AMLASH/Cubela
This is a story of spies, and from the looking glass the story should appeal to all conspiracy theorists that believe that the CIA was behind the Kennedy assassination. There is just one little discrepancy the, target was Castro and not President Kennedy.
On the 9th of March 1961, an agency employee assigned to the Mexico City station, sought out a Cuban delegate to the “Latin American Conference on National Sovereignty”. The delegate, Rolando Cubela, was a prominent member of the Cuban revolution and a personal friend of Castro.
The Purpose of the “meeting” was to investigate whether Cubela would be interested in partaking in a coup d’état against Castro. The agency knew that Cubela had during his tenure in Spain, privately voiced some opposition to Castro’s policies.
Although the initial meeting did not lead to a deal, it did however lead to further meetings that lead to the AMLASH project with the end game being the end of communism in Cuba. Cubela (AMLASH-1) insisted that the first step in the coup would have to be the elimination of Castro and he also claimed that he would be prepared to do the job himself. Cubela requested that the CIA would furnish him with the necessary tools to complete the job.
In the time after the initial meeting, Cubela arranged meetings with CIA personnel in Paris on at least two accounts and sent signals through contacts that he even desired to defect to the west. The “contact” Carlos Tepedino, also made similar contacts to the FBI as he (and Cubela) were not satisfied with the way his case was being handled.
However in August 1962, Tepedino arranged a meeting in Helsinki between Cubela and the CIA. The objective with Cubela was there quickly changed from defection to recruitments. Cubela showed a great interest in performing spectacular actions against Cuba (elimination of prominent party members, Soviet diplomats and even Castro himself).
The Helsinki meeting, was followed by meetings in Stockholm and Copenhagen (the site was moved for security reasons). Cubela was later (August 14-23 1962) flown to Paris where he was trained in the use of demolition and other assassination devices. Cubela was at one point asked to take a polygraph, which he refused to do. In the subsequent weeks, meetings were held in both Brazil and Paris where Cubela expressed serous mood swings (he switched from embracing assassination defection and back to assassination on a daily basis).
On the 11th of October 1962, Cubela asked to meet with Robert Kennedy, to ensure that he would be given full support from the US government after he eliminated Castro. Richard Helms (then DDP) decided that Kennedy should not be notified, and the instead Desmond Fitzgerald (head of SAS) should take the meeting with Cubela and provide him with the necessary assurances.
The meeting was arranged on the 29th of October, and Cubela received his desired assurances from Fitzgerald. Cubela also requested a high power rifle (with telescopic sightings).
Fitzgerald (in his own words) refused to furnish Cubela with any such devices and stated that the CIA would have no direct involvement with the assassination, which prompted Cubela to demand a meeting with a senior official outside the CIA.
This does not however fit into the description of the official memorandum from the meeting that describes Cubela as satisfied with the policy meeting, but was interested in knowing what technical support the CIA might provide to the mission.
22 November, 1962
Nestor Sanchez, arrived in Paris on the morning of the 22nd of November 1962, where he met with Cubela in the afternoon and furnished him with a concealed assassination device.
The AMLASH project continued on after the assassination of President Kennedy, and even involving Manuel Artime (the would be leader of Cuba after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion). Cubela was arrested by Cuban secret police in 1966, leaving him imprisoned until 1979 when he was allowed to leave Cuba.
The big question is off course did Castro now about the plans to assassinate him and if so, did he plan a retaliation? A Retaliation that was executed on the 22nd of November 1962
