On May 2, 1976,
The Washington Post approached to "The Riddle of AMLASH" and noted that
Cubela has been "sentenced to 25 years in prison but is now reported to be at a
state rehabilitation farm." On March 19, 2012, The Miami Herald
trumpeted that Lattel's "New book claims Castro knew Kennedy would be
assassinated" and referred that Cubela "served 12 years as the prison's doctor,
living in comfortable quarters, and was often seen outside, driving the streets."
It's normal for "counterrevolutionary inmates" to work at a
rehabilitation farm and, for a physician like Cubela, to work as the prison's
doctor. It's also plausible that Cubela had enjoyed relatively better living
conditions in jail, moreover if the Reel
51, Folder J -- Rolando Cubela Secades contains a report on him as
"informant" in the prison Combinado del Este (Havana).
However, Cubela driving the streets is going over the top without a single
witness worth mentioning. On June 26,
1968, he was reportedly transferred to a penitentiary in the
eastern province Oriente after the jailbreak in Castle del Principe (Havana).
Only after serving half of his jail term and testifying against the CIA
at the Castro's agitprop tribunal and the HSCA panel, Cubela was released and went
into exile in Spain
in 1979.
The Cubela s Career in the CIA
Simpich also embellished Cubela himself as "the titular number four man in the Castro government."
Cubela was appointed Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Government on June 15, 1959, and resigned on
October for running as head of the University Students Federation (FEU). He
wasn't able to reach out to other Cuban leaders and
had neither command nor appeal within the armed forces. AMLASH and the parallel AMTRUNK operation were doomed to failure as coup
d'etat.
For the documentary Rendezvous with Death (2006), Gus Russo found the defector Antulio Ramirez, who
saw a DGI file on Oswald-Kennedy. For his book Castro's Secrets (2012),
Dr. Latell found Miguel Mir, who saw a DGI file on Cubela as double agent outside
the Castro headquarters. Just for respecting the readers, let's finish with a
brief chronology of Cubela inside the Company.
March 9,
1961. After the closing session of the Latin American Conference on
National Sovereignty in Mexico City,
Cubela got in contact with CIA officer David
Atlee Phillips. The middleman was Cubela s old friend Carlos Tepedino (AMWIP-1).
Cubela had already let slip that if he couldn't leave Cuba,
he must kill Fidel.
March
28, 1961. The CIA station in
Miami (JMWAVE) reported Cubela wanted to defect along with Juan Orta, an employee
at the Prime Minister Office involved in the second CIA-Mafia
attempt to kill Castro with poison pills. Orta ended up seeking asylum at the
Brazilian embassy on April 12.
July 30 -- August
6, 1962. Cubela contacted the CIA
while attending the VIII World Festival of Youth and Students in Helsinki.
Besides sabotaging an oil refinery, he had the idea of killing Castro, his Commie
cadre Carlos Rafael Rodriguez, and the Soviet ambassador Alexander Alexseyev.
August 7-11. Further contacts in Stockholm and Copenhagen.
August 14-23. Contact in Paris. He received some
training, but refused a polygraph test and deepened the suspicion of double
agent already raised by Harold Swenson, Counterintelligence Chief of the
Special Affairs Staff (SAS) for anti-Castro operations.
September 7, 1963. Resetting of contact by
handler Nestor Sanchez in Porto Alegre (Brazil), where Cubela was attending the
III Summer Universiade.
October 11, 1963. The CIA
got Cubela's request of interview with Robert Kennedy or another high rank U.S.
official for assurances of U.S. support. His handler believed Cubela will
attempt against Castro with or without it.
October 29. The SAS Chief, Desmond FitzGerald,
contacted Cubela in Paris under the
false identity of Robert Kennedy's special envoy James Clark. Despite de
warnings of Ted Shackley, chief of CIA station
in Miami, FitzGerald promised Cubela
a cache of weapons.
November 22, 1963. Sanchez met Cubela in Paris. The
latter asked for 2 high-powered rifles with scope, 20 hand grenades, and 20
pounds of C-4 explosive. Sanchez offered a device designed at CIA
workshop: a Paper Mate ballpoint pen rigged with a hypodermic needle that Cubela
must fill with insecticide Black Leaf 40 in order to prick and kill Castro.
June, 1964. A cache of weapons for the wannabe
Castro assassin was delivered at the north coast of Pinardel Rio province, west of Havana.
December 27-30, 1964. Manuel Artime met Cubela in
Madrid.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
Former Professor of Law at the University of Havana
Former Instructor of Journalism at the University of Miami
Contributor to CTKA on the JFK assassination
Contributor to History Today and The Miami Herald
