Newman's Into the Storm

[W. Tracy Parnell]

Part 1 of my review of Newman's Into the Storm as it relates to Antonio Veciana is online. There will be at least 2 parts and possibly 3.

http://wtracyparnell.blogspot.com/2019/03/into-storm-part-1.html

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Part 1 of my review of Newman's Into the Storm as it relates to Antonio Veciana is online. There will be at least 2 parts and possibly 3.

http://wtracyparnell.blogspot.com/2019/03/into-storm-part-1.html

Nice summary, Tracy. It's a good read and well put together. As you know, Newman is throwing a lot of information out in these three volumes. It's a bit dizzying trying to follow things.

As a side comment: It does seem to me that the CIA would be very interested in Alpha 66's activities especially during the missile crisis and afterwards when the Kennedy Administration cracked down on exile activity. Newman quotes from several memos where JFK specifically expressed concerns (in his hand writing) about Alpha 66's attacks on Soviet and other foreign nationalities ships in Havana harbor.

So, the lack of documentation/evidence of this is a bit surprising to me. As you know, the US Army was interested in Alpha 66 especially for any intelligence they had on Soviet weapons/resources in Cuba.

Fonzi was, I think, a bit misleading in his Washingtonian magazine piece where he described Alpha 66 as one of the largest and best organized anti-Castro groups. That may or may not have been true later on but I'm pretty certain that in the 1960-63 period it was a small group known for its daring attacks. But it wasn't well funded - Veciana had enormous trouble getting funding from the exiles because of their mistrust of Menoyo - and splintered at least once over internal disputes.

In any case, as you suggest this is all a prelude to the big question of Veciana allegedly seeing Phillips with Oswald in Dallas. Otherwise, it's interesting history about Cold War intrigue between the US and Cuba and the Soviets. But that's about it.

[W. Tracy Parnell]

Nice summary, Tracy. It's a good read and well put together. As you know, Newman is throwing a lot of information out in these three volumes. It's a bit dizzying trying to follow things.

As a side comment: It does seem to me that the CIA would be very interested in Alpha 66's activities especially during the missile crisis and afterwards when the Kennedy Administration cracked down on exile activity. Newman quotes from several memos where JFK specifically expressed concerns (in his hand writing) about Alpha 66's attacks on Soviet and other foreign nationalities ships in Havana harbor.

So, the lack of documentation/evidence of this is a bit surprising to me. As you know, the US Army was interested in Alpha 66 especially for any intelligence they had on Soviet weapons/resources in Cuba.

Fonzi was, I think, a bit misleading in his Washingtonian magazine piece where he described Alpha 66 as one of the largest and best organized anti-Castro groups. That may or may not have been true later on but I'm pretty certain that in the 1960-63 period it was a small group known for its daring attacks. But it wasn't well funded - Veciana had enormous trouble getting funding from the exiles because of their mistrust of Menoyo - and splintered at least once over internal disputes.

In any case, as you suggest this is all a prelude to the big question of Veciana allegedly seeing Phillips with Oswald in Dallas. Otherwise, it's interesting history about Cold War intrigue between the US and Cuba and the Soviets. But that's about it.

Thanks very much for your comments Steve. It is indeed not an easy story to follow. In part 2 I'll look at some areas where I think Newman went a little too far trying to makes certain "facts" fit his theories. But he has done a good job of filling in some of the blanks in general. It looks to me like he will eventually say Veciana did not see LHO with "Bishop" but I may be wrong.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Thanks very much for your comments Steve. It is indeed not an easy story to follow. In part 2 I'll look at some areas where I think Newman went a little too far trying to makes certain "facts" fit his theories. But he has done a good job of filling in some of the blanks in general. It looks to me like he will eventually say Veciana did not see LHO with "Bishop" but I may be wrong.

Do you know offhand whether Phillips mentioned any of this, e.g., he wasn't in Cuba at the time alleged, in his questioning by, I believe, either Fonzi or Robert Tanenbaum? Or if he was asked?

It always struck me as absurd that Phillips would be openly trying to recruit agents in Cuba at a time when Castro and his agents were aggressively shutting things down. And at Lobo's bank? C'mon.

[W. Tracy Parnell]

Do you know offhand whether Phillips mentioned any of this, e.g., he wasn't in Cuba at the time alleged, in his questioning by, I believe, either Fonzi or Robert Tanenbaum? Or if he was asked?

It always struck me as absurd that Phillips would be openly trying to recruit agents in Cuba at a time when Castro and his agents were aggressively shutting things down. And at Lobo's bank? C'mon.

I went back and looked at his HSCA testimony and an HSCA interview and they never asked him about specific dates per Veciana. He did state that he was in Cuba in 1959-60 but nothing more specific. You are right of course that it is implausible in the extreme to think Phillips was recruiting agents at that time considering his security problems. In addition to all of the other evidence he provides, Newman says this:

"Phillips was a contract ?NOC??a non-official-cover CIA asset in Havana without diplomatic protection. His duties concerned Agency propaganda activities and, if he observed anything significant in the course of that work, to report it to the Havana station. Nothing more. His work precluded recruiting anti-Castro Cubans."

[Steve M. Galbraith]

I went back and looked at his HSCA testimony and an HSCA interview and they never asked him about specific dates per Veciana. He did state that he was in Cuba in 1959-60 but nothing more specific. You are right of course that it is implausible in the extreme to think Phillips was recruiting agents at that time considering his security problems. In addition to all of the other evidence he provides, Newman says this:

"Phillips was a contract ?NOC??a non-official-cover CIA asset in Havana without diplomatic protection. His duties concerned Agency propaganda activities and, if he observed anything significant in the course of that work, to report it to the Havana station. Nothing more. His work precluded recruiting anti-Castro Cubans."

Thanks for all of this, Tracy.

That account of him meeting with the Cuban cattlemen appears to support this, i.e., he was a propaganda agent. From his and Newman's characterization it seemed he realized he was in over his head when they started talking about a guerilla war and shooting Castro and Guevara. He suggested maybe starting a opposition newspaper and they start talking about shooting people <g>.

[W. Tracy Parnell]

Part two of my series takes a look at Newman's treatment of "Joe Melton" and "Fabiola."

http://wtracyparnell.blogspot.com/2019/04/into-storm-part-2.html

[Rob Caprio]

Part 1 of my review of Newman's Into the Storm as it relates to Antonio Veciana is online. There will be at least 2 parts and possibly 3.

http://wtracyparnell.blogspot.com/2019/03/into-storm-part-1.html

What "conspiracy theories" have you debunked?