Letters to Oswald from Cuba: Evidence of a CIA Conspiracy?

[John Simkin]

In 1976 Fabian Escalante was appointed as head of the Department of State Security (DSE). Later that year members of the US House of Representatives Select Committee visited Cuba and requested help with investigating the assassination of JFK and MLK. Escalante was asked to oversee this investigation.

See this thread for the background to this investigation:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=8835

In his investigation Escalante discovered that G-2 had a letter that had been sent from Havana to Lee Harvey Oswald on 14th November, 1963. The letter had been found when a fire broke out on 23rd November in the Havana foreign mail sorting office. “After the fire, an employee who was checking the mail in order to offer, where possible, apologies to the addressees of destroyed mail, and to forward the rest, found an envelope addressed to Lee Harvey Oswald.” As this was the day after Oswald was arrested, he handed the letter to his boss, who passed it onto G-2.

The letter, signed by “Jorge” included the following passage: “I am informing you that the matter you talked to me about the last time that I was in Mexico would be a perfect plan and would weaken the politics of that braggart Kennedy, although much discretion is needed because you know that there are counter-revolutionaries over there who are working for the CIA.”

Escalante informed the HSCA about this letter. When he did this he discovered that they had four similar letters that had been sent to Oswald. Four of the letters were post-marked “Havana”. It could not be determined where the fifth letter was posted. Four of the letters were signed: Jorge, Pedro Charles, Miguel Galvan Lopez and Mario del Rosario Molina. Two of the letters (Charles & Jorge) are dated before the assassination (10th and 14th November). A third, by Lopez is dated 27th November, 1963. The other two are undated.

Cuba is linked to the assassination in all the letters. In two of them an alleged Cuban agent is clearly implicated in having planned the crime. However, the content of the letters, written before the assassination, suggested that the authors were either “a person linked to Oswald or involved in the conspiracy to execute the crime.”

This included knowledge about Oswald’s links to Dallas, Miami and Mexico City. The text of the Jorge letter “shows a weak grasp of the Spanish language on the part of its author. It would thus seem to have written in English and then translated”.

Escalante adds: “It is proven that Oswald was not maintaining correspondence, or any other kind of relations, with anyone in Cuba. Furthermore, those letters arrived at their destination at a precise moment and with a conveniently incriminating message, including that sent to his postal address in Dallas, Texas…. The existence of the letters in 1963 was not publicized or duly investigated and the FBI argued before the Warren Commission to reject them.”

Escalante argues: “The letters were fabricated before the assassination occurred and by somebody who was aware of the development of the plot, who could ensure that they arrived at the opportune moment and who had a clandestine base in Cuba from which to undertake the action. Considering the history of the last 40 years, we suppose that only the CIA had such capabilities in Cuba.”

Escalante names the following CIA officers who he believes might have been involved in this conspiracy: David Atlee Phillips, Howard Hunt, David Sanchez Morales and Richard Helms.

[Ashton Gray]

those letters arrived at their destination at a precise moment and with a conveniently incriminating message, including that sent to his postal address in Dallas, Texas….

Omitted is the addresses used on each of the five letters. Could you list each letter chronologically, with the attributed authorship of each, and the address used on each for Lee Harvey Oswald? It would be of inestimable value.

Ashton

[John Simkin]

those letters arrived at their destination at a precise moment and with a conveniently incriminating message, including that sent to his postal address in Dallas, Texas….

Omitted is the addresses used on each of the five letters. Could you list each letter chronologically, with the attributed authorship of each, and the address used on each for Lee Harvey Oswald? It would be of inestimable value.

There is no sender address in any of the five letters.

The Pedro Charles’ letter was sent to Oswald in Dallas.

Jorge’s letter was sent to Oswald in Miami.

It might interest you to know that on page 34 of the book that one of the two CIA officers who supervised the Manuel Artime operation in 1963 was James McCord of Watergate fame. The other CIA officer was Howard Hunt.

[Ashton Gray]

those letters arrived at their destination at a precise moment and with a conveniently incriminating message, including that sent to his postal address in Dallas, Texas….

Omitted is the addresses used on each of the five letters. Could you list each letter chronologically, with the attributed authorship of each, and the address used on each for Lee Harvey Oswald? It would be of inestimable value.

There is no sender address in any of the five letters.

The Pedro Charles’ letter was sent to Oswald in Dallas.

Jorge’s letter was sent to Oswald in Miami.

It might interest you to know that on page 34 of the book that one of the two CIA officers who supervised the Manuel Artime operation in 1963 was James McCord of Watergate fame. The other CIA officer was Howard Hunt.

