Post by Rob Caprio on Sept 13, 2021 12:49:22 GMT -5
All portions are ©️ Robert Caprio 2006-2024
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The Warren Commission (WC) said Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) went to Mexico City because the CIA said he did, but what evidence did they give us to show he did? NONE is the correct answer. They did claim he took a bus (we have seen that this did NOT happen), they claimed he went to the Cuban Embassy in New Orleans to get a visa (again, we have seen this did NOT happen) and we saw the Sylvia Odio story is much more credible.
The CIA, via the WC, made other claims. They claimed that witnesses could put LHO in Mexico City and that he stayed at the Hotel del Comercio while he was there. This post will look at these claims to see if they are accurate and true.
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Let's start with an overview of where LHO supposedly went. In CE-1400 there is a map of the locations he allegedly went to once in Mexico City.
historymatters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh22/pages/WH_Vol22_0385a.gif
Supposedly LHO checked into the Hotel del Comercio when he arrived in Mexico City according to the WC, but was he there? The hotel registry is one piece of evidence the WC, and thus, the WC defenders, mention, but did LHO sign it as claimed?
An article named "WAS OSWALD BEING IMPERSONATED?" by Michael Griffith covers this topic. This article was a review of some of the claims made by Gerald Posner in his "Case Closed" book.
Griffith stated this in regards to the hotel registry (Hotel Del Commercio) and what Posner wrote about it.
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Posner says all of the reported contacts with Oswald in Mexico City were with the real Lee Harvey Oswald (6:170-173, 181-196). This is not a credible position in light of the evidence. There are gaping holes in Posner's reconstruction of Oswald's alleged activities in Mexico City. Here are a few of the irregularities about the visit that Posner does not mention at all.
One of the irregularities is this:
Every name in the September 27 register of the hotel where Oswald allegedly stayed **is in the same handwriting except Oswald's (9:264).** The WC tried to explain this by claiming that on the first night a guest would write his or her own name but that on succeeding nights the hotel clerk wrote them in. "Yet," observes James DiEugenio, "eight other guests checked in on September 27, and, on the register for September 28, Oswald's name is again in a unique handwriting. To make it more curious, the handwriting is not the same as that of the signature [from] the previous day" (9:264).
Michael T. Griffith
1996
@all Rights Reserved
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So we see the evidence the WC claimed showed LHO was at the hotel is highly questionable at best as it sounds ripe for forgery to me. With this evidence gone it really sheds doubt on LHO being in Mexico City as claimed, but if he was then he stayed somewhere else.
The other topic of this post was the alleged witnesses to LHO’s visit to Mexico City. The first one is Elena Garro de Paz. She was a Mexican novelist, poet and playwright, and she claimed to have gone to a party with her daughter and sister at the home of Silvia Duran. Silvia Duran was the woman who got the job at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City just a month before LHO's alleged trip there when her predecessor died in what police called a "strange automobile accident."
How do we know this? It would seem a "CIA informant" by the name of June Cobb told CIA officials of this party when she was told about it by Ms. Garro in reaction to the WC coverage at that time, and she confirmed this claim as well. Silvia Duran would be questioned about this in her HSCA testimony.
CORNWELL - Did you ever have any of the people at the Cuban Consulate attend parties in your home? Was there a social relationship with any of them?
TIRADO - Yes.
CORNWELL - Did you ever receive any indication from them that any of them had ever had a contact with Oswald?
TIRADO - No.
She listed who “they” were—Azcue, Maria Carmen, Luisa Caldaron went once (she was the secretary that would die in the automobile accident to make room for Duran in late September), and perhaps Theresa Proenza came once per Silvia Duran.
CORNWELL - Did Elena or Elinita Garro de Paz ever come to those parties? In your home?
TIRADO - No.
We see according to Duran de Paz never came to her house for a party. Ms. Cobb would pass the information she said she was told about Ms. Duran sleeping with "Oswald" too. The home of the party seemed to belong to Silvia Duran's brother-in-law, Ruben, and it happened sometime in the fall of 1963. In her HSCA testimony Duran remembers a party at Ruben’s , but can’t remember when it occurred.
CORNWELL - Or in the home of Ruben?
TIRADO - Once, but it was, I think it was before that I was in the Cuban Embassy.
CORNWELL - Would it have been aproximately around '63?
TIRADO - I don't know because when they came from France...
CORNWELL - Approximately 1963?
TIRADO - I only, perhaps, I don't know.
HARDAWAY - Did you say that it was when they came from France?
TIRADO - Yes.
HARDAWAY - It was after they returned from France that they came to one of the parties?
TIRADO - Yeah, to Ruben's house.
HARDAWAY - At Ruben's house.
TIRADO - Yeah. That was the whole family there. I only saw Elena a few times. One was the day that I got married and another time was somewhere else, I think three times I only saw her.
