Cryptonym: NIELOPE
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavo_Arcos
Gustavo Arcos Bergnes (December 19, 1926 in Caibarién, Cuba – August 8, 2006 in Havana, Cuba) was a fellow Cuban revolutionary alongside Fidel Castro who later became an imprisoned dissident of the government. Arcos has been described as "a symbol of the opposition, and the dean of the opposition". Born in the small town of Caibarién, Arcos met Castro while the two attended law school at the University of Havana. He participated in the 1953 attack on Moncada Barracks that jump-started the Cuban Revolution against then-leader Fulgencio Batista, where he suffered a gunshot wound to the back that partially disabled his right leg and left him a legacy of lifelong pain. Freed under a pardon, Arcos spent the next several years gathering support, money, and munitions throughout Mexico, South America, and the United States. Following the success of the revolution in 1959, Arcos became Cuba's ambassador to Belgium. However, while Arcos was away, he grew disillusioned both by Cuba's alliance with the Soviet Union, and what he saw to be the dictatorial tendencies of Fidel Castro. Upon his return, he began expressing dissent against Castro and the Cuban government. In response, he was arrested and sentenced to 10 years as a counterrevolutionary. He was released after a long hunger strike in 1969, but his request to leave the country was refused. An illegal attempt to leave the country put Arcos in jail again in 1981. He was released in 1988, and quickly became the executive secretary of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights, which he had joined in the early 1980s. His brother, Sebastian Arcos was appointed vice-President of the Committee and was responsible for expanding it from a small Havana-based group into a nationwide organization. Gustavo decided not to leave Cuba and spent the rest of his life trying to improve human rights in the island and promoting a peaceful transition to democracy, stoically suffering repeated harassment, arrests, and "acts of repudiation."...
104-10533-10012: DISPATCH:CUBAN EXILE ACTIVITIES (26 OF JULY MOVEMENT)
8/6/58 dispatch sets forth structure of July 26 movement in Mexico. Names members of small leadership group: Leader is Gustavos Arcos Bergnes, others are Hector Geiricelaya, Rafael Silvio Pena Perez aka "El Gordo" (radio operator), Orlando Ventura Reyes, Manuel Fernandez Torro, Manuel Carbonell, REDACTED, Roberto Roca, Teresa Caruso Morin, Virginita (radio operator). Curiously, Fidel Castro's code name is "Alex", probably taken from his middle name "Alejandro". What is also curious is that Alejandro was the name of Oswald's mentor in the USSR in 1959, which many people believe resulted in Lee choosing the alias of "Alek Hidell" which was found on some of his identification cards - including a draft card allegedly found in his wallet on 11/22/63. During the previous month, Justo Carrillo, Angel Buch, Fidel Castro, others signed a unity statement vowing to work together in the wake of the overthrow of Batista. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=59594#relPageId=186 Also see 124-10284-10047, page 3, which refers to "ALEJANDRO": "If he manages to take Oriente, I think he will have won. Batista will then be forced to 'give up', pressured both by this defeat and by the revolt of the army proper." See 4/28/61,104-10219-10419 - offers big hints that LITAMIL-2 and Pena are one and the same.
104-10103-10072: OPERATIONS TO SPLIT THE CASTRO REGIME - INTERIM WORKING DRAFT
1962: "...(201-205568). A sustained effort by TFW to recruit him in Brussels was unsuccessful. Despite failure, (5 letter name) remained in close and friendly contact with TFW sources."
104-10215-10178: CABLE:WHILE IN EUROPE AMLASH PLANS VISIT GOOD FRIENDS
9/13/63 cable from Rio de Janeiro to Director: 1. "While (in) Europe AMLASH (Cubela) plans to visit NIELOPE and ambassador to Morocco Rodriguez Loeches. 2. AMLASH stated NIELOPE unhappy with the regime...AMLASH thinks highly of NIELOPE and because of his prestige feels NIELOPE could play major role anti regime activity...Officers such as Ameijeiras and Almeida who are not completely reliable are slowly being isolated from troops." Also see 104-10295-10079 - a note about NIELOPE in faint handwriting. He is clearly 201-205568.
