Rolando Otero

8/13/2019 Rolando Otero

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.4-744 2-28-78)

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF J USTICE

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

W A S l l l ~ G T O N D.C . 20535

I-Mr. A. J. Weberman Request No.

UN 3 0 978

67,150

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Independent Rese.arch Associa tes

6 Bleecker St r e e tNew York, New ·York 10012

Re: La Guardia Airpor t

Bombing, December 29,1975 .

. .. - - - · ·- ---- - - - - - -

Dear Requester :

This i s to acknowledge rece ip t by FBI Headquar ters

o f your recent Freedom o f In fo rmat ion-Pr ivacy Acts FOIPA)r eques t and to advise you o f our de te rmina t ion to complywith your reques t pursuan t to Ti t l e 5 , Uni t e d Sta tes Code ,Sec t ion 552 a) 6) A) i) and o ther app l icab le Federa l

s t a t u t e s and r egu la t ions . Addi t iona l informat ion , if

needed by us in t h i s mat te r , w i l l be reques ted of youby separa te l e t t e r .

A search o f the ind ices to our records wi l l bemade in an e f f o r t to determine if we have the informat ion

you seek. I f the search f a i l s to i nd ica te the ex is tence

o f any record s ) per ta in ing to the sub jec t mat te r o f yourreques t , you w i l l be no t i f i e d . In the event the search

r evea l s the exis tence o f any record s ) which may be respons ive

to your reques t , it w i l l be re t r i eved and processed pursuant

to the provis ions o f the FOIPA a t the e a r l i e s t poss ib le

da te .

Your reques t has been ass igned the numberind ica ted above, which you are reques ted to use in anyfu r the r correspondence with t h i s Bureau in t h i s mat te r .

Ve ry t ru l y yours ,

~ H~ ~ f i ~ C h i e fFreedom o f In fo rmat ion

Pr ivacy Acts BranchRecords Management Divis ion

F D OJ



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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535

Ju ly 27, 1978

Mr. Alan Ju les Weberman

Independent Research Associa tes

6 Bleecker St ree tNew York, New York 10012

Dear Mr. Weberman:

This i s in response to your l e t t e r dated June 19, 1978,request ing documents per ta in ing to the La Guardia A irpor t

Bombing, ew York City , on December 29, 1975.

Please be advised t ha t the informat ion you a re seekingi s not a va i l a b l e to you a t t h i s t ime by the fo l lowing sub-

s e c t ion of T i t l e 5, Uni ted Sta t e s Code, Sect ion 552:

(b) (7) i nve s t i ga to ry records compiled for lawenforcement purposes , the d i sc l osu re of

which would:

(A) i n t e r f e r e with law enforcementproceedings , inc lud ing pending

inves t iga t ions .

You have t h i r t y days from r ece ip t o f t h i s l e t t e r toappea l to t he Deputy Attorney General from any denia l con ta ined

here in . Appeals should be di rec ted in wri t ing to the DeputyAttorney General Attent ion: Off ice o f Privacy and Informat ion

Appeals) Washington, D. C. 20530. The envelope and the lette rshould be c l ea r l y marked Freedom o f Informat ion Appeal o r Information Appeal.

Sincere ly yours , , . .£ ~ ~ ~Allen H. McCreight, ChiefFreedom o f Informat ion-

Privacy Acts BranchRecords Management Div i s ion



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JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION FORM

Date : OS / 06/93Page:

-- ---- --- ------------------ ------ --------- ---------- --------- -- --------- --AGENCY INFORMATION

AGENCYRECORD NUMBER

RECORDS SERIES

FILES

HSCA180-10092-10141

FILE NUMBER : 001663

--------------- -------- -- ------------- --------- ----- -- -------- --- --------- DOCUMENT INFORMATION

ORIGINATOR : HSCA

FROM : FONZI GAETON

TO : TANENBAUM ROBERT

TITLE

OTERO INTERVIEWS

DATE

PAGES

SUBJECTSJUNA

06/15/772

ROLANDO

AND INFORMATION

DOCUMENT TYPECLASSIFICATION

RESTRICTIONS

CURRENT STATUSOF LAST REVIEW

OPENING CRITERIA

COMMENTS32.

