[1]AAAAN
[2]Iitoa-10061-10083 | 2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992 |
[4]ot Pt.
[6]Chief of Station, Paris petit
[7], INFO. : ; ONLY Gxt oon
[8][cab nose mocune
[9]FROM RANG ABSTRACT
[10]ets - . SOO EZ
[13]"Report os Antondo RODRIGES Echasabal
[15]ACTION REQUIRED REFERENCES
[16]REF: DIR 39176, 1 February 1962
[18]1. As stated in sefervnse, attached for passage to(GEIGE/am two eopiss
[19]of « report on Antonio RIDRIGUE Echasebals the origtnal ef (Gis reyort was
[20]given te (CHICH/T on 6 Pobruary 192.
[22]The last paragraph of attechnont tadus request for the result:
[23]of te Uebelefing ef Banjest. . “= -
[25]| *MORTDER F. BINGHAM
[28]Report (2 es u.s.e.)
[30]Distribatiens
[32]8.
[37]2 - 2/3 w/att
[40]ay
[41]ba
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[46]. § Fev.uary 1962.
[48]MEMORANDUM FOR : (M. de Vosjeit7
[50]SUBJECT : Report on Aatonio RODRIGUEZ Echasabal
[52]Antonio RODRIGUEZ Echazabal wae bora in Cuba oa 17 August 1913.
[53]He has a maaster' s degree in agriculture, professedly has no religion but
[54]is a Mason. RODRIGUEZ is married to Edith JONES, who was bora in
[55]Cuba om 10 March 19173 she is, however, of Haitian origia, being the
[56]‘daughter of a former Haitian Ambassador to Belgium, aad she is a devout
[57]Episcopalian. The couple is known to have three children: a son who was
[58]‘last reported to be in Havana,. Cuba; a daughter married to a man of
[59]German birth who was employed in the Castro land-reform organizatioa |
[60]‘uatil hie departure for Germaay ina Decerr.ber 196]; and a son, Antonio
[61]RODRIGUEZ Jones, bora 24 August 1943 at Havana, who was studying at
[62]the Ecole Francaise Internationale in Washington, D.C. in 1961. This son
[63]has been reported to be anti-U.5. and to have requested permission of his
[64]father to go to Cuba or to another socialist’ country to continue his —
[66]; education,
[68]“Antonto: ‘RODRIGUEZ: Jones resided’ vy . Washington, D: Cc. with Yvonne’.
[69]JONES, his: ‘gaunt. and ‘sister of. the. ‘wife of Antonio RODRIGUEZ Echasabal.
[70]* Mise JONES was bora 10 April 1910 at Antwerp,” ‘Belgium; she was unmarri:
[72]and was @ secretary at the Pan Americas Health Organisation. She became
[73]a U.S. citizen in 1959. Since the Castro regime has come to power,
[75]‘Mins JONES is sald to have ‘spoken quite opealy for Castro aad against the
[76]U.S. Government.
[78]_ RODRIGUEZ lived is Haiti for about eighteen years prior tothe =
[79]: _ Commencement of hie diplomatic career, having been barred by the Batiet:
[80]“"- - -. goverament from returning to Cuba. He became a Haitian citizen and was
[81]' "the owner of a Port-au-Prince meat market called "Zl Ose Blanco". Wher
[82]Castro assumed power ia Cuba, RODRIGUEZ teok over the Cuban Embassy
[84]in Pert-au-Prince in January 1959 alter the Batista-appolated officials had
[85]fled to the Dominican ‘Republic. Seon thereaiter he was aamed Ambaseado:
[87]to Haiti. re
[89]Following his appointment to the diplomatic poet, RODRIGUEZ continu:
[90]to maintaio contact with persons in opposition to President Duvalier of Hai:
[92]vitizen of Cuba 9 7 NYY hte
[93]Wutze Weg CS : Ne boas
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[97]In late July 1959, Haiti was invaded by a small gx ap of Cubans, supposed
[98]as a prelude to an invasion of the neighboring Dominican Republic. The
[99]incursion was successfully repelied by the Haitian Government, which
[100]publicly charged RODRIGUEZ with complicity in the raid. RODRIGUEZ the::.
[101]closed the Cuban Embassy and returned to Cuba after selling hie private
[102]property in Haiti.
[104]While RODRIGUEZ was atill in Haiti, two attempta were made on his
[105]life. He accused the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic and,
[106]indirectly, the Haitian Goveran.ent of coniplicity in those attacks.
[108]u
[110]_ In November 1959, RODRIGUEZ went to Guatemala as Cuban Ambassado:
[111]There, he appears to have associated freely with pro-Commuaist groups. J.
[112]March 1960, b he was requested by the Guatemalan Goverament to leave the
[113]country on the ground that he was engaging in activities inimical to the best
[114]interests of Guatemala.
[116]In November 1960, RODRIGUEZ reported to Karachi, Pakistan, as Cub::
[117]Ambassador. His wife accompanied him there and served as his chief
[118]secretary. During the initial months of hie tour there, hie closest relation.
[119]in the diplomatic coloay were with officials of the Belgian Embassy,
[120]_ presumably as a result of the fact that. Belgium had represented Cuba when
[121]| there was no Cuban representative in ‘Karachi. During 1961, however, his
[123]‘social contacts were almost exclusively: ‘with, Soviet,, satellite aad Chinese
[124]‘Communist diplomatic personnel. oO oe
[126]In late 1961, ‘when RODRIGUEZ apparently had L decided ¢ to defect, he
[127]confided to an acquaintance in the diplomatic colony that he wae finished
[128]‘with politics and wanted to devote the rest of his life to agriculture. He ho:
[129]at the time to go to the Dominican Republic or to another, unspecified Seut!
[130]American nation.. At the time of his departure from Karachi by alr for
[131]Germany ia early 1962, RODRIGUEZ reportedly made only a very limited
[132]statement at the airport regarding his defection. The event apparently
[133]received very little, if any, press notice in Pakistan.
[135]- . - Insufficient information exists at present to permit a determiaation ae :
[136]“the genuineness of RODRIGUEZ's disaffection with the Castro regime. Fo:
[137]- yaasons which have not as yet been fully. reported, the Department of State
[138]. dented a visa to RODRIGUEZ, apparently after he had made the decision tc
[139]resign his post in Pakistan. We understand, howevor, that, following his
[141].
[142]ase,
[144]- ; ; . . “Citizen of Guba re
[145]. / , RU CPCS ok St at > ee CO
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[150]arrival in France in January 1962, "he received permission froma French =
[151]authorities to travel to and reside in Martinique. It appears that he left ©
[152]France on 31 January 1962-en route to Martinique.
[154]This service would appreciate having the results of any debriefing of
[155]RODRIGUEZ by: @ rench. authorities; with particular reference to the reasons
[157]for his. re gnation: and his. plans for the future.