communist Party is not very well seen, and in Mexico City that the Communist Party was not legal at that moment - crossing the border with all of that paper, it was not logical (and I was a little suspicious about the amount of documentation he brought)."

If Duran was suspicious of Oswald, why did she have intercourse with him?

THEORY ONE: HEMMING told her to do it.

THEORY TWO: Because of her highly promiscuous sexual behavior, and the fact that she was married, she was blackmailed into helping OSWALD by someone at the CIA Station, Mexico City.

THEORY THREE: Sylvia Duran Tirado was sexually attracted to OSWALD and did it because she had fallen in love with him.

THEORY FOUR: She had been recruited by what she believed to be the Mexico City CIA Station as a potential asset, and was on, what she believed to be, her first mission. In reality, she was being set up by PHILLIPS.

Sylvia Duran told the HSCA: "I now work for Social Security...I don't remember exactly, but I used to work for the Olympic Games. I was a translator for two months...I used to work for an Hispanic Art exhibit that went all over the world...I was married in 1960." HEMMING told this researcher: "After I was released from jail in Cuba in September 1960, I went to Mexico City to meet with my Sandinista contacts. I was supposed to deliver a letter to them from Ché, which had been sent by diplomatic pouch before I was arrested, and therefore preceded me. I had a Cuban Diplomatic Passport then to see these people who were underground. I still had the Cuban's confidence. They locked me up just to see if I would break down. I went to the Cuban Consulate and met Sylvia Duran, who had no official position with them. She wasn't bad looking. I also knew a 'Sylvia Duran' in Cuba. When I got to Mexico and they told me I would be meeting with Sylvia Duran, I figured it was her. I questioned the other Sylvia Duran as being Sylvia Duran, because she had a Mexican accent, not Cuban."

HEMMING was asked if he had ever recontacted her and asked to get OSWALD into Cuba? HEMMING told this researcher: "You know that's very strange. Because nobody knew that address, nobody knew she worked for the Cubans and her name came up. Sylvia Duran did not work in public contact." It was pointed out to HEMMING that Sylvia Duran did not work at the Cuban Consulate until 1963. HEMMING: "Bullshit. You don't get the fucking picture. She did not handle a public desk. She'd been working for the Cubans since she personally met Fidel in 1956. She met Ché in 1956. They are protecting me as a source. I gave up all that information. She was carried in the Mexican SIM intelligence files. It's obvious she's on the payroll. A lot of the stuff that was passed to the CIA, I was getting the impression they already had it. When they don't go into background. They already got most of the shit that Sylvia Duran knows. That told me right off the bat, she's working both sides. I didn't burn her. I didn't warn anybody. They don't want the world to know she's working for the company. That she forged documents for people. [CIA traces indicated, "Duran had been involved in the work of getting false Mexican passports for trips by students of other nationalities to Cuba..." CIA 461-774] That she copied documents of all these Americans that were going to cut sugar cane in Cuba, they don't want this shit to come out. And that she was doing exactly what she was told to do for this guy OSWALD. She was doing all this shit for some dude who just climbed off a Red Arrow bus? Fuck me! Come again! Shit, how come I didn't get any? I mean this was a real dumb broad. Yeah, shit, there was plenty of pussy around. I'm not going to say I'm pissed off because OSWALD got something that I didn't. She was no clown. If someone of the proper rank came to her and said 'Do this, do that.' She's working for the CIA, she's told to fuck. There's nothing new about that. Why did they pop her name up in 1960 when I came out of Cuba? She's in the Los Angeles Domestic Contacts Division reports that they won't release now. [They were released and Duran's name was not mentioned] Her name figures there. The address of the safehouse and the whole fucking thing is there. I got that from Ché before I left Cuba. Ché had known her and had screwed her sister, or cousin, or something, when he was with Fidel in Mexico in 1956, okay. That makes her a target right away. Duran is another fucking link to me. You think that fucking upsets me? These are my fucking contacts. They think he's working for me." HEMMING told the HSCA the same story.

FBI Agent Larson "described Sylvia Duran as best he could, basically, as a 'Mexican Pepperpot,' a devout communist, and 'sexy.' (The CIA later showed us some pictures of her, which substantially confirmed this description)." [WC Slawson Memo 4.22.64] Did the CIA have compromising photos of Duran?

CIA Mexico City Station files revealed that the CIA wanted to ask Sylvia Duran about friendship or contact with one Richard J. Aranda, resident of Texas. Owner of 1950 Cadillac with 1963 Texas plates JF 96-75. "Sylvia was with Aranda in his car in January 1963, and it is believed they had intimate relations."

The CIA document stated: "Friendship or contact with one Carol J. Soles? Details? American, resident of Corpus Christie, Texas, owner of the 1962 Fiat, with 1963 plates from Texas KU 94-95; Sylvia was with Soles in this car in January 1963 and it is believed they had intimate relations."

Carol J. Soles was contacted by this researcher in May 1993.

