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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. VIII - Page 241« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Nelson Delgado)

Mr. Delgado.
supported government, you know. And one of his main, pet peeves was that he thought that Batista was being supported by the United States, and that is why we were so against him in the beginning of Castro.
Mr. Liebeler.
So against Castro?
Mr. Delgado.
Right, because of the fact that we had lost so much and were about to lose so much money in Cuba, because now that our man was out. And we would talk about how we would do away with Trujillo, and things like that, but never got no farther than the speaking stage. But then when he started, you know, going along with this, he started actually making plans, he wanted to know, you know, how to get to Cuba and things like that. I was shying away from him. He kept on asking me questions like "how can a person in his category, an English person, get with a Cuban, you know, people, be part of that revolution movement?"
I told him, to begin with, you have got to be trusted--right--in any country you go to you have got to be trusted, so the best way to be trusted is to know their language, know their customs, you know; so he started applying himself to Spanish, he started studying. He bought himself a dictionary, a Spanish-American dictionary. He would come to me and we would speak in Spanish. You know, not great sentences but enough. After a while he got to talk to me, you know, in Spanish.
Mr. Liebeler.
How much of a fluency did Oswald develop in Spanish?
Mr. Delgado.
He didn't acquire too much. He could, speak a common Spanish, like "How are you? I am doing fine. Where are you going? Which way is this? Common stuff, you know, everyday stuff.
As far as getting in involved political argument, say, or like debate of some sort, he couldn't hold his own.
Mr. Liebeler.
He couldn't speak Spanish well enough to do something like that?
Mr. Delgado.
No. But as far as meeting the people out in public and asking for things and telling them something.
And, let's see, what else? Oh, yes, then he kept on asking me about how about--how he could go about helping the Castro government. I didn't know what to tell him, so I told him the best thing that I know was to get in touch with a Cuban Embassy, you know. But at that time that I told him this we were on friendly terms with Cuba, you know, so this wasn't no subversive or malintent, you know. I didn't know what to answer him. I told him go see them.
After a while he told me he was in contact with them.
Mr. Liebeler.
With the Cuban Embassy?
Mr. Delgado.
Right. And I took it to be just a---one of his, you know, lies, you know, saying he was in contact with them, until one time I had the opportunity to go into his room, I was looking for--I was going out for the weekend, I needed a tie, he lent me the tie, and I seen this envelope in his footlocker, wall-locker, and it was addressed to him, and they had an official seal on it, and as far as I could recollect that was mail from Los Angeles, and he was telling me there was a Cuban Consul. And just after he started receiving these letters--you see, he would never go out, he'd stay near the post all the time. He always had money. That's why.
Mr. Liebeler.
What did you just say?
Mr. Delgado.
He always had money, you know, he never spent it. He was pretty tight.
So then one particular instance, I was in the train station in Santa Aria, Calif., and Oswald comes in, on a Friday night. I usually make it every Friday night to Los Angeles and spend the weekend. And he is on the same platform, so we talked, and he told me he had to see some people in Los Angeles. didn't bother questioning him.
We rode into Los Angeles, nothing eventful happened, just small chatter, and once we got to Los Angeles I went my way and he went his.
I came to find out later on he had come back Saturday. He didn't stay like we did, you know, come back Sunday night, the last train.
Very seldom did he go out. At one time he went with us down to Tijuana, Mexico.
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