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Cryptonym: LIBORIO

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Definition:
MRP plan to overthrow the Cuban government in the autumn of 1961. Assisted by CIA agent AMCOAX-1/Jose Pujals Mederos. AMBLOOD was also part of this operation.
Status:
Documented
Discussion:
The names of the CIA agents provided by AMCALL-1/Reinol Gonzalez over the Cuban media are provided below.
Sources:

https://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Hidden-Castro-Assassin-by-Bill-Simpich-Assassinate_Assassination_Assassination-Attempt_Castro-Fidel-150610-653.html

New plans were brought into play after the collapse of Operation Patty. One network that tried to move assassination plans forward was AMBLOOD, run by former Cuban government official Luis Toroella. Ecuador military intelligence chief Lt. Col. Roger Paredes helped network this operation, which was run from JMWAVE in Miami. The exiles were trained by the CIA inside Guatanamo naval base itself. The network was rounded up on or before September 24, 1961. [xxviii] AMBLOOD's work seems to be tied to Operation Liborio, also run from Miami. CIA records show that the day after Izaguirre's capture, Veciana had a meeting with Harry Real at the CIA's New York field office and asked to speak to a senior CIA officer to discuss plans to assassinate Castro and his request for CIA assistance. According to Veciana, he received a call from "Bishop" months after the Bay of Pigs - during the past two years, Veciana has claimed that this man "Bishop" was actually CIA covert action officer David Atlee Phillips. Phillips allegedly told Veciana that he had "decided that the only thing left to be done was to have an attempt on Castro's life". The plan was to kill Fidel with a bazooka from an apartment overlooking a public plaza on the 4th of October 1961. [xxix] Veciana recruited the men and put the operation together. [xxx] Veciana's aide Pujols/AMCOAX-1 became the new field general, taking over from Izaguirre. Pujols' aides Octavio Barreros and Rafael Quintero went to meet with CIA paramilitary chief "Dominick Pantleone", a pseudonym for Rocky Farnsworth, David Morales' predecessor as Chief of Base of JMWAVE. JMWAVE's mission was to focus on Cuba from its Miami outpost. It was the largest CIA base in the world. Farnsworth urged them to leave Pujols' MRR and work directly with the Agency, suggesting that "Reinol Gonzalez' MRP group in Cuba is the best organized group on the island, and the only one that is national in scope."

1994.04.26.09:46:28:100005: Reel 52, Folder J - REINOL GONZALES

Summer 1961: (Note: Gonzalez gave this statement on 11/7/61, shortly after his captured on 10/11/61) (At p. 179): "When the MRP arose, it proposed to struggle against the regime...in a war with weapons, not by sabotage and terrorism. But what happened? The (CIA) did not give the Cubans equipment because it distrusted the Cubans. (The CIA has) delivered large quantities of equipment for sabotage exclusively: Gelatin, (time fuses?) and such things. But...they would not deliver (weapons) if they were not absolutely certain that it was for men totally dependent on the CIA and the US government. And that is why they trusted exclusively on the bases, in the invasion they had prepared. They simply did not deliver weapons to us Cubans. So then what? A movement had no reason to exist if it did not do something, and since two equipment deliveries were made to me here and some people also had material, the MRP then decided, forced by those circumstances, to undertake sabotage and terrorism...The MRP was one of the organizations least aided by the CIA...our movement was principally linked to the State Department and the group of political Latin American leaders headed by Romulo Betancourt, Munoz Marin, Jose Figueres, Raul Haya de la Torre, Norman Thomas who has an organization - all of those operate around the State Department. Since the CIA elements know of that link of the MRP to that group, they simply tried to close off the MRP in certain aspects... recently, we had contact with another who is in Department of State security...surname (Puyal?) (note: Pujols/AMCOAX-1). (Operated as Ernesto). He was a CIA agent and came with the mission of unifying the groups here in Cuba. But he is under arrest and that is why the (word indistinct) was not able to operate." (At p. 178): Agents that delivered the equipment: "(Csui?) Connelle, Jorge Conellas, Pescasio Lineres, Mario Masip, and some Cubans - one called Omar, another called Felipe, many with assumed names..."