Q. Were you the same Carol J. Soles who lived in Corpus Christi and owned a 1962 Fiat?

A. Yeah, I did.

Q. Did you know Sylvia Duran?

A. No ma'am. Ah, no sir.

Q. She worked in the Cuban Consulate in Mexico City.

A. No ma'am. No sir, I mean, I'm sorry.

Q. The CIA stated she was in your car in Mexico City and you had intimate relations with her.

A. Do what??? No sir, who are you?

Q. I'm a researcher working on the Kennedy assassination.

A. I had nothing to with Kennedy assassination. I did own a Fiat automobile.

Q. Did it have Texas plates KU-9495?

A. Hey man, that's been 30 years or so ago. I don't know. How do you spell the first name?

Q. C-A-R-O-L?

A. Nope. It's not spelled right. You have the wrong guy. I was never in Mexico City around this time. I didn't know anyone in the Cuban Consulate. What did they say about this person? Did they give any information about his employment? That Fiat was never in Mexico City when I had it. It was never out of Texas till 1963, and I was on my way to Spain when the President was shot.

Q. And what were you doing at this time?

A. Well, I don't think its any of your damn business to tell you the truth. Actually I was in the military. In the U.S. Navy.

Carol J. Soles was mailed a copy of the document about him then recontacted. [Soles, Carol telephone 503-538-5306]

Q. Did you receive the document?

A. It must be some kind of a joke. I don't know what else it could be. What are you tryin' to do - pull my leg?

Q. You weren't trading confidential information for sex and money with Sylvia Duran, were you?

A. Where would I get any of the information?

Q. You were in the Navy at the time.

A. Yeah, I was, I was training pilots down in Corpus Christi, I had no way of getting any information down there. I was never in Mexico City in 19 ah. It can't be me. I doubt that my Fiat would have made it to Mexico City.

Q. Why would the CIA pick on you? You're a loyal American.

A. The only thing is they may have picked something out of the air to ask somebody during interrogation, I don't know. I don't know Sylvia Duran and like I say, I was never in Mexico City in 1962. I'm sure they didn't do it through surveillance in Mexico City.

Q. That was precisely what happened. They got the plates, they wrote that you were "observed."

A. Well they're mistaken. I was never in Mexico City in 1962.

Q. Sixty-three?

A. I wasn't there either. I don't know what to tell you fella, except that I'm not the guy.

"Contact with Harry Lee Saffe? Details? American, resident of San Antonio, Texas, owner of 1959 Chevrolet which was parked in front of the house of Sylvia's brother in January 1963." [CIA 461-774]

Sylvia Duran also had an affair with Carlos Lechuga. The CIA reported: "A usually reliable and sensitive source in Mexico reported that on November 26, 1962, Gladys Lechuga, wife of Carlos Lechuga, Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations, formerly a Cuban Ambassador to Mexico, said that she had received two letters from her husband in New York. He asked for a separation and said that the person in whom he is interested in Sylvia T. De Duran; that she is 'of his ideas' and was willing to go to Cuba...Another usually reliable source with good contacts in the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City reported in November 1962 that Lechuga and Duran did have an affair. The Cuban Embassy was aware of it, but efforts were made to keep it from becoming known." [CIA 98-37; CIA 96-572] When she was questioned by the Mexican Police she denied knowing all of these men with the exception of Carlos Lechuga, who she said was friendly with her husband. [CIA 492-778]

The husband of Sylvia Duran, Horacio Duran Navarro, 40 years old, was 14 years older than his wife and may have been an undercover agent of the Mexican Government. The HSCA asked Sylvia Duran about him: "To your knowledge was Horacio Duran Navarro ever a Communist Party member?" She answered: "I think that he was, I don't know if he was exactly a member, but he was sympathizer, and we had a lot of friends that were Communist Party members." HSCA investigator Dan Hardway then asked Sylvia Duran: "To your knowledge, was Horacio Duran Navarro ever a member of any intelligence organization?" Sylvia Duran: "I don't remember exactly. I think he was working for the, how you say that? I think he was in a campaign. Against the drugs...Being Communist, being policeman. All of that, it was after I meet him...I mean before I meet him." In another part of her HSCA interview she commented, "I saw that [OSWALD] could get angry, but for me he was not a man that could kill the President, because even when I saw him on television and he said, 'I'm innocent' and if I kill someone important, I would be proud. I mean, because even if I'm with police [CIA] I know that I am going to be killed or die, I'd say, 'Yes, I killed the President.'" At one point she was asked "Did it ever enter your mind that OSWALD was a penetration agent?" Sylvia Duran: "Perhaps, because it happened, it happened sometimes that somebody came and say this is a policeman or something like that." [HSCA V3 p57]

Sylvia Duran suggested that her husband was simultaneously a policeman and a Communist Party member or sympathizer - a penetration agent, probably for the Mexican Government.

When the Mexican Police questioned Horacio Duran Navarro, it learned he was a Mexican citizen by birth, the son of a Chilean father and a Mexican mother. Horacio Duran Navarro taught a course at the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). They had one child. His salary at UNAM was $1,400 per month. He said that until he was eight, he had lived in Los Angeles. Later on he moved to Mexico City with his parents. Afterwards, they moved to Santiago de Chile, where they remained one year and a half, after which he returned to Mexico. He registered at the National School of Agriculture. Horacio Duran Navarro devoted his free time to doing private jobs as a industrial designer, for which work he earned an income of $5,000 per month. In 1950, he married Lucille Dejardin, a French woman, with whom he had a son, Paul Duran Dejardin. This marriage lasted six years, and upon its dissolution, he was married on November 5, 1958, to Sylvia, with whom he had a daughter named Patricia.

