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Cryptonym: AMLASH

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Definition:
Rolando Cubela Secades, a Cuban doctor and official who was recruited in 1963 for an assassination attempt on Castro. Suspicion remains that Cubela may have been acting as a dangle to the CIA by Castro, due to his lenient treatment after his conviction for treason. Reported to be an informant to the Cuban government in 1980.
Status:
Documented
Discussion:
This document very useful in explaining AMLASH's escape from Cuba after killing Batista's intel officer and then returning to Cuba with Faure Chaumon (actual name Faure Chomon), William Morgan and others in 1958: http://ourhiddenhistory.org/jfk2017-files/JFK-July_2017_Release-Formerly_released_in_part-2of4/104-10216-10201.pdf

Cubela stated that Castro had to be eliminated before any coup could succeed and had initially requested a high powered rifle from the CIA. The CIA balked at that and Cubela was being given a CIA poison pen on Nov 22 when news of JFK's death broke.

Worth reading is George Crile III's Washington Post article: The Riddle of AMLASH - Was the CIA's Man in Havana a Double Agent?https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=100158&search=lowe_and+cubela#relPageId=40&tab=page

See Church Committee Interim Report, p.86: Church Committee: Interim Report - Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1156&relPageId=100

CIA MFR of 16 Apr 1976: MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD: SUBJECT: CUBELA, ROLAND (SECADES) SF#278 420: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=103342&relPageId=2

See 104-10225-10009: AMLASH's war name was "Charles".

See 104-10216-10003: In May 1980, Cubela was reported to be a jail informant to the Cuban government regarding political prisoners.
Sources:

1994.04.25.13:51:29:440005: Reel 5, Folder I - UNIDAD REVOLUCIONIA (UR).

AMLASH's student group, the FEU, was in 1962 one of the 14 member groups within Jose de la Torriente's wing of the UR. Also see 104-10215-10363, an AMOT (network of Cubans trained by David Morales during 1960-61 to be a new Cuban intelligence service once Castro had been ousted) report which provides a deep biographical background on Cubela, revealing he and Faure Chaumont and others were among the first working against the Batista regime in 1952.

104-10215-10235: MEMORANDUM:WEAKNESSES (AND DEROGATORY INFORMATION)

Circa 1962: Chrono created by CIA about Cubela: Among many items, it states: "(Havana Police Chief Efigenio Almeijeras) was friendly enough with Cubela to be one of the witnesses at Cubela's wedding in August 1959...(a memo to HENRY/probably Tony Sforza) We believe police aware Cubela desire to defect and departure plans...exercise extreme caution your involvement Cubela exfiltration...January 1962: An eminent physician (Dr. Armando de Cardenas y Aranguran) who arrived from Cuba as an exile told FBI that Cubela probably changed his mind about defecting because he was afraid that he would be incarcerated in an immigration detention camp..."

104-10143-10220: MEMO: ESPINOSA ALLEGATIONS

"In 1962 Fidel Castro, reportedly knowing that they were plotting against him, talked to AMLASH-1 and seven members of his group to enlist their support against Anibal Escalante Dellunde and the communists in Cuba. Possibly they are playing both ends against the middle...we cannot rule out the possibility of provocation. Assassination, obviously, is a dangerous game, not merely to the plotters in a physical sense, but to a sponsoring government which may suffer severe political repercussions at home and abroad if its involvement is made known. In the instant case, the risks of exposure of the (US) hand would appear high, whether there is a provocation or not. Considering the individuals who are involved directly, their contacts with (CIA) officers, and their reported plan to expose (the US), persisting in the plan could be highly embarrassing to (CIA)."Undated memo, circa 1965, from WH/C/SP Harold Swenson to Chief, WHD for Cuba:

