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VOLUME III NUMBER 12 JULY 22, 1979
Cubans^ friend believes Oswald
contacted exile leader
By EARL GOLZ
Stiff Writer of The News
ABILENE, Texas — A friend of Cuban
exiles ill Abilene in 1963 thinks
Lee Harvey Oswald contacted an exile
leader there less than a week before
the assassination of President John F.
Kennedy in Dallas.
The House Assassinations Committee
stated in a preliminary report that
certain unidentified anti-Castro Cuban
refugees may have been involved in an
assassination conspiracy. The Warren
Commission, which depicted Oswald as
a pro-Castro sympathizer, stated it
could find no contacts between Oswald
and anti-Castro Cubans.
Harold Reynolds, who had befriended
anti-Castro Cuban refugees in
In 1964, iHo months after
the assassination oi
Kennedy, Gonzales ^^jusl
disappeared"^ from
Abilene, according to a
fellow school custodian.
Abilene in 1963, thinks the Abilene
oontact may answer the mystery of
Oswald's whereabouts on the Sunday
before the assassination.
REYNOLDS SAID he read a note left
on that Sunday. Nov. 17, 1963, in the
mailbox of Pedro Valeriano Gonzalez,
leader of the Cuban refugees in Abilene.
The handwritten note directed
Gonzalez to call Oswald "immediately"
at one of two Dallas telephone numbers.
Reynolds, then a commercial photographer,
said he saw Gonzalez calling
from a pay phone booth shortly after
he got the message, even though Gonzalez
had a phone in his garage apartment
several blocks away.
Sunday, six days before the assassination,
was the only day the Warren
Commission could not determine
where Oswald was. He was not visiting
his wife and children in Irving, as he
did on other weekends, and he was not
seen in his Dallas rooming house at
1026 N. Beckley.
Reynolds also thinks Oswald may
have been one of two Anglos attending
a closed meeting of Cuban refugees at
Gonzalez' apartment several months
before the assassination.
Shortly before the meeting, Oswald
was seen in Dallas with an intelligence
agent known only by the alias of "Maurice
Bishop," according to testimony
given the House Assassinations Committee
by Antonio Veciana of Miami.
Vecinna. a founder of the Alpha 66 anti-
Castro group, told committee investigators
that Bishop, an American, was "the
man behind the scenes" in the Cuban
exile group's attempts to assassinate
Castro.
REYNOLDS TRIED twice to tell the
FBI about the Gonzalez incident in the
months after the assassination. Both
times, he said, federal agents showed
no interest because no pro-Castro Cuban
was involved.
Gonzalez, then 38, was president of
the refugees' Cuban Liberation Committee
in Abilene. He had a "lot of
connections" in Cuba and was "very
anti-Castro," according to other expatriates
who knew him in 1963.
Forced to leave Cuba in 1961 after
President Fidel Castro seized the equipment
of his Begompe Construction Co.
in Colon, Matanzas Province, Gonzalez
was one of a number of Cuban refugees
hired to work in the maintenance department
of the Abilene put^lic school
system.
His $200-a-month school custodian's
job and his other work at Abilene's
Gooch Packing Co. represented a tremendous
change for the former S500-a-month
head of a Cuban construction
company.
Gonzalez, however, maintained important
contacts with Cuban exile leaders
in the United States and abroad.
At the organizational meeting of his
Cuban Litwration Committee in December
1961, Gonzalez read a letter
from his friend in Miami, Manuel A.
(Tony) de Varona. The letter indicated
Varona wanted to visit Abilene, Gon-
Slie Dallas g e t t i n g ^tioB
June 10,1979
zalez said, but his busy schedule would
not permit it.
AT THE TIME, Varona — former
prime minister under Cuban President
Prio Socarras — had a key role In the
QA-Mafia secret plot to kill Castro with
poison pills. He was given the pills by
Johnny Roselli, a Las Vegas Mafia figure
whose mutilated body was found
stuffed in an oil drum floating in a bay
off Miami in 1976. Two weeks earlier,
Roselli had testified secretly before the
Senate Intelligence Committee's subcommittee
investigating the Kennedy
assassination.
Varona also was coordinator of the
umbrella exile organization, the Cuban
Revolutionary Council, a political
front created by the CIA in 1960.
Headquartered in Miami, the CRC
had an active branch in New Orleans,
located at S44 Camp St. The News obtained
copies of letters sent from the
owner of the 544 Camp St. building to
Varona asking for help in paying the'
rent for the CRC offices.
The New Orleans address has
emerged as one of the big mysteries of
the Warren Commission investigation
"/n liandteriting it said
something like ^call me
immediately, urgent' and
had tivo DaUas numbers
written on it. I noticed the
• name ''Lee Oswald' and
asked Gonzalez who he
was. Seems like he said,
^some attorney from
Dallas.' "
of Oswald's activities. Some of the pro-
Castro literature Oswald was circulating
on a busy New Orleans street when
he was arrested in August 1963 was
stamped with the Camp Street address.
