President Johnson: “Fidel Castro Got Kennedy First”

November 22, 2020   Cuba Insight A publication of the Cuban Studies Institute

President Johnson: “Fidel Castro Got Kennedy First” * By Pedro Roig     Could President Kennedy’s assassination had been prevented if the CIA and the FBI had alerted the Secret Service and Dallas FBI office about Lee Harvey Oswald disturbing behavior at the Cuban Consulate in Mexico City? The answer given by FBI Director Clarence Kelly, is an emphatic YES!  Kelly asserted that if the FBI Dallas’ Office had been aware of what was known elsewhere in the FBI and CIA about Oswald, “without doubt, John F. Kennedy would not have died in Dallas on November 22, 1963.” [1]   What the CIA and the FBI Knew about Lee Harvey Oswald: Emotionally disturbed person. Was a former marine sharpshooter. Prone to violent mood swings and sociopathic behavior. A self-proclaimed Communist. Nicknamed by his marine corpsmen as “Oswaldskovich.” [2] With an obsessive admiration to Fidel Castro and the Soviet Union. Faced two court-martials and suffered severe emotional breakdown. Discharged from the Marines on September 11, 1959. Took him five weeks to defect to the Soviet Union. In September 1963, upon his return to the U.S., Oswald visited the Cuban Consulate in Mexico City. Requested a transit visa to Russia via Cuba and was denied. Turned violent and began screaming “I am going to kill Kennedy.” Oswald Contact with Cuban Security Agents Oswald made contact with Cuban intelligence officers while stationed at “El Toro” Marine Air Base in Santa Ana, California. In response to the Warren Commission investigation, Nelson Delgado, a U.S. Marine friend of Oswald, testified that Oswald kept on asking him “how he could help Castro.” Delgado recommended Oswald to get in touch with the Cuban Embassy.  “After a while he told me he was in contact with them.”[3] Under oath, Delgado stated that “Oswald told him he was receiving mail from Cubans and had developed contact with Cuban government officials in Los Angeles.”[4] Delgado recalled that Oswald met with an unknown visitor.  “It was a man…a civilian… and they spent about one and a half, two hours talking.”[5] On October 16, 1959, Oswald defected to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Security Agency, KGB, perceived Oswald as “mentally unstable.” [6] On January 7, 1960, Oswald was sent to live in the Russian city of Minsk. He was assigned to work at a radio and television factory. Oswald dated several women and eventually married Marina Prusakova.  They had a baby girl. In Minsk, Oswald was directed to enroll in the Foreign Language School in Ulyanov Street. The school was adjacent to the KGB Academy, attended by Cuban security personnel. Among the Cubans that participated in the KGB spying courses, was Fabian Escalante.[7] Marina’s uncle, Ylia Prusakova, was a high-ranking executive of the KGB Academy. During Marina’s interrogation after the Kennedy assassination, she testified that Oswald bragged that he had gotten close to some of the Cubans who were attending the KGB Academy.[8] Marina remembered the Cubans with pleasant memories: “They were outgoing and joyful…. Often played the guitar…danced so well. They were such fun.”[9] In June 1961, Oswald, Marina, and the baby, left Russia and settled in Dallas, Texas. Continue Reading * Pedro Roig is Executive Director of the Cuban Studies Institute. Roig is an attorney and historian that has written several books, including the Death of a Dream: A History of Cuba. He is a veteran of the Brigade 2506.

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