Documents / FOIA release

CIA File on Ray, Manuel

Central Intelligence Agency · 219 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This Central Intelligence Agency dossier on Cuban exile leader Manuel Ray Rivero was released in 2023 under the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Act. It contains biographical sketches of Ray as Castro's Minister of Public Works and later leader of the MRP and JURE, a 1965 report on his views of anti-Castro tactics, a Spanish report on his 1965 Madrid visit, and 1977 cables answering an FBI request. Those cables note he was declared persona non grata in Jamaica in December 1976.

  • p. 38 …Proctor Avon in the City of Industry, a Los Angeles suburb, looks like any of a…
  • p. 39 …Los Angeles county and state (plus federal) officers swooped down on the Eriquiaga plant, armed with…
  • p. 40 …whom and with what?" demanded The Los Angeles Times, a newspaper with nearly 1,000,000…
  • p. 152 …ASSOCIATED WITH LOS ANGELES 26 JULY CLUB. (DBF 11596 DTD 15 OCT 59.) B. INVOLVED SENDING…
  • p. 193 …THE GUNS WERE BOOKED INTO THE LOS ANGELES SHERIFF'S OFFICE. PRESUMably TITLE IS STILL IN…
  • p. 201 …Mayo Stunz in 00, who agreed to query his Los Angeles office immediately to find out…

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

SUBJECT: Communication from ANBANG, 29 March 1965

1. AMBANG (A) phoned (collect) from Puerto Rico on 29 March 1965. He said that the seizure of arms being manufactured for his organization by the ERQUIAGA Manufacturing Company in the Los Angeles area of California was very damaging to his plans. He said there were some 493 submachine guns being manufactured by this company. 20 of these are for replacements for possibly defective guns. He said each weapon is marked with a special mark and a serial number which will make them attributable to his organization. He further said that the guns were paid for except for $9000. Erquiaga left California about a month ago with the job unfinished, and A said that they had been negotiating with Erquiaga's partner. He did not give the name of this individual. He said that there was some question as to how much was owed on the arms, but that the partner had agreed on the $9000 figure.

2. A asked if we could arrange to have the arms released.

3. I said that I would have to look into the legal aspects of the problem since the question of the title and the charges under which they were confiscated would have to be clarified. I pointed out to A that if the title had not yet passed to him despite his payments, and if the charges under which the arms were seized are valid, he might have no other recourse than a civil suit against the Erquiaga Company to recover the money paid.

4. A was very insistent that he must have those specific arms because of the markings and the importance of the psychological effect that these would create.

5. I asked how long he would be in Puerto Rico and he said he would remain a week or ten days. I told him that I could not give him an answer at this time, and it was agreed he would phone me again on Thursday, 1 April.

6. Immediately after this conversation, I contacted Mr. Mayo Stunz in 00, who agreed to query his Los Angeles office immediately to find out the legal status of the seizure.

Thomas J. Flores

WH/C/COPS

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About this file

FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 219 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.