Sylvia Duran liked life on the wild side. Although it was illegal for Mexican citizens to work for Communist Bloc embassies without special permission, she was a temporary employee of the Visa Section of the Cuban Consulate. Sylvia Duran was not a member of the Mexican Communist Party: she said she disagreed with all its policies except for its support of Cuba. The Warren Commission was skeptical, and asked the CIA to investigate. The CIA vouched for the veracity of this statement, as well as all her other statements, and implied that a secret CIA wiretap confirmed she was telling the truth. [CIA 559-243, 844-888, 385, 807-828, 643-273; WR 305] Sylvia Duran did not get her job through normal Communist Party channels. In the Spring of 1963, while working in an art gallery in Mexico City, Sylvia Duran became friendly with Cuban national Maria Carmen Olavarri, a secretary at the Cuban Consulate, who was the relative of Mexico City Cuban Consul Eusebio Azque. Consul Eusebio Azque was described as being "part of (deleted) select group of shock and confidential agents of Castro who are active in Mexico." [CI Staff CIA FOIA HH9013] Through Maria Carmen Olavarri, Sylvia Duran became a coordinator of the Mexican/Cuban Cultural Relations Institute. She reported that "while working in that Institute, she went to the Cuban Embassy to help the Cultural Attache Maria Teresa Proenza (201-291,531; born March 21, 1913). The help she rendered there consisted of answering the telephones and doing secondary tasks. She said she had known Maria Teresa Proenza before she had been Institute coordinator, since she was a good friend of Paul Flores Cuerrero, the husband of Sylvia Duran's sister-in-law, who died about three and a half years ago. It was through Paul Flores Cuerrero that Sylvia Duran met Maria Teresa Proenza." [CIA 492-778] A few months later, Sylvia Duran visited Havana as a guest of the Castro Government.

In January 1963 the CIA reported that Maria Carmen Olavarri, was being "let go." [CIA 201-291531 FOIA 10679] On July 19, 1963, Maria Carmen Olavarri was killed while driving her Volkswagen Beetle. Sylvia Duran began working at the Cuban Consulate in August 1963 as a "temporary measure as the result of the death in a traffic accident of her friend Maria Carmen Olavarri, who had been occupying that position until some persons should arrive from Cuba who would assume [her position]." Sylvia Duran was recommended for the position once held by Maria Carmen Olavarri by Maria Teresa Proenza, and hired by Ambassador Jose Antonio Portuondo. In her HSCA testimony, Sylvia Duran claimed: "Because my friend Maria Carman Olavarri, she was dead - she had an accident, and during the funeral I told Azque that if he wants me to help him, for some people come from Cuba, just to help him. And of course he says, yes. They need some people they can trust, and I'd been working in the Institute...Azque was an Architect and he knew a lot of people, friends of ours, I mean my husband."

A Secret Kapok report dated May 26, 1967, stated:

1. (Deleted) met with (deleted) at the safehouse on May 25, 1967...

3. (Deleted) then stated that he was doing his best to keep active certain contacts he had had in the past that were on the periphery of the official Cuban circle. He mentioned specifically the case of Sylvia and Horacio Duran, then explained the background of his relationship with them. He related that Sylvia Duran worked as a receptionist at the Consulate in 1963 to 1964, and was on duty when OSWALD applied for a visa. She had been recommended to the Cubans by Teresa Proenza, the press attache from 1959 until 1962. (Deleted) described Proenza as a Cuban woman aged about 52, a lesbian, and a member of the Cuban Communist Party, who was currently in a Cuban jail as a result of a conviction for espionage on behalf of (deleted) CIA. (Deleted) recalled that during his last visit to Havana, a friend of his (deleted) informed him of Proenza's present situation, and advised (deleted) in the event he was asked, he deny he had known Proenza, or had anything to do with her.

4. (Deleted) continued that just the other day Silvia Duran had telephoned him to say hello, and that he had visited her at her home to renew his acquaintance. (Deleted) SAN-26 (10.8) reveals that at about 12:45 p.m. on May 22, 1967, (deleted) telephoned 15-78-11, and asked for Sylvia. When the maid informed him she was not in, he asked for Mr. Horacio. When same negative reply given, he asked that they be advised that (deleted) called to say hello. SAN-26 (11.0) reveals an incoming call from Sylvia Duran in which she asks how he had obtained her number: He replies, 'At the Cuban Institute.' She states that she is studying at some school and at the moment is free to talk. The later replies that he would go to visit her (Constituyentes 143, apt 3) in a few minutes.

(Deleted) continued that Duran informed him that she first met OSWALD when he applied for a visa and had gone out with him several times, since she liked him from the start. She admitted that she had sexual relations with him, but insisted she had no idea of his plans. When the news of the assassination broke, she stated that she was immediately taken into custody by the Mexican police, and interrogated thoroughly, and beaten, until she admitted that she had an affair with OSWALD. She added that ever since then she has cut off all contact with the Cubans, particularly since her husband Horacio, who was badly shaken by the whole affair, went into a rage, and has forbidden her to see them. She added she felt certain her telephone was tapped by the Mexican Police or more probably by the CIA since tapping was an expensive proposition and the Mexicans wouldn't be able to afford it for so long a period.

