Border Crossing - Was it Oswald?

The Border Coverage Program
This FBI program, also known as BOCOV, began in early 1961 under the existing COINTELPRO banner and had its HQ in San Diego.(1)

The program was used to infiltrate, harass and disrupt Latino student, political and social groups deemed subversive (2) and was operated on both sides of the border.(3)

A program conference was held in Albuquerque, NM on Nov 13, 1962.(4) This, as we'll see, was the location of a 1970s BOCOV drama involving a provocateur named Tim Chapa.

Tim Prado Chapa
Chapa entered Mexico on Sept 26, 1963. Entry was by autobus with final destination of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. Described as male American citizen, 24 years of age, married, butcher, proceeding from Taylor, Texas. Presented "military identification" as proof of citizenship.(5)

As pointed out by Jim Olmstead,(6) Chapa's given age was about the same as Lee Harvey Oswald, he crossed the border on the same date and place as Oswald is alleged to have done, and travelled by bus. The military ID he used for the trip would had to have been current. If this ID was real, he had to be in the reserves as his occupation was listed as "butcher". The armed forces did not have butchers. His order of entry was listed within 28 spaces of Oswald's, indicating he may have been on the same bus Oswald allegedly travelled on. Given all of this, was he in fact the person who purchased a ticket at Houston for Laredo, later deemed on the very flimsiest of evidence to be Lee Harvey Oswald?

The ticket seller did not think it was Oswald, and Marina stated Oswald did not own the type of clothing worn by the traveller. Given Marina's denial on the clothing, it may have been no coincidence that a man claiming to be a "military investigator" lied about having found evidence Oswald purchased a bit over $39.00 worth of clothing in a Joe Brand store in Laredo.(7)

Oswald was placed on the bus by a couple from England - the McFarlane's, and two young ladies of British parentage who were born in Fiji, but lived in Australia. The young ladies identified Oswald as sitting next to the much maligned ( 8 ) Albert Osborne. Osborne, for his part, denied Oswald had sat next to him, claiming the person had been a Mexican or Puerto Rican. However, since testimony was received to the effect that Mexicans sat at the back of the bus, and Osborne was near the front, the person was probably of Mexican heritage, but born in the US. Since the two did not speak, Osborne would have assumed he was Mexican solely based on physical features.(9) These memories are in accord with those of the other witnesses - though while Osborne has his fellow passenger moving to the back of the bus for a sleep, the girls, who had also found themselves at the back, claimed he chatted to them about himself - even to the point of flashing his passport to show he had lived in the Soviet Union. In fact, they have Oswald, quite out of character, chatting amicably with the McFarlane's and Osborne throughout the trip.

Esther Chapa Tijerina
Esther was a prominent Mexican Communist whose telephone was tapped by the CIA between Oct 18 and Nov 15, 1963. At the time, she was President of the Mexican Society of Friendship with People's China.(10)

According to CIA cable traffic during 1963, her work with the Mexican Society of Friendship with People's China included helping to organise a Chinese trade delegation, and importing and distributing Maoist propaganda.

By 1964, she had apparently been identified as a former KGB agent.(11)

Alberto Arzamendi Chapa
Mexican Immigration Inspector who handled the paperwork regarding Oswald's exit from the country.

The FBI was unable to interview him until Feb 22, 1964 due to his absence on holidays after the assassination.

Whilst admitting he had handled the exit, he also stated he could not recall doing so, and that he himself had not recorded Oswald's mode of exit as auto[mobile] due to it not being his duty to do so. Instead, he stated this was the responsibility of the clerks at Immigration HQ who ultimately collated the statistics from the form. All he could add was that, had he written auto, his meaning would be "automobile". For Bus, he would have noted "autobus".(12)

Arnoldo Tijerina
Arnoldo Tijerina was Assistant Chief Inspector and was present when the FBI interviewed the elderly Alberto Chapa. He advised the FBI that Chapa "did not understand his duties" in relation to noting the mode of transport, and that he, Chapa, should have noted the information.(13)

Inspector Jose Mario Del Valle however, indicated to the CIA on Mar 12, 1964 that it was in fact the clerical staff at Immigration who had responsibility for noting method of transport upon exit, which, perhaps unknown to the CIA, was just as Chapa had indicated. The clerks did this by recording the method as being the same as on entry, or by using an educated guess based upon the assignment of the immigration official whose cancellation stamp appeared on the tourist card. Clerical staff confirmed that an entry of "auto" would signify "automobile" rather than "autobus".(14)

Clearly, if the clerks "guessed" car, it could not have been based on Oswald's recorded entry method of bus. The guess then, had to be based on Chapa having specific responsibility in regard to automobile exits.