104-10215-10227: CONTACT REPORT:MEETING OF AMLASH/1 AND MATTHEW H. ONTRICH, PARIS, 22 NOV 1963

On 11/22/63, AMLASH met with Matthew Ontrich/Nestor Sanchez at Charlie Gray's apartment in Paris, France. He was going to leave for Prague days later, but had not confirmed his reservations. He agreed to contact "Bob Owen" when reservations confirmed. Robert Owen was also the man who reviewed Oswald's data when he was trying to return from the Soviet Union during 1961-1962. Was this the same Robert Owen active with the Reagan Administration and Iran-Contra? "(AMLASH) was pleased to read a copy of President Kennedy's November 18 speech in Miami and was even more pleased to hear that Mr. Clark (DAINOLD - Desmond FitzGerald) had helped prepare the President's speech...The individuals in whom AMLASH has the most confidence if a coup occurs are Cmdte. Efiginio Amajeiras Delgado, AMTRUNK-10 (Ramon Tomas Guin Diaz), Jose Naranjo Morales, mayor of Havana, Naranjo's assistant Jose Assef. Once AMTHUG/Castro is removed, the ones who would support the coup are Cmdte Raul Diaz-Arguelles, Nieves brothers, Captain Fausto Lopez Miranda, Capt. Juan Nuiry Sanchez.

Gus Russo, Live by the Sword (1993) pp. 243-247: http://www.maryferrell.org/search.html?q=%22Punta%20icacos%22%20AND%20artime

In the Brazilian-Cuban documentary ZR/RIFLE, Cuban agent Juan Felaifel claimed: "After the (Castro) Assassination...they were planning to start an uprising in the Escambray with the support of approximately 1000 mercenaries Artime had in Central America. They were planning to bring them through Punta Icacos, dividing the road and establishing there a beachhead in order to create a government supported and approved by the Organization of American States."

104-10234-10215: MEMORANDUM: SUBJECT - EFFORTS OF INTERNAL DISSIDENT GROUP TO ESTABLISH CONTACT WITH AMWORLD

10/27/64 memo from Nestor Sanchez to Chief, WHD, re efforts of internal dissident group to establish contact with AMWORLD: "AMJAVA-4/Rafael Quintero reported AMWORLD received information through Madrid that a group of dissident members of the Castro regime" wanted to make direct contact with AMBIDDY-1/Manuel Artime." AMJAVA-4 went to France to meet with Alberto Blanco, who felt his group could eliminate Fidel Castro and then cause a power struggle. AMJAVA-4 "deduced from the conversations that some of the important members of the group are Cmdte Faustino Perez Hernandez, Director National Institute of Hydraulics (and in the opinion of AMBIDDY-1 and AMJAVA-4 the real brains and organizer of the plot); Cmdte Juan Almeida Bosque, Vice-Minister of National Defense; Cmdte Rolando Cubela, now practicing medicine at a hospital in Havana; Captain Juan Nuiry Sanchez, professor University of Havana; and Jose 'Pepin' Naranjo, Mayor of Havana...AMBIDDY-1 plans to go along with the proposals made by this group...feels he will need a bodyguard of 100 loyal troops to take with him for protection from his 'new friends' during the first few days following a coup." Felt he could put together a unit of 2500 men after freeing them from Isle of Pines prison. Blanco is a confidant of Cubela. List of 17 men felt would support the coup. Also see 104-10234-10209, 11/18/64, the AMLASH complex: In Nov. 1963, Cubela believed that deputy minister of defense Cmdte Efigenio Ameijeiras, JUCEI chief Jose Naranjo Morales and Naranjo's assistant Jose Assef would join him, with a list of eight leaders that would join after a coup..."their daring symbolic revolutionary status and their large following are considered factors of primary importance in implementing a split-the-regime operation. The current status of the above-outlined nucleus and plan can only be determined by the debriefings taking place at present in Paris as well as current talks with AMWORLD leaders."

1994.05.16.14:11:02:100005: Reel 51, Folder H - ROLANDO CUBELA SECADES.

