By GABRIEL MOLINA:

GEORGE H. W. Bush and Richard Nixon were in Dallas on the day of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, one year after the October Missile Crisis. However, they deny or fail to remember this fact.

Brian Latell, a senior CIA agent, recently published the book Castro’s Secrets, prompting an insidious Miami Herald article by Glenn Garvin headlined "The Kennedy Assassination: Did Castro know in advance?". The article was reproduced in Life and Le Monde magazines.

Neither Latell nor Garvin asked where Nixon and Bush Senior were on November 22, 1963. Others have done so and the two politicians answered that they didn’t remember. But Paul Kangas and other researchers have disclosed evidence that both were in Dallas, Texas, and that they knew about the assassination.

Part of the evidence is a November 23, 1963 memo from FBI director Edgar Hoover, revealing that George Bush Sr., as a CIA officer, reported on Cuban exiles’ reaction to Kennedy’s death. Bush alleged that this was another agent of the same name, but left the impression that the FBI knew what he was saying. Fletcher Prouty, a former CIA link official, stated that Bush – by then a high-ranking officer with the agency although he also denied that fact – was responsible for organizing the Bay of Pigs invasion, involving the recruitment of Cubans later suspected by the U.S. Congressional Committee investigating the assassination of being linked to John F. Kennedy’s death.

Carl Freund, from the Dallas Morning News, interviewed Nixon on the day of the assassination, who stated during the interview that Kennedy intended to drop Lyndon Johnson as his running mate in 1964 and attacked the President for the civil rights demonstrations taking place throughout the U.S., commenting that Kennedy had offered more than he could give. The newspaper added that Nixon was attending a meeting of the Pepsi Cola Company in the city and was staying at the Baker hotel. The day before the assassination,The Dallas Times Herald published a photo of Nixon taken in Dallas with Donald Kendall, president of Pepsi Cola. Kangas refutes the argument that Nixon had already left the city, given that airport documents show that he left after the assassination. (1)

In 1991, CIA agent Chauncey Holt told Newsweek magazine that Kendall was considered by the agency as its eyes and ears in the Caribbean. The CIA is key to the close relationship between the businessman and the politician. Pepsi had a factory and a plantation in Cuba which were nationalized by the revolutionary government.

Researcher Carl Oglesby places Nixon and Vice President Johnson during the evening of November 21 at a Dallas party, which he considers the final coordination meeting for the assassination. Kennedy’s increasing confrontations with Johnson during 1963 were known in government circles and by the President’s close friends. They were sure that his corrupt connections were going to be exposed and that Johnson would not be the candidate in 1964. There was also talk of his prosecution.

The book Le dernier temoin (The Last Witness) includes the confessions of Billie Sol Estes, a financial millionaire who was sentenced in court after being investigated by Robert Kennedy, then Attorney General, and was closely linked to the Texan politician. Estes said that Johnson forced him to keep quiet about the dirty business he was doing for both of them.

"According to Madeleine Brown, a close friend of Johnson’s, on November 21, the Vice President accompanied her to a private soirée at the home of Clint Murchinson, a Dallas oil millionaire, where the Vice President made an enigmatic remark: "After tomorrow, those SOB’s will never embarrass me again." (2)

In his book, The Yankee and the Cowboy War, Oglesby reveals the presence at the party, in addition to Johnson and Nixon, of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover; Allen Dulles, former CIA director; oil tycoon Haroldson L. Hunt; John Connally, former governor of Texas; General Charles Cabell and his brother Earl, all of them John F. Kennedy haters.

