Even though the Cuban Revolution was discouraging to the US, the threat of a Cuban-style revolution across the Latin American continent was considered to be a direct threat. Though we could survive the loss of a single island, the loss of an entire region would deliver a massive blow to our foreign policies. With the Fidel’s ideologies rising, the United States needed to take immediate action to deal with the fact that a hemisphere would be on the verge of revolution, not just Cuba itself (Wright, 58). On April 17, 1961, one thousand-three hundred members of the CIA counter-revolutionary Cuban exile force scaled the beaches of Cuba. This event ended in total failure, for the Cuban forces were underestimated. So, to deal with the issue now, the US felt they needed to eliminate the problem at its source, Castro himself, through some kind of intervention. This is the reason in which the CIA came in to cause some sort of disruption internally.
The Inspector General's Report of 1967 on CIA Plots to Assassinate Fidel Castro is probably the most important CIA document ever released by the Agency. The CIA allied themselves with those whose motives were to re-establish the pre-Castro Cuban drug traffic. One of those people was mafia leader Santos Trafficante. In December of 1960, a memorandum from the Bureau (FBI) to the Agency reporting that efforts were being made by U.S. racketeers to finance anti-Castro activities in hopes of securing the gambling, prostitution, and cocaine monopolies in Cuba in the event that Castro was overthrown. Tony Varona, the Cuban leader of the political creation of the Bay of Pigs, who was also entrusted with the assassination plans, was part of this. He had hired Edward Moss, as a fundraiser and public relations advisor. Moss’s mistress, Julia Cellini, had brothers that owned two of the largest casinos in Cuba. By giving money to Moss for the operations against Castro, the Cellini brothers were promised a reasonable payback if the event would ever occur. Overall, the CIA’s intentions were to restore the tyranny of US mob in Cuba. It was one of the key factors that of mobilizing middle-class opposition to Batista, the former Cuban leader before Castro had overthrown his regime (Scott, 1-2).
After some speculation, Kennedy seemed to be moving to a leftist policy. It was less reactionary, and he had appointed Manolo Ray, a political leader, who had briefly served as a Minister for Castro beforehand. He became the new Attorney General of the United States. Both Trafficante and Varona felt that this movement was a threat to their post-Castro Cuban influence. Robert Kennedy seemingly wanted to end US organized crime, which was both men’s resource in keeping power in Cuba. He was told about the Mafia's assassination plot on May 7, 1962. Also, the CIA-mafia relations, along with assassination attempts on Fidel Castro, opposed the ideologies of both Bobby and John Kennedy completely. The CIA’s plans were still consciously carried out however (Scott, 5). The conspiracy of the murder of JFK was later to come. The plans involved the same conspirators who were recruited to assassinate Castro. After finding a US sniper team, Castro supposedly tortured them and found out the entire operation. Many of the men were found to be part of the old Trafficante organization. Working with Cuban intelligence, they allegedly lined up an ex-Marine sharpshooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, who had been active in the pro-Castro movement. Oswald may have shot Kennedy or may have acted as a decoy while others ambushed him from closer range (Scott, 12).
Evaluation of Sources:
There were two main sources that had been used greatly throughout this entire historical investigation. The first was an interpretation of the Inspectors General Report, which was written by J.S. Earman in 1967. The report’s purpose in this investigation was to provide the documentations needed to explain the events that occurred between the US and Cuba during Castro’s rule as dictator. Its purpose when it was written, however, was more or less to be a journal: to account for what was planned versus what was carried out. Evidence of this included the CIA involvement with the mafia. The General’s Report was so greatly valued at that time, that it was classified document for almost ten years. IT included key names of the people with the mafia and also some of the outlandish assassination attempts towards Castro. Although it was a primary source, it has some limitation to it. First, the source had some commentary to it. The commentator was a US citizen, so it was written with some bias as to what went on in Cuba. And because the CIA was very secretive with the path in which they were taking to accomplish their goals; the report still may not include all the facts. Overall however, this document has provided much information on the CIA’s anti-Cuban revolution attempts and their effects for this investigation.
The second source was a novel written by Thomas C. Wright. It contained just factual information. However, its purpose was not to provide information on these accounts. Rather, it was used to give a background as to why such events may have happened. Because of this, there was a certain value to it. It took the investigation and pieced it together, along with the aims on which it was focused upon, to offer a foundation in which to build a better understanding of what had to be done in Cuba, and in what manner. Published in New York, and written much later than the General Report (almost thirty years later), this book had its limitations. Because it contained only factual information, the book left out all speculation or conspiracy. So it actually neglected the mafia plotting against Kennedy and his assassination that followed. However, being that it was written thirty years later, new information was found out and brought up that was not included in the General’s Report. So in turn, this source became the corner stone on which the aims of the investigation were derived from.
Analysis:
The importance of the actions done by the US against Cuba were carried out to cease revolution in Latin American countries and to secure economic and strategic regions. This was in affect after Castro had risen over the Batista regime in Cuba. Because the trend seemed eminent, in that the revolution may spread to other countries and interfere with US relations, the CIA took action against the origin of the revolution, Cuba. The Bay of Pigs invasion was one example. However, it proved to be a total failure, so other actions needed to take place. The next concern was to attack the heart of Cuba, Fidel Castro himself. It was planned that if the US overthrown his regime, it would restore order once again. Also, if this were to occur, there would be no ties with the communistic Soviet Union so close to US borders. By attempting to restore mafia order in Cuba, the CIA assumed they would do exactly that. US mobsters and trained CIA racketeers allied themselves with big underground leaders such as Verona and Trafficante. Because both men had formed other relations into the mafia underground trafficking, the expansion of Castro opposition became great, and even plots made by the CIA, with use of mobsters, of assassinating him were distinguished. However, Kennedy wanted to end mafia rule in the US, which would also affect ones located in Cuba, and become a detriment to the CIA’s financial support. Upon finding out assassination plans against him, Fidel Castro used the same mafia connections that the CIA used to strike against the US and assassinate John F. Kennedy. It was the ultimate backfire to our goal as a nation. However, it was an advantage to the CIA, which causes some controversy as to what extent were they aware that this was going to happen. Overall, our objectives of securing the revolution in Latin America could be considered a failure because, as a nation, the aftermath became the ultimate backfire to our attempt for the restoration of peace.
Conclusion:
Following the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion, the CIA needed to interfere internally to cause an opposition to Castro’s rule and to stop a continental revolution. By siding with Trafficante and Verona, two of the top Cuban mafia members, the CIA tapped into casino resources which eventually led to drug trafficking and prostitution: things that could bring Castro’s regime down. But with the leftist opposition from Kennedy, these leaders of the underground resented him for it because aid from US mobsters went to Cuba. Both the Cuban mafia and CIA went against the president’s wishes and resented him for doing this. Due to these actions, Kennedy paid a price. It was thought that because Castro found out about the CIA’s plot against him, he used our own hit men to strike at the president. And because the CIA had already railed against his actions, they were thought to have known about the assassination without doing anything about it. Due to the conspiracies involved, there are some speculations that Oswald was not the one that shot Kennedy But, we do know that what happened in Cuba did in fact aid in his assassination.