There was a misunderstanding. I've replied in detail to your identical message in the other thread, Letters to Oswald from Cuba: Evidence of a CIA Conspiracy?

Thanks.

Ashton

[Robert Charles-Dunne]

Omitted is the addresses used on each of the five letters. Could you list each letter chronologically, with the attributed authorship of each, and the address used on each for Lee Harvey Oswald? It would be of inestimable value.

Ashton

Ashton:

Anthony Marsh dealt with this one his website, where photocopies of each are also viewable:

http://home.comcast.net/~the_puzzle_palace/cubahoax.htm

A series of letters were mailed from Havana, Cuba which suggested that Oswald was working for Cuban intelligence. The first letter was postmarked November 28, 1963 from Havana, Cuba addressed to Lee Oswald. It was signed by a "Pedro Charles" and dated November 10, 1963. It appeared to discuss the upcoming assassination.

In addition to personal chit-chat it contained references to Oswald's great markmanship, the job that he was going to do, the money he had been paid, and how proud the "Chief" would be. U.S. intelligence considered the "Chief" to be a reference to Fidel Castro. But there were a few tip-offs which indicated the letter was not genuine. The letter was sent to Lee Oswald c/o "Mail Office", Dallas, Texas. And the FBI and CIA could not find anyone named Pedro Charles in Cuba. A second letter also postmarked November 28, 1963 was mailed from Havana, Cuba to Attorney General Robert Kennedy alleging that a Cuban agent named Pedro Charles had met with Oswald in Miami several months previously and paid him $7,000 to assassinate the President. This letter was signed by a "Mario del Rosario Molina."

But FBI analysis revealed that both the Molina letter and the Pedro Charles letter had been typed on the same typewriter, a Remington Number 10, large Pica type, mailed in envelopes from the same batch, postmarked at the same place, and signed with the same type of pen and ink. And again there was no such person as Mario del Rosario Molina.

Later analysis by Cuban intelligence identified the unique characteristics of the typewriter used for both letters. In particular they noted that the "a" key had a characteristic wear mark. This was presented at a conference in Havana in 1995. Two more letters were sent from Havana, postmarked December 3, 1963 and signed by a "Miguel Galban Lopez." One was addressed to Voice of America and the other to the Editor of the "Diario del New York." Both letters announced that it was Pedro Charles who paid Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate the President. The FBI examined all four letters and concluded that they probably represented a hoax by anti-Castro groups to blame the assassination on Cuba. But the most amazing thing is that it took Hoover so long to catch onto the fact that these letters were a hoax. On December 12, 1963 the very day that his lab was informing him that the Pedro Charles letters were a hoax, he was citing them to his closest aides as the reason why he felt that the FBI report should not conclude that there was no conspiracy. Although Hoover was personally satisfied that Oswald alone had fired all the shots, he still suspected that Oswald was working on behalf of someone, in particular Castro, based on those letters.

This was the reason for the cover-up of the JFK assassination, not because US officials thought that Oswald acted alone, but because they thought that he was acting on behalf of Castro and if that fact ever became public, it would lead to WWIII.

[John Simkin]

But FBI analysis revealed that both the Molina letter and the Pedro Charles letter had been typed on the same typewriter, a Remington Number 10, large Pica type, mailed in envelopes from the same batch, postmarked at the same place, and signed with the same type of pen and ink. And again there was no such person as Mario del Rosario Molina.

Anthony Marsh is writing about the four letters discovered by the FBI in 1963. He was unaware of the "Jorge" letter that was in the G-2 archives. According to the FBI the Pedro Charles and Molina letters were typed on a Remington Number 10, large Pica type. Tests by G-2 suggest the Jorge letter was typed on the same machine.

Later analysis by Cuban intelligence identified the unique characteristics of the typewriter used for both letters. In particular they noted that the "a" key had a characteristic wear mark. This was presented at a conference in Havana in 1995. Two more letters were sent from Havana, postmarked December 3, 1963 and signed by a "Miguel Galban Lopez." One was addressed to Voice of America and the other to the Editor of the "Diario del New York." Both letters announced that it was Pedro Charles who paid Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate the President. The FBI examined all four letters and concluded that they probably represented a hoax by anti-Castro groups to blame the assassination on Cuba. But the most amazing thing is that it took Hoover so long to catch onto the fact that these letters were a hoax. On December 12, 1963 the very day that his lab was informing him that the Pedro Charles letters were a hoax, he was citing them to his closest aides as the reason why he felt that the FBI report should not conclude that there was no conspiracy. Although Hoover was personally satisfied that Oswald alone had fired all the shots, he still suspected that Oswald was working on behalf of someone, in particular Castro, based on those letters.

