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[3]104-10103-10350 | 2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992 |
[5]oe - SECRET
[7]MEMORANDUM .
[8]SUBJECT: Jose Ricardo RABEL Nunez/ (AMLEO-3) (201-249386)
[10]1. Born 7 April 1922 in Havana, Cuba, the son of a-
[11]native-born American citizen, RABEL was brought up in comfor-
[12]table circumstances. He attended high school in Cuba, com-
[14]. pleted the last year in New Orleans, Louisiana, and entered
[15]Tulane University in September 1938. He enlisted in the U.S.
[16]Army in December 1940 and eventually saw combat in France,
[17]Belgium, Germany and Austria. After discharge in December 1945,
[18]RABEL returned to Cuba to attend the University of Havana
[19]and this began a life of job changes, moving back and forth
[20]between the U.S. and Cuba, and, in general, rootless living.
[22]2. RABEL's background reads like that of a man with no
[23]allegiances .or loyalties and no particular goals. Viewed in
[24]retrospect, his career presents a picture of unreliability.
[26]It is probable that RABEL's rootlessness and apparent
[27]unreliability applied both to his relations with CASTRO and to
[28]’ those with the Agency. It is quite possible, therefore, that
[30]he not only served the Agency in a superficial way but that
[32]he did the same for CASTRO at various times when it suited his
[34]purposes.: Without postulating this sort of dual role (one
[36]which fits very well with his previous life) it is almost
[37]impossible to explain some of the reasonably good things he
[39]did for the Agency and the quite certain allegations that
[41]he was a CASTRO agent. This explanation is not fully satis-
[43]factory, but it does explain his career better than the charge
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[51]that he was a CASTRO agent from the beginning. The question
[52]that must remain unanswered is whether he betrayed the AMTRUNK
[53]Operation. He was not arrested until September 1965 (when
[54]AMTRUNK had already run its course) but it appears quite
[55]certain that he cooperated with the DSE after his arrest and
[56]while he was in prison. |
[58]3. RABEL joined in the clandestine activities against
[59]BATISTA in March 1952, first amongst the exiles in the U.S.
[60]and then after late 1952 from inside Cuba. He joined the
[61]Cuban armed forces to further his plotting and was assigned
[62]to the Cuban General Staff. He was the Cuban liaison officer
[63]with the U.S. Army mission in Cuba from November 1954 until
[64]April 1956. During his entire period in the Cuban army,
[65]RABEL was involved with dissident Army elements; when they
[66]attempted a coup in April 1956, RABEL was arrested. He was
[67]released shortly thereafter, worked in the chicken business
[68]for a year and then returned to the U.S: and worked with one of
[69]his brothers (Luis RABEL Nunez). In October 1957 he returned
[70]to Cuba and became involved with the 26th of July Movement
[71]but had to leave a year later when he was brought to the
[72]attention of the BATISTA forces because of a bomb explosion.
[73]He smuggled weapons to Camilo Cienfuegos for about a year
[74]and then in October 1958 he joined the Cienfuegos group.
[75]Shortly after the CASTRO victory, CASTRO called upon RABEL to
[76]set up a Cuban Marine Corps, a job he held until February 1960,
[77]at which time he was appointed Chief of Viviendas Campesinas.
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[81]SECRET
[83]SECRET
[84]He held this job until he defected to the U.S. in December
[85]1962. It is worth noting that he rarely pursued one activity
[86]in one place for more than a year at a time from 1945 to
[87]1962.
[89]4. -RABEL gave Alfonso RODRIGUEZ the following reasons
[90]for his defection:
[92]a. Communist pressure, hounding, and the basic
[93]enmity of the Communist Party toward hin. (This appears
[94]very reasonable in view of his service in the U.S. Army
[95]and training in some aspects of intelligence, such as
[96]prisoner interrogation. In addition, his.schooling in
[97]the U.S. and the reasonable economic circumstances would |
[98]not have been recommendations from the Communist point
[99]of view.)
[101]b. Strong backing by Fidel which protected him from
[102]more serious attacks from the Party. (This, too, seems
[103]entirely reasonable. His family farm was near the farm
[104]Fidel's father managed and RABEL and Fidel had known each
[105]other as children. “In addition, RABEL's long involvement
[106]in the anti-BATISTA movement and with Camilo Cienfuegos
[107]were probably in his favor in CASTRO's view.)
[109]c. An obligation to protect the non-Communists in
[110]his department, which prevented his earlier defection, and
[111]uncertainty of his reception in the U.S. (In view of the
[112]number of defections from RABEL's department, there were,
[113]in fact, people to protect. Since RABEL had served in
[115]the U.S. Army, and probably felt the U.S. was his second
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[123]country, he could well have had questions about his
[124]reception after serving in the CASTRO government.)
[126]d. His resentment against the confining nature of
[127]a Communist State. (Since he never stayed in one place
[128]more than a short time in his entire life, to have been
[129]restricted to Cuba must have seemed a punishment.)
[133]5. RABEL was used [to pitch:
[135]tian FRAYDE Barrane in
[137]Paris in Guly 1963, ana [to check out leads for the AMTRUNK
[138]Operation. One of his leads led to the recruitment of AMTRUNK-10.
[139]Later,in early 1964, RABEL was leader of the Rebel Army Group
[140]supported by the American Legion in Miami and was involved in
[141]the Rebel Army Radio program.
[143]6. There is no specific evidence (except the accusations
[144]below) that RABEL was involved in a suspicious way with the
[145]CASTRO regime during this period, but his desire to exfiltrate
[146]his wife and children was a constant source of difficulty
[147]between him and the Station. This problem led to his eventual
[148]termination in July 1964 and to a great deal of resentment on
[149]his part. He conspired constantly, from mid-1963 until his
[150]capture in Cuba in September 1965, to get into Cuba to
[151]exfiltrate his wife and children.
[153]7. RABEL was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment but was
[154]set free in July or August 1967, which is a strong indication
[155]that the charges that he worked for the DSE while in prison
[156]were true. Moreover, there is some indication that he may have
[157]attempted a provocation at Cuban behest immediately after his
[159]capture. There are two firm accusations that RABEL was a
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[163]Cuban agent as early as July 1963 (which would have been
[165]when he was screening names for the AMTRUNK Operation), fone
[167]4
[171]from CITAMIL-=93 and the other from Fernando REY reported by
[172]wstoucn-1] As mentioned above, these charges could well
[174]be true; yet RABEL could have fulfilled his duties for CASTRO
[175]superficially, for his own purposes, and not necessarily
[177]have compromised his work with the Agency until he was captured.
[178]The difficulties he had in exfiltrating his wife could have
[179]been, partially, punishment by CASTRO for not fulfilling his
[180]duties as an agent; otherwise, had his work in the U.S. been
[181]valuable, CASTRO could have facilitated the exfiltration of
[182]RABEL's wife so that RABEL could continue his work as an
[183]agent undisturbed.
[185]a
[187]LAD/JFK Task Force 19774
[189]Copy filed: 201-249386
[191]Attachments: 4
[192]A- 10 Feb 1964 Memo for the Record
[193]B- 6 Mar 1963 dispatch UFGA-7998] with Att.
[194]C- 20 Feb 1963 cable WAVE 4730 (IN 71127)
[196]m 30 Sep 1963 dispatch [urca-11375 |
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