Mary O'Grady: What Castro Knew About Lee Harvey Oswald - WSJ

Mary O'Grady

In November 1963, Cuban intelligence officer Florentino Aspillaga was posted in a little hut near a Cuban beach where he operated listening equipment trained on Miami and CIA headquarters in Virginia. On the morning of Nov. 22, Mr. Aspillaga—who would defect to the U.S. in 1987—said that he was ordered "to stop all your CIA work, all your CIA work." He was instructed to "put all of my equipment to listen to any small detail from Texas. They told me Texas."

Did Castro know that Lee Harvey Oswald was about to assassinate President Kennedy? Brian Latell, a veteran CIA Cuba analyst who spent 15 hours interviewing Mr. Aspillaga for his newly revised "Castro's Secrets," (Palgrave MacMillan), makes a strong case that he did.

Nov. 23, 1963 file photo, Lee Harvey Oswald is led down a corridor of the Dallas police station for another round of questioning in connection with the assassination of U.S, President John F. Kennedy. Associated Press

Mr. Latell takes readers through a half-century of Cuban espionage by interviewing a dozen high-ranking Cuban defectors and numerous former CIA officers. He calls Mr. Aspillaga "the most knowledgeable Cuban defector ever to change sides." He also pored over thousands of pages of declassified CIA documents and gained access to the unpublished memoir of Thomas Mann, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico in 1963, who had reason to suspect an Oswald-Cuba connection.

Mr. Latell set out to tell the story of Cuba's "intelligence machine," which outmaneuvered the U.S. for many years. In the process he uncovers startling details that suggest that Cuba fueled Oswald's maniacal desire to prove himself worthy of Castro's revolution during the American's visit to Mexico City in the fall of 1963. Mr. Latell also presents strong evidence that the Johnson administration and higher-ups in the FBI and the CIA ensured those details were kept from the Warren Commission.

The Kennedy administration was desperate to eliminate Castro. The 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion had failed and by August 1963, according to Edward Jay Epstein —a renowned expert on the killing of the president and author of the recently released book "The JFK Assassination Diary"— Richard Helms, though not yet CIA director, was "receiving almost daily phone calls from [Attorney General Robert Kennedy ] demanding to know what actions he was [taking] to remove Castro from power." The agency recruited Rolando Cubela, a revolutionary insider, to do the job. 

But Cubela was a double agent. And on Sept. 7, just after Cubela agreed to help the Americans, Castro gave an interview to an AP reporter in which he put the U.S. on notice that "aiding terrorist plans to eliminate Cuban leaders" would mean that "they themselves will not be safe."

Castro didn't need to look far for a willing partner to back up those words. It is "known with near certainty," writes Mr. Latell, that Cuba had "opened a dossier" on Oswald in 1959, while he was stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, in Southern California. Oswald was enamored of the Cuban Revolution, and he had made contact with the Cuban consulate in Los Angeles.

On Sept. 27, 1963, Oswald checked into the Hotel Comercio in Mexico City for a five-night stay. He tried to get a visa from the Cuban embassy to travel to Havana. He had a fling with an embassy employee and probably spent time with others who were intelligence agents. When his visa was not forthcoming, witnesses said he went on a rant at the embassy, slammed the door and stormed off.

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Was a Cuban hitman the second JFK assassin? New book reveals another plausible killer

He was chief counsel of the US Congress's Assassinations Committee, the body set up in the late Seventies to re-examine the shootings of JFK and the civil rights leader Martin Luther King - and he had special access to classified information.

In 2007, out of the blue, he was contacted by a Cuban exile named Reinaldo Mart­nez. He was in his 80s, Mart­nez explained, and there was something he wanted to get off his chest before he died. Over two days with Blakey I listened to what Mart­nez had to say. He passed on what he said he had been told by anti-Castro leader Tony Cuesta, a celebrated hero to Cuban exiles in the US, when Cuesta was being treated in the infirmary at Cuba's La Cabana prison for terrible wounds received in an anti-Castro raid.

Cuesta said a comrade, Herminio D­az - a man he and Mart­nez both knew intimately - had admitted before his death in combat that he had "participated" in the assassination of President Kennedy. D­az was a known political assassin, a marksman and - before joining the struggle against Castro that so many exiles felt Kennedy had betrayed - had worked in one of Mafia boss Santo Trafficante's casinos in Cuba.

We found Mart­nez credible, what he told us plausible. Former chief counsel Blakey deems the new information "a breakthrough of historic importance". Its significance lies in the fact it undermines the Oswald did-it-alone theory of the official account of Kennedy's assassination 50 years ago, on November 22, 1963.

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Link between Mafia, Castro drew scrutiny to 2 New Kensington racketeers in JFK investigation

TribLIVE

By Richard Gazarik

Loads of guns were seized from a plane in 1958 in Morgantown, W.Va. The guns were being smuggled to Cuban rebels using the airport in West Deer, authorities said.

The six men thought no one was watching as they loaded burlap bags onto a twin-engine Beechcraft at a West Deer airstrip in November 1958.

As the plane took off, troopers hiding nearby moved in to arrest the men. And when the aircraft landed in Morgantown, W.Va., it was seized.

