Mr.Delgado. About January, about a month or a month and a half after Kennedy's assassination.
Mr.Liebeler. Could it have been in the middle of December?
Mr.Delgado. No; I don't think it was that close. Let's see, November 22—I think it was more to the last part of December, not to the middle.
Mr.Liebeler. Did this FBI agent talk to you about this rifle practice that you have just told us about?
Mr.Delgado. Yes; he did.
Mr.Liebeler. Do you remember what you told him?
Mr.Delgado. Basically the same thing I told you, except he didn't ask for it like you did, about the possibility of forging the score, and I didn't explain to him about the NCOs in the lines and in the pits, also keeping the score.
Mr.Liebeler. You told the FBI that in your opinion Oswald was not a good rifle shot; is that correct?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. And that he did not show any unusual interest in his rifle, and in fact appeared less interested in weapons than the average marine?
Mr.Delgado. Yes. He was mostly a thinker, a reader. He read quite a bit.
Mr.Liebeler. You told us just a few minutes ago that you took third in the pool; is that correct?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. Did the FBI agent ask you about that?
Mr.Delgado. No. He asked me how I placed. I told him I placed pretty high; that's about all.
Mr.Liebeler. In the report that I have in front of me of an interview that Special Agents Richard B. Murdoch and James A. Marley, Jr., took of you on January 15, 1964, at Holmdel, N.J., which would have been at the base—is that correct?
Mr.Delgado. Right.
Mr.Liebeler. It appears from the record here, from the report that I have, that the Spanish-speaking agent was Mr. Murdoch.
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. So that this would have been the time that the Spanish-speaking man was there?
Mr.Delgado. Right. That was the third visit I had from him.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you discuss at that time the rifle practice, do you remember?
Mr.Delgado. Yes; I did. I discussed the rifle practice all the time they came up.
Mr.Liebeler. They asked you the same questions?
Mr.Delgado. Right; same thing over and over again.
Mr.Liebeler. Now, the report that I have says that Oswald, like most marines, took an interest in the pool—they call it a pool instead of a pot, but that is the same thing?
Mr.Delgado. Yes; pool.
Mr.Liebeler. Oswald took an interest in the pool, which was started for the marine getting the highest score. It says, however, "Delgado said neither he nor Oswald came close to winning."
Mr.Delgado. No, no; that is erroneous, because I won. He didn't win at all.
Mr.Liebeler. You never told these FBI agents that you yourself did not come close to winning?
Mr.Delgado. No; because I was—I was one of the highest ones there, I always had an expert badge on me.
Mr.Liebeler. You were a good rifle shot?
Mr.Delgado. Yes; just like I got one now [indicating].
Mr.Liebeler. That is an expert?
Mr.Delgado. Yes. This is a sharpshooter.
Mr.Liebeler. You have both a sharpshooter and an expert badge; is that correct?
Mr.Delgado. Right. One for the M-1 rifle and the other for the carbine—rather, this is the M-14, the new one.
Mr.Liebeler. The scores that you got on that practice would be reflected in your military records, would they not?
Mr.Delgado. Right; in all our—well, I think they call them 201 files also in the Marines Corps—I can't remember what they are now, but they are all there, especially that one particular day, because that goes into your records. That's why they are so strict.
Mr.Liebeler. And there is no chance in connection with that qualification firing that you can pencil in your score?
Mr.Delgado. No.
Mr.Liebeler. You did not tell the FBI that in your opinion Oswald had penciled in his qualifying score, did you? Or did you tell them that?
Mr.Delgado. He may have done, you know; but if you got away with it you were more than lucky.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you talk to the FBI about that possibility?
Mr.Delgado. Yes, I told him he may have, to qualify, because there was a lot of "Maggie's drawers" on his side. Now, he may have had some way of knowing who was pulling, that is another thing. You don't know who is out there in the pits, pulling it, see; and it could be a buddy of yours or somebody you know, and they will help you out, you know, get together, like before we all go and separate, you know, and I will say to my buddy, "Well, look, I want to try and get on line 22, you get on target 22, and I will try to be the first one on line"; so help each other like that, And when they go to the pits, they have their choice of getting on the lines, you know, so I will try to work it out with the fellow out there. But sometimes it doesn't work out that way. You just have to take your chances.
Mr.Liebeler. You told us that in this particular rifle practice, or firing, that the scores were kept by NCOs.
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. Was it a common practice for the privates to make deals like this with the noncommissioned officers in connection with a thing like this?
Mr.Delgado. They are making a deal with the other guys pulling the targets. See, the guy back there is also keeping a score.
Now, your NCO, particularly your NCO, may want to push you or make you qualify, because he doesn't want to spend another day out there on the rifle range, see; so it's not all that strict. Like if I was line NCO and I had five men in my section, and four of them qualified, that means that some other day, maybe on my day off, I will have to come in with this other fellow, so I will help him along and push each other along.
You don't try to mess nobody up, but you can't take a man that is shooting poorly and give him a 190 score, see; you could just give him the bare minimum, 170 or 171, to make it look good.
Mr.Liebeler. Just to qualify him?
Mr.Delgado. Just to qualify him.
Mr.Liebeler. So it is a possibility that that might have happened even in connection with this?
Mr.Delgado. Right.
