Wilfried Huismann’s “The Plot to Kill JFK: The Cuban Connection”

[John Simkin]

I watched last night Wilfried Huismann’s “The Plot to Kill JFK: The Cuban Connection” The original title in German was “Rendezvous mit dem Tod: Warum John F. Kennedy sterben musste”.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498709/

The film that I saw used an English narrator, Jim Carter (coincidently, a friend’s former husband). Carter claims that the film is the result of many years research by the German director, Wilfried Huismann. However, the script is written by Gus Russo and he is credited as being a co-producer of the film.

The film starts with a FBI wire-taped recording of two Cubans joyfully talking about the assassination of JFK. The two people are never identified and could easily have been members of the anti-Castro Cuban community. Even if they were pro-Castro, as implied by the film, it is of no relevance to what follows.

We are then told very briefly that there is a LBJ memo that states that it is believed that Fabian Escalante of the Cuban G2, was in Dallas on the day of the assassination. Escalante is interviewed by Huismann in the film. He does not ask him about this claim on film (I expect he did but it was left out because he did not like the answer). He does comment about other evidence that apparently links G2 to the assassination but more of that later.

Huismann’s main source for his theory that the assassination of JFK was carried out by G2 was an unidentified former Cuban agent given the name Oscar Marino. Marino is filmed in the dark from behind. He argues that G2 recruited Oswald to kill JFK and that Escalante met him in Mexico City. Marino says that he is unsure if Castro ordered the assassination.

Escalante is asked about this claim. He finds the idea ridiculous and claims he had never visited Mexico City. Huismann provides an interview with a Cuban exile who claims he saw Escalante in Mexico.

Huismann argues that he met a KGB agent in Austria. He showed him a document that states in 1962 the KGB thought that Oswald was a suspicious character and that they asked G2 to monitor his activities in the US. It was not explained why G2 should be given this job. Escalante also dismisses this idea and says the document the KGB agent showed Huismann must be a forgery.

Huismann shows a brief clip of an interview with the American journalist Daniel Harker who claimed that Castro threatened to have JFK killed. This claim has been dealt with by Dick Russell in his article JFK and the Cuban Connection (March, 1996):

In September 1963, Rolando Cubela travelled to Brazil to meet with CIA contacts about killing Castro. Simultaneously, an American journalist, Daniel Harker, interviewed Castro at a gathering inside Havana's Brazilian Embassy. Harker's article quoted Castro saying: "United States leaders should think that if they assist in terrorist plans to eliminate Cuban leaders, they themselves will not be safe." The story, widely disseminated in the US press, would be used by right-wing elements as evidence that Cuba was behind the assassination. But Escalante says the article was a distortion. He says what Castro really stated was: "American leaders should be careful because [the anti-Castro operations] were something nobody could control." He was not threatening JFK, but warning him.

Sam Halpern is also interviewed in the film. He states that the attempt to assassinate Castro was a Robert Kennedy operation. (Halpern argues that it is possible that JFK was unaware of this covert operation). Although Halpern does not say it, the narrator provides the opinion that Castro discovered details of this plot and therefore decided to get his revenge by killing JFK. He adds that this helps to explain why RFK goes along with the cover-up as he does not want to believe that his operation resulted in the death of his brother.

Huismann then looks at Oswald and points out that he was a Marxist, fled to the Soviet Union, returned to the US, formed the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans and then tried to assassinate General Edwin Walker. This, according to Huismann, made him an ideal candidate for the G2 to recruit to kill JFK. (Personally, I would have thought his profile would mean that he was the last person G2 would have employed to carry out this deed.)

Huismann claimed that the conspirators discovered the route of JFK’s motorcade through Dallas. Oswald was ordered to find a job in a company with a building on JFK’s route. After sending in several applications he was finally given a job in the Texas School Book Depository. (Remember, this script has been written by Russo who must be aware of how Oswald really got the job.)

Another major source for Huismann is Lawrence Keenan, the FBI agent who was sent by Hoover to Mexico City following the assassination. Keenan admits that he did not carry out a full investigation into Oswald activities in Mexico City. Keenan claims that the reason for this was because Hoover/LBJ wanted Oswald to be seen as the lone-gunman and not part of any larger conspiracy.