There were 317 weapons inside the burlap bags — from 50-caliber machine guns to M-1 carbines — that had been stolen from an Ohio National Guard Armory and were destined for Fidel Castro's campaign to control Cuba.

Two decades later, the incident drew the attention of congressional investigators seeking a link between the Mafia, Castro and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

“La Cosa Nostra had a strong motive for taking drastic action,” the House Select Committee on Assassinations reported in 1979. “Yet it is extremely unlikely that it would have considered such a major and dangerous act as assassinating the president ... but the evidence does not preclude the possibility individual members may have been involved.”

Two New Kensington racketeers drew scrutiny during the investigation because of their ties to the smuggled weapons and Cuba, documents show.

Gabriel “Kelly” Mannarino and his brother Sam — part of Pittsburgh's John LaRocca crime family — were tied to Castro and Cuba's legendary casinos, according to declassified FBI reports.

One of the gun smugglers, Victor Carlucci, was Sam Mannarino's son-in-law.

Another, Daniel “Speedo” Hanna, worked in a Mannarino gambling den in New Kensington.

A third, Norman Rothman, managed the Sans Souci, a Havana casino in which the Mannarinos, Tampa mob boss Santo Trafficante and Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista shared an interest.

When Batista muscled the Mannarinos and Trafficante out of the Sans Souci, the Mannarinos tried to regain control by betting on Castro to restore ownership once he came to power.

Things did not work out that way.

On New Year's Day 1959, Batista fled Cuba. Rebels ransacked the casinos, and Castro closed them permanently.

More trouble came later when Kennedy ordered a mob crackdown and FBI agents planted a microphone in the Mannarinos' private office.

The wiretaps produced little, but the brothers were indicted for tax evasion in 1963. Kelly Mannarino was acquitted. Sam was convicted and served 366 days in a federal prison. He died in 1967. Kelly Mannarino died in 1980.

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/4488473-74/castro-mannarino-cuba#ixzz2kv9wsF75

German zoo forced to change name of Fidel, the Cuban crocodile

digitaljournal

By Anne Sewell

Hoyerswerda - One of seven endangered Cuban crocodiles hatched at the Hoyerswerda Zoo was given the name "Fidel". Apparently his name has caused some problems due to associations with the Communist revolutionary, Fidel Castro, and has had to be changed.

Hatched in the zoo during August, zookeepers had made a decision to dub the hatchlings with names associated with their homeland of Cuba. However, one of the seven hatchings born, Fidel, turned out to be a bit of a problem. According to Carmen Lötsch, the director of the zoo, which is located in what was formerly Communist East Germany, they never expected to have any controversy with the naming of the hatchlings, saying: “We were simply looking for names which you immediately associate with their homeland of Cuba. Nobody intended it to be a direct reference to dictator Fidel Castro or indeed a glorification of him as a person.” Rhein Zeitung (German language) reports that the name wasn't the only problem when it came to young Fidel however, as he soon became notorious for behaving aggressively towards his siblings and would regularly attack and attempt to bite them. This caused some to call the crocodile by the nickname "Castro". Lötsch continued: “But that really refers most of all to the critical aspects of Fidel Castro as a person, so one can really not be accused of in any way trivializing these actions.” However, despite this, the committee who allocates funding in the region just didn't approve of the name. As they last year provided the zoo with €400,000 in funding, and the zoo would apparently not have been able to carry on without this, they have now appealed to the zoo directors to be more sensitive in their naming of its residents. Lötsch went on to explain that the cultural body is one of the zoo's most important partners and that Hoyerswerda Zoo needed their support to continue. "We therefore take its displeasure regarding the name very seriously, even if we cannot entirely understand it,” she said. Now former Fidel, who will look like the photo above when he is grown up, goes by the rather fancy new moniker of “Fidelio.” There is, however, also another aspect of the crocodile that could possibly cause yet another name change in the future. Apparently the hatchlings have not yet been tested to find out their sex. While it has been assumed that "Fidelio" is a male, zookeepers will need to run blood tests to confirm that. According to the zookeepers this is not really a problem, as if the crocodile turns out to be female, "Fidelia" sounds pretty good as an alternative. According to Wikipedia, the remaining wild Cuban crocodiles can only be found in Cuba's Zapata Swamp and the Isle of Youth. There are apparently only 4,000 remaining in the wild and the species is highly endangered.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/362053#ixzz2kXf2lNWW

"UbreCastro" - Oleo sobre tela/ Juan Abreu

Juan Abreu

Ha perdido el cencerro UbreCastro y la polla de Bartolo ya no es negra sino de un rosa tostado y después de mirarla detenidamente la verdad es que se parece a la mía así que quizás no sea Bartolo quien insemina a la máxima vaca sino yo. Lo que me produce sentimientos encontrados. No es que no me haya follado yo antes a una vaca, que me la he follado recuerdo en mi juventud y no fue una experiencia desagradable no señor, pero una vacacastro es diferente. Comprenderán.

Ayer terminé el cuadro añadiendo el texto a los globos como de cómics que tiene y después de limpiar el pincel retrocedí unos pasos y contemplé mi obra en silencio un segundo y a continuación solté una carcajada triunfal.