5. (Deleted) counseled (deleted) against any further contact with the Durans on the ground that it would put him under some sort of suspicion either in the eyes of the Mexican police, or the Cubans. He pointed out little or nothing was to be gained from such a contact.

6. (Deleted) then produced, at (Deleted) request, a sketch of the Consulate and Embassy premises, a copy of which is attached. (Deleted) commented that to his knowledge Cepeda did not have an office, at least not on the first floor. His other comments appear on the sketch as reproduced by (Deleted).

Another CIA document stated:

TO: Chief /Western Hemisphere Division/CO.

FROM: Chief of Station Mexico City

SUBJECT: The (deleted) operation.

5. The sketch mentioned in the last paragraph of (deleted) report dated May 26, 1967, was retained by this Station. (Deleted) used this sketch to discuss with (Deleted) the layout of (Deleted) Section. This statement made at the end of paragraph 4 of report dated May 27, 1967, is in error. (Deleted) section has two telephones. What (Deleted) took for a third phone in the back room of that section is in reality an intercom unit.

6. Headquarters attention is called to paragraphs 3 through 5 of (deleted) report dated May 26, 1967. The fact that Sylvia Duran had sexual intercourse with LEE HARVEY OSWALD on several occasions, when the later was in Mexico City, is probably now, but adds little to the OSWALD case. The Mexican police did not report the extent of the Sylvia Duran-OSWALD relationship to this Station...Sylvia Duran and Teresa Proenza are all well-known to Headquarters. (Deleted.)

For Willard Curtis 201-798,301

[CIA 1225-1129b]

In 1995 the CIA Historical Review Program released this document in full: "July 5, 1967. Dear Willard: I am now in receipt today of HMMA-32243 (paragraph 6) and HMMA-32331 (paragraph 4 of the June 13, 1967 attachment). I note that these proceeded your #1832 acknowledging the material hand-carried by Dick on his way through. Although you undoubtedly had gone into this material by Rowton, we would appreciate some elaboration on the estimate of the validity of LIRING/3's acquaintance with, and story from, Sylvia. I am taking advantage of the bearer's visit to get this to you soonest and will be following up with routine correspondence for the record. Obviously, we are still trying to fill out the whole story for any and all contributors. Regards. Thomas W. Lund. [Handwritten] Suggest we may have to do a complete analysis of the OSWALD file and point out to Headquarters (and to Mexican Govt) all the people who are now claiming to have been with OSWALD that day beginning with as much as we know regarding time of day where OSWALD was from LIENVOY." [NARA #104-10015-10027]

An analysis of the tap on Sylvia Duran's telephone dated June 13, 1967, revealed: "With regard to (Deleted's) personal life, (Deleted) reveals that he has developed a closer personal contact with Sylvia Duran (ex-receptionist of the Embassy and friend of OSWALD) than he has revealed to (Deleted). In this conversation with Sylvia, (Deleted) comments that he does not want to see her husband and would prefer to see her outside. They make a date for 1830 the next day at the tea shop Flaminia on Paseo Reforma."

Another CIA document dated July 3, 1967, contained this paragraph: "(Deleted) reveals that (Deleted) is continuing his meetings with Silvia Duran. (Deleted) had shown no interest in this contact and it appears that (deleted) is developing a romantic attachment to Duran."

OSWALD'S "Coil Craft" secretarial notebook contained these Russian words with Spanish equivalent meanings:

Translation From Russian and Spanish: Word lists contained in a 'Coil Craft' secretarial notebook in Russian with Spanish equivalent meanings, and cardinal numbers in Spanish.

(1) to lunch

there

there

year

*room

here

he, she (here is)

matter

attention

help, assistance

sugar

bathtub, bathhouse

cheap

pumpkin

bedstead, bed

*room, cabin

ram (sheep)

house

onion

to sup

near, close

match

cinema

meeting, tryst

dining room

to eat, to dine

dinner, meal

rabbit (crossed out)

broth

conversation

courier, mail

to cost

damp, raw, hard, tough (crossed out)

spoon

knife

small child, kid

breakfast

rest (repose)

to wish, to desire

money

after, thereupon (later on)

size

sweet

embassy

entrance

she, they (feminine)

how much

beer

How much does it cost?

1 - one

2 - two

3 - three

4 - four

5

6

7 - seven

8 - eight

9 - nine

10 - ten

11 - eleven

12 - twelve

13 - thirteen

14 - fourteen

15 - fifteen

16 - sixteen

17 - seventeen

OSWALD went "to lunch" with Duran to discuss a "matter" that had to be brought to her "attention." OSWALD asked her "help, assistance" after which he rented a "cheap" "room" with a "bedstead" and "bathtub" for a "meeting, tryst." Later they went to the "cinema" then to a "dining room to eat, to dine." OSWALD ordered "rabbit" which was "hard, tough" and "beer." He met his "sweet" later at the "Embassy entrance." [NARA FBI 124-10022-10068]

HSCA investigator Ed Lopez commented: "We asked if she had a relationship with OSWALD, not if she had intercourse. She was very sexually active. For a while there, the CIA was thinking about pitching her, because of her sexual proclivities. She got around."