There are only two real alternatives. Either "Oswald" left Mexico by car, or a genuine error was made in the paperwork. If however, it had been the latter, there would have been no need for the obfuscation inadvertently exposed by Del Valle.

Reies Lopez Tijerina
In 1962, Tijerina formed and headed La Alianza in Albuquerque. The sole purpose of the group was to fight for the restoration of land to the heirs of the land grants covered by the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty.(15)

As a result of his activities, Tijerina and La Alianza quickly became BOCOV targets.

One BOCOV agent involved in those efforts was Tim Chapa, described in A Chicano Manual on How to Handle Gringos(16) as "an ex-state mounted police officer." One example of Chapa's role in BOCOV operations involved him taking a Volkswagan for a test drive using a fake driver's lisense and driving it across state lines to El Paso, Texas with the aim of tempting Tijerina's brother, Cristobal, to cross from Mexico where he would be given possession of the car. Cristobal, so the plan went, would then quickly be arrested for car theft.(17)

But Chapa would soon be embroiled in a far more sinister plot.

Antonio Cordova & Rito Canales
At around midnight, January 29, 1972, Antonio Cordova and Rito Canales were gunned down at a construction site just outside Albuqurque in the process of allegedly stealing dynamite. The killers were 6 state and local police officers. Open and shut case. Police had the power to shoot if threatened, or if a suspect attempted to run. One of the two allegedly pulled a gun - the other took flight.

The bodies were riddled with bullets.

No one at the time believed it was anything but an assassination of two Black Beret militants who were preparing to go public with evidence of police brutality and inhumane conditions in the State Pen.(18)

One of the early claims was that Tim Chapa had led the men into the trap. The counter-claim was that Tim Chapa was unknown to the authorities and the ambush had been the result of an anonymous tipoff.

When whitewash followed whitewash, the mother of Antonio Cordova sued, as did the brother of Rito Canales. Chapa made a depostion for the hearings. In it, he denied being an informant, particiating in, or having any knowledge of any conspiracy, or of what had happened at the construction site.(19)

In 1996, Chapa had a change of heart. He gave a videotaped statemement detailing the conspiracy and his personal involvement in it which included infiltrating the Black Berets and eventually leading Cordova and Canales to their deaths. He further stated that he was threatened by police on that day to keep quiet about what had happened.

The cases from the two family members, and all subsequent appeals were lost on what appears to this writer to have been what are sometimes refered to as the "finer points of law".

The FBI search
At 3:12 pm, November 27, 1963, Dallas FBI Office contacted San Antonio and requested it to idenify and search for Tim Prado Chapa. No documented reason for the request can be found.

Special Agent Harold Leo Fabriz conducted the investigation. On December 5, he located and interviewed a Pete Chapa of Taylor. Pete told the agent Tim Prado Chapa was his cousin and was the son of Manuel Chapa and Sally Chapa (nee Prado) of Tahoka. He thought Tim was employed in Lubbock, but that in any case, the parents would be able to give an address.

No doubt in response to specific questions, Pete concluded by stating that to the best of his knowledge, Tim had not been in Taylor, and that he did not know if Tim had gone to Mexico.(20)

Next we find a request to locate Manuel and Sally Chapa in Tahoka.

The only other report details the failed efforts in Taylor, Hutto, Roundrock and Austin to track Chapa down. No interview with his parents can be located, and no efforts at all in either Tahoka or Lubbock.

Thus the effort to locate and identify Chapa ended as abruptly and as mysteriously as it had begun.

Call for public help
Tim Prado Chapa, Esther Chapa Tijerina, Alberto Arzamendi Chapa, Arnoldo Tijerina, Reies Lopez Tijerina. Were any of these people related by blood or marriage?

Can anyone confirm or rule out Tim Prado Chapa and Tim Chapa as being one and the same person? Please contact the author with any information which may assist.