UbreCastro, óleo sobre tela, 80 × 100 cms. Obras preparatorias del SUPERENSARTAJE.

No takers for Castro and Che's signed flag

Gloucestershire

A CUBAN revolution flag bearing a handwritten message by Fidel Castro has failed to find a buyer at Dominic Winter Auctions in South Cerney.

The flag was signed by Castro, the revolution's leader, for Jorge Ricardo Masetti, the first director of Cuba's Prensa Latina news agency.

The rare flag, dated April 13, 1958, went up for auction at Dominic Winter auction rooms with a guide price of £12,000 to £15,000, but failed to sell.

In the 1950s Jorge worked for an Argentinian radio station and travelled to the Sierra Maestra mountains, where he struck up a close bond with Che Guevara and Castro.

The reporter was presented with the flag as a memento of this meeting and later went on to write a biography of his fellow Argentinian.

Fidel Casto led an armed revolt against the government of Fulgencio Batista, running from 1953 to 1959.

The Communist Party, now headed by Castro's brother Raúl, continues to govern Cuba today.

Read more: http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/takers-Castro-s-signed-flag/story-20056373-detail/story.html#ixzz2kBJTrbcd

Mexican exhibit displays famous exiles' papers: Castro, Trotsky and Sandino

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Pelota cubana: Cuando el dueno de los Yankees le ofrecio millones a Fidel por estrellas cubanas

george steinbrenner, "the boss", fue directo a negociar con el dueno del team cuba. al margen de la perdida de la oportunidad para el beisbol cubano significo la decison del satrapa en jefe, se pone de manifiesto el "reconocimiento" y oportunismo vigente hoy del castrismo. 

72pantalla2

El SUPERENSARTAJE: El Comandante en Jefe y el Guerrillero Heroico (Sesentaynueve)/ Juan Abreu

Juan Abreu

El Comandante en Jefe y el Guerrillero Heroico (Sesentaynueve) Fragmento. (Obras preparatorias del SUPERENSARTAJE).

El Hindu, la Momia y la Bruja [Foto con el vicepresindente indio]

no es un fantasma lo que aparece en el background de esa cosa que llaman punto cero, atiborrada de objetos kitsch al peor gusto posible, es la companera, la bruja y ama de la finca.

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Granada: Reivindicación de Tortoló

Cubanet

Por René Gómez Manzano

LA HABANA, Cuba, noviembre, www.cubanet.org -En días recientes, he leído a periodistas independientes cubanos (no así a los oficialistas, que han guardado silencio) sobre el treinta aniversario de la invasión norteamericana a la isla de Granada (25 de octubre de 1983). Entre ellos hay interesantes artículos de Juan Reynaldo Sánchez, Arnaldo M. Fernández e Iván García Quintero.

También ha cubierto el asunto la televisora chavista TeleSur. Esa cadena, única del mundo que tiene un programa para denigrar a un país extranjero (“USA de verdad”), aprovechó también la efeméride para atacar de nuevo al “imperialismo yanqui”, atribuyéndole de manera subliminal la muerte del primer ministro de facto de la islita caribeña, Maurice Bishop. Y esto, a pesar de saberse que los norteamericanos intervinieron después de la deposición y el asesinato del personaje.

En alguno de los mencionados trabajos he observado que se enjuicia de manera crítica la postura asumida durante el conflicto por el jefe de las fuerzas cubanas. A raíz de los acontecimientos, nuestro pueblo ironizó al respecto: “Si quieres correr veloz, usa tennis Tortoló”, fue el chiste pujón y ripioso que circuló por aquellas fechas.

Cubanos reciben su ración de comida en un campo de prisioneros en Granada, en octubre de 1983.

Sin embargo, el análisis sereno de los hechos nos conduce a valorar la actuación del alto oficial de manera diametralmente opuesta. Desde el punto de vista del arte de la guerra, actuó con acierto. Se vio obligado a enfrentar a fuerzas de élite, superiores en número y armamentos. Sus cientos de hombres tenían conocimientos militares (¿qué cubano no los posee, máxime cuando es enviado al extranjero en una misión de ese tipo!), pero no eran profesionales del ramo.

Atinó al ordenar el repliegue hacia puntos elevados. Sus subordinados resistieron en difíciles condiciones durante días. En definitiva, no se rindió y se limitó a retirarse de un combate perdido evitando caer prisionero. Pero no fue eso lo esencial: Lo más importante es que se negó a destinar a sus hombres al exterminio colectivo decretado desde La Habana por Fidel Castro.

 

Las órdenes dadas por el “Máximo Líder” al coronel eran terminantes: No agredir a las fuerzas norteamericanas, pero si éstas atacaban, defender las posiciones ocupadas “hasta el último hombre y la última bala”. Juan Reynaldo Sánchez lo llama “un suicidio anunciado”; García Quintero, “un golpe de efecto que enaltecería a la revolución”. Todo esto a costa de las vidas de cientos de compatriotas.

