Oswald, Castro and Mexico City

[John Simkin]

In July, 1967, a British journalist, Comer Clark, interviewed Fidel Castro. During the conversation Castro told Clark that Oswald visited the Cuban consulate in Mexico City in September, 1963. The first time he told Cuban officials he wanted to work for them (Cuba). However, he was unwilling to discuss what he meant by this. The second time he said he wanted to “free Cuba from American imperialism”. Then he said “somebody ought to shoot that President Kennedy… maybe I’ll try to do it.”

When he heard this information Castro thought there was two possible explanations for Oswald’s behaviour: (1) Oswald was mentally unstable and was not to be taken seriously: (2) Oswald was part of some right-wing conspiracy that was looking for an opportunity to persuade the US army to invade Cuba. Castro came to the conclusion that he was mentally unstable. After the assassination of JFK he realised he was part of a right-wing conspiracy.

Castro’s story is actually supported by none other than J. Edgar Hoover. On 17th June, 1964, Hoover sent by special courier, a top-secret letter to Lee J. Rankin of the Warren Commission. The letter said “through a confidential source which has furnished reliable information in the past, we have been advised of some statements made by Fidel Castro, Cuban Prime Minister, concerning the assassination of President Kennedy.”

This letter was classified and even when it was released in 1976 what Castro said was deleted. The full details of this letter was not published until the appearance of Daniel Schorr’s book, Clearing the Air (1977). Schorr discovered that the letter basically repeated what Castro had told Comer Clark in 1967. However, it went into more detail about what he believed was a right-wing conspiracy to provoke an invasion of Cuba.

[Tim Gratz]

John, I SUSPECT Oswald was part of an intelligence "dangle" to see if Castro or his agents would "take the bait" and encourage him to shoot Kennedy. I also suspect Oswald might have been used for the same purpose against anti-Castro Cubans (witness the Odio incident and there may have been others).

I think Larry also believes this could be a reasonable explanation of Oswald's activities on both sides of the Castro fence.

[J. Raymond Carroll]

In July, 1967, a British journalist, Comer Clark, interviewed Fidel Castro. During the conversation Castro told Clark that Oswald visited the Cuban consulate in Mexico City in September, 1963. The first time he told Cuban officials he wanted to work for them (Cuba). However, he was unwilling to discuss what he meant by this. The second time he said he wanted to “free Cuba from American imperialism”. Then he said “somebody ought to shoot that President Kennedy… maybe I’ll try to do it.”

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The sequel to Schorr's story can be found in the HSCA report beginning on page 121:

"The committee also considered the allegation that appeared in an

article in a 1967 issue of the National Enquirer, written by a British

freelancer named Comer Clark. (152) Purportedly based on an exclusive

interview with Castro, it quoted the Cuban President as admitting

to having heard of threats by Oswald to assassinate President

122

Kennedy. According to Clark, Castro told him that while at the Cuban

consulate in Mexico City in September 1963, Oswald vowed he would

kill the President. (153)

On a trip to Havana in April 1978. the committee met with President

Castro and asked him about the charge . Castro denied there

had ever been an interview with Clark.(154) ......The accuracy of Clark's account was also undermined by the committee's investigation of his background. Clark had been the author

of articles with such sensational titles as "British Girls as Nazi Sex

Slaves," "I Was Hitler's Secret Love" and "German Plans to Kidnap

the Royal Family." The committee was unable to question Clark himself,

as he had since died. (157)

Despite the committee's doubts about the Clark interview with

Castro, it was informed that the substance of it had been independently

reported to the U.S. Government. A highly confidential but reliable

source reported that Oswald had indeed vowed in the presence of

Cuban consulate officials to assassinate the President. (158)

This information prompted the committee to pursue the report further

in file reviews and interviews. The files that were reviewed included

records of conversations of relevant people at appropriate times and

places . ......

On balance, the committee did not believe that Oswald voiced a threat

to Cuban officials. However reliable the confidential source may be,

the committee found it to be in error in this instance."

It may be that newly released HSCA documents shed further light on Lee Oswald's alleged threat, and if so perhaps some member will inform us. For myself, I have no doubt that any allegations that Lee Oswald ever threatened harm to JFK are completely spurious, and it will take a better source than the National Enquirer to convince me otherwise.