Ch. 10. The Tryall Club and World Commerce Corp.

The genesis of the munitions cartels is found in the following quotations from H. Montgomery Hyde's book, Room 3603. Hyde's book is a biography of the experience of Sir William Stephenson during and after World War II. 

Stephenson was head of British Intelligence in the United States during World War II. Here is what Hyde had to say: (In 1946) Stephenson had gone to live in Jamaica, where he had bought a property at Hillowton, overlooking Montego Bay - "the finest house in the island," he called it. (Incidentally, it was his wife's choice). 

His example was followed by several of his friends, including Lord Beaverbrook, Sir William Wiseman, Noel Coward and Ian Fleming, all of whom acquired estates on Jamaica's beautiful north shore at this time.

For a year or so he showed little interest in the outside world and was content to enjoy life on this island in the sun. Only gradually did he recover his interest in commerce and industry. 

With some of his war-time associates, such as financiers Sir Rex Benson and Sir Charles Hambro in London, General Donovan in Washington, and a number of Canadian and American industrialists like Edward Stettinius, former chairman of the U.S. Steel Corporation, he formed the British-American-Canadian Corporation, which developed into the World Commerce Corporation, originally designed to fill the void left by the break-up of the big German cartels which Stephenson himself had done much to destroy. 

Thus he and his colleagues on the board raised an initial $1,000,000 to help 'bridge over the breakdown in foreign exchange and provide the tools, machinery and "know how" to develop untapped resources in different parts of the world'."

The World Commerce Corporation also played a useful part in the development and rehabilitation of economically backward countries. As one American newspaper editorial put it at the time, "if there were several World Commerce Corporations, there would be no need for a Marshall Plan". Barter trade was facilitated on a massive scale. A typical transaction took place in the Balkans in 1951. Yugoslavia and Bulgaria were short of dollars and also short of medicinal drugs. But each country had about $300,000 worth of paprika on its farms. World Commerce accordingly exchanged a year's supply of penicillin and sulfa for the paprika, which they then sold on other markets. While normally working on a commission basis, the Corporation would sometimes forgo its profit if it felt it could help an impoverished or economically backward country by giving it the facilities of its international connections."

The North Jamaican Hillowton property was later transformed to Tryall, the exclusive club of John Connally, Paul Raigorodsky and many others of the cabal. World Commerce Corporation received funds from the U.S. International Cooperation Agency and worked closely with Clay Shaw's World Trade Development Commission and Permindex's various World Trade Centers. 

George DeMohrenschildt, William Dalsell and a number of the White Russians had worked for I.C.A. for a number of years. This increased De Mohrenschildt's knowledge of the subject of who was behind the conspiracy. The following from Volume XXIV, page 642 of the official Commission evidence is especially interesting since Albert Osborne and Gordon Novel had been reported at Tryall, Jamaica on a number of occasions.

Ylario Rojas continued as follows:

The latter part of December, 1962, the Cuban visited him in Guadalajara, gave him 900 pesos ($72 U.S.), and on the instructions of the Cuban, he proceeded to Cozumel by bus, arriving there shortly after Christmas, 1962. In Cozumel, ROJAS was met by two Cubans, whose names he could not recall, and also by a Cuban woman whose first name was CRISTINA. Although he could not recall the names of the Cubans, he claimed to have them written in a notebook which he lift with DANIEL SOLIS, a municipal policeman in Cozumel, and he affirmed SOLIS would not deliver the notebook to anyone but him.

About December 20, 1962, OSWALD arrived in Cozumel, having proceeded there from Jamaica via Compania Mexicana de Aviation (CMA) Airlines.

OSWALD, the three Cubans, and ROJAS discussed the introduction of Cuban propaganda into Mexico. During the time of these discussions, OSWALD and the three Cubans stayed at the Hotel Playa in Cozumel and ROJAS resided at the home of DANIEL SOLIS.  

OSWALD remained in Cozumel for two or three days and returned to Jamaica by air, and ROJAS and the three Cubans remained in Cozumel until about February 15, 1963, when OSWALD again appeared in Cozumel from Jamaica and on this occasion stayed three days. The day following OSWALD's arrival, an American by the name of ALBERT arrived from Jamaica.

ROJAS claimed the Cuban woman, CRISTINA, told him that she, the other two Cubans OSWALD and ALBERT had discussed the elimination of President KENNEDY. According to ROJAS, she stated OSWALD was in favor of killing President KENNEDY, but ALBERT and the Cubans did not agree with OSWALD. ROJAS was told by CRISTINA that OSWALD had stated to the Cubans that he and ALBERT had laid plans to eliminate the President. 

ALBERT had stayed at the Hotel Isleno in Cozumel and returned to the United States via Jamaica the day after his arrival in Cozumel.

ROJAS claimed to have stayed in Cozumel until early March, 1963, when he returned by bus to Guadalajara.

