ise SECRET Review of Selected Items in ‘the SUBJECT Fy Lee Harvey OSWALD File Regarding Allega~_ . tions of CASTRO Cuban Involvement in the). John F. _ KENNEDY Assassination , REFERENCE : Letter: by David W. Belin to Mr. E. Henry Knoche, 15 April 1975, paragraph 3 (Regarding Public Statement” by CASTRO, etc. ye attached BACKGROUND | Le on ’ satuiday evening, 7 \Septenber 1963, °° ; oe “Fidel CASTRO appeared at a Brazilian Embassy reception in: "Havana; even moze ‘unusual, CASTRO submitted to an informal. Daniel HARKER. interview by the Associated Press correspondent, 2. HARKER' s interview reached New York on Sunday,» 8 September, and was in print throughout the country on . Monday, 9 September. There can be no question: from the £acts surrounding the CASTRO appearance, which had not been expected, and his agreement to the interview, that this event represented a more-than-ordinary attempt to get a message on the record in the United States. a 56 C RE T
14-00000: Y * he 4 "SECRET 3. CASTRO's statements to HARKER covered a range of ‘topics but dealt principally with American political - leadership, in particular President KENNEDY 2 whom he ex- coriated in extraordinarily provocative fashion (ae. KENNEDY is a cretin;" " ... the BATISTA of his times’... .the most opportunistic American President of Ae -fhe interview also contained an uncomplimentary reference to Senator GOLDWATER and Cuban delay in signing 0 ‘the. Limitea nuclear test ban. There were: differences in -,. ‘the. replay by. onlay, States newspapers Like the mo 7h : ‘New York Times. and washington papers, with, a result that” re caStRO"s -! "message" was significantly modulated. oo oe Be, = Bae Tm New. Ozleans, where Lee Harvey OSWALD resided mntil. the midale- of September 18963, the HARKER. story "appeared in the principal morning papers the nimes-Picayune, / on Monday ;. 9 September, page 7, under a. three-column head- a “dined. * "CASTRO Blasts Raids. on ‘cuba. Says U. Se ‘Leaders | “imperiled _by Bid. to Rebels." ‘the story followed’ under the HARKER by-Lines : | a a | ~ 2 a a - nS “Havana (AP) —- prime Minister . Fidel Castro said Saturday night: ‘US. “leaders would be in danger if they helped in any attempt to do away with leaders of Cuba.’
"Bitterly denouncing what he called recent U.S. prompted raids on Cuban terri- tory, Castro said: ‘We are prepared to fight them and answer in kind. U.S. ‘leaders should think that if they are aiding terror- ~ ist ‘plans to eliminate Cuban leaders, they themselves will not be safe.* . wee world affairs ... seemed to be entering a more peaceful climate a few days . ago, but now this trend has changed with © "attacks. | oo | “ "The U. WS. is 3 always ready to negotiate : a and make promises’ ‘which later it will not honor. o =. this. has happened ‘to promises made. during the ots a October crisis. ‘They have been ‘broken as’ can BSS be seen with new attacks. "tBu to warn, ‘this | is Leading + to a very - . dangerous situation that could lead to a worse ° crisis than october" s yen oy an 7 TE Ge ‘The New York Times, in its coverage on a September, — used a UPI wire service report which omitted any reference . to the warning and threat which gave the interview its real significance. The Washington Post did an abbreviated ren write (3 September, page A~-7) which, similactys | omLtt Led | any reference to the main thrust of CASTRO's remarks.” . + a «t o EC R&T
“the Dallas ‘killing. More imgortant, the. interview appears to have been’ forgotten. in the ‘contemporary political consid- “stage itselt pursued the ‘implication of ‘the CASTRO _intexview ‘in dealing with the conspiracy hypothesis. there is no oe * evidence i in tha. files. that anything along these Lines was oe CASTRO warning and threat as reported above. The results The Evening Star of Washington, D. C., printed the HARKER “story nearly in its entirety in the second section of the paper (9 September 1963, page B- 4) and reworded the content of the HARKER interview, placing the emphasis on the po- litical aspects ~ in particular, highlighting the GOLDWATER ot elements. and ‘purying CASTRO'S warning to the United States leadership in the middle- of the piece. Te ‘There is no evidence in the files « on the KENNEDY assassination that this CASTRO interview was considered in following up leads or in dealings’ with the Warren Commission . and its staff although Mexico Station specifically directed _ _ Headquarters attention: to the AP story very shortly after - exation. of relations with CASTRO" s Cuba. There is no evidence ~ in the Agency records,, either, that the Warren Commission OT ‘stated by any other Cuban leader before: ‘the assassination. Be The purpose of this review, “undertaken at Mr. Belin’: request, is to reconsider Lee Harvey OSWALD's activity on the assumption that as an avid newspaper reader ~- “which we know from testimony of Marina OSWALD and others — he read the 4 SEC RE TP