Huismann goes to Mexico City with Keenan. They ask to see the archives concerning Oswald’s stay in Mexico. Surprisingly they are given a few documents. Keenan then reads out from one document suggesting a link between Oswald and G2. Huismann then claims that the Mexican authorities decided they had made a mistake and took back these documents and tell them to leave the building.

Keenan tells Huismann that in 1963 he was told that the reason for this cover-up was that LBJ believed that Castro was behind the assassination and he feared that if this became public, it would result in a nuclear war. Surprisingly, Huismann/Russo did not use the LBJ telephone tapes where he tells his friends that he fears that a full-investigation of the assassination would trigger off a nuclear war, to back-up their theory.

Alexander Haig is also interviewed in the film. He claims that LBJ became convinced within a few days that Castro was behind the assassination of JFK. However, he gives another explanation for the cover-up. He claims that LBJ feared a right-wing uprising in America if this information became public.

The last part of the film concentrates on looking at who was running Oswald. Oscar Marino claims that the man within G2 who managed Oswald was none other than Rolando Cubela. Marino claimed that Cubela was a double agent and was only pretending to be working for the CIA.

Huismann interviews Cubela in Spain. He is accosted as he is walking along a street near his home in Madrid. Cubela talks openly about his involvement with the CIA plot to kill Castro. He is not asked why Castro allowed him to leave Cuba alive after making this confession while in captivity. Finally, Cubela is asked if he met with Oswald in Mexico City where he instructed him to assassinate JFK. Cubela admits to visited Mexico but denied he ever met Oswald or was involved in the assassination of JFK.

I think it is highly likely that Cubela was only pretending to work for the CIA in 1963. This explains the way Castro responded to the outing of Cubela by the CIA. After all, Castro is not known for his forgiving nature. However, if Cubela was playing this role, he would be the last person G2 would use to recruit Oswald. They would have known that the CIA would have been suspicious of Cubela’s true motives and he would have been kept under close surveillance.

The film ends with another clip of the Sam Halpern interview. Halpern says he met Castro a few years ago. He added that he liked the man who he considered to be extremely intelligent. Halpern smiled that after outlasting eight presidents, Castro was the clear winner of the struggle between Cuba and the United States.

[Mark Stapleton]

I watched last night Wilfried Huismann’s “The Plot to Kill JFK: The Cuban Connection” The original title in German was “Rendezvous mit dem Tod: Warum John F. Kennedy sterben musste”.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498709/

The film that I saw used an English narrator, Jim Carter (coincidently, a friend’s former husband). Carter claims that the film is the result of many years research by the German director, Wilfried Huismann. However, the script is written by Gus Russo and he is credited as being a co-producer of the film.

The film starts with a FBI wire-taped recording of two Cubans joyfully talking about the assassination of JFK. The two people are never identified and could easily have been members of the anti-Castro Cuban community. Even if they were pro-Castro, as implied by the film, it is of no relevance to what follows.

We are then told very briefly that there is a LBJ memo that states that it is believed that Fabian Escalante of the Cuban G2, was in Dallas on the day of the assassination. Escalante is interviewed by Huismann in the film. He does not ask him about this claim on film (I expect he did but it was left out because he did not like the answer). He does comment about other evidence that apparently links G2 to the assassination but more of that later.

Huismann’s main source for his theory that the assassination of JFK was carried out by G2 was an unidentified former Cuban agent given the name Oscar Marino. Marino is filmed in the dark from behind. He argues that G2 recruited Oswald to kill JFK and that Escalante met him in Mexico City. Marino says that he is unsure if Castro ordered the assassination.

Escalante is asked about this claim. He finds the idea ridiculous and claims he had never visited Mexico City. Huismann provides an interview with a Cuban exile who claims he saw Escalante in Mexico.

Huismann argues that he met a KGB agent in Austria. He showed him a document that states in 1962 the KGB thought that Oswald was a suspicious character and that they asked G2 to monitor his activities in the US. It was not explained why G2 should be given this job. Escalante also dismisses this idea and says the document the KGB agent showed Huismann must be a forgery.