ENDNOTES
(1) Beyond the Border by Peter Baird, Ed McCaughan, North American Congress on Latin America pp52-60

(2) Ibid

(3) A Gringo Manual on How to Handle Mexicans by José Angel Gutiérrez p61

(4) Renato Rosaldo lecture series monograph, University of Arizona. Mexican American Studies and Research, p39

(5) Warren Commission Exhibit 2119

(6) Jim Olmstead post to alt.assassination.jfk on Oct 1, 2001

(7) FBI 62-109060 JFK HQ File, Section 79

( 8 ) Osborne warranted deep suspicion, given his various antics and evasions. However, it is likely what he was hiding was his life as a con-man and not a double-life as itinerant preacher cum Assassins-R-Us team leader. In any event, he may well have been telling the truth (as far as he knew) about the person who sat next to him for part of the journey south of the border

(9) Warren Commission Document 560. Osborne was interviewed under the name John Howard Bowen. He stated the person claimed by Pamela Mumford and Pat Winston to be Oswald did not resemble Oswald. The physical description, apart from being Mexican or Puerta Rican he gave was "White male, age 29, height 5' 8", weight 150 pounds, hair blonde and thin, complexion dark."

(10) NARA Record Number: 104-10211-10176

(11) NARA Record Number: 104-10162-10000

(12) FBI 105-3702 Oswald Mexico City File, Section 6

(13) ibid

(14) NARA Record Number: 1993.06.07.16:01:38:120000. This document also shows that copies made of records handed over to US authorities regarding entry on Sept 26 and exit on Oct 3 had been materially altered

(15) Wikipedia entry on Reies Lopez Tijerina

(16) A Chicano Manual on How to Handle Gringos p 12. This is an updated and retitled version of A Gringo Manual on How to Handle Mexicans, José Angel Gutiérrez

(17) Ibid

(18) Broadside Magazine, June/July, 1972 edition, p1

(19) Judgment in CANALES v. LARSEN 2001 10CIR 226 246 F.3d 679 Case Number: 00-2164 Decided: 02/26/2001

(20) FBI 105-82555 Oswald HQ File, Section 20

Great Stuff Greg....I'll put some stuff together to
add this week. Do you have plans for a document file
to be accessed here?

jko

COINTELPRO -- Border Coverage Program


COINTELPRO -- Border Coverage Program (1961-1963)




Introduction
Communist Party in Tijuana
Monterrey Investigation
FBI Personnel in Mexico


Introduction
In accordance with Bureau instructions an analysis has been made of the
situation in Mexico relating to the application of counterintelligence
tactics, and the great value of such tactics is realized. The situation in
Mexico because of the following circumstances is different from that faced by
a domestic field office: [ ] If any other specific tactics become
apparent, the Bureau will be advised and authorization requested for their
utilization. All Agent personnel have been alerted to the importance of this
program, and every effort will be made to implement it to the fullest extent
possible. Legat, Mexico City to Director, Feb. 14, 1961
Your statement that all Agent personnel have been alerted to the importance of
this program and that every every effort will be made to implement it to the
fullest extent possible has been noted. In this connection, you should bear in
mind that the fact that the Bureau's interest in disruptive tactics under the
counterintelligence program should be held very tightly within your office on
a need-to-know basis and no indication of the existence of this program should
be given to any outside agency.
NOTE ON YELLOW: The Legal Attache's analysis of the potential of his office
under this program is largely negative in nature although it adds nothing to
the information already available to the Bureau relative to the possible
difficulties involved. Director to Legat, Mexico City, Mar. 3, 1961
The analysis made in relet of the communist situation in your border area is
well presented and shows a clear picture of the situation faced by your
office. ... It is noted that although you obviously understand the purposes
and tactics of this program, frequent reference was made in your letter to
possible "harassment" of individual communists. Your attention is invited to
the previous instructions which pointed out that harassment for the sake of
harassment is not desired, but the purpose of this project is to disrupt the
communist movement either through raising issues which will highlight the
weaknesses of the organization and its program or through the partial or
complete immobilization of individual communists. It is suggested, therefore,
that you emphasize to your border coverage program the need to bear in mind
the disruptive purposes of this project, avoiding the concept of "harassment,"
to insure that future plans are laid in accordance with the basic purposes of
this project. Director to SAC, San Diego, March 2, 1961
Counterintelligence -- BORCOV, SAC San Diego, July 10, 1961



