From the past pages of dawn: 1967: Fifty years ago: Kennedy murder case
NEW ORLEANS: New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison claimed here last night [Feb 18] that there were more people than Lee Harvey Oswald involved in the assassination of President Kennedy, and that some of them would soon be arrested.
Mr Garrison, who disagrees with the Warren Report which named Oswald as the sole killer, said there were other people besides Oswald involved. New Orleans was a factor in the planning of the assassination beyond a shadow of doubt.
He added: “We already have the names of the people involved in the initial planning. We are not wasting our time and we will prove it. Arrests will be made, charges will be filed and convictions will be obtained.”
He said he had already issued an arrest warrant against a Cuban who was described as “physically strong and dangerous.”
The Cuban, he alleged, was thought to be one of the several Cubans who hid behind an advertising panel on the road taken by President Kennedy’s car on Nov 2, 1963.
Local Press reports here said Mr Garrison went to Miami — the home of many Cuban exiles — in January looking for the Cuban.
His men toured the town, carrying photographs showing the Cuban standing next to Oswald distributing “Fair play for Cuba” leaflets in a New Orleans street.
They were unsuccessful but the latest rumours here said the Cuban was either in Cuba, Puerto Rico or perhaps in the Bahamas.
Questioned by newsmen about William Manchester’s recently published “Death of a President” which also suggested that Oswald acted alone, Mr Garrison said, “Manchester was [not] there at the assassination, neither was I, but my office spent considerably more time investigating the assassination than Manchester did, and it is my belief that man was wrong.”
He said he had read the 26 volumes of the Warren Report and then began investigating some of the points raised. These led to new leads.
Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2017