nie cor Po Cp “ an | SECRET of the review, admittedly. heavily using the 20 —- 20 quality of hindsight, may be stipulated in summary: ‘a. There is no ‘increment of credible evidence, applying this phrase strictly, of ‘Soviet and/or Cuban political, intelligence’ _ or security service involvement in the ass a sassination to what was developed and con sidered by the. Warren Commission and its . staff. The. Commission's finding that Lee Harvey oswaLD was the killer of. \President 1 KENNEDY: and Officer TIPPET and did™ | Athen | in alone -and of his own determination 7 ~ Ystenas. “ Sale. "@eéaibie evidence" that would Cupset or significantly modify this judgement dia. {and does) not exist in ‘Washington... But stich | evidence could exist in. ‘Moscow and/or “Havana,” whose voluntary inputs ‘to ‘the Warren. 2S Commission were minimal in quantity. and. ev nae quality, designed ‘tO cover up any adniesions bE knowledge of, or connection with, OSWALD . + which might be related directly or indirectly , with the assassination. therefore, the belief that there was Soviet and/or Cuban (KGB and/or” PGI) connection with OSWALD will persist and | vt Se + avai tnt teenage rer cape eee mptentrtae etre APP tn eecrar ssaecosepanonsamnenanioirtnet : 5 : = -
14-00000 3 . | . (5 tty KE , . cy ee ON SECRET Wo grow until there has been a full disclosure by these governments of all elements of OSWALD'’s handling and stay in the Soviet Union and his contacts in Mexice City. The “Warren Commission report should have left a wider "window" for this contingency. That, indeed, was the opinion at the working ‘level, : particularly | in the counterintelligence ‘com~ ponent in the CIA in 1964. As was indicated’ by Mr. Helms in his testimony before the Warren Commission, CIA would continue to —_ - 7 “regard this aspect of the OSWALD case as stall, open.” | ee In the absence. of additional or. new OS — moe tee aes > S elements GE “credible” evidence, there are “nuances” in the record that emerge as note~ worthy, in. the Light of othex’ conclusions. . These. are reviewed and summarized below, item— “byzitem. oe et oh a a - . oe ay CASTRO" s warning and threat of | 7 September 1963 - if OSWALD did indeed read Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. KENNEDY. Hearings Before the President’ s Commission on the _ Assassination of President KENNEDY (Washington, 1964), hereafter cited as Hearings, Vol. Ve pp- 120 - 129. See especially p. 124 — "Mr. Helms: _"Yes- tT would assume _ ae the case could never be closed.' 5 P SBcRE
wa : fees a SECRET .it in New Orleans ~ must be considered of great significance in the light of the pathological evolution of OSWALD's passive/ aggressive makeup after his attemat to kill "General WALKER early in April 1963 and his : identification with Fidel CASTRO and the "cuban revolution which is directly trace- | able as far back as his Marine Corps Service in El TOXO, California. CASTRO'S warning and threat, given to AP corres- “ pondent HARKER; irrespective: of whether os . oa © there was. any formal mandate, or even - on | “security. service ‘contact. with OSWALD | oe ae oo the, ‘Cuban or the Russians, - was an act _ ‘OF: singular inresponsibility and under no “ cizcunstances was excusable as retorsion for what the. Cuban" emigres were doing during the | summer of 1963. 2" — . . . - @- “CUBAN ‘contact WITH LEE HARVEY oswALD, SANTA ANA, ‘eantronvta, . EARLY. 1959 (2), ". +. 9. The testimony of Nelson DELGADO contains an assertion © of germinal significance to any review of the background of Lee Harvey OSWALD's feeling toward and relations with CASTRO's Cuba. DELGADO was probabiy the closest peer qroup co eee ene . sete oe we Bees wee . a . . - a terme geet note ceet regen ree ae