White House Photographs
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Trip to Texas: Dallas arrival at Love Field and motorcade
JFKWHP-1963-11-22-B / 1963 November 22
Records concerning Cuba, Fidel Castro, anti-Castro exile activity, and related Agency operations.
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ARRB · JFK-M-19 : F12 : 2000.02.16.09:58:21:607044 : · Release: Redact
CIA · From: T. JEREMY GUNN · To: J. BARRY HARRELSON · JFK-M-15 : F5 : 2000.02.07.11:32:56:560035 : · Release: In Part
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The JFK Assassination Records Collection contains extensive documentation on Cuba, Fidel Castro, and anti-Castro Cuban exile activities, reflecting the intense Cold War tensions and covert operations of the era. These records detail the evolution of CIA anti-Castro policies from 1959 to 1961, including the planning and execution of the Bay of Pigs invasion. The collection also includes reports on various anti-Castro organizations and their activities, some of which had tangential connections to Lee Harvey Oswald in New Orleans.
A significant portion of the records focuses on U.S. policy toward Cuba, including efforts to counter Cuban subversion in Latin America and the military buildup on the island. Notably, the collection contains multiple Inspector General reports and staff reports from the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) detailing CIA-sponsored plots to assassinate Fidel Castro. Other documents explore Oswald's contacts with Cuban and Soviet embassies in Mexico City and various "AMSPELL" operations, which were covert actions against Cuba. These records collectively illuminate the complex and often clandestine relationship between the U.S. government, Cuban exiles, and the Castro regime in the years leading up to and following President Kennedy's assassination.
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The October 2021 records release adds significant texture to the CIA's operations involving Cuban exiles and its broader efforts to counter Fidel Castro's influence in Latin America. Several documents from 1963 detail a multi-pronged U.S. government strategy to impede pro-Castro subversion. This included programs for controlling the movement of arms, funds, and propaganda, as well as a "Caribbean Surveillance System" [1]. A key focus was impeding travel to and from Cuba by "subversives and subversive trainees" [2]. CIA stations across Latin America were tasked with pressing host governments to enact stricter travel controls and providing intelligence on travelers. For example, the station in Argentina reported that due to increased Mexican controls, "all truly clandestine travel to Cuba from Argentina is now via Prague" [3]. To support these widespread efforts, the CIA augmented its communications infrastructure, increasing traffic at its Washington-area base radio station from 3 million groups in October 1962 to 15 million in March 1963 [1].
The releases also provide a window into the complex and often fractious world of anti-Castro exile groups. A 1960 report details the landscape of exile leadership in the U.S., noting that while most prominent exiles recognized the need to unite, their efforts were weakened by "rivalries...for leadership" and the fact that many were connected to the unpopular Batista regime [4]. The report identifies figures like General Jose Eleuterio Pedraza as a potential military leader and discusses the political maneuvering of others [5]. A separate, undated report outlines the CIA's use of a specific group to infiltrate other exile organizations, maintain extensive files on Cuban personalities, debrief refugees, and recruit agents [6]. The CIA also engaged in direct propaganda and morale-boosting operations, such as a proposed 1965 trip by an exile leader, codenamed AMCORE-2, to Central America to secure "moral and publicity support" and serve as a "useful irritant to the Castro regime" [7].
Several documents from the 2021 release revisit the question of Cuban involvement in President Kennedy's assassination. A May 1975 CIA review memo analyzes a September 1963 Associated Press interview in which Fidel Castro stated, "U.S. leaders would be in danger if they helped in any attempt to do away with leaders of Cuba" . The memo notes that Lee Harvey Oswald was in New Orleans when the story was published and that there was "no evidence in the files...that this CASTRO interview was considered in following up leads" by the Warren Commission, despite its potential significance [8]. The same review concludes there is no "credible evidence" of Soviet or Cuban government involvement beyond what the Warren Commission considered, but allows that such evidence "could exist in Moscow and/or Havana" [9]. Another newly released cable, sent days after the assassination, reports that the initial reaction of the Cuban Ambassador in Ottawa was one of "happy delight," which changed to "apprehension" after Oswald's connections to the Fair Play for Cuba Committee became public. The ambassador then received instructions from Havana to "cease looking happy in public" [10].
Finally, the release contains documents related to the AMLASH operation, a CIA plot involving Rolando Cubela Secades (AMLASH-1) to assassinate Fidel Castro. A chronology of assassination plans notes that on November 22, 1963, a CIA case officer met with Cubela in Paris and delivered a pen rigged as a hypodermic syringe for administering poison [11]. Another memo from 1965 discusses the operational complexities and security concerns surrounding the AMLASH group, including the belief among some members that if the operation failed, they should denounce the U.S. government, creating a scandal that "would make the Bay of Pigs seem insignificant" [12]. The documents highlight the high stakes and internal tensions of the CIA's anti-Castro covert actions during this period.