104-10216-10324: CABLE RE: REQUEST CAREFUL WATCH AND PRIORITY REPORTING
10/2/64 memo from Director to Mexico City: "Request careful watch and priority reporting NIELOPE activities and travel or planned travel due to his recently reported involvement with AMLASH-1 group and effort (of) this group to establish contact with AMWORLD. Please report any travel also on Cmdte. Efigenio Ameijeiras Delgado...Seems possible Braet's Soviet connections during trip NYC may involve diamond, gold, or narcotics smuggling in which NIELOPE reported involved...Please watch UNSIERRA carefully since Marta Frayde and NIELOPE close friends...ODCOIL and ODBOON (Customs) info in Mexi City indicated ()poss involvement heroin smuggling circa April 1963."
104-10216-10306: CABLE RE: SUGGEST BEFORE ATTEMPTING RECRUITMENT IN PLACE THAT
11/7/64 memo from Grace Roberts at Director's office to Mexico City: "Suggest before attempting recruitment in place that LITAMIL-2 query, as you suggested, NIELOPE on his future plans. If NIELOPE willing to discuss them...it will be easier then to determine if pitch feasible...Please get LITAMIL-2 to ask NIELOPE what's happening in Cuba along the lines of anti-Castro plotting. On this basis, ask him to attempt (to) find out what major regime or anti-regime figures are thinking and planning. If NIELOPE mentions names, HQS has great interest in Commander Efigenio Ameijeiras Delgado, Juan Almeida Bosque, Calixto Garcia Martinez, Pedro Miret Prieto, Captain Faustino Perez Hernandez are doing. Though trust LITAMIL-2, wish not present only these names to him due some uncertainty about NIELOPE himself. Suggest giving LITAMIL the names interspersed with those of Raul Roa Garcia, Faure Chomon Mediavilla, Carlos Lechuga Hevia, Antonio Carrillo Carrera (the Cuban ambassador to Paris), Rolando Diaz Aztarain (Chief, Cuban Navy). Overt comment that Faure Chomon in disgrace and being surveilled in Cuba by (Castro's) forces can be mentioned. Has been in USA press."
104-10183-10091: NOTE: A STUDY OF REFS INDICATES
Circa 1965: "A study of references indicates Carrillo responding to WHIP's queries freely. This gives rise to several suppositions...knows of the WHIP/AMLASH-1 relationship and is part of the LASH/AMEIJEIRAS/NIELOPE/EL MAGO team, though WHIP doesn't know this, which seems unlikely, or suspects that WHIP is in contact with the Americans...and is appearing to cooperate by answering WHIP's innocuous questions about who is who and in what position in the Government of Cuba..."
104-10180-10060: CIA FILE ON RAY, MANUEL.
4/28/66 meeting between Charles Anderson (using the alias "Andrews") and AMBANG/Manuel Ray: "In general, (Manuel Ray) had less information on the purge situation than I did. He told me that relatives of Gustavo Arcos (201-205568) in Puerto Rico had been in telephone contact with the family inside Cuba around 25 April, that Arcos was as of that date still in prison but the charges against him were thin and it was hoped he would be out in a few days...(Ray) said he does not believe there is any truth to the charge of financial dishonesty levelled against Arcos."
1962: "The Direction of Task Force Efforts to Split the Regime: To identify those members of the 26th of July Movement and other "unaligned" government leaders who were for the revolution but against communism. To date, there is reasonably good evidence indicating that the following individuals do not approve of the communist direction of the Cuban revolution and may in fact be conspiring against the regime...Gustavo Arcos is undoubtedly an important member of this list of potential conspirators. TFW has made an unsuccessful but sustained effort to recruit him in Brussels. Despite our failure to date, Arcos remains in close and friendly contact with TFW sources. Others in this group to be wooed included Major Pedro Miret Preito, commander artillery unit; Sebastian Arcos, brother of Gustavo and commander in Cuban Navy; Orlando Ventura Reyes; Manuel Carbonell Duque; Major Faustino Perez; Omar Fernandez Canizares; Rolando Cubela; Juanita Castro; Wife of Raul Jaime Diaz Arguelles; Minister of Foreign Affairs Raul Roa, high priority target; President Osvaldo Dorticos; Jose Llanusa, mayor of Havana; Jose Ricardo Rabel Nunez, chief of Rural Housing, agreed to defect; Alfred Davins Ferrer, a Spaniard hired to recruit Cuban technicians, successfully recruited; and Mrs. Carlos Lechuga, wife of Carlos Lechuga Hevia, Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations, expected to seek asylum and break with her husband and Cuba toward the end of November, 1962.