MEMORANDUM

uOPEN IN FULL0

07 / 30 / 93

----------- -------------------- -- ---- ---------------- ---- ---- -- --------(R] - ITEM IS RESTRICTED



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MEHO -

TO:

FROH:

Re :

REPRODUCED AT THE N A ~ I O N A L A R ~ H I V E ~

6/15/77

Tanenbaum

Fonzi

A d a ~ e s &Otero interviews

RECEIVED

U77 JL'N 20 U 4: 43

U.S. HOUSE Sfl CTC O ~ H ~ I T T f E ON ·ASSASSINA nons

001663

Enclosed are rough n o ~ e s of my l a tes t interviews with :u

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uan Adames and Rolando Otero. This was my second interviewsw1t ot men and the f i r s t with Adames where I identif iedmyself and my aff i l ia t ion with the Committee. The additionalinformation developed in both interviews strenghtens my op1n1on

f that ' e have a possibly Si nificant new area of investigationL w h i h should be Riven attent ion.t: ~ 1 1 D

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Here are some of the important points developed in the interviewwith Adames: .

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n0......gHis experience in the Dominican Republic revolution reveal

Mitchell WerBell to be an extremely important character in thatoperation whose connections go up the highest levels of themili tary- intel l igence community.

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==WerBell had a very close association with Paul Bethel. I havealways fe 1 t Bethel to be a key figure ·. He was press attache in

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the Havana Embassy and was probably the C.I .A. 's 1 iaison- coord ina tot*with ant i -Castro groups in Miami. He was one of the f i r s t persons& - ~ ~Veciana was to ld to see when he arrived here. Bethel is a very )close friend of David Phil l ips whom Bethel himself told me, was .· :

working covert propaganda in Havana. Bethel was also the founder w

of a Citizens Committee For a Free Cuba, which may nor may not havebeen connected with that check that Loran Hall le f t out in California.On Bethel ' s committee, however, was also Hal Hendrix (now working forITT and currently under perjury indictment for h1s testimony beforeCongressional Committee re Chile, but also probably involved inplant ing ear ly phony stor ies about Oswald's connection to Castro);and ~ a r i a d a Arensberg, mentioned in L o p e z - F r e ~ q u e t s book as al ia ison w1th intell1gence.

==WerEell's relationship with the Truji l lo assassination againreveals an indication that WerBell was the CIA's key operativein such 'executive action' operations.

=•That De Torres himself does have past experience in assassinationinvolvement.

•=That WerBell does have a special relationship with Andrew St. Georgeand tha t our assumption about that relationship (see Memo S/22/77)may be r ight



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REPRODUCED T THE N TION L ~ ~ H ~ E I

£•Although we get a par t ia l corroboration of what Otero h a ~ toldus Adames had told him about De Torres having · some connectionwith the Kennedy assassination, from Adames ·e don t get

the information that De Torres was involved or that he wason the scene on November 22nd.

That s specif ical ly why I went back to Otero. From him I againgot the very detailed contention that Adames told him, when bothwere in the Broward County j a i l , that De Torres was involved inthe Kennedy assassination and that:Personally knew Lee HarveyOswald.

'Otero said he would be will ing to tes t i fy under oath to that .

Corroborating to some extent Otero s story is what Otero s gir l f r iendKathy told Otero s la\\oyer, Bob Rosenblatt, a few weeks ago. She _--

said tha t during the brief period that Adames was out on bond, hecame to see her regarding possibly helping Otero. However, withoutbeing asked about i t , Kathy volunteered that Adames seemed in terestedin what Otero might have told her about th is fellow De Torres.

Conversely, Adames says nothing to us about meeting Otero inthe Broward j a i l (though records indicate they were there a t thesame time) or his vis i t to Kathy. I didn t want to question himabout i t specif ical ly because I did not want to reveal to himour lead to him was Otero, and i f we ever get them both underoath, that could be a significant point to put some pressure on.

