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COPY NO. 107.
SC NO. 00546/63
25 November 1963
SUMMARY
CENTRAL
INTELLIGENCE
業
AGENCY
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CODE WORD MATERIAL
GROUP I
Excluded from
automatic downgrading
and declassification
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DAILY SUMMARY
25 November 1963
This summary of significant information has not been coordinated
outside the Office of Current Intelligence. It does not represent a
complete coverage of all current reports received, nor does time
permit the complete evaluation of all reports which are included.
CONTENTS
FIDEL CASTRO'S SPEECH:
Castro's two-hour speech on 23 November was what he termed
an "objective analysis" of the implications of President
Kennedy's assassination. The speech reflected an appre-
hension that US policy toward Cuba may now become even
tougher. He said the President's death was "serious and
bad news" and sought to insinuate that "ultrareactionaries"
in the US are exploiting the assassination--and may have
been responsible for it--as part of their campaign for a
more "aggressive" US policy against Cuba. (Page 1)
MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS:
The Cuban defensive military alert, ordered immediately
after the news of President Kennedy's death, remains in
effect. (Page 2)
OTHER CUBAN REACTIONS TO THE ASSASSINATION:
The charge of the Cuban Embassy in Chile says there is no
doubt that CIA or "other Yankees" assassinated the Presi-
dent and that therefore a third world war will start.
(Page 2)
The Cuban UN ambassador issued a statement early on 23
October expressing "profound displeasure" with which Cuba
received news of the President's death. (Page 3)
08.06
24
Foreign Minister Roa) asked his (UN) mission for "all the
data you have on Lyndon B. Johnson" and the reply was
sent immediately. (Page 3)
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OTHER CUBAN REACTIONS TO THE ASSASSINATION
24
cont'd
The Cuban (Foreign Ministry) instructed a number of
Cuban diplomatic missions abroad) on 22 November not
to make "any statements." 24 (Page 3)
Che Guevara, in a 24 November speech, warned Cubans that
"everything indicates that in the next months and years
world peace will be threatened" as never before. (Page 3)
CUBAN SUPPORT FOR EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES:
The Venezuelan Government plans to hold a press confer-
ence on 26 November revealing the Cuban origin of the arms
cache found in Venezuela early this month. (Page 3)
ii
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FIDEL CASTRO'S SPEECH:
Fidel Castro's two-hour speech on 23 November was what
he termed an "objective analysis" of the implications of
President Kennedy's assassination. The speech reflected an
apprehension that US policy toward him may now become even
tougher. He said the President's death was "serious and bad
news" which could lead from "a bad situation to a worse situ-
ation." He pointed out that President Kennedy's alleged
promise not to invade Cuba had been strongly attacked by those
"ultrareactionaries" in the United States who, he said, are
now using the assassination to create a climate of "anti-
Soviet, anti-Cuban hysteria" designed to pressure the new
President toward a Cuban policy "highly prejudicial to the
interests of peace and of mankind."
Castro began his speech by stating that he "and the
immense majority of human beings" react with "repudiation" to
the assassination, which is not "a correct method of struggle."
While the death of the imperialist system would make Cubans
happy, "the death of a man, even if that man were our enemy,
cannot make us happy.
...we must not confuse the systems with
the men. "
He said,"we always cease our belligerency at death;
we always bow with respect at death, even if it has to do
with an enemy.
"
Castro declared that the assassination can only benefit
"those ultrarightist and ultrareactionary sectors, among which
President Kennedy could not be counted." These "most reaction-
ary forces are now breaking loose within the United States,"
he declared. President Kennedy was a strong president who
was able to control these pressures, but the new US president,
because of the circumstances inherent in his assumption of
the presidency, will not have the same strength and authority,
Castro said.
Castro then read a series of US news dispatches referring
to the Castro-Communist affiliations of the accused assassin.
He said this was all part of the "reactionary" effort to
create a climate of "anti-Soviet, anti-Cuban hysteria" in
the United States. This climate of hysteria, he said, is
designed to face the new President with an irresistible pres-
sure toward a "more aggressive policy."
Castro then devoted considerable time in an attempt to
throw doubt on the guilt of the accused assassin and to in-
sinuate that Oswald, whether guilty or innocent, was actually
a tool of the extreme rightists. "Is he really guilty? Is
he a scapegoat? Is he a psychopath? Or is he perhaps a tool
of the most reactionary US circles? Who is this man?