On February 1, 1962, the president had replaced Cabell as deputy director of the CIA. On April 19, 1961, Cabell had tried to force Kennedy to authorize the use of fighter planes from an aircraft carrier stationed close to Cuba, an action that he stated could change the course of the Bay of Pigs in a matter of minutes. Pentagon chiefs, headed by Lemnitzer and Walker and those of the CIA, especially Dulles and Cabell virtually rebelled and continued trying to provoke direct military intervention in Cuba. For these reasons, the decision of General Cabell’s brother who, as mayor of Dallas, diverted the presidential convoy as it was traveling along Mayor Street toward the center of Dealey Plaza heading for Stemmons Highway, as planned, was highly suspicious. "On Mayor Street, continuing along the open boulevard, shots could not have reached him… at the last minute the President’s route was changed to make it pass where the warehouse is." (3) The change made by Cabell’s brother involved a 120-degree turn down Houston Street, which meant reducing the convoy’s speed to 15mph and heading for Elm Street, the location of the warehouse and a grassy hillock. This dramatic turn facilitated the work of Kennedy’s assassins lying in wait there.

Latell and Garvin must have formulated the question as to why the route was changed, particularly to George H. W. Bush, one of the few surviving suspects. The untiring labor of researchers has resulted in new discoveries implicating Nixon and Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy’s replacement and the man with the most to gain, in the assassination plot

After the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968, Nixon was elected President and continued with his dirty tricks. On Nixon’s orders, a group of CIA agents and officers, disguised as plumbers, entered the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington’s Watergate office complex. It was initially thought that the objective was to seek out information damaging to George McGovern, the presidential candidate, but the matter was far more serious. On June 23, 1972, President Nixon tried to have the CIA block the investigation, in charge of FBI officers like Mark Felt, who recently turned out to be "Deep Throat," the secret informant of The Washington Post, which contributed to clarifying the facts.

In the early days of the scandal, Nixon‘s aide John Ehrlichman summoned to the White House Patrick Gray, the FBI director who replaced Edgar Hoover. He told him that six files written by Howard Hunt, a CIA officer involved in the Watergate break-in, and which were in the FBI’s possession, were political dynamite and should never see the light of day. Gray took the files to his house and burned them. John Dean, the President’s advisor, did the same with Hunt’s diary. However, tapes of conversations in the White House revealed Nixon’s anxiety over the detention of Hunt and the other operatives involved. He was trying to conceal the fact that the operation would expose his connection with Kennedy’s assassination and agreed that Hunt should be given one million dollars in hush money.

Fearing the possible consequences of the scandal, Nixon leaned on his chief of personnel, H.R. Haldeman, to put pressure on his CIA buddies George Bush, Richard Helms and Vernon Walters, explaining, "The problem is that it will blow the whole Bay of Pigs thing." (4) Nixon added that they had protected Helms many times and that Bush would do anything for the cause. (5)

The agitated response of Helms, who yelled that he had nothing to do with the Bay of Pigs, shocked Haldeman. The President’s right hand man acted as ordered, but the scandal had grown too large given the revelations of the White House tapes and he was obliged to tell Nixon that he could do nothing more.

In his subsequent book The Ends of Power, Haldeman confessed that Nixon always masked any reference to the Kennedy assassination by mentioning the Bay of Pigs. The tapes are full of these references. One of the "plumbers," Frank Sturgis, confessed five years later that the powerful motive for the Watergate break-in which so much concerned Nixon was "the photos of our role in the Kennedy assassination."(6) E. Howard Hunt, who led the Watergate break-in; James W. McCord Jr.; and Cubans Virgilio R. González, Bernard L. Barker and Eugenio Martínez – all of them CIA officers or agents – were also involved in some way in the Bay of Pigs invasion. And all of them, apart from McCord, were investigated in relation to the assassination.

In his memoirs, American Spy, Hunt stated that William Harvey, placed by the CIA at the head of Task Force W to direct conspiracies to assassinate Fidel, could have played a principal role in organizing the Kennedy assassination together with David Morales, a well-known CIA assassin,. In 2004, Hunt offered other revelations in a video to his son St. John, who had asked him to make the recording when his father was nearing death from cancer. Hunt said that Sturgis has invited him to a secret CIA meeting at which Morales was present, to discuss a big event, which he later found out was the conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy. Hunt cryptically admitted that he took part, but as a spare player, given that he had reservations.

