Cryptonym: QDELF
Larry Hancock, Someone Would Have Talked (2010), p. 144
"William Pawley introduced the managing editor of the Miami Herald to Shackley after pointing him out in a restaurant and identifying Shackley as the man who fed information to Hendrix... Seth Kantor (a Scripps-Howard writer) noted that Hendrix's intelligence connections were so obvious that he was referred to as "the spook" within the Scripps-Howard office."
Howard Cohen, Miami Herald obituary for Hendrix, March 16, 2015: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/obituaries/article14775488.html
Hendrix swallowed a safety pin as an infant, giving him a distinctive voice (which may explain the cryptonym QDELF). (Thomas Powers, author of the Man Who Kept the Secrets, refers to Hendrix as "Whispering Hal".) Hendrix was a reporter for the Miami News starting in 1957. See 124-90083-10058, p. 11: By 1961 he was the Latin American editor for the News.A CIA official described Hendrix as an "asset" who won the Pulitzer in 1963 for his articles on Cuba. He was the first American journalist to report the presence of Soviet missiles on the island, two weeks before the Cuban missile crisis. See https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/hal-hendrix -winning the prize "for his persistent reporting which revealed, at an early stage, that the Soviet Union was installing missile launching pads in Cuba and sending in large numbers of MIG-21 aircraft."
1994.06.23.13:18:33:750005: Reel 68, Folder B - AMBUD [DELETION] MEMOS.
3/5/62: In response to a Hendrix article on that date naming the Nov. 30th Movement as the main force in the CRC, AMBUD-1/Miro Cardona wrote Hendrix in 1962: "No other North American newsman, in this Miami of the permanent quarreling, has exceeded you in service to the principles of liberty, progress and social justice in each corner of America." Miro then named eight other groups playing a role in the CRC, as well as other sectors of the population. Miro again commented on how pleased he was with Hendrix's articles the following month: http://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=55635#relPageId=241&tab=page
1994.06.23.13:18:33:750005: Reel 68, Folder B: AMBUD (Deletion) Memos
On 4/10/62 Hal Hendrix states, "Beware of 'Friendly' Fidel...possibility of rapprochement with Castro's Cuba.. promotion of this line of thought could not be more stupid or damaging to the United States."
104-10298-10158: Cable: Mr. Hal Hendrix Advised Reuterman that During Luncheon
Shackley writes during the Cuban missile crisis in Oct 1962 that if info from Hendrix on Cuba is used "by Hqs pls protect fact that info obtained from Hendrix. This most important if we are to continue development of Hendrix as a source." Also see 104-10274-10332, 10/27/62: Hendrix working on story on how State Dept not prepared to put together a post-Castro government. Alerted to this when Hendrix met with Sen. George Smathers of Florida - a close friend of JFK - Hendrix was providing him with names of individuals who would be good to have in a post-Castro government. Also see 104-10312-10172: The Bayo-Pawley Affair, Miguel Acoca and Robert K. Brown, Soldier of Fortune magazine, 1975: "Only Hendrix, who won a Pulitzer Prize, and Senator Kenneth Keating, the New York Republican later defeated by Robert Kennedy, kept whipping up public opinion against Kennedy for covering up the presence of missiles in Cuba in the weeks leading up to the October crises. There is no doubt that Hendrix was fed his material by a CIA source in Homestead Air Force Base, just south of Miami. There is no doubt, either, that Keating was receiving CIA intelligence material."
104-10229-10225: CABLE: CARBONELL HAD MEETING WITH SEN. KEATING AND OTHERS
2/2/63 cable from JMWAVE to Director, slugline RYBAT GYROSE AMTHRILL: "Following received 2 Feb from AMTHRILL-1 who received it 30 Jan from Luis Botifoll of (CRC) org who had just received it by phone from Nestor Carbonell of AMBUD org (Washington DC). Carbonell had meeting 30 Jan (Washington DC) with Senator Keating and four or five other Senators...Keating told Carbonell AMBUD figure for total Sovs (in Cuba) too low, that he has positive info there at least 40,000 and possibly 45,000 Sovs (in Cuba). Also that he has positive info nuclear warheads brought into (Cuba) about month ago. Believe AMBUD memo referred to is the same as that mentioned 26 Jan sitrep."
1994.05.19.09:49:54:160005: Reel 63, Folder J - CUBAN REVOLUTIONARY COUNCIL (CRC) - POLICY
4/15/63: "Dr. Miro told me that Jules Dubois of the Chicago Tribune had called on him on Saturday night...and seemed 'to know as much as I' about the heated conversations and meetings with Mr. Hurwitch, and asked if Mr. Hurwitch had not insulted Mr. Miro...On Sunday evening Hal Hendrix called on Mr. Miro...Hendrix said he had been sent by a friend of Mr. Miro, an American...for the purpose of finding out how and in what way Mr. Hurwitch had insulted him. Mr. Miro said he got the impression that Hendrix might have been sent as an intermediary to find out what had happened and what had been said; that since Hendrix had been instrumental in arranging Dr. Miro's first meeting with Mr. Robert Kennedy, possibly Hendrix was sent by someone associated with the Attorney General or the President...Hal Hendrix told Dr. Miro that (the CRC) was already on the way to liquidation and that Dr. Miro had perceived the situation and had made the move first, catching Washington by surprise and irking those in control."
