25: The Name Game

In the past, Pawley would go straight to the top to argue his position to Presidents Roosevelt, Truman or Eisenhower when he felt that his dealings with underlings were not going well. But in the new Kennedy administration, he did not have that access, so he had to take his case to Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Mann (photo), whom weeks earlier Pawley had praised as “brilliant” and no “nicer fellow” while chastising him for his friendship with Betancourt.1

Pawley in early March 1961 began sending Mann materials to make the case against Manuel “Manolo” Ray and for the use of others.2 Ray was a former professor of engineering at the University of Habana, who had been selected by the CIA to rally support. Pawley disliked him because he had served as Castro’s Minister of Public Works, although he quit the Castro cabinet position after his friend Huber Matos was arrested by Castro. Ray then defected to the U.S. and became the leader of the anti-Castro counterforce People’s Revolutionary Movement (MRP).3

In the letter to Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Mann, Pawley demonstrated his mastery of the Cuban situation while raising the possibility of a post-Castro civil war if the wrong leaders are selected. “It [is] also thought by important Cubans whom I know here that Ray and three or four of the other prominently mentioned Cubans have already made arrangements through Russian agents and that when Castro falls, Russia will still have their men in power even though they pretend to demonstrate a more friendly attitude toward the United States.” Pawley stated “that the best solution would be a ‘junta’ or ‘frente’ made up of leaders of the various political groups. At no time has this seemed more necessary than now.” He offered four names for this role: de Varona, Carillo, Artime, and Maceo.

31: JFK Disapproves the Somoza Plan Backed by Pawley

After Operation TILT, William Pawley turned his attention to General Luis Somoza's plan to invade Cuba from Nicaragua with hopes it would justify full U.S. intervention, while John Martino shifted his energy to a new project involving Rolando Masferrer Rojas and an invasion of Haiti in August 1963. The common goal was to eliminate Castro.

A CIA telegram stated, “According to Carlos Zayas Castro, a colleague of Rolando Arcadio Masferrer Rojas, and several other unidentified persons in the Miami area, the recent Haitian activities were organized and supported by Masferrer, a Cuban exile who travels between New York and Miami. (Field comment: General Leon Cantave is generally credited with having organized the 5 August invasion of Haiti. Masferrer may have been seeking personal aggrandizement had the invasion been successful.)”

The telegram further noted that Masferrer “had Cubans in place in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti; he attempted to recruit 30 men from the Commandos L Group through Zayas.” Masferrer planned “to establish Carlos Marquez Sterling, a leading Cuban exile, as the figurehead or President.” Without addressing the source of his money, the telegram stated that “John Martino financed the travel of about 200 Cubans from New York to Miami” who as of August 8th were staying “in the Senate Hotel [probably the Art Deco Senator Hotel on Collins Avenue at 12th Street] and another hotel in Miami. Martino did not know what to do with his men following the collapse of the Haitian invasion.”1

Rolando’s brother, Raimundo Masferrer, who moved to Dallas in 1958 where he worked for the Parks Department as a mechanic, helped raise money for arms, believing the invasion would pave the way to overthrowing Castro who had imprisoned six of their family members and whose forces shot six others in 1959.2

In January 1960, William Pawley had advised the CIA that he had been contacted by Arthur Patton, a Commissioner from Dade County, Miami, Florida, who asserted that one of his police officers had been offered $200,000 to kidnap another of Rolando’s brothers, Rodolfo “Kiki” Masferrer.3

Rolando Masferrer had come to the attention of the intelligence agencies as early as 1948.4 He tried to endear himself to Trujillo in 1956.5 After arriving in the U.S., Rolando lead exile raids against Castro.6 Prior to the Bay of Pigs, the CIA tried to neutralize his activities against Castro7 and the Kennedy Justice Department later indicted Masferrer for plotting an invasion against Cuba.8 He then turned his attention to trying to overthrow Duvalier in Haiti, in the summer of 1963.9

56: JMWAVE's David Sanchez Morales and William Douglas Pawley

David Sanchez Morales had an extensive working relationship with William Douglas Pawley from at least 1959 into 1963. It was deeply rooted in their anticommunist activities in the Western Hemisphere and their desire to topple Fidel Castro. Both were fluent in Spanish and English, and had been involved in PBSUCCESS, the 1954 overthrow of Arbenz in Guatemala prior to becoming steeped in JMWAVE activities.

