Cryptonym: IUSTEER
104-10221-10020: CONTACT REPORT-WESTWARD HO RESTAURANT TO DISCUSS ROBERTO DE CARDENAS.
1960-72: ...The names of Barker and Fiorini are written down, as well as possibly "SNAP“ (Martinez's crypt) and "HARBOR" (?). The document is marked 201-283488 - it is IUSTEER's 201 number. In 1960, IUSTEER was visiting the home of Frank Fiorini aka Frank Sturgis when Roberto de Cardenas dropped in. Pedro Diaz Lanz was also there that day. At this meeting, Cardenas told IUSTEER to visit a home on Brickell Avenue. IUSTEER did so and met Manuel Artime for the first time. In 1965, the Agency sent Cardenas to serve under IUSTEER in the Congo. 1972: Roberto de Cardenas is suddenly affluent. IUSTEER-1 believes he may be dealing drugs. See Whitehouse's cirriculum vitae - at Reel 18, Folder E - WHITEHOUSE INSUA, EDUARDO JULIUS, page 24 of 31. 201-300614. NARA Record Number: 1994.03.18.10:00:33:560005 Also see 135-10001-10238 - Dr. de Cardenas of the Latin American Anti-Communist League is named by Frank Sturgis as possibly involved in a plan to kill Henry Kissinger and the Venezuelan president in 1975. Was Roberto Cardenas Blanco, Cuban Air Force captain until 1959, the same man as above - see 1993.08.05.10:41:34:710005 - p. 429 - he may be related to Roberto Medell Blanco. Also see 1961: Roberto Medell Blanco is identified as a member of the Cuban Revolutionary Committee/AMBUD - 104-10231-10020, page 10.
Circa 1964-65. This list of WITHRUSH members shows that 201-283486 is Fausto Gomez Gomez. He is clearly C number 84863. Either Mario or Francisco Ginebra Groero Perez (they were brothers) is 201-283485. Another version of this document is here: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=55498#relPageId=16&tab=page Francisco Perez Gomez was a member of Cuban Military Action (AMC) https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=77005&search=%22francisco_perez%22#relPageId=164&tab=page See 104-10182-10007, p. 28: One of several memos of a doctor reporting to Robert Medell (mailed to his PO Box at Miami Int' Airport) during 1965 about Eduardo Whitehouse's physical condition.
http://bayofpigs2506.com/THE%20MAKASIS.pdf
Circa 1964-65. Many photos. Fausto Gomez Gomez is identified here; one photo gives the alternate name of "Felo Bemba". Photo of Roberto de Cardenas and Jorge Navarro together. Also identified are Mario (and Francisco) Ginebra Groero Perez and Fausto Gomez Gomez. 124-90150-10172: Gomez may be identical with the 1959 Cuban hijacker Antulio Ramirez Ortiz! Stephen Edward Rookes, From the Bay of Pigs to Lake Tanganyika : Non-State Armed Actors in the Congo Crisis, 1960-1967: "As far as the recruitment of the pilots of the Makasi was concerned, Roberto Medel of the MRR played a significant role. The link between agents operating out of JM/WAVE in Miami and militant members of the Cuban Exile community..." More specifically, "On 27 May 1965 SOD/AB/OPS/3 requested a POA on Subject to permit his use as a pilot in Leopoldsville, the Congo, in Project WITHRUSH. The POA was granted on 20 July 1965. A PRQ II, filled out on 9 September 1975, shows that Bartes' file did not indicate that he knew personally any WOFIRM case officers except Roberto MEDELL, principal agent in Miami for the WITHRUSH project." Here is Rookes again, in another article, at endnote 34: (In mid-1962 the CIA set up an) Emergency Response Team (ERT) that could be used anywhere in the world and that could be deployed rapidly if needed, and using Roberto Medell as an intermediary for recruitment, those selected for the ERT underwent training at the Embry-Riddle School of Aviation in Miami. Employed by a CIA front company named Caribbean Aeromarine Corporation (Caramar), those recruited had been pilots with a number of different services ranging from the Cuban Air Force and the Cuban Naval Aviation, to commercial pilots with Cubana Airlines or Aeropostal. Many were veterans of the Bay of Pigs invasion. See, Villafaña, Cold War in the Congo: The Confrontation of Cuban Military Forces, 1960-1967, p.37.