They did not nail down a time for this party. According to Ms. Cobb, via Ms. Garro, via Ms. Duran, Ms. Duran had supposedly spoken with three American guests who were otherwise standoffish. Supposedly, one of these guests was LHO. The FBI looked into this but they claimed they had problems corroborating some parts of the story so they lost interest in it.
Again, let’s look at Duran’s testimony before the HSCA to see what we can find out about this possibility. She was asked if General Clark Flores, Emilio Carbillido, Devaci (Elena’s sister) or Eunice Odio ever attended the parties at Ruben’s house. Then they asked her this.
CORNWELL - Over the years, have any of those people ever indicated to you that they had any knowledge of Oswald's trip to Mexico city?
TIRADO - No.
CORNWELL - Have they ever professed to have either seen him or heard any stories about any one who did see or meet with him?
TIRADO - No.
CORNWELL - Has anyone else ever come to you since 1963 and professed to have knowledge of Oswald's trip to Mexico City?
TIRADO - No.
IF LHO had been at this party as claimed it seems NO one saw him then. Duran would be asked point blank about this in her HSCA testimony and here is what she said.
HARDAWAY - Did you ever attend a party where Lee Harvey Oswald was present?
TIRADO - The party where Lee, no, I don't know that he attends some parties.
HARDAWAY - The question was, did you ever attend a party where he was present?
TIRADO - No.
It obvious form her testimony that she was NEVER at a party with LHO. The story resumed in late 1965 when a State Department officer, Charles Thomas, heard the story and became deeply interested in it. His attempts to have the allegations pursued fell on deaf ears. Meanwhile, the story developed a few embellishments not present in write-ups of the original version, in particular the presence of a red-haired Negro at the party (reminiscent of the Alvarado allegation).
Ms. Garro was known to have a gifted imagination, but this by itself does NOT refute the claim. Ms. Garro was a COUSIN to Sylvia Duran and admitted to "detesting" her. Win Scott, CIA station chief for Mexico City, when viewing a report on Ms. Garro wrote she "was nuts." This also does NOT refute her claim, but it seems to be an odd comment from a man who COULD BENEFIT from what Ms. Garro had claimed. Wouldn't it seem odd to most of you for Win Scott to call a women who claimed to have knowledge of LHO's trip to Mexico City, albeit in the vague "sometime in the fall" kind of way, as "nuts" when the CIA could use all the help they could get for this alleged trip? It sure does to me.
What the story LACKS for me is a DIRECT connection between Ms. Garro and LHO. I mean she claimed her "detested" cousin, the same woman who would be ARRESTED and TORTURED UNTIL she signed an affidavit saying it was LHO at the Cuban Embassy when the CIA and WC claimed, was the ONE that supposedly spoke with LHO, NOT her! The other interesting thing is why did the CIA and WC NOT investigate whom the "other two American guests" were that LHO seemed to be with? This is a pattern we see repeated over and over in many areas of the case, but especially in Mexico City, they have witnesses that say they saw LHO (if it was really him), but in all the cases beyond the claimed Embassy visits that person is WITH OTHER PEOPLE! Many times they were Cubans! Yet NOT one ounce of energy was spent on finding out who these people were! How come?
Next we come to Antonio Garcia Lara. There is very little written about this man, so I can't say much in regards to him. This is what we do know however, Mr. Lara got involved when the person purported to be "Oswald" returned and began an altercation to try and get his visa granted by this action. It could obviously be another way to be remembered as well. This return was after he supposedly went and got his picture taken so it could be attached to the visa application, but to this day NO location for this happening has been discovered. Where did this person get a picture of themselves IF it was LHO? This altercation was in the presence of several others, including Mr. Lara, who was an official from the commercial office, who, at hearing the discussion and thinking this might be a provocation, went downstairs to the consulate office and was able to see the subject leaving. What kind of look did he get at the man leaving?
Finally we come to Guillermo Ruiz Perez. Ruiz (the Perez seems NOT to be used much) was in charge of the Commercial office, which was inside the embassy. Supposedly as he was going into his office when he was intercepted by Azcue and asked to help with the unruly North American subject (this is how Azcue phrased it and it leaves open the question of whether Azcue thought the man might be Canadian) since his English was so good. He was asked to explain to the man why his visa was denied. He did this and this gave him a close-up look at the man's face for a few seconds at a short distance. He would say it was not LHO as well.