La descripción truculenta del supuesto final de la “heroica resistencia” —la fábula de los últimos seis cubanos que se inmolaron envueltos en la bandera—, ¿de dónde coño salió? ¿Fue una ideación del embajador cubano Torres Rizo, dispuesto a informar lo que en La Habana deseaban oír? ¿O fue otro más de los bodrios guisados en las tiznadas cocinas del Departamento Ideológico del Comité Central? ¿O provino de más arriba, de los encumbrados despachos del Palacio de la Revolución? Nunca se ha aclarado.

Al transmitirse la tremebunda noticia, me encontraba en lo que entonces era el Tribunal Provincial de La Habana, en 100 y 33, Marianao. Recuerdo que, mientras los locutores oficiales recitaban con voz engolada el texto mentiroso, dos empleadas crédulas atravesaban el ancho patio del edificio, deshechas en llanto.

Pero volviendo a la patriótica decisión de Pedro Benigno Tortoló Comas, resulta forzoso reconocer que ella permitió que, en lugar de centenares de muertos cubanos, hubiera “sólo” un par de docenas. Y eso lo logró al costo de su desgracia personal, la degradación y su posterior envío a Angola en calidad de soldado raso.

Todos estos son aspectos importantes de aquellos sucesos. Sin embargo, lo que echo de menos en la cobertura de esta noticia es la alusión a un detalle que me impactó y que merece atención. Me refiero al papel desempeñado en esa tragicomedia por la pacotilla transportada por los misioneros provenientes de Granada y exhibida ante las cámaras.

Los supuestos “héroes del enfrentamiento anti yanqui” fueron recibidos por el “Máximo Líder”, y el acontecimiento fue transmitido en vivo por la Televisión Cubana. A ese momento pretendió dársele la mayor solemnidad, lo que incluyó el “parte” rendido por el coronel jefe de la misión: “Comandante en Jefe, sus órdenes han sido cumplidas”.

Pero no resultaba posible tomar en serio a la larga teoría de compatriotas que, mientras avanzaban para recibir el apretón de manos del mandamás, permanecían adheridos a diversos equipos electrodomésticos. Descollaban en el desfile los ventiladores, debido a su mayor volumen y lo engorroso de su traslado.

Por eso creo que, en una galería de imágenes que ilustren los sucesos de Granada, no debe faltar alguna fotografía de un misionero dando la diestra al “Máximo Líder”, mientras blande en su mano izquierda un moderno aparato fabricado por “el enemigo”.

Revealed: U.S. investigators questioned Fidel Castro over JFK's assassination

dailymail

The Warren Commission sent an investigator to quiz Castro over JFK's assassination - but he denied being a part of it, a new book has revealed

Cuban dictator Fidel Castro was questioned by the Warren Commission after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, a new book has revealed.

The previously-undisclosed meeting between a U.S. investigator and the Cuban president after the November 1963 killing has been shared in 'A Cruel and Shocking Act: the Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination' by Philip Shenon, a former investigative reporter for the New York Times.

It reveals that the commission investigating the death in Dallas, Texas sent an investigator to waters off Cuba and took Castro out in a U.S. Navy boat and then onto a yacht.

Before the meeting, Castro had expressed interest in speaking with the commission, Bob Schieffer explained on CBS' Face of the Nation as he discussed the book.

Questions: Following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, U.S. investigators questioned Fidel Castro (right, pictured in 2004) over what he knew about the death but he said he had nothing to do with it

'The investigator gets off the boat, talks to Castro, they talk for three hours,' he explained. 'Castro says - as you would expect - "No way, no how did I have anything to do with it".'

Schieffer, who called the book 'magnificent', noted that the investigator sent to speak with Castro was William Coleman, who later became secretary of transportation in Gerald Ford's administration.

He was sent because he had actually met the dictator while he was on his honeymoon in Harlem and they had shared a love of jazz music. Although they weren't friends, they did know each other, and it was for this reason that Coleman was sent, CBS reported.

In the book, which is out October 29, Shenon doesn't dispute the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald worked alone when he murdered Kennedy on November 22, 1963.

Probe: U.S. investigator William Coleman (left in 1976 when he became the US Secretary of State for Transport) was sent to waters off Cuba to meet Castro (pictured in 1964) because they had previously met in Harlem

Moments from tragedy: President Kennedy and his wife smile at crowds from their motorcade in Dallas, Texas just moments before he was shot on November 22, 1963. Castro said he knew nothing of the plot

Instead, he underlines that there's no evidence to suggest there was a conspiracy or anybody else involved, despite numerous claims to the contrary.

It also comes after retired CIA analyst Brian Latell claimed in a book last year that Oswald told Cuban intelligence officers that he had planned to kill Kennedy.

'Fidel knew of Oswald's intentions - and did nothing to deter the act,' he wrote.

He wrote that a Cuban spy defector told him that on November 22, 1963, he was told to gather any intelligence coming from Texas - and within three hours he learned that the president had been shot.

The defector told a CIA debriefer: 'Castro knew. They knew Kennedy would be killed.'