Mr.Liebeler. You said that you came in about third in this pool?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. Do you remember who the marines were that won it and took second place?
Mr.Delgado. No. These men were mostly transients. Like I said, I didn't have too many close friends in the Marine Corps. I went to school with quite a few of them that were stationed with us, but I never got real close to any of them.
Mr.Liebeler. This statement in this FBI report indicates that you said that neither you nor Oswald came close to winning the pool and that just must be a mistake; is that correct?
Mr.Delgado. Yes, correct. I think in the first statement, too I said that I have won too, I believe, the first one he took. I won, but he didn't.
Mr.Liebeler. The first report indicates that you said that Oswald was a poor shot and didn't do well, but it doesn't say anything about how you did. Do you remember discussing how you did with the FBI in the first interview that you had?
Mr.Delgado. Yes, the first one was at home. We had more time to talk, and I was at ease there.
Mr.Liebeler. And where would that have been?
Mr.Delgado. The address?
Mr.Liebeler. Yes.
Mr.Delgado. 31 Oakwood Road—30 Oakwood Road, Leonardo, N.J.
Mr.Liebeler. You say that this incident where you had to go out and qualify was some time in the spring of 1959?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. Can you remember any closer than that?
Mr.Delgado. No. I just knew it was the spring because that is the time everyone goes out to fire. It's either going to be warm or it's going to be very cold when they go out there; it's never in between. I could have said that, but that was the day I was upset, because this guy kept on badgering me.
Mr.Liebeler. You are talking now about the interview when the Spanish-speaking agent was present?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. Which one of them kept badgering you?
Mr.Delgado. The Spanish agent.
Mr.Liebeler. What was he badgering you about?
Mr.Delgado. He kept on sitting—he'd been talking, he'd been looking at me, you know, and doing this [indicating], you know, and he was sitting just about where this gentleman is now, and I'd been looking out of the corner of my eye, because I couldn't concentrate on what he was saying because he kept staring at me, and he was giving me a case of jitters, you know.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you have the impression that he didn't believe you?
Mr.Delgado. Yes. But I told him, it's all right in the textbooks, that's fine, you know, but my theory, my way is you are not going to get anything—I mean the majority of the stuff out of books, you have got to apply yourself on the outside; and he may have gotten an A in Spanish, and may write in—be ableto decipher anything in Spanish into English, which is fine, as long as he stays in the lower court, you know, where they are going to speak high Spanish, but when you go to mingle with the people and speak their language you know, don't go in there with a college Spanish, because, to begin with, they are going to tell right off, you know, well, this guy is a highfalutin fellow, you know. They are not going to have anything to do with him.
You know, common Spanish is quite often overlooked, and that is where we make our mistake when we go—I think when we go abroad, because we try to speak Spanish the way El Camino Real tells you to speak Spanish, and that is not going to do.
If you come, a fellow comes and tries to be friends with you, and he is giving you all these thees and thous, first of all you are not going to hit it off right. Speak like they do. If they say damn; say damn, you know, get with them.
Mr.Liebeler. You and this agent did not strike it off too well?
Mr.Delgado. No, I am afraid not. We just spent hours arguing back and forth.
Mr.Liebeler. Off the record.
(Discussion off the record.)
Mr.Liebeler. We just referred to the El Camino Real that you mentioned, and you mentioned that that was a Spanish textbook; is that correct?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. One in which the Castilian Spanish is taught?
Mr.Delgado. Right.
Mr.Liebeler. Can you tell us some more about your discussions with Oswald concerning the Castro movement or the situation in Cuba?
Mr.Delgado. We had quite many discussions regarding Castro. At the time I was in favor of Castro, I wholeheartedly supported him, and made it known that I thought he was a pretty good fellow, and that was one of the main things Oswald and I always hit off so well, we were along the same lines of thought. Castro at the time showed all possibilities of being a freedom-loving man, a democratic sort of person, that was going to do away with all tyranny and finally give the Cuban people a break. But then he turned around and started to purge, the Russian purge, started executing all these pro-Batistas or anybody associated with a pro-Batista, just word of mouth. I would say he is a Batista, and right away they would grab him, give him a kangaroo court and shoot him. He and I had discussed about that, and right and wrong way that he should have gone about doing it.
Castro at the time, his brother Raoul was the only known Communist, and I mentioned the fact that he was a Communist, but that although Castro was the leader, I doubt if he would follow the Communist line of life, you know. At the time I don't remember Che Guevra being there. He came in after that. And we talked how we would like to go to Cubaand——
Mr.Liebeler. You and Oswald did?
Mr.Delgado. Right. We were going to become officers, you know, enlisted men. We are dreaming now, right? So we were going to become officers. So we had a head start, you see. We were getting honorable discharges, while Morgan—there was a fellow in Cuba at the time, he got a dishonorable discharge from the Army, and he went to Castro and fought with Castro in the Escambres.
Mr.Liebeler. A fellow named Morgan?
Mr.Delgado. Yes; Henry Morgan—not Henry, but it was Morgan, though; and at the end of the revolution he came out with the rank of major, you know.
So we were all thinking, well, honorable discharge, and I speak Spanish and he's got his ideas of how a government should be run, you know, the same line as Castro did at that time.
Mr.Liebeler. Oswald?
