Pseudonym: Sanchez, Miguel
Part of the AMAPOLA network of Cuban intelligence service agents.
See 124-90089-10216, p. 2: He was active with the US Communist Party until 1950. By 1959, he concluded he had made a mistake, and worked with Masferrer to provide valueless information to Cuba.
124-90076-10082, p. 11: Former BRAC chief Mariano Faget believed Carbonell may have been placed in Masferrer's group by Fidel Castro.
See 124-90150-10113, p. 6: In 1968, he may have embellished it with the name "Miguel Montesino Sanchez".
See 124-90090-10029, p. 4: The FBI lists many of his aliases, including "H. Diaz".
He identified one of his sources, an unwitting contact, as Gabriel Abay Jach, PSI - see 124-10279-10054. Abay was indicted in one of the Cuban Power bombings in 1968 - see 1993.07.22.08:42:15:590620 - p. 3. Also indicted was a man using the name Miguel Guillermo Sanchez, not necessarily Carbonell - see above, and also 1993.07.22.13:23:00:000620 - p. 2. He was also involved in other attacks - see 1993.07.22.11:58:39:280620 - p. 2.
He may have been active as late as 1971 - see 124-90158-10040 - page 5.
His FBI file was 105-173672 - see 180-10145-10326 - p. 10.
124-90090-10032: [ RESTRICTED ]
Re March 1960: "Carbonell, who in reality was working as a courier for and with Rolando Masferrer, did furnish to the Cuban government a quantity of misleading and false information furnished to him by Masferrer, which spread much confusion throughout the Castro government and cost the Government of Cuba a great deal of money...on March 21, 1960, Carbonell using the name Miguel Sanchez was arrested in Cuba by the Cuban militia for his involvement in the William Shergalis-Howard Rundquist flight, the purpose of which was allegedly to get Damaso Montesino Alvarez out of Cuba. (REDACTED) this flight was an obvious frame-up by the (Government of Cuba) to make the US look bad, or that he had been paid by the GOC for his participation in the plot." At this time, he also met Irma Suarez through fellow prisoner Antonio Gonzalez. From a 7/18/67 memo. More background: 124-90090-10022; 124-90076-10042, p. 5; 124-10302-10274 (reference to Carbonell, Joe Paula, Frank Sturgis, Manuel Rojas) Also see 124-90130-10037 - three years later, on 4/4/63, Damaso Montesino tells the FBI that while he was a Bay of Pigs prisoner his cellmate Roberto Perez Cruzata told him before he was executed on 9/61 that Francisco Rodriguez Tamayo was "a spy for Castro". Miguelina Teurbe-Tolon Collado/QUSWIFT-7 knew Humberto Rodriguez as a friend of Francisco Rodriguez Tamayo. Perez allegedly told her that he and another individual, HUMBERTO RODRIGUEZ DIAZ, with whom Perez came to the United States, had been police officers in Cuba under Batista.
180-10145-10363: Third Agency Coordination
7/27/62: Synopsis of UFGA-4820: Jose Carbonell Marrero - naturalized US citizen of Cuban birth who reentered the US 5/15/62 after 26 months in Cuba, served approximately 14 months in prison. Said to be with G-2 and in US on G-2 assignment. Used by Masferrer in 59-60 as double agent, sending false info to Government of Cuba." The chronology then states "MDL=AMOT-6? source." It does appear that Diaz Lanz and AMOT-6 were one and the same. See 124-90090-10022, p. 6, reCarbonell's relationship with Diaz Lanz - "Carbonell told Masferrer he had been doing some kind of work for the Cuban Air Force at which time that organization was headed by Pedro Diaz Lanz, who subsequently fled and is now residing in exile in Miami...Carbonell indicated he was in contact with Cuban Government officials, and he was furnishing them information a false nature concerning anti-Castro Cubans residing in the Miami area." Page 2 identifies Carbonell's wife as "Dolores Carbonell".
