Title Quote: Antonio Veciana
Veciana’s Maurice Bishop story was promoted vigorously by Fonzi through the years and has been accepted as gospel by many theorists. But is the story as told by Fonzi an accurate representation of what Veciana said in those first interviews? Fortunately, Fonzi had the presence of mind to tape the interview sessions with Veciana. Although he expressed a desire to have a transcript of the tapes made, this was evidently never done. However, Fonzi’s rough notes from the interviews are available thanks to the JFK Records Act which mandated the release of non-classified JFK documents. The notes should be a revelation for those who have read Fonzi’s book and his other writings. They reveal both numerous discrepancies in the Maurice Bishop story and the extent to which the tale evolved at Fonzi’s hand. What follows is the real story of the Fonzi-Veciana interviews which formed the basis for most of the Maurice Bishop tale.1
First, the notes disclose Veciana’s likely motives for agreeing to be interviewed. Fonzi wrote that “one pre-condition of the interview was that any information [Veciana] provided not be used against him.” Veciana had just been released from prison and undoubtedly had no desire to return there. Consequently, the story he related to Fonzi regarding a mysterious mentor who planned his activities could help ensure his continued freedom by shifting the blame for any illegal acts he might have committed during his years of anti-Castro activity.
Veciana quickly got down to business. He explained to Fonzi that he first became disillusioned with Castro “towards the end of 1959” after realizing he was a communist. “Certain people,” Veciana said, came to him and spoke of eliminating the Cuban dictator. Fonzi instantly took the bait. “Were there any representatives of the US government [among these people],” Fonzi wondered? “There was an American citizen” Veciana said without mentioning a name at first, “that had connections …, he was very powerful then, very powerful now…” The shadowy American told Veciana “all his plans … to work with him,” although he “never found out who the American guy was working for.”2
Veciana said that he did not know if this American was powerful in Cuba, but he had connections to “key high level people in the American government.” Veciana and the American traveled to South America under false names and Fonzi assumed that this meant they had used fake passports. After the failure of the 1961 Castro assassination plot, Veciana insisted that he had every intention of returning to his homeland and immediately began working on another Castro plot after his arrival in the US. But fellow conspirator Reinol Gonzalez’s confession to Castro made that impossible. Therefore, the American told him to stay in the US and offered him “other jobs to do” including Alpha 66.
Veciana told Fonzi of a group (referring to Alpha 66) that would consist of a military side headed by Menoyo and a civilian arm headed by him.3 Veciana related the story of his March 1963 press conference, although at this early juncture Fonzi did not understand what he was talking about. Veciana then added some curious claims such as he “disguised himself as a foreign agent in this country.” He also stated that “someone” came from Washington with an application for him to fill out (possibly in May of 1962-the notes are unclear). Veciana told Fonzi that he did not complete this application but still signed it.
Fonzi then got to one of the more burning questions, one that went to the heart of his own beliefs. Was the American “officially with the government?” he logically inquired. Veciana replied that “a few times he asked him if he worked for the CIA.” The American answered that “there isn’t only one agency … there are a lot of agencies working for this.” Still the American, “never gave him a strong answer, a 100 % that he said no or yes … he was always beating around the bush but never told him.” Veciana added that when he first met the American, he stated, “we don’t tell you who we are … for the simple reason that they have ways of making you talk.” Veciana then made a key statement. He said that “from his personal point of view” he believed that although the American had “access to any kind of information … or to people in the high level,” that he was “working for a private organization, not the government” (emphasis added).