Sylvia Duran told the Warren Commission she told the Mexican police that "she would not give him her address under any circumstances since she did not have to divulge this to him. That her duties do not include telephoning the USSR Consulate, but that she had diligently done so in order to help LEE OSWALD, for her interest in being of service, and her zeal for performing her work well. That the reason she had given him her [unlisted Consulate] telephone number was so that he could ask her later whether the visa had arrived, but that he had never called again."

Elena Garro de Paz told the FBI that OSWALD attended a twist party at the home of Sylvia Duran's brother-in-law. Elena Garro de Paz was a high-level CIA informant and was friend of June Cobb. [Interview with Edward Lopez 2.94]

(Deleted)

February 7, 1967

SUBJECT: Current Political Topics

PARTICIPANTS: Elena Garro de Paz, Mexican Play write

Kermit Midhun, Political Officer

Charles W. Thomas, Political Officer

Distribution: Ambassador...

3. She said that her cousin, Ruben Duran, also goes to the U.S. quite often without any difficulty, despite the fact (according to her allegation) that he entertained LEE HARVEY OSWALD when the latter was in Mexico.

4. Ruben's brother, Horacio Duran, whose wife, Sylvia Duran, was employed by the Cuban Embassy, now works for Joaquin Cisneros, the Private Secretary of Mexican President Diaz Ordaz. Through Horatio's intervention Cisneros recently ordered Gobernacion to clear a Mexican visa for the son of Eusebio Azque, who was the Cuban Consul in Mexico at the time of the Kennedy assassination.

9. Senora Paz attended a dinner party at the home of the Mexican Ambassador to the U.S., Hugo Margain, when he was in Mexico following the Presidential meeting at the Amistad Dam. She said he lived in a sumptuous new home and had a fleet of private automobiles. The guests were mostly communists who had formerly been members of a Marxist study group. At this time, Margain was bitterly and emotionally denunciatory in his criticism of the U.S. [NARA 1993.06.25-11:08:36:340410]

The FBI reported: "Background: Mrs. Paz is a well-known figure in Mexican political, social and literary circles. She was a play write and well known to many officials of the Embassy including the then Ambassador Fulton Freeman, the then Deputy Chief of Mission Clarence A. Boonstra, and many others. All of these officials expressed to me on various occasions that opinion that Paz is a very interesting person and a scintillating conversationalist, but that she has a vivid imagination and frequently appears to be unable to distinguish between truth and fiction. Although interesting, they all considered her as highly unreliable as a source of information except for Thomas, who apparently placed consistent credence in what Paz said.

"When Paz visited this office in November 1964, she claimed that she had seen OSWALD at a party given at the home of Ruben Duran on September 30, 1963, October 1, or October 2, 1963, as reported in Mexico City LHM dated December 11, 1964. As previously reported, Paz claimed that her daughter (Deleted), who accompanied her at that party met for the first time a young man identified by her as (Deleted). Identification of this individual who had merely been introduced at the party as (Deleted) was made on the basis of correspondence received by her daughter from (Deleted) insistent that her daughter had not met that young man prior to the party. When it was pointed out to her that the letter from (Deleted) was dated September 1, 1963, she merely commented the probably the communists have facilities for falsifying postmarks.

"When (Deleted) was interviewed, he was unable to fix the date of the party but he believed it was probably early in September and neither he, nor the two acquaintances of his who accompanied him to the party, could recall any Americans having been present.

"On December 10, 1965, while talking to a former Foreign Service Officer (Deleted), Paz claimed that the party where she had met OSWALD was held at the home of Ruben Duran 'in September 1963, shortly after her return from abroad' as reported in (Deleted) memo of December 10, 1965.

"In her conversation with (Deleted) on December 25, 1965, as reported in his memo of that date, Paz claimed that she believed the party was about September 2, 1963, or September 3, 1963, 'a few days before the visit of Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin.' (Mexico City newspapers show that Soviet astronaut Gagarin was in Mexico City from February 8, 1963 to February 23, 1963)."

Another FBI document stated: "In 1971 former FBI S.A. Nate Ferris, who succeeded Clark Anderson as the FBI Legal Attache Mexico City, reported to the FBI that journalist Sarah McClendon was planning an article about "Charles William Thomas, a former State Department Official who recently committed suicide. According to Mrs. McClendon's daughter, who lives next door to the Ferrises, Sarah McClendon is going to do the article because Thomas, former Political Officer of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, knew so much about the OSWALD case.

"Mr. Ferris pointed out that when he was Legal Attache in Mexico, a Mrs. Garro de Paz, a Mexican woman, was interviewed by Bureau agents in Mexico City in 1964 regarding allegations that she had seen an American at a party in Mexico City who resembled OSWALD. Investigation located a person who Mrs. Garro de Paz said had also been at the party. He recalled the party and stated there were no Americans there and from information developed it appeared the party took place before OSWALD ever went to Mexico City. In December 1965, Thomas, the Political Officer at the Embassy, heard Paz's story for the first time and furnished the information to the Legal Attache and to the CIA representative in Mexico City.

