Cryptonym: LITAINT-1
104-10414-10124; MEXICO CITY STATION HISTORY
"LITAINT-1 (Cuban air attache) was recruited by Hazlett in August 1959 and cooperated with CIA until April 1960 when he defected to the United States." LITAINT-1 was flown into San Antonio Texas on an airplane arranged by LIENVOY-1. At page 65 of 239, the history states, "On August 1959, two officers of the Cuban Embassy in Mexico (LITAG-1, 201-267743, naval attache, and LITAINT-1, 201-98818, air attache) walked into the US embassy office of the naval attache and expressed their dissatisfaction with the Communist influence over the Castro government. Hazlett talked with them and they agreed to remain in their positions and cooperate with CIA." LITAG-1 defected on March 30, 1960, driving into Laredo, Texas. LITAINT-1 was flown to San Antonio, Texas, in a private plane of LIENVOY-1 on April 12, 1960 through arrangements made by the station in Mexico...Both officers were subsequently handled by the Miami station."
FBI Cuba 109-12-210 - Volume 32 - Serials 1356-1377
The document states "Captain Angel L. Saavedra was at that time (1959) the Cuban Military and Air Attaché".
Correa provided the FBI with information about his recent defection and surrendering the Office of the Cuban Military Attaché in Washington to his successor on January 25, 1960. This would verify his defection timeline and position to match the former Cuban official using the cryptonym LITAINT-1.
180-10143-10180: SENSITIVE ORIGINAL WITHHELD BY CIA
This page and the following page of this HSCA decoding sheet reveal that LITAINT-1 also used the name "Manuel Villafana Martinez".
104-10163-10140: AZCUE, EUSEBIO.
Attachment No. 75 to UFGA-21693: "Subject: REDACTED, Manuel. Source met Subject in 1959 when Subject was the Military Attache at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico, D.F...Source said that he read in the newspapers in 1960 that Subject had left his post and come to the United States...identical with 201-098818."
104-10102-10223: PROGRESS REPORT ON DEFECTION AND RECRUITMENT ACTIVITY IN LATIN AMERICA
"Since around January 1960, Station Mexico has been involved in 11 defections and 'recruitments' of Cuban officials, mostly from the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City. The most important of these was Jose Pardo Llada, who was not an official and not from the Embassy, but was next to Castro himself, the most popular voice among the Cuban masses...besides Jose Pardo Llada, the above-mentioned defections - all successful KUWOLF actions included: 1. Manuel VILLAFANA Martinez, Cuban Air Attache...Marginalia adds: 'Who has never been properly debriefed.'"
104-10171-10209: CABLE RE: IS MANUEL VILLAFANA
8/22/60 cable from Twicker (Howard Hunt) in Mexico to Director, slugline JMNET, written in response to the chief of station's request to find out from AMCIGAR "whether Dept of Air established (in Cuba) and if so the personalities involved": The response states "Air Dept is Manuel Villafana (201-98818) and Leslie Nobregas/possibly AMHINT-42." Marginalia adds "Re: Contact w/Mexico City 22 Aug 60".
104-10176-10087: CABLE: OP CARRIED OUT PER REFS. AFTER "SOFTENING UP" BY LITAMIL-1
10/24/60 memo from Mexico City to Director: After softening up by LITAMIL-1...and LITAINT-1, LIOOZE-1 agreed to remain in place in Mexico and report to US on intel activities. He had no contact with Soviet embassy, but some with Cuban embassy. He knew Martin and Mitchell had no contact with the Cuban embassy when they passed through on their way to the USSR.
