Cryptonym: AMKNOB-1
See 104-10528-10206: "Raul" was AMKNOB-1's case officer, Nov. 1963. 104-10185-10267, p. 99: By 4/64, AMKNOB-1 had a new G-2 case officer named Julian. His identity may have been Humberto Garcia, a friend of Celia Sanchez, one of Fidel Castro's closest aides.
Referred to as a "JMWAVE asset" in late 1964, 104-10414-10361, p. 5 of 6. By 1966, he is referred to as "the double agent, the Swiss, AMKNOB-1" https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=191562 AMKNOB-1 safesite at 157 Pachuca: 104-10185-10266, p. 20. Living there included Dr. Margot Machado, her daughter Berta - marginalia adds "Pino Machado" (sister of the notorious Quintin Pino Machado) - and Peregrino Alonso who worked at the Cuban Embassy. Related to AMKNOB program - but not AMKNOB-1 -is Santiago Garriga, employee at the State Department’s Office of the Coordinator of Cuban Affairs in Miami, a de facto embassy to the Cuban exile community, coordinating the federal agencies that were involved with Cuba.
1993.08.10.17:26:44:430039: SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE HEARINGS ON CASTRO, FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Feb. 1963: Citing Santiago Garriga by name, Julian Sourwine of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) interrogated Fair Play for Cuba Committee chief Vincent Lee during Feb. 1963: "Do you have any knowledge respecting Garriga's involvement in the sale of false Cuban passports?" See 104-10103-10156, p. 4: A few months earlier, during September 1962, SJ T-1 advised that "Veciana has now indicated to him the names of the three individuals who are now in Cuba who are expected to assist Alpha 66 in their plan of action. They are Vincente Noble, Guillermo Ruiz, and Berardo Paradela. SJ T-1 noted that he knows all three as they had been connected in 1956 with the Servicio de Inteligencia Militar (SIM) in the Dominican Republic. According to Veciana, Paradela is in jail in Cuba and SJ T-1 cannot figure out how he can be of much help. However, Noble and Ruiz are on the loose in Cuba and, according to SJ T-1, are cold-blooded killers."
104-10163-10008: TARGET PERSONALITY DATA - AZCUE
First, see 104-10308-10124, on 8/1/63: "AMFAUNA-1 reports info received from REDACTED (note: REDACTED in touch with AMFAUNA-12 and SWISS) that attempt on Castro's life had been prepared for 26 July banquet Presidential Palace.) On 8/13/63, "Azcue told AMKNOB-1 that he was expecting a friend to replace him in Mexico and that he was going to Cuba to work for the Cuban peasant housing program." (See 104-10163-10253, which states that AMKNOB-1 was an acquaintance of Azcue and was also "previously associated with Viviendas Campesinas/Peasant Housing". See 104-10181-10299: Someone went so far as to alter AMKNOB-1's 201-335958 number during Sept 63 to read 201-555958 on a routing slip - the dispatch on the next page reveals the original number (201-335958) in the lower right hand corner! Another remarkable item on the routing slip is that on the far end of the document you can see the biographic number 201-735296, the biographic number for CUIS officer Guillermo Ruiz. Also note 104-10404-10134: 12/14/63 cable marginalia indicates that AMKNOB-1 is 201-335958 - the other 201 number on this document, 201-740720, is Silvia Duran. Thus, we see two 201 numbers: One for AMKNOB-1 (201-335958) and one for Guillermo Ruiz (201-735296). Also see 104-10181-10002 - as of 9/9/63 Guillermo Ruiz's biographic number was 201-335938...very close to AMKNOB-1's 201-335958. Close enough to alter, or confuse. At some point, Ruiz's number was changed to 201-735296.
104-10163-10013: HQS WISHES MAKE REF PITCH IF HE AVAILABLE FOR TRAVEL MEXI.