Mr.Delgado. Right. So we could go over there and become officers and lead an expedition to some of these other islands and free them too, you know, from—this was really weird, you know,but——
Mr.Liebeler. That is what you and Oswald talked about?
Mr.Delgado. Right, things like that; and how we would go to take over, to make a republic, you know, because that was another form of Batista, American-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 mal-intent, 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 Ana, 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. I 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.
Mr.Liebeler. Before we get into that, tell me all that you can remember about Oswald's contact with the Cuban Consulate.
Mr.Delgado. Well, like I stated to these FBI men, he had one visitor; after he started receiving letters he had one visitor. It was a man, because I got the call from the MP guard shack, and they gave me a call that Oswald had a visitor at the front gate. This man had to be a civilian, otherwise they would have let him in. So I had to find somebody to relieve Oswald, who was on guard, to go down there to visit with this fellow, and they spent about an hour and a half, 2 hours talking, I guess, and he came back. I don't know who the man was or what they talked about, but he looked nonchalant about the whole thing when he came back. He never mentioned who he was, nothing.
Mr.Liebeler. How long did he talk to him, do you remember?
Mr.Delgado. About an hour and a half, 2 hours.
Mr.Liebeler. Was he supposed to be on duty that time?
Mr.Delgado. Right. And he had the guy relieve him, calling me about every 15 minutes, where is his, the relief, where is the relief, you know, because he had already pulled his tour of duty and Oswald was posted to walk 4 hours and he only walked about an hour and a half before he received this visitor, you know, which was an odd time to visit, because it was after 6, and it must have been close to 10 o'clock when he had that visitor, because anybody, civilian or otherwise, could get on post up to 9 o'clock at night. After 9 o'clock, if you are not military you can't get on that post. So it was after 9 o'clock at night that he had the visitor, it was late at night.
I don't think it could be his brother or father because I never knew that he had one, you know; in fact the only one I knew was a sick mother, and then later on, towards the end of our friendship there, he was telling me he was trying to get a hardship discharge because his mother was sick.
Mr.Liebeler. You never asked Oswald who this fellow was that he talked to?
Mr.Delgado. No, no.
Mr.Liebeler. What time did the shifts of duty run? This was a guard duty that he was on; is that right?
Mr.Delgado. Right.
Mr.Liebeler. How did those shifts run?
Mr.Delgado. They ran, let's see, from 12 to 4, 4 to 8, 8 to 12, 12 to 4, 4 to 8, like that; and he was roughly on 8-to-10 shift, you know. Must have been about 9 o'clock when the guy called.
Mr.Liebeler. The 8-to-12 shift?
Mr.Delgado. Yes; and I had to relieve another guard and put him on.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you connect this visit that Oswald had at that time with the Cuban Consulate?
Mr.Delgado. Personally; I did; because I thought it funny for him to be receiving a caller at such a late date—time. Also, up to this time he hardly ever received mail; in fact he very seldom received mail from home, because I made it a policy, I used to pick up the mail for our hut and distribute it to the guys in there, and very seldom did I see one for him. But every so often, after he started to get in contact with these Cuban people, he started getting little pamphlets and newspapers, and he always got a Russian paper, and I asked him if it was, you know, a Commie paper—they let you get away with this in the Marine Corps in a site like this—and he said, "No, it's not Communist; it's a White Russian. To me that was Greek, you know, White Russian, so I guess he is not a Communist; but he was steady getting that periodical. It was a newspaper.
Mr.Liebeler. In the Russian language?
Mr.Delgado. Right.
Mr.Liebeler. And he received that prior to the time he contacted the Cuban consulate; did he not?
Mr.Delgado. Right. And he also started receiving letters, you know, and no books, maybe pamphlets, you know, little—like church, things we get from church, you know, but it wasn't a church.
Mr.Liebeler. Were they written in Spanish, any of them, do you know?
Mr.Delgado. Not that I can recall; no.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you have any reason to believe that these things came to Oswald from the Cuban consulate?
Mr.Delgado. Well, I took it for granted that they did after I seen the envelope, you know.
Mr.Liebeler. What was on this envelope that made you think that?
Mr.Delgado. Something like a Mexican eagle, with a big, impressive seal, you know. They had different colors on it, red and white; almost looked like our colors, you know. But I can't recall the seal. I just knew it was in Latin, United, something like that. I couldn't understand. It was Latin.
Mr.Liebeler. You don't know for sure whether it was from the Cuban consulate?
Mr.Delgado. No. But he had told me prior, just before I found that envelope in his wall locker, that he was receiving mail from them, and one time he offered to show it to me, but I wasn't much interested because at the time we had work to do, and I never did ask to see that paper again, you know.
Mr.Liebeler. Did he tell you what his correspondence with the Cuban consulate was about?
Mr.Delgado. No; he didn't.
Mr.Liebeler. Did he ever indicate to you that it had to do with the conversation that you had about going over to Cuba?
Mr.Delgado. No. The only thing he told me was that right after he had this conversation with the Cuban people was that he was going to—once he got out of the service he was going to Switzerland, he was going to a school, and this school in Switzerland was supposed to teach him in 2 years—in 6 months what it had taken him to learn in psychology over here in 2 years, something like that.
Mr.Liebeler. Did he tell you the name of the school?
Mr.Delgado. No; but he applied for it while in the service, and as far as I knew, that's where he was going once he got discharged.
