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Cryptonym: AMEMBER-1

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Definition:
Julio Lobo, sugar magnate in Cuba and later an exile and donor to the anti-Castro cause. Known in Cuba as "Mr. Sugar". Until his departure, he was the most powerful man in Cuba. He hired Antonio Veciana to be his accountant.
Status:
Documented
Sources:

WIKIPEDIA: JULIO LOBO. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julio_Lobo

Julio Lobo y Olavarria (30 October 1898– 30 January 1983) was a powerful Cuban sugar trader and financier. From the late 1930s to 1960, when he left Cuba to go into exile, Lobo was considered the single most powerful sugar broker in the world. At the time of the start of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Lobo's fortune was estimated at close to $200 million. His assets then included 14 sugar mills, over 30,000 acres of land, a bank, an insurance company, and offices in Havana, New York City, London, Madrid, and Manila. Lobo was born in Venezuela to a father of Sephardi Jewish descent and a Catholic mother, and grew up in Havana, Cuba. As a young man he studied in the United States. He subsequently married into an old Cuban aristocratic family, the Montalvo family. Eventually he inherited his father's trading business and turned it into the world's largest sugar trading firm. A renowned art connoisseur, Lobo also acquired the largest collection of Napoleonic memorabilia outside France (the collection is housed today in Havana in the former home of Orestes Ferrara, at the Museo Napoleonico). Lobo died in Madrid on January 30th, 1983, and is buried at the Almudena Cathedral next to Spain's Palacio Real.

104-10308-10121: AMEMBER OPERATION

This memo for the record describes the AMEMBER operation thusly: "This was an FI [Foreign Intelligence] operation concerning the collection of economic information on the Cuban sugar industry. This operation centered around AMEMBER-1 (Julio LOBO 201-0215813) exiled Cuban sugar magnate."

124-90055-10081: No Title

June-July 1959 FBI report: "NY T-1 advised that he had spoken with Doctor Francisco Rodriguez Cruceiro and his cousin, Captain Francisco Rodriguez Tamayo of the Rebel Army, who recently defected from the Cuban Government...in conversation...he learned that his opposition group and the opposition group headed by Doctor Rodriguez and Captain Rodriguez, which is known as the CRAC, are receiving financial assistance from Julio Lobo, a very wealthy Cuban, who, in Cuba, is known as "Mr. Sugar".

HSCA Report, Volume X, Current Section: III. Antonio Veciana Blanch

At the time of the 1959 Cuban Revolution Veciana was employed as an accountant by Julio Lobo, and well known as the President of the professional accountants' association.

104-10103-10158: ANTONIO CARLOS VECIANA BLANCH

This 1977 memo for the record concerning Antonio Veciana Blanch (AMSHALE-1) notes Veciana's employment as "CPA and Manager of Banco Financiero, Havana, Cuba, a loan company owned by Julio LOBO AMEMBER-1, former Agency contact."

John Newman, Into the Storm (Createspace, 2019), p. 296

On 9/6/62, TFW chief William Harvey notified the FBI, State Department, DIA, Army Intelligence, Navy Intelligence and Air Force Intelligence that the CIA wanted any information that these agencies could develop on Alpha-66. He also sent another post the same day stating that Alpha-66 was planning an operation on 9/10/62 using two small boats. If this operation was successful, Harvey added, Julio Lobo would reportedly commit $ 250,000 for future Alpha-66 operations.

104-10162-10221: TELEPHONE CONVERSATONS ABOUT MEETING WITH LUIS SOMOSA

07/15/63: Memo for the record from John H. Sherwood, SAS/EOB/: SUBJECT: Telephone Conversation with AMEMBER-1 about his meeting with Luis Somoza: DATE: 10 July 1963, 1800 hours:

180-10142-10307: 180-10142-10307

According to this HSCA record, Lobo was involved in the 1963 AMWORLD operation, having met with Nicaraguan dictator Somosa in July regarding "certain Cuban refugees who seemed to be gearing up for action in regard to Cuba."

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Contributors:
Roy Bierma • Bill Simpich

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