Accused: Lee Harvey Oswald, pictured in the Dallas police station, was arrested for the shooting but before he could stand trial, he was shot by a club owner while he was being moved to a jail

The Warren Report denied that anyone else was involved and instead only Oswald, a former Marine who had defected to the Soviet Union, was arrested for the death.

He denied any role in the assassination. Two days after his arrest, he was shot dead by nightclub owner Jack Ruby as he was transferred from police headquarters to jail.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2477048/Revealed-U-S-investigators-questioned-Fidel-Castro-JFKs-assassination.html#ixzz2ipcQWBLf

Fidel Castro questioned about JFK assassination, book claims

Granada, la derrota que Fidel Castro no podía perdonar

El autor al fondo a la derecha

esta bien, pero blas roca muere en 1987 y el contingente que lleva su nombre se funda en 1986 y como en cuba no se nombran a instituciones y organizaciones con el nombre de personas vivas, no es posible que la brigada constructora llevara ese nombre [la unica excepcion que se conoce es el estadio genaro melero de jatibonico inaugurado en 1960 en vida del destacado pelotero].

--------------------------

Por Juan Reynaldo Sánchez*

A 30 años de los acontecimientos desencadenados en la isla caribeña de Granada tras el magnicidio del primer ministro Maurice Bishop y la invasión de tropas estadounidenses, el fantasma de Fidel Castro gravita sobre el  descalabro de la operación militar cubana y la suerte de 25 compatriotas que fueron conminados a una muerte absurda.

Todavía hoy siguen en pie dos preguntas esenciales: ¿Qué significaba Granada en los propósitos megalomaníacos de Fidel Castro? ¿Por qué designó al coronel Pedro Benigno Tortoló Comas y cuáles fueron sus órdenes directas?

Al frente del movimiento izquierdista de la Nueva Joya (NJM, Bishop había tomado el poder en 1979 mediante un golpe de Estado contra el gobierno del primer ministro Eric Gairy, precisamente con ayuda logística de La Habana.

Fidel Castro necesitaba de otro puntal en el Caribe, además de la Jamaica de Michael Manley. Sabía que el gobierno de Manley era inestable y podía perder el poder en cualquier momento, como en realidad sucedió en 1980. De manera que Granada aparecía como el trampolín de exportación de la revolución a otras naciones de la región caribeña, como ya lo era la Nicaragua sandinista en Centroamérica.

Entrenamiento en Cuba

La posible influencia en la comunidad caribeña del gobierno de la Nueva Joya sería verdaderamente importante tanto para Castro como para la entonces todopoderosa Unión Soviética en pleno apogeo de la Guerra Fría, dada la tendencia marxista leninista de Bishop.

Desde los primeros días del triunfo de Bishop, Fidel Castro ofreció entrenamiento y asesoramiento en aspectos de la seguridad presidencial y militar especializada que el premier granadino no tardó en aceptar.

Así fue como decenas de militantes de la Nueva Joya comenzaron a entrenarse en la escuela de la Seguridad Personal, por entonces ubicada donde hoy se encuentra la Unidad de la Policía Especial en el bosque de La Habana; otras decenas de granadinos reciben cursos especiales en las instalaciones de Tropas Especiales del Ministerio del Interior.

Bishop visita Cuba por última vez el 7 de octubre de 1983, días antes de la intervención norteamericana y caribeña a la isla. La visita transcurre en largas horas de reuniones y recorridos por el interior del país, incluyendo la Central Electronuclear de Juraguá, en Cienfuegos. Bishop  le comenta a Fidel Castro sobre las divisiones dentro del partido de la Nueva Joya, las críticas de culto a la personalidad que le habían realizado dentro de la organización y la cada vez más precaria  unidad en  el gobierno de la isla.

Ya para esta época, Cuba está involucrada en la construcción de un aeropuerto en Point Salines mediante la colaboración de obreros pertenecientes a la Brigada “Blas Roca Calderio”, según un acuerdo establecido con Granada, a la vez que habían sido enviados decenas de asesores militares cubanos.

La estrella de Tortoló

Bajo el pretexto de construirse únicamente para el apoyo del turismo a la isla, el aeropuerto también tenía el objetivo de servir a los propósitos del tráfico de personal y material bélico hacia el Caribe, como en una época se utilizó el aeropuerto internacional José Martí de La Habana para el aterrizaje y estacionamiento de los bombarderos soviéticos de largo alcance soviéticos en un área militar especialmente habilitada en el lugar.

Con estos antecedentes es comprensible la designación del coronel Tortoló para la defensa de las instalaciones y posiciones cubanas en Granada.

Fidel Castro conocía a Tortoló desde las maniobras militares Bastión, a comienzos de los años 80, y especialmente estuvo muy cerca de él durante los ejercicios desarrollados en 1983. En el recorrido realizado por diferentes puestos de mando de la defensa, Castro  llegó a la antigua escuela de responsables de milicias del Ejército Central, que tenía a Tortoló como jefe del Estado Mayor de esa fuerza militar.

Al arribar Castro,  le rinden el parte correspondiente de las supuestas acciones militares y  como jefe del Fstado mayor le informa de las tácticas y maniobras a seguir para contrarrestar una posible invasión enemiga. Tortoló lo hace bien y responde sin titubeos a las incisivas preguntas del gobernante, que se lleva una magnífica impresión del joven coronel.