Huismann shows a brief clip of an interview with the American journalist Daniel Harker who claimed that Castro threatened to have JFK killed. This claim has been dealt with by Dick Russell in his article JFK and the Cuban Connection (March, 1996):

In September 1963, Rolando Cubela travelled to Brazil to meet with CIA contacts about killing Castro. Simultaneously, an American journalist, Daniel Harker, interviewed Castro at a gathering inside Havana's Brazilian Embassy. Harker's article quoted Castro saying: "United States leaders should think that if they assist in terrorist plans to eliminate Cuban leaders, they themselves will not be safe." The story, widely disseminated in the US press, would be used by right-wing elements as evidence that Cuba was behind the assassination. But Escalante says the article was a distortion. He says what Castro really stated was: "American leaders should be careful because [the anti-Castro operations] were something nobody could control." He was not threatening JFK, but warning him.

Sam Halpern is also interviewed in the film. He states that the attempt to assassinate Castro was a Robert Kennedy operation. (Halpern argues that it is possible that JFK was unaware of this covert operation). Although Halpern does not say it, the narrator provides the opinion that Castro discovered details of this plot and therefore decided to get his revenge by killing JFK. He adds that this helps to explain why RFK goes along with the cover-up as he does not want to believe that his operation resulted in the death of his brother.

Huismann then looks at Oswald and points out that he was a Marxist, fled to the Soviet Union, returned to the US, formed the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans and then tried to assassinate General Edwin Walker. This, according to Huismann, made him an ideal candidate for the G2 to recruit to kill JFK. (Personally, I would have thought his profile would mean that he was the last person G2 would have employed to carry out this deed.)

Huismann claimed that the conspirators discovered the route of JFK’s motorcade through Dallas. Oswald was ordered to find a job in a company with a building on JFK’s route. After sending in several applications he was finally given a job in the Texas School Book Depository. (Remember, this script has been written by Russo who must be aware of how Oswald really got the job.)

Another major source for Huismann is Lawrence Keenan, the FBI agent who was sent by Hoover to Mexico City following the assassination. Keenan admits that he did not carry out a full investigation into Oswald activities in Mexico City. Keenan claims that the reason for this was because Hoover/LBJ wanted Oswald to be seen as the lone-gunman and not part of any larger conspiracy.

Huismann goes to Mexico City with Keenan. They ask to see the archives concerning Oswald’s stay in Mexico. Surprisingly they are given a few documents. Keenan then reads out from one document suggesting a link between Oswald and G2. Huismann then claims that the Mexican authorities decided they had made a mistake and took back these documents and tell them to leave the building.

Keenan tells Huismann that in 1963 he was told that the reason for this cover-up was that LBJ believed that Castro was behind the assassination and he feared that if this became public, it would result in a nuclear war. Surprisingly, Huismann/Russo did not use the LBJ telephone tapes where he tells his friends that he fears that a full-investigation of the assassination would trigger off a nuclear war, to back-up their theory.

Alexander Haig is also interviewed in the film. He claims that LBJ became convinced within a few days that Castro was behind the assassination of JFK. However, he gives another explanation for the cover-up. He claims that LBJ feared a right-wing uprising in America if this information became public.

The last part of the film concentrates on looking at who was running Oswald. Oscar Marino claims that the man within G2 who managed Oswald was none other than Rolando Cubela. Marino claimed that Cubela was a double agent and was only pretending to be working for the CIA.

Huismann interviews Cubela in Spain. He is accosted as he is walking along a street near his home in Madrid. Cubela talks openly about his involvement with the CIA plot to kill Castro. He is not asked why Castro allowed him to leave Cuba alive after making this confession while in captivity. Finally, Cubela is asked if he met with Oswald in Mexico City where he instructed him to assassinate JFK. Cubela admits to visited Mexico but denied he ever met Oswald or was involved in the assassination of JFK.

I think it is highly likely that Cubela was only pretending to work for the CIA in 1963. This explains the way Castro responded to the outing of Cubela by the CIA. After all, Castro is not known for his forgiving nature. However, if Cubela was playing this role, he would be the last person G2 would use to recruit Oswald. They would have known that the CIA would have been suspicious of Cubela’s true motives and he would have been kept under close surveillance.

