A Second Look at the Files from the National Archives of Mexico - Part I

 

             A second look at the files on the Kennedy assassination at the National Archives of Mexico reveals documents that deserve scrutiny.  These will be discussed in a series of posts.

            At the outset, it is noted that the two files, one labeled the John Kennedy file  and the other the Silvia Duran file, contain duplicates.  In some instances, documents in the Kennedy file have redactions while those in the Duran file are reproduced without redactions. Passenger manifests are an example. In addition, the documents that have been made public hint of the existence of others that Mexico has not made public.

            This post deals only with the documents on Vincent Theodore Lee. He had been the head of the national office of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New York City. He and Lee Harvey Oswald had exchanged correspondence in May and August 1963. 

            Lee is the subject of documents at pages 31-36 (the handwritten numbers at the bottom right of the pages) and relate to his trip to Cuba from December 29, 1962 to January 21, 1963 for celebration of the fourth anniversary of Fidel Castro’s taking power.  Lee, whose face is redacted from a photograph, is described as a writer from New York who corresponded with Oswald.  The passenger manifest for the flight to Cuba shows French and Russians who presumably were also going to Cuba for the celebration. The return manifest is less legible.

            The records of Lee’s flights from New York to Mexico to Cuba and back are accompanied by a document dated December 10, 1963, which is presumably when the records on Lee were retrieved and given to DFS.

            I don’t know if DFS gave these documents to the CIA or FBI in 1963 although presumably it did. Nor do I know if they are in the JFK collection at the U.S. National Archives.  If not, then this is a small example of how other countries may possess documents related to the Kennedy that are not in the National Archives’ collection. (If any reader knows they are in the collection, please leave a comment).

            However, the main takeaway as far as my book Murder, Inc. is concerned is that the FBI had wrapped up its own report on the assassination on December 5, 1963, five days before these became available to DFS.