In December 1958, Pawley had been observing Fidel Castro with suspicion for over a decade and believed there was an eminent danger that the rebel leader would take over Cuba. With President Eisenhower’s blessing, Pawley called on his friend, President Fulgencia Batista, to step aside so an interim government could be established as a buffer against communism gaining a strong foothold on the island just 90 miles from Florida. Batista refused, and, on January 1, 1959, Castro took leadership of the country, dashing the hopes of both former Ambassador to Peru and Brazil Pawley and his long-time friend, Clare Boothe Luce, a former Ambassador to Italy who had hoped to become Ambassador to Cuba.

Soon thereafter, President Eisenhower asked Pawley to take control of the Cuba situation in the same manner Ike had relied upon Pawley to help overthrow Arbenz. In that position Pawley worked alongside the secret-leaking Frank Wisner, author of the CIA manual on assassinations (as Jamie Capildeo pointed out).

Pawley was the perfect person for the new Cuba initiative. As a teenager his nickname was “Cuba”—the result of growing up at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station. Later, he founded Cuban National Airlines. And two-and-a-half decades after that, at Batista’s request, Pawley ran the Havana Bus Company taking tourists to the Mafia casinos run by Meyer Lansky and Santo Trafficante who had given Batista an ongoing cut of casino revenues—more than a million dollars by the time he was forced to flee Cuba.

On April Fool’s Day, 1960, Pawley hosted CIA Director Allen Dulles and others at his Miami waterfront home to discuss next steps in going after Castro. Pawley was very familiar with CIA operations from his 1954 experience in PBSUCCESS and his subsequent scrutinization of the strengths and weaknesses of the CIA as part of the Doolittle Committee which recommended in that the intelligence agency become more ruthless than the enemy.

Several months prior to the official start of the war on Castro, Pawley was given the cryptonym QDDALE by the CIA’s Clandestine Services. Point 3 of a January 29, 1960 CIA memo states that it “would be worthwhile” to monitor “the activities of this group [headed by Silvio Cardenas], and that it could be handled by AMULAR, who is acquainted with QDDALE.” [1]

According to MaryFerrell.org, the AMULAR cryptonym: “Most likely candidate is Alberto Diaz-Masvidal Garcia, an attorney with the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington DC between 1960-62. The second most likely candidate is David Morales, who at least twice delivered messages between Cuba to William Pawley (QDDALE) and the CIA station in Miami in 1960.” [2]

Giving credence to the speculation that AMULAR is Morales is Point 4 of a March 14, 1960 memo for the record in which R. Reynolds (aka Al Cox, Chief of Paramilitary Branch of Covert Action Staff during Bay of Pigs invasion) states: “I turned over to Pawley a couple of messages from Silvio CARDENAS which Dave Morales brought over from Habana with him.” [3]

After feeding Pawley the names of individuals seeking to flee Cuba, Morales set up the ratline to help exiles escape the country; then Pawley, in Miami, vetted the new immigrants to determine who would make the best pro-democracy leaders to muster exiles to overthrow Castro. [4]

In a March 3, 1961 letter to Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Mann, Pawley stated “that the best solution would be a ‘junta’ or ‘frente’ made up of leaders of the various political groups. At no time has this seemed more necessary than now.” He offered four names for this role: Manuel Antonio de Varona (aka Tony de Varona), Justo Carillo (sometimes spelled Carrillo}, Antonio Maceo, and Manuel Artime Buesa whom David Morales had exfiltrated from Cuba in November 1959. [5] Artime went on to lead the Bay of Pigs invasion and later became godfather of E. Howard Hunt’s son. [6]

After the failure of at the Bay of Pigs invasion, Pawley worked with the US-based Cuban Families Committee for Liberation of Prisoners of War negotiating the release of the exiles captured by Castro. According to Chapter 23 of Pawley’s unpublished autobiography, Why The Communists are Winning as of 1976…, “I feared that Castro would exploit the release of two men whose families could afford ransom, while their comrades were left behind. I therefore added Nestor Williams to the list, at $25,000 ransom.” [7] Pawley had expressed a similar concern for another black Cuban when he was vetting the names of exile seekers provided by Morales in 1960.

Pawley was no stranger to using his personal wealth to expedite matters and preferred to financially support individual efforts rather than fund organizations. Reporter Jim Buchanan noted: “Outraged at Castro’s takeover, Pawley sought out a Miami newsman. ‘Find me,’ he said, ‘one man, just one man who can go it alone and get Castro. I’ll pay anything — almost anything.’” [8]

Years earlier, when Nicaragua was asked to be the front country in the purchase of three P-47 airplanes needed for PBSUCCESS but couldn’t come up with the $150,000, Pawley advanced the money. “I asked my secretary to empty my briefcase. Then I called one of the principal officers of the Riggs Bank in Washington and asked him to have $150,000 in cash ready for me to pick up in thirty minutes.” [9] And in Point 7 of the previously mentioned March 14, 1960 Reynolds’ memo, Pawley stated he was ready to purchase $100,000 in bonds to fund the operations against Castro.

