The Silent Conspiracy

[Charles Collins]

That seems wildly speculative.

It’s hard to believe the news coverage about Cuba was MORE intense in 1963 than it was after the Bay of Pigs or Cuban Missile crisis.

General Walker was no more anti-Communist than the average White Southerner in the early 1960s.

What Oswald may have been concerned about with Walker was his violent anti-Integration racism.

Walker was believed to have incited a riot at ‘Ole Miss’ in 1962:

“The crowd reached approximately three thousand rioters, led by former Army Major General Edwin Walker, who had recently been forced to retire when he was ordered to stop giving out racist hate literature to his troops but refused to do so. The crowd consisted of high school and college students, Ku Klux Klan members, Oxford residents, and people from outside the area.

By 9:00 p.m. the riot turned extremely violent. U.S. marshals who had been defending Meredith and university officials in the Lyceum building on campus, where Meredith registered, ran out of tear gas. Rioters threw rocks and bottles and began to shoot. President Kennedy then decided to bring in the Mississippi National Guard and Army troops from Memphis, Tennessee, during the middle of the night, led by Brigadier General Charles Billingslea...”

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/ole-miss-riot-1962/

One of the redeeming things about Oswald was his opposition to racism and segregation. But it also might’ve been what motivated him to target Walker whom he viewed as a potential ‘Adolf Hitler’.

As for Oswald’s pro-Cuba activism, he had plenty of opportunities to target anti-Castro Cuban Exiles in New Orleans and Dallas with violence or ‘assassination’ throughout 1963.

If he were so concerned about Raids against Cuba, it seems inconsistent that he would ignore the Cuban Exiles and instead focus on Walker then Kennedy.

Full disclosure, I’m inclined to believe that Oswald was involved with JFK’s assassination (haven’t ruled out a conspiracy) but I don’t know what his motive may have been.

The claim that some obscure news article about assassination attempts on Castro in the Fall of 1963 changed Oswald seems weak when viewed in the context of all the other bad stuff between Kennedy and Cuba that we can be certain Oswald was aware of when he said nice things about JFK.

Also, Capt. Will Fritz says Oswald mentioned that US policies towards Cuba were unlikely to change in an LBJ Presidency...

It’s hard to believe the news coverage about Cuba was MORE intense in 1963 than it was after the Bay of Pigs or Cuban Missile crisis.

No one said that the coverage was more intense. However, it was intense. The antagonistic words between Castro and JFK were getting more personal. Here is a quote from Latell’s book that you might find informative. Cubela had requested a meeting with Bobby Kennedy before he would proceed with the CIA’s plan to overthrow Castro. Unbeknownst to the CIA, Cubela was telling Castro all about it. And never had any plans to actually carry out a coup.

The unlikely pair—Fidel’s premier double agent and Bobby Kennedy’s understudy—sat side by side. Sanchez translated and, back at headquarters two weeks later, prepared a memorandum for the record. It is the only surviving contemporaneous account of what is purported to have occurred. Des told Cubela that the Kennedy administration would support a coup to remove the Castro dictatorship. Ironclad assurances were given: “The United States is prepared to render all necessary assistance to any anti-communist group” that succeeds in “neutralizing the present Cuban leadership.” The implication was that a coup would be bloody and Fidel would be killed. In Senate testimony a dozen years later, Sanchez reluctantly conceded that Cubela talked that day about “getting at the leadership first.”8

Footnote 8 - Memo for the record, November 13, 1963, NARA 104-10215-10364; Nestor Sanchez CC testimony July 29, 1975; IGR; Rolando Cubela, HSCA testimony, August 28, 1978.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

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.

You don't think Castro would have loved implicating the anti-Castro groups in the assassination of JFK? If he had any evidence of it I am quite sure he would have been promoting it. Hell, his people - Fabian Escalate among others - were and have been making the claim for years without showing any evidence. And of course the Soviets were spreading disinformation about the assassination too.