When the American first approached him in Havana, he communicated using Spanish with an “Argentine dialect.” Veciana implied that one of the reasons for talking to Fonzi was that he wanted to know who the American was. He then related his standard story that the American paid him “a little bit more” than $250,000 for his 13 years of work which was the only renumeration he received except for expenses. Veciana then revealed the name of the American as Morris Bishop. According to Veciana, Bishop used a Belgian passport and only contacted him “through someone else,” a first reference to the mysterious intermediary.4
Fonzi was extremely interested in this intermediary, but as was so often the case with Veciana in this and all his interviews, he provided few details. The intermediary was a woman, Veciana conceded, but he would “not authorize the name” since she was “very afraid of what was happening to him.” Fonzi asked if Veciana could contact the intermediary “now.” But, as Fonzi and subsequent interviewers would learn, Veciana had a knack for misdirection. Veciana said only that he was “going to contact her.” “But can you contact her now?” Fonzi persisted. Veciana blunted Fonzi’s attack by saying that he could not get out of the city until after April 7th since he was on parole.
Veciana changed the subject back to Bishop, saying that at their initial meeting he presented a business card indicating he was a Belgian importer. Veciana soon learned that Bishop “didn’t really do any business” but rather devoted his time to anti-Castro matters. Fonzi then asked how many assassination attempts Veciana was involved in. Veciana said that “there were a lot of attempts in Cuba” but they were considered one large project. Sensing Fonzi’s interest in the subject, Veciana broached the issue of the 1971 attempt against Castro. Veciana’s son Tony, who acted as the interpreter for the interviews, apparently made a mistake during translation by saying that Veciana worked at or for the American embassy in Bolivia during that time. “No, it’s not the American embassy” Veciana exclaimed, “it’s the International Development Agency, it belong (sic) to the State Department.” Veciana explained that he “made an application” and was surprised that he was hired because of his known terrorist activity.
Veciana went on to say that he lived in Bolivia for four years and stressed the point that he received checks from the “US Treasury.” Veciana likened himself to a “contract agent” and stated that he earned around $30,000 a year. He did virtually no real work with his main function being anti-Castro activity. Overall, Veciana was in touch with Bishop an average of six times a year in places such as Cuba, the United States, Bolivia, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. Interestingly, in this very first interview Veciana expressed interest in “hiring an expert” to create a sketch of the ethereal Bishop who he maintained was then about “64 or 65 years old.”5
The conversation returned briefly to Reinol Gonzalez, Veciana’s co-plotter in the 1961 Castro assassination attempt.6 Veciana knew that Gonzalez hid on the Odio farm but only from reading the O’Toole-Hoch article, not from first-hand knowledge. Veciana said that he knew of Sylvia Odio’s father through Gonzalez but had never met him. Veciana’s thorny relationship with MRP founder Manuel Ray was also broached. Veciana disliked Ray who he said he had “a fight with” in 1973. Veciana also said that Ray’s name “has been blown up out of proportion” and went on to characterize him as “very weak.” Veciana said that Ray was not involved in the Castro assassination plots and “never really knew what was going on.”
Fonzi asked Veciana about the boat he used to escape Cuba. Veciana told Fonzi that it was “very easy” for him to acquire boats and characterized that method of escape as only one of three options available. Veciana implied that Bishop who “taught him how to do everything” and provided him with “access to anything that he wanted” was also responsible for supplying the boat. Veciana talked about the $150,000 (which would morph into $200,000 in subsequent retellings of the story) that he supposedly tricked Che Guevara into giving him.7
Then came a discussion of the blockbuster allegation that made Fonzi mentally fall off the chair. Veciana told Fonzi that he remembered “once having met Lee Harvey Oswald” but that it wasn’t “the way it says it happened in the [Saturday Evening Post] magazine.” Fonzi’s questions came fast and furious. “How did you meet him and when? … where? … how did it come about?” Veciana replied that Bishop introduced Oswald to him in Dallas, “around ’62” (emphasis added). Veciana explained that “Bishop came up to [me] once … with Lee Harvey Oswald.” Bishop introduced Oswald by his full name although Veciana “never thought of the name … twice” and later “didn’t even remember him.” The meeting took place in “a building, he doesn’t remember whether it was blue or white,” Veciana said through the translator. “The building had a bank in it …,” Veciana continued, “and that’s where [we] used to have meetings” implying that Veciana had met Bishop there before.
