Fix the Bus

LHO rolled into Mexico City around 10 AM on a Friday, 10/27/63. Supposedly he only had 3 to 4 days to accomplish what he needed to do because his tourist visa was only good for that amount of time.

That seems suspicious, because when I was living in Mexico, I and all my friends were routinely given six months on a tourist visa – repeatedly.

At any rate, LHO’s experience at the Cuban and Soviet embassies seems bizarre. I have already detailed why in prior posts. Suffice it to say that he does the bulk of his work on Friday and Saturday and then is out of there by the following Wednesday. What he does the remaining days is unknown and argued about.

The Warren Commission chose to leave LHO’s escapades in Mexico as no more stranger than that; however, Gus Russo details in his book that LHO may have had strange encounters with any number of Cuban or Soviet operatives functioning as either singe, double or triple agents. Here the Warren defenders have to be careful; they are beginning to tread on thin ice, which was must have been obvious to the likes of Arlen Specter.

You can’t portray Oswald as crazy one minute and then sane and capable of being negotiated with the next. If you thought Oswald was crazy, why would you deal with him? Why would you engage in secret negotiations? You would only do so if you thought Oswald was an operative who was capable of either giving you information or working for you. So which is it?

Evidently the Cubans and Soviets felt Oswald had enough street cred to be dealt with – if you believe this scenario. Assuming that is the case, then what precisely is Oswald’s mission in Mexico? Why is he really there? Why is he messing around with these people? If he is a sane, credible person to them, it’s probably because he is a sane, credible person. In that event, why is he there? To get into Mexico? That’s not believable to me, and it wouldn’t be believable to them. If he were suspected to be CIA, they would naturally ask: Why doesn’t the CIA just fly or sail Oswald into Cuba? Why do they need us? Now, if that is what they thought, then that’s bad news for the “lone nut” theory which possesses as one of its pillars that LHO had no intelligence connections.

On the other hand, if Oswald is perceived to be an emotional nut job, then they would have nothing more to do with him.

Taking this into consideration, it is therefore likely that none of these scenarios involving Sylvia Duran or any of her friends ever occurred. And that is probably what the Warren Commission concluded: It is safer and more consistent with the “lone nut” theory to have Oswald be done with the embassy and meander around before leaving.

Why then, Warren defenders ask, does LHO have Sylvia Duran’s name in his address book?

Yes, it’s there, I checked.

For a minute, I was fooled. I started to construct scenarios in which Oswald could have discovered the name of Sylvia Duran as a contact person ahead of time. Maybe he called down there. Maybe someone in New Orleans gave him her name. After about five minutes of that nonsense, I came to my senses and remembered my approach to the JFK assassination.

Generally, I do not rely on easily alterable evidence that the government has had under its exclusive control, especially when such evidence can be rendered believable. I don’t say that such evidence is false; I say that I’m not going to look at it. In other words, the evidence is null and void as far as my analysis of the assassination.

I try to interpret the assassination on how people think, how they are likely to react, and on important evidence that the government can not reasonably control or alter to a significant degree.

Who knows who wrote the name Sylvia Duran in Oswald’s address book? I can tell you this after a cursory review. The handwriting doesn’t look the same as the handwriting just below it.

Ergo, I don’t give a fiddler’s fudge-sickle about names in Oswald’s address book. Nor do I care about bus tickets.

What I do care about is the lack of photographic evidence of LHO in Mexico. I do care that there are no regular people (non-political operatives) who see him. I also care that there is a lack of contextual evidence of Oswald being in Mexico. Where is the residual Mexican money? Where are the souvenirs? Where are the phone calls back to Marina? Where are the tourist photographs? Oswald had a camera, the same camera that took pictures of him in his backyard with a rifle. Did it not occur to him to take his camera? Okay, how about a few receipts from Mexico? Are there any diary entries? How about a newspaper? Wouldn’t compulsive newspaper reader, Lee Oswald, clearly enamored with newspapers, bring back a souvenir newspaper? This was the day of the news agency; there must’ve been a million newspapers in Mexico City – many of them in English.

Okay, how about a piece of stationary from the hotel? No, a business card from the embassy?

It seems strange to have no mementos. It also seems strange to stick around and do nothing. Why didn’t he just leave? Why waste money and time? Why not re-work your bus ticket? Is Oswald a sightseer? Well, he did like zoos. Maybe he went to the zoo. If he did, nobody seems to remember him.

Come to think of it, did Marina make any reference to Lee’s trip to Mexico City? Were there any stories? I had a million stories from my years in Mexico. Ten years ago, I went to Beijing for about 10 days. I told everybody about that trip.

How about Lee? Did he mention anything to Robert? Marguerite? Buell Frazier? Aunt Lil and Uncle Dutz? Nobody?

C’mon, how about a postcard?

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