Cryptonym: AMOT-110
A memo in November of 1957 stated that "on 19 November 1957 two officers of the American Embassy in Ciudad Trujillo interviewed Norberto Martinez, who was introduced to the officers by Generalismo Trujillo as a Cuban medical doctor living exile in Miami and identified by Trujillo as the source of the information concerning the alleged plan to assassinate Ambassador Earl T. Smith by agents of Fidel Castro...Martinez identified himself as one of the organizers of the attack on the Presidential Palace in Habana on 13 March 1957 and of the uprising in Cienfuegos on 5 September 1957." The memo also stated that "Martinez, if not an impersonator, is probably identical with Dr. Norberto Martinez Garcia, who was the Director of the Mazorra Insane Asylum on the outskirts of Habana during the government of Carlos Prio Socarras...He took asylum in the Honduran Embassy."
AMAPACHE-2 was Isaias Alejandro Iglesias Pons, JMWAVE FI asset, arrived at Key West on 6/16/61 on the boat PANMAJA. Iglesias worked with Norberto Martinez Garcia in Pinar del Rio Province.
According to Fabian Escalante, Norberto Martinez "had been a lifelong supporter of former president, Ramon Grau San Martin, and loyal to his successors in the Authentic Party, Carlos Prio and Tony Varona." Escalante also stated was present at the Bay of Pigs invasion in April of 1961. His CIA case officer was allegedly "Robert", possibly Robert Wall. His case officer apparently assigned Martinez the mission in January, 1962, to reorganize the Rescate organization in Cuba. Escalante also believed that Norberto Martinez helped to activate the poison capsules plot against Fidel Castro in 1962.
11/22/57: Memo from Attaché to Ambassador: Subject: Plan to Assassinate United States Ambassador: "1. On 19 November 1957 two officers of the American Embassy in Ciudad Trujillo interviewed Norberto Martinez, who was introduced to the officers by Generalismo Trujillo as a Cuban medical doctor living exile in Miami and identified by Trujillo as the source of the information concerning the alleged plan to assassinate Ambassador Earl T. Smith by agents of Fidel Castro. Trujillo voluntarily arranged the meeting between the Embassy officers and Martinez and was present during the interview held in Ciudad Trujillo. 2. Martinez identified himself as one of the organizers of the attack on the Presidential Palace in Habana on 13 March 1957 and of the uprising in Cienfuegos on 5 September 1957. He said that Castro's program of terrorism, which included the assassination of Ambassador Smith and the destruction of the sugar cane fields, tobacco stores, and United States capital assets in Cuba, had as its ultimate objective the ousting of President Fulgencio Batista. Martinez elaborated on his previous information concerning the plot to kill the Ambassador by saying that the plan was being prepared in Mexico by Castro agents who traveled between Mexico and Miami via El Paso, Texas, crossing the border using tourist cards. He further said that the assassins planned to contact Castro's 26 of July group and hire a Cuban chauffeur (presumably in Habana) who could guide them to the Ambassador...Martinez also said he planned to go to Miami on 20 November and then proceed to Mexico on or about 23 November to contact Pedro Miret, 26 of July Movement leader, to obtain all possible information concerning the assassination plot...4. Martinez, if not an impersonator, is probably identical with Dr. Norberto Martinez Garcia, who was the Director of the Mazorra Insane Asylum on the outskirts of Habana during the government of Carlos Prio Socarras...He took asylum in the Honduran Embassy..."
104-10163-10218: LUIS BALBUENA
7/10/61 index card: Refers to UFGA-1857. "Filed: AMOT-110". Luis Balbuena. https://www.maryferrell.org/php/crypsuedit.php?type=crypt&id=AMOT-110#Works Guantanamo Naval Base. Head of the organization "Patriots de la Libertad" which operates clandestinely inside the base. Member of the MRR and is closely affiliated with Nino Diaz/AMNORM-1.
104-10180-10250: DISPATCH: CONVOYING FBI TRACES ON VARIOUS PERSONS
Dispatch from COS, JMWAVE to Chief, Special Affairs Staff: 8/5/61: ..."contain information on Aleman (note: Jose), describing him as anti-castro, and AMAPACHE-1 (AMOT-110) production of August 5 1961 stated that Aleman lived in Miami Beach and reported to ODENVY (FBI) a plot to blow up the USS Florida in the docks at Miami..."
104-10236-10328: IGLESIAS PONS, ISAIAS ALEJANDRO
Undated CIA document: ..."Iglesias Pons, Isaias Alejandro: Apache agent see FI files. AMAPACHE-2 shot by G-2 (Unintelligible) Jan 62. Iglesias Pons, Isaias Alejandro: AMOT-11 memo, 21 June 61. DPOB: 6 Jul 24 in San Juan in Martinez, Pinar del Rio Province. Arrived Key West on boat PANMAJA 16 June 61. Active in underground work in Cuba. Worked with Mr. Norberto Martinez Garcia in Pinar del Rio Province. Brother, Antonio Iglesias Pons, one of Playa Giron invaders, now imprisoned. 201-307876. POA requested 6 Oct 61....POA granted."