104-10308-10045: ANTI-CASTRO PM OPERATIONS
7/19/63, FBI memo: "The July 15, 1963 issue of the Miami News carried an article entitled 'Back Stage with Bobby' by Hal Hendrix, Miami News Latin American Editor, which related there is growing speculation in Miami and in Washington that Attorney General Robert Kennedy is quietly backing a new anti-Castro operation, with hand-picked Cuban exiles, including Manuel Artime, Enrique Ruiz Williams, and the brothers Roberto and Jose San Roman, all of whom held high posts in Brigade 2506, which participated in the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion attempt. The article continued that speculation also linked the Attorney General's close association with these four Cuban exiles to some kind of deal with Nicaragua through ex-President Luis Somoza. The article said that Somoza reportedly advised some of the exiles that he was in a position to offer some real estate for an anti-Castro guerrilla group as a home base, and suggested that Cubans in exile rally around a single core of leadership." In response to this article, In the discussion as to how to deal with the press reports, the Attorney General suggested that we could float other rumors so that in the welter of press reports no one would know the true facts. Mr. McCone agreed that it would be possible to confuse the situation in this manner. [5 lines of source text not declassified]." See https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v11/d356
Jeff Cohen and Donald Freed, "Fidel on the Grassy Knoll", Liberation magazine, March-April 1977: http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Cohen%20Jeff/Item%2008.pdf
11/22/63: The "psywar" phase of the (JFK) murder began within an hour of Oswald's arrest, when Harold (Hal) Hendrix, the Scripps Howard correspondent for Latin America, called into the Washington D.C. news desk that Oswald was a pro-Castroite. This was split-second reporting by Miami-based Hendrix, a right-wing correspondent who left Scripps-Howard in 1967 to work for ITT in Latin America. As revealed in The Sovereign State of ITT, Hendrix became an action of for the bloody CIA/ITT assassination and military takeover in Chile. Hearings before a Senate foreign relations subcommittee in March 1973 confirmed that Hendrix had been a CIA operative in Chile. On November 5, 1976 Hendrix was charged in federal court with a misdemeanor for refusing to testify accurately before the subcommittee about ITT's connections with the CIA in Chile. According to ex-CIA official Victor Marchetti, Hendrix was a CIA media friend as early as 1962 when he wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning inside story of the Cuban missile crisis from CIA leaks. The fact that Hendrix had sprung immediately into action with the Oswald-as-Castroite line was not generally known until 1975. Scripps-Howard reporter Seth Kantor was in Dallas with the rest of the press at Lars swearing-in ceremony. Kantor had not yet learned Oswald's full name when he was instructed to call Hendrix, who already had "biographical" information on Oswald moving on the wires. It was not until 1975 that Kantor retrieved a copy (after two months of Freedom-of-Information haggling) of his November 22, 1963 telephone records, which the FBI had classified and secreted in the National Archives. Apparently the FBI had cooperated in protecting a CIA source, for on Kantor's telephone records one call had been expunged—the one to Hal Hendrix in Miami.
4/2/64: "QDELF has been questioned about AMCARBON-1, and he has indicated that AMCARBON-1 is regarded in the journalistic trade as an extremely likeable fellow who has a keen mind but who lacks experience in depth on Latin American affairs. It is QDELF's opinion that given an appropriate lapse of time, AMCARBON-1 will develop into one of the leading Latin American specialists in U.S. journalistic circles."
104-10180-10326: CABLE: QDELF RETURNED MIAMI 5 JULY FROM MEXI WHERE HE HAD BEEN
7/5/64 cable from WAVE to Director: "QDELF returned Miami 5 July from MEXI where he had been covering presidential elections...in July 1964 Migdal talked with Lechuga and (illegible) distinct impression (Carlos Lechuga/AMLAW-3) had been impressed by (illegible) defection and would not be above defecting himself. QDELEF tried (to) pursue this conversation with Migdal but could only obtain (illegible) impression Lechuga defectable. This impression not backed by any tangible fact."
104-10221-10004: GALAN, VICTOR RICO, 201-336474
04/13/65, Cable from Mexico City: Slugline MHSPAWN PBRUMEN: "1. FYI: For WAVE: Ref indicated DIR agreement that story of activities of Victor Rico Galan, Siempre columnist and AMTHUG-1 agent, be surfaced. 2. Believe best person for ref surfacing is QDELF. He is friend of AMPACA-1 (note: Mexican newspaper executive Eduardo Borrell Navarro) and latter almost positive he can arrange for QDELF to play in his latam column. First however wish DIR and/or WAVE comments as believe CIA has more direct contact with QDELF. If either WAVE or DIR can pass to him MEXI will forward rough draft based on known facts for QDELF rewrite and surfacing. MEXI could then exploit it locally, please advise." Also see p. 262: "(in) view (of) fact surfacing already discussed with AMPACA-1 suggest he handle matter in order prevent blowing to AMPACA-1 that (CIA) has direct link with QDELF."