"Thomas was apparently disappointed that the Bureau did not attach as much significance to the woman's allegations as he did and upon retirement in 1969 he forwarded to the Secretary of State document regarding the allegations of Paz which he considered would damage the credibility of the Warren Report." [FBI 105-82555-7010, 5617, 5615-suicide of Mr. Deleted]

In 1993 the CIA released this document: "Duran speaks about party where she claims to have seen OSWALD. February 3, 1966. Cubans. CARDED. Will you read this and tell me if this woman and daughter were seen creating such a disturbance - as they claim - in front of the Cuban Embassy. Tks. (illegible) No Bells Ring with me, Jose - Ni yo Tampoco (deleted) No pictures either, Anne (deleted). TX-1927 February 3, 1966." [NARA 1993:06.17.17:09:04:340000]

In the course of having had an affair with OSWALD, Duran attended a private party with him. The latter conjecture would assume that everyone who attended the "twist party," except for Elena Garro de Paz, remained silent in regard to OSWALD'S presence. This was entirely possible given the methodology of the Mexican Police. The HSCA examined this allegation, and found that Sylvia Duran confirmed that there was a "twist party" at the home of her brother-in-law in the fall of 1963 that Elena Garro de Paz attended. It determined that the CIA did not investigate this allegation sufficiently. [HSCA Mexico City Report p124] Was Thomas despondent because of the failure of the Warren Commission to look into Paz's "twist party" allegations? Was this why he killed himself?

In 1980 PHILLIPS was asked if Sylvia Duran was a asset:

A. Counselor, no. I've - it was a long time ago, 19 years or something like that. And I don't recall in detail whether she was or was not. There's been a great deal written about it, and a lot of testimony, but I'm afraid I don't recall that.

Q. Do you know whether or not she was an operative in any form for the U.S. Government at the time?

A. If I did know, Counselor, obviously, it's the kind of question I could not answer. I would like to say for the record, however, that these questions, almost in their entirety, have been put to me over a period of years by the U.S. Government, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. Congress. And I have answered all of these questions in great detail. And in order to be useful, I would like to do so now. Obviously, I cannot, in this present situation.

A CIA document released in 1994: "B saw Azque kidding with Sylvia Duran recently in the office - chiding her for being Communist. Sylvia replied: 'It's not true, I am not a Stalinist and I have never been interested in Party membership. I don't accept the Party line and by talking that way you are insulting me.' B thinks Sylvia is a very intelligent girl. He thinks we might be able to gain her cooperation by getting a desirable male next to her -- she is, according to B, a little putita." [CIA MFR 11.4.63] Another CIA document stated: "Sylvia Duran knew where OSWALD was staying in Mexico. Could we get this address from her? November 25, 1963, Distribution: Orig: (Deleted) 1: P-8593; 1: Sylvia Duran P; 1: (Deleted)." [CIA 1376-1071] Another CIA document read: "Memo for the Files September 9, 1964. Subject: Sylvia Duran (P...Headquarters is in urgent need of handwriting specimens of Sylvia Duran. ACTION: (Deleted) and try to get some fast specimens of her handwriting. (Deleted) Distribution. Original: Sylvia Duran (P; cc: OSWALD (P-8593) cc: (Deleted)." [CIA 821-882, CIA 818-881; NARA 1993.06.28.14:29:21:500410]

OSWALD allegedly returned to the hotel about midnight, however, there is no evidence of this. [WR p251] The next morning, on Saturday, September 28, 1963, he returned to the Cuban Consulate. Sylvia Duran, in her HSCA testimony, was unclear about the date of OSWALD'S third visit: "OSWALD was not at the Cuban Consulate on Saturday, September 28, 1963, a day the Consulate was closed to the public." Consul Eusebio Azque claimed the Consulate was open Saturday between 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. - normal working weekday hours.

A Mexican Police report stated: "Following full transcripts available: On Saturday, September 28, 1963, (deleted) reported the following: Sylvia Duran from the Cuban Consulate, says that a North American citizen is there at the Consulate; that he has also been to the Russian Embassy. HD asks to wait a moment. Sylvia Duran speaks English with a person from outside, making a comment in Spanish to the effect that they have placed a phone at Aparicio's and makes a notation of the number, which is 14-12-99. Sylvia tells the person about the North American citizen, adding that he is going to talk to them. HF speaks Russian. HD speaks in English to him. Sylvia Duran asks the North American: 'Do you speak Russian?' Then, 'Why don't you talk to him?' The North American takes phone and says in broken Russian: 'I was in your Embassy and I spoke to your Consul.' Man in Soviet Embassy: 'Just a minute.' Man in Soviet Embassy asks the North American in English what does he want. North American: (deleted)." [Classified Message File: P-8593 RE: DIR 84886]

"On Saturday, September 28, 1963, Sylvia Duran, Cuban Embassy, called Soviet Consul saying North American was there who had been to the Soviet Embassy and wishes to speak with Consul. Unidentified North American told Soviet Consul 'I was in your Embassy and spoke to your consul. I was just now at your Embassy and they took my address.' Soviet Consul says 'I know that'. Unidentified North American speaks Russian. 'I did not know it then. I went to the Cuban Embassy to ask them for my address because they have it.' Soviet Consul 'Why don't you come again and leave your address with us, it is not far from the Cuban Embassy.' Unidentified North American 'Well, I'll be there right away.' (Deleted) notes unidentified North American spoke terrible hardly recognizable Russian." [49-545]

The CIA commented: "All indications are that OSWALD'S Russian was ungrammatical but fluent. Then why the 'broken Russian' in the phone call to the Soviet Embassy, Mexico City. Explanation could be that he was excited and did speak brokenly..."