El 14 de octubre Bishop es depuesto y asesinado por las fuerzas leales a Bernard Coard y se desata una ola de violencia en la nación caribeña. Ante la inminente intervención militar por parte de Estados Unidos y fuerzas conjuntas de estados caribeños como Barbados, Dominica y Jamaica, Fidel Castro decide no retirar ni un solo cubano de Granada y enviar a un militar de alta graduación para hacerse cargo de la defensa en las posiciones cubanas en el territorio granadino, fundamentalmente el aeropuerto en construcción en Point Salines y la Embajada cubana.

Continuar leyendo en Café Fuerte >>

Castro y Rasco: vidas paralelas

José Ignacio Rasco, sentado, en la presentación de su libro 'Acuerdos, desacuerdos y recuerdos'. Detrás suyo, Uva de Aragón y Carlos Alberto Montaner. Miami, septiembre de 2012. (WENCESLAO CRUZ)

Carlos Alberto Montaner/
José Ignacio Rasco acaba de morir en Miami. Tenía 88 años, setenta de ellos dedicados a la lucha cívica, siempre junto a las mejores causas. Fundó el Movimiento Demócrata Cristiano en La Habana en 1959 y desde entonces fue el abanderado de esa corriente política. Al menos en ese momento, cuando comenzaba la revolución, y durante pocos meses, para lograr el desarrollo armónico de Cuba no parecía delito proponer un camino diferente al de Fidel Castro, su excondiscípulo y todavía amigo. Rasco creía en la Doctrina Social de la Iglesia.

Pero, casi enseguida, Rasco tuvo que pasar a la clandestinidad y luego al exilio tras buscar la protección de una embajada. Era (y sigue siendo) la maldita hora de la unanimidad revolucionaria. La única forma de no ser execrado y perseguido era suscribir la cosmovisión, la ideología y las medidas de gobierno impuestas por Fidel Castro y su cohorte de violentos ignorantes. Rasco supo que tenía que huir cuando un diario publicó un titular con un juego de palabras idiota y primitivo: "Rasco da asco". Comenzaba la costumbre del "asesinato de la reputación" que desde entonces no han dejado de practicar. Del fusilamiento moral al físico no había más que un paso.

Belén los une

José Ignacio y Fidel tenían unas cuantas cosas en común. Ambos procedían de familias pudientes de origen español. La de Rasco, muy católica y urbana, se había enriquecido moderadamente en La Habana, en actividades comerciales y profesionales. La de Fidel, había tenido éxito en el mundillo rural de la caña. En términos estrictamente económicos, el padre de Fidel era más rico que el de Rasco. El de José Ignacio, en cambio, tenía un mayor reconocimiento social. 

Las dos familias, con mentalidad muy española, pensaron que la educación de los jesuitas era la mejor del país y ambas matricularon sus hijos en el Colegio Belén.

José Ignacio y Fidel se conocieron y se convirtieron en amigos en Belén. Coincidían en algunos aspectos. Los dos eran buenos atletas. Fidel, a quien entonces sus compañeros le llamaban "El Guajiro" por su origen rural, se destacaba en béisbol, baloncesto y campo y pista. José Ignacio, flaco y musculoso, también corría como un galgo y fue campeón de salto con garrocha.

Pero ya había rasgos muy preocupantes en la conducta de Fidel totalmente diferentes a los de José Ignacio. Mientras Rasco era un adolescente respetuoso de las normas y esencialmente prudente, lo que le ganó el reconocimiento de las autoridades escolares, Castro era un tipo temerario capaz de lanzarse a toda velocidad contra una pared montado en una bicicleta para ganar una apuesta, acción que le provocó una conmoción cerebral. Fidel, ya en quinto año de bachillerato, portaba una pistola con la que intimidaba a los estudiantes, arma de la que fue despojado por un horrorizado profesor.

No obstante, ambos eran inteligentes y buenos estudiantes, pero por distintas vías. Rasco porque era metódico, perseverante y estudioso. Fidel, porque tenía una memoria prodigiosa. Como los dos estaban entre los mejores y pertenecían a un club de debates que operaba dentro de la escuela, alguna vez protagonizaron un duelo verbal en el que discutieron un asunto que entonces enfrentaba a la opinión pública cubana: las ventajas de la educación privada frente a la estatal o viceversa.

Curiosamente, a José Ignacio le tocó defender la educación pública y a Fidel la privada. No se trataba necesariamente de establecer quién tenía razón, sino de utilizar el diálogo, la racionalidad y las destrezas oratorias como forma de solucionar los conflictos sociales. Fue la primera vez que el nombre de Castro apareció en los diarios. El periódico Hoy, el de los comunistas, lo insultó por su posición. Nada dijeron, sin embargo, de la argumentación de Rasco.

