Nov. 20, 1964 - Juanita Castro Ruz (left with her interpreter, Salvador Lew), the 31-year‐old sister of Premier Fidel Castro of Cuba, said today that her brother was responsible, if only indirectly, for the assassination of President Kennedy.
In her first public appearance in New York since she defected from Cuba last June, Miss Castro said millions of persons heard “Fidel call President Kennedy ‘the illiterate millionaire,’ ‘murderer,’ and other infamous phrases.”
“Just imagine,” she said, “how it must have influenced an active and militant person who distributed pamphlets, maintained a Castroite organization in Texas, and demanded — even in the very heart of his country — a better deal for a Government that hopes to inflict the same damage it has brought upon my country on all the continent.”
Miss Castro was referring to Lee Harvey Oswald, who was himself shot dead by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner, shortly after his arrest for Mr. Kennedy’s murder.
She addressed 500 members and guests of the International Radio and Television Society, Inc., at a luncheon at the Waldorf‐Astoria Hotel.
Speaking in Spanish, Miss Castro made an impassioned plea for American awareness of what she termed Premier Castro’s attempt to subvert Latin America and the activities of his agents in the United States. Later, at a news conference, she said Premier Castro had given Premier Cheddi B. Jagan of British Guiana $1 million for revolutionary activities.
Asked about the role of the United States press in Cuba, Miss Castro urged newsmen to “take the bandages off your eyes.” She said newsmen visiting Cuba were shown only places that had been carefully prepared beforehand.
Miss Castro said it was unfortunate that there were newspapers such as the New York Times that “have become an echo of Fidel in North America.”
When asked later to elaborate, Miss Castro said everything she had read showed “an inclination on the part of The Times to defend the lies of the Cuban Government and not to tell the truth about what’s going on in Cuba.”
Miss Castro also mentioned Life magazine. She said that at the same time Life published an article on her defection it published another “for the benefit of Fidel.”
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