The Silent Conspiracy

[Jon Banks]

Secondly, how in the world could Castro have known in advance that Oswald wanted to kill Kennedy, when Oswald, on the one hand, couldn't have known that Kennedy was coming to Dallas until it was announced, only a few days earlier, and, on the other hand, there is no known evidence that even remotely shows that Oswald intended to kill Kennedy at another location than Dallas.



...Jack Childs’s Operation SOLO report to the FBI, and a second by the British journalist, about Oswald’s shouted threat to kill Kennedy...  [as he angrily left the Cuban Consulate in Mexico City]

And, LHO had the phone number of Sylvia Duran in his pocket sized address book...

Once LHO had devised his plan, all he needed to do was pick up a pay phone and alert her... quite feasible...

FWIW, one of the people who lived at the Rooming House where Oswald stayed recalled him speaking Spanish (not Russian) on the phone sometimes.

If true, who was he speaking to in Spanish?

I don’t think it can be ruled out that Oswald was in contact with Cuban Intelligence. There’s other circumstantial evidence that links him to the Cubans too...

[Thomas Graves]

I wrote/asked what does Crenshaw know about Oswald's visit to Mexico City? The topic is whether Oswald threatened to kill JFK when he was at the Cuban consulate. And in general what happened to him when he was there.

You brought up Crenshaw. I asked what does he know about the above? If you've got something, then present it. Otherwise this is just hijacking a pretty good thread. If you started a post on Crenshaw's book and someone mentioned Latell's book or another topic you wouldn't like it. Correctly so. So, start a thread on his book.

As to reading other books: that's remarkable since you've made several comments about the book that was being discussed yet never read it. I would suggest you follow your own suggestions.

Reading books is worthless if one doesn't have the intelligence to discern fact from fiction. Your problem is your incredible credulity over the crackpot conspiracy books you have read.

[emphasis added by MWT]

Steve M.,

What difference would it make if (an alleged) Oswald at the Cuban EMBASSY rather than at the Cuban CONSULATE threatened to kill JFK?

Going from memory here, but didn't credit investigator Pedro Gutierrez Valencia say he saw a Cuban hand Oswald a significant amount of money right after they'd left the Cuban EMBASSY, and right before they drove off together in a car?

And didn't Theresa Proenza work as a cultural attache at the Cuban EMBASSY?

Didn't she say she spoke with Oswald right after he entered the Cuban EMBASSY?

--  MWT 

[Jon Banks]

I do find it more than plausible, indeed I think it's likely, that IF Oswald mentioned that he had knowledge on or about anti-Castro groups (the DRE or others, e.g. the Silvio Odio alleged encounter?) that that would have drawn the interest of DGI agents in Mexico City. As Latell pointed out, Castro's people had infiltrated almost all of those groups; it was a key aim of the Cuban intelligence. And Mexico City was reportedly a critical location for Cuban intelligence operations. Oswald was desperate to get to Cuba; it's certainly conceivable to me that he would dangle such information (real or fake) to the Cubans in hopes of getting allowed into the country.

But that's the key point: he wasn't given the transit visa. He was told to leave. So these possibilities hit the wall. They don't add up.

You are correct that Cuban Intel had deeply penetrated the Cuban Exile community in the US.

Which leads to more questions about foreknowledge of JFK’s assassination.

Like for example, maybe the tip about an attempt on Kennedy in Dallas came from the Cuban Exiles in Dallas, not Oswald.

[Charles Collins]

A quote from Latell’s book that indicates just one of the many news items that LHO likely read that fall. These were probably adding fuel to the revolutionary fire burning in LHO.

[On Monday September 9th]:

In New Orleans, where Lee Harvey Oswald was a regular newspaper reader, the Times Picayune carried the story on page 7. Its headline was: “Castro Blasts Raids on Cuba; Says US Leaders Imperiled by Aid to Rebels.”

[Steve M. Galbraith]

You are correct that Cuban Intel had deeply penetrated the Cuban Exile community in the US.