The film ends with another clip of the Sam Halpern interview. Halpern says he met Castro a few years ago. He added that he liked the man who he considered to be extremely intelligent. Halpern smiled that after outlasting eight presidents, Castro was the clear winner of the struggle between Cuba and the United States.

Westdeutscher Rundfunk produced it. They seem to be a production company that makes mainly German movies. Without knowing who has controlling interest in that company, it's hard to know whether any sinister motives can be attributed to this effort.

Probably just a harmless diversion. If they seriously expect the public to believe Castro was behind it, it's just a nice, scary work of fiction.

[Tim Gratz]

Well olf course you think they are fools, Peter. Anyone who disagrees with you must be a fool.

But the answer to your question is "Yes" it is the same man who did the Marita film.

By the way, the potential of Escalante involvement in the assassination is important and one reason why I think it is significant that he lied about the alleged Cuesta confession. Now ThAT is disinformation. The question is whether he was simply attempting to dirty the anti-Castro exiles or if there was a more significant reason.

[Tim Gratz]

Speaking of Cubela, there is reliable information that it was Cubela who intervened to allow Trafficante to be released from Trescornia to attend his daughter's wedding.

So we have Trafficante ties to Cubela and Jack Ruby.

Certainly not proof of the plot but a pair of interesting associations.

[John Simkin]

Speaking of Cubela, there is reliable information that it was Cubela who intervened to allow Trafficante to be released from Trescornia to attend his daughter's wedding.

So we have Trafficante ties to Cubela and Jack Ruby.

Certainly not proof of the plot but a pair of interesting associations.

Why would Trafficante and Jack Ruby not want Oswald to be seen as in the pay of Castro? I thought the Mafia wanted the US to remove Castro so they could get back their profitable business in gambling and prostitution in Cuba. Along with the right-wing leadership of the CIA and the FBI, it was in the interests of of the Mafia to blame Castro for the assassination.

[Tim Gratz]

John, I do not think the mafia involvement, if there was (hey, let's be conservative) had anything to do with getting the casinos back.

The oft-reported story of course is that Trafficante was allowed to run drugs through Cuba in exchange for providing intel to Castro.

I think that if Trafficante killed JFK he did it because of the JFK "double-cross" and RFK's efforts to put the OC leaders behind bars.

As you know, Ragano in his memoirs reports that he had delivered a message on July 23, 1963 from Hoffa to Trafficante about the need to kill JFK. There is much dispute about whether Trafficante was well enough to make the confession that Ragano also reports in his book. But regardless of the issue of the alleged Trafficante confession, Ragano could be correct that Trafficante was asked by Hoffa to kill JFK.

Both "Brothers" and "Ultimate Sacrifice" report that a Hoffa associate paid a large amount of money to Jack Ruby shortly before the assassination.

Adding some potential support to a Hoffa link is the fact that Hoffa's disappearence was in close proximity to the murder of Sam Giancana.

Finally, remember that John Martino who clearly seems to have had pre-knowledge of the assassination was an associate of Trafficante.

Another coincidence. Walter Cronkite interrupted the popular soap opera "As the World Turns" to announce the assassination. The first name of the male actor on the show that very hour was Santos. Now unless the Lord was giving us a subtle hint, that is just a coincidence signifying nothing whatsoever.

By the way, my theory would differ with the story set forth in the program because I now believe LHO may have been working for U.S. intelligence.

[Tim Gratz]

Peter now that is a very interesting story.

So you met both Marita and her daughter. What a coincidence!

Have you seen the Huisman film on Marita?

[Tim Gratz]

Peter, your story gets even more interesting!

I've seen photos of her daughter.

The Castro story is really interesting. Sadness for a long lost lover who may have saved his life!

[Tim Gratz]

Thanks, Peter, a fascinating story. I assume you have also seen "My Little Assassin"?

[Tim Gratz]

Peter, having spent so much time with Marita, you should see it.

It is a VERY interesting movie, IMO. Shows how she was recruited for the plot but it does not mention Sturgis or Rorke by name.

I think any member of the Forum interested in the events of the sixties would like it.