Mr.Liebeler. This conversation that you and Oswald had about going over in Cuba and helping Castro was just barracks talk?
Mr.Delgado. Right.
Mr.Liebeler. You didn't seriouslyconsider——
Mr.Delgado. No; but that's when I started getting scared. He started actually making plans, and how we would go about going to Cuba, you know, and where we would apply to go to Cuba and the people to contact if we wanted to go, you know,but——
Mr.Liebeler. So you got the impression that he started to get serious about going to Cuba?
Mr.Delgado. Yes. And about this time Castro started changing colors, so I wasn't too keen on that idea, myself.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you talk to Oswald about this change in Castro's attitude and his approach?
Mr.Delgado. Right. He said that was all due to mal—bad newspaper reporting, that we were distorting the true facts, and for the same reason I told you that, because we were mad, because now we wasn't getting the money from Cuba that we were before.
Mr.Liebeler. So Oswald basically took the position that you were getting a distorted view of Cuba?
Mr.Delgado. Right; and we weren't getting the true facts of what was happening in Cuba. We were getting the distorted facts.
Mr.Liebeler. You have no definite way of knowing how much correspondence Oswald received from the Cuban consulate, do you?
Mr.Delgado. No.
Mr.Liebeler. He told you that he had received some correspondence?
Mr.Delgado. Right.
Mr.Liebeler. You don't know whether the Russian newspaper that he got came from the Cuban consulate?
Mr.Delgado. No. He was getting that way before he even started corresponding with them.
Mr.Liebeler. Do you know whether Oswald ever received any books or pamphlets or materials in any language other than Russian—aside from English, of course?
Mr.Delgado. No. He had one book that was English, Das Kapital. I think it was Russian, a book, like I said. I go by Russian when it's big block letters. And he had one book like that. He spoke Russian pretty good, so I understand.
Mr.Liebeler. How do you understand that?
Mr.Delgado. He tried to teach me some Russian. He would put out a whole phrase, you know. In return for my teaching him Spanish, he would try to teach me Russian. But it's a tongue twister.
Mr.Liebeler. You didn't have any understanding of the Russian language?
Mr.Delgado. No. Basically I wasn't interested in it. In order to learn a language, I think you have to be motivated. You have to have a desire to use this language, you know, and I had no need to learn Russian. And just the reverse of him. He wanted to learn Spanish. He had some idea of using Spanish later on. I'm sure if this hadn't happened, he probably would be over there now, if he hadn't been already.
Mr.Liebeler. In Cuba, you mean?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. Do you have any reason to believe that he has been in Cuba?
Mr.Delgado. Well, a guy like him would find—would have no difficulty in getting into Cuba. They would accept him real fast. The fact that he was in Russia. Now, all these years in Russia, he could have come over to Cuba and learned some doctrine. That's where he got his ideas to start this Fair Play for Cuba Committee down in Louisiana. That must have been supported by Castro.
Mr.Liebeler. How do you know that he was involved in the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in Louisiana?
Mr.Delgado. Well, this was brought out in the newscast at the time of his arrest.
Mr.Liebeler. You have no direct knowledge of that, though?
Mr.Delgado. No. In one of the news pictures I seen him distributing pamphlets out in the street.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you ever see Oswaldafter——
Mr.Delgado. No.
Mr.Liebeler. After you were discharged from the Marine Corps?
Mr.Delgado. No.
Mr.Liebeler. You said before that you were in Germany until approximately the end of 1962; is that correct? December of 1962?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. You never met Oswald at any time while you were in Germany?
Mr.Delgado. No. I wanted to—I knew that he was over there going to school, and I can't for the life of me recall where I got the scoop that I thought he was going to some school in Berlin, and I was thinking of going over there, to see if I could find him, but I never did follow through. There was too much redtape.
Mr.Liebeler. You say that you thought he was in Berlin going to school?
Mr.Delgado. Yes. For some reason or other. I can't say right now why, but it just seemed to me that I thought he was going to school there.
Mr.Liebeler. After you were discharged from the Marine Corps, you learned that Oswald had gone to the Soviet Union, did you not?
Mr.Delgado. I knew he had gone to the Soviet Union before I got discharged.
Mr.Liebeler. When were you discharged?
Mr.Delgado. In November. As—when I got back, I saw the pictures all over the papers as him having defected, and then we had the investigation there.
Mr.Liebeler. But even though you had heard before you had gotten out of the Marine Corps that Oswald had gone to the Soviet Union, while you were in the Army in Germany you gained the impression that somehow that he was in Berlin, going to school?
Mr.Delgado. Yes; in the university there.
Mr.Liebeler. But you don't have any recollection of where you got this idea?
Mr.Delgado. No.
Mr.Liebeler. You were under the impression, then, that he had left the Soviet Union?
Mr.Delgado. Yes. I couldn't—Oswald loved to travel, right, but if he couldn't take military life, where everything was told to him, I'm sure he couldn't take no life in Russia, where he was subjected to strict, you know, watching. I couldn't picture him living over there. I thought he had gone to, you know, like I said, the university in Berlin, to study there. He wanted to study psychology.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you think that he was perhaps at the same university that you spoke of before, that he had applied for when he was in the Marines?