Veciana told Fonzi that Bishop had called him to Dallas to meet in front of the building which he now said had “a big bank or insurance company … in the lobby.” Veciana said that “… all the times [I] met [Bishop] he would tell [me] to meet [him] there,” which again implies that there were multiple meetings at this same Dallas location. However, this was the only time that Bishop brought along Oswald or anyone else for that matter. Oswald, who “never talked,” left before Veciana’s meeting with Bishop. After the assassination, Veciana realized that the man he had seen with Bishop was the accused assassin of JFK. Although Veciana “nearly freaked out,” he “never said anything” to anyone about his alleged knowledge of the crime of the century.
After the assassination, a “federal agent” visited Veciana asking questions about the killing. Fonzi naturally assumed this was an FBI man since the bureau was the investigatory arm for the Warren Commission, but Veciana believed his visitor was a CIA agent. It turns out that Veciana’s inquisitor was Cesar Diosdado, a US Customs agent who, “assisted CIA from 1961-68 on a reimbursable basis.” Fonzi was very intrigued by this lead and circled Diosdado’s name in his notes. Ultimately, the Diosdado story came to nothing even for the conspiratorial-minded investigator, and neither the Church Committee nor HSCA interviewed him.8
Fonzi turned the conversation back to Oswald at the first opportunity. “Are you sure it was Oswald with Bishop?” Fonzi naturally asked. Veciana assured Fonzi that he had “trained himself” to “retain the characteristics of a person.” It should be mentioned that in this first instance of Veciana describing his powers of observation, memorizing the characteristics of an individual was a skill that he had taught himself. Later, the story would change, and it would become Bishop who had trained him to possess this power. In any event, Veciana provided a little wiggle room regarding his identification of Oswald. “If it wasn’t Oswald,” he insisted, “it was someone who was exactly exactly like Oswald, his exact double” (emphasis by Fonzi in original).
Surprisingly, Veciana did not take the opportunity to implicate his nemesis Castro in the assassination and insisted that the bearded leader “had nothing to do with” JFK’s death. Veciana opined that the assassination was “something from a [conspiracy] plan.” While this was the first example of Veciana’s belief in a JFK conspiracy, his opinions in this regard would be on full display in interviews and public statements for the rest of his life.
In this first session with Fonzi, Veciana related a version of the story of Guillermo Ruiz who was married to his cousin. According to Veciana, after the assassination, a news article claimed that Oswald had met with a Cuban couple in Mexico. Bishop had supposedly asked Veciana to contact Ruiz and tell him that that he would pay him “much money” to say that it was him and his wife who had met with Oswald. A key difference in Veciana’s first telling of the Ruiz story highlights his duplicitous mindset and suggests that he was testing Fonzi to see what he could get away with.
Veciana told Fonzi that the CIA, independent of his contacts with Bishop, had “come to him two times and asked him to try to speak to his cousin and ask him to work for them.” Veciana later told Fonzi in a separate interview that Roberto Vale, whom “he knew to be working for the CIA,” was the individual who had asked him to speak to Ruiz.9 Vale was an MRP member who, like Veciana, worked in Cuba against the Castro government with CIA support. But there is no evidence that the CIA ordered either Veciana or Vale to contact Ruiz. All that exists are reports that Veciana initiated two contacts with government officials regarding Ruiz. The second such contact was in Madrid in 1968 when Veciana told the Cuban Affairs Office there that Ruiz was ripe for defection. According to HSCA documents, Veciana had reported “essentially the same” information in 1964.
After previously only hinting at conspiracies in the JFK case, the time had come for Veciana to get specific. Although Veciana told Fonzi that he did not “want to get involved” due to his “problems” (presumably proving himself innocent of the drug charge), he did have a question. Veciana could not understand, “how the hell Jack Ruby would kill Oswald just because he saw [JFK’s] wife cry?” Veciana, along with a million other theorists was “pretty sure Oswald was killed just to shut him up.” Veciana added that he was sure that “Bishop knows a lot more about it than [I] do.” Veciana capped off the conspiracy discussion by adding that he had spotted a Cuban spy named Raul Diaz in a magazine spread. But this allegation apparently did not capture Fonzi’s interest.
