JFK Assassination Forum
JFK Assassination Discussion & Debate => JFK Assassination Discussion & Debate => Topic started by: Gerry Down on July 30, 2021, 03:46:12 AM
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Does anyone know where an accurate history of the various cuban exile groups can be got?
For example take the group the MRR.
The Sparticus Education page for Manuel Artime says the MRR was founded in the USA:
"Artime moved to the United States and with Tony Varona, Rafael Quintero, Aureliano Arango and Jose Cardona established the Movement for the Recovery of the Revolution (MRR Party)."
https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKartimeM.htm
But the wiki page for Manuel Artime seems to suggest the MRR was formed INSIDE Cuba:
"During 1959, Artime formed the Movimiento de Recuperación Revolucionaria (MRR) ...Artime's organization MRR thus grew to become the principal counter-revolutionary movement inside Cuba"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Artime
Is there any good source where the history of these various groups has been properly catalogued? Anyone know any good book on this topic?
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Very deep subject that was never properly documented IMO. Here is a page I put together some time ago. The links at the top might prove helpful:
http://wtracyparnell.blogspot.com/p/resources.html
Here are some books I found useful:
Arboleya, Jesús. The Cuban Counterrevolution. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2000.
Bohning, Don. The Castro Obsession: US Covert Operations Against Cuba 1959-1965. Washington DC: Potomac Books, 2005.
Brown, Jonathan C. Cuba’s Revolutionary World. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2017.
Calvo, Hernando and Katlijn Declercq. The Cuban Exile Movement: Dissidents or Mercenaries? New York: Ocean Press, 2000.
Escalante, Fabian. The Secret War: CIA Covert Operations Against Cuba 1959-62. Ocean Press, 1995.
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Does anyone know where an accurate history of the various cuban exile groups can be got?
For example take the group the MRR.
The Sparticus Education page for Manuel Artime says the MRR was founded in the USA:
"Artime moved to the United States and with Tony Varona, Rafael Quintero, Aureliano Arango and Jose Cardona established the Movement for the Recovery of the Revolution (MRR Party)."
https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKartimeM.htm
But the wiki page for Manuel Artime seems to suggest the MRR was formed INSIDE Cuba:
"During 1959, Artime formed the Movimiento de Recuperación Revolucionaria (MRR) ...Artime's organization MRR thus grew to become the principal counter-revolutionary movement inside Cuba"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Artime
Is there any good source where the history of these various groups has been properly catalogued? Anyone know any good book on this topic?
Tracy listed this one by Dan Bohning: "The Castro Obsession: US Covert Operations Against Cuba 1959-1965."
You can read it online for free here: https://archive.org/details/castroobsessionu0000bohn/page/136/mode/2up
You'll need to get an account (it's free).
Also, Gaeton Fonzi did a rough outline on a number of them in his work on the HSCA. I can't find his report offhand but if you search for it at the Ferrell site you might find it.
According to the historians, one of the difficulties documenting these groups is that many splintered off and formed new groups. And those splintered further. Read the account of Alpha66 for example. There was, from what I've read, tremendous infighting among/between the groups - personality conflicts, schisms, ideological differences, corruption, et cetera. They didn't trust one another - and many had been infiltrated by Castro's agents and there was widespread suspicion all around.
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Tracy listed this one by Dan Bohning: "The Castro Obsession: US Covert Operations Against Cuba 1959-1965."
You can read it online for free here: https://archive.org/details/castroobsessionu0000bohn/page/136/mode/2up
You'll need to get an account (it's free).
Also, Gaeton Fonzi did a rough outline on a number of them in his work on the HSCA. I can't find his report offhand but if you search for it at the Ferrell site you might find it.
According to the historians, one of the difficulties documenting these groups is that many splintered off and formed new groups. And those splintered further. Read the account of Alpha66 for example. There was, from what I've read, tremendous infighting among/between the groups - personality conflicts, schisms, ideological differences, corruption, et cetera. They didn't trust one another - and many had been infiltrated by Castro's agents and there was widespread suspicion all around.
I believe that one of the groups ( Alpha 66) had many members who hated JFK because they believed he had lied to them about providing US military support at BOP. I believe that this is where the plot to murder JFK originated..... Hoover discovered they were plotting to murder JFK , and told LBJ.... They (JEH & LBJ) decided to allow the murder, and actually aided and abetted the killers.
