What Fidel Castro Said When JFK Died, Part 3: Did Right Wing Cubans Know of Assassination Plot?

The post What Fidel Castro Said When JFK Died, Part 3: Did Right Wing Cubans Know of Assassination Plot? appeared first on WhoWhatWhy.

This is the Part 3 of a three-part series of excerpts from Castro’s speech.  Please go here for Part 1, and here for Part 2. [Note: these excerpts have been compressed]

A few days ago an incident drew my attention. This was while the Inter-American Press Association Conference was taking place. [In Miami.]  It was a scandal, because several governments were… crudely attacked, like the government of Brazil, by a certain Mexquita, who said horrible things about the President of Brazil, who even… called for a coup in Brazil… against other presidents, against other Latin American countries, there in the United States, and he made long tirades… against the speech delivered by Kennedy in Florida, because the speech… was disappointing for a number of persons who favor a more aggressive policy against Cuba. [Ed: Castro learned of these comments through a series of cables.]

It was a disappointment for the counter-revolutionary elements and it was a disappointment for the warmongering elements in the United States.

And so, a series of cables…”Miami, Florida — The Cuban exiles waited tonight in vain for a firm promise from President Kennedy to take energetic measures against the communist regime of Fidel Castro… They waited tonight in vain for a firm promise.”

“I believe a coming serious event will oblige Washington to change its policy of peaceful co-existence.”

Many met in the offices of the revolutionary organizations and in their homes, to listen to President Kennedy over the radio. The Spanish translation broadcast over the radio station of the exiles. They listened when the President said: “We in the hemisphere should use all the means at our disposal to prevent the establishment of another Cuba in the hemisphere.”

That is, they did not accept the fact he said “to prevent the establishment of another Cuba in the hemisphere,” because they thought that it carried with it the idea of accepting one Cuba.

Many exiles had hopes of more vigorous statements to liberate Cuba from communism, but nevertheless, some felt that the US government was waging a secret war of infiltration against Castro that could not be disclosed.

It [cable] says that thousands of exiles attended an open air rally in view of Kennedy’s arrival, and they heard criticism because of what they described as a weak US policy toward Cuba.

Jose Ignacio Rivero, Editor-in-exile of the Diario de La Marina, the oldest Havana newspaper (he will stay there all his life), and Emilio Nunez Portuondo, former President of the United Nations Security council, called for more positive action by the United States.

Rivero, a member of the Inter-American Press Association, where Kennedy spoke, expressed his doubts over a sinister intrigue among international politicians. That is an “intrigue ” because they want to co-exist with us…

It [cable] says: “He also said in the meeting that ‘the weak US policy towards Cuba and other American nations is an international shame.’” This was said by Ignacio Rivero… who has to be linked to the ultra-ultra elements in the United States.