Operation Solo (16 page)

While Ponomarev escorted Ben Bella, Jack dealt with Mostovets and his assistants, Aleksei Grechukhin and Oleg Korianov. At his request, they provided him with an American typewriter so he could write to comrades back home. In plain-language code, he wrote to “Vivian,” an FBI mail drop in New York. Decoded, the letter said: “Mostovets and Grechukhin are even more anxious that I go to Cuba than I am myself. It seems that even patrons of the arts are kept waiting at the door while Castro looks at the mirror and admires himself… Things are even worse with the Chinese than one can imagine—much worse.”

On May 4, Jack was summoned to meet “a special comrade,” the KGB officer overseeing support operations from Moscow. Partially out of his natural insolence but also for calculated operational reasons, Jack treated KGB personnel as his subordinates. Jack made it clear that he was working for Khrushchev, Suslov, Ponomarev, Mostovets, and the august general secretary of the American party, and nobody else. If something went wrong, he loudly and brazenly accused the KGB of incompetence. So the KGB, perhaps at times contrary to its best professional judgment, humored him or left him alone, which is just what he and the FBI wanted.

The support officer looked like a young Abe Lincoln. Speaking perfect English, he addressed Jack by his first name without identifying himself. He exhibited thorough knowledge of operations in New York and several times insinuated he was acting under the direct authority of the Central Committee.

“Look, Mr. X, if that's what you want to be called, I do business with the Politburo and Central Committee personally,” Jack said. “If anyone there wants to tell me something, he will do it, face to face. So let's come to the point. Why am I sitting in this hotel room?”

As if unveiling some great technological marvel, the officer produced a microfilm container that would destroy its contents if improperly opened. He began a lecture about its value and functions.

“You guys showed me this thing last year,” Jack interrupted. “I know how it works. You said you would give me some at a drop
or meet. Is this a museum piece, or do you want me to use it? If you do, get it to me.”

The Soviet told him that cryptologists had devised a new code for MORAT communications that Jack would soon be trained to use.

“That's good,” Jack said. “Thirty years ago when you were a boy and I was studying intelligence in Moscow, I learned that codes should be changed often. As for the lesson, you'll have to check with the people at ID. They control my time.”

Playing his trump card, Mr. X proudly stated that the Soviets had decided to deliver $300,000 to Jack upon his return to New York. He acted as if the money came from his own pocket and clearly expected expressions of gratitude.

“Mostovets already told me that,” Jack replied. “It's not as much as my secretary expected, but it will help. By the way, send it in $50 bills; mostly gangsters go around with $100 bills, and they attract attention.”

Meekly, the officer agreed that $50 bills would be better.

They parted affably, having agreed to meet later to discuss new cipher systems with a KGB expert.

While Jack awaited a visa to Cuba, Korianov counseled him about how to deal with Castro. “We are very familiar with Comrade Castro. We know him very well. You know that Khrushchev spoke to him twice. He talked to him very precisely, accurately but tenderly, as one to a child… Comrade Castro is a very sensitive comrade. Our experience has been to talk to him most carefully. We even have learned that there are times not to speak to him, since he is a man of many moods. If his mood is good, he will listen, he will agree with you; but should it be bad, he will shout and pout.” Korianov stressed that the Soviets did not want the Cubans to know of their interest in his trip and they could not contact Jack in Havana. All they could do was help him obtain a visa and make him comfortable on their plane.

The day Jack was scheduled to meet the KGB cipher expert, a KGB officer greeted him coldly.

“There will be no expert present today, and you will receive no instructions in codes,” he began. “I have come to tell you that a very serious situation has arisen in New York, and we are gravely
disturbed. The New York
Journal American
on May 14 published an article by columnist Victor Riesel. It said that the head of the FBI knows how the Communist Party is getting its money from Moscow and that he could name names and places and furnish proof in detail of his allegations. There will be no delivery of the money we discussed.”

