Documents / FOIA release
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.
“Anderson”1 page
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MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD SUBJECT: WIG 21 1. Approximately 2030 hours on 23 August 1966 DC/WHC (Williamson) called me to report that he had just received a call from AMBADGER from San Juan, Puerto Rico. AMBADGER had a report from AMBANG that agents of his inside Cuba were prepared to fly a MIG 21 to the United States. Williamson asked AMBADGER for more information but AMBANG claimed that he did not have any additional details. (In view of AMBANG's previous reluctance to source his information there is always a certain skepticism about AMBANG's claims of accomplishments.) Williamson told AMBADGER to find out from AMBANG the who, where, why, what, when, and how and to report back. AMBANG stated that he did not have this information but they planned to go ahead with the operation. Williamson told him that if a Cuban pilot wanted to fly a MIG 21 to the U.S. we could do nothing to stop him. 2. At 1400 hours on this date AMBADGER called me to report that he had discussed Williamson's suggestions with AMBANG who had replied that he honestly didn't know the name of the pilot or the details of the operation. In short, he had been informed by a contact of his in Cuba that some of his people were going to steal a MIG 21. (AMBADGER commented that AMBANG did not appear to be evasive or reluctant to discuss the matter but apparently didn't know the details.) In any event, AMBANG stated that they were going ahead with the operation and planned to "do some damage" before they left and AMBADGER asked for my approval. I told AMBADGER that I couldn't approve anything like that and thought that the chance of losing the aircraft outweighed the possible gain. I suggested that if they were going ahead with the operation anyway it would be of more value to just get the aircraft. AMBADGER replied that AMBANG appeared adamant in this respect and wanted to be certain that if the operation was successful that he be allowed to take all the credit for it. I replied that if in fact he was responsible for the operation he could have all the credit. 3. I have called Lt. Col. Norman H. Stuzer, Yellow Sanda Officer, U.S. Air Force, extension 3207, and informed him that there is the "possibility" of a MIG 21 pilot defecting to the U.S. in his aircraft. He in turn has alerted the Southeast Air Defense Command who will be on the alert for such a possibility. Harry Mahoney $$ a c 1 - 2 3 7 2 9 d $$
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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.