Operation 40: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 05:55, 21 February 2007

Revision as of 02:30, 23 February 2007

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As a result of this memorandum Dulles established a ZR/RIFLE unit named Operation 40, from the "Group of 40" of the National Security Council group that followed Cuba. The group was presided over by then-Vice President [[Richard M. Nixon]] and included Admiral [[Arleigh Burke]], [[Livingston T. Merchant|Livingston Merchant]] of the State Department, National Security Adviser [[Gordon Gray]], and [[Allen Dulles]] of the CIA.

[[Tracy Barnes]] functioned as operating office of the [[Cuban Task Force]]. He called a meeting on 18 January 1960, in his temporary office near the Lincoln Memorial. Those attending included [[David Atlee Phillips]], [[Jacob Esterline|Jacob 'Jack' Esterline]], [[E. Howard Hunt]], and [[Frank Bender]], all of the CIA .<ref>Fabian Escalante, ''The Secret War: CIA Covert Operations Against Cuba, 1959-62'' [1995], "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders," 11/20/75; Furiati pp.14-15; Fonzi chronology p.415</ref>. Barnes, Phillips, Esterine, Hunt, [[David Sanchez Morales]] and others had previously worked together in the 1954 overthrow of [[Jacobo Arbenz]] in Guatemala, organized by the CIA under the code-name [[Operation PBSUCCESS]].

On 17 March 1960, President Eisenhower signed a National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program authorizing the CIA to organize, train, and equip Cuban refugees as a guerilla force to overthrow Castro.

The group recruited former Batista-regime intelligence officers and mob henchmen like Eladio del Valle and Rolando Masferrer, soldiers of fortune like [[Frank Sturgis]], and CIA case officers like Col. William Bishop and David Morales, who managed teams of assassins.<ref> Mahoney p 174-175; HSCA staff reports</ref>.

[[Image:Porter Goss, Barry Seal, Felix Rodriguez, et al.jpg|thumb|Felix Rodriguez, Porter Goss, Barry Seal, and others, Mexico City [[22 January]] [[1963]]]]

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==See also==

{{portalpar|Cuba|Flag of Cuba.svg}}

*[[Bay of Pigs invasion]]

*[[E. Howard Hunt]]