For a moment, Jack could not speak. He felt nauseous with fear. The KGB obviously suspected him; both he and his wife were in mortal peril. Not knowing what else to do, Jack did what he did best. He started playing the big con, trying to bluff his way out of trouble.

“This doesn't make sense!” he shouted. “How could you people make a decision to cripple my party at a time like this? The
Worker
is depending on the National Office for money. The presidential elections are coming up, and we are preparing for a National Convention. This is a rash and hasty decision on the part of your New York comrades. I'm not going to let a faker like Riesel harm my secretary Gus Hall and my party. I'm going to appeal to the highest authority in the Central Committee against this decision.”

“I am sorry,” said the KGB officer. “There is nothing I can do. The New York comrades have the right to make decisions where security is concerned and such decisions are always final.”

“It's not that simple,” declared Jack. “I will not go home until this decision is changed. That is what my secretary would expect.”

The telephone rang, interrupting the conversation. The Cubans had granted a visa, and Jack needed to be at the airport in two hours.

He now dreaded the trip to Cuba, and he dreaded having to return to Moscow after he was done there. He could not back out without making himself more suspect. But he could try to spare his wife. As he packed for Cuba, he told Roz what had happened and ordered her to take the next available flight out of the Soviet Union. When they parted, Jack wondered if he would ever see her again.

Back in the States, the FBI traced the leak to a senior assistant to J. Edgar Hoover, who was trying to curry favor with the press and Congress. The assistant knew almost nothing about SOLO but had seen reports to Hoover about the cash smuggled into New
York. Since he could not be prosecuted or fired without compromising the operation, the aide was warned to keep quiet and get lost for a while. The FBI made sure that those who fielded any queries from the press, Congress, or other government agencies were totally ignorant of SOLO. To anticommunists in Congress, the FBI said: “It would be wonderful if this were true. But we can't produce a single source who can verify any of that.” The Bureau did not say there were no such sources; it said they could not
produce
any. Finally, the FBI managed to convey this message indirectly to a few members of Congress and aides who had contacts with the Soviets in Washington.

After the initial story, no other newspaper paid attention. The storm had passed, though Jack, stuck in Havana, had no idea that he and his wife were safe.

The Cubans placed him in a comfortable little villa. On the second day of his stay, Ramon Calcines, a young member of the Presidium responsible for relations with foreign communist parties, paid a courtesy visit. He said Castro knew Jack had arrived and looked forward to seeing him as soon as his demanding schedule permitted. Calcines added that as Castro kept very irregular hours, he might call at any time, day or night, so Jack should stay in the villa until he heard from him.

Some eight months earlier Hall had stationed Beatrice Johnson, a veteran communist, in Havana to provide liaison between the American and Cuban parties. She came to Jack's villa the third day, looking worn and disheveled, and recounted a tale of endless adversity. The Cubans had consigned her and her small daughter to a slum unequipped with either a refrigerator or fan, and she was forced to keep perishable food in the icebox of a comrade six blocks away. Her savings and the money the party gave her before she left were exhausted; she subsisted on a pittance earned from a menial job with the Cuban party. Ultra-leftist Americans sympathetic to the Chinese continuously deceived the Cubans with malicious lies about the American party, and she had been unable to see Castro or anyone else of importance. She had been “pushed around, beaten up, and isolated.”

Just confiding her travails to Jack, whom she had known in
New York, seemed to raise her spirits and energize her. After recounting her woes she gave him a comprehensive briefing about Cuba. They dined together at the villa every evening, and he came to rely on her advice. After a week without any word from Castro, Johnson told him that some people waited for months. She recommended that Jack compose a melodramatic letter to Castro announcing an urgent need to confer. He did so and sent it to Dr. Rene Vallejo, a close friend and confidant of Castro.

A few nights later, both Castro and Vallejo came to the villa. As in Moscow, Castro was quite cordial, and the flattering personal greetings Jack relayed from Hall made him more so. After Jack handed him a letter from Hall, Castro asked, “Should I read it now or take it with me?”