In the summer of 1963, Pawley used his own 65-foot yacht, Flying Tiger II, in CIA Operation TILT (aka Operation Red Cross aka Bayo-Pawley Affair)—an effort to discredit President Kennedy by proving there were still Soviet missiles in Cuba despite Castro’s claim that they had been removed. TILT involved Eddie Bayo [10] a member of DRE (Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil aka Students' Revolutionary Directorate cryptonym AMSPELL), the same group whose members interacted with Lee Harvey Oswald in New Orleans and quickly spread the word that Oswald was a pro-Communist assassin of JFK. [11] “David Morales was one of the signers of an order authorizing the deployment of the CIA mothership Leda to provide radar surveillance for the Pawley yacht,” wrote Larry Hancock in Someone Would Have Talked. [12]

According to a CIA document, if all went as planned, “Commo will exist between PBY (a flying boat), Leda, and Pawley yacht. Once pickup made Pawley yacht returns Hogsty reef for meet with PBY circa 1630 hours 9 June. PBY will then bring Sovs, Cubans, Pawley, Martino, LIFE rep, Cadick and Fortson, back to Miami. Fortson will debrief Soviets in Russian to the extent possible once they on Pawley yacht and PBY.” [13]. Irving Cadick was “William (‘Rip’) Robertson, head of paramilitary operations in Guatemala in 1954 and aide to JMWAVE ops chief David Morales.” [14] Oliver Fortson was Tony Sforza aka Henry Sloman, Frank Stevens, Alfred Sarno and cryptonym AMRYE-1 [15] “Under Morales’ supervision, Sforza took direct charge of the AMOTs,” Chad and Larry noted in this installment of their series about David Morales: https://jfkfacts.substack.com/p/david-morales-deep-dive-pt-3-links

Larry Hancock also notes in Someone Would Have Talked that Gerry Patrick Hemming in an interview with author Noel Twyman claimed “‘Pawley, put up some money… It is too bad these guys didn’t use the money for what they got the money for. They went and killed Kennedy with it.” [16] Hemming asserted that he had been skeptical about DRE member Eddie Bayo’s claim about missiles in Cuba and had cautioned Pawley. [17]

Why did Hemming believe Pawley was unwitting about the use of his money for the JFK assassination? Here’s Hemming’s response to Twyman on page 537 of Bloody Treason: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, “’This is a guy who deals with the DCI, okay? A former ambassador. And the ultimate occurred. The thing you fear the most. Your people went out and did some shit.’“ [18] Hemming’s explanation is unconvincing to me.

By September 1963, TILT was considered a failure, and Pawley intensified his criticism in the press of JFK in hopes that Barry Goldwater would become President. [19] In Chapter 23 of his autobiography, Pawley expressed his true feelings about JFK. “While continuing to speak with characteristic eloquence about the defense of freedom, Kennedy was engaged in the demolition of the Monroe Doctrine and of the intricate collective security arrangements so carefully pieced together at the Rio, Bogota and other Western Hemispheric conferences. He had transformed the Statue of Liberty from a traditional beacon of freedom, and our country from ‘the world’s best hope’, as Jefferson phrased it, into a buffer for Fidel Castro against his freedom-loving enemies.’” [20]

Pawley’s conservatism in 1960 is seen in Point 5 of the Reynolds memo which states: “We talked about Tony Varona. Pawley agrees that he should come out but has some reservations about Varona. He describes him as a ‘big government’ advocate who would not promote private enterprise and who has ‘socialist’ ideas at time.” Point 6: “Pawley hopes to have the names and backgrounds of thirty PM candidates…within a few days.” PM (paramilitary) exiles were also a focus of David S. Morales. His specific duties were “Spotting, developing, recruiting and handling PM assets in the field as well as directing PM action,” according to page 44 of his personnel file. [21]

Beyond choosing Cuban leadership and vetting recruits, Pawley was facilitating propaganda against Castro. David Atlee Phillips, the propaganda chief, along with Richard Drain, chief of operations for the invasion, signed an authorization for payment of the February and March bill of $6,120 for marina charges. “WAVE should pay marina thru QDDALE in such way assure QDDALE or marina will pay Gibraltar.” Gibraltar Steamship Company was the operating company fronting for Radio Swan, the CIA’s propaganda station during the Bay of Pigs planning.[22]

According to the Mary Ferrell Foundation, those with a QD cryptonym were part of Pawley’s anti-Castro team: [23]

· QDDALE (Miami multi-millionaire, William Douglas Pawley, organizer with General Claire Chennault of the WWII Flying Tigers, and manufacturer of the group’s war planes, who long had a variety of business interests in Cuba).