The FBI informed the Warren Commission
after a sloppy effort that it
Object Description
| Title | Cubans' Friend Believes Oswald Contacted Exile Leader |
| Volume No. | 3 |
| Issue No. | 12 |
| Date | 1979-07-22 |
| Series | V. Personal – E. Publications – 1. The Continuing Inquiry |
| Uniform Title | The Continuing Inquiry |
| Collection Title | Poage Library - JFK - Penn Jones Collection |
| Custodian | Poage Legislative Library |
| ID | 15p-jfkjones-ci-v3_1979-07-22 |
| Resource Type | Newsletter |
| Format | Text |
| Rights | http://www.baylor.edu/lib/digitization/digitalrights |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Series | V. Personal – E. Publications – 1. The Continuing Inquiry |
| Uniform Title | The Continuing Inquiry |
| Collection Title | Poage Library - JFK - Penn Jones Collection |
| Custodian | Poage Legislative Library |
| Resource Type | Newsletter |
| Format | Text |
| Full Text | VOLUME III NUMBER 12 JULY 22, 1979 Cubans^ friend believes Oswald contacted exile leader By EARL GOLZ Stiff Writer of The News ABILENE, Texas — A friend of Cuban exiles ill Abilene in 1963 thinks Lee Harvey Oswald contacted an exile leader there less than a week before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas. The House Assassinations Committee stated in a preliminary report that certain unidentified anti-Castro Cuban refugees may have been involved in an assassination conspiracy. The Warren Commission, which depicted Oswald as a pro-Castro sympathizer, stated it could find no contacts between Oswald and anti-Castro Cubans. Harold Reynolds, who had befriended anti-Castro Cuban refugees in In 1964, iHo months after the assassination oi Kennedy, Gonzales ^^jusl disappeared"^ from Abilene, according to a fellow school custodian. Abilene in 1963, thinks the Abilene oontact may answer the mystery of Oswald's whereabouts on the Sunday before the assassination. REYNOLDS SAID he read a note left on that Sunday. Nov. 17, 1963, in the mailbox of Pedro Valeriano Gonzalez, leader of the Cuban refugees in Abilene. The handwritten note directed Gonzalez to call Oswald "immediately" at one of two Dallas telephone numbers. Reynolds, then a commercial photographer, said he saw Gonzalez calling from a pay phone booth shortly after he got the message, even though Gonzalez had a phone in his garage apartment several blocks away. Sunday, six days before the assassination, was the only day the Warren Commission could not determine where Oswald was. He was not visiting his wife and children in Irving, as he did on other weekends, and he was not seen in his Dallas rooming house at 1026 N. Beckley. Reynolds also thinks Oswald may have been one of two Anglos attending a closed meeting of Cuban refugees at Gonzalez' apartment several months before the assassination. Shortly before the meeting, Oswald was seen in Dallas with an intelligence agent known only by the alias of "Maurice Bishop" according to testimony given the House Assassinations Committee by Antonio Veciana of Miami. Vecinna. a founder of the Alpha 66 anti- Castro group, told committee investigators that Bishop, an American, was "the man behind the scenes" in the Cuban exile group's attempts to assassinate Castro. REYNOLDS TRIED twice to tell the FBI about the Gonzalez incident in the months after the assassination. Both times, he said, federal agents showed no interest because no pro-Castro Cuban was involved. Gonzalez, then 38, was president of the refugees' Cuban Liberation Committee in Abilene. He had a "lot of connections" in Cuba and was "very anti-Castro" according to other expatriates who knew him in 1963. Forced to leave Cuba in 1961 after President Fidel Castro seized the equipment of his Begompe Construction Co. in Colon, Matanzas Province, Gonzalez was one of a number of Cuban refugees hired to work in the maintenance department of the Abilene put^lic school system. His $200-a-month school custodian's job and his other work at Abilene's Gooch Packing Co. represented a tremendous change for the former S500-a-month head of a Cuban construction company. Gonzalez, however, maintained important contacts with Cuban exile leaders in the United States and abroad. At the organizational meeting of his Cuban Litwration Committee in December 1961, Gonzalez read a letter from his friend in Miami, Manuel A. (Tony) de Varona. The letter indicated Varona wanted to visit Abilene, Gon- Slie Dallas g e t t i n g ^tioB June 10,1979 zalez said, but his busy schedule would not permit it. AT THE TIME, Varona — former prime minister under Cuban President Prio Socarras — had a key role In the QA-Mafia secret plot to kill Castro with poison pills. He was given the pills by Johnny Roselli, a Las Vegas Mafia figure whose mutilated body was found stuffed in an oil drum floating in a bay off Miami in 1976. Two weeks earlier, Roselli had testified secretly before the Senate Intelligence Committee's subcommittee investigating the Kennedy assassination. Varona also was coordinator of the umbrella exile organization, the Cuban Revolutionary Council, a political front created by the CIA in 1960. Headquartered in Miami, the CRC had an active branch in New Orleans, located at S44 Camp St. The News obtained copies of letters sent from the owner of the 544 Camp St. building to Varona asking for help in paying the' rent for the CRC offices. The New Orleans address has emerged as one of the big mysteries of the Warren Commission investigation "/n liandteriting it said something like ^call me immediately, urgent' and had tivo DaUas numbers written on it. I noticed the • name ''Lee Oswald' and asked Gonzalez who he was. Seems like he said, ^some attorney from Dallas.' " of Oswald's activities. Some of the pro- Castro literature Oswald was circulating on a busy New Orleans street when he was arrested in August 1963 was stamped with the Camp Street address. The FBI informed the Warren Commission after a sloppy effort that it |
| Rights | http://www.baylor.edu/lib/digitization/digitalrights |