Ricardo Setaro

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Ricardo Manlio Leonidas Setaro (1903–1975) was an Argentinian who served as deputy chief of the Latin American department of CBS Radio during World War II and maintained a covert relationship with Soviet intelligence, including Iosif Grigulevich. Setaro entered the United States in 1942 to study journalism. He had previously operated a news agency in Buenos Aires which distributed TASS News Agency dispatches. A 1943 deciphered Venona message identifies Setaro as a courier for KGB funds which list as expenditures "maintenance of the Apparat" and "operational work".

CBS is an American English language commercial broadcast television and radio network that is a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major production facilities and operations in New York City and Los Angeles.

World War II 1939–1945 global war

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, abbreviated NKVD, was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.

A 1944 New York KGB message to Moscow stated,

Setaro is working as deputy chief of the Latin American department of the Columbia Broadcasting System. He was used by us earlier for the most part on liaison with Arthur, as a meeting point for couriers. At the same time we used him on the processing of Latin American (seventeen groups unrecoverable) as a CPUSA member. We are using him here on the processing of the CBS and of the diplomatic representation of the United States in the Latin America.

Diplomacy art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states

Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of states. It usually refers to international diplomacy, the conduct of international relations through the intercession of professional diplomats with regard to a full range of topical issues. International treaties are usually negotiated by diplomats prior to endorsement by national politicians. David Stevenson reports that by 1900 the term "diplomats" also covered diplomatic services, consular services and foreign ministry officials.

"Processing", in KGB parlance, means obtaining background information. Setaro is associated with the Council for Pan American Democracy, a group listed in the March 1948 Federal Register vol. 13 list of subversive organizations, commonly known as the Attorney General's List.

After leaving CBS Setaro was employed for a short period with Nicola Napoli by Artkino Pictures, Inc., the sole distributing agent in the Western Hemisphere for Soviet films. In 1947 he returned to Argentina and edited a Communist newspaper.

Nicola Napoli, was the President of Artkino Pictures, Inc., the primary distributor of Soviet films in the United States, Canada, Central America and South America from 1940 to 1982. Napoli was a double agent Soviet Spy for the United states. As part of his role he was a member of Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) and is known to have passed classified Soviet intelligence information (NKVDUS) to US intelligence during World War II. He was the secretary for the Anti-Facists movement in, New York.

Venona

Setaro's cover names assigned by Soviet intelligence and deciphered by NSA cryptographers are GONETS (translated means EXPRESS MESSENGER or COURIER), JEAN, and ZHAN. Setaro is referenced in the following Venona project decryptions:

764, 765 KGB New York to Moscow, 24 May 1943; 886 KGB New York to Moscow, 9 June 1943; 967–968 KGB New York to Moscow, 22 June 1943; 1234 KGB New York to Moscow, 29 August 1944; 1403 KGB New York to Moscow, 5 October 1944.

Ricardo Manlio Leonidas Setaro, 1903-1975 [alias "Leonidas Labanca"] Ricardo Setaro, born on January 1, 1903 in the Argentine province of Mendoza was attracted in his youth by the modern city of Buenos Aires. There he enjoyed its cosmopolitan activities. He had actively participated at an early stage in both journalism and literature.

Later he was active in the movie industry, but it were those early activities in which he excelled.

When he moved to Buenos Aires he joined the Martin Fierro Literary Group. He worked for several newspapers of the capital and his home province, and he finally joined the team at the newspaper Critica, where he excelled and had many friends. Representing Critica he was correspondent to the war fronts of Paraguay [Chaco War] and Spain [Civil War].

Upon returning to his country he was appointed Director of the newspaper La Nueva España, local spokesman that supported the Spanish Republic. Additionally, he was Editor Director of the newspaper La Hora. He was also press correspondent for the newspapers La Novela Semanal, Los Andes (de Mendoza), Reconquista, Nueva Revista, El País (Córdoba), El Atlántico (B. Blanca), El Popular, La Opinión Cultural, El Líder, Daily Worker, Harpers Magazine, Inter-Continent News (US) and "Die Welt (El Mundo) y La Voz de Madrid (Spain). He also wrote a large number of articles for various newspapers and magazines of his country and abroad about many topics.

As a result of his professional experience at the Paraguay-Bolivia war he publishes in 1935 "Imágenes secretas de la guerra del Chaco" [secret images of the Chaco war], 1935 y "Secretos de Estado Mayor" [Secrets of the Joint Chiefs of Staff], 1936. Later he wrote "La vida privada del periodismo" [private life of journalism].

During the Second World War he informed the regional Spanish speaking audience about its events from the "Cadena de las Americas", short wave radio of the Columbia Broadcasting System, in New York, USA. Later he was deputy chief of the Latin American department of CBS Radio during World War II. He also attended the International House in New York City in 1942. At the University of Columbia, in NY, he studied Journalism. He also wrote two articles for Harpers magazine on the situation in Argentina as a result of the 1943 Revolution conducted by the nationalist GOU Group and Gral. JD Peron.

In literary fiction, a type which he developed successfully, he wrote "El alma que se apresuró", of which the Newspaper La Nacion of Buenos Aires said in 1928 that it showed a flexible talent, somehow mocking and deep, but not ordinary. He also published "El degollador de fantasmas".

In cinema, he produced the movies "Hombres a precio", about journalism in Argentina, Patrulla Norte , filmed in the Argentine province of Formosa about the activities of the border patrol (Gendarmería Nacional), "Mis cinco hijos" about the life of the five Alonso brothers and Violencia en la ciudad about crime in city, that was never released.

Setaro excelled in all his activities and he is remembered as belonging to a generation focused on addressing the key problems of the era. He died in 1975.

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