1993.07.14.15:07:44:590280: INTERVIEW WITH POW (FORMER BAY OF PIGS PRISONER)
Interview with former BoP prisoner Edgardo Antonio Buttari Puig, Jr., son of the mayor of Havana: "Colonel (FNU) Vallejo, an American officer of Philippine extraction, was the head of the American personnel assigned to (JMTRAX, the Trax base in Guatelmala)...Late in November, 1960, Col. Vallejo left and was replaced by an American known to me as "Frank"...Frank arrived with a group of others among whom I recall "Burnie", "Gordon", Pat, and one known as "C. B."..."Frank" reorganized the whole setup. He dissolved the teams and organized the Brigade 2506. On 30 January 1961, Manuel Villafana, head of the Cuban Air Force in exile attached to the Brigade 2506, visited Trax Base. Villafana (circulated a letter to the FRD) demanding, in the name of the members of Brigade 2506, to remove the general staff of the Directorate, FRD, and reinstate Jaime Vanosa Carela (LITAG-1) as Navy chief...Villafana had the approval of the Brigade headquarters, but the opposition of the majority of the Brigade members. We considered this an act of insubordination to the Chief of the Joint Staff and to the civil authorities of the FRD. This incident caused a mass disturbance within Trax Base...the 2nd and 3rd infantry battalions refused to continue training until FRD representatives arrived at Trax Base...the principal American instruction, "Burnie"...on 31 January 1961...told us that Jose Perez San Roman was to be reinstated as supreme head of the Brigade...all Brigade members left the platform area and returned to their barracks. Villafana and San Roman remained alone...Some men refused to continue training until an acceptable solution was reached. About 14 of these men were sent under arrest to Peten plains where they were fed by airdrops...the 2nd and 3rd infantry battalions were combined and reorganized..." (Interview conducted 12/23/62)
Deadly Secrets, Warren Hinckle and William Turner, p. 155 (1992)
"(The leader of Comandos Mambises in 1963) was Major Manuel Villafana, a Cuban General Patton known for his spit-and-polish sternness...(he) insisted that the CIA pay his men little; he wanted them motivated by hate, not money."
1/28/68: A police source stated that members of the Secret Anti-Communist Army (Ejercito Secreto Anti-comunista) have been meeting at Constanzo Palau's home - they now call themselves Cuban Power. These Cubans are responsible for the recent bombings, "including the airplane at the airport and the three business places in southwest Miami". The source said Manuel Villafana (LITAINT-1/Bay of Pigs/Comandos Mambises) was the leader of the group, had worked for CIA in the past and probably still did. See 1993.07.21.16:50:43:900280: RODRIGUEZ (TAMAYO), FRANCISCO - OS/SAG SECURITY FILES FOR HSCA, December 1968: After Julio Aton is shot and seriously wounded, Pancho Varona/AMCONCERT-1 accuses "Enrique" (one of the aliases used by Tony Sforza/AMRYE-1) as giving the instructions to a plan to assassinate Julio Aton Constanzo. The men who did the shooting were allegedly Ricardo Morales Navarette/AMDESK-1, Francisco Rodriguez Tamayo, and "El Gall__". The other planners were allegedly Joaquin Sanjenis/AMOT-2, Vincente Zorrilla/AMOT-3 and Manuel Villapana/LITAINT-1.
124-10213-10310: 124-10213-10310 (continued)
3/8/68, FBI memo for SA Leonard Peterson to Director: "On 1/29/68, Claudio Medina Hernandez, PSI, furnished the following information to SA William E. Dowling:...the source of the information is a friend of...Aton Constanzo Palau, Miami file 2-387...Source advised Medina that Constanzo allows a group of Cubans to use his house for meetings, both evening and night, but that he, Constanzo, is not a member of that group. This is the group known as the Secret Anti-Communist Army (Ejercito Secreto Anti-Comunista) and they have recently adopted the name of Cuban Power (Poder Cubano). This source told Medina that these Cubans are responsible for the recent bombings in Miami, including the airplane at the airport and the three business places in southwest Miami...The source told Medina that the leader of this group, now known as Cuban Power, is Manuel Villafana who has worked for CIA for many years and is still directly employed by CIA. The other members of the group are not believed to be connected with CIA at this time, although many of them probably were in the past...background information pertaining to Villafana as follows: Manuel Villafana Martinez, DOB 4/27/26, Place of Birth, Camaguey, Cuba, Parents: Rafael Villafana Turino, Olema Martinez Roura, Residence, Miami, Occupation: Air Force pilot. In March 1959 he was assigned to Mexico as military and air attache with the rank of Captain. In 1963, Villafana was one of many Cubans forbidden by INS to leave the US." This excerpted release is 28 pages - the full 194 page version can be found here: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=131076#relPageId=1&search=tamayo