The Secret Kennedy Assassination File
A secret file containing nearly 1,500 documents relating to the assassination of former US President John F. Kennedy has been leaked to the public. The National Archives there released them at the behest of the current head of the United States, Joe Biden. For example, the name of the then Cuban President, Fidel Castro, or a reference to the Soviet Union appears in the material. This was reported by CBS News.
President John F. Kennedy was shot on November 22, 1963, while driving through the streets of Dallas in an open car. The assassination was carried out by a former member of the United States Marine Corps, Lee Harvey Oswald. Immediately after the event, however, conspiracy theories emerged that still resonate not only in American society. However, several interesting facts emerge in the secret file.
Mysterious phone calls from the Soviet Embassy driver
Many reports at the time reported anonymous calls to the CIA office in the Australian capital Canberra, which were supposed to have taken place on October 15, 1962 and November 24, 1963. The caller claimed to be the driver of the Soviet Embassy and in the first of the horror calls allegedly announced that the countries behind the Iron Curtain had paid $100,000 for the assassination of President Kennedy. Both phone calls are mentioned several times in the released documents.
Lee Harvey Oswald was already in the United States‘ crosshairs before the assassination.
As we have already mentioned, the assassin was a member of the United States Marine Corps. An avowed communist, he went to the Soviet Union nine days after his discharge from the army, from where he returned to the US after a few years. He first came into the crosshairs of the U.S. Secret Service because of embassy visits Oswald made. Specifically, visits to the Soviet and Cuban embassies in Mexico City. The reason for these visits was never really explained. Some notes then state that Oswald communicated with a KGB officer at the Soviet Embassy in September 1963.
He also allegedly visited the Cuban embassy to obtain a travel visa to travel to Cuba and wait for a visa to the Soviet Union. More than a month before the assassination, on October 3, 1963, he returned to the United States using the Texas border crossing.
After the assassination of President Kennedy, Mexican authorities detained a Mexican employee of the Cuban embassy with whom Oswald had been communicating. She was to say that ‚Oswald claimed to be a communist and an admirer of Castro‘.
The CIA’s plan to assassinate Fidel Castro using the Cuban underworld
The first plan to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro was to use gambling syndicates in Cuba. The first phase was planned from August 1960 to the end of April 1961. However, according to published documents, it was called off after the Bay of Pigs invasion.
The second phase was essentially a revival of the first, lasting from April 1962 to February 1963. The chiefs of the operation avoided using the word „assassination“, but the report states that „the aim was clearly to assassinate Castro“. The plan, according to the document, changed from „a gang rampage in which the Cuban leader was shot“ to a lethal pill. However, the pill did not dissolve and, moreover, tests showed that it was not lethal at all.
The assassination, in Castro’s words
In an AP news article on September 9, 1963, Fidel Castro was reported to have said, „The leaders of the United States would be in danger if they engaged in any attempt to get rid of the Cuban leadership.“ Similar threatening quotes were published in other media. It has therefore been theorised that these words had stuck in Oswald’s mind before he killed the President. However, the United States has found no evidence that this was true or that the assassin acted on this statement.
The United States is seeking further information
The House of Representatives Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) has requested additional information on approximately forty-three people believed to be connected to the Kennedy assassination. At the top of the list is the shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, followed closely by his wife, Marina Nikolaevna Prussakova Oswald.
According to the American media, the released documents have revealed nothing new or groundbreaking, as many pages have already been published before. Thousands of documents still remain in the archives that have been shown to the public only partially or not at all. Their release will have to wait until at least December next year.