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I believe that one of the groups ( Alpha 66) had many members who hated JFK because they believed he had lied to them about providing US military support at BOP. I believe that this is where the plot to murder JFK originated..... Hoover discovered they were plotting to murder JFK , and told LBJ.... They (JEH & LBJ) decided to allow the murder, and actually aided and abetted the killers.
The leader of Alpha 66 for most of its history, at least at the time of the assassination, was Antonio Veciana. Nowhere in the book "Trained to Kill" discussing his life does he reveal this supposed connection. I would think he'd know about it and would have revealed it.
In the book he claims that Oswald's CIA control was David Atlee Phillips and that he believes elements of the CIA and military were behind the assassination. But again, nowhere in his book does he mention anything about Alpha 66 being involved.
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The leader of Alpha 66 for most of its history, at least at the time of the assassination, was Antonio Veciana. Nowhere in the book "Trained to Kill" discussing his life does he reveal this supposed connection. I would think he'd know about it and would have revealed it.
In the book he claims that Oswald's CIA control was David Atlee Phillips and that he believes elements of the CIA and military were behind the assassination. But again, nowhere in his book does he mention anything about Alpha 66 being involved.
Are you so naive that you believe Veciana or anybody else involved would admit they were involved?
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Some Cuban Exile political groups were part of the Cuban revolution but turned against Fidel Castro once he became more authoritarian.
Sylvia Odio's father was part of one of those groups:
Silvia Odio was born in Cuba in 1937. Her father was involved in the struggle against Fulgencio Batista. However, he disagreed with Fidel Castro about certain issues and in 1962 he was arrested and sent to the Isle of Pines. Soon afterwards Odio left Cuba and settled in Dallas. Odio became active in the anti-Castro movement and helped form an organization called Junta Revolucionaria.
On 25th September, 1963, Odio had a visit from three men who claimed they were from New Orleans. Two of the men, Leopoldo and Angelo, said they were members of the Junta Revolucionaria. The third man, Leon, was introduced as an American sympathizer who was willing to take part in the assassination of Fidel Castro. After she told them that she was unwilling to get involved in any criminal activity, the three men left.
The following day Leopoldo phoned Odio and told her that Leon was a former Marine and that he was an expert marksman. He added that Leon had said “we Cubans, we did not have the guts because we should have assassinated Kennedy after the Bay of Pigs”. It is believed that Bernardo De Torres was Leopoldo and Edwin Collins was Angelo.
Odio became convinced that after the assassination of John F. Kennedy that Leon was Lee Harvey Oswald. Odio gave evidence to the Warren Commission and one of its lawyers commented: "Silvia Odio was checked out thoroughly... The evidence is unanimously favorable... Odio is the most significant witness linking Oswald to the anti-Castro Cubans."
https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKodioS.htm
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One of the leaders of Alpha 66 was a Spy for Castro
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/11/us/leader-of-exile-group-tells-of-spying-for-cuba.html
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Miami's tenacious anti-Castro movement is in disarray. It is crippled by internal dissension and discredited by failure. It is riddled with Castro informants.
The same exile groups that loudly and sometimes violently express their hatred of Castro are closely monitored - and in some cases manipulated - by Castro spies. The spies have been in place for years.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/spy6-19-83.htm
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One of the leaders of Alpha 66 was a Spy for Castro
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/11/us/leader-of-exile-group-tells-of-spying-for-cuba.html
Does anyone have a subscription to the online NYTimes newspaper and could post that article here in this thread for viewing?
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Does anyone have a subscription to the online NYTimes newspaper and could post that article here in this thread for viewing?
Leader of Exile Group Tells of Spying for Cuba
The commander of one of the most militant Cuban exile organizations stunned the anti-Castro movement this week by announcing that he had worked as a spy for Cuba since 1979.
But equally surprising, the man, Francisco Avila Azcuy, also says he has been providing the American Government with information on the Cuba's spy network in the United States and on the activities of various anti-Castro exile groups.
Mr. Avila, who is chief of operations for Alpha 66, a paramilitary group that has organized attacks against Cuba from American shores and that advocates the overthrow of the country's Communist regime, discussed his role as a double agent with a Spanish-language television station in Miami in interviews that are being broadcast this week.
In the interviews, Mr. Avila said that among other things he had organized Alpha 66 attacks on Cuba at the behest of the Cuban Government with money supplied by Cuban intelligence agents and that he was asked to monitor the activities of prominent Cuban exiles in Miami.