Fabian Escalante, The Secret War (Ocean Press, 1995), pp. 97-99

"On September 29, Dalia Jorge Diaz was caught in the act of planting an incendiary device in the Sears store...this action formed part of the so-called Operation Liborio, which consisted of a series of synchronized acts of sabotage on the same day and time, in order to set Havana on fire...on October 11, on (note: Amador Odio's) farm in Wajay, an area just outside the city of Havana, Reynold Gonzalez, the MRP's top man, was captured along with a group of his collaborators. He spoke at a televised news conference to inform the public of the details of Operation Liborio...'When President Dorticos left for the socialist countries, the military section of our movement, commanded by (Antonio) Veciana, who had an apartment in front of the Presidential Palace, planned an attempt against Fidel and the other leaders. At that time, we had a bazooka and everything necessary in the apartment. When Dorticos' return was announced, the plans were concretized, including the burning of the main department stores in Havana, such as Sears, J. Valles, Fin de Siglo...this failed because the people's guard in the stores detained the persons who had this mission...the attempt was not carried out, and now the apartment and the equipment is in the hands of the State Security Department."

1994.04.26.09:46:28:100005: Reel 52, Folder J - REINOL GONZALES

(p. 132): Early October 1961: "When President Dorticos went to visit the socialist states, the military section of our movement had an apartment vis-a-vis the presidential palace, facing the northern terrace where we planned to attack Fidel and the Ministers Council. Then we had the...bazookas necessary for the attack...then a plan was made of a chain of sabotage action in the stores of Havana. Sears, J. Valles, Fin de Siglo, La Epoca and several more. In total we were planning to burn 15 stores. This plan failed because of the vigilance in the labor centers, where the people who went to place the pencils were arrested. Then in spite of all this, the act in the Palace was held but inexplicably the principal organizer of the attack (Veciana) took a boat and went to the US so the attack failed and today all the equipment is in the Department of State Security."

157-10014-10178: [No Title]

10/4/61: The CIA reports on the Cuban's governments allegations against the Agency - "The MRR and II Front del Escambray, under CIA direction, agreed upon a plan for sabotage in Miami, timed to coincide with the return of Cuban President Osvaldo Torrado from Punta del Este. A bazooka was to be fired toward the President at the former presidential place from a nearby apartment building, with the withdrawal covered by launching grenades against the public. Weapons recovered included automatic rifles and grenade launchers."

104-10103-10156: OPERATION ALPHA 66

Re Oct 1961: Antonio Veciana, Chief of Action of MRP is described as head of Operation Liborio to kill Fidel Csstro with bazookas. The source, SJ T-2, may have been Israel Gonzalez. Veciana was described as former head of Christian Family Movement in Cuba and head of the Certified Public Accountant Association in Cuba. Also a top executive of the Banco Financiero in Havana, whose bank was owned by Julio Lobo, "The Sugar King".

124-90061-10016: No Title

Re mid-Oct. 1961: Mario Massip by 1961 was working with FORDC. As seen below, after AMCALL-1/Reynolo Gonzalez's capture in Oct 1961, Gonzalez went on the radio with a confession claiming that Massip delivered equipment (weapons) as part of the Liborio plan. (In 1958, Mario Massip worked for Carlos Prio in coordination with Maruel Arques (also also known as Manuel Arce) and Robert Ray McKeown.)

124-10296-10031: No Title

10/27/61 indictment of Amador Odio and Sarah Odio del Toro: "...On October 27, 1961, she and her husband were...charged with various anti-Castro activities, including the burning of a large department store in Havana called 'El Encanto', harboring of persons opposed to the GOC, assisting persons in seeking asylum in various foreign embassies in Havana, and an attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro. Most of these charges were true, and Sarah del Toro was sentenced to six years in prison. Her husband received a thirty-year sentence and is still incarcerated." (8/9/68 memo, from SAC, Miami to Director, FBI) She describes the arrest and aftermath here: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://taniaquintero.blogspot.com/2015/04/las-primeras-presas-politicas-cubanas_15.html&prev=search

104-10193-10447 DISPATCH-OPERATIONAL-DEBRIEFING OF GUSTAVO LEON LEMUS, M.D

11/1/61 AMBLINK-1's Debriefing of Gustavo Leon Lemus, M.D.: "...Subject said that in January-February 1961 he made contact with Francisco (of MRR) with Luis Manuel Comellas aka Luis Sanchez who was infiltrated to take command of the Action and Sabotage Section of the Frente in Cuba. Comellas and his sister Maria Comellas, described by Subject as Francisco's most efficient secretary, are said to be in asylum in the Venezuelan Embassy in Havana." Luis Cornellas is probably the same person as the "Cornellas" identified by Gonzalez as one delivering "equipment" (weapons) for Liborio.