Communist Party in Tijuana
In connection with the above captioned program the San Diego office has been
closely following the activities of the Communist Party in the Tijuana area in
order to further determine the results of the disruptive tactic applied in
that area several weeks ago. The Guerra Montemayor Cell has been disbanded and
some degree of confusion and distrust still exists. Members are still suspect
and accusations continue to be leveled by PCM members against each other. The
San Diego Office feels that this particular tactic was a successful one. SAC,
San Diego to Director, June 28, 1962



Monterrey Investigation
On 2/9/61 [ ]., of the Monterrey Resident Agency telephonically
advised that [ ] 1961, edition of the magazine "Cierto - Revista de
Monterrey," which had just appeared in Monterrey, contained an article
concerning the handling of a case in the Monterrey area known as the [
] This article attacks the attitude of the Monterrey newspaper "El Norte"
because it defended [ ] and also mentions [ ] as being
with the FBI. [ ] has been advised that the Governor of the State
of Nuevo Leon and the Mexican Ministry of Government are taking action to
suppress circulation of the current issue and possibly further editions of the
magazine. This morning RAUL RANGEL FRIAS, Governor of the State of Nuevo Leon,
requested [ ] to come to his office, which he did. The Governor
asked [ ] to accept his apologies for the above article and stated
he is going to take action to have the magazine terminate such scandalous
articles. Legal Attache, Mexico City to Director, Feb. 9, 1961



FBI Personnel in Mexico
Adequacy of Personnel, Mexico City Office, Inspector Edwards, Nov. 29, 1963
Personnel Complement, Mexico City Office, Legat, Mexico City, Oct. 25, 1963
Personnel Complement, Mexico City Office, William Sullivan, Nov. 13, 1963



Copyright Paul Wolf, 2002-2004. No copyright to original government works.

The following segment of the affidavit of Oran Pugh presents another consideration
of Lee's trip to Mexico.

AFFIDAVIT OF ORAN PUGH Agent in Charge, United States Customs,
Laredo, Texas
Signed this 26th day of August 1964.
(S) Oran Pugh,
ORAN PUGH.

Oran Pugh, being duly sworn, deposes and says that:

5. I recall having advised news reporters of the following information:

(a) United States citizens are not required to register or check-in with the
Immigration and Naturalization Service either on entry to or exit from Mexico.

(b) Lee Harvey Oswald checked into the United States Public Health Service,
International Bridge, Laredo, Texas, upon his re-entry into the United States in
October 1963.

The above shows that Lee could have legally avoided registering or checking
in as he crossed the International Bridge in Laredo, Texas but he made the
effort to do so. One has to wonder why Lee would do this on his "return"
but did not do so on his entry into Mexico.

James K. Olmstead wrote:The following segment of the affidavit of Oran Pugh presents another consideration
of Lee's trip to Mexico.

AFFIDAVIT OF ORAN PUGH Agent in Charge, United States Customs,
Laredo, Texas
Signed this 26th day of August 1964.
(S) Oran Pugh,
ORAN PUGH.

Oran Pugh, being duly sworn, deposes and says that:

5. I recall having advised news reporters of the following information:

(a) United States citizens are not required to register or check-in with the
Immigration and Naturalization Service either on entry to or exit from Mexico.

(b) Lee Harvey Oswald checked into the United States Public Health Service,
International Bridge, Laredo, Texas, upon his re-entry into the United States in
October 1963.

The above shows that Lee could have legally avoided registering or checking
in as he crossed the International Bridge in Laredo, Texas but he made the
effort to do so. One has to wonder why Lee would do this on his "return"
but did not do so on his entry into Mexico.

Thanks Jim, I looked into this a year or two back. Pugh claimed all the information he gave came from his assistant William Kline. When Kline was interviewed, he denied telling Pugh any of it. Not sure where that leaves it, let alone which one of them was telling the truth...

James K. Olmstead wrote:Great Stuff Greg....I'll put some stuff together to
add this week. Do you have plans for a document file
to be accessed here?

jko

I'll look into the possibilities.

bump