In its portrayal of the Kennedy Assassination, the bestselling Saving Jackie K examines various foreign leaders believed to hold grudges against JFK. Among them, the spotlight falls on Fidel Castro, the long-standing dictator of Cuba. Did Castro orchestrate Kennedy’s assassination?
During the 1950s, Cuba was under the control of Fulgencio Batista, a US-backed military dictator and president. In 1959, rebel leader Fidel Castro, along with his brother Raul Castro and comrade Che Guevara, orchestrated a successful revolution, overthrowing Batista and establishing a communist regime in the former Spanish colony.
Since the onset of his presidency, Kennedy desired Castro’s removal from power. Kennedy adhered to the Domino Theory, which posited that if one country fell to communism, neighboring nations would follow suit. Additionally, Castro aligned himself with his communist ally, Nikita Khrushchev, the Premier of Russia.
The tension between Kennedy and Castro escalated, notably with the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in April 1961, where CIA-backed Cuban exiles attempted to overthrow Castro’s government. Castro’s allowance of the Soviet Union to install nuclear launch pads in Cuba, discovered during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, further strained relations. His denouncement of US-led raids on Cuban soil, coupled with Kennedy’s portrayal of Cuba as a pawn of Russia, intensified animosity between the two leaders. Less than a week after Kennedy‘s speech, he was tragically assassinated.
Fidel Castro, JFK, Assassination, Kennedy, communist, khrushchev, Castro, Conspiracy