Legacy of Secrecy (152 page)

discovered at the National Archives by Dr. John Newman, then a Major

with Army Intelligence and a respected historian. However, nothing

would be published about AMWORLD, or the JFK-Almeida coup plan,

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until 2005, in
Ultimate Sacrifice
, so both subjects remained unknown to

the public, Congress, and almost all historians.

With news about the push to release more files, and the passing of

former exile (and Trafficante associate) Tony Varona, in 1992 Harry Wil-

liams began to open up to the authors about the JFK-Almeida coup plan

and Trafficante’s attempts to compromise it. Later that year, Congress

unanimously passed the JFK Act, which created the JFK Assassination

Records Review Board to identify and release the remaining files.

In November 1994, the authors informed the Review Board very

generally about JFK’s 1963 plans for a coup in Cuba, without revealing

Almeida, and about the attempt to kill JFK in Tampa four days before

Dallas. Six weeks later, the Review Board learned that—in violation of

the JFK Act—the Secret Service had just destroyed files covering JFK’s

Tampa trip, and other important files. That destruction would not

become public knowledge until 1998, and even today, most members

of Congress remain unaware of it.2

By 1995, Commander Almeida had begun to resurface in Cuba. In

the wake of the fall of the Soviet empire, Cuba was in dire financial

straits, and Fidel may have been attempting to make his regime appear

stable, by bringing back an admired figure. No official explanation for

Almeida’s return, or his several-year fall from grace, was ever given.

Harry Williams passed away on March 10, 1996, after the authors

had interviewed him as a confidential source more than half a dozen

times. He had detailed most of the JFK-Almeida coup plan and several

attempts by Trafficante to penetrate it, and had even identified a man

who worked for Trafficante and the CIA who was involved in JFK’s

murder. Though Harry’s extensive CIA and FBI files remain unreleased,

he lived to see a few declassified AMWORLD memos about himself,

which detailed and confirmed information he had first revealed to the

authors four years earlier.

In 1997, the Review Board declassified hundreds of pages of military

files about JFK’s 1963 “Plans for a Coup in Cuba” from the files of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff and Joseph Califano, but none named Almeida—

they referred only generally to the high-ranking Cuban officials who

would lead the coup. However, after being contacted by a JFK Review

Board official in late 1997 and 1998, the authors confidentially provided

the official with the first information naming Almeida and AMWORLD.

The Board’s mandate expired in September 1998, and though it had

released more than four million files, NBC News reported that “mil-

lions” of pages remain unreleased. Because of an arrangement between

the Board, the FBI, and the CIA, more files trickled out over the follow-

ing year, including dozens of key AMWORLD documents. But tens (or

hundreds) of thousands of pages from that Mafia-infiltrated program

remain unreleased, until at least 2017—and the CIA has indicated in

court filings that it reserves the right to withhold JFK files even beyond

that Congressionally mandated release date.3

In 2001, Commander Almeida was chosen over Raul Castro to appear

in a sympathetic documentary about Fidel Castro, in which Almeida

talked about the various CIA attempts to kill Fidel—but not his own.

Almeida’s appearance removed any doubt the CIA had that Fidel might

not have learned of Almeida’s secret work for JFK, ending any possibil-

ity that the CIA could use Almeida. The following year, a Miami news-

paper article noted that Almeida’s sons were prominent businessmen

in Spain and Mexico. However, as long as the Cuban populace didn’t

learn about Almeida’s secret work for JFK, he was still valuable to Fidel,

since he was (and is) the highest-ranking black official in Cuba, where

the majority of the population is of African ancestry. Almeida was also

important to Fidel as a symbol around the world, especially in develop-

ing nations, as the leader of the Afro-Cuban movement. But he was not

allowed to travel much outside the country, and even at small official

ceremonies within Cuba, Almeida was always accompanied on stage

by another official.

Not wanting to force Fidel to take action against Almeida, and assuming

his files would remain secret until 2017, the authors and their publisher

ensured that the first hardcover edition of
Ultimate Sacrifice
, published

in November 2005, was factually correct, but didn’t compromise Almei-

da’s name or position. The book still outlined most of the coup plan

and revealed AMWORLD in print for the first time. However, the day

before the hardback went on sale, an official with the National Archives

informed the authors that a formerly confidential file naming Almeida

and detailing his work for JFK would be made available to the public.

It was inevitable that Almeida’s identity and secret work for JFK

would soon become known. A former Defense Department source said

the best way to protect Almeida from retribution by Fidel was to publi-

cize Almeida’s work on the coup as thoroughly and widely as possible.

So, an updated trade paperback of
Ultimate Sacrifice
was planned for

fall 2006, with hundreds of additions that would fully detail Almeida’s

secret work with JFK and Bobby.

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LEGACY OF SECRECY

On July 31, 2006,with no advance warning, Fidel suddenly announced

that he would undergo an operation for intestinal problems, and that

he had placed his brother Raul in charge during his recovery. It was the

first change in Cuban leadership in more than forty years, and it trig-

gered rampant speculation that Castro was dead, dying, or permanently

disabled. As days passed with no sign of Fidel, rumors about his fate

continued to grow throughout the summer.4

Prior to the appearance of the trade paperback naming Almeida, his

public role consisted largely of receiving the credentials of new ambas-

sadors and attending various official ceremonies, though he was rarely

featured prominently with Fidel. While he was still revered in Cuba as a

hero of the Revolution and founder of the Cuban Army, and had a Vice

President of State title that ranked him among a handful of officials just

below Raul, Almeida had no real power and was not especially promi-

nent at truly major ceremonies.