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FIDEL CASTRO'S SPEECH cont'd
-
"
Why did he go into action precisely when circumstances were
least favorable for a left-wing fanatic to assassinate the
US President?". Castro stated that his investigation of the
"reports, statements, and publicity" on the Fair Play for
Cuba Committee in the United States failed to indicate that
there was any chapter in Dallas or New Orleans and that “we
never in our life heard of him (Oswald)." Castro then re-
ferred to US press reports on Oswald's attempt last summer to
"infiltrate" the anti-Castro Student Revolutionary Directorate
in the US and to DRE statements that Oswald was thought at
that time to be "an agent of the FBI or the CIA.' "They
(the DRE leaders) must know, because they have many dealings
with them, what FBI and CIA agents look like," Castro stated.
Castro then declared that, while Oswald may or may not
be guilty, it is nevertheless possible that he was "an agent
for the CIA or the FBI, as those people suspected" and could
have been "a tool of the most reactionary sectors which may
have been hatching a sinister plan, which may have plotted
the assassination of Kennedy because they disagreed with his
international policy." "What is behind all this? What sinister
maneuver are they hatching behind all this? Who can be re-
sponsible for the assassination of President Kennedy? And who
benefits from the assassination...except the worst reaction-
aries?" Castro warned that it is not possible at this point
to answer these questions, "but we do say that it is suspect,
that we must be cautious and vigilant and alert." Castro
closed with the usual expressions of confidence that the
Cubans will be ready to meet any new crisis with resolution.
(CIA FBIS 06, 24 November, OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS:
The Cuban defensive military alert, ordered immediately
after the news of President Kennedy's death, remains in
effect, but no unusual Cuban military activity has been noted.
(NSA, various internal military intercepts, 22-24 November,
SECRET KIMBO)
OTHER CUBAN REACTIONS TO THE ASSASSINATION:
A clandestine source reports that the chargé of the Cuban
Embassy in Santiago de Chile said that there is no doubt that
the CIA or "other Yankees" assassinated the President and that,
as a result, a third world war will start. He also emphasized
the need for Cuba to prepare for a possible US invasion. (CIA
Santiago de Chile, TDCS 3/565,826, 23 November, SECRET NO FOREIGN
DISSEM)
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OTHER CUBAN REACTIONS TO THE ASSASSINATION
-
cont'd
Carlos Lechuga, Cuban UN ambassador, issued a statement
early on 23 November stating: "Despite the antagonisms exist-
ing between the Government of the United States and the Cuban
Revolution, we have received with profound displeasure the
news of the tragic death of President Kennedy. All civilized
men are always saddened by happenings such as this. Our
delegation before the United Nations desires to express that
this is the sentiment of the people and the Government of
Cuba." (UPI New York, 23 November, UNCLASSIFIED)
.00.06
06 Cuban (Foreign Minister Roa dispatched a message to
Carlos Lechuga) shortly after President Kennedy's assassination
asking (Lechuga to "please send me at once all the data that
you have on Lyndon B. Johnson including his political connec-
tions, etc." (Lechuga) replied immediately: "biographical
data on Lyndon Johnson are in cable (24) of Prensa Latina and
in UPI dispatch 169 and supplements. He also referred Boa)06
to "Who is Who" which he had sent the Foreign Ministry) earlier
and said he will cable additional information later. 29 (NSA
"
3/0/CUL/T1382-63 and -T1381-63, 23 November, TOP SECRET DINAR)
494
29
2
The Cuban Foreign Ministry) dispatched a (circular) message
late on 22 November to a number of Cuban diplomatic missions?4
abroad stating only "do not make any statements."
This was
probably an attempt to prevent any comments on President
Kennedy's assassination until the official Cuban line could
be established. (NSA 3/0/CUD/T1380-63, 23 November, TOP
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89
Che Guevara, in a speech on 24 November, expressed
apprehensions similar to those stated by Fidel Castro the
night before. Guevara blamed President Kennedy's assassination
and the killing of Oswald on reactionary forces in the United
States and warned Cubans that a new, tougher policy against
Cuba will be forthcoming from the United States. "Everything
indicates that in the next months and years world peace will
be threatened by the most unscrupulous, ferocious, and warlike
monopolistic oligarchy--and with the most murderous potential
--that the history of humanity has every known, " Guevara said.
(CIA FBIS, 25 November, OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES:
A Venezuelan Government press conference tying the arms
cache found in Venezuela earlier this month to Cuba is scheduled
for Tuesday, 26 November, according to the US Embassy in Caracas.
This is to be followed by a report to the OAS, probably on
2 December. (Am Emb Caracas 601, 24 November, CONFIDENTIAL)
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