https://www.google.com/search?q=what+cuban+pilots+served+in+the+congo+during+1965&sca_esv=4b7d887c06d3035e&sxsrf=AE3TifO6FuI-k7fEXx60MW1OSAvaHsTOTQ%3A1760908303117&source=hp&ei=D1T1aOC6Bfauur8Piqy_-Qw&iflsig=AOw8s4IAAAAAaPViH_TJM7wg8xc8kXstieXVp9s2nRR1&aep=22&udm=50&ved=0ahUKEwig_ozPlrGQAxV2l-4BHQrWL88QteYPCBM&oq=&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IgBIAFAAWABwAHgAkAEAmAEAoAEAqgEAuAEByAEAmAIAoAIAmAMAkgcAoAcAsgcAuAcAwgcAyAcA&sclient=gws-wiz&mtid=IlT1aKDtINyr0PEP-pKBiA4&mstk=AUtExfCS8jU13nu8fq989B98Gr7oNDX20EQVBQNL0v6nHi4mReXgMRXmoS_C2B9xdVkiEcwwW4qoGzpfM7XjgozmcbR1wT2j-Zn62davMOYZPMkTg9enDE0y5Nm6l18qMwrHZDZfhGcAg-v0qxcQnDbpsUfLEwGyzc9rPV5_6If2X3I_E8k-yFGv3_FEB4Qz3mPT0Dnq0_BNNnNnNJQaK1Zpfy6ji83CKD3F4DA3OtH1Ajqb7KkxvpuGWExhA4tmTT-uYW1OKtXXRnVGcwM8NnFwa4pgvklinTF18Pw&csuir=1
1964-1965: Known Cuban exile pilots in the Makasi air force in the Congo: Juan Peron: A veteran pilot recruited by the CIA in 1963. He flew the T-28 fighter-bomber in the Congo. Juan Tunon: A pilot who served with Juan Peron. Freddy Flaquer: A veteran of the Bay of Pigs who served with the CIA air force in the Congo. Gustavo "Gus" Ponzoa: A pilot who flew an air attack on the air base at Santiago de Cuba before going to the Congo. Rene Travieso: A pilot whose family has shared his service in the Congo. Jack Varela's father: Also a veteran of the Bay of Pigs, he served as a pilot in the Congo. A list at 104-10182-10007, p 34 includes Fausto Valdes, Jose Perez Menendez, Francisco Valliciergo, Efrain Morentes, Castor Cereceda, Theodore Whitehouse, Rene Trevieso, Luis Ardois, and Jack Varela. Also see pp. 48-49. Master list of WITHRUSH pilots at 104-10220-10088, includes Gomez at 201-283486 and Mario or Francisco Perez at 201-283485. Another list at 104-10220-10089. The known timeline for Roberto de Cárdenas is as follows: Prior to 1954: Cárdenas was employed at an airline in an unspecified position. 1954–1955: Cárdenas was arrested by Major Ochoa in Havana on suspicion of smuggling cocaine. He was fired from his job at the airline, but his political connections allowed him to avoid formal prosecution. After 1955: The public record is silent on this particular Roberto de Cárdenas. His specific future activities are unknown, though other individuals with similar names appear in later records.
104-10189-10021: GARRISON INVESTIGATION OF KENNEDY ASSASSINATION: FRANCISCO ANTONIO BARTES.
9/9/65: CIA records indicate AMSERF-1/Francisco Bartes' file "did not indicate that he knew personally any (CIA) officers except Roberto Medell, principal agent in Miami for the WITHRUSH project". See http://www.asecretlegacy.com/news-and-updates/filming-update-a-heart-felt-reunion - it describes how in the last few years "ex-CIA agent Roberto Medell walked my father around the top-secret airport where the CIA trained the Cuban exiles before they flew to the Congo in the 1960s."