“It might raise some questions, so perhaps it would be better to read it now,” Jack answered.

Castro read and studied the letter, then said emotionally, “This is one of the most beautiful documents I have ever read, and I speak from the heart. I will always remember and keep it.”

Jack began his presentation by asking, on behalf of Hall, what the American Party could do to help Cuba. “What can we do as a party to build a closer relationship? I also wonder if you would mind meeting our representative. She has been in Havana eight months and still has not been able to meet you.”

Castro jumped from his chair and exclaimed, “You mean she has been here eight months! Why? How is this possible?”

“Well, it's possible because many people keep people from seeing you. She has tried and tried hard.”

Within fifteen minutes, men marched Beatrice, half-dressed and holding her child in her arms, into the room. Castro courteously introduced himself and invited her to sit and join the discussion.

Jack reviewed efforts of pro-Chinese radicals in both Cuba and the United States to keep the American and Cuban parties apart and lamented that to some extent they had succeeded. He noted that his party could not send literature into Cuba whereas large volumes of Trotskyite, ultra-leftist literature circulated in Havana.

Castro again jumped up, startling everybody. “I never heard of such a situation!” he yelled, with real anger. “I never heard of
people who are spreading rumors against us and you. Where are they? Let me know.”

Jack replied, “Comrade Castro, I have had a long and hard path to reach you. Our party is very much concerned that this be a successful mission. I feel wonderful to be here in your presence. Everyone in our party has great respect and esteem for you. Let's not spoil this meeting. Let this be a meeting of love.

“Yes, I will tell you who these people are, exactly who they are. They will be listed in a letter formally signed by General Secretary Hall. It will be handed to you in a few days by our comrade here, Beatrice Johnson. The important question is how best to make contact.”

“I will give you the best contact I can,” Castro said. “That contact will be myself together with your Beatrice Johnson. My companion here, Rene Vallejo, will act as go-between. They should never hesitate to get in touch with each other immediately. This is how we're going to do it.” He then directed Vallejo to give Beatrice his address and telephone number and to take down hers. As for literature, he said that the American party could send whatever it wanted through the Cuban Mission at the United Nations.

Having calmed down, Castro asked Jack, “Do you think Oswald killed President Kennedy?” Before Jack could answer, Castro continued speaking. “He could not have been in it alone. I'm sure of that. It was at least two or three men who did it; most likely three.”

Castro explained that he and a sharpshooter, using rifles with telescopic sights similar to that found in Dallas, tried to replicate the assassination, firing under the same conditions and from the same height and distance as Oswald had. They concluded that one man could not have fired three shots from the same rifle within the time available.

“Oswald was involved,” Castro insisted. “Our people in Mexico gave us the details in a full report of how he acted when he came to our embassy. He stormed into the embassy, demanded a visa, and when it was refused him, he headed out saying ‘I'm going to kill Kennedy for this.' What is your government doing to catch the other assassins? Yes, it took about three people.”

Beatrice made a suggestion that pleased Castro. She recalled that,
during the Russian Revolution when Bolsheviks were under siege from all sides, Lenin wrote his famous letter to the American people. As Cuba was besieged by American imperialism, was this not an appropriate time for Castro to write a letter to the American people?

“Brilliant! Fantastic!” Castro shouted. He proposed to compare in the letter what the Cuban government was doing for students, workers, and farmers with what the U.S. government was not doing. “This is an example of how one party helps another party. This is what is called a closer relationship.”

Jack had accomplished every one of his objectives. The party now had a direct link and easy access to Castro personally, which would give the Soviets the hidden link they wanted. Castro had opened Cuba to American party propaganda, which would say whatever the Soviets dictated. He had implicitly promised to confront pro-Chinese radicals and the ultra-left. And he appeared utterly sincere in desiring to keep close ties.