· QDELF (Probably Miami newsman Hal Hendrix who advised the CIA on which other reporters could be cultivated to provide CIA-friendly coverage of JMWAVE activities. Hendrix’s Miami News article “Red Terrorism Rules at Havana University” documented the escape from Cuba of Juan Manuel Salvat Roque).[24]

· QDBIAS (Pedro Luis Diaz Lanz, former head of the Cuban Air Force and a close friend of pilot Frank Fiorini aka Frank Sturgis). [25]

· QDCOVE (Ricardo de la Lorie, aka Ricardo Luis de la Lorie-Bals, aka Ricardo Lorie Valls, who along with Frank Fiorini and Pedro Luis Diaz had purchased a C-46 plane to support rebel Castro in November 1958. A year later these QD members began dropping anti-Castro propaganda leaflets from planes).

· QDCHAR (Jose Marcos Diaz Lanz, brother of QDBIAS. On July 17, 1959, QDCHAR sent a note to Frank Sturgis, the signature of which was verified by QDARBOR and QDALUM). [26]

· QDARBOR and QDALUM (Real names unknown. They traveled from Miami to the Havana CIA station to help QDCHAR escape to US). [27] And then Stanley R. Zamka (aka David Sanchez Morales) helped QDCHAR’s entire family escape Cuba. [28]

[1] Document Title: KUBARK Contact with Anti-CASTRO Group in Cuba as Proposed by QDDALE (Identity A).

NARA Record Number: 104-10049-10344 https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=27398#relPageId=2

[2] Document Title: Meeting with William D. Pawley

NARA Record Number: 104-10265-10080

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=46814#relPageId=2

[3] Cryptonym AMULAR

https://www.maryferrell.org/php/cryptdb.php?id=AMULAR&search=AMULAR

[4] Document Title: Unsanitized CIA File of William Pawley.

NARA Record Number: 1993.08.09.17:07:29:370007

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=56245#relPageId=1

[5] Letter from William Pawley to Thomas Mann, Assistant Secretary of State, March 3, 1961

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=56245#relPageId=99

[6] “Watergate plotter may have a last tale” By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times. March 20, 2007.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-mar-20-na-hunt20-story.html

[7] Pawley, William & Tryon, Richard, Why The Communists are Winning as of 1976…, (unpublished autobiography; GratisBooks website no longer safe to visit), Chapter 23.

[8] “A Swashbuckler in Gray Flannel Suit: Arch-Conservative Left His Mark Around the World.” By Jim Buchanan and Earl DeHart. Miami Herald, January 8, 1977. Page 12-A.

[9] Pawley, William & Tryon, Richard, Why The Communists are Winning as of 1976…, (unpublished autobiography; GratisBook website no longer safe to visit), Chapter 18.

[10] More Ruthless Than The Enemy, Chapter 30

https://williampawley.blogspot.com/search?q=Bayo

[11] Cryptonym: AMSPELL

https://maryferrell.org/php/cryptdb.php?id=AMSPELL&search=DRE

[12] Hancock, Larry, Someone Would Have Talked Documented! The Assassination of JFK and the Conspiracy to Mislead History (JFK Lancer Productions & Publications), page 12

[13] Cable: Op Involving Soviet Defectors Which Mr. William Pawley Has Discussed

NARA Record Number: 104-10312-10361 https://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=29002#relPageId=1&search=104-10312-10361

[14] Pseudonym: Cadick_Irving

https://maryferrell.org/php/pseudodb.php?id=CADICK_IRVING&search=Cadick

[15] Cryptonym: AMRYE-1

https://www.maryferrell.org/php/cryptdb.php?id=AMRYE-1&search=sforza

[16] Hancock, Larry, Someone Would Have Talked Documented! The Assassination of JFK and the Conspiracy to Mislead History (JFK Lancer Productions & Publications), page 338

[17] Hinckle, Warren & Turner, William, The Fish Is Red: The Story of the Secret War Against Castro (Harper & Row), pages 167-170.

[18] Twyman, Noel, Bloody Treason: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy (Laurel Publishing), page 537.

[19] More Ruthless Than The Enemy, Chapter 35

https://williampawley.blogspot.com/search?q=Goldwater

[20] Pawley, William & Tryon, Richard, Why The Communists are Winning as of 1976…, (unpublished autobiography; GratisBooks website no longer safe to visit), Chapter 23.