This morning, in a ceremony marking the end of 54 years of hostility, Cuba will raise its flag over a limestone mansion to officially reopen its U.S. Embassy. There will be hundreds present, including U.S. congressmen, diplomats and others who are expected to join visiting Cuba Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and 30 official from Havana.
Make no mistake JFK would be overjoyed to see this milestone.
Very few Americans seem to be aware of recent history especially to do with the last days of the Kennedy administration. In multiple blog posts I have tried my best to fill in what may have been earlier blanks and another opportunity presents itself today as we celebrate this historic restoration of Cuban-U.S. relations (which 58 percent of Americans support).
While some hysterical right wing Cubans such as Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R, FLA) and posturing American Reepos (e.g. John Boehner)- are beside themselves with rage, even planning a news conference to denounce the event - there is no doubt President John F. Kennedy would have welcomed it.
Why would he not given he had, in fact, initiated a rapprochement with Fidel Castro from late 1962. Let me try to unpack this for those whose history books totally avoided the issue, which is understandable, given it would have provided yet another clear motive for the CIA and security state to snuff out JFK's life.
Even as the Cuban Missile Crisis had wound down,
we know that by the late fall of 1962 – unknown to all but Robert Kennedy and a
handful of advisors – a mission had gotten under way toward secret dialogue and
rapprochement with Fidel Castro[1].
To get some remote idea of how this might be perceived today (by the entrenched
national security state) it would be somewhat similar to President Obama trying
to engage in a secret dialogue or rapprochement with the Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani. Imagine how well that would be received!
This is not to say that the latter is on the
same geopolitical plane as rapprochement with Castro, only that the emotional baggage and extent of
reaction would be relatively equal,
taking into account both eras and circumstances. The shadow government
and intelligence collective that would be enraged at Obama for such an effort as they were at JFK then.
But Kennedy was vastly more at risk given the rapprochement would have been seen in concert with his other momentous moves including:
- Signing Executive Order 11,110, issued on June 4, 1963 - to challenge Federal Reserve control of the money supply, by printing and circulating U.S. Notes
- Signing the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with Nikita Khrushchev in August, 1963 – which also severely limited all anti-missile defense systems
- Federalized National Guard troops in Alabama to assist in school integration
- Signing NSAM 263 to remove all U.S. personnel from Vietnam by 1965
Any one of these would have been ample reason for most of the hate mongers or power elites to want him dead. But these in concert with the rapprochement to Castro would have sealed the deal.- Signing NSAM 263 to remove all U.S. personnel from Vietnam by 1965
The question is germane and relevant because in the spring of 1963 we know that the Chief of Psychological Warfare branch of the CIA's JM/WAVE station in Miami (George Johannides,), was busy “guiding and financing” members of the Revolutionary Cuban Student Directorate or DRE, one of the largest anti-Castro groups in the United States[3]. This attention included providing the DRE with up to $25,000 a month, so long as they submitted to CIA discipline[4]. (Not surprisingly many of the Cubans screaming loudest today probably have affiliations to those in the DRE then.)
Further probability of cross-Agency leakage would’ve occurred when ABC News reporter Lisa Howard offered herself as an intermediary, and her apartment in
By September 24, 1963, Robert Kennedy had informed Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. William Atwood, that Jack might be able to meet Castro, but not in
Sadly, Nagell's actions merely postponed Kennedy's assassination and he never lived to see the fruits born out by his rapprochement. Today, he'd be looking on and smiling that his efforts ultimately resulted in re-establishing relations.
Meanwhile, the U.S. will wait to raise an American flag at its own Embassy in Havana until Secretary of State John Kerry travels there to do the honors later this summer. But Kerry will meet Mr. Rodriguez at the State Dept. today.
Let the right wing Cubans scream and shout. All they can deliver is sound and fury signifying nothing. JFK's vision finally won out!
[1] 'Kennedy
and Castro: What Might Have Been',
by Peter Kornbluh, in The Baltimore
Sun, Aug. 22, 1999, p. 1C. Kornbluh is the head of The National
Security Archives and he compiled the attendant documents that support the
Kennedy-Castro rapprochement efforts.
[2]
Kornbluh, ibid.
[3]
Jefferson Morley, ‘The George Johannides
Cover-up’, in JFK LANCER, May 19, 2005.
[4] Morley, ibid.
[5]
Kornbluh, ibid.
No comments:
Post a Comment