Commenting on Latell’s book, El Nuevo Herald tried to exonerate the CIA, organized crime and other spurious interests from any part in the 1961 invasion, the 1962 Missile Crisis, and the assassination of Kennedy, events which were clearly linked.

Latell’s principal thesis is that of the lone gunman: Lee Harvey Oswald, linked to Cuba. This was precisely the initial evidence of an official conspiracy. The plot merits a different analysis.

(1) The Realist No.117, Summer 1991, P.7.
(2) William Reymond. JFK, Le dernier temoin. Editions Flammarion. Paris. 2003. Pp 259
(3) Jim Garrison. JFK, Tras la pista de los asesinos, Ediciones B S.A. Barcelona1992, P. 145
(4) Stanley I. Kutler (ed.) Abuse of Power, Simon and Schuster, New York. 1997), Pp. 67-69
(5) San Francisco Chronicle, May 7, 1977.
(6) Ibid.

Havana.  May 17, 2012

granma.cu

Caribbean Blog International

By M. B. Archibald-MBA (fs), FICB

Our much loved son of the soil, George Brizan, could not have been more correct when he named his book "Grenada, Island of Conflict!" Is there something in our waters, our soil, our spices from which we got our name or in our very character that predisposes us to internal strife and conflict? Brizan’s thoughtful book or even just a cursory examination of our last fifty years certainly would make anyone shake his/her head with perplexity.

Among many, many questions now being asked, two predominate for me: i) Will we ever have an extended period of political peace that so many long for?; and ii) Could not these ‘adults’ -- grown men and women -- in the ruling NDC who claim “to love our country” and want to “serve our country” have sat down together in a room with locked doors and not come back out until they have hammered out their differences for the good of the country? After all, they all know our history and how desperately calm, maturity and political peace is needed. Was that too much to ask for, to expect?

My own feeling at the moment, like many other Grenadians I have spoken to here and abroad on both sides of the political divide, is one of anger, frustration, disappointment and worry for the future of our country. I remembered that, when I returned to Grenada to live a few months before the election in 2008, making many phone calls and trying without success to see any of Messrs Thomas, Burke and David. I knew these gentlemen and I wanted to determine for my own self two things: i) Their overall philosophy and plans for the development of Grenada; and ii) the strength of their commitment to working together as one united entity -- particularly as, like many others, I saw the NDC at that time more as a marriage of convenience of two groups coming together to remove the NNP from government. 

One good friend of mine who knows the NDC well suggested to me that it was incorrect to regard the newer incoming participants as a group but as separate individuals all coming into the fold of the party as it were, especially as some who might have been considered part of the group now firmly support Prime Minister Tillman Thomas as leader of the party. However, I still hold the view that it was largely a coming together of two “groups”.

I was worried that it was the desire to defeat then Prime Minister Keith Mitchell that was the glue that bound them together, rather than a common philosophy and agreement on the way forward to develop this country. I never got the chance make that assessment as all I got for my pains was the odd phone call promising that someone would get back to me. Maybe they were simply too busy for one returning Grenadian.

While so many focus on which one is wrong and which faction to support, I suspect there is blame enough to spread around to most of the participants. Was it all just a marriage of convenience for both sides after all? Was one group coming in as wolves in sheep's clothing purely with the intention of taking over the party as some suggest? Were they all, on both sides, so intent on removing the NNP that they did not seek to make sure that they were compatible? Did they all buy into the manifesto -- the fundamental philosophical and organisational thesis that should guide the party in government if elected? Did they all have the commitment to good governance, transparency and accountability? 

Since major policy differences have yet to be articulated but only hinted at in street talk, does the real issue, as was put to me, surround the process and timetable for a transition of leadership within the party?

Did the perceived need to save the country or did the lust for power drive out all other considerations. 

Whichever it is, the citizens are left between a rock and a hard place and continue to suffer -- as always.