In this version, the Soviet official who spoke with OSWALD was identified as Valeriy Kostikov: "Sylvia Duran asks North American 'Do you speak Russian?' then 'Why don't you talk to him?' North American takes phone and says in broken Russian 'I was in your Embassy and spoke to your consul. Man in Soviet Embassy 'Just a minute.' Man in Soviet Embassy asks North American in English what does he want? North American 'Please speak Russian.' Soviet: 'What else do you want?' 'I was just now at your Embassy and they took my address.' Soviet: 'I know that.' North American: 'I did not know it then. I went to the Cuban Embassy to ask them for my address because they have it.' Soviet: 'Why don't you come again and leave your address with us. It is not far from the Cuban Embassy.' North American: 'Well I'll be there right away.'" [CIA 60-550]

"Saturday, September 28, 1963, - Sylvia Duran calls the Soviet Embassy from the Cuban Consulate. She says that she has the American with her again. The Soviet answering asks her to wait. When another Soviet takes up the phone, Sylvia puts the American on. The American tries to talk Russian to the Soviet who answers in English. The American asks him to speak Russian. The American says that he had been in the Soviet Embassy and spoken with the Consul and that they had taken his address. The Soviet replies that he knows that. The American then says, somewhat enigmatically: 'I did not know it. I went to the Cuban Embassy to ask them for my address because they have it.' The Soviet invites him to stop by again and give them the address, and the American agrees to do so. (In this conversation the American was speaking hardly recognizable Russian.)"

"We cannot be sure what OSWALD meant by his allusions to his address. He went to Mexico while he was moving his family from New Orleans to Texas, and he may have acquired a new Texas forwarding address in the process, which he gave first to the Cuban Consulate, then mislaid or forgot, and finally recovered it from the Cuban Consulate files, so he could pass it to the Soviet Consulate. It could also be that he was talking about the address of his hotel in Mexico City which he might have momentarily forgotten while at the Soviet Embassy." [CIA Doc. 187908 0082210 p66 or 75]

The CIA also stated: "A perplexing aspect of OSWALD's trafficking with the Cubans and the Soviets in Mexico City is his assertion in his call of September 28, 1963, that he did not know his address when he was at the Soviet Consulate, and came to the Cuban Consulate because they had it. It is hard to explain just what he meant, but it should be remembered that he was talking in Russian, a language he could not manage, and that when he came to Mexico he was in the process of moving from New Orleans to Texas. He may not have memorized his new address in Texas, whatever it was, and may not have been able to lay hands on it when he was in the Soviet Consulate that day. Perhaps he had earlier given the address to Sylvia Duran and wanted to look it up on her card." [CIA 367-726]

The address of the Hotel Commercio could have been easily obtained from the telephone book of the Soviet Embassy. Or the phone number could have been obtained from a telephone company information operator. This conversation was in code, and dealt with something other than an address.

Consul Eusebio Azque stated that some time during the morning of Saturday, September 28, 1963, OSWALD returned and engaged in a final argument with him. Consul Eusebio Azque: "On the last visit, when he loses the opportunity to obtain the visa, he gets very worked up...he accuses us of being bureaucrats in a very discourteous manner. At this point I also become upset and tell him to leave the consulate, maybe somewhat violently and emotionally. Then he leaves the consulate, and he seems to be mumbling to himself, and he slams the door..." That was the last OSWALD was seen in the Cuban Consulate in Mexico City.

In 1978 Consul Eusebio Azque testified before the "Youth Accuses Imperialism International Tribunal" in Havana. After 15 years of silence, he said that OSWALD bore no resemblance to the man who had visited the Cuban Consulate. [Granma 8.20.78; CIA 55-243, 845-361A] He told the HSCA OSWALD was thin, 35 years old, "not a pretty face, an exhausted face, something like gangster. He was blonde. And I remember that New Orleans [District] Attorney Garrison said there were two OSWALDS, and that made me think again that the dead man was not the same one who had gone to the office...What I noted was the difference between the person who went to the Consulate and the one that killed RUBY. They seemed to be different persons."

The Government of Cuba attempted to disassociate Fidel Castro from OSWALD. During his HSCA testimony, to show American intelligence that he had no suspicions Sylvia Duran was an asset, Consul Eusebio Azque described her as "a Mexican, totally in our confidence. She is very well known for having had serious problems with the Mexican authorities and was a prisoner...they wanted to implicate her and she bit and kicked and there was a public thing in the newspaper. They tried to coerce her." Mirabell, however, said he was the same OSWALD. Consul Eusebio Azque also placed the OSWALD visit earlier, to further disassociate Fidel Castro from OSWALD.

Evidence existed that the transcripts did not reflect the true nature of OSWALD'S contacts with the Soviets. The translator and typist's wife, Mrs. Anna Tarasoff, remembered the word "information" being used. Journalist Ron Kessler was told by DAVID PHILIPS that during one of OSWALD'S conversations with the Soviets he stated: "I have information you would be interested in, and I know you can pay my way to Russia." The stenographer who typed up the transcript and the translator who prepared it had similar recollections: "OSWALD said he had some information to tell the Russians. His main concern was getting to one of the two countries (Russia or Cuba), and he wanted them to pay him for it. He said he had to meet them." [Washington Post 11.26.76]

The HSCA verified this: "The HSCA has contacted the persons who allegedly translated and typed the manuscripts. Both of them said that in his conversations with the foreign embassies OSWALD did talk of a 'deal' to go to Russia." [CIA George T. Kalaris IG Memo 77-0244] The CIA did a paragraph-by-paragraph analysis of Ron Kessler's article which was highly deleted. [Allen v. DOD CIA 21689-0843]

The HSCA questioned Boris Tarasoff, a Staff CIA Officer who started working in Mexico City in June 1963, and continued there until October 1970. Boris Tarasoff received the tapes the day after they were made, and he remembered translating OSWALD'S broken Russian.