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IlltilI tend to put more val idi ty to Otero s information since we have

made no deals with him and he has nothing to gain, as far as I can -see now, from feeding us misinformation. There s a poss ibi l i ty , t ~ - ~ ~as far as I can read i t now, that Adames may be weighing the value ) Q

of his information, holding back to see i f the s i tuat ion will ~develop where he can ~ t the best price or deal for i t . ~Adames is undoubtedly a con man and there is a r i sk in using him thathe will se l l oot, but, on the other hand, he could be of immensevalue in developing the detai ls of De Torres possible involvement.On that assumption, I told him I would make an effort to expeditehis si tuat ion to ei ther a work-release program or parole. Thisweek he has been transferred to the Broward County prison, whichmay be preliminary to placing him on the work-release program. I m

checking on that , but I would l ike him to think, i f i t s so, thatwe had something to do with i t . Adames, as a r i sk to society, isminimal or ni l . I feel we should make an effor t to expedite hissi tuat ion in order to use him most effect ively, or a t least dosomething to make him feel we were instrumental in what is goingto happen to him anyway.

I also feel we should perhaps consider a t some point a subpoenaducus tecum for De Torres regarding those photos he allegedly hasin his bank vault . I think we should combine t with a 24-hoursurveil lance program when he gets i t .

IiI



··oterBy JOE CRANKSHAW

Herald Staff Writer

FORT WALTON BEACH - A sl x- mem ·ber Okaloosa County Circuit Court jury willbegin bearing evidence this morning in thestate case against Rolando Otero, chargedwith nine Miami-area bombings in 1975.

But the jury will not be told that Oterohas been acquitted of federal charges arising.out of the same bombtng incidents, on anorder by Circuit Judge Clyde Wells.

Judge Wells ruled In favor of a motion byAssistant State Attorneys H J1k Adorno andGeorge Yoss Monday morning, saying thatAssistant Public Defenders Robert Rosenblatt and Bill Clay may refer to testimonyfrom that federal trial as being from a..prior court proceeding.

JUDGE WELLS also is scheduled to ruleu a number of defense motions this morn

ing, includillg:

• Productlon of any federal evidence relating to voice prints made by the FBI, but

which state attorneys say doexperts in voice printstions that the voice of amedia, to tell themques concerning theof Otero.

• Suppression of testiwitnesses who were notecution witnesses beforetrial

• Whether the trial ofcharges arising from a jointthe October and Decembertutes double jeopl' . 'has been acquitted

Otero, wearing a hcold of this north Floridaand appeared calm as theof selecting the six jurorsproceeded.

SHORTLY AFTER noon.Wells acted to speed up the

at the end of four hours,had been seated, called thechambers and told them to

.

stimo y i Set t J

Judpwften,jurors

Into hisup.

Clay and Rosenblatt objected, saying thatthey had a right to question each witness in·dividually in detail. But the judge told themto ask their general questions to the entire40-member venire and then ask pertinentquestions to the members seated in the jurybox.

Judge Wells told the lawyers that if theydid not speed up the process he would takeover the jury questioning.

The completed jury and two alternateswere selected one hour tater, at 5:20 p.m.,and told to return at 10:30 a.m. today to be ' '' '; uav• "". W;sworn as jurors. r l l l l n n hoM adPII > .,f.,f.,. r

After the jury had been excused for theday, Judge Wells and the lawyers discussedttle matter of whether the FBI had made avoice print of Otero before the federal trial,and then not apprised the federal prosecution that such a test had been made.

FBI SPECIAL agent Morris (Bud) Had·

dock said voice prints had been made of another suspect, but not of Otero.

Adorno, however, had said during the tak·

OTERO F C E S ~ state charges as a result of the Ocl 17, 1975, bombing of a

Miami International Airport locker and the

Turn to Page 2B Col. I



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tdings Duen Otero ·

Case MotionfJ ROM P GE IBDec. 3 and bombings of the FBIoffice, the post office. state employment office, Social Security of-fice and a bank, plus the old Miamipolice department building and a

washroom at the state attorney'soffice in the Metro Justice Building.