What was left out was the FACT Ruiz was part of Cuba's intelligence service, G-2, and his COUSIN WAS ANTONIO VECIANA of Alpha 66. Veciana would be arrested for staging attacks during and immediately after the CMC. Here is some information from Gaeton Fonzi's investigation for the HSCA of this topic:
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At the time, there were newspaper stories about Oswald having met with a Cuban couple in Mexico City. Veciana recalls these stories reported that the wife spoke excellent English. Bishop (allegedly David Atlee Phillips posing as "Maurice Bishop") said that he knew that Veciana had a cousin, Guillermo Ruiz, in Castro's intelligence’s service (G-2) who then happened to be stationed in Mexico City. Ruiz's wife, coincidentally, spoke excellent English. Bishop asked Veciana to try to get in touch with Ruiz and offer him A LARGE AMOUNT of money IF Ruiz would say that it was he and his wife who had met with Oswald." (Emphasis mine) (TLI, p. 143)
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NOW, if they were willing to PAY A LARGE AMOUNT OF MONEY FOR HIM TO LIE AND CLAIM THIS, why NOT pay a large amount of money to claim LHO was at the embassy? Duran testified to NOT knowing Ruiz either.
HARDAWAY - Did you ever know a person by the name of Guillermo Ruiz?
TIRADO - No.
We next move to the story of Oscar Contreras. Anthony Summers spoke with Oscar Contreras for his book "Conspiracy." Contreras said he had met a BLOND American calling himself Oswald in Mexico City in the fall of 1963.
Fonzi picks up this story: "HSCA investigators were never able to pin down Contreras. And Blakey, in his presentation to the Committee, made it appear that Contreras was DELIBERATELY avoiding them. Yet Summers found him quite EASILY in Tampico, where he is the EDITOR of a local newspaper, El Mundo." (Emphasis mine) (Fonzi, TLI, p. 289)
According to Fonzi, Contreras was a law student in 1963 at the National University as well as being active in left-wing politics. He both belonged to an pro-Castro group and had contacts at the Cuban Embassy. Contreras recalled that on one evening in the last week of September, that he and three students emerged from a political group discussion meeting and then stopped by the school cafeteria. An American at a nearby table then struck up a conversation with them (remember, this is supposedly the same guy who barely, if ever, said hello to folks he worked with at the TSBD) and introduced himself as Lee Harvey Oswald. Contreras and his friends thought this was funny because "Harvey" and "Oswald" were RABBITS in a Mexican cartoon at that time. This new American friend then began to tell them about his problems in getting a visa to Cuba (why he went to a university is curious to me) He asked them if they could help him with THEIR CONTACTS AT THE CUBAN EMBASSY! How would LHO know they had contacts at the Cuban Embassy if he was a loner like the WC claimed?
Fonzi continues by saying later that evening Contreras DID CALL Azcue, whom he KNEW, as well as another friend who was a Cuban INTELLIGENCE OFFICER at the Embassy. BOTH advised him to stay AWAY from the American! (Why if he was just a loner?) They told him they had become suspicious of the man and said he might be a provocateur attempting to penetrate left wing groups. The next day, Contreras and his friends told Oswald that the Cubans did NOT trust him and that he probably would NOT be given a visa. (So much for all the claims he was going to Cuba after the assassination, huh?) Oswald, nevertheless, kept trying to ingratiate himself with them and, in fact, joined them in an ALL-NIGHT bull session. He left the next morning and that, said Contreras, was the last he saw of Oswald. (Fonzi, TLI, pp. 289-90)
Contreras told Summers he had NO doubts it was Oswald, but then he described a man who looked NOTHING like Oswald! He described him as being over 30, light-haired and fairly short. Contreras, not very tall himself, remembers looking down on "Oswald the Rabbit." The real LHO was dark-haired, 23 about to be 24, and was either 5'9" or 5'11" (I have seen both listed for him).
Contreras spent a WHOLE night with him too, he surely got a good look at him and this description MATCHES Duran's and Azcue's descriptions.
So we are left with this for corroboration of the CIA's, and the WC's claim.
1) Mirabel -- he got a brief glance of the person leaving the embassy, who knows to what an extent this view gave him. It could have been of the person's back even.
2) Lara -- Ditto.
3) Ruiz -- he was connected to Veciana (a cousin) and he was part of Castro's intelligence organization. On top of that Veciana, on behalf of Bishop/Phillips, got him to lie and say he and his wife met with Oswald apparently bribed him while he was in Mexico City.
4) Garro -- she had a vivid imagination according to many, she had been a "CIA informant", Ms. Cobb, as a friend, she did NOT speak directly to the man she claimed was LHO but rather used the word of a cousin she "detested" (Sylvia Duran -- apparently she detested her so much she spread the news that Duran was sleeping with the man she claimed was LHO) to make this claim, and she was labeled "nuts" by the station chief in Mexico City!
Besides, the question of exactly who the OTHER TWO AMERICANS were they claim they saw with "Oswald" needs to be explained as well.
5) Duran -- she would initially describe someone who looked NOTHING like LHO, and does so again in the late 1970s when discussing this with author Anthony Summers. She would later tell the HSCA and author Anthony Summers that the man she saw was 5'3", 30-35, and had blond hair!