The conversation turned to the 1971 Castro assassination plot in Chile. Again, Veciana took care to name Bishop as the plot’s mastermind who “supplied the arms and money.” Veciana, for his part, was a conduit to the Chilean government. The unspoken purpose of the plan, according to Veciana, was to assassinate Castro and “blame it on the Russians.” To this end, Veciana obtained “pictures” and “certified documents” through a “policeman” who was really a CIA agent named Luis Posada. But Bishop became angry when he concluded that Veciana was the architect of the plan to lay blame at the feet of the Russians. Veciana insisted it was not him but Lucillo Pena who was the plan’s author. This misunderstanding led to the 1973 breakup of Veciana and his mysterious mentor.
Veciana began to talk with obvious bitterness about his drug conviction, a subject he would return to again and again during the three interviews. He claimed that “all the proofs that were taken to court were false” and assured Fonzi that “someday he would destroy them.” Veciana admitted that “whoever made them up knew what they were doing” since “even the narcotics police believe [I’m] guilty.” Veciana assured Fonzi that he had a plan to prove his innocence but that it would take “eight or nine months to work out.”
Veciana disingenuously told Fonzi that his co-conspirator Augustin Barres was the only witness against him, but the prosecution provided seven witnesses. Veciana went on a rant and related a litany of Barres’ alleged bad deeds to shift the blame to him for Fonzi’s benefit. Suffice it to say that Veciana was never able to make good on his intention to “destroy” the drug case against him (see Chapter 4).
To close the first interview, Veciana returned to the topic of conspiracy theories. Veciana was not sure, but he felt it was possible that billionaire Howard Hughes “had a lot to do with Bishop.” One reason he believed this was because a file that he had seen during a meeting with Bishop in a Bolivian hotel room had “HH” written on the top. Veciana assumed that “HH” stood for Howard Hunt or HL Hunt but had lately focused on the idea of Hughes for unexplained reasons. The file in question was allegedly regarding the sale of arms to Israel through Bolivia. Fonzi never pursued the Howard Hughes angle of the Bishop story which may have merely been one trial balloon among many floated by Veciana to gauge Fonzi’s interest level on specific subjects.
During the second interview on March 11th, Fonzi focused on follow-up questions. Fonzi asked what anti-Castro activity he was involved in prior to meeting Bishop. Veciana’s answer again revealed his desire to characterize his activities as having occurred solely under the direction of Bishop. Veciana said his anti-Castro efforts amounted to “practically nothing” before Bishop and portrayed himself as merely a bank employee and Certified Public Accountants Association President. When Fonzi asked Veciana why he thought Bishop had come to him specifically, he said that he had always believed it was through his boss Julio Lobo to whom he had confided his anti-Castro proclivities.
According to Veciana, Bishop contacted him thirty to forty days after he arrived in the US. Although Veciana was living “underground” Bishop was still somehow able to obtain his phone number and they had a two-hour meeting in Bishop’s car. Sometime later, Bishop talked to Veciana about forming “an organization” which would be based “outside of the US” in Puerto Rico. Fonzi asked if Bishop was behind the formation of Alpha 66 and Veciana answered by saying that he “used to do whatever” Bishop told him. “Always?” the skeptical Fonzi wondered? “Whether it was to attack a Russian ship, or attempt to assassinate Castro in Chile,” Veciana assured Fonzi.
