TESTIMONY OF OREST PENA
The testimony of Orest Pena was taken on July 21, 1964, at the Old Civil Courts Building, Royal and Conti Streets, New Orleans, La., by Mr. Wesley J. Liebeler, assistant counsel of the President's Commission.
Orest Pena, having first been duly sworn, was examined and testified as follows:
Mr. Liebeler. Would you state your full name for the record.
Mr. Pena. Orest Pena.
Mr. Liebeler. That's O-r-e-s-t P-e-n-a; is that correct?
Mr. Pena. Yes.
Mr. Liebeler. What is your address?
Mr. Pena. 117 Decatur.
Mr. Liebeler. Is that your place of business or is that your residence?
Mr. Pena. No; that's my place of business. On the ground floor is my place of business. On the second floor, in the rear of the second floor I live.
Mr. Liebeler. I am an attorney for the President's Commission. I understand that the Secret Service served a subpena on you last week and you are here under that subpena at this time. The rules of the Commission entitle you to have your lawyer present if you wish.
Mr. Pena. I don't think I need him.
Mr. Liebeler. You have the right under our rules not to answer any question that you don't want to answer in the first instance, specifying the reasons if you do refuse to answer any questions.
I am here under the authority granted to the Commission by Executive Order No. 11130, dated November 29, 1963, and joint resolution of Congress No. 137. I understand that attached to the subpena are copies of the Executive order that I have referred to and rules of the Commission; is that correct?
(The witness handed document to counsel.)
Mr. Liebeler. Yes; they are attached.
Where were you born, Mr. Pena?
Mr. Pena. In Colon, Cuba.
Mr. Liebeler. When?
Mr. Pena. August 15, 1923.
Mr. Liebeler. Are you a citizen of the United States?
Mr. Pena. Yes, sir.
Mr. Liebeler. When did you become a citizen?
Mr. Pena. I became a citizen May 5, 1956.
Mr. Liebeler. And you became a citizen through naturalization; is that correct?
Mr. Pena. Yes.
Mr. Liebeler. The place of business that you have at 117 Decatur Street is a bar and lounge?
Mr. Pena. Yes, sir.
Mr. Liebeler. What is the name of it?
Mr. Pena. Habana Bar and Lounge.
Mr. Liebeler. Am I correct in understanding that you have a brother by the name of Ruperto Pena?
Mr. Pena. Yes.
Mr. Liebeler. Does he work with you in the bar and lounge?
Mr. Pena. Yes, sir.
Mr. Liebeler. Am I also correct in understanding that one of the bartenders is named Evaristo Rodriguez?
Mr. Pena. Yes.
Mr. Liebeler. Do you know Carlos Bringuier?
Mr. Pena. Yes, sir.
Mr. Liebeler. Is Mr. Bringuier connected with a clothing store located close to your bar and lounge?
Mr. Pena. Yes, sir.
Mr. Liebeler. When did you first meet Mr. Bringuier?
Mr. Pena. When he came to the—if I am not wrong, I believe I met him when he started the store.
Mr. Liebeler. Approximately how long ago was it that you met Mr. Bringuier?
Mr. Pena. I don't know exactly. Might be a year and a half or 2 years.
Mr. Liebeler. Mr. Bringuier is active in anti-Castro Cuban affairs; is that correct?
Mr. Pena. Yes.
Mr. Liebeler. Have you ever had any connection with Cuban politics?
Mr. Pena. Not with him, but with something else here in New Orleans, an organization, about 4 years ago, more or less.
Mr. Liebeler. What organization was that?
Mr. Pena. I don't know. The FBI know very well because a person from the FBI was there all the time. I don't remember exactly the name of the organization right now, but the organization was in the Balter Building, I think, in the second floor.
Mr. Liebeler. Whatever the organization's name was, was it an anti-Castro Cuban organization?
Mr. Pena. It was in the Balter Building, the only one there.
Mr. Liebeler. Is that the organization sometimes known as Jure, J-u-r-e?
Mr. Pena. I don't know.
Mr. Liebeler. Junta Revolucionaria Cubana?
Mr. Pena. The chief or the boss of that organization, who was in Miami, Barrona. He was the boss of that organization.
Mr. Liebeler. Barrona?
Mr. Pena. Yes. He was the boss of that organization.
Mr. Liebeler. When did you leave Cuba?
Mr. Pena. I left Cuba in September 1946.
Mr. Liebeler. Have you been back to Cuba since that time?
Mr. Pena. Yes.
Mr. Liebeler. Would you tell us when?