The charges include three countsof attempted first-degree murder.nine counts of attempted arson,nine counts of possession of unlaw-ful explosives, one count of tryingto discharge a destructive deviceand eight counts of unlawfully dis

'-. charging a destructive device.The trial is being conducted in a

fmodernistic circular courtroomlighted by a large circular skylightthat illuminates the room to a brillance of outdoors.

and theder.

WHEN THE lawyers speak, theyl do so from a pedestal podium in

' the center of the pit, which is inI the middle of the courtroom.

Spectators and the press sitabove and behind the jury.

Off to one side of the courtroom~ is a modernistic driftwood artpiece. and in the rear of the courtroom on a brick wall is a giant sized clock that doesn't b ep time,'-.l and is perpetually pointed at 6:30p.m.

One juror was immediately ex-cused when, during the questioning, be told Judge Wells that, be-

cause his brother was killed by aplanted bomb, he did not feel thatbe could give a fair hearing to theevidence.

Adorno told the jury that thestate would present an entirely circumstantial case.

And Rosenblatt asked them tomake the state prove Otero's guiltbeyond a shadow of a doubt.

THE JURY finally selected iscomprised of people who all haveties with Eglin Air Force Base or

are retired military persons nowengaged In civilian occupations.indbdettone ~ o m n i ~

Il1

l

s:J

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-11-a-m wo w ~ e r n e t ~ eNone of the jury bas any direct

knowledge of the bombing nor c -

quaintaoees who are Spanish.Only one black and one Latin

surnamed individual were on thejury.

Both were excused by the state

as was a woman whose husbandwas a member of the Army's sky

diving team ·'Golden Knights .The name is similar to the Cuban

Bay of Pigs skydiving team Gold·en Falcons, of which Otero is amember.

The black man, Subren E. Poiti·

er a cousin of actor Sidney Poitier,and a retired Air Force missle me-chanic, now is in the rock andstone business. He was excusedwhen be said be had relatives inMiami who had toki him about thebombing.

THE SLAYING of Juan Jose Pe-ruyero also had reverberations inthe closely guarded courtroom.

Otero and his defense counselwere visibly shaken by the killingof Peruyero, who was a closefriend of Otero and had appearedas a character witness for him inhis unsuccessful bid for release onbond after he was arrested on the

state charges in September.Tb8 .defense lawyer said eruye-fiad not beeft..smnmoned for the

trial, but had been on standby to becalled as a character witness, ifneeded.

Peruyero was shot to death byunidentified assailants outside hishome Friday morning. He wasthree times president of the Bay ofPigs Brigade Association, an oppo-nent of terrorism and bad been

scheduled to appear before a feder- l grand jury in Miami to discussterrorist activities in south Florida. d the Western e m i s ~ e r e

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. 1M u ~

Informant s ~ s ~ { ~ ~ ~ ] / a f ~ r ot bl st scene records showBy JOHN KATZENBACH

Miami News Reporter

County Jail.In August, Otero was acquitted

of setting nine bombs in the Miami·--·- . area after a long trial in federal

sus ec t Rolando Uter court. The case presented againstt n- tero was largely circumstantial,

q_ State Attorney s Office only 39 but the informant s story puts the~ m i n u t e s before a bomb exploded suspect close to a bombing scene at

.o:tbere on c . 4, 1975, a coutt depo- a critical moment, and could be

sition revJl

S. crucial at his new trial, set to beginA 150-page transcript of two Jan. 10 in Fort Walton Beach.leRgthy sesstons on Dec. 8 and 9 rnant said, he twice saw the same I / ~ not known why the infor-iiniiug @fero ; e;ense attorney m;n carrying a package on the rna t stacy did not Surface at theWilliam ay, A : 1 Cant State At- sl th floor of the Metro Jus ic -. .Hrst trial.

t o f n e y ~ ' l : l ge Y13;; = ~ ~ ~ · ~ ~ Or- Building. I t was only 30 minutes utero s court-appointed attor-fllz a ni:FF i ' e before the noon explosion. . . neys have fought u n s u ~ f u l l y tol t e ~ ~ ~ t a week Subseqllently, the detective said have the 39-count state mdictmentWth un C er S of fc . hi the deposition, the informant of their Client dismissed On the (