Mr.Delgado. No; because I—the way I understand it, it's—there's two big psychologists institutes in Europe. One is in Switzerland. If he was a devout Communist or pro-Russian, as they say he was—one was in East Berlin, and one was in Switzerland—he couldn't have gone to Switzerland. I knew he applied for Switzerland.
Mr.Liebeler. So you figured that because he had this interest in psychology, and since he was interested in communism, he probably wouldn't have gone to the university in Switzerland, but he might very well have gone to the one in Berlin?
Mr.Delgado. Well, actually it was on their own level. They would train him their way.
(Short recess.)
Mr.Liebeler. Did you think that Oswald was an agent of the Soviet Union or was acting as an agent for the Soviet Union at that time?
Mr.Delgado. No.
Mr.Liebeler. Whom did you mean to refer to when you said that they would train him their way?
Mr.Delgado. Well, after he was defecting, I assumed he would take the Communist way of life, and I would imagine that they would put him to use to the best of their advantage. But this was later brought out to be false, because they came out and said that all he did was work in a factory. Whether or not that's so, I can't say. That's what they said.
Mr.Liebeler. But at the time you were in Europe, you were speculating to yourself that he might have been in the Berlin school?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. You received no particular information? You just figured this out for yourself?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. Just how well do you think Oswald learned to speak Spanish during the time that he was associated with you in the Marine Corps?
Mr.Delgado. He could meet the average people from the streets and hold a conversation with them. He could make himself understood and be understood. That's not too clear, is it?
Mr.Liebeler. Did you think Oswald was an intelligent person?
Mr.Delgado. Yes; I did. More intelligent than I am, and I have a 117, supposedly, IQ, and he could comprehend things faster and was interested in things that I wasn't interested in: politics, music, things like that, so much so like an intellectual. He didn't read poetry or anything like that, but as far as books and concert music and things like that, he was a great fan.
Mr.Liebeler. You said before that Oswald was not sufficiently proficient in Spanish so that he could carry on a political argument or anything like that.
Mr.Delgado. No.
Mr.Liebeler. Now, did you talk to the FBI about this question of how well Oswald could speak Spanish?
Mr.Delgado. Yes; I did.
Mr.Liebeler. Do you remember what you told him?
Mr.Delgado. I told him basically the same thing I told you, only then this fellow came out, this other agent came out with this test he gave me.
Mr.Liebeler. He gave you a test?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. In Spanish?
Mr.Delgado. Right.
Mr.Liebeler. Just in speaking to you, you mean?
Mr.Delgado. No; a written thing.
Mr.Liebeler. He gave you a written test?
Mr.Delgado. I told him off the bat, I can't—my spelling is bad, you know. I told him right then. But outside of the spelling, I could read it and write it, you know. So he gave me a test, and he didn't tell me what the outcome was, but I gathered it wasn't too favorable.
Mr.Liebeler. What made you gather that?
Mr.Delgado. The sarcasm in his voice when he said, "What makes you think you speak Spanish so good?"—after he gave me the test, you know. Well, I told him, "Your Spanish is all right in its place, you know, college or something like that, but people have a hard time understanding you," which is true. If you have any Spanish-speaking fellows working here, let's say, a clerk or something, well, ask him what the word "peloloso" means, and I would bet you 9 out of 10 times he would not know. That's the Castilian word for "lazy". We got words for "lazy," three or four of them, "bago," "lento," things like that. That's one of the things I brought up to him. But he just laughed it off.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you tell the FBI that Oswald was so proficient in Spanish that he would discuss his ideas on socialism in Spanish?
Mr.Delgado. No.
Mr.Liebeler. You didn't tell them that?
Mr.Delgado. No.
Mr.Liebeler. You are absolutely sure of that?
Mr.Delgado. No; he wouldn't argue with me. All those arguments on socialism and communism and our way of life and their way of life were held in English. He talked, but he couldn't hold his own. He would speak three or four words and then bring it out in English. But as far as basic conversation and debate; no.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you tell the FBI agent that Oswald would speak about socialism and things like that in Spanish and that it seemed to give him a feeling of superiority to talk about things like that in Spanish in front of the officers so that the officers couldn't understand him?
Mr.Delgado. We were speaking Spanish. That gave him a sense of superiority, because they didn't know what we were talking about. In fact, more than once we were reprimanded for speaking Spanish, because we were not supposed to do it, and they didn't forbid us to speak Spanish—now, no political discussions were talked about. This was small talk when we were talking Spanish.
Mr.Liebeler. Now, the FBI report that I have of an interview with you on December 10, according to this report, 1963, atLeonardo——
Mr.Delgado. Yes; that's my home.
Mr.Liebeler. This FBI agent says that you told him that Oswald became so proficient in Spanish that Oswald would discuss his ideas on socialism in Spanish.
Mr.Delgado. He would discuss his ideas, but not anything against our Government or—nothing Socialist, mind you.
Mr.Liebeler. In Spanish?
Mr.Delgado. He would speak to me in Spanish in front of the people, in front of the officers in the ward, what we call the wardroom. Basically the fact that they could be standing over us and we would be talking, and they wouldn't understand what we were saying. But no ideas were exchanged, political ideas were exchanged during those times. Whenever we talked about the Communist or Socialist way of life, we would do it either in our hut or, you know, in low whispers doing thewardroom——
Mr.Liebeler. That was in in English?
