DRE FAQ

Who is Carlos Bringuier?

Carlos Bringuier was the DRE delegate in New Orleans. Bringuier studied law at the University of Havana before defecting to the US in 1961. His brother was a member of the ill-fated Brigade 2506 that landed at the Bay of Pigs.

Bringuier met and interacted with Lee Harvey Oswald in New Orleans in 1963. Click HERE to read more about Oswald and Bringuier.

What is the truth about the DRE and their connections to the CIA and Lee Harvey Oswald?

First, It is important to make a distinction between the Miami-based DRE and the New Orleans DRE delegation. Jefferson Morley purposely makes no such contrast. Instead, he misleads his readers by not telling the full story. For example, in his "Revelation 19.63" piece for the Miami New Times he claims:

[Joannides'] charges in the DRE were among the most notoriously outspoken and militant anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the early Sixties. For several weeks in the summer of 1963, those same exiles tailed, came to blows with, and harassed Lee Harvey Oswald, who just a few months later changed the course of U.S. history (emphasis added).

Similarly, in the Oliver Stone documentary JFK: Destiny Betrayed, Morley claimed:

[the Warren Commission] didn’t know that the group was being run from Miami by George Joannides ... The Joannides story tells us that Dick Helms’s handpicked man in Miami was controlling the group that had the most to do with Oswald before and after the assassination.

But the truth is something quite different than what Morley asserts. Here is a list of the prominent Miami DRE members taken from "Revelation 19.63." The CIA cryptonyms (codenames) for these individuals are in parenthesis:

• Jose Basulto (AMHINT-21)
• Isidro "Chillio" Borja (AMHINT-5)
• Luis Fernandez-Rocha (AMTOPIC-2 and AMHINT-53)
• Jose Antonio Lanuza (sometimes spelled Lanusa; AMHINT-12)
• Alberto Muller (AMING-3 and AMHINT-1)
• Juan Manuel Salvat (AMHINT-2)
• Ernesto Travieso (AMHINT-13)

In contrast, here is the list of the members of the New Orleans DRE delegation:

• Carlos Bringuier (Delegate)
• Celso Hernandez (Secretary)

Most of the Miami DRE members listed above operated out of the CIA's JMWAVE station under Ted Shackley. These Miami DRE members were the ones on the CIA payroll, the ones who had CIA cryptonyms and the ones who interacted with CIA officials up to and including Richard Helms. And the Miami DRE members were the individuals that were managed by case officer George Joannides. None of these Miami DRE members had any connection whatsoever to Lee Harvey Oswald.

It was the New Orleans DRE delegation that had the contact with Oswald. Note that the contact between Oswald and DRE delegate Carlos Bringuier was initiated by Oswald. Once that interaction began, Bringuier, acting on his own, did what came naturally to an anti-Castro activist. When he realized that Oswald was with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, he confronted him. Later, he debated Oswald on the radio and filed a report with the Miami DRE. There is no proof that Bringuier's actions were guided by the CIA and he has strongly denied any connection to the agency.

Morley has tried, again using dubious information, to make the case that the New Orleans DRE delegation was given directions about what to do about Oswald by the Miami DRE. The following quote is again from "Revelation 19.63." The speaker is Miami DRE member Isidro Borja:

We called [Bringuier] Vistilla [nearsighted], because he was a little bit blind, and his glasses were this thick. He was our delegate in New Orleans. He notified us that this guy was putting in propaganda all throughout New Orleans, and he wanted our directions. The guy was Lee Harvey Oswald.

But Bringuier remembers it differently. This quote is from his book Crime Without Punishment and relates an email conversation he had with Borja:

Chilo, I don’t know from where [Morley] got the above information because with the only person with whom I communicated at that time was with José Antonio González Lanuza and I have copies of the letters that we interchanged at the time. I would like to know if it is true you said to Morley that you and I talked at the time. I am inclined to believe that this is another invention of Mr. Morley...

Borja replied confirming Bringuier's recollection while adding a comment about Morley's interview style:

... Morley is sneaky and he tries to lead you into a corner. What I told Jeff was a general statement about we [the Miami DRE] communicated with you (I did not remember who but if you say it was Jose Antonio so be it) and probably asked you to keep an eye on Oswald, etc ...

So, Bringuier communicated only with Lanuza and then only by mail and was not instructed in real time by the Miami DRE regarding what to do about Oswald. For example, Bringuier wrote to Lanuza before his WDSU debate with Oswald asking for advice. But Bringuier didn't receive Lanuza's reply until well after the debate.

Who were the New Orleans DRE delegation members who had contact with Lee Harvey Oswald?