The March 11th interview provides a clear example of Fonzi’s manipulation of the Bishop story. In the interview, Veciana identified not “Smith” but specifically “Ewing Smith” as an embassy contact. In the March 16th interview, Veciana said he met with Ewing Smith “four or five times.” However, in his HSCA testimony, Veciana said the embassy contact was “Smith” dropping the first name “Ewing” as Fonzi did in the HSCA writeup. The truth is, the HSCA was never able to locate a “Ewing Smith” at the embassy and this apparently resulted in the story being reshaped.10 In his book, Fonzi says without citation that Veciana told him that “Smith” was Wayne Smith who was a State Department officer when Veciana was there. But Fonzi interviewed Smith who apparently did not confirm Veciana’s claim of contacting him.11 However, the creative Fonzi found an alternate use for Smith in the book as a “witness” to conspiracy goings-on since he had been in a theater group with perpetual villain David Phillips and knew David Morales, another popular conspiracy suspect.
A story that Veciana told regarding his time in Bolivia and Fonzi’s reaction to it is indicative of the mindset of both men. Veciana told Fonzi that Bishop’s interests were not restricted to anti-Castro activities. For example, Veciana claimed that Bishop ordered him to infiltrate the government of Alfredo Ovando CandÃa who had taken over in Bolivia in a 1969 coup.12 Veciana maintained that he had become close to Ovando and his family while he was head of the military before the takeover. More significantly, Veciana claimed that “they” (presumably himself and Bishop) tried to assassinate Antonio Arguedas who was Minister of the Interior under Ovando’s predecessor.13
Veciana and Bishop were unsuccessful in their alleged attempt to kill Arguedas who disappeared with the captured diary of Che which later surfaced in Havana.14 Evidently, Veciana believed that the historical fact that Arguedas had given Che’s diary to Castro would somehow enhance the credibility of his story. But Fonzi sensibly recognized that Veciana could have obtained much of his story from the newspaper or other sources.15 In the paragraph in Fonzi’s notes that describes the alleged incident, the skeptical Fonzi had placed three separate question marks beside various aspects of the tale. Ultimately, from Fonzi’s perspective, the story did not help his “CIA-did-it” narrative so he had no interest in it.16
Another incident from this session again illuminates the thinking of both men. Veciana turned the discussion to “Castro’s Black Book” which was a report given by the bearded leader to Senator George McGovern regarding alleged assassination attempts against him. Veciana told Fonzi that he knew the report was classified, but believed that if he could see it, “he could tell who the informants are.” Veciana added that he would be happy to travel to Washington to view the notes since he had family there. Fonzi’s reaction was interesting. “I said I thought it was a good idea,” Fonzi wrote and promised to investigate it. Fonzi may have been just pacifying Veciana, but, if not, it is somewhat amazing that he would think Veciana should be given access to classified materials. The fact that Veciana would even think to ask this of Fonzi speaks to the degree of control that he must have believed he exerted over the government investigator even at this early stage in their relationship.
Fonzi sought to clarify the matter of who asked whom for money in the Bishop-Veciana relationship since Veciana had given conflicting statements. Veciana assured Fonzi that the “very elegant” and “well dressed” Bishop had never asked him for money. Although Veciana had asked for only expense money, Bishop brought him a suitcase with $253,000 in it when their relationship ended.17 Veciana claimed that their arrangement had almost ended in May of the same year during a meeting in Caracas.
Veciana’s first telling of the “secret ceremony” story occurred during this second meeting. In this version, Veciana met Bishop at the Pan American Bank building during the “first three or four months” of 1962. Veciana was introduced to two men, although he could not remember their names. In the presence of these individuals, he “swore” that he would never reveal his “activities outside.” Veciana thought the men were “government” although not necessarily CIA. Fonzi wanted to know if Veciana could identify the offices where the ceremony occurred, but it was at that moment that Veciana’s “training” to recall small details, which had served him so well when remembering Oswald, failed miserably. Veciana told Fonzi that “he didn’t bother with remembering” since he never thought he would be in the position of revealing information to government investigators. Veciana did, however, recall details about Bishop. He said the ethereal mentor was a Texan who was six feet two inches tall and weighed 200 to 215 pounds. He was well dressed and had blue eyes and brown-blondish hair. Veciana said Bishop, whom he described as a “gentleman” was “very tan” and “concerned about his weight.”
