Peter Kornbluh Archives

How the CIA plotted the ‘accidental’ death of Raul Castro

Jefferson Morley April 26, 2021

One of blackest of the black arts of espionage is the assassination operation designed to disguise who was reallly responsible.

Case in point: a newly-disclosed CIA plot to kill Raul Castro, commander of the Cuban armed forces, by making it look like he died in a plane crash.

From Peter Kornbluh, a leading Cuba scholar, in SpyTalk:

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8) Nov. 5, 1963: JFK considers secret talks with Castro

Jefferson Morley July 25, 2019

Was JFK going to make peace with Cuba?

On November 5, 1963, President Kennedy was exploring the idea. You can hear JFK talking about it with aides on this White House tape recording. (The substantive conversation starts at :25 in the recording.)

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8) Nov. 5, 1963: JFK considers secret talks with CastroRead More »

How JFK pursued the ‘sweet approach’ to Cuba

Jefferson Morley August 23, 2016

At a conference on the 50th anniversary of the Warren Commission report in Washington in September, Cuba scholar Peter Kornbluh gave a fascinating talk on how President Kennedy pursued the idea of normalizing relations with Cuba in the spring of 1963.

In the State Department this was known as “the sweet approach,” Kornbluh says. The idea was to lure Fidel Castro out of his alliance with the Soviet Union instead of overthrowing him. …

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Return to Cuba: When Castro talked peace in 1963, JFK listened

Jefferson Morley March 18, 2016

As the United States and Cuba engage in hard bargaining over how to normalize relations in 2015, it worth remembering that President Kennedy was seeking the same goal when he was assassinated in November 1963.

In this ABC News broadcast in April 1963, Cuban president Fidel Castro talked about his desire to settle differences with Washington. JFK was listening.

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What would JFK and Jackie have said about the Cuban flag flying over Washington?

Jefferson Morley July 21, 2015

Cuban Embassy on 16th St NW in Washington DC (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)

“Peter Kornbluh, who runs the Cuba Documentation Project at the National Security Archive, was carrying around a book he co-authored, “Back Channel to Cuba,” about the twisted secret history of outreach between the nations. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” he said. “It’s a flag flying in the winds of change.'”

Source: Cuban flag over the new embassy in Washington signals a victory shared by American advocates – The Washington Post.

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Obama completes the journey that JFK began

Jefferson Morley April 12, 2015

obama-castro — Presidents Castro and Obama. (Photo: MWC News)

This was the moment President John F. Kennedy was angling for 52 years ago: reconciliation between the United States and Cuba.

President Obama met yesterday with Cuban president Raul Castro, the first face to face meeting of the country’s leaders since the mid-20th century. Obama said “Cuba is not a threat to the United States.” His appearance was condemned by Obama’s Republican critics just as JFK’s Cuba policy was condemned by his opponents.

Ideological polemics notwithstanding, Kennedy was no hawk on Cuba. …

Obama completes the journey that JFK beganRead More »

Is it time to abolish the CIA?

Jefferson Morley December 22, 2014

The NYTimes.com asks: “Would the security needs of the United States be better served if the agency were dismantled?”

Three responses are especially apt. All of them note that CIA abuses of power are deeply rooted in the agency’s history, going back to the Kennedy presidency.

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Was JFK going to make peace with Fidel Castro?

Jefferson Morley May 10, 2014

At the time of his death President Kennedy was thinking about it — and thinking hard. You can even hear JFK talking about it: just click here.

In 2003, Peter Kornbluh, an analyst at the non-profit National Security Archive in Washington, obtained a White House tape recording about JFK’s Cuba policy, made on November 5, 1963.

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In 1963, RFK urged lifting of the Cuba travel ban that is still in effect 51 years later

Jefferson Morley February 4, 2014

In 2014, most Americanns are barred by law from visiting Cuba, the island nation closest to America. When it comes to Cuba, Amrica’s vaunted ideals of “free trade” are frankly repudiated by the government in Washington which justifies violation Americans’ freedom to travel in the name of supporting democracy and human rights.

A half century ago, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy came to believe that the ban on travel to Cuba was “inconsistent with “our views of a free society,” as these historic documents collected by the non-profit National Security Archive reveal..

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In defense of the National Archives

Jefferson Morley December 7, 2013

Peter Kornbluh, Cuba scholar at the non-profit National Security Archive, objects to yesterday’s post criticizing the National Archives for its stance on secret JFK files.

“This criticism of NARA General Counsel, Gary Stern, seems a classic case of shooting the messenger–and in this case an ally for transparency on this issue,” Kornbluh writes.

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