Cryptonym: AMPALM-26
104-10068-10172: At the time of the assassination, Diaz Verson was at a FIOPP (Federacion Interamericana de Organizaciones de Periodistas Profesionales) meeting in Mexico City. He was readily available for contact by David Phillips, who was described as one of his handlers.
Salvador Diaz Verson, "When Castro Became a Communist". http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/diaz-verson.htm
At the end of this article, Diaz Verson identifies himself as a newsman, and then the Chief of the Cuban National Police in 1934, and then the chief of military intelligence during the era of the presidency of Carlos April from 1948 to 1952.
Peter Pavia, The Cuba Project: Castro, Kennedy, and the FBI's Tamale Squad (Macmillan, New York: 2015): https://www.scribd.com/read/284994034/The-Cuba-Project-Castro-Kennedy-and-the-FBI-s-Tamale-Squad#
"(Diaz Verson) uncovered a spy cell at the Soviet embassy in Havana which led the Batista government to break off diplomatic relations with Moscow. Diaz-Verson kept files on Communists in Cuba and throughout Latin America at the offices of his magazine, Occidente. On January 24, 1959, his offices were trashed and the files stolen. Two days later his car was strafed with gunfire, and, taking a hint, the editor got himself and his family out of the country."
Salvador Diaz Verson was one of the original organizers of CRAC (Crusade of Revolutionaries against Communism). By 7/59, the two leaders were Francisco Rodriguez Tamayo and his cousin. See 124-90130-10024: On 8/3/59, Francisco Rodriguez Tamayo said that Diaz Verson misappropriated CRAC money and he is no longer in the group.
180-10143-10092: FITNESS REPORT FOR PERIOD 3/62-3/63
"An examination of (Emilio) Nunez's (Portunado) 201 offers some confirmation of the fact that (David) Phillips knew Diaz (Verson). DIR 28877 (1959) reported the fact of a meeting to plan consolidation of anti-Castro forces. There were two people at the meeting: Emilio Nunez Portunado and Salvador Diaz Verson. The authenticating officer was Dave Phillips.
9/13/60 report of FBI agent Robert James Dwyer in Miami to Director: On 8/13/60 Diaz Verson at a gathering of 2000 Cuban exiles in the Hungarian Hall in Miami. Diaz Verson is part of a group of Cuban journalists dedicated to the overthrow of the Castro government known as the Asemblea General de Periodistas en el Exilio" (page 43 of 48). Diaz Verson puts out numerous pamphlets and booklets concerning Communism in Cuba...(including) a booklet entitled Occidente...the August, 1960 issue of "Occidente" was the eighth one published." (page 47 of 48)
2/28/61 FBI report. Diaz Verson was an FBI informant. 2/28/61 FBI report. 12/60 and 2/61 reports from Salvador Diaz Verson. One-time subversive and espionage operative in Cuban military intelligence. Resided on 8770 21st Street in Miami. He was an FBI informant. Working with Francisco Rodriguez Tamayo during this time.
104-10439-10079: CABLE: NO EVIDENCE TO DATE OF TRAVEL TO MEXICO BY AMPALM 26 DURING 1963
"(FBI) interviewed AMPALM-26, who said: "Sylvia Duran took Lee Oswald to Caballo Bayo Restaurant...where they met Cuban ambassador to Mexico, Joaquin Hernandez Armas...AMPALM-26 told (FBI) his source was Eduardo Borell Navarro, Mexican newspaperman who writes editorials for Excelsior. FBI chief sent Matthew Crawford, assistant, to interview Borell Navarro 12 January. Borell Navarro said AMPALM-26 had "imagined" whole story. Borell Navarro said he did not repeat did not know any more than that Oswald had been to Mexico and had visited the Cuban Embassy and Sylvia Duran. Borell Navarro said everything he knew had been published and was public knowledge. Chief, FBI, Mexico said he knew AMPALM-26 well when they both were in Havana. He said AMPALM-26 'noted for reported based upon his intuitive feelings' and very rarely reported facts."
124-10371-10002: ADMIN FOLDER-X7: HSCA ADMINISTRATIVE FOLDER, INCOMING LETTERS COMMISSION VOLUME I
"Dr. Jose Lasaga, an exiled Cuban psychologist...(alleged) he had reliable info that Oswald met in a restaurant on outskirts of Mexico City with Cuban ambassador and they left together in a car for a private conversation. Lasaga said (he) received the story from (AMPALM-4, aka Angel Fernandez) Varela who obtained it from Verson...it appears to us certain that (the story) was a fabrication. However, Commission would like to polygraph Verson if he is willing to undergo same."
124-10371-10053: Admin Folder-W6: HSCA Administrative Folder, 12/10/1963
When the FBI updated its brief on the JFK case - originally released in Dec 1963 and the future backbone of the Warren report as CD 1 - it included the hoax about "Oswald meeting with the Cuban ambassador" passed along by Diaz Verson. But it took the description in other stories of another man and claimed that Diaz Verson was an "exiled Cuban newspaperman" instead of a former secret police chief. Nor did it identify Diaz Verson as the source of the hoax.
Warren Commission Hearings, Volume XXVI
The Warren Commission volumes correctly identify the exiled Cuban Newspaperman as Dr. Eduardo Borrell Navarros, but the commission volumes don't mention that Diaz Verson was the source of the hoax, or the FBI finding that Diaz Verson was the basis of the hoax. As late as 4/3/64, Coleman and Slawson wrote that "there are all sorts of rumors and allegations as to Oswald's activities in Mexico but I have only seen three which are plausible enough to be taken seriously. These are the statements of 'Gutierrez', 'Alvarado', and 'Dias Verson'." See: http://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=57426&relPageId=3&search=verson During that month, legat Clark Anderson said he had heard six conspiratorial allegations including the three mentioned, but the only one he took seriously was the "Gutierrez" allegation: http://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=4674&search=verson_AND+FBI#relPageId=9&tab=page
Commission Document 659 - FBI Letterhead Memorandum of 02 Mar 1964 re: Oswald/Cuba
"On 2/29/64, upon being further interviewed regarding variations in his accounts of the above events, and especially the sources responsible for certain specific statements, DIAZ VERSON admitted that he did make statements to a Special Agent of the FBI on January 4 and on January 9, 1964, slightly at variance with each other, and both at variance with what he related to another Special Agent of the FBI on February 27, 1964. DIAZ VERSON stated that he was extremely distressed and ashamed of his irresponsible talk as he is a professional newsman...DIAZ VERSON declined to take a polygraph examination stating it would only humiliate him further and show what he had already admitted."
104-10522-10134: CABLE: REQUEST VERY DISCREET CHECK TO LEARN WHETHER AMPALM/26 (IDEN)
Cable from Director to WAVE, Mexico City, DIR 92766: This page and the next both identify AMPALM-26 as Salvador Diaz Verson, and describe him as an "unwitting Cuban propaganda writer for AMPALM project at WAVE".