Which leads to more questions about foreknowledge of JFK’s assassination.

Like for example, maybe the tip about an attempt on Kennedy in Dallas came from the Cuban Exiles in Dallas, not Oswald.

Maybe, but I would think that if Castro received a tip that the exiles were going to kill JFK that he would have revealed that. Certainly after the assassination if not before.

After all, Castro claimed that "rightist elements" killed JFK. I'm sure he would have accused the exiles of doing if if he had evidence.

[Jon Banks]

Maybe, but I would think that if Castro received a tip that the exiles were going to kill JFK that he would have revealed that. Certainly after the assassination if not before.

After all, Castro claimed that "rightist elements" killed JFK. I'm sure he would have accused the exiles of doing if if he had evidence.

I think most people, including Castro, consider Cuban Exiles "rightwing elements". They're generally the most rightwing group among Latino Americans.

I'm not totally convinced by the claims that Castro personally had foreknowledge of JFK's assassination (based on his first speculative comments about the Kennedy assassination he seemed as confused by the events as anyone else) but it seems plausible that Cuban Intelligence agents were in contact with Oswald.

But given how much Cuban Intel knew about Cuban Exile groups in the US, it seems more plausible that any alleged tips in advance about the Kennedy assassination could've came via other sources.

[Jon Banks]

A quote from Latell’s book that indicates just one of the many news items that LHO likely read that fall. These were probably adding fuel to the revolutionary fire burning in LHO.

[On Monday September 9th]:

In New Orleans, where Lee Harvey Oswald was a regular newspaper reader, the Times Picayune carried the story on page 7. Its headline was: “Castro Blasts Raids on Cuba; Says US Leaders Imperiled by Aid to Rebels.”

Post Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis, why would news of raids on Cuba be a game-changer for Oswald?

And given his propensity for seeking out (and sometimes Trolling) Cuban Exile groups, why didn't he turn his ire against them directly?

[Charles Collins]

Post Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis, why would news of raids on Cuba be a game-changer for Oswald?

And given his propensity for seeking out (and sometimes Trolling) Cuban Exile groups, why didn't he turn his ire against them directly?

It wasn’t a game changer for Oswald. Here is a quote from the introduction of  Latell’s book “Castro’s Secrets” that I think paints a good picture of LHO’s apparent mindset:


The Cuban revolution had beckoned and intrigued Oswald since the last year of his military service. He was assigned before Christmas in 1958 to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, near Santa Ana in Southern California, just as Fidel Castro was seizing power in Cuba. Oswald spent the next nine months at El Toro, becoming progressively more enamored of his bearded hero even as Castro’s revolution was spiraling into greater violence and confrontation with the United States. It was a transformational period for the impressionable young Marine. He delved deeper into Marxist literature, became more alienated from the country where he sensed he could never fit in, and immersed himself in news coming out of Havana. “Cuba interested him more than most other situations,” a Marine officer who had a degree in international relations recalled. “He was fairly well informed.”2 The interest was not just academic. Oswald and Marine buddy Nelson Delgado dreamed of going to Cuba to take up arms for Castro. They would fight for him, either in defense of his revolution or in a guerrilla incursion of the kind being sponsored by Cuba to topple rival Caribbean dictatorships. The two young Marines were following the exploits of William Morgan, an American army veteran and adventurer who became a high-ranking commander in Castro’s insurgent forces and, after their victory, went on to help defeat a counterrevolutionary plot against Fidel. Oswald was remarkably like Morgan. Both were brooding social misfits, high school dropouts and dreamers—wanderers attracted to high-risk, violent conflicts. They had both been court-martialed and delighted in rebelling against authority. Morgan redeemed himself, however, by starting a new life when he committed to Castro in early 1958. A year later Oswald hoped to do the same. He fantasized that he might become famous too: Morgan had attracted considerable attention as the swashbuckling “Americano” in a cast of colorful comandantes led by Fidel and Che Guevara.3