9/10/63 cable DIR 67341 (ref MEXI 6077) from C/SAS/CI/OPS to Mexico City JMWAVE: "P" on lower right may indicate review by C/OPS Will Potocki. C/SAS/CI/OPS Richard Tansing originated the memo. Tansing had used extension 6471 in the past - shown in 104-10506-10015. The message to Scott: "HQS wishes CASAS make ref pitch if he available for travel Mexi. Otherwise, LITAMIL-3 can make pitch. HQS objective is recruitment in place and not defection, request MEXI plan ops (in) this regard. HQS contacting CASAS and will advise MEXI availability soonest." CASAS appears to be Jose Antonio Casas. This post the next day shows the problem was that Casas' boss wouldn't let him off work: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=63961&relPageId=3 See 104-10163-10010: cable MEXI 6142 from Mexico City to Director: Win Scott advocates for "a compartmented one-two punch" by LITAMIL-3 and CASAS. Both these men and Azcue are described as having a "long time close personal relationship" "Tansing I" is written on the front of the document. See 104-10163-10260: On 9/19/63, LITMAIL-3 makes the defection pitch to Azcue. Azcue declines... See 104-10163-10256: On 9/21/63, AMKNOB-1 is apparently "debriefed" on Azcue, Sinobas, and other Cuban figures. Don't know who is the debriefer, LITAMIL-3? See 104-10181-10298: On 9/23/63, AMTIKI-1 gets a letter from his friend Nicolas Hernandez Perez saying that Ruiz is with the Cuban G-2 organization and on a mission to penetrate counterrevolutionary forces. Marginalia shows that Ruiz is 201-735296.
104-10181-10002: MAIN INDEX SEARCH RESPONSE
Guillermo Ruiz/AMAUTO-1 was 201-335938 as of 9/9/63 - he appears to be somehow inter-related to the case of 201-335958, which can be seen in the opposite right hand column of this index page - no later than June, 1964, Ruiz became 201-735296 while infiltrating counter-revolutionary groups in Mexico. Also see 104-10163-10250, an index card that documents the "debriefing of 201-335958, 16 through 20 Sep 63". Also see 104-10163-10256, a partial document - UFGA-11453 - which appears to be the debriefing of AMKNOB-1. He provides biographic data on Cuban consul Eusebio Azcue, Ramon Sinobas/AMRIFT-1 who was being used in the AMROD operation, and others. Also see 1994.03.07.15:38:13:120007, a cross-reference document that refers to the 11453 document above and states that Azcue was an "acquaintance of 201-335958". Best proof that AMKNOB-1 and 201-335958 one and the same.
Bill Simpich, State Secret, Chapter 3: https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/State_Secret_Chapter3.html
"Guillermo Ruiz Perez flew into Mexico in August to serve as the new commercial attaché, and was greeted at the airport by Azcue. On September 23, an anti-Castro activist in Miami received a letter from a friend inside Cuba, tipping him off that Ruiz was with Cuban intelligence and on a mission to penetrate counterrevolutionary forces. However, the FBI had reported a year earlier that Guillermo Ruiz had a history of supporting the anti-Castro group Alpha 66. See 104-10103-10156 and 180-10144-10151, p. 4: Alpha 66 chief Antonio Veciana, whose loyalties were to military intelligence and not the CIA, provided a cagey description of Ruiz as "dissatisfied" and "susceptible". Ruiz certainly looks like a double agent. On September 27, an alleged phone tap revealed that Cuban consulate receptionist Silvia Duran had contacted Guillermo Ruiz at 10:54 am, complaining in Spanish that "he wants to speak to the consul". It looks like someone may have impersonated both Duran and Ruiz, in an effort to link Ruiz to Oswald. The evidence indicates Oswald arrived in Mexico City after daybreak on the 27th, got a hotel room, and headed directly to the Cuban consulate. Duran testified that Oswald first entered the Cuban consulate right about 11 am. Keep in mind that Duran is the Cuban consul’s receptionist - because her next statement is a demand that Ruiz provide the consul's phone number. Ruiz responded that the consul’s number was 11-28-47. Duran said "thank you" and ended the call. Ruiz has now provided Duran with her own phone number, the number that she answered for the consul many times every day. What’s wrong with this call? It’s very simple. As Larry Hancock says, “when do you ask for a telephone number, get yours as the answer, and say thanks?” Duran’s job was to answer Azcue’s phone at 11-28-47, and to connect the call with the consul when necessary. I think that an American spy impersonated Ruiz on the Cuban line, and it certainly wasn’t Duran on the other end."
Fabian Escalante, JFK: The Cuban Files, pp. 130-132
9/27/63: Guillermo Ruiz was the translator in the conversation between Azcue and Oswald. He told Fabian Escalante that although he was not an expert in physiognomy, it was his opinion that the Oswald he saw on Mexican television was the one he saw in the consulate that day. Antonio Garcia Lara saw Oswald as he was leaving, and he had the same impression as Ruiz. Both of them disagreed with Azcue. Also see 180-10147-10240, p 83: "At the time, there were newspaper reports Veciana said that 'Bishop' tried to persuade him to travel to Mexico to propose to his relative Guillermo Ruiz, a high-ranking officer in Castro's intelligence service stationed in Mexico City at the Cuban embassy, that "he would pay Ruiz a large amount of money to publicly say that it was him and his wife who had met with Oswald."" Veciana, however, was never successful in contacting Ruiz and when he mentioned it to Bishop a couple of months later, Bishop told him to forget it." Not yet found is UFGA-11574, 10/8/63. See 104-10163-10252 - A "document transfer" of that date refers to Azcue, 201-335958. Other documents indicate that AMKNOB-1, Mariam Norweb and Santiago Garriga are referred to in that document as well.