Escalante argues that they did not have enough information to investigate Pedro Charles (or Jorge). However, they did trace every example of Miguel Galvan Lopez and Mario del Rosario Molina in Cuba. He argues that none of those traced could have possibly sent the letters.

This was the reason for the cover-up of the JFK assassination, not because US officials thought that Oswald acted alone, but because they thought that he was acting on behalf of Castro and if that fact ever became public, it would lead to WWIII.

The reason that Hoover and the Warren Commission suppressed information on these letters had nothing to do with the fact that they realized they were part of a "hoax". It was because of the dates on the letters and the time that they arrived in the United States. It is clear that all four (and the Jorge letter) were all written before the assassination. Therefore, the author/s knew that Oswald was being set-up as a patsy. The letters therefore told the FBI that Oswald was not a lone gunman. The idea that LBJ and Hoover covered this up because they feared if the real assassins were discovered, it would lead to WWIII is absurb for anyone who knows anything about politics or foreign policy in the 1960s. LBJ and Hoover knew that the case against Castro would never stand up under any proper investigation. What would be revealed was that someone was trying to set up Castro? As Escalante points out in his book, only the CIA had the ability to do this. Only LBJ and the FBI had the means to cover this fact up. This is the issue that the House Select Committee on Assassinations refused to look into.

[John Simkin]

The transparency of the conspiracy means the letters were to implicate anti-castroites. They certainly indicate a conspiracy. But what type of conspiracy?

The letters focus on those who were NOT behind the assassination. Had the true room beyond the room full of mirrors and smoke been opened, the US would have descended into Civil War. They had a hard enough time trying to contain it during the coming decade of long hot chicago style summers.

And what do beleaguered Governments do? They declare martial law. The contradictions that were tearing the US apart would surface and the SWP and CPUSA would move to war footing. Preemptive first strike on the Soviet Union would follow and 40 million US citicans would die.

That is what the WC was all about

The letters were clearly not very professional. Escalante argues that an analysis of the “Jorge” letter suggests that it was written by someone who did not have Spanish as a first language.

However, the fact that the letters were written before the assassination suggests that the person who wrote the letter knew about the conspiracy to kill JFK. According to your argument, these people were against the anti-Castrolites - in other words, pro-Castro. Therefore, the people behind the assassination were pro-Castro who wanted to blame it on the anti-Castro community. However, they did not do this directly and for the plan to succeed, they had to rely on the FBI to work out that the letters were forgeries. How could they guarantee that all this would happen?

A more logical explanation is that the people who set up Oswald were fairly incompetent but knew that the FBI and the CIA would take the necessary steps to cover-up for them.

Another possibility is that the assassination was planned by highly competent members of the CIA. However, they set up several groups of people: pro-Castro, anti-Castro, LBJ, the communists, the far-right (Bernard Weissman), the Texas oil millionaires, etc. It was then left up to the FBI to decide who to blame. It did not matter who it was as long as it was not the CIA. If this was the strategy, it worked as all the false trials has kept researchers busy and confused for over 40 years.

[John Dolva]

No, John, I'm not saying that at all. The conspirators were happy to have anyone but themselves implicated. Logically 'Castro did it' was recognised as a shaky notion. Let the anti Castroites who were basically spics bear the brunt. They can take it and as there is no evidence to support the notion they'll pull through. Look how well people like Bosch have fared. No probs there.

"Kill the 'niggerloving-catholic-pinko' president, have it done by a 'communist', have him done away by a 'kike' mobster and blame it on the 'spics'." this is very much the nature of hate crimes. There doesn't have to be a sophisticated political understanding as far as the actual killers go. Lumpen elements such as KKK, White Supremacists, and so on, do it for basic reasons, their social 'superiors' in Civic life (Citizens Coulcils etc) such as the Good 'ole Boys can do the organising.

Putting things mildly, there are groupings that don't have to be Pro or Anti-Castro in order to benefit from people focusing on the struggles between left and right.

One is the old status quo in the Southern states that Kennedy, with his proven, firm, stand on equality and Civil Rights, was threatening to legislate out of existence.

I think most people instinctively identifie them as behind the assassination and strangely enough no investigation has exhaustively explored that.

On the contrary, today, very few even begin to consider it because the usual subjects unofficially AND officially given prominence are the Cuba centric theories.

Edited December 16, 2006 by John Dolva