The informant s story, i f it holds )dentifieli QtiiFe s p h e ~ e taat gf grounds of double jeopardy. StatellP· could represent new evidence . the pockmarked mao The infor- 1 prosecutors have argued that theyagainst , the 33-year-old suspect, mant ·Jso later recognized Otero at ·· ..who faces tri2 on nine bombing a chance meeting in the Dade .Continued on 6A, Col. 1

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. H ~ - -Dztll Linkell

EfftlJtlt.( f> r

Bo tbi gsBy JOE CRANKSHAW

H ~ r a l d Slalf wrorer

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·=:1I

'FORT WALTON BEACH. Fla. - l

dl laboratorv experts Tuesday sconnected bombs thrown in late •1975 at the Miami FBI office, the

Florida State Employment Serviceoffice and thr Social Security office - allegedly by accused terror-ist bomber Rolando Otero - with

a residential bombing that wascharged to another mdividual.

The revelation came when FBI

agent Roger Amrol said that ViceGrip marks on the pipe bombs allegedly thrown by Otero were exactly the same as those found on apipe bomb which failed to explodeat the University of Mi i resi-

ce of ~ l i s e s Perez-S ble--.. ...........Yicte · de Ia Cova,already semenccd to 65 years onfederal and state bombing charges,- sed of planting that bomb.

In ano · esday. Cir-cuit Judge Clyde Wells sartli' h--...W.L..rule this morning on whether

Otero was illegally arrested in San-tiago, Chile. last May and brought ro the U.S. for trial. first bv thefederal g o n ~ r n m n t - which acquitted htm - and now by thE

state , on 39 counts relating to the1975 bombings.

JUDGE WELLS ruling could -

duce the charges which Otero f a c e ~from :39 to 10, somr of which thestale would have difficulty in providing because e\ idenct> has bPenlost.

Jury hearing Otero s casethat empty .15- and .50-caliber

shells were found in an ammuni-tion belt in Otero s bedroom.

His testimom· was the first indication or any possible source of thesmokeless powder which other experts have testified was used in theconstruction of six pipe bombs.

THE INFORMATION had notbeen presented durmg Otero s ted-

era trial last vear.Otero s roommate. Ciro Orizon

do, testified that the emprv shellsfound by Flynn were to be used for -decorati\ e purposE's. lie did notelaborate.

Orizo do also testified that three

'



ro x month>. IJetorc:: tlle 1Jecemoerh o m b i n g ~ h found eight clock

h o x e ~ 111 the kitchen garbage can.

He said the top box in the pilt' was

a Westclox box.The state contends that the pipe

hombs which exploded at variousMiami tacilities on the night ofDec. :3 were armed by Westclox

clocks.ORJZONDO ALSO testified that

he and Otero were together for aportion of the e\·ening Dec. 3. butthat Otrro was missing from theapartment. where a party "atwhich we got drunk" was under

W a \ .

But Orizondo that Oterowas in the apartment at 10 p.m.when the\ saw a trll \lsion bulletinabout t h e b o m b i n ~

Orizondo aanother Otero

roommate, showed that the threemen were engaged in the operationor a bolita ring. and that they werefriendly with llcardo Morales. anFBI informant- n e fcJT Titer CIA

gent now workmg for the Veneuelan go' ernment.

Orizondo said Morales was intero's apartment at the Fontaine -leau Apartml•nts at least threeimes beforP the Oecernber __..._ .......

· SE contends thatMorales had a bener moti\C, mor-etraining and skills. and an equal

opportunity with Otero to ha\:eearned out the bombings in Miami.

.Judge Wells' ruling on the de

fense motion to reducP the number

of charges against Otero will deter- \mine whether the defense or prose

cution successfully pro,·ed in anhour and a half debate Tuesday af-

ternoon that the federal govern-11

ment acted improperly in arresting1

Otero in Santiago e\'en though no

formal extradition charges werepending against him.

