Did Oswald Go To Mexico City?

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Thanks, I have been to both countries several times over the years and didn’t need a passport until recently. However, I think  LHO reportedly had a tourist visa that limited his stay in Mexico to several days. I am guessing that either he thought he needed it to travel freely to Mexico City, or he wanted the passport to be able to go to Cuba.

Yep, I read that too. But Oswald got/applied for a Mexican visa that limited how long he could stay.

That's here with the entrance and exit dates stamped on it:

[Steve M. Galbraith]

It would have been stamped void, or cancelled, if he received it afterwards.  And, he had a new, valid passport.

It apparently was (if this is the same passport). This below is page #1. Why wouldn't he keep the old passport? It had stamps of his various visits to Europe. He could keep it as a memento or to show to others. Which is what two witnesses said he did.

Photos of the rest of the pages, several also having "canceled" on them, are here: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth338438/m1/1/

[John Tonkovich]

It apparently was (if this is the same passport). This below is page #1. Why wouldn't he keep the old passport? It had stamps of his various visits to Europe. He could keep it as a memento or to show to others. Which is what two witnesses said he did.

Photos of the rest of the pages, several also having "canceled" on them, are here: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth338438/m1/1/

Thanks.
Yes, Oswald could have received old passport.  Could have shown to Australian women.

[Jerry Freeman]

Thanks.
Yes, Oswald could have received old passport.  Could have shown to Australian women.

Could have shown

But why?...unless it was staged as an elaborate put on to remember him by. [**Patricia Winston and Pam Mumford were the ladies]
Why claim to be from Fort Worth? Why not from Dallas or New Orleans?

G. ROBERT BLAKEY, Chief Counsel, House Assassinations Committee: The suspicion was that Oswald didn't make it at all, that there was an impostor attempting to frame him in Mexico City. Had that been established, it would indicate a sophisticated effort to frame Oswald, which would immediately draw attention to American intelligence.

RICHARD HELMS, Former Director CIA: It's my recollection that at the time of Oswald's presence in Mexico City, there was something wrong with some of the cameras we were using and we were trying to fix it. But the fact remains that there are no photographs of Lee Harvey Oswald taken while he was in Mexico City at that time, and I can't explain 100 percent why not.

Video**  https://emuseum.jfk.org/view/objects/asitem/items@:39924
Why did the traveler recommend the Hotel Cuba where he would not stay?

[Jerry Freeman]

See page 7....  https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2018/104-10196-100270001.pdf
Released document on Mexico...   https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP10M00666R000503450002-3.pdf

[Joffrey van de Wiel]

Oswald may or may not have traveled to Mexico City, but the reasons given make no sense as they are not logical nor rational or even reasonable. Supposedly he went there to get visa that would allow travel to the Soviet Union by way of Cuba. I have problems accepting this because of the following:

1) It is not logical. In January 1961 Oswald, while in Minsk,  wrote in his diary: "I am starting to reconsider my desire about staying. The work is drab, the money I get has nowhere to be spent. No nightclubs or bowling alleys, no places of recreation except the trade union dances. I have had enough."  Oswald started writing letters to the US embassy in Moscow almost begging to be allowed to return to the United States. He showed some concern about being prosecuted for his defection and had to secure a loan from the State Department to pay for the journey back. All this took 18 months - Oswald, now married and with a young daughter, returned to the USA in June, 1962.

It seems incredible to me that after going to great lengths to get back home, he would change his mind a little over a year later and try to return to the Soviet Union. That isn't rational.

2) In September 1963, Oswald was unemployed and had been for a while. He was so impoverished that he handed over the care for his pregnant wife and child to Ruth Paine - a sinister intelligence operative some believe, but in my view just a housewife with young children of her own. Anyway, he cashed a $30 unemployment check and left for Mexico City, where he applied for a visa at the Cuban Consulate. But how did he plan to get there with just the $30? Had he managed to save some money? Did he expect the Cuban government would make the same arrangements as the Soviets had in 1959-1962? Oswald's actions are again irrational and contrary to logical, reasonable actions.

3) During interrogation on November 22, 1963, Oswald denied having visited Mexico City and I can find no plausible reason why he would lie about it, as it had nothing to do with the crimes of which he was accused.

4) Both Cuban Consul Eusebio Azcue and his Mexican secretary Mrs. Duran denied that the individual who applied for the visa was Oswald. Azcue told the HSCA that 'Oswald' was blond and gaunt, and Silvia Duran told author Anthony Summers, after viewing motion pictures of the real Oswald: "The man on the film is not like the man I saw here in Mexico City. . . . The man on this film speaks strongly and carries himself with confidence. The man who came to my office in Mexico City was small and weak and spoke in a trembling voice. " Like Consul Azcue, she described the visitor bearing Oswald's credentials as 'blond' and 'gaunt' and "short. . . about my size." Silvia Duran was about five feet, three inches tall—at least six inches shorter than the real Oswald.

To be fair and objective, other witnesses claimed that the person they'd observed was indeed Lee Oswald - these include the Soviet officials who dealt with him.

5) The Cuban Consulate and the Soviet Embassy were under 24-hour photo surveillance by the CIA's Mexico City station, and the phones were tapped. After the assassination, a tape recording of Oswald's phone call to the Soviet Embassy and a photo of him were provided to FBI agents in Dallas. But FBI director Hoover told new President Johnson:

LBJ:  Have you established any more about the visit to the Soviet embassy in Mexico in September?

