Mr. LIEBELER. What was the purpose of your trip to Puerto Rico and the
Dominican Republic in August?
Mr. PENA. Just a vacation.
Mr. LIEBELER. You did not go to Cuba at that time?
Mr. PENA. No.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you have any contact with any representatives of
the Cuban Government while you were in Puerto Rico or the Dominican
Republic?
Mr. PENA. No.
Mr. LIEBELER. Have you had any contact with any such representatives at
any time during 1963?
Mr. PENA. No.
Mr. LIEBELER. Now, in May of 1964, you took a trip to Europe; is that
correct?
Mr. PENA. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. You then went to London?
Mr. PENA. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Paris?
Mr. PENA. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Madrid?
Mr. PENA. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Rome?
Mr. PENA. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Munich?
Mr. PENA. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Berlin?
Mr. PENA. No; I did not go to Munich.
Mr. LIEBELER. You did not go to Munich?
Mr. PENA. No.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did your plane land in Munich on the way to Berlin?
Mr. PENA. No. From Rome, I went to Frankfurt, Germany, and I stayed
there about--I think about an hour and a half, something like that,
to make connections on the next plane to Berlin, and then coming back
from Berlin, fly from Berlin to Frankfurt again, from Frankfurt took
Lufthansa, and directly to New York, and from New York, I wait about
3 hours and took the Eastern Airlines, a night trip, to New Orleans
straight again.
Mr. LIEBELER. What was the purpose of that trip?
Mr. PENA. Just a vacation.
Mr. LIEBELER. You had no contact with any agents of any foreign
government at any time other than the custom officials and that sort of
thing?
Mr. PENA. Oh, when I went to Berlin; I went for--when I was in Berlin,
I took a tour for 4 hours to East Berlin.
Mr. LIEBELER. On December 5, 1963, you were interviewed by two agents
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Steinmeyer and Mr. Logan.
Do you remember that?
Mr. PENA. I have been interviewed by the FBI so many times I don't
remember. Something. But it might be true. You tell me about what to
refresh my mind, and I can tell you about whether that is true or not.
Mr. LIEBELER. Well, let me come back to that in just a moment. Do you
remember being interviewed by two FBI agents on June 9, 1964, when you
and Mr. Tamberella went to the FBI office here in New Orleans?
Mr. PENA. That's about 2 weeks ago?
Mr. LIEBELER. Yes.
Mr. PENA. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you remember generally what you told them at that time?
Mr. PENA. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Would you tell us?
Mr. PENA. What, approximately, I can remember?
Mr. LIEBELER. Would you tell us now what you told them at that time?
Mr. PENA. Well, they asked me in connection with the--Mr. Kennedy, the
late President Kennedy's assassination, and also if I know anything
about it. I told them I didn't know anything about it. They asked me if
I saw Oswald; so I said I saw him once. He went to my place of business
with one or two friends. I don't know exactly. My bar is a very long
bar, so to me it looked like he was with two friends. My bartender,
Evaristo Rodriguez, said he was with only one man, so I don't know
exactly. It was something that happened in my place of business; a
customer asking for a lemonade; a man. They don't usually do that. That
was the first time in 7 years I have been in business that a customer
asked for a lemonade. So my bartender--he learned to be a bartender at
my place of business; he was a seaman before--he came to me and said,
"The customer wants a lemonade. Do we do that?" I said, "Sure." He
didn't know how to make it, so I said, "Take a glass of water, couple
of spoons of sugar, some lemon." He say, "How much should I charge?"
I said, "Twenty-five cents." He went back and made a lemonade and put
it to Oswald. Then Oswald got mad. Said 25 cents was too much for the
lemonade, and then he asked for a tequila for his friend.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did Oswald ask for the tequila or did his friend?
Mr. PENA. I don't know exactly. I was away from there. I didn't pay
any attention. They got mad about the 25 cents for the lemonade and
50 cents for the tequila, so they asked my bartender, Evaristo, why
I charge so much for the drinks and I was a capitalist charging too
much for the drinks. He went and came to me and told me about it. I
said, "Don't worry about it. They pay you already?" "Yes." "Don't worry
about it." If you are going to worry about all the customers, you are
going to go crazy. Then I don't know whether he left or something,
but he vomited after that; Oswald did. I don't know anything but
they walked away; that's all. When the assassination happened, they
put the pictures over on the television, so I saw Oswald and I said,
"That's the man who came to my place one time, the man who ordered
the lemonade." Evaristo came and said, "Look! That's the man that
assassinated Mr. Kennedy is the one that was here one time."
Mr. LIEBELER. You told this to Rodriguez?
Mr. PENA. No; he told me. I identified to him by the television. I saw
him that day.
Mr. LIEBELER. You recognized Oswald yourself even before Rodriguez came
to you and told you about that; is that right?
Mr. PENA. Yes. When he told me about the lemonade, I took a look at
the customer; took a look and forget about it. No sense in going about
there and discuss with him, and then all of that was forgotten. After
the assassination, we were speaking about that man was here one time.
We used to go to Bringuier's place about the incident that we got with
Oswald, and Bringuier is very much interested. He called--my brother
called Bringuier. We didn't pay any attention until the FBI came one
time and asked me.
Mr. LIEBELER. The FBI did come and ask you about this?