"They didn 't know how to gel:him out.'' said defense lawyer Wil-liam Clay. "and they wan ted to 'have a lot of charges placedagainst him by both the state andfederal go' ernment so that hecould be extradited. Then theycouldn't get the extradition goingso they sol\·ed the problem ad equately. they just st ole him.''

Clav said that he did not thinkthe government could go forward

.on 39 counts against his clientw hen it had "gotten those countsbv crook."

·State prosecutors ~ P r e suc.:cess·ful, however. in ensuring their I •

ability to present Mrs. RobertaSweet, a secretary in the state attorney's office. to testify that she

spoke to Otero in an elevator a few

hours before a bomb exploded inthe sixth-floor washroom of theMetro JustcP Building.

----



F THE MIAMI HERALD Wednesday, Jan. 26, 1977 ENTE F §T

OteroBy JOE CRANKSHAW

Herald Staff Wrilor

FORT WALTON BEACH, la -

Accused terrorist bomber RolandoOtero flatly denied Tuesday ever

touching· a Miami InternationalAirport locker door said by author

ities to bear his fingerprints.

Have you ever seen that door?1hundered prosecutor George Yossas he flung the four-pound door onthe witness stand. Have you ever

touched it?

Otero fixed him with a steady

gaze. No, he said.

_ THE DOOR was from airportlocker 5030, inside which a bombwas planted Oct. 17, 1975. F I fin-

eniesTouchin•erprint experts have testified that peatedly emphasized that his activ-

Otero's left thumbprint was found iti s always occurred outsidon its chrome handle but Otero's United Stalawyers, Robert Rosenblatt and prosecutors will present

William Clay, claim that it's a forg- ebuttal witnesses today. The first

ery. will be convicted Watergate con-The defense rested its case Tues- spirator E. Howard Hunt, who has

day after Otero testified for nearly been named by Otero as one of the

seven hours in his own behalf. The men responsible for Cuban ex·case is expected to go to the jury _ t r r u : . : n : . : i n : g . . . : . . : f o : r : . . . t : : h : . : e : . . : B : . a : : : y ~ o ~ -Thursday.

Otero, charged with 39 bombing-related offenses stemmingfrom nine Miami blasts in 1975,told the jury that those bombingswere of propaganda value only toFidel Castro and not to anti-Communists Hke himself. In speaking atlength of his dedication to fightingCastro and communism, Otero re-

THE STATE contends that Oterobombed Miami International Air-.port Oct. 17, 1975, and plantedeight other bombs in December because he was upset with the U.S.abandonment of Cuban exiles atthe Bay of Pigs and disturbed by ,possible resumption of trade rela-



·vr Door earing Pri.

tions between this country andCastro's Cuba.

t Otero, while conceding dis·gust at the potential thaw withCub and the failure of the Bay of

Pig invasion, insisted that he hadn bing to do with the bombings.

He refused to agree to prosecu-

tion contentions that he wanted tostrike violently at the U.S. becauseof the treatment of convicted bombbuilders Humberto Lopez and LuisCrespo.

When Yoss asked Otero why he

had lied to an FBI agent about hispart in a plot to kill Fidel Castro,Otero replied that his CIA trainingtaught him to keep such matterssecret even though he believed thatthe FBI knew about the plot.

DO YOU believe that all thecase against you has been manufac-tured? Do you believe that ail theevidence has been made up? Yossasked.

Yes, Otero said.Yoss then presented a series of

bank and mortgage loan applica-

tions, and applications to work atthe Laramie Tire Store and theMiami Police Department to showwhat he called inconsistencies orlies in the documents.

Otero denied that he had lied andexplained, over Yoss' objections,that he had answered the questionsabout references and employmentas best he could and couldn't beexact on addresses. He said he hadtold the Miami police that he had

worked for the CIA simply to ex-plain the period that he was in the

Bay of Pigs invasion and a Cubanjail.

OTERO ALSO told the prosecu-tor that he had trained in Guatema-la to be a paratrooper in the inva-sion and that his unit and severalothers had been coordinated anddirected by E. Howard Hunt.

