Did G-2 Encourage LHO to Perp the JFKA?

[John Corbett]

It's easy to conjure up reasons any number of entities would have wanted JFK killed. What nobody has been able to conjure up is any real evidence any of them conspired with Oswald to do the deed.

[Benjamin Cole]

JC--

Say you lived in a town somewhere, and Mr. Smith was murdered.

The mayor says to the police chief, "Whatever you do, don't look into Mr. Jones. He is too important to the prosperity of the town."

Indeed, years later we would have little evidence that Mr. Jones murdered Mr. Smith.

That is what happened to the WC/FBI. They were told not to follow leads in Havana, and people lost their jobs for doing so.

Gus Russo is a serious JFKA scholar and no leftie. He says much what I say: There was no investigation into LHO connections to Havana.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Here is Russo (page 455) in his concluding chapter of "Live By the Sword" - note the uncertainties, "we can't be sure" et cetera.

Again, this is the main theme of his book: He thinks the covert war on Cuba played a role in Oswald's act. I.e., a type of "blowback". But he doesn't know how or how much. Did Oswald learn about the war on his own? Or was he told about it? By who? Pro-Castro people or Castro's agents? And what did they tell him? Again, he doesn't know. His argument is that the rumors or allegations of Oswald meeting with pro-Cuban figures (private citizens or agents) were never fully investigated. Maybe, he says, they would have found direct evidence of Cuban involvement (although he says Castro didn't directly order the assassination). Maybe not. Maybe it was Oswald on his own volition based on his own discoveries. It's all, as he says, "educated guesses."


 

[John Corbett]

JC--

Say you lived in a town somewhere, and Mr. Smith was murdered.

The mayor says to the police chief, "Whatever you do, don't look into Mr. Jones. He is too important to the prosperity of the town."

Indeed, years later we would have little evidence that Mr. Jones murdered Mr. Smith.

That is what happened to the WC/FBI. They were told not to follow leads in Havana, and people lost their jobs for doing so.

Gus Russo is a serious JFKA scholar and no leftie. He says much what I say: There was no investigation into LHO connections to Havana.

A rather humorous tale. The CTs have been looking for evidence that Mr. Jones was complicit in the assassination and have come up empty. Why would anyone believe Mr. Jones had anything to do with it. If we are going to simply assume Mr. Jones was involved, why stop there. Why not accuse, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Michaels, or Mr. Thomas. Oh, wait. The CTs have already done that. Never mind.

I was ready to assume Russo was just another CT huckster separating gullible CTs from their money but I decided to look into it. According to Wikipedia, Russo concluded that Oswald acted on his own in retribution of JFK's policies toward Cuba. While nobody knows why Oswald decided to kill JFK, that seems as good an explanation as any. It wouldn't require Oswald to know anything that wasn't public knowledge. JFK did sign the trade embargo with Cuba, but only after Pierre Sallinger had scored 1200 Cuban Petite Upmann cigars.

[Benjamin Cole]

SMG-

Thanks for your comments.

To be sure, mere reporters and authors, without incarceration, investigative and subpoena powers, can only say for certain so much. Russo is careful to say what he has learned, and to not go beyond that.

Sure, a reporter can gently ask questions, peruse the public domain. 

But it remains that Al Haig, Win Scott and Thomas Mann (and State Dep't staffer Thomas) all thought somebody was behind LHO. I do too. Win Scott papers are a curious lacuna in the public record.

Moreover, it is beyond dispute that forma or government investigations into LHO-Havana connections were suffocated in 1963-4 by LBJ order, and that G2'ers have told Russo (and were filmed in his documentary) that other G2'ers triggered LHO.

Did G-2'ers physically assist LHO on 11.22?

As the SBT-LNT theory does not hold water, I think it is an open question.

[John Corbett]

SMG-

Thanks for your comments.

To be sure, mere reporters and authors, without incarceration, investigative and subpoena powers, can only say for certain so much. Russo is careful to say what he has learned, and to not go beyond that.

What Russo learned is that Oswald was the assassin, which was quite easy, and that he could find no evidence Oswald acted on behalf of any other individuals or groups.