He said he had decided to make his role public rather than wait for it to become known if the Castro Government fell. Embarrassment to Castro
Mr. Avila's account, if true, of how Havana created its own enemies to justify its repressive policies is a major embarrassment for the Castro Government. It also tarnishes the image of exile commando groups that portray themselves as the Castro Government's most-feared enemies but who may have been sustained by it.
United States Government agencies have so far refused to confirm or deny the details of Mr. Avila's tale of espionage and betrayal. But the State Department today told a Cuban diplomat who was videotaped by the station while discussing spy missions with Mr. Avila in a Queens restaurant last month that he must leave the country within 48 hours. The tapes are to be broadcast as part of the television station's series.
The Cuban official, Carlos Manuel Collazo Usallan, is assigned to the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in Manhattan, with the nominal rank of third secretary. Richard Boucher, a State Department spokesman, said today that Mr. Collazo was being expelled because of "activities inappropriate to his responsibilities at the United Nations," a phrase typically used to describe espionage.
In six hours of interviews with reporters from WSCV-TV, the Miami affiliate of the Telemundo television network, Mr. Avila said the Cuban Government had given him money to help finance the activities of Alpha 66, including thousands of dollars to buy a boat that was used in attacks on Cuba. Reports Lead to Trial.
As early as January 1981, Mr. Avila said in an interview to be broadcast later this week, he helped organize an Alpha 66 raid on Cuba, with the knowledge and support of Cuban agents. But he said he also informed American officials of the planned attack, and they moved against organizers of the raid before it could be undertaken.
As a result, seven people were convicted of violating provisions of the Neutrality Act that prohibit the organization of attacks on foreign governments from American soil. "Better 18 months in an American prison than to be shot or jailed in Cuba," Mr. Avila said in justifying his reporting the plan.
More recently, Mr. Avila said, Cuban intelligence agents operating under diplomatic cover had asked him to gather information on the personal lives and habits of 40 prominent anti-Castro figures in the United States. He said he had also been asked to gather intelligence on a site in the Florida Keys used by the United States Government to broadcast anti-Castro news and entertainment programs by television to Cuba, perhaps for an attack on the source of the broadcasts.
The broadcast on Monday night of the first report based on interviews with Mr. Avila had immediate repercussions among Cuban exile groups here. His confession that he was a Cuban spy was the main topic on Spanish-language radio stations here, with reporters and panelists arguing that the 40 names were part of an assassination list and wondering how many other spies could still be operating inside exile groups.
Mr. Avila told the television reporters that he came to the United States from Cuba as a teen-ager in the early 1960's, and soon afterwards joined Alpha 66. In 1967, he was sent to Cuba on an infiltration and sabotage mission, but was captured, tried and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
While serving his sentence, Mr. Avila said, he was approached by the D.G.I., the Cuban intelligence agency, and asked to become a spy. He said he readily agreed, to gain his release. "Getting inside them was one way to continue the struggle against them," he said.
Mr. Avila asserts that not long after his return here, he contacted what he described as an "American counterintelligence agency" and was almost immediately put to work as a double agent. The programs' producers said Mr. Avila led them to believe that he was speaking of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose responsibilities include monitoring foreign spy activities in the United States. A spokesman for the agency, Bill Carter, declined to comment on Mr. Avila's story.
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/11/us/leader-of-exile-group-tells-of-spying-for-cuba.html
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Thanks Jon. What a confusing mess these groups were.
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The wikipedia pages on the topic of cuban exile groups seem confused.
Take the case of Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo. This guy was part of the cuban revolution but then became disenchanted when Castro began to turn communistic. Then his wikipedia page reads as follows:
While being on the outside and looking in, Eloy grew dissatisfied with the Castro Administration and in September–October 1959, Eloy and some of his men from the old 1st Version of the Second National Front - which was formed in 1957 as a pro-Castro group - formed the 2nd Version of the Second National Front - which was an anti-Castro group.
SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eloy_Guti%C3%A9rrez_Menoyo
Fair enough. So in Oct 1959 Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo was now leading an anti-Castro group. However if you then go to the wikipedia page for William Alexander Morgan, it shows a photo which is captioned as March 1960 showing Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo marching alongside Castro:
(https://i.ibb.co/48y2XCv/Moran-1.png)
SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alexander_Morgan
So you have Castro (who presumably was pro-Castro himself) marching alongside a leader of an anti-Castro group.