Despite his conspiracy bias, Fonzi showed flashes of his investigatory skill during his interviews with Veciana. One such instance was when Fonzi, using a standard technique of asking a subject a question they have previously answered, asked Veciana if he had been introduced to Oswald by name. In the first interview, Veciana had claimed that Bishop quickly said, “this is Lee Harvey Oswald” and that he “never thought of the name, really, twice” and consequently “didn’t even remember” Oswald until after the assassination. Now, Veciana reversed himself and stated that Bishop “never introduced him as Lee Harvey Oswald” and maintained that Oswald never said a word. Despite uncovering this anomaly, Fonzi’s faith in Veciana remained unshaken. Significantly, Fonzi asked Veciana if the meeting was at the Southland building and Veciana replied through his son Tony, “he doesn’t remember.” Although the Southland Building became a standard part of the Bishop story through Fonzi’s writings, Veciana never alleged the meeting occurred there until 2017.
Fonzi wanted to know if Veciana “ever [asked] Bishop after the assassination why he was with Oswald.” Veciana replied that “he just shut up” after Diosdado’s visit. Fonzi returned to the timetable of the alleged Bishop-Oswald meeting. In his book, Fonzi expressed confidence that the meeting was in early September of 1963. But this interview makes it clear that Veciana really had no idea when the alleged meeting took place. “You think that it was in August of 1963 that you saw Bishop with Oswald?” he asked. “No, it wasn’t in ‘63” the apparently confused Veciana replied. Then Veciana blurted, “yes, yes, it was in ’63, July or August.” To stem the confusion, Veciana asked, “when was Kennedy assassinated?” After learning that it was 1963, Veciana said, “then [the meeting] was in the summer of ’63.”
The third interview started with Fonzi verifying the fact that the “conference” Veciana had previously referred to was the March 19, 1963 Alpha 66-Second National Front of the Escambray (SNFE) press conference given to announce their recent raid. Fonzi wondered if Cecilio Vasquez, who was the SNFE representative at the press conference, could verify Veciana’s claim that Bishop was the one who had arranged it. Predictably, Veciana said that Vasquez was not aware of that fact.
Fonzi wrote in his notes that it was “possible” for Veciana to be in Dallas for the Bishop-Oswald meeting in August of 1963 even though he was in Puerto Rico in July. Fonzi’s justification for this was Veciana’s claim that at one point he was in five different countries in five different nights. Veciana told Fonzi that it was easy for him to travel to Puerto Rico ignoring the JFK travel ban since it was part of the US and no passport was needed. What Veciana did not tell Fonzi was that for a significant part of 1963, he strictly obeyed the order and stayed in Miami.
Fonzi turned to the subject of Jack Cogswell, a nephew of a retired CIA staff employee who arranged for Veciana to meet with the CIA in 1966. Veciana told Fonzi that Joaquin Godoy was the one who probably introduced him to Cogswell. That may have been true, but other things that Veciana told Fonzi regarding Cogswell were suspect. For example, Veciana claimed that Bishop told him that Cogswell was “CIA” and a heavy drinker. Cogswell was not “CIA” although his aunt, who had arranged for him to contact the agency, was. Cogswell evidently did drink to excess, but Veciana could have learned that from simple observation. Veciana also thought that Cogswell knew Bishop but he did not and Fonzi, who interviewed Cogswell, was unable to find a single other person who was aware of the invisible mentor.18 When shown a sketch of Bishop later in the investigation, Cogswell thought that it looked like a former President of Freeport Sulphur.19
Fonzi asked Veciana again if he believed his drug conviction was related to his arrangement with Bishop. Predictably, Veciana agreed and launched into a dissertation on the matter. Veciana, mindful that Fonzi might investigate his situation, cautioned him that the DEA believed in his guilt and he would too if he were them. Veciana went on to say that “when everything went down” in 1973, “they” (presumably Bishop and his organization) could not kill him because then, “too much would come out.” So, Veciana argued, the only way to “finish him” was to set him up. But since Veciana was ultimately released and quickly made his way to a government investigator, it is hard to understand that logic. Veciana admitted that it may have been Castro that “set him up” since he suspected the Cuban leader was behind “three assassination attempts” against him.