Dale Myers is a well-known expert on the JFK case who has written the definitive book on the murder of JD Tippit titled With Malice. Myers also wrote parts of Bugliosi's Reclaiming History and won an Emmy for a JFK-related animation project. Myers researched the DRE extensively and found that, "the New Orleans DRE was comprised of only two people." They were DRE delegate Carlos Bringuier and Secretary Celso Hernandez. Both of these men met and interacted with Oswald although Bringuier had the most contact with him. Morley has claimed that four men, Bringuier and Hernandez along with Miguel Cruz and Carlos Quiroga, were DRE members. But this claim is not supported by Myers' research which included a review of documents provided by Morley.

What else is known about the New Orleans DRE as it relates to the Oswald matter?

Dale Myers' research on the DRE included publicly available sources, documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests and documents obtained from Morley. Myers concluded that Bringuier was acting on his own "when it came to Oswald" and "reported his actions to Jose Antonio Lanusa, Intelligence Officer for the DRE at its headquarters in Miami." Myers also notes that, "Celso Hernandez, Miguel Cruz and Carlos Quiroga collaborated with Bringuier in actions against Oswald in New Orleans."

"DRE Personnel forms on Carlos Bringuier and Celso Hernandez were found among others in the military section of the DRE’s Archive at the University of Miami," according to Myers. But Myers notes that both Bringuier and Hernandez denied receiving paramilitary training when they testified before the HSCA. Additionally, the HSCA concluded that "none of the New Orleans individuals associated in these events had any involvement in the paramilitary activities of DRE. The New Orleans chapter engaged solely in propaganda and fundraising activities." Finally, the FBI confirmed that Bringuier was the person who conducted virtually all of the New Orleans DRE activities which were "limited to propaganda-type efforts."

Did Joannides or anyone else at the CIA tell Bringuier to monitor or interact with Oswald?

There is absolutely no evidence that the CIA ordered or encouraged Bringuier to take the actions that he did with respect to Oswald. As an anti-Castro activist, he did not need to be told what to do when he saw someone like Oswald handing out pro-Castro propaganda. He did what came naturally. Nor is there evidence that Bringuier ever met Joannides much less took orders from him.

Indeed, Morley seems to understand and agree with this point of view. On page 175 of his 2008 book, Our Man in Mexico, he wrote:

"All the former [DRE] leaders emphasized that they did not take orders from the CIA, and there is good reason to take them at their word. In 1963, they were passionate young anticommunists who feared their homeland was in danger of slipping under one-party control forever. They did not need a CIA man from Washington to tell them to take action against a public supporter of Castro like Oswald."

Additionally, Bringuier told Dale Myers, "I was a delegate of the Miami Central office from where I received mail communication. Maybe I visited that office one or two times while I had been vacationing in Miami. I never met George Joannides nor any other non-Cuban person during those couple of visits to the Miami office."

Finally, in his book Crime Without Punishment, Bringuier writes (p. 419):

On (sic) her book Ms. [Joan] Mellen portray me as a FBI or CIA informant and tried to associate me with George Joannides, according to her and others, as a CIA operative. I heard the name Joannides for the first time while researching some of Jefferson Morley's allegations and this was [after] Mr. Joannides had passed away. I never met, talked or had any direct or indirect contact with Mr. George Joannides but these recyclers of lies keep repeating the same lies.

Was Joannides even aware of the New Orleans DRE delegation's interaction with Oswald before the assassination?

While Borja says Joannides knew about Oswald and Bringuier, Luis Fernandez-Rocha, who was the only DRE man alleged to have personal contact with Joannides, told Morley he had "no specific recollection" of informing Joannides about Oswald. Additionally, in his unpublished article "The Perfect Man for the Job," Morley wrote that the Miami DRE men were "divided" on the issue but "some" said that Joannides didn't know about Oswald. In that same article, Morley notes that Joannides did not report on Oswald's New Orleans DRE interaction and admits that this could have been due to his "ignorance" of the matter.

Similarly, former CIA general counsel Scott Breckinridge told Morley in an interview that Joannides "knew little or nothing about Oswald before the assassination and did not hide any assassination conspiracy."

Did Bringuier and the New Orleans office receive CIA funding?

There is absolutely no evidence that Bringuier or anyone at the New Orleans delegation received CIA or DRE funding. Bringuier told Dale Myers:

"I was the [DRE] Delegate in New Orleans. I never received any money from the CIA or the DRE. On the contrary my Delegation was sending money (little, never high amounts) to Miami. I was an anti-Communist Cuban not an employee of the DRE. If they [Miami DRE] were receiving money from the USA government, which it is possible, I was never informed of that. I was working very hard as a salesman to provide for my family."

Similiarly, in 2005 Bringuier told Johann Rush that he "collected money in 1963 - an average of about $30 a month - and he sent all of it down to help out the anti-Castro Cubans in Miami. He said he did NOT take money from the Cubans in Miami or from the CIA."