7/27/62: UFGA-4820 dispatch from Chief of Station JMWAVE Ted Shackley to Chief, TFW, William Harvey, with originating officer CI George Watts: "He was arrested (on 3/21/60)...with Rundquist, Shergalis, and the Montesino family following an abortive attempt by Shergalis and Rundquist to evacuate by airplane Damaso Montesino Alvarez, a police official in the Cuban government. Subject said he was arrested and held in prison under the name Miguel Sanchez...On 31 May 1962 AMOT-6/Marcos Diaz Lanz reported the following to his JMWAVE case officer Henry Sloman/Tony Sforza...Jose Carbonell Marrero said he had worked as a G-2 agent for the past three years and that he had been dispatched to the United States to perform an espionage mission...to report on anti-Castro elements and to collect information on Rundquist to support charges that he was an American agent. That Fidel Castro Ruz himself had given him (Carbonell) instructions...Jose Carbonell Marrero wants to be put in contact with (FBI) or (CIA) for recruitment as a double agent...Carbonell was described (by FBI to JMWAVE) as unreliable and a 20 year record of performance as a Communist Party (USA) functionary, a Fidelista, and a G-2 agent. (FBI) is most anxious to obtain evidence upon which FBI could take action to strip Carbonell of his citizenship and deport him to Cuba...(FBI) further described Carbonell as an individual who is not trusted by anti-Castro Cubans and G-2 alike...(He claimed to be in touch with commandos in Matanzas)...only one person, he said, could make contact with the 'sugar cane commandos, Irma Suarez Fernandez, who lives in Marianao and who may be reached at the address Cardenas 73, Habana, the home of her father...There are several indications that he was and is a G-2 agent...it appears that at least Masferrer was convinced that he was in fact a G-2 agent...It is planned to get the word around the Cuban community, through the AMOTS, that Subject is unreliable and possibly a G-2 agent."
7/27/62 dispatch - CONTINUED. In Cuban prison from March 1960-May 1961 of his participation in the Howard Rundquist/William Shergalis flight. Carbonell said he was G-2 and wanted to be a double agent for the Americans, but when asked to provide info on G-2 he said he was not a G-2 agent. He said he was G-2 in order to obtain other things - support for a resistance group that needed "arms, ammunition, medical supplies, etc." The conclusions reached by the reporting officer were 1) there is nothing to be done; 2) Interrogate him for several days to see if he is actually a G-2 agent; 3) He is trying to ingratiate himself with the anti-Castro community in Miami; 4) We will let the anti-Castro community know he appears to be a G-2 agent - he needs to be interrogated for at least three days, anything less is useless.
Early 1963: Jose Carbonell - known as "Mario" - worked with Rescate and activists Tony Varona, Prudencio Duenas, Juan Alonso and Juan Herrero Camejo. He allegedly wrote a 40 page report about all of his activities for the FBI in 1969.
3/63-3/64: Carbonell admits that he was "in contact with Cuban Intelligence Service in Miami from March 1963 to March 1964 working for Cuban government collecting information." He received radio messages with instructions from Cuba and, using fictitious names and addresses, sent reports in telegrams with secret drops in Cuba. In March 1964 he met Chafir Homero Saker Zenni (a Cuban intelligence officer) in Toronto, Canada, but declined trip to Cuba and thereafter lost contact with Cuban Intelligence Service. See 104-10166-10115 - Saker Zenni is described as one of the founding fathers of the Cuban DGI.
9/11/63 memo from CAS, Joseph Vidal to SAC, FBI re Jose Carbonell Marrero: CIA was interested in several of his contacts and his information sources "such as Antonio Rojas". Those of most immediate interest included Luis Aguiar Perez, the alleged second-in-command to the guerrilla leader Thorndyke (aka Magarito Lanza Flores, see 104-10227-10232, page 8) - no interest in Aguiar but interest in his former colleague Nilo Fernandez; Juan Amestoy Dominguez/AMCANOE-9 - this office would like to know how closely Amestoy is associated with Subject; seeking the full name of Jesus Gonzalez associated with Amestoy/AMCANOE-9 and Ricardo Cabrera; Ernesto Santana Carrereas - how, when and where did Subject gain information from Santana..." See chrono with an April 1963 memo - 104-10506-10028 - p. 143 - for more on Rojas, Aguiar, and Santana. A 9/3/63 memo describes Carbonell as possibly the principal agent for AMAPOLA (crypt - Cuban Intelligence Service), and that its main objective is penetration of CIA and exile organizations directed against Cuba. 124-90090-10023: Sept. 1963 FBI memo refers to Carbonell as "the FOXTROT case".
August-Sept 1963: Lima Juarez lived at the Hotel del Comercio from 9/15/63 until after 10/1/63. He said that two Cubans were staying at the Hotel del Comercio in Mexico City during this time, and advised previously that he saw Oswald talking with two of them - before Juarez changed his mind and decided Oswald had never been there. One was Julian Huerta Oliva and another man was someone whom Juarez did not know. He also remembered another man living at the hotel that he believed to be a Spanish-speaking Cuban - Antonio Oliva (allegedly from Honduras), who lived with a woman named Irma Canseco Ortiz. (The original 1993.06.14.17:12:17:250000 - p. 2 - Oswald 201 file, vol 48/). Also see CD 1354, p. 3 - Julian Huerta Oliva states in interview that he was met in Mexico by Nestor Carbonell on 8/19/63 and left for Miami on 9/23/63. He also provides a 9/20/63 photo of Huerta's "Mexican friends" at the Hotel Comercio - Francisco Morales, Gabriel Contreras, Manuel Santos and L. Juarez. Also see 104-10181-10299, p. 3 - note that Antonio Garcia/AMSTET-1 was an employee of the Cuban embassy in Mexico City, and was implicated in conversations between LITAMIL-3 and Azcue as a mysterious person of interest. Antonio Oliva, Manolo Garcia and/or Antonio Garcia may be references to the same person. But see 124-90090-10029 - p. 8 - Manolo Garcia identified as an anti-Castro activist in Havana aka "Abuelo". CD 1421 - p. 6 - Irma Canseco Ortiz states that she was born in Mexico.