CORNWELL - Okay. In sum, you identified a picture in the book as being as best as you can remember his face and hair. Was there anything about that which in your memory was different from the picture other than the fact that you do remember his eyes being blue or green and his hair being very light colored or blond but not as light as some of the other pictures look.
TIRADO - And he has not very much. He was, has few, poco pelo.
LOPEZ - He didn't have very much hair.
LOPEZ - I understand. If you bear with me just a few more minutes--his hair line, was it receding?
TIRADO - Yeah, yeah. Quite a bit.
CORNWELL - Lee Harvey Oswald. Now, many of the pictures in the book are not that clear, of course. When you saw him the first time in the book, you indicated that that looked like him except that as you recalled him, he had either blue or green eyes and blond hair. Correct?
TIRADO - Yes.
CORNWELL - When you say blond hair, what color is that? Is it very light?
TIRADO - Light.
Obviously, LHO did NOT have light or blond hair. He also did NOT have green or blue eyes officially, although as we saw in #54 in this series some documents listed his eye color as blue (i.e. on his subsequent Selective Service Card (CE-1944 page 743) his eyes have become blue. Also in a May 1962 FBI report by the SAME John Fain (CE-821, page 706) his eyes are listed as blue!).
ONLY after she was arrested by Mexican police (on orders from the CIA) and beaten and tortured did she sign an affidavit saying it was LHO. She was claimed to be sleeping with the man who came to the Embassy and Jefferson Morley said this..."At least one Mexican source on the CIA payroll had told his case officer that ‘all that would have to be done to recruit Ms. Duran was to get a blonde, blue-eyed American in bed with her’." It would seem if this story of her sleeping with the man who came to her embassy is true it could NOT have been LHO since he was apparently NOT her type.
She would be asked about this allegation in her HSCA testimony.
HARDAWAY - Okay. Did you ever discuss the allegation that they made that you had been Lee Harvey Oswald's lover with your husband?
TIRADO - Well, I told him almost all what happened. He told me what they did to him and I told him what they did to me.
HARDAWAY - Do you remember specifically talking about that specific allegation with your husband?
TIRADO - No, it was not important.
Also, according to the WC LHO was proficient in Russian, but Duran never heard the man who came to her embassy speak anything but English.
HARDAWAY - I've just got a few questions that if you'll bear with me... During the three times that you met Oswald, did you ever hear him speak any language other than English?
TIRADO - No.
HARDAWAY - Was Russian ever commonly spoken at the Consulate's Office?
TIRADO - No.
CORNWELL - The reason I'm asking of course is to try to jog your memory. Did he at any point in that transaction speak Russian? Did Oswald speak Russian that you recall?
TIRADO - No.
So LHO never spoke Russian at the embassy, but ONLY English per Duran. Finally, we come to the letter LHO allegedly typed up (the WC never showed LHO knew how to type, but did claim he was taking a typing class) regarding his trip to the Embassy. Here is the part that has interested many for years.
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www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh16/pages/WH_Vol16_0029a.jpg
I was unable to remain in Mexico indefinitely because of my mexican (sic) visa restrictions which was for 15 days only. I could not take a chance on requesting a new visa unless I USED MY REAL NAME, so I returned to the United States. (CE 15, p. 33) (Emphasis mine)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh16/html/WH_Vol16_0029a.htm
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This letter is probably a forgery in all likelihood as they used a nice touch in misspelling “mexican” visa. Meanwhile, the real LHO was prone to many grammatical and spelling mistakes, but we are too believe that he got the proper use of ACRONYMS right? We see he did for F.P.P.C and the F.B.I. later in the letter.
One of the better excuses came from the supposed Australian moderator for John McAdams’ boards (AAJ & ACJ), Tim Brennan, for why this was said. He said on LHO’s FM-8 card (i.e. visa) it showed he was listed as “Mr. Lee” and NOT LHO. Here is the card for your viewing.
historymatters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh25/pages/WC_Vol25_0352b.jpg
The problems with this excuse are we have seen the real LHO was NEVER in line to get a FM-8 card in New Orleans in the first place as several witness--one of them knew him (Gaudet)-- did NOT see him there. So how did this FM-8 card come about? Next, we have nary a witness to show he presented it at the border either time he allegedly arrived there. How come?
Finally, if LHO was fortunate enough to get a visa in another name, why would he bother to use his real name at the time of renewal? That is like saying you took out a subscription under a fake name and then thought you had to renew it under your real name! This makes no sense as the provider thinks you are the fake name anyway. Tied in with this is the FACT Duran, Azcue, et. al. said the man that came to their embassy used the name LEE HARVEY OSWALD anyway, so what would be the big deal about using his “real name”? This comment ONLY applies if we realize the man was NOT LHO and did NOT want to use HIS real name.