1965-66: On 2/9/65, when Cubela was in Madrid, he met for three hours with Manuel Artime/AMBIDDY-1 to plan the assassination of Fidel Castro. Artime "promised that 48 hours after the assassination of Comrade Fidel was perpetrated, he would land in Cuba supported by the United States and the OAS. To carry out the crime and preserve his life Cubela would receive from Manuel Artime a high-powered -4x40 - telescopic sight and a silencer, both adaptable to a FAL 7.62 rifle which Rolando Cubela owned. It could be fired from a distance of 800 yards...In addition to Tepedino/AMWHIP-1, 'Wizard' Robreno/AMLASH-2, Alberto 'El Loco'/AMLASH-3, Cuco Leon/AMWORM-1, and Sanz 'the Spaniard', who had a direct hand in arranging the meeting, the Cubela-Artime meeting was also known to Gonzalez Gallarretta, Artime's close friend Jorge Quintero (note: probably Rafael Quintero/AMJAVA-4), and Biche Bernal (Bichi Bernal/AMSPORT, changed by 1965 to QUSPORT)." p 114: On 2/26/66 and 2/28/66, the Cubans arrested "Rolando Cubela Secades, Alberto Blanco (Ramoriz), Ramon Guin Diaz/AMTRUNK-10, Jose Luis Gonzalez Gallarretta, Juan Alsima Navarro, Angel Herrero Veliz, and Guillermo Cunil Alvarez...the telescopic sight - 4x40 Tasco brand, acquired in the United States - which was given to Cubela by Artime and which he brought into the country was found in Cubela's residence." Also found was many more rifles, side arms, grenades, and other armaments. Cubela was charged with planning the assassination and Guin Diaz "did not participate in any plotting but knew of it". Guin concealed the plot and carried out espionage for the CIA - his "essential crime".

1994.05.16.14:12:04:280005: Reel 51, Folder I - ROLANDO CUBELA SECADES.

3/10/66, Castro letter to state prosecutor: The Castro government alleges that the Cubela attack of 1966 with Cubela's 7.62mm FAL rifle was to follow with an armed invasion 48 hours later by the US and the OAS. "This attack was to be carried out directly by Cubela Secades, Wizard Robreno, who would infiltrated from Miami, and by Blanco Ramirez, who after rigorous training would be infiltrated into Cuba from the Dominican Republic. Gonzalez Gallarreta's participation was mainly to act as liaison with Artime...Gonzales Gallarreta also received from Cuco Leon a can of explosive powder to sabotage ships being built for Cuba by Spanish shipyards." Cubela met with Guin/AMTRUNK-10 - he had been recruited by Miguel Diaz in 1963 - his job was to transmit economic and military information. 104-10234-10176. 3/24/66: Five days after Cubela's arrest, doctors Orlando Ventura Reyes and Wilfredo Ventura Reyes were arrested. Old friends of Cubela and Faure Chomon, all former Directorio Estudiantil members. Also arrested was Dr. Jorge Tablado, friend of Majors Almeijeras and Cubela. 50-80 doctors were arrested and interrogated re the Cubela plan to kill Castro.

1994.05.16.14:15:16:250005: Reel 51, Folder J - ROLANDO CUBELA SECADES.

1/26/67: Dispatch continuation states: "Unknown if (Cubela) has been freed but as a prisoner was responsible for those rehabilitated on the Isle of Pines and has been seen there in a jeep without an escort. It is known that his father wants to leave Cuba."

1993.08.07.09:05:30:340059: Washington Post, Cuba Charges CIA Plotted to Kill Castr

Circa 1978: At a public tribunal, Cubela stated that he only worked with the CIA between 1961 to his arrest in 1966. Any claim that he was a double agent "is completely false. A perfidious lie."

Transcript of Fonzi-Escalante Interview, Part 1

Interview of Cuban intelligence chief Fabian Escalante by Gaeton Fonzi, 1996: "To me, Phillips was the key man. He belongs to the group of key men who were our major enemy...He goes back to the Cubela plot...both he and Morales...we don't have all the information about how they was related to it but we know they were related to it from the very beginning...Morales was also a key man...as were Howard Hunt and James McCord...they were key people involved in important plans...Trafficante was also involved."

Contributors:
MFF • Bill Simpich

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