11/29/63: A special "schedule" was held on this date, in addition to the regular schedules of 11/10/63 and 11/24/63. This was found in the "PAMELA" folder regarding a Cuban Intelligence Service agent. AMAPOLA is identified as "Carbonell". See page 143 - he is apparently Jose Carbonell Marrero, described as the "p/a" (principal agent) and "a naturalized US citizen of Cuban birth. The FBI is currently reading his (shortwave) messages, and CIA is interrogating a WAVE asset (?) who has an unexplained connection with the agent." Also see page 147: "In addition to the regular bi-weekly schedules of 10 and 24 November, a special schedule was held on 29 November, as was done in the case of AMAPOLA (Carbonell)..."
104-10308-10255: FBI SUMMARIZING THE BACKGROUND AND ACTIVITIES OF ( ) THROUGH 1963 MIAMI, FLORIDA
Jose Carbonell Marrero wrote to Irma Suarez at 7203 9th Avenue, Habana, Cuba that autumn using the name "H. Diaz". Carbonell's letters tell Irma things like "don't ask Manolo Garcia about the letters he sent me". At p. 5, he discusses the death of Amestoy/AMCANOE-9 in a 10/17/63 letter to Suarez, summarized in 104-10308-10240; 104-10308-10248, a 12/25/63 letter from "J.C." to Irma who refers to "Uncle Francisco" and states: "I will tell you about Kennedy's death in the other letter when I am in New Jersey" and a Diaz letter dated 12/30/63. Also see 124-90090-10029, p 7, May 1964: Carbonell writes Chafir Homero Baker Zenni and says "Paco" has told him that his letters to Irma were intercepted by him, and asks him to let Irma return to the US. Also see 124-90076-10042, p. 4 (also linked above), where he states in 1967 that he was working with Cuban intelligence in 1963-1964 but lost contact with them after a meeting with Baker Zenni in Canada in March 1964. He states that his contact was Pedro Ramos in Havana - Ramos' address was being used by Carbonell to send secret messages to Cuba.
104-10308-10275: ZRKNICK NON-CS MATERIAL- BOX 10
Dec. 1963 - Periodic Activity Report - Carbonell Marrero is referred to as "Agent AMAPOLA" in a reference about events on 11/10/63 involving AMAPOLA (Carbonell) as a person to handle commo in case of emergency - with a reference about: "On 24 Nov 63, as in the case of AMAPOLA, a special code was set up to enable A--CH (illegible) (could be Antonio Veciana Blanch??) to report by cable directly in drops to Cuba on the situation in Puerto Rico after the assassination of President Kennedy...Cuban authorities obviously were concerned about reactions and possible repercussions against Cuba as a result of President Kennedy's assassination...(this) special code was set up for the agent by which he could report by cable to Havana any unusual activities such as "YANKEE" concentrations, mercenary concentrations, increase in repression of Cuban and leftist sympathizers, and any disappearance of activist counterrevolutionaries." Other alleged AMAPOLA agents in Miami included Ricardo Cabrera Amoedo (worked with DRE in 1962), and Ricardo Pimentel, aka Alberto Lopez and Al Marino, see 124-90071-10056, pp. 10-13. 104-10308-10238 refers to AMAPOLA as CUIS in discussing the investigation of the Cuban espionage net known as ZRKNICK. So does 104-10308-10278 and 104-10308-10240, p. 3. 124-10040-10079: Miguel Sanchez was MM T-1 as of 6/3/64, and the file name was "Lee Harvey Oswald - IS - R- Cuba".
1964-1969: Carbonell tells FBI he is disappointed that his old Cuban intelligence ties have not re-materialized, and thus he has lost interest in connecting with anti-Castro groups. He wrote a 40 page statement that year for the FBI, after discussion with Rolando Masferrer and Prudencio Duenas. Note Shane O'Sullivan's book Dirty Tricks: Nixon, Watergate, and the CIA, p. 361, which describes the head of the Cuban DGI in 1978 as Jose Carbonell (this may be confusion with Jamaican vice-consul Juan Carbonell)