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Cuban journalist who first interviewed Fidel Castro in the Sierra Maestra died

By Juan O. Tamayo

eichikawa.com

Agustin Alles Soberón, the first journalist to interview Fidel Castro and his guerrillas in Cuba’s Sierra Maestra Mountains in 1958 and later a senior editor with Radio/TV Marti for 20 years, died Sunday in Miami at the age of 87.
Alles retired from the U.S. government’s Marti stations in late 2011 and was just two chapters short of completing a book about his life when he died from heart failure, said his son-in-law, Javier Yanez.
He was best known for his trek up Cuba’s highest mountains, with photographer Eduardo Hernández, to interview Castro and other guerrillas such as Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, in March of 1958.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/21/3703052/cuban-journalist-who-first-interviewed.html#storylink=cpy

"SUPERENSARTAJE" [1er boceto]/ Juan Abreu

Juan Abreu

SUPERENSARTAJE (Homenaje a Reinaldo Arenas), primer boceto. Septiembre 2013.

Últimas palabras de Fidel Castro | Neo Club Press

Neo Club Press

Ángel Velázquez Callejas

Fidel, Raul y Ramon [Abril 24/1996]/ www.cubadebate.cu

Estas serían las últimas palabras de Fidel Castro en su lecho de muerte: “Raúl, debemos un gallo a Vicente. Paga mi deuda y no la olvides”. Retomo aquí la notable frase del Fedon de Platón sobre Sócrates ante la muerte: “Critón, le debemos un gallo a Esculapio. Paga mi deuda y no la olvides”. Y la caricaturizo con el objetivo de crearle sentido metafórico al carácter “noético” de la Revolución Cubana.

Frente a la muerte, Vicente de Castro fue un informante del mundo poscolonial que se avecinaba, mientras Fidel Castro es el vecino póstumo del mundo posnacional. Entre esos dos mundos, se creaba el carácter noético del régimen vigente en Cuba. Una huida que dejaba sin efecto político al mandato ético –”ese sol del mundo moral”– gracias a su derrota esencial. ¿Por qué la derrota de ese mandato en la primera mitad del siglo XIX, y que quiso recuperar Martí, no ha sido planteada como hipótesis inicial? No lo sabemos. Lo lógico fuera que el mandato “ese sol del mundo moral” se trastocara por otro, racional, anticlerical, en la iniciativa independista del médico cubano Vicente de Castro, quien creó el GOCA (el Gran Oriente de Cuba y Las Antillas). La idea moral individualista era sustituida por la idea de “dejarse conducir”. O, en palabras de los revolucionarios del siglo XX, “dejarse hacer”. Lo que implementaba Vicente de Castro era una metanoia, usando una metáfora médica. Era dejarse anestesiar.

En un par de ensayos que publiqué hace un tiempo (La masonería en la generación del 68 y La revolución cubana: entre el ocultismo y las ciencias sociales), deslicé ciertas intuiciones con el fin de abrir el debate sobre cuál era el lugar de origen metafísico de la idea de la “Revolución Cubana”. En esas suposiciones ontológicas determinábamos un ocultismo masónico de carácter noético. En esta ocasión, avanzamos sobre el siguiente criterio: aunque la historiografía insiste casi puramente en el carácter ideológico-nacionalista de la Revolución Cubana, pierde de vista que esa representación del espíritu revolucionario oculta la alteración del imperativo universal “ese sol del mundo moral” por otro dado a la muerte del sujeto. Oculta una conversión noética que no tiene que ver en lo profundo con un proyecto político o social, sino con llevar a cabo el lema utópico ” hay que cambiar al mundo”. La declaración de Vicente de Castro, hallada en los preceptos teóricos del GOCA, así lo confirma.

Vicente de Castro apuntaba: “El hombre no puede gobernarse por la Razón pura, pues tiene pasiones, hábitos e intereses radicales, a menudo contrarios a la Filosofía, la Moralidad y la Inteligencia Ilustrada; por lo que el buen legislador debe hacer que el principio ceda paso a la necesidad, hasta que por ley invariable del Progreso preparen el camino para que el interés material y el mental marchen de consumo”.

Esta conjunción entre el “principio” y el “progreso” actúa como una ofrenda para el sufragio de hombres convertidos en entes políticos, abocados a la producción proletaria. Las pasiones, los hábitos e intereses radicales, son precisamente los elementos adecuados para operar y moldear. En este sentido la filosofía, según lo ve Nietzsche, asume un ideal ascético moral, una huida de la democracia política. Jalonada la historia desde esa perspectiva, una ofrenda para Vicente deviene en apto metafórico para garantizar la continuidad de esa huida, de la muerte del sujeto.

De Vicente de Castro a Fidel Castro hay una continuidad bio-política, la de crear hombres manipulables. En un primer momento proletarios, en un segundo comunistas. Con el GOCA se abre paso a la proletarización de las masas; con las Escuelas del Partido, a la “dogmatización ideológica” de los cuadros, operadores de proletarios. De ahí la ofrenda, el contenido de la metanoia de la Revolución Cubana.

https://www.facebook.com/angel.velazquez.1650

Was Cuban Herminio Diaz a second Kennedy assassin?

dailymail

Author Anthony Summers has claimed that Cuban exile shot President John F. Kennedy in 1963 with Lee Harvey Oswald

Diaz was part of an anti-Castro movement that felt betrayed by Kennedy for the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis

He 'told a friend that he was responsible for the killing before his death'

------------------------------

A Cuban exile and professional hit man assassinated President John F. Kennedy with Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963, an author has claimed.