Ditto "Sugartime" which tells the story of Phyllis McGuire and Sam Giancana. Interesting tidbit about that movie is that FBI agent Bill Roemer plays a CIA agent trying to recruit Giancana to kill Castro.

[Antti Hynonen]

John,

Sounds very interesting.

Do you know if this documentary is on dvd or if it will be shown elsewhere in Europe or on any international European channels any time soon?

[John Simkin]

John,

Sounds very interesting.

Do you know if this documentary is on dvd or if it will be shown elsewhere in Europe or on any international European channels any time soon?

I watched it on USC5. I suspect it will eventually be available on DVD. However, I do not think it is worth buying.

[William Kelly]

John,

Sounds very interesting.

Do you know if this documentary is on dvd or if it will be shown elsewhere in Europe or on any international European channels any time soon?

I watched it on USC5. I suspect it will eventually be available on DVD. However, I do not think it is worth buying.

John,

To the contrary, it is worth adding to the library, as long as it is labeled Disinformation.

As Paul Linebarger points out ("Psychological Warfare"), propaganda can easily classified and when read properly, its real sources can be identified and their actual intentions and actions predicted.

Of course Russo & Company are still sprouting the original cover story, and rather than not bother listening, they lead us to the perpatrators.

BK

[Denis Pointing]

I watched last night Wilfried Huismann’s “The Plot to Kill JFK: The Cuban Connection” The original title in German was “Rendezvous mit dem Tod: Warum John F. Kennedy sterben musste”.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498709/

The film that I saw used an English narrator, Jim Carter (coincidently, a friend’s former husband). Carter claims that the film is the result of many years research by the German director, Wilfried Huismann. However, the script is written by Gus Russo and he is credited as being a co-producer of the film.

The film starts with a FBI wire-taped recording of two Cubans joyfully talking about the assassination of JFK. The two people are never identified and could easily have been members of the anti-Castro Cuban community. Even if they were pro-Castro, as implied by the film, it is of no relevance to what follows.

We are then told very briefly that there is a LBJ memo that states that it is believed that Fabian Escalante of the Cuban G2, was in Dallas on the day of the assassination. Escalante is interviewed by Huismann in the film. He does not ask him about this claim on film (I expect he did but it was left out because he did not like the answer). He does comment about other evidence that apparently links G2 to the assassination but more of that later.

Huismann’s main source for his theory that the assassination of JFK was carried out by G2 was an unidentified former Cuban agent given the name Oscar Marino. Marino is filmed in the dark from behind. He argues that G2 recruited Oswald to kill JFK and that Escalante met him in Mexico City. Marino says that he is unsure if Castro ordered the assassination.

Escalante is asked about this claim. He finds the idea ridiculous and claims he had never visited Mexico City. Huismann provides an interview with a Cuban exile who claims he saw Escalante in Mexico.

Huismann argues that he met a KGB agent in Austria. He showed him a document that states in 1962 the KGB thought that Oswald was a suspicious character and that they asked G2 to monitor his activities in the US. It was not explained why G2 should be given this job. Escalante also dismisses this idea and says the document the KGB agent showed Huismann must be a forgery.

Huismann shows a brief clip of an interview with the American journalist Daniel Harker who claimed that Castro threatened to have JFK killed. This claim has been dealt with by Dick Russell in his article JFK and the Cuban Connection (March, 1996):

In September 1963, Rolando Cubela travelled to Brazil to meet with CIA contacts about killing Castro. Simultaneously, an American journalist, Daniel Harker, interviewed Castro at a gathering inside Havana's Brazilian Embassy. Harker's article quoted Castro saying: "United States leaders should think that if they assist in terrorist plans to eliminate Cuban leaders, they themselves will not be safe." The story, widely disseminated in the US press, would be used by right-wing elements as evidence that Cuba was behind the assassination. But Escalante says the article was a distortion. He says what Castro really stated was: "American leaders should be careful because [the anti-Castro operations] were something nobody could control." He was not threatening JFK, but warning him.

Sam Halpern is also interviewed in the film. He states that the attempt to assassinate Castro was a Robert Kennedy operation. (Halpern argues that it is possible that JFK was unaware of this covert operation). Although Halpern does not say it, the narrator provides the opinion that Castro discovered details of this plot and therefore decided to get his revenge by killing JFK. He adds that this helps to explain why RFK goes along with the cover-up as he does not want to believe that his operation resulted in the death of his brother.

