Castro Knew JFK Would Be Killed Nov. 22, 1963

Another factoid for JFK conspiracy theorists: Cuban leader Fidel Castro apparently knew President Kennedy would be assassinated and even told spies to listen carefully to radio chatter coming from Texas on November 22, 1963, the Miami Herald reports. In a new book, former CIA analyst Brian Latell draws on Cuban sources and declassified US documents to argue that Castro was at least aware of Lee Harvey Oswald's intentions.

According to the book, Castro’s Secrets—the CIA and Cuba’s Intelligence Machine, Castro knew that Oswald had been refused a visa at the Cuban embassy in Mexico City, and vowed to kill Kennedy to prove his Communist allegiance. "I don’t say Fidel Castro ordered the assassination, I don’t say Oswald was under his control," says Latell. But "did Fidel want Kennedy dead? Yes. ... In Fidel’s mind, he was probably acting in self-defense." (For another, "pleasingly convoluted" JFK plot involving the mob and Castro, click here.)