Q. Would you tell us what your duties were?

A. My duties were on a more or less permanent basis to receive the tapes first, then to translate from Russian into English the conversation that was on the tape, and to transcribe the whole thing. The tapes originated right there in Mexico City, because some of the telephone wires leading to areas, establishments, tapped. Therefore, as a result, we had these conversations on the tape...There were several operations going on as a result of which we got tapes also, but they were taken of the so-called bugs, were planted in several strategic spots, dealing with Soviet nationals. Therefore I had to transcribe them too.

Q. Would you receive the tapes the day after they were made?

A. Yes.

Q. And you would deliver them the following day, after you transcribed them and translated them?

A. Yes.

Q. In conjunction with your transcribing and translation operation, did you ever have occasion to make personality assessment, or voice identification, of the people whose voices you heard on the tapes?

A. That was my idea that I suggested to them after I came for my regular tour of duty, to have the voice sample. The idea was rejected. On what grounds I do not know. Anyway, after about three or four months, they did come out with a suggestion that I start saving these voice samples. We got quite a collection of voice samples.

Q. In conjunction with the personality assessment which you sometimes made based on what you heard from tapes, did you have occasion to make comments on the transcription sheet when you detected something about the person's personality from the tapes?

A. First, I used to make just a short synopsis saying, well, "This fellow is saying in an agitated voice" and so forth. I would inject some of my personal feeling about a person. I put these on a separate piece of paper.

Q. Mr. Tarasoff, in the course of your duties, did LEE HARVEY OSWALD come to your attention as a result of your duties in the surveillance operation?

A. At the end of September I think it was, 1963. First of all he called -- as far as I recall, he tried to speak Russian, but I think his Russian was so poor that I did not understand. I cannot recall without seeing the transcript. He called the Soviet Embassy as far as I can remember. As far as I remember there were two conversations. There might have been more. I am not certain. I cannot recall the tone of his voice or what he said. [After he gave the CIA Station the OSWALD transcriptions] I got a request from the station to see if we can pick up the name of this person because sometimes we had so-called 'defectors' from the United States that wanted to go to Russia and we had to keep an eye on them. Not I - the station. Consequently, they were very hot about the whole thing. They said, "If you can get a name rush it over immediately." Therefore it is very seldom that I underlined the name because I put them in capitals. In this case I did it because it was so important to them.

Q. Can you tell us exactly what lead to his request?

A. I have no idea what lead to it. That was my only main point, to find the name, to get the name of this person and deliver it as soon as possible to the station.

Q. Can you speculate as to why this request was made?

A. If would be simply a speculation. If he called the Cuban Embassy and our people knew about it, then they really would be pressed to get the name.

Q. Are you saying that there is a possibility that OSWALD spoke to the Cuban Embassy personnel, in addition to the Soviet Embassy personnel, and that the people you dealt with in your operation made that connection, and consequently made an urgent request that this person be identified?

A. There is a possibility, I think, that that is exactly what happened.

Q. Do you remember of OSWALD spoke English or Russian during that conversation?

A. As far as I remember he was speaking English. Whenever he did slip a couple of words of Russian in, it must have been unintelligible.

Q. There is a comment between the slash marks on this page which states "The same person who phoned a day or so ago and spoke in broken Russian." Based on this possible discrepancy, do you have any feeling as to whether this document is authentic, as opposed to being a forgery, or an amended version of the original document?

A. I cannot conceive of this document being a forgery. I have an idea in the back of my head that it was much stronger. There is the whole thing, the spacing, I cannot say that it was longer than it is now.

Q. Do you have any independent recollection of OSWALD having mentioned his financial situation during this conversation?

A. No, I do not have any recollection of that.

Q. Were you able to identify the speaker in the September 28, 1963, conversation?

A. No.

Q. Did you ever make the inference that the speakers on September 28, 1963, and October 1, 1963, were one and the same person?

A. I sure did, right here, under item 151, under P1.

Mrs. Anna Tarasoff remembered:

Q. Aside from what appears on these three documents, do you have any independent recollection of conversations dealing with LEE HARVEY OSWALD which were part of the surveillance operation in Mexico City?

A. According to my recollection, I , myself, have made a transcript, an English transcript, of LEE OSWALD talking to Russian Consulate or whoever he was at that time, asking for financial aid. Now that particular transcript does not appear here, and whatever happened to it, I do not know, but it was a lengthy transcript between him and someone at the Russian Embassy.

Q. How long do you recall this conversation was?

A. This conversation, I would say, at least covered a page and a half or two.

Q. Is it your recollection that the person speaking identified himself as LEE OSWALD?

A. He definitely identified himself as being LEE OSWALD.

Q. Earlier you spoke of an urgent request for a transcription of a conversation. Could you tell us th