Huismann then looks at Oswald and points out that he was a Marxist, fled to the Soviet Union, returned to the US, formed the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans and then tried to assassinate General Edwin Walker. This, according to Huismann, made him an ideal candidate for the G2 to recruit to kill JFK. (Personally, I would have thought his profile would mean that he was the last person G2 would have employed to carry out this deed.)

Huismann claimed that the conspirators discovered the route of JFK’s motorcade through Dallas. Oswald was ordered to find a job in a company with a building on JFK’s route. After sending in several applications he was finally given a job in the Texas School Book Depository. (Remember, this script has been written by Russo who must be aware of how Oswald really got the job.)

Another major source for is Lawrence Keenan, the FBI agent who was sent by Hoover to Mexico City following the assassination. Keenan admits that he did not carry out a full investigation into Oswald activities in Mexico City. Keenan claims that the reason for this was because Hoover/LBJ wanted Oswald to be seen as the lone-gunman and not part of any larger conspiracy.

Huismann goes to Mexico City with Keenan. They ask to see the archives concerning Oswald’s stay in Mexico. Surprisingly they are given a few documents. Keenan then reads out from one document suggesting a link between Oswald and G2. Huismann then claims that the Mexican authorities decided they had made a mistake and took back these documents and tell them to leave the building.

Keenan tells Huismann that in 1963 he was told that the reason for this cover-up was that LBJ believed that Castro was behind the assassination and he feared that if this became public, it would result in a nuclear war. Surprisingly, Huismann/Russo did not use the LBJ telephone tapes where he tells his friends that he fears that a full-investigation of the assassination would trigger off a nuclear war, to back-up their theory.

Alexander Haig is also interviewed in the film. He claims that LBJ became convinced within a few days that Castro was behind the assassination of JFK. However, he gives another explanation for the cover-up. He claims that LBJ feared a right-wing uprising in America if this information became public.

The last part of the film concentrates on looking at who was running Oswald. Oscar Marino claims that the man within G2 who managed Oswald was none other than Rolando Cubela. Marino claimed that Cubela was a double agent and was only pretending to be working for the CIA.

Huismann interviews Cubela in Spain. He is accosted as he is walking along a street near his home in Madrid. Cubela talks openly about his involvement with the CIA plot to kill Castro. He is not asked why Castro allowed him to leave Cuba alive after making this confession while in captivity. Finally, Cubela is asked if he met with Oswald in Mexico City where he instructed him to assassinate JFK. Cubela admits to visited Mexico but denied he ever met Oswald or was involved in the assassination of JFK.

I think it is highly likely that Cubela was only pretending to work for the CIA in 1963. This explains the way Castro responded to the outing of Cubela by the CIA. After all, Castro is not known for his forgiving nature. However, if Cubela was playing this role, he would be the last person G2 would use to recruit Oswald. They would have known that the CIA would have been suspicious of Cubela’s true motives and he would have been kept under close surveillance.

The film ends with another clip of the Sam Halpern interview. Halpern says he met Castro a few years ago. He added that he liked the man who he considered to be extremely intelligent. Halpern smiled that after outlasting eight presidents, Castro was the clear winner of the struggle between Cuba and the United States.

John, yes, the Huismann documentary does make a great many mistakes and does indeed go way too far in many of its claims. However, some of the claims are essentially correct. Oswald was indeed recruited by G2 in 1962 but not as an assassin, only as a political agitator, hence the Fair play for Cuba incident etc. This role, however, didn't satisfy Oswald who always imagined himself as more of a spy/agent type. In fact this explains why Oswald always used false names and fake addresses...in his own mind he believed he was indeed a spy. When Oswald discovered the motorcade route was passing the TSBD, a job he got by sheer chance, he contacted G2 and offered to "take out" Kennedy. No one was more supprised by this offer than G2 and Oswald wasn't taken at all seriously, but G2 played along, after of course pointing out they could in no way offer any assistance nor be at all invovled, but promising Oswald a hero's welcome in Cuba if he pulled it off. A promise G2 did not expect to have to fulfill and had absolutely no intention of fulfilling. Cuba would have denied all knowledge of Oswald, except of course for the cover storey of the failed application for a visa to Cuba. The rest, as they say is history, Oswald did of course successfully carry out the assassination, much to the astonishment and delight of G2. Incredibly, the CIA actually knew all along Oswald was a G2 asset but failed to warn the secreat service agents in charge of the motorcade because they didn't belive Oswald to be a potential danger. One of the reasons why they were more than willing to go along with Johnson's cover up. Denis.