Hunt. now serving time in a fed-eral correctional institute at nearby

Eglin Air Force Base for his role inthe Watergate burglary and await·ing parole consideration, will testi-fy that he never met Otero. his at-

torney, William Snyder o Balli·

more, said Tuesday night



: /'Vl ~ ~ t> /77e j e n ~ eBy JOE CRANKSHAW

Herald Staff Writer

Walton Beach. Fla. A n FBI in·be a key prosecution

Rolandohave committed nine 975

more easily thanattorney told a circuit

jury here Tuesday.

man, Ricardo Morales - who pro.investigators with all their initial inion about those bombings - "has arecord of working against anti-Cas

Cubans," Dade Assistant Public De·Clay told the jury in a

-

stormy opening statementstate objection:;.

Meanwhile, Dade pollee sourcesknowledged Tuesday that Morales, aezuelan secret police operative w it

scheduled to testify Thursday, baspeared.

MORALES, who had told the FBtOtero once confessed to him that hethe bomber. did not testify at Otero s.era trial last year on the same bocharges; he was in Venezuela andnot be located. Otero was acquitt

that trial. Prosecutors said at thethey felt th t Morales' n ~ n · p p e

ttacks Missinghad seriously weakened their case.. "My client," Clay said in his opening

statement, as he responded to that of stateprosecutors, "bas no reason to hate theUnited States.

"You may not agree with the cause towhich he has dedicated his life, but he isnot guilty of the crimes with which he ischarged."

Assistant State Attorneys George Vossand Hank Adorno launched a volley of objections early on when Clay began to readfrom an anti-U.S. speech made Oct. 6 by

Fidel Castro.

"'HOW CAN you get that into evt .

\

dence?'' Circuit Judge Clyde Wells de-

manded. "We aren t going to try F i d e ~Castro in this courtroom. The state c a n ~cross-examine this document. Stick to theissues."

That was the first or four judicial warnings to Clay. Ultimately - as Clay declared that Castro had "maneuvered" theU.S. government into bringing chargesagainst Otero - Wells took all attorneysinto his chambers for a closed-door con·ference. The press was told to stay out.

{)tero was trained as an infantrymanand paratrooper by the CIA, Clay ac

knowledged when he resumed his remarks, but he said that Morales had re-



•

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SECTIONB

mhc i l l i a t t ~ ~ r t i R T

Tue.sda y, Augu. il 2·1 976

conspiracy in conwith Watergate and is in

at Eglin Air Forcetrained Otero and

panions inand infantryGuatemala.

' 'Seventy- after welanded all Waf Otero told 1:hejury. La4<k. oT air support doomedthe invasi'On. he claimed.

"We did not know why the air-

planes had failed to come.'' saidOtero, who spent the next 20months with his brigade membersin Cuban prisons.

The G-2 (Castro's intelligence)t ried to brainwash us. Every daythey told us we had been betrayed .But we did not believe them,"

Otero said.Prisoners, he said. started a

counterpropaganda program. Noprisoner stayed in Cuba,'' Oterosaid, emphasizing the success ofthe prisoners' efforts. ,1

Jiv { v

(ATTORNEY Ellis Rubin, representing Hunt, disputed Otero's testimony in a telephone interviewwith The Herald.

("Hunt does not know Otero,said Rubin in a statement be saidHunt authorized him to make."Hunt never met Otero He hasll.f Ver trained anyone in the use or

explosives.( Hunt's only connection with

the Bay of Pigs operation was asthe political liaison officer betweenthe ClA and the Bay of Pigs invaders. He had nothing to do with anymilitary operations or training.

( This is another misuse ofHunt's name by those who wouldtake license because Hunt wa s involved in the Watergate situation. )

AFTER RETURNING to theUnited States, Otero engaged inseveral occupations, finally becoming a tire inspector for LaramieTire Company and an active antiCastro exile, Otero testified.

In 1975 Otero and three othermen went to Venezuela. he testified. Their aim was to assassinateCastro, who was supposed to cometo Caracas.

Otero said that he carried asmall-caliber pistol with two extraclips of ammunition in the hol-

o.r

Documents

Rolando Otero