104-10110-10048: REENTRY DOCUMENT FOR BARTES
11/23/65 memo from Acting Deputy Director of Security Harlan Westrell to INS Commissioner Raymond Ferrell: "Arrangements for obtaining the reentry document (NOTE: in regards to admitting Francisco Bartes from the Congo into the USA) will be made at your Miami office by Jerry Saunders or Roberto Medell of this Agency."
8/8/67 cable from JMWAVE to Director: "IUSTEER advised one of his pilots were approached 7 August 1967 by Evilio Alpizar with offer to fly B-26 in Haitian invasion..."
104-10163-10087 CIA FILE ON BUESA, MANUEL ARTIME.
2/10/69 memo: AMTABBY-27 identified as an "executive pilot" with the IRD (Interrogation Research Division) number of C-87513. The 201 number for AMTABBY-27 is probably 201-287180, but possibly 201-323565 or even something else entirely. 104-10220-10088: 201-287180 is identified as "Garcia Pujol", but his C-number is something like C-86568. It is possible that IUSTEER is the "business partner" of AMTABBY-27, in one possible interpretation of the document. It also indicates that ERLOOP-1 may be another business partner of IUSTEER.
104-10182-10007: CIA FILE ON EDUARDO JULIUS WHITEHOUSE INSUA.
7/23/69 cable from WH/2/HD&ES to WH/Miami, slugline IUSTEER: "...IUSTEER phoned HQS case officer and stated (Eduardo Whitehouse) (201-300614) and an unidentified American attempting hire Cuban pilots Miami area to fly T-51 aircraft to El Salvador. IUSTEER sources, who were four Cuban pilots who refused offer, said (Whitehouse) and associate began recruitment effort circa 14 July 1969...File: 201-283488 and 201-300614." This memo makes it clear that IUSTEER is 201-283488. Page 28: One of several memos of a doctor reporting to Medell at a PO Box at Miami Int' Airport during 1965 about Whitehouse's physical condition.
104-10163-10130: CIA FILE ON MANUEL ARTIME BUESA.
7/25/69 cable from Managua to Director (Info: WH/Miami, Port au Prince): slugline RYBAT IUSTEER AMBIDDY: "Like ghostly Caribbean legion of yore? AMWORLD arms keep turning up in tales but not in material form..." Also see 104-10163-10087, p. 11: IUSTEER-1 in Sept 1969 reports to HQ that Artime/AMBIDDY-1 arranged contact from Miami for a Honduran army buyer to make a purchase in Spain.
104-10221-10021: MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD: IUSTEER-1 - ANTHONY ABRAHAM CHEVROLET, MIAMI
06/30/72: MFR from Peter S. Jasutis: ..."IUSTEER-1 noted that the Chief of Latin American Sales (?) of this firm, Manuel Villamanan, is very much up-to-date on Cuban exile matters. IUSTEER-1 commented that he ran into Villamanan/AMFAUNA-13 recently and they engaged in a conversation about the Washington Break-In Scandal. IUSTEER-1 found Villamanan very sympathetic to Barker (one of the individuals involved) and IUSTEER-1 felt he hurt Villamanan's feelings when he (IUSTEER-1) was critical of the affair). 06/30/72, memo for the record from Peter J. Jasutis ..."Also employed as a salesman at this firm is Alberto Beguiristain (AMANCHOR-1) who was at one time associated with Eugenio Martinez (of the Washington Break-in affair) in the capacity of a frogman for the Agency under the cover firm Consolidated Engineering. Chief of Security for Anthony Abraham Chevrolet is Tony Iglesias, identified by IUSTEER-1 as the military chief for the Torriente Group."
104-10215-10006: SOURCE ADVISED HE SPOKE WITH JOSE PELLON WHO MAKES HIS LIVING AS A PILOT
1972, slugline TYPIC AKULE IUSTEER: Pilot Jose Pellon told IUSTEER he was approached by pilot Jose Manuel Hernandez and asked if he needed work. The bio file number 201-283488 doesn't belong to any of the named parties, by default it must belong to IUSTEER.