Hoover:  No, that’s one angle that’s very confusing, for this reason—we have up here the tape and the photograph of the man who was at the Soviet embassy, using Oswald’s name.  That picture and the tape do not correspond to this man’s voice, nor to his appearance. In other words, it appears that there is a second person who was at the Soviet embassy down there.

6) An argument in support of the Warren Report: if Oswald didn't visit Mexico City, where the heck did he go? No one saw him in Dallas or New Orleans, as far as I know, except Sylvia Odio - I am not sure about the date though.

[Charles Collins]

Oswald may or may not have traveled to Mexico City, but the reasons given make no sense as they are not logical nor rational or even reasonable. Supposedly he went there to get visa that would allow travel to the Soviet Union by way of Cuba. I have problems accepting this because of the following:

1) It is not logical. In January 1961 Oswald, while in Minsk,  wrote in his diary: "I am starting to reconsider my desire about staying. The work is drab, the money I get has nowhere to be spent. No nightclubs or bowling alleys, no places of recreation except the trade union dances. I have had enough."  Oswald started writing letters to the US embassy in Moscow almost begging to be allowed to return to the United States. He showed some concern about being prosecuted for his defection and had to secure a loan from the State Department to pay for the journey back. All this took 18 months - Oswald, now married and with a young daughter, returned to the USA in June, 1962.

It seems incredible to me that after going to great lengths to get back home, he would change his mind a little over a year later and try to return to the Soviet Union. That isn't rational.

2) In September 1963, Oswald was unemployed and had been for a while. He was so impoverished that he handed over the care for his pregnant wife and child to Ruth Paine - a sinister intelligence operative some believe, but in my view just a housewife with young children of her own. Anyway, he cashed a $30 unemployment check and left for Mexico City, where he applied for a visa at the Cuban Consulate. But how did he plan to get there with just the $30? Had he managed to save some money? Did he expect the Cuban government would make the same arrangements as the Soviets had in 1959-1962? Oswald's actions are again irrational and contrary to logical, reasonable actions.

3) During interrogation on November 22, 1963, Oswald denied having visited Mexico City and I can find no plausible reason why he would lie about it, as it had nothing to do with the crimes of which he was accused.

4) Both Cuban Consul Eusebio Azcue and his Mexican secretary Mrs. Duran denied that the individual who applied for the visa was Oswald. Azcue told the HSCA that 'Oswald' was blond and gaunt, and Silvia Duran told author Anthony Summers, after viewing motion pictures of the real Oswald: "The man on the film is not like the man I saw here in Mexico City. . . . The man on this film speaks strongly and carries himself with confidence. The man who came to my office in Mexico City was small and weak and spoke in a trembling voice. " Like Consul Azcue, she described the visitor bearing Oswald's credentials as 'blond' and 'gaunt' and "short. . . about my size." Silvia Duran was about five feet, three inches tall—at least six inches shorter than the real Oswald.

To be fair and objective, other witnesses claimed that the person they'd observed was indeed Lee Oswald - these include the Soviet officials who dealt with him.

5) The Cuban Consulate and the Soviet Embassy were under 24-hour photo surveillance by the CIA's Mexico City station, and the phones were tapped. After the assassination, a tape recording of Oswald's phone call to the Soviet Embassy and a photo of him were provided to FBI agents in Dallas. But FBI director Hoover told new President Johnson:

LBJ:  Have you established any more about the visit to the Soviet embassy in Mexico in September?

Hoover:  No, that’s one angle that’s very confusing, for this reason—we have up here the tape and the photograph of the man who was at the Soviet embassy, using Oswald’s name.  That picture and the tape do not correspond to this man’s voice, nor to his appearance. In other words, it appears that there is a second person who was at the Soviet embassy down there.

6) An argument in support of the Warren Report: if Oswald didn't visit Mexico City, where the heck did he go? No one saw him in Dallas or New Orleans, as far as I know, except Sylvia Odio - I am not sure about the date though.

Supposedly he went there to get visa that would allow travel to the Soviet Union by way of Cuba.


LHO wasn't intending to go back to the Soviet Union. His intentions were to send Marina back there and for himself to stay in Cuba. (Ruth Paine's offer to take care of Marina & their kids temporarily solved that issue for him.) He prepared a resume to give to the Cubans to show his "credentials." Here are the notes he prepared while in New Orleans:

Page 1. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1133#relPageId=361&tab=page

Page 2. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1133#relPageId=362&tab=page

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Page 4. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1133#relPageId=364&tab=page

Page 5. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1133#relPageId=365&tab=page

Page 6. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1133#relPageId=366&tab=page

Page 7. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1133#relPageId=367&tab=page

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Page 10. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1133#relPageId=370&tab=page




During interrogation on November 22, 1963, Oswald denied having visited Mexico City and I can find no plausible reason why he would lie about it, as it had nothing to do with the crimes of which he was accused.


Perhaps he realized that admitting visiting Mexico City would implicate his visit to the Cuban Consulate and he didn't want to tie the Cubans to the assassination. LHO reportedly not only denied it, but also got visibly upset (like he did when Hosty entered the interrogation) when his visit to Mexico City was brought up.