That photo is in commemoration of the La Coube dock explosion which killed 100 people. From the wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Coubre_explosion) there is not any suggestion of any joint effort that would cause Castro to march alongside an anti-Castro leader for example in solidarity with the memory of the deceased. But maybe i'm wrong.
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The wikipedia pages on the topic of cuban exile groups seem confused.
Take the case of Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo. This guy was part of the cuban revolution but then became disenchanted when Castro began to turn communistic. Then his wikipedia page reads as follows:
While being on the outside and looking in, Eloy grew dissatisfied with the Castro Administration and in September–October 1959, Eloy and some of his men from the old 1st Version of the Second National Front - which was formed in 1957 as a pro-Castro group - formed the 2nd Version of the Second National Front - which was an anti-Castro group.
SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eloy_Guti%C3%A9rrez_Menoyo
Fair enough. So in Oct 1959 Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo was now leading an anti-Castro group. However if you then go to the wikipedia page for William Alexander Morgan, it shows a photo which is captioned as March 1960 showing Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo marching alongside Castro:
(https://i.ibb.co/48y2XCv/Moran-1.png)
SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alexander_Morgan
So you have Castro (who presumably was pro-Castro himself) marching alongside a leader of an anti-Castro group.
That photo is in commemoration of the La Coube dock explosion which killed 100 people. From the wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Coubre_explosion) there is not any suggestion of any joint effort that would cause Castro to march alongside an anti-Castro leader for example in solidarity with the memory of the deceased. But maybe i'm wrong.
Antonio Veciana, who along with Menoyo led Alpha 66, has Menoyo fleeing Cuba in January of 1961 with eleven supporters. Eleven. So, if this was accurate his attempt to form a second front wasn't going too well (although I guess the other supporters couldn't get out with him). I'll guess - again if that's true - that Menoyo was covertly trying to form another group, failing miserably and that Castro wasn't aware of it at the time of the above photo. Castro really did start to crack down on his opponents in late 1960; that was when East German and other Soviet bloc agents were going to Havana to help him. So Menoyo made have seen the proverbial writing on the wall and got out of Dodge. Lot of guessing here.
This excerpt below is from Veciana's book which, admittedly, I have a lot of doubt about.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/56FIXZ_z_DB0pnlHErWJ3p_vM3SKBQfjltRm2ZbTwe1BxQbCWHynpRbpoxfiONfRCMd_zVb1IiH1Y7CwqNagnpAXeFSFFhde07H1q2yUxnUjICM-nf0zza1mw99OpDPsJr8SDntwOw8Hz-qTCo7-5acOMkV1kPwBQO7DankpKCsZHqA8eYvZvvIZPRTC8DU3z8Vmoq3KQcjX3sQa-TdXsND1aPxFVXI7Lrh5pnp7nh6CdvxgwnalVbe6U5R-nz4DXoSDGQfjomot9AE3nRarFmtDDNBIDYBZrX8ASI1pe1Hrsm4aDxfmuFv70LYAfmTQRS9FmU1jHLbdGQGQTQrDOdbqHFBIL0-65ZcVXOBORGt9f0XCQX_5OT2mwS_fOT05EaX4tivwVwnZRrqLdYU05v9I4MaxKpU_xrx6ecUJWCZo0BqcE6AsgKjD_KQDnD56Yb7iDuU25Q2RCrROjw0QTs2-ZLRwxy26tZLCpQb6bOsXKqScoB_ygIT2ZSg54yra4JraVPUA-3N9S80u_Ia7hAAwrrNw_cH2iB2_wvO8IDjDJuduG0qxFUw239XujKKCJMM1niXH2O0fMUEj4M6cJXpMgyFCw4ZezyUPwp9i7d5lWTzB7Nu47onOWPLrv9qYrurbDZtHSjbzn_bhFcFUKBKb1RqNyZfC9cGKUc7wJkRylv_KFs3OnzkvRhM0RCFO7ZquVjjVKWeYEiOt38sgleCE=w1001-h555-no?authuser=0)
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I personally find it highly plausible that Cuban intelligence agents impersonating Cuban exiles were with Lee Harvey Oswald at certain times in New Orleans, Mexico City, and at Sylvia Odio’s home in 1963.
Former CIA officer, Bob Baer, basically settled on that theory in his History Channel series about Oswald and the Kennedy assassination.
https://time.com/4753349/oswald-kennedy-declassified-documentary/