Mr. Pena. Oh, many times I went to Cuba. My last time I went to Cuba was about 8 months, I believe, after Castro took over, but before, I used to go very often because all my family is in Cuba, my mother, my father—before my father died, I used to go to Cuba many times. I was a seaman, too. I used to ship out with the United Fruit Co. and the Lykes Brothers Co. That's before Castro took over.
Mr. Liebeler. When did you stop working as a seaman?
Mr. Pena. Just before I went in business, in—I went in business 1958. I stop in 1957.
Mr. Liebeler. You stopped working as a seaman in 1957?
Mr. Pena. Yes.
Mr. Liebeler. Were you in Cuba in April or May of 1959?
Mr. Pena. I think that's the last time I was in Cuba.
Mr. Liebeler. What was the purpose of your trip to Cuba at that time?
Mr. Pena. I went to Cuba—I don't know. I went to have an operation. Yes.
Mr. Liebeler. While you were in Cuba, did you have any contact with any officials in the Castro government?
Mr. Pena. No; not any.
Mr. Liebeler. Have you ever expressed a favorable attitude toward the Castro regime?
Mr. Pena. No; I never was for—I was against Batista, but I never was even—I didn't even know Castro.
Mr. Liebeler. You had nothing to do with Castro?
Mr. Pena. No.
Mr. Liebeler. Now after you came back to the United States from Cuba in 1959——
Mr. Pena. Yes.
Mr. Liebeler. Did you go directly back to the United States?
Mr. Pena. Yes, sir.
Mr. Liebeler. Did you go anywhere else——
Mr. Pena. No.
Mr. Liebeler. Except to Cuba on that trip?
Mr. Pena. No; I came back to—I went from here to—directly from here to Havana and from Havana to New Orleans.
Mr. Liebeler. After your trip to Cuba in 1959, when was the next time that you were out of the United States?
Mr. Pena. It was last summer. I went on vacation to Mexico.
Mr. Liebeler. How long were you there?
Mr. Pena. Nine days. I plan 2 weeks, but I got sick to my stomach, so I came back.
Mr. Liebeler. Was that strictly a vacation trip?
Mr. Pena. Yes.
Mr. Liebeler. It had nothing to do with politics or anything like that?
Mr. Pena. No.
Mr. Liebeler. Do you have your passport here, Mr. Pena?
Mr. Pena. Yes [handing document to counsel].
Mr. Liebeler. The witness has handed me his passport, which is numbered D-0092577, and issued on June 25, 1963. It carries the name of Orest Pena and indicates a birth date of August 15, 1923, that the birthplace is Cuba, that he is 5 feet 8 inches tall, has black hair and brown eyes.
After you went to Mexico in May of 1963, when did you next leave the United States?
Mr. Pena. About 1 or 2 months after that vacation I went to Puerto Rico for 1 week and to the Dominican Republic for 1 week.
Mr. Liebeler. Can you tell us exactly when it was that you left New Orleans at that time to go to Puerto Rico?
Mr. Pena. I don't remember, but you have it there, the date I entered the Dominican Republic. I went 1 week before that by Delta Co., directly from New Orleans to San Juan, P.R., by Delta Airlines.
Mr. Liebeler. Are you indicating a visa stamp on page 6 of the passport, which is difficult to read?
Mr. Pena. The 22d of August; yes.
Mr. Liebeler. August 22?
Mr. Pena. But then I got to Puerto Rico about the 14th.
Mr. Liebeler. Fourteenth or fifteenth of August?
Mr. Pena. Fourteenth or fifteenth, something like that, of August.
Mr. Liebeler. When did you leave New Orleans?
Mr. Pena. You leave New Orleans around 12 o'clock. About 3 hours later you are in San Juan, P.R.
Mr. Liebeler. That would have been August 13 or 14?
Mr. Pena. The 13th or 14th of August I left New Orleans. Then, after I got to Puerto Rico, 1 week after that I went to the Dominican Republic.
Mr. Liebeler. Now, Mr. Pena, I would like to make arrangements with the Secret Service agent who is here to make photographic copies of this passport and to mark it in connection with our deposition. Would it be agreeable with you to deliver it to him now?
Mr. Pena. Yes. You can get the exact date by Delta Airlines I went to Puerto Rico.
Mr. Liebeler. It seems from the visa that if you went to Puerto Rico a week before you went to the Dominican Republic, the stamp here shows it would have been around the 13th or 14th of August 1963, and that's close enough.
(Whereupon, a brief recess was taken.)