1994.04.26.09:46:28:100005: Reel 52, Folder J - REINOL GONZALES

Transcript of 11/7/61 interview while in custody (at page 127): "Generally it was the CIA that was supplying all the equipment..via three different ways; maritime, by air, and through the Guantanamo Naval Base (cites Nino Diaz and Alberto Muller in the Sierra Maestra)...While the US Embassy was still here the contacts were made by the Americans, I remember one Dewit or Dewill or something similar who was one of the most important Americans in terms of getting the equipment and all other organizational problems. But after the US embassy left Cuba...they were using several Cuban agents trained in Guatemalan camps and in Florida who came to Cuba and all of them had more or less the responsibility of delivering the equipment. i remember among this group of agents were: Cawy Comellas, Jorge Camellas, Pascasio Lineras, Mario Masip and other Cubans. One called Omar, another Felipe, and many others with false names...(at p. 129) The MRP was one of those who received less aid...our leader then and the whole movement maintained relations mainly with State Department and the group of Latin American political leaders headed by Romulo Betancourt, Munoz Marin, Jose Figueres, Raul Haya de la Torre, German Arciniegas, Norman Thomas - all those who gather around State Department...here we had contacts with "Cawy Comellas" who was one of the CIA agents...and later we had contact with other, who is in the State Security Department, named Pujals and who used the name of Ernesto and who arrived with the mission of achieving the unity among the groups, but he is in jail so the unity didn't work." (at p. 131): Gonzalez stated under Eisenhower the CIA had more influence - under JFK the State Dept. had more influence. "With phosphorous etc. (from the United States)...we burned El Encanto, Ten Cents, the piers, one of the pier towers, the tobacco factory, the paper plant of Fuentes Grandes. The tobacco plant here in Havana. This and various more which I don't remember."

104-10217-10247: FBI MEMO: CUBAN REBEL ACTIVITIES IN CUBA; MOVIMIENTO REVOLUCIONARIO DEL PUEBLO (MRP)(REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT OF THE PEOPLE)

12/7/61 FBI memo: "Reynol Gonzalez, an underground member of the MRP, an anti-Castro organization which exists within and without Cuba, and who uses the name 'Antonio', by letter dated October 1, 1961, from Havana, Cuba, informed members of the MRP in the United States what had taken place in Cuba during the latter part of September, 1961. This letter was Gonzalez was directed to Joaquin Godoy and Ignacio Mendoza, leaders of the MRP in the United States...Gonzalez, in his letter, stated that the 'Liborio' plan of the MRP had failed because the police in Havana had arrested Dalia at the time she was about to leave a suitcase full of explosives in the Sears Department Store. Gonzalez identified Dalia as a member of the labor section of the MRP in Havana. Gonzalez wrote that Dalia had been arrested about 5:45 pm, on September 29, 1961, and immediately G-2 of the Cuban government and other police agencies mobilized in all the stores in Havana. The G-2 and the police forced workers to search every corner of the department stores, and as a result, they uncovered bombs and explosives which had been placed in fifteen stores. Gonzalez said that although the plan for the REDACTED." - even though the document is stamped "RELEASE IN FULL"...(at page 4): "The Havana broadcast also reported that among those arrested were three women, Dalia Jorge Diaz, Sara Del Toro, and Maria de Los Angeles Abach, the latter described as secretary of Reinol Gonzalez."

1994.06.18.10:34:30:500005 Reel 67, Folder K - AMBUD ((DELETION)) MEMOS.

2/7/62 memorandum, FORDC representative "Pascasio (Lineres) thinks they can do some good in these countries by penetrating labor ranks and presenting the anti-Castro cause...Lineres claims that they can provide for themselves without any financial support from the CRC, except for providing the cost of the ticket." Lineres was also one of those who delivered "equipment" (weapons) for Liborio.

Contributors:
Bill Simpich

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