I see zero credible evidence that Castro or his agents that infiltrated these groups had any knowledge of Oswald's attempt. Yes, it was Oswald. The evidence he did it plus the implausibility of alternative explanations plus fifty plus years of little (to me) evidence to the contrary leads me to believe it was him. I mean, good grief, he didn't bring curtain rods with him to work that day. And he didn't leave right after the shooting because he thought he would have the day off. He was fleeing.

[Martin Weidmann]

You don't think Castro would have loved implicating the anti-Castro groups in the assassination of JFK? If he had any evidence of it I am quite sure he would have been promoting it. Hell, his people - Fabian Escalate among others - were and have been making the claim for years without showing any evidence. And of course the Soviets were spreading disinformation about the assassination too.

I see zero credible evidence that Castro or his agents that infiltrated these groups had any knowledge of Oswald's attempt. Yes, it was Oswald. The evidence he did it plus the implausibility of alternative explanations plus fifty plus years of little (to me) evidence to the contrary leads me to believe it was him. I mean, good grief, he didn't bring curtain rods with him to work that day. And he didn't leave right after the shooting because he thought he would have the day off. He was fleeing.

You don't think Castro would have loved implicating the anti-Castro groups in the assassination of JFK? If he had any evidence of it I am quite sure he would have been promoting it. Hell, his people - Fabian Escalate among others - were and have been making the claim for years without showing any evidence. And of course the Soviets were spreading disinformation about the assassination too.

I see zero credible evidence that Castro or his agents that infiltrated these groups had any knowledge of Oswald's attempt.

Agreed, but better not tell Charles Collins because he doesn't want to understand that.


Yes, it was Oswald. The evidence he did it plus the implausibility of alternative explanations plus fifty plus years of little (to me) evidence to the contrary leads me to believe it was him.

Fair enough. I can see how you could make that argument, although I have another take on it. I don't find the evidence against Oswald sufficiently credible, as there are too many assumptions that need to be made and too much conflicting evidence that needs to be ignored to come to a conclusion about Oswald one way or the other.

As far as the implausibility of alternative explanations goes, one should never forget that absense of evidence isn't evidence of absense and in this case it hasn't been particularly easy or even possible to get to the actual evidence buried in the National Archives. Not that I think there will be any kind of smoking gun in the so far unreleased documents. I'm talking more about the inaccessibility of crucial physical evidence of independent testing.

I mean, good grief, he didn't bring curtain rods with him to work that day.

He probably didn't, but the problem is that we will never know for sure what he did bring. As far as I know, the TSBD was never searched for curtain rods and even if they did search it, Oswald would have had all morning to dispose of whatever was in the bag he brought. In my opinion, the curtain rods story could well have been  nothing more that a white lie told to Frazier so that Oswald would not have to explain to this 19 year co-worker that he was really going to try to make up with his wife and convince her to live together again. In fact, that is was Marina and Ruth Paine testified they believed was his reason for the trip to Irving.

If Oswald really went to Irving to get his rifle, why would he go through the trouble of making a paper bag at the TSBD and conceal it for Frazier on Thursday, when he could just as easily have used one of his duffle bags to conceal the rifle in on Friday morning?

And he didn't leave right after the shooting because he thought he would have the day off. He was fleeing.

This again is one of those mysteries in this whole saga. We only have the WC version for Oswald's fast departure from the TSBD, which on so many levels doesn't make any sense. Why would he run so quickly after he had just been cleared by Truly and Baker? He worked there, so he had a good reason for being there. Instead of instantly running and call attention to himself, he could have stayed for at least a while.

The WC version of events does imply a consiousness of guilt, but none of it really adds up or makes sense. If Oswald was indeed on the run, why did he offer his taxi to a lady who needed one? Why would he return to the roominghouse when he could have taken a bus out of Dallas? The WC version of him letting the taxi stop a distance from the roominghouse raises more questions than it answers. Why would he risk going back to the roominghouse at all, if he feared police would already be there. What could have been so important for him to return to the roominghouse? When he got there, all he did was change his clothes and... if the official narrative is true, he picked up a revolver, but for what purpose? To go to a suburban go-nowhere neighborhood and kill a policeman? Too many questions have remained completely unanswered.