Mr.Delgado. In English.
Mr.Liebeler. He never spoke of these things in Spanish?
Mr.Delgado. No; he couldn't.
Mr.Liebeler. He didn't know Spanish that well?
Mr.Delgado. No.
Mr.Liebeler. You mentioned one time that you and Oswald and a couple of other fellows went to Tijuana.
Mr.Delgado. Right.
Mr.Liebeler. Had Oswald learned the Spanish language at that time?
Mr.Delgado. He knew the Spanish language at that time, because when wewent to the bar, the girls would come along, and I was Spanish—they knew that right off the bat, and they would tell me something in Spanish that was funny, and him and I would laugh, and he would laugh understandingly, and he would be talking small talk with the girls, you know, which was in my—you know, I had taught him just what he knew, and he was very fast learning. Just like I told the FBI agent that there's a couple of fellows in my outfit now that wanted to learn, you know, Spanish, and would walk up to me, and I tried to teach them the best I can. One of them wanted to learn it, because he was going to Juarez for a problem we had down there, and he used it down there, what he learned. He learned off of books and also because he asked me for help for some phrases, and when he went down there he had no trouble. And the same thing with Oswald.
Mr.Liebeler. This is a fellow that you just referred to now, in your outfit?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. In Jersey?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. What is his name?
Mr.Delgado. Jones.
Mr.Liebeler. Jones?
Mr.Delgado. Willie Jones.
Mr.Liebeler. What is his rating?
Mr.Delgado. Specialist 4.
Mr.Liebeler. Is he in C Battery?
Mr.Delgado. No. Delta Battery.
Mr.Liebeler. What does he do?
Mr.Delgado. He's a radar operator also. And there's another fellow, George Bradford, specialist 5. He's asked for it, and I've teached—taught him to speak Spanish. In fact, I'll ask him for some money, you know, and he'll come out and say, "I'm broke right now. I haven't got it with me." Or "Have you got a cigarette, George?" in Spanish, you know. "No, but I'll get you one," or things like that. Now, I met this fellow in Germany, and there I started teaching him a little bit. Not an awful lot, but smalltalk.
Mr.Liebeler. Would you say that Bradford and Jones knew about the same amount of Spanish as Oswald knew?
Mr.Delgado. No.
Mr.Liebeler. Not as much?
Mr.Delgado. They don't know as much as Oswald. Oswald knew more than they did, because he applied himself more. These guys would pick up a book once or twice a week and learn a phrase here and there. But Oswald was continuously trying to learn something, and more often as not he would come in to me any time we were off, and he would be asking me for this phrase. Spanish is very tricky. There's some sentences you can use, and if you use them, let's see—how can I—well, the pasts and present, you know, past and present tense of a sentence. He would get a misinterpretation and say, "I can't say this in a conversation?", and I would say "No. You don't say this this particular time. You use it some place else." Like, "Yo voy al teatro"—"I'm going to the theatre"—you know. And there's a correct way of saying that and there's a wrong way of saying it. The best way—let me see if I can get you a good phrase. I can't right offhand think of a phrase that would fit. But some of these things when he picked up the language, some things he couldn't put into a sentence right away, and he would want to know why. That's the type of guy he was. "Why can't these things be used? Why is it that you use it now and not later?" Things like that.
Mr.Liebeler. He would learn some of the words and then he would try to put them in a sentence logically?
Mr.Delgado. Right.
Mr.Liebeler. And the language just wasn't constructed that way?
Mr.Delgado. Right.
Mr.Liebeler. And he had difficulty in understanding that?
Mr.Delgado. You see, in English you say things straight out; right? In Spanish, 9 times out of 10 it is just the reverse. I am going to the show. But if I was to translate it into Spanish, it would come out the show I will go, orto the show I will go. So you have got to turn it around, you know, for him. That is what I was trying to explain.
Mr.Liebeler. He tried to construct Spanish sentences in pretty much the same way English sentences would be constructed after he learned the Spanish words?
Mr.Delgado. Right; and that is where he got his help from me, you know.
Mr.Liebeler. But as far as ordinary, simple ideas, you think that Oswald could make himself understood in Spanish.
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. But you wouldn't, would you, say that he was highly proficient in the Spanish language, but at least he knew some Spanish phrases and he could speak some sentences and make his basic ideas known?
Mr.Delgado. If there is a word, you know, like semiproficient, he wasn't necessarily low, or was he as high Spanish like I speak, you know; he was right in the middle. Of course, there would be words, if you taught him, he may not understand, but basically he understood and made himself understood.
Mr.Liebeler. Do you remember what kind of Spanish dictionary he had?
Mr.Delgado. No; I don't. It was just regular pocketbook edition, the kind you buy out there for about $2.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you know whether Oswald spoke any other language. You mentioned before he spoke Russian.
Mr.Delgado. Russian.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you think that he was proficient in Russian at that time or highly proficient?
Mr.Delgado. Yes; I imagine he would be, because he was reading the paper, and basically if he can read it, you know, I imagine he could speak it also.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you hear him speak Russian?
Mr.Delgado. Well, like I say, he tried to teach me Russian, but then another time I had some thought that what he was speaking to me was German; but according to the agent, he messed me all up, and I couldn't figure whether it was Hebrew or German. I tried to tell him that some of the words he had mentioned to me at the time I didn't recognize them, but when I came back from Germany some of those words I do remember, you know.