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The Warren Commission (WC) said Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) went to Mexico City because the CIA said he did, but what evidence did they give us to show he did? NONE is the correct answer. They did claim he took a bus (we have seen that this did NOT happen), they claimed he went to the Cuban Embassy in New Orleans to get a visa (again, we have seen this did NOT happen) and we saw the Sylvia Odio story is much more credible.
The CIA, via the WC, made other claims. They claimed that witnesses could put LHO in Mexico City and that he stayed at the Hotel del Comercio while he was there. This post will look at these claims to see if they are accurate and true.
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Let's start with an overview of where LHO supposedly went. In CE-1400 there is a map of the locations he allegedly went to once in Mexico City.
historymatters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh22/pages/WH_Vol22_0385a.gif
Supposedly LHO checked into the Hotel del Comercio when he arrived in Mexico City according to the WC, but was he there? The hotel registry is one piece of evidence the WC, and thus, the WC defenders, mention, but did LHO sign it as claimed?
An article named "WAS OSWALD BEING IMPERSONATED?" by Michael Griffith covers this topic. This article was a review of some of the claims made by Gerald Posner in his "Case Closed" book.
Griffith stated this in regards to the hotel registry (Hotel Del Commercio) and what Posner wrote about it.
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Posner says all of the reported contacts with Oswald in Mexico City were with the real Lee Harvey Oswald (6:170-173, 181-196). This is not a credible position in light of the evidence. There are gaping holes in Posner's reconstruction of Oswald's alleged activities in Mexico City. Here are a few of the irregularities about the visit that Posner does not mention at all.
One of the irregularities is this:
Every name in the September 27 register of the hotel where Oswald allegedly stayed **is in the same handwriting except Oswald's (9:264).** The WC tried to explain this by claiming that on the first night a guest would write his or her own name but that on succeeding nights the hotel clerk wrote them in. "Yet," observes James DiEugenio, "eight other guests checked in on September 27, and, on the register for September 28, Oswald's name is again in a unique handwriting. To make it more curious, the handwriting is not the same as that of the signature [from] the previous day" (9:264).
Michael T. Griffith
1996
@all Rights Reserved
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So we see the evidence the WC claimed showed LHO was at the hotel is highly questionable at best as it sounds ripe for forgery to me. With this evidence gone it really sheds doubt on LHO being in Mexico City as claimed, but if he was then he stayed somewhere else.
The other topic of this post was the alleged witnesses to LHO’s visit to Mexico City. The first one is Elena Garro de Paz. She was a Mexican novelist, poet and playwright, and she claimed to have gone to a party with her daughter and sister at the home of Silvia Duran. Silvia Duran was the woman who got the job at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City just a month before LHO's alleged trip there when her predecessor died in what police called a "strange automobile accident."
How do we know this? It would seem a "CIA informant" by the name of June Cobb told CIA officials of this party when she was told about it by Ms. Garro in reaction to the WC coverage at that time, and she confirmed this claim as well. Silvia Duran would be questioned about this in her HSCA testimony.
CORNWELL - Did you ever have any of the people at the Cuban Consulate attend parties in your home? Was there a social relationship with any of them?
TIRADO - Yes.
CORNWELL - Did you ever receive any indication from them that any of them had ever had a contact with Oswald?
TIRADO - No.
She listed who “they” were—Azcue, Maria Carmen, Luisa Caldaron went once (she was the secretary that would die in the automobile accident to make room for Duran in late September), and perhaps Theresa Proenza came once per Silvia Duran.
CORNWELL - Did Elena or Elinita Garro de Paz ever come to those parties? In your home?
TIRADO - No.
We see according to Duran de Paz never came to her house for a party. Ms. Cobb would pass the information she said she was told about Ms. Duran sleeping with "Oswald" too. The home of the party seemed to belong to Silvia Duran's brother-in-law, Ruben, and it happened sometime in the fall of 1963. In her HSCA testimony Duran remembers a party at Ruben’s , but can’t remember when it occurred.
CORNWELL - Or in the home of Ruben?
TIRADO - Once, but it was, I think it was before that I was in the Cuban Embassy.
CORNWELL - Would it have been aproximately around '63?
TIRADO - I don't know because when they came from France...
CORNWELL - Approximately 1963?
TIRADO - I only, perhaps, I don't know.
HARDAWAY - Did you say that it was when they came from France?
TIRADO - Yes.
HARDAWAY - It was after they returned from France that they came to one of the parties?
TIRADO - Yeah, to Ruben's house.
HARDAWAY - At Ruben's house.
TIRADO - Yeah. That was the whole family there. I only saw Elena a few times. One was the day that I got married and another time was somewhere else, I think three times I only saw her.