On September 22, 2006, columnist Liz Smith broke the news of the

updated
Ultimate Sacrifice
trade paperback’s revelations about Com-

mander Almeida and JFK, and the book was in stores soon afterward.

Almeida’s appearance at the October 6, 2006, commemoration of the

1976 terrorist bombing of a Cubana airline showed that at least he hadn’t

been killed or imprisoned.5 Almeida sat at Raul’s right hand during the

ceremony, a position that would not have been unusual in past years,

except now Raul—not Fidel—ruled Cuba.

Cuba made no official comment about the new disclosures concern-

ing Almeida in
Ultimate Sacrifice
, but the book had caught their atten-

tion. Former Cuban State Security Chief Fabian Escalante sent the

following brief statement to a Dutch journalist for posting on a British

website—that way, the average Cuban citizen, who lacked unrestricted

Internet access, wouldn’t see it. Escalante didn’t contest any of our facts,

and instead simply decried the revelations as “an active measure of the

CIA . . . a dirty trick [with] no degree of certainty.”6 (Both authors want

to make clear that they have never worked for the CIA.)

Fidel’s absence from public view, and the continuing rumors of his

death, worked to Almeida’s advantage, limiting any type of action the

Castro brothers could take against him. Given all the uncertainty about

Fidel, if Almeida disappeared from view as well it would hardly instill

confidence in the Cuban populace. While Raul hoped he could simply

assume Fidel’s power and position, it was by no means certain in those

early days that the Cuban people would transfer their loyalty so easily.

The more the Cuban government presented a united, “business as usual”

front, the better. Also, it looked as if the situation with Fidel might create

new opportunities for talks between Cuba and the US—until the Bush

administration reiterated that it considered Raul Castro just as bad as

Fidel. If the US wasn’t going to talk to Raul, was there anyone in the

Cuban government whom US officials might be willing to deal with?

One possible solution may have presented itself as Cuba began

readying a huge celebration for December 2, 2006, both for the Cuban

Army’s fiftieth anniversary and for Fidel’s eightieth-birthday celebra-

tion, delayed since August. But Fidel’s announcement that he was too

ill to attend the massive festivities in Havana fueled speculation that

Fidel would never be well enough to resume power, truly marking the

end of an era.

On December 2, 2006, Almeida was beside Raul Castro at the

Havana celebration, attended by hundreds of thousands of cheering

Cubans. Almeida led the parade with Raul and two other officials, and

he remained at Raul’s side on the reviewing stand while a huge band

played a popular Cuban song Almeida had composed. Then Almeida

remained on the stage as Raul delivered his speech, which included a

rare olive branch for the US.7

American officials didn’t seem to be getting the message, so Almeida

also had a high-profile role in the May Day celebrations on May 1, 2007,

heading the festivities for eight hundred thousand people in Cuba’s

second-largest city, Santiago de Cuba. On February 19, 2008, the eighty-

one-year-old Fidel resigned from his post as Cuba’s president, just before

the election of new officials at Cuba’s National Assembly, which offi-

cially cleared the way for the start of a new era. On February 24, Almeida

was again seated beside Raul as Fidel’s brother became President and

Almeida was reelected as one of five Cuban Vice Presidents of State. The

duo of Raul and Almeida repeated their side-by-side appearances on

May Day 2008, and later at the huge Havana celebration for their “26th

of July” national holiday.

It’s almost as if Raul is saying to the US, “If you won’t talk with me,

why not talk with JFK’s ally from 1963?” Currently, Eloy Menoyo has

returned to Havana, having renounced the violence of the past to work

for peaceful change. Manolo Ray remains a private businessman in

Puerto Rico. Several Cuban-exile military veterans of AMWORLD and

JFK’s Cuban American training at Fort Benning have formed CAMCO,

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LEGACY OF SECRECY

to reach out to military leaders inside Cuba. It would be the ultimate

irony if some of the same people who worked for JFK in 1963, in both

the US and Cuba, were key to finally realizing the dream he gave his life

trying to achieve—a free and democratic Cuba.

Standing in the way of any true normalization between the US and Cuba

is the continued withholding of “well over one million CIA records”

and, no doubt, a substantial number of related files from the FBI, the

Secret Service, the DEA, and the US military. Former officials like Alex-

ander Haig maintain that Fidel Castro was behind JFK’s murder, and

such thinking will continue to influence the attitudes of powerful US

officials, business leaders, and far-right Cuban-exile activists until all the

files are released. Now that Almeida’s identity has been revealed, there

is no longer any legitimate reason for so many files to be withheld.

As
Legacy of Secrecy
has shown for the first time, releasing those JFK

files—and their information about Marcello, Milteer, and Rosselli—is

also crucial to fully resolve Martin Luther King’s assassination. After

the death of Hugh Spake on January 5, 2006, there may be no one left to

prosecute for Dr. King’s murder, but authorities should at least explore

the possibility. Fully releasing all the JFK files, as required by law—

especially those of Johnny Rosselli and David Morales—might also

answer lingering questions about Robert Kennedy’s assassination.

Congress has never taken any action regarding the CIA’s deliberate

1978 deception of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, nor

has it done anything about all the relevant files that a variety of agencies

withheld from that Committee. Most current members of the House

and Senate are unaware that the 1992 JFK Act failed to dislodge over

a million relevant files, or that the Secret Service admitted destroying

important files after the Act was passed. It’s difficult to envision how

federal agencies will take future Congressional investigations seriously

when they continue to flout the will of Congress by withholding so