14-00000 ' 1 r J ·· ' l I' i• ·t I' · _ l § l _ i _---- ---- _ --- -····- ' I TO I 1· -···· o -- -···· - _ 1 I _r t I l FROM Deputy Chief of Mission ij t j i i- ii ' ' I • • _J f ' t · 14-00000 'J' ·· I r · f I SECR T' J J i 17 June 1968 ft j _ _ MEMORANDUM TO THE AMBASSADOR FROM Winston M Scott SUBJECT Soviet Participation in Colombian Subversive Activities A _ f · - rj ' V c_ _ -x_ _ µ 'I- - ·j U t i 'I t 1 ft - e f I ' I I f I r On the morning of 16 April 1968 our surveillance of Nikolay Sergeyevich LEONOV Soviet Press Attache and Second Secretary of the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City who is a known KGB officer determined that he had a clandestine meeting with a Latin American male LEONOV passed a small bundle to this individual We followed the Latin AMerican to the Hotel Principal Bolivar 29 Checks at the· hotel revealed that he was registered at tl u hotel as Feliciano PACHON Chacon ta a Colombian citizen and hat a woman Librada MORENO Leal also a Colombian citizen was registered in the same room witb him Airline checks revealed that PACHON arrived in Mexico City on 6 April 19G8 and that MORENO arrived on 12 April 1968 Both came from Bogota Checks with our representatives in Bogota showed that they were both important members of the PCC Communist Party of Colombia Further checks revealed that PACHON and MORENO had air reservations for 20 April 1958 to return to Bogota on separate airlines Our surveillance confirmed their departure from Mexico City on 20 April 1968 on separate flights 1 I II I I 'i 2 ·We informed our representatives in Bogota who informed the Colombian Security Service Both were picked up upon arrival in Bogota PACHON was carrying $70 000 U S and MORENO was carrying $30 000 U S 3 Both couriers broke and provided considerable infor- ation the most important of which is a Identification of the entire clandestine leader- ship of the PCC and FARC b FARC f personnel and plans ' ' - I -· •' ER P 1 h t ' ll tr J •1 jl Ja i I ·i f 'l • t 1 SECRET lL_ • ' l - I · f ' 'l 14-00000 I i t '·' · _ _ c i -cR r - - - ·' ' 1 - 2 - I c One courie has made several trips to Mexico to receive money from the Soviets The largest a ount was $200 000 _ u s which he got from LEONOV in June 1967 The smallest mount received was $75 000 U S d The address and identification of the PCC clandestine printing press The Colombians raided this installation and captured the operator plus false documents and passports forging material presses etc I talked and said that he had received 1 1 2 years of training in the tTSSR in forgery All equipment and false passport blanks were supplied by the Soviets e All clandestine support and direction to the PCC and FARC comes from the Soviet Embnssy jn Mexico The regular contact is Nikolay s LEONOV The chief referent for Communist Party matters in Latin America is Boris Aleksandrovich KAZANTSEV Counselor of the Soviet Embassy in exico City 4 This whole affair has been personally very embarrasing to Colombian President LLERAS because he had just agreed· to diplomatic relations with the USSR The new Soviet Ambassador to Colombia Nikolay A BELOUS presented his credentials on 27 May 1968 LLERAS had already beP n criticized in the press when it was learned after DELOUS had been accepted that BELOUS had been declared Persona Non Grata in Argentina in 1953 for direct involvement in fomenting Co munist inspired strikes COMJ IBNT In the official curriculum vitae which the Soviet Foreign Office sent to Colombia on BELOUS his assigrunent in Argentina was omitted Altbough LLERAS ordered a forceful prosecution or this matter he insisted that the blame be put on the Cubans rather than the Soviets in order to avoid personal embarrassment s We have been covering LEONOV thoroughly because he is principal KGB contact in Mexico for Communist Parties in ''' the other Latin American countries He has been in Mexico for ten 10 years doing very little other than handling Communist Party matters 6 One of the principal clandestine activities of the Soviet Embassy in Mexico is the support direction and financing of Latin American Cn'Jl ist parties in those Latin American countries where th Soviets do not have diplomatic representation The Soviet have diplomatic relations with only six 6 Latin American countries _ namely Brazil Chile Colombia Uruguay Argentina and Mexico Thus tbe importance of Mexico in this matter I ' i I I' SECRET _ I ' · - · ' I• •-- ' ' ' t '' '• I _ • ·· _J ' J 'J I I ' - ' J 14-00000 ' I· i '1' tf fi - k SECRET - 3 - · t f· · 7 I Please return this material to Room 521 for filing l #12 979 ·i ·' Distribution Orig - THE AMBASSADOR Mr Scott • '·· 'i ·i -· - l 'j'- SECRET · · - - • · • • - - - - - • - - ' - - - · - - - - • - M •••• ' - •• ' H ' i • i ' • ' ' -· • '' · • i - · · ' l - •_ - ' • •' - 1 fi ' _ J •••