They did not nail down a time for this party. According to Ms. Cobb, via Ms. Garro, via Ms. Duran, Ms. Duran had supposedly spoken with three American guests who were otherwise standoffish. Supposedly, one of these guests was LHO. The FBI looked into this but they claimed they had problems corroborating some parts of the story so they lost interest in it.
Again, let’s look at Duran’s testimony before the HSCA to see what we can find out about this possibility. She was asked if General Clark Flores, Emilio Carbillido, Devaci (Elena’s sister) or Eunice Odio ever attended the parties at Ruben’s house. Then they asked her this.
CORNWELL - Over the years, have any of those people ever indicated to you that they had any knowledge of Oswald's trip to Mexico city?
TIRADO - No.
CORNWELL - Have they ever professed to have either seen him or heard any stories about any one who did see or meet with him?
TIRADO - No.
CORNWELL - Has anyone else ever come to you since 1963 and professed to have knowledge of Oswald's trip to Mexico City?
TIRADO - No.
IF LHO had been at this party as claimed it seems NO one saw him then. Duran would be asked point blank about this in her HSCA testimony and here is what she said.
HARDAWAY - Did you ever attend a party where Lee Harvey Oswald was present?
TIRADO - The party where Lee, no, I don't know that he attends some parties.
HARDAWAY - The question was, did you ever attend a party where he was present?
TIRADO - No.
It obvious form her testimony that she was NEVER at a party with LHO. The story resumed in late 1965 when a State Department officer, Charles Thomas, heard the story and became deeply interested in it. His attempts to have the allegations pursued fell on deaf ears. Meanwhile, the story developed a few embellishments not present in write-ups of the original version, in particular the presence of a red-haired Negro at the party (reminiscent of the Alvarado allegation).
Ms. Garro was known to have a gifted imagination, but this by itself does NOT refute the claim. Ms. Garro was a COUSIN to Sylvia Duran and admitted to "detesting" her. Win Scott, CIA station chief for Mexico City, when viewing a report on Ms. Garro wrote she "was nuts." This also does NOT refute her claim, but it seems to be an odd comment from a man who COULD BENEFIT from what Ms. Garro had claimed. Wouldn't it seem odd to most of you for Win Scott to call a women who claimed to have knowledge of LHO's trip to Mexico City, albeit in the vague "sometime in the fall" kind of way, as "nuts" when the CIA could use all the help they could get for this alleged trip? It sure does to me.
What the story LACKS for me is a DIRECT connection between Ms. Garro and LHO. I mean she claimed her "detested" cousin, the same woman who would be ARRESTED and TORTURED UNTIL she signed an affidavit saying it was LHO at the Cuban Embassy when the CIA and WC claimed, was the ONE that supposedly spoke with LHO, NOT her! The other interesting thing is why did the CIA and WC NOT investigate whom the "other two American guests" were that LHO seemed to be with? This is a pattern we see repeated over and over in many areas of the case, but especially in Mexico City, they have witnesses that say they saw LHO (if it was really him), but in all the cases beyond the claimed Embassy visits that person is WITH OTHER PEOPLE! Many times they were Cubans! Yet NOT one ounce of energy was spent on finding out who these people were! How come?
Next we come to Antonio Garcia Lara. There is very little written about this man, so I can't say much in regards to him. This is what we do know however, Mr. Lara got involved when the person purported to be "Oswald" returned and began an altercation to try and get his visa granted by this action. It could obviously be another way to be remembered as well. This return was after he supposedly went and got his picture taken so it could be attached to the visa application, but to this day NO location for this happening has been discovered. Where did this person get a picture of themselves IF it was LHO? This altercation was in the presence of several others, including Mr. Lara, who was an official from the commercial office, who, at hearing the discussion and thinking this might be a provocation, went downstairs to the consulate office and was able to see the subject leaving. What kind of look did he get at the man leaving?
Finally we come to Guillermo Ruiz Perez. Ruiz (the Perez seems NOT to be used much) was in charge of the Commercial office, which was inside the embassy. Supposedly as he was going into his office when he was intercepted by Azcue and asked to help with the unruly North American subject (this is how Azcue phrased it and it leaves open the question of whether Azcue thought the man might be Canadian) since his English was so good. He was asked to explain to the man why his visa was denied. He did this and this gave him a close-up look at the man's face for a few seconds at a short distance. He would say it was not LHO as well.