10/15/63 FBI memo discusses Santiago Garriga heading a "pro-Castro element" and starting a campaign to aid Hurricane Flora victims. He said he would call New York and ask if the Miami group could operate under the name of the "Fair Play for Cuba Committee". (As indicated in 124-90120-10027, NY FPCC gave Garriga's Miami group permission to use the name.) A different incident occurred a few days before 11/22/63, reported by former Cuban security agent Arturo Rodriguez: "Another incident to consider was the one occurring a few days before the assassination. The intent to compromise the wife of comrade Guillermo Ruiz, (Nilda) Veciana. According to her, walking towards the embassy, she found a large roll of dollar bills in the middle of the sidewalk. When she stopped, stunned by what she saw, a citizen that could have been Mexican, approached her and said: "Lady, you have dropped your money, please pick it up - it is yours". Meanwhile two other people approached her, the reason why (Nilda Veciana) became scared. She ran towards the embassy, where two comrades came out to help her, but of course, they found nothing." See http://cuban-exile.com/doc_001-025/doc0017.html
104-10308-10281: MEMO: ZRKNICK OPERATION (NON CS MATERIAL)
11/21/63, this summary refers to cable DIR 84449, HQ notifies JMWAVE that a State Dept employee was being targeted by the Cuban intelligence service. Cannot find this document in NARA's holdings. See 104-10132-10233, 11/22/63: WAVE 8066 had slugline AMKNOB - JMWAVE was asking for further details on the "State employee" targeted by Cuban intelligence. (See 1993.08.04.16:20:46:530028, p. 64) Also see 104-10102-10182, p. 3: Guillermo Ruiz flew from Mexico City to Havana on 11/22/63, coming back on 11/29 when he figured that he was OK.
104-10077-10224: CABLE: SANTIAGO GARRIGA OF REF B OBVIOUSLY EMPLOYED SAME ODACID OFFICE
12/3/63, Anita Potocki memo, DIR 86467, AMKNOB ZRKNICK slugline: (ZRKNICK was an intercept operation against Cuban espionage agents in Miami by FBI which shared the results with CIA.) Four documents are cited: WAVE 8318; WTON 11928; DIR 84449; and UFGA-11574. Santiago Garriga and Miriam Norweb nee Nufer are the "employees" mentioned in the aforementioned cable DIR 84449 which said that "a State Dept employee was being targeted", and they both work in the same State Dept office. UFGA-11574 (10/8/63, sent from Mexico City) discusses AMKNOB-1's Sept. 63 debriefing and his relationship with Azcue, and refers to Mariam Norweb. Santiago Garriga and Miriam Norweb are the two mentioned in DIR 84449. WAVE 8318 states that the WTON memo "does not reflect name/details of the state employee WAVE area of interest (to the Cuban intelligence services)". (WTON 11928) 104-10019-10017, p. 2: "During AMKNOB-1's debriefing prior his departure to Puerto Rico Dec. 20, 1963, he stated that (Cuban Ambassador to Mexico Joaquin Hernandez Armas) had informed him that (Eusebio Azcue) was person who had received (Lee Harvey Oswald) at (the Cuban embassy in Mexico City) when latter sought visa for Cuba in Sept. 63."
1993.08.04.16:35:00:870028: JMWAVE CABLES, WAVE 8500 - 8599.