Mr.Liebeler. It seemed to you like it was German?
Mr.Delgado. Like German; yes.
Mr.Liebeler. But you only came to that conclusion after you had been to Germany?
Mr.Delgado. Right. At the time it could have been Yiddish or German, you know.
Mr.Liebeler. Could it have been Russian?
Mr.Delgado. No; different gutteral sounds altogether.
Mr.Liebeler. But you did not know whether Oswald spoke this other language to any extent; he just used a few words?
Mr.Delgado. No; I just remember his particular language, which I am in doubt about, had a "ch" gutteral sound to it [indicating], you know; and I could only assume it was Jewish or German, and later on when I was in Germany, I think, I am pretty sure it was German that he was speaking.
Mr.Liebeler. Did he speak it well or did he just use a few words?
Mr.Delgado. He speaks it like I speak it now, you know, like, just phrases, you know. Where he picked them up, I don't know.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you teach anybody else Spanish while you were in the Marines?
Mr.Delgado. Just one fellow, but he denied that I taught him any Spanish.
Mr.Liebeler. Who was that?
Mr.Delgado. Don Murray. He took Spanish in college, and we were stationed in Biloxi, Miss., together, and he would ask me for the same thing. He tried to construct a sentence in Spanish like you do in English, and it came out all backwards, and I tried to explain it to him.
Mr.Liebeler. Was he stationed with you at Santa Ana too?
Mr.Delgado. That's right.
Mr.Liebeler. What makes you say he denied that you taught him any Spanish?
Mr.Delgado. That is what the agent interviewing me told me.
Mr.Liebeler. The FBI agent told you that?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. What did you say then?
Mr.Delgado. I told him that was his prerogative, but I had taught him—I mean I had talked to him in Spanish, and he had asked for my help, I assumed that he wanted to know my association with this thing that is happening now.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you get the impression that the agent was trying to get you to change your story?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. He was trying to get you to back away from the proposition that Oswald understood Spanish?
Mr.Delgado. Well, am I allowed to say what I want to say?
Mr.Liebeler. Yes; I want you to say exactly what you want to say.
Mr.Delgado. I had the impression now, wholeheartedly, I want to believe that Oswald did what he was supposed to have done, but I had the impression they weren't satisfied with my testimony of him not being an expert shot. His Spanish wasn't proficient where he would be at a tie with the Cuban government.
Mr.Liebeler. First of all, you say you got the impression that the FBI agents that talked to you didn't like the statement that you made about Oswald's inability to use the rifle well; is that right?
Mr.Delgado. Right.
Mr.Liebeler. What about this Spanish thing, what impression did you get about the agents?
Mr.Delgado. Well, they tried to make me out that I didn't have no authority to consider myself so fluent in Spanish where I could teach somebody else. That is there opinion and they can have it as far as I am concerned.
If a man comes up to me without knowing a bit of Spanish, if within 6 months—and I told these FBI men—he could hold a conversation with me, I consider myself as being some sort of an authority on teaching, my ability to teach somebody to speak Spanish, which I told him I could take any man with a sincere desire to learn Spanish and I could teach him my Spanish, the Spanish the people speak, you know, I could teach him in, I could have him hold a conversation, I would say, in 3 months' time he could hold a conversation.
Mr.Liebeler. Now, the FBI tried to indicate to you that you yourself were not good at Spanish?
Mr.Delgado. No.
Mr.Liebeler. And did you have any feeling about the FBI agents' attitude toward Oswald's ability with the Spanish language?
Mr.Delgado. Yes; they didn't think he was too well versed, you know, he didn't know too much Spanish, as much as I wanted them to think he did, you know. In other words, they felt he could say "I have a dog. My dog is black." And "I have an automobile," and things like that, you know, basic Spanish, but I don't teach—I mean I am not a teacher. I don't go with that, you know. If a guy wants to learn Spanish, I don't tell him, "Well, let's start off with 'I have a dog,'" you know. That is no practical use for him, you know.
I tell him, "How do I get to such-and-such a street?" You go to a Spanish fellow—you are in Juarez—and be prepared to receive an answer from him, and he is going to shoot it to you fast, see, so that's what I teach these guys, you know.
Mr.Liebeler. And Oswald was able to ask questions like this and understand them; is that right?
Mr.Delgado. Right. Now, we had Mexican fellows in our outfit, and Oswald could understand their Spanish, and made it known to me that he could understand their Spanish, but in return those Mexicans could not understand my Spanish because the Puerto Ricans, Cubans, the Dominican Republics, they all speak real fast. Your Mexican is your Southern equivalent to your Southern drawl, you know, "You all," and real slow. Well, that is the Mexicans, you know. And when we speak Spanish to them, Puerto Rican, rather, or Spanish, they have a hard time understanding you. But he could understand what was going on, and sometimes he would tell me, "Well, these guys here are planning a beer bust tonight," he said. "Are you going?" He'd overhear and tell me, you know.
Mr.Liebeler. When did the FBI agents tell you that Murray had denied that you had taught him Spanish? Was that when the Spanish-speaking agent was there?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. The Spanish-speaking agent only talked to you once; is that right?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. Do you find that you have to mix English words with your Spanish to express yourself completely?