Anthony Summers said evidence shows Herminio Diaz, who was part of the anti-Castro movement that felt betrayed by Kennedy for the Bay of Pigs invasion, was in the U.S. at the time of the killing.

Afterwards, Diaz reportedly revealed to friends that he had been part of the murder and after his death in 1966, one moved to Miami and eventually contacted officials to share the story.

The chief counsel of the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations, G. Robert Blakey, said he believed the account and called the new details 'a breakthrough of historical importance'.

Accused: An author has claimed that Heminio Diaz (left), a Cuban exile, was also responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy n 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald (right) was arrested for the killing

The startling claims have been made by Summers in an update to his 1998 book on the killing, 'Not In Your Lifetime' and shared with the National Enquirer.

While Diaz's name has been linked to the assassinations before, Summers claims he now has the real evidence - and support from experts - to prove the claims are true.

It further fuels beliefs that Kennedy's assassination as he drove in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas was a conspiracy and not carried out solely by Oswald, who was arrested for the murder.

Diaz, who had worked for Mafia boss Santo Tafficante Jr. in Cuba and killed a Cuban police officer in the 1940s, arrived in the U.S. a few months before the assassination on November 22, 1963, CIA documents show, the Enquirer reported.

Before tragedy: President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie Kennedy Onassis smile at the crowds lining their motorcade route in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963 minutes before he was shot

Horror: An image shows Jackie Kennedy leaning over to help her husband just after he was shot

'Diaz was a professional hit man with a record of political assassinations,' Summers said. 'He was in the country at the right time and was involved in the anti-Castro movement.

'Many people in that movement thought President Kennedy had betrayed them during the CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and had a motive to kill him. Frankly, it all adds up.'

Summers did not say how Oswald and Diaz would have been acquainted with each other.

After the assassination, Diaz was traveling to Cuba for an anti-Castro raid with a friend, Tony Cuesta, who he told about his role in the killing, the Enquirer reported.

Diaz died in the raid and Cuesta was hurt after trying to commit suicide to avoid capture - but he was caught and jailed at La Cabana Prison.

Claims: Author Anthony Summers said he spoke to another Cuban immigrant who heard that Diaz confessed to the assassination. The new details are an addition to his 1998 book, Not In Your Lifetime

While being treated in the infirmary, he told another anti-Castro inmate, Reinaldo Martinez, about Diaz's confession.

After Martinez was released from prison, he went to Miami and eventually contacted G. Robert Blakey, chief counsel of the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations, in 2007.

Blakey told the National Enquirer that Martinez thought he was going to die so wanted to come clean.

'After speaking with him, I believe he was telling the truth,' he said. 'This is a breakthrough of historical importance.'

Summers, who also spoke to Martinez at length, and Blakey said that Martinez had gone to the FBI with his story, but he was told the investigation was closed.

In the famous Zapruder film of the assassination, Kennedy can be seen being hit from behind - where Oswald was standing - and then apparently being hit from the front, some experts have said.

Blame: Oswald, pictured the day after the assassination, was the only person arrested for the killing. A man who heard Diaz was responsible for the shooting told the FBI - but they said the case was closed

Cyril H. Wecht, a medical examiner who has studied the assassination for decades, said he agrees there was someone else involved.

'Based on the initial backward trajectory of the president's head after being impacted by the gunshot blasts, I believe a shooter operated from the right front of the vehicle behind the picket fence on the grassy knoll,' he said. 'Eyewitness accounts corroborate this.'

The Warren Report into the death discounted this and instead only Oswald was arrested for the death.

He denied any role in the assassination. Two days after his arrest, he was shot dead by nightclub owner Jack Ruby as he was transferred from police headquarters to jail.

Read more:

• The National Enquirer

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2463291/Was-Cuban-Herminio-Diaz-second-Kennedy-assassin.html#ixzz2hwuHN0Lg
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Ted Cruz's Father Rafael Cruz Compares President Obama to Fidel Castro

Latina

AP Photo

Ted Cruz with father Rafael and daughter Caroline during victory speech in 2012

Sen. Ted Cruz's father Rafael Cruz took the stage at a Freedom Works Free the People event this summer and gave a speech in which he compared President Obama to Fidel Castro numerous times.

"It is such an honor to be here with so many patriots," said elder Cruz. He then went on to share with the crowd that he "grew up in Cuba under a strong, military, oppressive dictatorship" and that as a teenager had become involved in a revolution.

"I remember during that time, a young, charismatic leader rose up, talking about hope and change," he said. "His name was Fidel Castro."

Rafael went on to recall how he became disillusioned by seeing what Castro had later done to Cuba even after promising "hope and change," and then later goes on to say that seeing what is happening in the United States under Obama also causes disillusion.

"I think the most ominous words I’ve ever heard was in the last two state of the union addresses, when our president said: 'If Congress does not act, I will act unilaterally,'" he said.

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Entrevista a Frank Vales interprete de Fidel Castro

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