Pseudonym: Cucu
11/27/62, FBI memo: "Previously, it was reported that in October 1962, several individuals, including Alexander I. Rorke, a free-lance photographer and newspaperman from New York, William Johnson, and Carlos Hevia from Miami, were involved in a plan to take action against the Communist regime of Fidel Castro, utilizing a thirty-foot boat, the 'Violyn III', docked in Miami, and a Bearcat airplane, located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the latter of which was seized by United States Customs on October 26, 1962. Note that MM T-1 is MM 639-S aka Howard Davis, see 124-10125-10099 - On November 23, 1962, (Howard Davis)... advised that the Violyn III had placed a ship-to-shore radio call from a location somewhere off the coast of Cuba, to Alfredo Gonzalez, brother-in-law of one "CUCU" who was on board the boat. (Howard Davis) said that the Violyn III was in distress, and was being swept by strong currents towards the coast of Cuba. (Howard Davis) said that Alexander Rorke and a group of other individuals were on board the boat, including 'C124-90019-10058UCU'...On November 25, 1962, the United States Coast Guard advised that this boat was being pulled into Key West, Florida, in a disabled condition...Mr. Kirschner advised that the individuals on board were Captain Remigio Arce, Alex Rorke, M.D. Cardwell, N. Cardwell, Dan Lowry, and William Smith...Remigio Arce Pereda, also known as 'COCO', born June 19, 1919, Regla, Havana, Cuba, residence 1145 S.W. 23rd Avenue, Miami, Florida..." More information can also be found at 124-90019-10058.
180-10073-10072: INTERVIEW REPORT WILLIAM TURNER DECEMBER 22-24, 1977
1963: "Led by Major Manuel Villafana/LITAINT-1, the Commandos Mambises were an elite group formed especially to be a trial balloon to test this nation's reaction to a renewed anti-Castro movement. Trained at CIA amphibious case in Louisiana - quartered in safehouse in Florida - subsidized solely by CIA. One of the few married men in group was Remigio 'Cucu' Arce...Mambises first materialized on evening of August 18, 1963 when (Rafael) Pupo made rounds of Guatemala City press offices handing out release about strike against oil storage tanks at strategic port of Casilda. Their leader, Angel Orozco Crespo was captured and later executed. Other raids carried out on October 1 in Cayo Guin and October 22 at port of Isabela de Sagua. Also on October 22, Mambises unit attempted a landing from the Rex on Pinar del Rio Province. Set off a firefight and strafing of freighter J. Louis by MIGs. US charged that Cuba had attacked the J. Louis without provocation, but Castro reported that four of the Rex crew had been captured, described the Rex and named her home port in West Palm Beach...The Rex was harbored at West Palm Beach and the Leda at Port Everglades. Captains of the vessels were brother Alejandro Brooks (Rex) and Gaspar Brooks (Leda). Both flew the flag of Nicaragua...those captured were Alberto del Busto/AMSHAG-1, Luis Montero Carranzana, Dr. Clemente Inclan Werner/AMSIGH-2, and one not identified by name." (Note: Castro's forces interrogated this fourth prisoner - he said his name was Roberto Lizano Rodriguez, who also used the alias Arsenio Nunez - see 124-10203-10323).
John Simkin, Spartacus International - Tony Cuesta - https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKcuesto.htm
1966-1978; Antonio (Tony) Cuesta was born in Cuba in 1928. Cuesta was a successful businessman in Havana. He was opposed to the government of Fidel Castro and moved to the United States. He helped to establish two anti-Castro exile groups: Alpha 66 and Commandos Liberty. He worked closely with Eddie Bayo, who was later involved in Operation Tilt. Cuesta carried out raids on Cuba and was involved in the sinking of the Russian merchantman Baku. His activities were reported in Life Magazine in the spring of 1963 by his close friend, Tom Dunkin. Cuesta was captured during a mission at Monte Barreto in the Miramar district of Cuba on 29th May, 1966. A member of his team, Herminio Diaz Garcia, was killed during the raid. Cuesta, who always vowed that Castro would never take him alive, attempted suicide by setting off a grenade, which blinded him and blew off his right hand. Cuesta spent a long time in hospital as a result of his serious injuries. In 1978 President Jimmy Carter arranged for a group of imprisoned exiles to be released. This included Cuesta. Just before leaving Cuba Cuesta asked to see General Fabian Escalante, the head of Cuba's G-2 Spy Agency. Cuesta told Escalante that he had been involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He also named Herminio Diaz Garcia and Eladio del Valle as being involved in the conspiracy. Cuesta asked Escalante not to make this information "made public because I am returning to my family in Miami - and this could be very dangerous."
Arnaldo M. Fernandez, Another Look at the Kennedy Assassination - https://www.cubaencuentro.com/opinion/articulos/otra-vuelta-al-asesinato-de-kennedy-322897
1980: Retired General Fabián Escalante, former head and current historian of State Security, says that he spoke with Cuesta several times during his long period of rehabilitation and that he always spoke very quietly, with “a tremendous mystery, as if we were conspiring.” In one of those conversations, the assassination of JFK came up and Cuesta reportedly turned pale before saying that "May 29, 1966...marks the failure of Comandos L in its infiltration operation through Monte Barreto (Miramar). Snipers Herminio Díaz and Armando Romero were immediately killed, having come to attack Castro as he passed through Quinta Avenida. The others managed to re-embark, but about ten miles from the coast, near Jaimanitas, their 23-foot boat was intercepted by Komsomol torpedo boats and Guillermo Álvarez and Roberto Anta were killed in the naval skirmish. Tony Cuesta and Eugenio Zaldívar were captured, seriously wounded....on November 22, 1963, Cuban exiles Herminio Díaz and Eladio del Valle were in Dallas, Texas. When Escalante asked “if they participated in the assassination,” Cuesta “stands up and says that he can’t say more, that he can only say that, because he knows that it is a subject that interests us.” An inmate who worked at the prison hospital and treated Cuesta, Reinaldo Martinez, called George Robert Blakey, former chief counsel (1977-79) of the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) in 2007 to tell him that he had heard the same story but “had no proof to know if Cuesta was telling the truth.” Martinez added that he had known Herminio Diaz since he was a child and that, shortly after arriving in Miami around 1980, a mutual friend and veteran anti-Castro, Remigio “Cucu” Arce, had blurted out between drinks: “Hey, the one who killed President Kennedy was our little friend Herminio.”