He apparently also stated that he was a member of the Communist Party and displayed documents which he claimed to be evidence of his membership.[A13-1157] He said that he intended to go to Cuba on September 30 and to remain there for 2 weeks, or longer if possible, and then go on to Russia.[A13-1158] Senora Duran took down the relevant date and filled out the appropriate application. Oswald left the Embassy but was to return in the afternoon.[A13-1159]
Then, or possibly even before his initial visit to the Cuban Embassy Oswald went to the Soviet Embassy where he spoke with either Pavel Antonovich Yatskov or Valeriy Vladimirovich Kostikov.[A13-1160] They are both consular officials serving also as agents of the KGB.[A13-1161] Oswald later said that he had dealt with “Kostin,”[A13-1162] undoubtedly a reference to Kostikov. He was unable to obtain a Soviet visa then. Marina said that the officials at the Soviet Embassy “refused to have anything to do with him.”[A13-1163]
Oswald returned to the Cuban Embassy later that afternoon, this time bringing with him passport photographs which he may have obtained in the United States.[A13-1164] Senora Duran telephoned the Soviet Embassy to inquire about the status of Oswald’s Russian visa and was told that there would be a delay of about 4 months.[A13-1165] Oswald became “highly agitated and angry,” particularly when he learned that he could not obtain an intransit visa to Cuba before he acquired a Russian visa. Senora Duran called the Cuban consul, then Eusibio Azque, to speak to him. The discussion between Oswald and Azque developed into a heated argument, which ended when Azque told Oswald that in his opinion people like Oswald were harming the Cuban Revolution and that so far as Azque was concerned, he would not give Oswald a visa.[A13-1166] Senora Duran wrote her name and the phone number of the Embassy on a piece of paper which she gave to Oswald in case he wished to contact her again. He copied this information into his address book.[A13-1167] Senora Duran forwarded the Cuban visa application to Havana;[A13-1168] the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied on October 15 that the visa could be issued only after Oswald had obtained a Russian visa.[A13-1169] (See Commission Exhibit No. 2564, [p. 303].)
Oswald contacted the Russian and Cuban Embassies again during his stay in Mexico.[A13-1170] He had no greater success than he had before. Marina testified that when he returned to Texas, he was convinced that his trip had been a failure and disappointed at having been unable to go to Cuba.[A13-1171] A month later, in a painstakingly composed[A13-1172] letter to the Soviet Embassy in Washington, Oswald ascribed his failure to “a gross breach of regulations” on the part of the Cuban Embassy. “Of corse,” he wrote, “the Soviet Embassy was not at fault, they were, as I say unprepared.”[A13-1173]
The hotel maid said that Oswald generally was gone by the time she arrived at 9 a.m. The night watchman said he usually returned at about midnight,[A13-1174] which is not unusual, in view of the late hour at which Mexico City’s evening activities begin. He ate several lunches at a small restaurant immediately adjacent to the hotel, coming to the restaurant shortly after 2 p.m., and ordering food by pointing to the menu, apparently with some consideration of cost; he spent between 40 and 48 cents for each meal. He ate the soup of the day, rice, and either meat or eggs, but refused dessert and coffee; the waitress concluded that Oswald did not realize that the items which he refused were included in the price of the lunch.[A13-1175] He was seen with no other person either at his hotel or at the restaurant.[A13-1176] A hotel guest stated that on one occasion he sat down at a table with Oswald because there was no empty table in the restaurant, but that neither spoke to the other because of the language barrier.[A13-1177]
Although the Soviet and Cuban Embassies are within two blocks of each other, they are some distance from Oswald’s hotel.[A13-1178] He must, therefore, have traversed a substantial portion of the city on more than one occasion. Marina testified that he told her that he had seen a bullfight,[A13-1179] which would normally have been on Sunday afternoon, and that he had visited museums[A13-1180] and done some sightseeing.[A13-1181] He apparently also saw one or more motion pictures, either American with Spanish subtitles or Mexican with English subtitles.[A13-1182] From notations in his Spanish-English dictionary and on his guide map of Mexico City, it appears that Oswald intended to attend a jai alai game[A13-1183] but he almost certainly did not do so.[A13-1184]
He purchased several postcards depicting bullfights and tourist attractions, which he brought back to Marina.[A13-1185] She had told him before he left that she would like Mexican silver bracelets as a souvenir, and he brought her a silver bracelet inscribed with her name.[A13-1186] Marina suspected, almost certainly correctly, that the bracelet, of Japanese origin, did not come from Mexico.[A13-1187] No such jewelry is known to be sold in or around Mexico City, because of a high duty[A13-1188] but the bracelet is of a type commonly sold in 5-and-10-cent stores in Dallas.[A13-1189] Oswald did not buy the Mexican phonograph records which Marina had requested, despite the notation, “records,” which he had placed in his dictionary.[A13-1190]
On Monday, September 30, Oswald began to prepare for his return to the United States. He appeared at the Agencia de Viages, Transportes Chihuahuenses,[A13-1191] and purchased international exchange orders costing $20.30 for travel on a Transportes del Norte bus from Mexico City to Laredo and by Greyhound bus directly from Laredo to Dallas. The travel agency made a reservation for him on Transportes del Norte bus No. 332, departing Mexico City at 8:30 a.m. on October 2. The seat, No. 12, was reserved in the name of the travel agency, which recorded the reservation in the name of “H. O. Lee.”[A13-1192] The employee who made the reservation testified that he probably wrote the name that way because he was copying from Oswald’s tourist card, which read “Lee, Harvey Oswald.”[A13-1193] (The manifest for Transportes Frontera bus No. 340, leaving Mexico City for Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 2, 1963, contains the name “Oswld” [sic], which apparently was added to the manifest after the trip;[A13-1194] in any event, Oswald did not take bus 340.)[A13-1195]
On October 1, Oswald paid his hotel bill through that night.[A13-1196] The hotel night watchman remembers helping Oswald obtain a taxicab at about 6:30 or 7 on the following morning.[A13-1197] Transportes del Norte bus No. 332 left as scheduled at about 8:30 a.m.; at Monterrey the passengers were shifted to a relief bus, No. 373, scheduled to depart for Laredo at 10 p.m. that evening.[A13-1198] Fellow passengers recall that Oswald was pulled off the bus by Mexican officials at the border, because of some alleged irregularity in his Mexican tourist papers; one passenger overheard him mumbling complaints about the Mexican immigration officials when he returned to the bus.[A13-1199] They remember also that Oswald was hurriedly “gulping” down a banana after the bus reached customs, perhaps because he believed that he could not take fruit into the United States.[A13-1200] (Marina has testified that her husband liked bananas and frequently ate them.)[A13-1201] One of the passengers testified that Oswald annoyed him by keeping his overhead light on to read after 10 p.m.[A13-1202] He may have conversed with an elderly woman on the bus, but he was not traveling with her.[A13-1203]
At about 1:35 a.m. on October 3, Oswald crossed the International Bridge from Nuevo Laredo into Texas.[A13-1204] He traveled from Laredo to Dallas via San Antonio, on Greyhound bus No. 1265, substantially following Interstate Route 35 for the entire trip[A13-1205] leaving Laredo at 3 a.m. and arriving in Dallas at about 2:20 p.m. on the same day.[A13-1206]