What was left out was the FACT Ruiz was part of Cuba's intelligence service, G-2, and his COUSIN WAS ANTONIO VECIANA of Alpha 66. Veciana would be arrested for staging attacks during and immediately after the CMC. Here is some information from Gaeton Fonzi's investigation for the HSCA of this topic:
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At the time, there were newspaper stories about Oswald having met with a Cuban couple in Mexico City. Veciana recalls these stories reported that the wife spoke excellent English. Bishop (allegedly David Atlee Phillips posing as "Maurice Bishop") said that he knew that Veciana had a cousin, Guillermo Ruiz, in Castro's intelligence’s service (G-2) who then happened to be stationed in Mexico City. Ruiz's wife, coincidentally, spoke excellent English. Bishop asked Veciana to try to get in touch with Ruiz and offer him A LARGE AMOUNT of money IF Ruiz would say that it was he and his wife who had met with Oswald." (Emphasis mine) (TLI, p. 143)
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NOW, if they were willing to PAY A LARGE AMOUNT OF MONEY FOR HIM TO LIE AND CLAIM THIS, why NOT pay a large amount of money to claim LHO was at the embassy? Duran testified to NOT knowing Ruiz either.
HARDAWAY - Did you ever know a person by the name of Guillermo Ruiz?
TIRADO - No.
We next move to the story of Oscar Contreras. Anthony Summers spoke with Oscar Contreras for his book "Conspiracy." Contreras said he had met a BLOND American calling himself Oswald in Mexico City in the fall of 1963.
Fonzi picks up this story: "HSCA investigators were never able to pin down Contreras. And Blakey, in his presentation to the Committee, made it appear that Contreras was DELIBERATELY avoiding them. Yet Summers found him quite EASILY in Tampico, where he is the EDITOR of a local newspaper, El Mundo." (Emphasis mine) (Fonzi, TLI, p. 289)
According to Fonzi, Contreras was a law student in 1963 at the National University as well as being active in left-wing politics. He both belonged to an pro-Castro group and had contacts at the Cuban Embassy. Contreras recalled that on one evening in the last week of September, that he and three students emerged from a political group discussion meeting and then stopped by the school cafeteria. An American at a nearby table then struck up a conversation with them (remember, this is supposedly the same guy who barely, if ever, said hello to folks he worked with at the TSBD) and introduced himself as Lee Harvey Oswald. Contreras and his friends thought this was funny because "Harvey" and "Oswald" were RABBITS in a Mexican cartoon at that time. This new American friend then began to tell them about his problems in getting a visa to Cuba (why he went to a university is curious to me) He asked them if they could help him with THEIR CONTACTS AT THE CUBAN EMBASSY! How would LHO know they had contacts at the Cuban Embassy if he was a loner like the WC claimed?
Fonzi continues by saying later that evening Contreras DID CALL Azcue, whom he KNEW, as well as another friend who was a Cuban INTELLIGENCE OFFICER at the Embassy. BOTH advised him to stay AWAY from the American! (Why if he was just a loner?) They told him they had become suspicious of the man and said he might be a provocateur attempting to penetrate left wing groups. The next day, Contreras and his friends told Oswald that the Cubans did NOT trust him and that he probably would NOT be given a visa. (So much for all the claims he was going to Cuba after the assassination, huh?) Oswald, nevertheless, kept trying to ingratiate himself with them and, in fact, joined them in an ALL-NIGHT bull session. He left the next morning and that, said Contreras, was the last he saw of Oswald. (Fonzi, TLI, pp. 289-90)
Contreras told Summers he had NO doubts it was Oswald, but then he described a man who looked NOTHING like Oswald! He described him as being over 30, light-haired and fairly short. Contreras, not very tall himself, remembers looking down on "Oswald the Rabbit." The real LHO was dark-haired, 23 about to be 24, and was either 5'9" or 5'11" (I have seen both listed for him).
Contreras spent a WHOLE night with him too, he surely got a good look at him and this description MATCHES Duran's and Azcue's descriptions.
So we are left with this for corroboration of the CIA's, and the WC's claim.
1) Mirabel -- he got a brief glance of the person leaving the embassy, who knows to what an extent this view gave him. It could have been of the person's back even.
2) Lara -- Ditto.
3) Ruiz -- he was connected to Veciana (a cousin) and he was part of Castro's intelligence organization. On top of that Veciana, on behalf of Bishop/Phillips, got him to lie and say he and his wife met with Oswald apparently bribed him while he was in Mexico City.
4) Garro -- she had a vivid imagination according to many, she had been a "CIA informant", Ms. Cobb, as a friend, she did NOT speak directly to the man she claimed was LHO but rather used the word of a cousin she "detested" (Sylvia Duran -- apparently she detested her so much she spread the news that Duran was sleeping with the man she claimed was LHO) to make this claim, and she was labeled "nuts" by the station chief in Mexico City!
Besides, the question of exactly who the OTHER TWO AMERICANS were they claim they saw with "Oswald" needs to be explained as well.
5) Duran -- she would initially describe someone who looked NOTHING like LHO, and does so again in the late 1970s when discussing this with author Anthony Summers. She would later tell the HSCA and author Anthony Summers that the man she saw was 5'3", 30-35, and had blond hair!