Finally, in his book Crime Without Punishment, Bringuier writes (p. 425):

"I was just a Delegate in New Orleans of the DRE. I was not receiving instructions or orders from the CIA, I never received any money from the CIA, if others in the DRE at the Miami office were receiving money from the CIA that was not my case. I was working very hard as a salesman as comanager of "Casa Roca" to bring food for my family, I never received any money from the Miami DRE office or any other office of the DRE, on the contrary my delegation was sending small amounts of money to Miami headquarters. That is the historical truth."

Has Morley ever stated or implied that Bringuier and/or the New Orleans delegation received money from the CIA?

As first reported by Dale Myers, he implied it in his article "What Jane Roman Said." Morley wrote:

"Under a CIA program named AMSPELL, [Joannides] was giving $25,000 a month to Luis Fernandez Rocha, the Directorate's leader in Miami. That funding supported the Directorate's chapters in New Orleans and other cities."

Similarly, in that same article Morley wrote, "[Joannides] dispensed funds from the AMSPELL budget, which the Directorate’s leaders in Miami and New Orleans used to publicly identify Oswald as a supporter of the Castro government in August 1963."

Finally, Morley claimed that "Without the money provided by Joannides there would have been no delegation of Cuban students in New Orleans with the time to confront Oswald. There would have been no money for their press release to the local papers calling for an investigation of his pro-Castro ways. There would have been no tape recording of his remarks on a local radio station."

Bringuier would certainly qualify as a "leader" of the New Orleans DRE "chapter." But as mentioned, Bringuier denies that he received a nickel from the CIA or the Miami DRE. Just as damaging to Morley's argument is the fact that even after the DRE was eventually defunded by the CIA and ceased activities, Bringuier continued his anti-Castro work. In an FBI report from 1967 Juan Manuel Salvat, a DRE leader from Miami, told the bureau that Bringuier had "an independent attitude" and "continues to engage in some propaganda activities pertaining to the Cuban problem." So, it is likely that Bringuier would have engaged in the activities that he did in New Orleans, including those involving Oswald, even without a connection to the DRE.

Has Morley ever stated that Bringuier worked for the CIA outside of his DRE experience?

Indeed he has. In an unpublished manuscript entitled "The Perfect Man for the Job," Morley wrote (p. 29):

In New Orleans, the Agency enlisted Carlos Bringuier to spy on Garrison's investigation. Serving as a Spanish translator for Garrison's office, Bringuier kept the CIA informed of Garrison's increasingly scattershot case.

Here is what really happened. After speaking to Garrison, Bringuier became aware that the New Orleans District Attorney was pushing an insane theory of the assassination. In his book Crime and Punishment, Bringuier wrote:

Jim Garrison, the New Orleans District Attorney, stated plain and simple that Lee Harvey Oswald was not a Communist, but instead Oswald was really an anti-Communist. Garrison continued explaining his thesis and stated that Oswald had been brought to New Orleans by Conservatives.

Garrison showed Bringuier photos of people including Clay Shaw and Guy Banister. Bringuier told Garrison that he had never seen those individuals and that his theory was "the most ridiculous thing that I had ever heard in my life." Bringuier agreed to take a polygraph test which he passed.

After his encounter with Garrison, Bringuier called the CIA to tell them about his concerns regarding Garrison and conspiracy theorist and author Mark Lane. So, it was Bringuier who initiated the contact with the agency and there is not a speck of evidence to support Morley's assertion that the CIA "enlisted" Bringuier to "spy on" Garrison.

Has Jefferson Morley ever interviewed Bringuier?

Yes, once briefly by phone in 1999. However, Bringuier related the following information to Dale Myers about a second interview that was to take place in 2005:

"He contacted me over the phone and initially we agreed to an interview here in my house. When I checked his credentials and found out the inaccuracies that he had written about me I called back and canceled the interview. He persisted claiming he had already an airplane ticket to come here and I told him that this area is a very nice place and he can enjoy a vacation here but that I would not allow him to put a foot inside my house."

What else did Bringuier have to say about Morley?

In his book, Crime Without Punishment, Bringuier wrote the following:

But this is how History is distorted. You can put in a pot the works of Mark Lane, Harold Weisberg, Jim Garrison, Oliver Stone, Bernard Fensterwald, Anthony Summers, J. Marrs, Robert Tanenbaum, Lamar Waldron, Gaetano Fonzi, G. Robert Blakey, C. Furiati, Jefferson Morley, Jim DiEugenio and hundreds of others and you will have a melting pot of lies, falsehoods, misrepresentations, errors, etc., but not the truth (emphasis added).

Did the CIA pay for the "Presumed Assassins" article published by the Miami DRE?

Because the CIA was funding the DRE newspaper "Trenches" (Trinchera) Morley is fond of implying that the "presumed assassins" article was essentially written by the agency. The article referred to Oswald and Castro as the "presumed assassins" of JFK and reported on Oswald's interactions with Bringuier.

But there is no evidence that Joannides or anyone in the CIA approved of the article. Indeed, Morley admits that "What Joannides thought of the DRE’s use of CIA funds to publicize its view of Oswald is unknown."