104-10236-10327: MEMO FOR: AMPACHE-2
3/6/63 memo for PM branch, re AMAPACHE-2: "Several months after subject departed for Cuba, his second wife heard that subject had transferred his automobile to his sister-in-law. She, with the assistance of Mario del Canal, hired a lawyer and tried to obtain possession of the automobile. Mario del Canal is the right-hand man of AMDIP-1/Jose Miro Cardona..Subject's sister-in-law refused to accept the money after she had had this trouble with the lawyer and Mario del Canal. AMAPACHE-1 contacted the brother-in-law of subject's mother who was residing in Miami, and asked that the brother-in-law, whose name was FNU Argudin, deliver funds to subject's children in New York."
104-10260-10014: REPORT COVER SHEET: SOURCE: AMOT-110 IN DD-345 OF 9 AUGUST 1963, FROM MARIO DEL
10/8/63 Report Cover Sheet from JMWAVE: Reporting Officer: Henry Sloman/Tony Sforza. Reports Officer: Margaret R. Nankall. Approving Officer: Andrew K. Reuteman: "TYPIC - Source: AMOT-110 in DD-345 of 9 August 1963, from Mario del Canal Ferrer...Source: A member of a group of Cuban emigres trained in the techniques of information collection. The group has provided useful reports for over two years. According to Mario del Canal Ferrer of the Rescate Democratico Revolucionario...when Dr. Manuel Antonio Varona Loredo, head of Rescate, was in Nicaragua in early August 1963, former Nicaraguan president Luis Somoza invited him to dinner with former Cuban president Carlos Prio Socarras."
104-10308-10282: ZRKNICK UNNUMBERED BOX VOLUME 111
11/27/63, DIRECTOR 85343. Cable from HQs to WAVE and Panama City: "HQs. suspects Blanca Alicia Franco may be spearhead of penetration AMOT/CIA ops on behalf ZRKNICK complex. AMOTS (JMWAVE Station ops.) in direct contact with Franco. Franco, suspect Cuban agent, in contact with AMOT-110." - - - To read entire memo: See 104-10077-10122: Originated by A. Potocki/S. Darling, SAS/CI - SAS/MOB: Franco had provided Panama-Mexico visas for six Cubans: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=222377#relPageId=1
Same cable as above: ...Franco, suspect Cuban agent, in contact with AMOT-110 (Norberto Felipe Martinez Garcia)."
Fabian Escalante: 634 Ways to Kill Fidel (2022)
Pages 125-28: ..."Miami-Havana, January 1962: Norberto Martinez had been a lifelong supporter of former president, Ramon Grau San Martin, and loyal to his successors in the Authentic Party, Carlos Prio and Tony Varona. He went into exile with them when they realized Fidel Castro would not include them as part of his government and that the Moncada program was a Cuban form of communism. Martinez enrolled in the Brigade 2506 in Miami, but his political mentors advised him to enlist in one of the groups that the CIA was training for commando operations. The Bay of Pigs defeat traumatized him. He had dreamed of an important position in the government that Prio and Varona would head, but everything collapsed in an instant when the brigade was annihilated. Nevertheless, he continued training with the CIA commandos and was not surprised when, one afternoon in January 1962, Robert, his CIA case officer, called him for an important mission. Martinez was to infiltrate the island to reorganize the Rescate group, whose members he knew very well. The point selected for his infiltration was Santa Lucia in the north of Pinar del Rio province. It was a safe place where he could rely on Pedro, a coal miner who had a small boat that would pick him up at sea and bring him in to land. A few days later Martinez was in Havana where Alberto Cruz Caso, the head of Rescate, met him and hid him in the house of Maria Leopoldina Grau Alsina (Polita). Once established and equipped with a sound story so that the suspicion of the CDRs would not be aroused, he met with the group's principal leaders. At the meeting were: Maria Leopoldina (Polita) Grau and her brother Ramon (Mongo), two founding members of the organization and the niece and nephew of former President Ramon Grau San Martin; ex-colonel Francisco Alvarez Margolles, a nationalized Spaniard who had made a career in the army during the Prio presidency; Rodolfo Leon Curbelo, the CIA courier;" (CONTINUED BELOW)
Fabian Escalante: 634 Ways to Kill Fidel (2022)
"Manuel Campanioni Souza, a former dealer in the gambling room of the Sans Souci cabaret owned by Trafficante; Dr. Carlos Guerrero Costales, who was Prio's physician; and other individuals trusted by the group. 'I have instructions from Tony and the CIA to reorganize the group,' Martinez began. 'The American government is preparing a final offensive against Castro and we need to create the conditions to ignite the country when that time arrives. Colonel Margolles (a former officer in Batista's army) is to tour the island to organize the interior fo the country, creating a group in each province and providing the leaders with means of independent communication. Thus, each one can coordinate their own supplies with a minimum of risk...After detailing each person's tasks, Martinez asked Alberto Cruz and Polita Grau to stay behind to discuss another matter. 'Do we still have the Hotel Havana Libre people?' The spy asked. 'Yes, three trusted members of the organization are working there,' Alberto replied. 'Good, the Agency wants to activate the poison capsules plan to get Fidel out of the way...So, Norberto Martinez's second and most important mission was arranged. A few days later the spy communicated with his headquarters and a CIA vessel picked him up in the same area in Pinar del Rio and took him back to the lair..."