[Jon Banks]

No one said that the coverage was more intense. However, it was intense. The antagonistic words between Castro and JFK were getting more personal.

Well it seemed like you were implying that things were more intense between Kennedy and Castro in 1963 than prior years.

I'm familiar with Latell's book. I think it's plausible that low levels of Cuban Intelligence might've been aware of and in contact with LHO in 1963.

I'm unconvinced though that Castro had foreknowledge of any plot to kill JFK.

[Jon Banks]

You don't think Castro would have loved implicating the anti-Castro groups in the assassination of JFK? If he had any evidence of it I am quite sure he would have been promoting it. Hell, his people - Fabian Escalate among others - were and have been making the claim for years without showing any evidence. And of course the Soviets were spreading disinformation about the assassination too.

I see zero credible evidence that Castro or his agents that infiltrated these groups had any knowledge of Oswald's attempt. Yes, it was Oswald. The evidence he did it plus the implausibility of alternative explanations plus fifty plus years of little (to me) evidence to the contrary leads me to believe it was him. I mean, good grief, he didn't bring curtain rods with him to work that day. And he didn't leave right after the shooting because he thought he would have the day off. He was fleeing.

We know the DGI had spies in the radical Alpha 66 group, the Cuban Exile group that had operatives in Dallas (Oak Cliff) at the time of Kennedy's assassination.

'Leader of Exile Group Tells of Spying for Cuba'
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/11/us/leader-of-exile-group-tells-of-spying-for-cuba.html

Were they aware of or in contact with Oswald? Possibly (If the witness accounts of Oswald visiting the Harlandale Safe House are true.)

Oswald's lack of a motive and other problems with the evidence are why I remain open to the possibility that there was a Conspiracy. 

[Charles Collins]

Well it seemed like you were implying that things were more intense between Kennedy and Castro in 1963 than prior years.

I'm familiar with Latell's book. I think it's plausible that low levels of Cuban Intelligence might've been aware of and in contact with LHO in 1963.

I'm unconvinced though that Castro had foreknowledge of any plot to kill JFK.

The bay of pigs resulted in JFK refusing to commit further involvement of U.S. military troops. LHO probably liked that aspect of it. The Cuban Missile Crisis resulted in a removal of the missiles without an invasion of Cuba. And with Castro and his revolution still intact. LHO probably liked those aspects of it. But the covert war against Castro and his revolution in the fall of 1963 was a very real threat.

LHO read the socialist papers that he subscribed to. And he listened to Cuban radio broadcasts on his shortwave radio. Michael Paine says in his manuscript: “One time I asked Lee what his socialist papers meant to him. He replied that he could ‘read between the lines and tell what they wanted him to do’.”

What do you think LHO thought “they wanted him to do” when he read and heard Castro threatening U.S. leaders during the height of the covert war?

[Jon Banks]

The bay of pigs resulted in JFK refusing to commit further involvement of U.S. military troops. LHO probably liked that aspect of it. The Cuban Missile Crisis resulted in a removal of the missiles without an invasion of Cuba. And with Castro and his revolution still intact. LHO probably liked those aspects of it. But the covert war against Castro and his revolution in the fall of 1963 was a very real threat.

Oswald's Fair Play For Cuba activism in 1963 (if it was genuine. I suspect it was a psyop) at least suggests that he was aware that the US under Kennedy was still hostile towards Cuba.

Despite that, Oswald still told people he liked JFK after his arrest in New Orleans.

What do you think LHO thought “they wanted him to do” when he read and heard Castro threatening U.S. leaders during the height of the covert war?

I think that's a gigantic leap.

To suggest that Oswald was radicalized by Communist and Cuban media.

The Tell for me that Oswald was not an ISIS-like "Extremist" is the fact that he claimed he was innocent.

A true Radical/Extremist would proudly take credit for accomplishing his mission (ie Timothy McVeigh). 

Oswald's claim of innocence means either: A) he was really just a patsy or B) he wasn't motivated by ideology. Something else motivated him.