Edited May 26, 2008 by Denis Pointing

[William Kelly]

I watched last night Wilfried Huismann's "The Plot to Kill JFK: The Cuban Connection" The original title in German was "Rendezvous mit dem Tod: Warum John F. Kennedy sterben musste".

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498709/

The film that I saw used an English narrator, Jim Carter (coincidently, a friend's former husband). Carter claims that the film is the result of many years research by the German director, Wilfried Huismann. However, the script is written by Gus Russo and he is credited as being a co-producer of the film.

The film starts with a FBI wire-taped recording of two Cubans joyfully talking about the assassination of JFK. The two people are never identified and could easily have been members of the anti-Castro Cuban community. Even if they were pro-Castro, as implied by the film, it is of no relevance to what follows.

We are then told very briefly that there is a LBJ memo that states that it is believed that Fabian Escalante of the Cuban G2, was in Dallas on the day of the assassination. Escalante is interviewed by Huismann in the film. He does not ask him about this claim on film (I expect he did but it was left out because he did not like the answer). He does comment about other evidence that apparently links G2 to the assassination but more of that later.

Huismann's main source for his theory that the assassination of JFK was carried out by G2 was an unidentified former Cuban agent given the name Oscar Marino. Marino is filmed in the dark from behind. He argues that G2 recruited Oswald to kill JFK and that Escalante met him in Mexico City. Marino says that he is unsure if Castro ordered the assassination.

Escalante is asked about this claim. He finds the idea ridiculous and claims he had never visited Mexico City. Huismann provides an interview with a Cuban exile who claims he saw Escalante in Mexico.

Huismann argues that he met a KGB agent in Austria. He showed him a document that states in 1962 the KGB thought that Oswald was a suspicious character and that they asked G2 to monitor his activities in the US. It was not explained why G2 should be given this job. Escalante also dismisses this idea and says the document the KGB agent showed Huismann must be a forgery.

Huismann shows a brief clip of an interview with the American journalist Daniel Harker who claimed that Castro threatened to have JFK killed. This claim has been dealt with by Dick Russell in his article JFK and the Cuban Connection (March, 1996):

In September 1963, Rolando Cubela travelled to Brazil to meet with CIA contacts about killing Castro. Simultaneously, an American journalist, Daniel Harker, interviewed Castro at a gathering inside Havana's Brazilian Embassy. Harker's article quoted Castro saying: "United States leaders should think that if they assist in terrorist plans to eliminate Cuban leaders, they themselves will not be safe." The story, widely disseminated in the US press, would be used by right-wing elements as evidence that Cuba was behind the assassination. But Escalante says the article was a distortion. He says what Castro really stated was: "American leaders should be careful because [the anti-Castro operations] were something nobody could control." He was not threatening JFK, but warning him.

Sam Halpern is also interviewed in the film. He states that the attempt to assassinate Castro was a Robert Kennedy operation. (Halpern argues that it is possible that JFK was unaware of this covert operation). Although Halpern does not say it, the narrator provides the opinion that Castro discovered details of this plot and therefore decided to get his revenge by killing JFK. He adds that this helps to explain why RFK goes along with the cover-up as he does not want to believe that his operation resulted in the death of his brother.

Huismann then looks at Oswald and points out that he was a Marxist, fled to the Soviet Union, returned to the US, formed the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans and then tried to assassinate General Edwin Walker. This, according to Huismann, made him an ideal candidate for the G2 to recruit to kill JFK. (Personally, I would have thought his profile would mean that he was the last person G2 would have employed to carry out this deed.)