Mr.Delgado. No; what I meant to tell the fellow there—I think is what that sentence you have in front of you is—that, say—how can I say it?—you speak to me in English, and I could say it in Spanish just about as fast as you could tell me in English, you know, like he is working there, you know, all coming to his fingertips, like the other fellow was telling me. I could translate that fast, you know, and deciphering is the only proper way of saying it, you know. And I made another statement at home, you know, my family was speaking, and the majority of the words being Spanish, and English just come out, you know.
Mr.Liebeler. Do you speak Spanish around the home?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. Is your wife Puerto Rican?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. Does she speak Spanish?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. Was your wife born in Puerto Rico?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. When did she come to the United States?
Mr.Delgado. About 1944, 1945.
Mr.Liebeler. How old was she then?
Mr.Delgado. She was about 13.
Mr.Liebeler. You mentioned that Oswald used to go into Los Angeles with you from time to time. Can you tell me approximately how many times Oswald went to Los Angeles?
Mr.Delgado. Once he went with me.
Mr.Liebeler. Just once?
Mr.Delgado. Just once. That was, you know, he just stayed a night, as far as I can remember.
Mr.Liebeler. So that Oswald only went into Los Angeles with you on one occasion?
Mr.Delgado. That I know; yes. Right after he corresponded with these people.
Mr.Liebeler. With the Cuban Consulate?
Mr.Delgado. I assumed he was going there to see somebody. I never asked him. It wasn't my business, you know.
Mr.Liebeler. Did he later tell you that he had been to the Cuban Consulate?
Mr.Delgado. Yes; but I thought it was just his, you know, bragging of some sort.
Mr.Liebeler. You didn't really believe that he had?
Mr.Delgado. Well, no; I didn't have no interest in it, whether or not.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you learn that Oswald had gone into Los Angeles on weekends at other times?
Dr.Delgado. No; not that I know of.
Mr.Liebeler. The only thing that youknow——
Mr.Delgado. That I am sure of was that one particular incident, one particular time, it struck me as being odd that he had gone out, you know.
Mr.Liebeler. So that Oswald only went into Los Angeles with you on one occasion that you can remember; is that right?
Mr.Delgado. Yes; that I can recall.
Mr.Liebeler. Did the FBI agent ask you about this?
Mr.Delgado. Yes; he asked me that, and I believe I gave him the same answer I have given you now, because the other time they had two men, that other fellow was asking me questions too, you know, this is back and forth, trying to answer you, and he is asking me something else, you know. I was sitting in the oldman's office, the commanding officer's office, you know, and I wasn't too at ease there either.
Mr.Liebeler. Oswald did not go with you to Los Angeles on every other week or anything like that?
Mr.Delgado. No, no. I went every week to Los Angeles.
Mr.Liebeler. Every week?
Mr.Delgado. Yes; every weekend that I was off, you know, roughly three weekends a month.
Mr.Liebeler. But Oswald only accompanied you on one occasion?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. You don't know of your own knowledge of any other times that he went into Los Angeles?
Mr.Delgado. No. The only outstanding thing I can remember was that Oswald was a casual dresser. By that I mean he would go with a sport shirt, something like that, and this particular instance he was suited up; white shirt, dark suit, dark tie.
Mr.Liebeler. You told the FBI that Oswald enjoyed classical music; is that right?
Mr.Delgado. Yes.
Mr.Liebeler. And that he would often talk at length about the opera; is that correct?
Mr.Delgado. Right. I tried to be a listener, but I wasn't too interested.
Mr.Liebeler. Did Oswald seem to be interested in girls?
Mr.Delgado. No; not to my knowledge. He didn't have a girl friend write him, I know that for a fact; he didn't have no girl writing; never went to a dance down at the service club; always by himself. And when we had no duty, him and I used to go to the show, you know, 9 times out of 10 I ended up paying for it.
Mr.Liebeler. How about sports, did he ever show any interest in sports?
Mr.Delgado. No. That is something I would like to bring up.
Mr.Liebeler. Go ahead.
Mr.Delgado. May I go on the record, because there was a statement I read in Life Magazine?
Mr.Liebeler. Go ahead.
Mr.Delgado. And it's erroneous.
Mr.Liebeler. What did it say?
Mr.Delgado. It is quoting a Lieutenant Cupenack, and he made a statement there in Life, last month, I believe it was. He made a statement saying he was Oswald's commanding officer, Oswald was on the football team. He was on the football team, that is the only true fact in the whole statement that he made. Also that he had a run-in with a captain that was on the football team, and because of this argument he went off the team.
To begin with, our company commander was a light colonel, lieutenant colonel. Lieutenant Cupenack was a supply officer. He seldom came in contact with Oswald, and when he did, it was only when Oswald was on details or when Lieutenant Cupenack had duty that particular night in the war room when Oswald was on. And as far as a captain being on the football team, the only captain we had was in the S-3 section where we worked, and he was too old to play football.
Lieutenant Cupenack played football. He was good. He was tackle. I remember I played against him plenty of times myself. And why Oswald left, I don't know. I don't think he went out, he just bugged out, it's what he wanted, and he had it for a while, and he just quit.
Mr.Liebeler. He did come out for football though?
Mr.Delgado. Right.
Mr.Liebeler. Did you tell the FBI agents about this?