May 17, 2012

caribbeannewsnow

Caribbean Blog International

Leader-Elect of The Official Opposition

Good Evening:

In a unanimous vote, the Free National Movement Members-Elect of the House of Assembly after consultation with the Central Council of the FNM invited me to serve as Leader of the Official Opposition.

It is with a profound sense of responsibility that I accept their invitation on the twenty-second anniversary of the passing of Sir Cecil Wallace Whitfield, a Founding Father and former Leader of the FNM.

Accordingly, I will advise His Excellency the Governor General of the decision of my colleagues, and I will receive the instrument of appointment as the Official Leader of the Opposition.

Once again, the transition of office from one party to the next in Government has been seamless.  This is a matter of national pride in our vibrant and enduring parliamentary democracy.

For our part, we pledge to work with the Government in the best interest of the Bahamian people.  At times, this may require that we oppose what we believe is not in the national interest.

We will not oppose for the sake of opposing.  But we will oppose, without hesitation and vigorously, what we believe is harmful to the general welfare and common good of the Bahamian people.

We will also stand guard over, and be ever ready to protect, the Constitutional rights and freedoms of all Bahamians

As a matter of priority, and in the interest of transparent and accountable governance, we ask the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Urban Development to provide details of their work as consultants for a foreign company that is engaged in oil exploration in The Bahamas.

Further, we note that the Prime Minister has appointed a Minister of Urban Development.  We are flattered that the Government has borrowed the idea of urban development from the FNM.  We wait to see if this is mere window dressing or yet another slogan such as Urban Renewal 2.0.

At the appropriate time we will detail further ideas for genuine urban development, building on the accomplishments of the last five years.

The Scriptures remind us, in all things, give thanks.  And, we are reminded to always have an attitude of gratitude.

In this spirit, I wish to give my personal thanks to the people of Killarney who re-elected me to serve as their representative in the House of Assembly.  I thank my constituency association and campaign staff and volunteers.

I thank my wife, Patricia, family and friends for their unwavering support.

I also thank my colleague and friend, Hubert Alexander Ingraham for his outstanding service to the people of The Bahamas and to the FNM.

In gratitude to him and for the sake of all Bahamians, let us pledge to carry on his legacy and vision which is to build a greater Opportunity Society for every Bahamian across the length and breadth of the country we all love and cherish.

May God bless our efforts.  May God bless the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

May 10, 2012

fnm2012.org

Caribbean Blog International

tribune242

Nassau, The Bahamas

THE election process across The Bahamas was 'well prepared and executed,' according to the Organization of American States' team of observers leader Alfonso Quinonez.

Mr Quinonez said yesterday afternoon that his team had been throughout the constituencies and had had no reports of any election fraud, vote buying, or voter intimidation.

"We have observed the process and everything has gone well. Obviously there may be something brought to our attention because there is still some time to go (before the polls close) but so far everything has gone very well," he said.

Mr Quinonez added that they had witnessed some voters' votes being protested by various parties but those issues had been dealt with by Parliamentary officials.

"At this point, we can say the elections have been conducted in a very professional manner. The elections are very open and very professional. We are looking forward to the closing of the vote and to check the count."

Mr Quinonez stressed that he and his team were not here because they believed something was going to go wrong or that they were here to substitute electoral authorities.

"What we see is that this is an electorate that is very lively and very engaged. We have seen red shirts interacting with yellow shirts and in a very amicable manner. It is very positive and speaks highly of the Bahamian democracy; also you have a high turn out which speaks highly of democracy because this is not a country where voting is compulsory."

May 08, 2012

tribune242

Caribbean Blog International

By Hudson George:

Now, finally, President Barack Obama is taking a tough position against rich business people who are manipulating the buying and selling of oil on the international market. The US president accused these rich business people of being speculators, buying up the oil and creating a scarcity of the product, so that they can raise the price. 

However, if Mr Obama stands by his words and makes effective changes in the interest of the majority of people that are being affected by the ridiculously high price of gas, his popularity will rise among US voters and citizens of other countries will benefit. He will definitely stand a great chance of becoming a two-term president.  [Read on Here]