Huismann claimed that the conspirators discovered the route of JFK's motorcade through Dallas. Oswald was ordered to find a job in a company with a building on JFK's route. After sending in several applications he was finally given a job in the Texas School Book Depository. (Remember, this script has been written by Russo who must be aware of how Oswald really got the job.)

Another major source for is Lawrence Keenan, the FBI agent who was sent by Hoover to Mexico City following the assassination. Keenan admits that he did not carry out a full investigation into Oswald activities in Mexico City. Keenan claims that the reason for this was because Hoover/LBJ wanted Oswald to be seen as the lone-gunman and not part of any larger conspiracy.

Huismann goes to Mexico City with Keenan. They ask to see the archives concerning Oswald's stay in Mexico. Surprisingly they are given a few documents. Keenan then reads out from one document suggesting a link between Oswald and G2. Huismann then claims that the Mexican authorities decided they had made a mistake and took back these documents and tell them to leave the building.

Keenan tells Huismann that in 1963 he was told that the reason for this cover-up was that LBJ believed that Castro was behind the assassination and he feared that if this became public, it would result in a nuclear war. Surprisingly, Huismann/Russo did not use the LBJ telephone tapes where he tells his friends that he fears that a full-investigation of the assassination would trigger off a nuclear war, to back-up their theory.

Alexander Haig is also interviewed in the film. He claims that LBJ became convinced within a few days that Castro was behind the assassination of JFK. However, he gives another explanation for the cover-up. He claims that LBJ feared a right-wing uprising in America if this information became public.

The last part of the film concentrates on looking at who was running Oswald. Oscar Marino claims that the man within G2 who managed Oswald was none other than Rolando Cubela. Marino claimed that Cubela was a double agent and was only pretending to be working for the CIA.

Huismann interviews Cubela in Spain. He is accosted as he is walking along a street near his home in Madrid. Cubela talks openly about his involvement with the CIA plot to kill Castro. He is not asked why Castro allowed him to leave Cuba alive after making this confession while in captivity. Finally, Cubela is asked if he met with Oswald in Mexico City where he instructed him to assassinate JFK. Cubela admits to visited Mexico but denied he ever met Oswald or was involved in the assassination of JFK.

I think it is highly likely that Cubela was only pretending to work for the CIA in 1963. This explains the way Castro responded to the outing of Cubela by the CIA. After all, Castro is not known for his forgiving nature. However, if Cubela was playing this role, he would be the last person G2 would use to recruit Oswald. They would have known that the CIA would have been suspicious of Cubela's true motives and he would have been kept under close surveillance.

The film ends with another clip of the Sam Halpern interview. Halpern says he met Castro a few years ago. He added that he liked the man who he considered to be extremely intelligent. Halpern smiled that after outlasting eight presidents, Castro was the clear winner of the struggle between Cuba and the United States.

THE

John, yes, the Huismann documentary does make a great many mistakes and does indeed go way too far in many of its claims. However, some of the claims are essentially correct. Oswald was indeed recruited by G2 in 1962 but not as an assassin, only as a political agitator, hence the Fair play for Cuba incident etc. This role, however, didn't satisfy Oswald who always imagined himself as more of a spy/agent type. In fact this explains why Oswald always used false names and fake addresses...in his own mind he believed he was indeed a spy. When Oswald discovered the motorcade route was passing the TSBD, a job he got by sheer chance, he contacted G2 and offered to "take out" Kennedy. No one was more supprised by this offer than G2 and Oswald wasn't taken at all seriously, but G2 played along, after of course pointing out they could in no way offer any assistance nor be at all invovled, but promising Oswald a hero's welcome in Cuba if he pulled it off. A promise G2 did not expect to have to fulfill and had absolutely no intention of fulfilling. Cuba would have denied all knowledge of Oswald, except of course for the cover storey of the failed application for a visa to Cuba. The rest, as they say is history, Oswald did of course successfully carry out the assassination, much to the astonishment and delight of G2. Incredibly, the CIA actually knew all along Oswald was a G2 asset but failed to warn the secreat service agents in charge of the motorcade because they didn't belive Oswald to be a potential danger. One of the reasons why they were more than willing to go along with Johnson's cover up. Denis.