CORNWELL - Okay. In sum, you identified a picture in the book as being as best as you can remember his face and hair. Was there anything about that which in your memory was different from the picture other than the fact that you do remember his eyes being blue or green and his hair being very light colored or blond but not as light as some of the other pictures look.
TIRADO - And he has not very much. He was, has few, poco pelo.
LOPEZ - He didn't have very much hair.
LOPEZ - I understand. If you bear with me just a few more minutes--his hair line, was it receding?
TIRADO - Yeah, yeah. Quite a bit.
CORNWELL - Lee Harvey Oswald. Now, many of the pictures in the book are not that clear, of course. When you saw him the first time in the book, you indicated that that looked like him except that as you recalled him, he had either blue or green eyes and blond hair. Correct?
TIRADO - Yes.
CORNWELL - When you say blond hair, what color is that? Is it very light?
TIRADO - Light.
Obviously, LHO did NOT have light or blond hair. He also did NOT have green or blue eyes officially, although as we saw in #54 in this series some documents listed his eye color as blue (i.e. on his subsequent Selective Service Card (CE-1944 page 743) his eyes have become blue. Also in a May 1962 FBI report by the SAME John Fain (CE-821, page 706) his eyes are listed as blue!).
ONLY after she was arrested by Mexican police (on orders from the CIA) and beaten and tortured did she sign an affidavit saying it was LHO. She was claimed to be sleeping with the man who came to the Embassy and Jefferson Morley said this..."At least one Mexican source on the CIA payroll had told his case officer that ‘all that would have to be done to recruit Ms. Duran was to get a blonde, blue-eyed American in bed with her’." It would seem if this story of her sleeping with the man who came to her embassy is true it could NOT have been LHO since he was apparently NOT her type.
She would be asked about this allegation in her HSCA testimony.
HARDAWAY - Okay. Did you ever discuss the allegation that they made that you had been Lee Harvey Oswald's lover with your husband?
TIRADO - Well, I told him almost all what happened. He told me what they did to him and I told him what they did to me.
HARDAWAY - Do you remember specifically talking about that specific allegation with your husband?
TIRADO - No, it was not important.
Also, according to the WC LHO was proficient in Russian, but Duran never heard the man who came to her embassy speak anything but English.
HARDAWAY - I've just got a few questions that if you'll bear with me... During the three times that you met Oswald, did you ever hear him speak any language other than English?
TIRADO - No.
HARDAWAY - Was Russian ever commonly spoken at the Consulate's Office?
TIRADO - No.
CORNWELL - The reason I'm asking of course is to try to jog your memory. Did he at any point in that transaction speak Russian? Did Oswald speak Russian that you recall?
TIRADO - No.
So LHO never spoke Russian at the embassy, but ONLY English per Duran. Finally, we come to the letter LHO allegedly typed up (the WC never showed LHO knew how to type, but did claim he was taking a typing class) regarding his trip to the Embassy. Here is the part that has interested many for years.
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www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh16/pages/WH_Vol16_0029a.jpg
I was unable to remain in Mexico indefinitely because of my mexican (sic) visa restrictions which was for 15 days only. I could not take a chance on requesting a new visa unless I USED MY REAL NAME, so I returned to the United States. (CE 15, p. 33) (Emphasis mine)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh16/html/WH_Vol16_0029a.htm
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This letter is probably a forgery in all likelihood as they used a nice touch in misspelling “mexican” visa. Meanwhile, the real LHO was prone to many grammatical and spelling mistakes, but we are too believe that he got the proper use of ACRONYMS right? We see he did for F.P.P.C and the F.B.I. later in the letter.
One of the better excuses came from the supposed Australian moderator for John McAdams’ boards (AAJ & ACJ), Tim Brennan, for why this was said. He said on LHO’s FM-8 card (i.e. visa) it showed he was listed as “Mr. Lee” and NOT LHO. Here is the card for your viewing.
historymatters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh25/pages/WC_Vol25_0352b.jpg
The problems with this excuse are we have seen the real LHO was NEVER in line to get a FM-8 card in New Orleans in the first place as several witness--one of them knew him (Gaudet)-- did NOT see him there. So how did this FM-8 card come about? Next, we have nary a witness to show he presented it at the border either time he allegedly arrived there. How come?
Finally, if LHO was fortunate enough to get a visa in another name, why would he bother to use his real name at the time of renewal? That is like saying you took out a subscription under a fake name and then thought you had to renew it under your real name! This makes no sense as the provider thinks you are the fake name anyway. Tied in with this is the FACT Duran, Azcue, et. al. said the man that came to their embassy used the name LEE HARVEY OSWALD anyway, so what would be the big deal about using his “real name”? This comment ONLY applies if we realize the man was NOT LHO and did NOT want to use HIS real name.