The officials investigating for the Commission pressured Rojas until he recanted his story. However this action on the part of the investigators is not reliable in that a large amount of hanky panky was going on in the Mexican part of the inquiry. Some of this is reflected in Volume XIV beginning on page 621.

On March 31, 1964, GILBERTO LOZANO GUIZAR, manager of the Mexico City terminal of the Transportes Frontera bus company, Calle Buenavista No. 7, Mexico, D.F., emphatically advised that the original passenger list of manifest relating to departure No. 2 of bus No. 340 on October 2, 1963, of the Transportes Frontera bus company, is an authentic record of data pertaining to that particular trip. . . . . .

He advised that officers of the Presidential Staff appeared at the bus terminal shortly after the assassination of President KENNEDY, seeking to review passenger lists of the bus company for early October, 1963, and it was found at that time that the completed block of forms for most of the month of October, 1963, which included the above described passenger list, was still in the baggage room at the terminal prior to being discarded. He stated he had torn the October 2, 1963 manifest from the block of forms and furnished it to one of the officers.

LOZANO advised that one Lieutenant ARTURO BOSCH, an investigator of the Presidential Staff, had reviewed the above manifest.

LOZANO expressed the opinion that ARTURO BOSCH had filled in the blanks in ink at the top of the form as to the time, destination, trip number, bus number, and date, and had crossed out the date 'November 1', replacing it with the notation 'October 2' which appeared on the manifest. . . . . .

LOZANO stated the hand-printed notation appearing at the bottom of the manifest, 'Driver, DIONISIO REYNA, FCO. SAUCEDO,' was also filled in by BOSCH.

LOZANO advised that there definitely was only one section of bus No. 340 which departed Mexico City at 1:00 pm on October 2, 1963, en route to Monterrey, Mexico, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. He explained that the notation 'Departure 2' appearing on the top of the manifest, which he believed BOSCH had filled out, merely indicated the second departure of a Transportes Frontera bus on that particular day, October 2, 1963. 

The first departure of one of their buses on that day from the Mexico City terminal occurred at 9:00 am with the terminal point being Monterrey, Mexico. 

He stated the second departure of a Transportes Frontera bus from the Mexico City terminal on October 2, 1963, was the departure at 1:00 pm with the terminal point being Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and the passengers on this bus were recorded on the above-mentioned manifest of October 2,1963.

He stated there were three other departures on that day from the Mexico City terminal, the third departure having occurred at 3:30 pm with the terminal point being Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico; the fourth departure having occurred at 9:00 pm with terminal point at Nuevo Laredo; and the fifth departure at 10:00 pm with terminal point being Cuidad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. LOZANO advised the only bus operating on their line which would have arrived at Nuevo Laredo between the hours of 12:00 am and 8:00 am on October 3, 1963, is bus No. 340, which departed from the Mexico City terminal at 1:00 pm on October 2, 1963.

At another point the report goes on:

He (ALEJANDRO SAUCEDO) recalled that shortly after the assassination of President JOHN F. KENNEDY two investigators, whom he described as being with the "Policia Federal Judicial" (Federal Judicial Police), appeared at the Flecha Roja terminal, Mexico, D.F., and requested the original passenger list of bus No. 516 of September 26, 1963, for review. SAUCEDO remembered that the two investigators examined the passenger lists, filed by dates, in a storeroom at the offices of the Flecha Roja bus terminal and found the original copy for the pertinent date and borrowed same. He could not recall the names of the investigators or the exact date they appeared at the office.

SAUCEDO now recalled clearly that these two investigators, whom he could only describe as being "in their thirties," had the duplicate copy of the passenger list which apparently had been at the Flecha Roja bus terminal office in Nuevo Laredo when the trip for September 26, 1963, began. The investigators stated they wanted the original list because the duplicated copy was not completely legible. SAUCEDO stated they had the original and duplicate copy of the passenger manifest for Flecha Roja bus No. 516 for September 26, 1963, when they left.

SAUCEDO stated the investigators did exhibit to him government credentials, agency not recalled, and advised they were interested only in finding the passenger list for the incoming trip of bus No. 516 on September 26, 1963. When SAUCEDO asked them if they were interested in locating a departure trip, they stated they were not, explaining they had just been at the bus terminal of Transportes Frontera in Mexico, D.F., where they had located the passenger list for .I.OSWALD;'S departure from Mexico. . . . . .

During this search and review, an untied, loose bundle dated October 5, 1963, was located thrown aside in a cardboard box on the floor of the storage room outside the bin area. This bundle was reviewed and found to include passenger lists for dates September 21, 1963 to October 5, 1963, but no passenger list for bus No. 516 for September 26, 1963 was found.

The information hereinunder was furnished by T-13:

On March 24, 1963, Captain FERNANDO GUTIERREZ BARRIOS, Assistant Director of the Mexican Federal Security Police (DFS), advised that his agency had conduced no investigation in connection with the travel in Mexico of LEE HARVEY .I.OSWALD; and did not have in its possession any passenger lists from any bus lines . . . . .

SIC TRANSIT GLORIA.