Like so many CTs who have gone before, you are willing to simply assume others were involved there being no credible evidence of co-conspirators.

[Michael T. Griffith]

AI-version:

Investigative journalist and assassination expert Gus Russo maintains that elements of the Cuban intelligence service (known as the G-2, or DGI) likely encouraged Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate President Kennedy in retaliation for continuous U.S. plots to overthrow or assassinate Fidel Castro.

Russo, along with other researchers, argues that Oswald—a fervent Castro supporter—traveled to Mexico City in September 1963 and made contact with Cuban diplomats and intelligence operatives. According to Russo's investigations (detailed in his book Live by the Sword), members of the Cuban regime were made aware of U.S. attempts to assassinate Castro, and they may have in turn accepted or encouraged Oswald’s offer to eliminate Kennedy.

Russo's research builds on declassified documents and interviews with Cuban defectors. For instance, a controversial 2006 documentary co-authored by Russo (Rendezvous with Death) further alleged that Cuban intelligence contracted Oswald to carry out the assassination.

---30---

I have watched the Rendezvous With Death documentary, and it is pretty good.

It is interesting to note that some lone-gunman theorists still cite Russo in their debates with conspiracy theorists, when in fact Russo posits a conspiracy. It's just that Russo's conspiracy has only one shooter, and the shooter is Oswald.

Russo is no longer active, at least as far as I can tell, but he did a great deal of valuable research for his book Live By the Sword.

An interesting follow-up to Russo's research is the 2015-2017 investigation done by former CIA officer Robert Baer and his team, which included former LAPD detective Adam Bercovici, former FBI profiler Steve Gomez, and former Special Forces Army Ranger Marty Skovlund. In 2017, the History Channel aired Baer's seven-part documentary titled JFK Declassified: Tracking Oswald.

Here are some of the findings and discoveries made by Baer and his team:

-- Oswald received intelligence training and had some kind of connection with the U.S. Government after he left the Marines.

-- Oswald associated with anti-Castro Cubans and even trained with them in New Orleans. Oswald also associated with Cuban intelligence operatives.

-- The owner of Henry's Market, aka Henry's Bar, in New Orleans said Oswald came to the bar many times, and that the day after the assassination two Cubans came to the bar and told him Oswald was innocent and that Oswald had been framed.

-- Oswald's job at the Reilly Coffee Company in New Orleans was a "cover for action," that his job was a "front," a "cover." Oswald could have found a job much closer to his residence in New Orleans. Reilly's was across the street from the Crescent City Garage, which was used by federal agents as a kind of motor pool for their vehicles.

-- Adrian Alba, the owner of the Crescent City Garage, was telling the truth when he reported that he saw an FBI agent hand Oswald an envelope in front of the Reilly Coffee Company.

-- Silvia Odio told the truth when she reported that Oswald and two anti-Castro Cubans visited her residence in Dallas weeks before the assassination, and that one of the Cubans phoned her a few days later and told her that Oswald was an expert marksman and that Oswald had said that anti-Castro Cubans should have already killed JFK over the Bay of Bigs.

-- A Dallas police report noted that Oswald was seen visiting a house used by Alpha 66 members in Dallas. Alpha 66 was a violent anti-Castro and anti-JFK group. The house, located on Harlandale Avenue, was rented by Manuel Rodriguez Orcaberro, an Alpha 66 member who was known to be virulently anti-JFK.

-- Oswald was trying to reach the Harlandale house after the assassination. The bus transfer allegedly found on Oswald hours after he was arrested could have taken him to a point very close to the Harlandale house.

-- Oswald conspired with anti-Castro Cubans to kill JFK.

-- Oswald was the only shooter, but he was supported by Alpha 66 members and other anti-Castro Cubans. If Oswald had made it to the Harlandale house, Alpha 66 members would have helped him escape.

-- The Russians played no role in the assassination, and Oswald was not working for the Russians.

-- Castro was aware of the Alpha 66 plot to assassinate JFK but did nothing to stop it. He monitored it but did not intervene to prevent it.