Veciana said that he was planning to travel to New York in July of 1976 to show “the evidence that he wasn’t guilty” to “everyone who was involved in sending him to prison.” Implausibly, Veciana maintained he was doing this strictly “for his own personal satisfaction” and to show that “everything was a lie.” For some inexplicable reason, Veciana claimed he “never said anything” during his trial and “didn’t debate anything” that could exonerate him. But now he wanted “the opportunity to tell them they’re wrong.”
Veciana’s primary motive for contacting Fonzi was his drug conviction and his desire to do something that would at least allow him to maintain his innocence to his family and associates with some semblance of credibility. To achieve this end, he had to first gain Fonzi’s attention and his Oswald-Bishop story was the perfect way to do that. In his book, Veciana wrote, “… I had just given [Fonzi] the thing so many suspected … but no one had found before—a direct link between a significant CIA figure and [Oswald].”20
Veciana needed someone in authority to champion his “drug setup” cause and Fonzi filled that role perfectly. Indeed, for years in his book and articles, Fonzi promoted Veciana’s story that he had been framed although the latter could never decide if the perpetrator of the deed had been the CIA or Castro.21 But the story that Veciana first told Fonzi was quite different from the popularized version that Fonzi promoted and likely, at least partially, created.
Go to Chapter 4
The Bishop Hoax: Table of Contents
Notes
1. Unless otherwise indicated, all information in this section is taken from the rough notes of Fonzi’s three initial interviews with Veciana as detailed in RIFs 157-10007-10311, 157-10007-10208 and 157-10004-10158. The initialism RIF stands for "Record Identification Form" which is a unique identifier used by the National Archives JFK Collection to identify specific documents.⏎2. Veciana’s story changed greatly over the years. At this early juncture, Veciana was ostensibly trying to locate Bishop and knew neither his identity nor who he worked for. But by 2007, Veciana was telling Edmundo Garcia that he knew who Bishop was but “I have always refused to reveal his name.” Additionally, Veciana said Bishop was a “high level” CIA officer (Veciana interview with Edmundo Garcia, WQBA Radio, June 21, 2007).⏎
3. The record shows that is exactly what happened. Menoyo secretly headed the military arm of Alpha 66/SNFE/MRP while Veciana ran publicity and fundraising and publicly took credit for the raids.⏎
4. A minor Veciana claim related to Belgium passports was ultimately dropped by both Fonzi and Veciana. Veciana originally maintained that he noticed a passport from that country in the name of “Frigault” in Bishop’s briefcase. Veciana stated that he contemporaneously wrote the name on a piece of paper which he later showed to Fonzi. But the name on the paper could have been written after Veciana met Fonzi to bolster his story. The HSCA checked with the Belgium embassy who could not verify the passport information (HSCA X, paragraph 127, 170). Unsurprisingly, the “Frigault” story is absent from both Fonzi’s and Veciana’s books. Under oath, Phillips denied ever using a Belgian passport.⏎
5. In March of 1976, David Phillips, who would become Fonzi’s chief Bishop suspect, was not yet 54 years old.⏎
6. Gonzalez’s CIA case officer was James O’Mailia, a professor at the university in Havana. In his book, Into the Storm, John Newman postulates that O’Mailia was the mysterious Melton who allegedly trained Veciana (see Chapter Eight). One powerful piece of evidence against O’Mailia being Melton comes from Veciana’s HSCA testimony. Veciana stated, “Melton didn’t know any Spanish and this was one of the main problems that we encountered.” But a language professor teaching at Villanueva University in Havana who had obtained his degree in Peru and married a Peruvian woman would undoubtedly be able to speak Spanish. Additionally, O’Mailia used the alias “Pepe” and not Melton.⏎