12/5/63: WAVE 8534 has the AMKNOB slugline. Ref A is described as a bookkeeper and tax consultant (Santiago Garriga), Ref C as a State Dept secretary (Miriam Norweb). JMWAVE asks HQ to explain why both of them have been described to work at the same State Dept office in Miami when that doesn't appear to be the case. The next page (WAVE 8535) identifies them as Santiago Garriga and Miriam Norweb, and their two different office addresses. Note that she works for the Office of the Coordinator of Cuban Affairs - known as the "anti-Castro Cuban embassy in Miami". Also see 104-10019-10017: Azcue (201-334089) is described as the "ex-AMKNOB case officer". This may indicate that Azcue was AMKNOB-1''s case officer, maybe within the Cuban G-2 intelligence organization. Azcue and AMKNOB-1 also worked together in Viviendas Campesinas/Peasant Housing. Also see 104-10185-10116, final page: In January 1964, Ruiz is described as "probably G-2", 5 foot 4 inches, 135 pounds, and with red hair. See Bill Simpich, State Secret, Chapter 3 (note: Fedeli, not Santiago Garriga, is the actual identity of AMKNOB-1): "On December 3, (Fedeli) reported to Mexico City that on 11/22/63, after 15 days of alleged attempts to reach “Raul”, (Fedeli) called the Cuban consulate directly and spoke to Silvia Duran. (Fedeli's) first version of the story was that Duran claimed she didn’t know who “Raul” was. (Fedeli) added that the horrible assassination redoubled his strength to “fight red crime.” He also thought Oswald looked familiar and that he might have seen him in Cuba or Mexico. Two weeks later, AMKNOB-1’s new version of the story specifically named Raul Aparicio. This time, when Duran offered to connect him with Aparicio, AMKNOB-1 hung up. The full importance of Raul Aparicio will be best understood a little later...but one thing is clear – we are being led to believe that Aparicio is Fedeli’s case officer! I believe Aparicio rocked the CIA’s investigation of the assassination."
104-10274-10235: IT IS CURRENTLY RUMORED IN PUERTO RICO THAT MANOLO RAY
5/1/64 - "Message No. 2" - communication from AMKNOB-1 to UNKNOWN letter postmarked 5/1 (see 104-10274-10234, intercepted and provided 5/5/64 to WAVE/CI officer Charles Weisinger/Ray Dubois: "It is currently rumored in Puerto Rico that Manolo Ray has gone to Cuba or at least has disappeared from the scene (PR)...Manolo Ray has three fishing boats that apparently are fishing in Caribbean waters (See 124-10214-10381, p. 13: the main ship was probably the VENUS owned by Enrique Casado - or possibly Casado's motorized vessel the SHARK V, along with two whalers)...one of the boats is commanded by Enrique Casado, a Cuban...no one believes that Casado is just fishing...until now have received nothing from Raul (Aparicio?) or (AMKNOB-1's case officer) Julian. Nor have they sent cables. I would appreciate it if they would give me better guidance. We know from experience that we must attack these people..." See 104-10181-10290: AMOT-63 learned that the VECIANA family ...is not in contact with Nilda VECIANA, who resides in Mexico with Subject, her husband. Subject, as of May 1964, was holding a position in the Cuban Embassy in Mexico. Subject's father is reportedly an old-guard Communist and his brother a member of the Department of State Security. May 15, 1964: FBI 105-82555 Oswald HQ File, Additional Releases, Part 3 of 3, p. 40 of 412: Earl Warren wanted the Cubans to provide what they had on Oswald's visit to Cuban embassy, Win Scott said they would have to "go through the Swiss to contact the Cubans." Also see 104-10180-10044, p. 82, 11/21/64: AMKNOB-1 meets with Cuban embassy on various matters including "changes (in Cuban) accommodation address" from Marta Alvarez Castano to Juana Acosta Diaz in Havana and to continue to use Caridad de la Vega, then reports it by shortwave to JMWAVE. Succeeding pages, esp. p. 91 & p. 94 indicate a friendly relationship with Cuban embassy second secretary and DGI officer Rogelio Rodriguez Lopez aka Prof. Chaim Nusin.
104-10216-10431: CABLE: WAVE IS FOCAL POINT FOR CI OPS IN GENERAL
4/21/65 cable from Director to JMWAVE: "WAVE is focal point for CI OPS in general, especially for ops targeted against CUIS staffers or agents or against PURS key figures...to improve CUIS image of AMKNOB-1 HQS suggests that JMWAVE have him prepare report of exile organizations and personalities, giving bio data and aims but with minimum data on specific activities." See 104-10414-10361, p. 5: A late 1964 memo refers to him as a "JMWAVE asset": See 104-10163-10002: By Feb. 1966, the CIA considered "the Swiss, AMKNOB-1 to be a double agent. See 104-10130-10187, p. 3: Veciana was considered by JMWAVE CI to be of "marginal operational interest...as a source of information obtained by AMKNOB/1 for the CUIS". Extract from 1/2/73 memo by Director of Security Howard Osborn to Acting General Counsel John K. Greaney. March 1966, 104-10234-10411: "WAVE plans send Dorenfest MEXI to meet AMKNOB/1 (Piero Fedeli Medici) just prior LIRING/1 (probably Ramiro Jesus Abreu Quintana) return from Havana." Also see http://www.antoniorecalcati.org/biography/ - In 1967, Piero Fedeli had a studio in Milan known as "Studio Bellini".