7. Perhaps realizing that the amount of the alleged check varied from story to story, Veciana characterized the amount as “six figure[s]” in his book (Veciana with Harrison, Trained to Kill, 81).⏎
8. Fonzi, The Last Investigation, 162.⏎
9. HSCA Outside Contact Report, August 30, 1978, 180-10078-10163, 2.⏎
10. RIF 180-10072-10179.⏎
11. Fonzi, The Last Investigation, 390.⏎
12. Veciana repeats this claim in his book (Veciana with Harrison, Trained to Kill, 148).⏎
13. In a version of the Arguedas story that he told to Dick Russell, Veciana said that Bishop tried to kill Arguedas twice (Russell, On the Trail of the JFK Assassins. Kindle Edition, 149-150).⏎
14. In his book, Veciana said only that Arguedas was a CIA operative who was likely given the task of getting Guevara’s diary to Cuba at the same time he was (Veciana with Harrison, Trained to Kill, 148). Probably because it would make little sense for Veciana to try and kill a fellow CIA man working on the same project, the assassination attempt was dropped from the book. Note too that Veciana never told Fonzi that he was assigned the task of recovering Guevara’s diary.⏎
15. For example, see “Guevara Diary Figure Surrenders.” St Louis Post Dispatch, August 18, 1968, 5.⏎
16. Veciana told other dubious tales about Guevara in his book. Veciana claimed that he had a series of two meetings with Castro’s right-hand man. The purpose of these confabs was to elicit Veciana’s help with the appropriation of private property. Veciana implausibly claims that although he ignored Guevara’s request and indeed warned others of the impending seizures, no harm came to him even though he admits that Che was “never known for being generous with his adversaries.” Veciana speculates that Guevara did nothing after his blatant refusal because of the “rapport” he established with him (Veciana with Harrison, Trained to Kill, 85-88).⏎
17. Rufo López-Fresquet told HSCA investigators when asked about the alleged payoff, “I never have (sic) any idea whatsoever that [Veciana] was getting any money [from the CIA].” Indeed, López-Fresquet implied that financial circumstances in the Veciana household were such that he thought Veciana, “should have given up” his anti-Castro activism and “just worked for his family …” (Transcript of HSCA Interview with Rufo López-Fresquet, May 19, 1977, 12. RIF 180-10086-10456). When asked about the alleged payoff, CIA veteran Ross Crozier quipped, “Who did that? I want to go work for him. I had to account for every penny,” (Gerald McNally Interview of Ross Crozier, May 7, 1999).⏎
18. HSCA X, paragraph 145.⏎
19. Davy, Let Justice Be Done, 87. Freeport Sulphur is a favorite of theorists. Researcher Paul Bleau has produced a PDF document titled “David Atlee Phillips’ links to the assassination.” Bleau says Phillips connects to Clay Shaw and David Ferrie through Freeport. But neither Shaw nor Ferrie has any confirmed “connection” to the assassination regardless of any Freeport ties. Shaw was acquitted of conspiracy charges brought by Jim Garrison and accusations that he was seen with Oswald in Clinton Louisiana are dubious in the extreme. Ferrie has no ties to anything other than a photo of him taken at a Civil Air Patrol picnic that shows Oswald. Phillips’ connection to all of this? He admitted during his testimony before the HSCA that he “must have” known some Freeport people because he was socially active and the name was familiar.⏎
20. Veciana with Harrison, Trained to Kill, 187.⏎
21. Although Fonzi wrote about Veciana’s claim of a drug conviction “setup,” there is little evidence that he seriously investigated the matter. In the third interview, Fonzi made note of the fact that Veciana had told him “much more” regarding financial matters that could be related to his drug conviction claims. But Fonzi, evidently due to a lack of interest on his part, did not bother to make detailed notes regarding these issues.⏎
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