What has perplexed me lately is why Houston, Texas gets left out of the discussion when talking about anti-Castro activity in the United States.
So I did a search and came up with this courtesy of Google AI, Wikipedia and Spartacus International.
During the early 1960s, Dallas became a major logistical and fundraising hub for militant, anti-Castro groups like Alpha 66. This contrasted with Houston’s anti-communist community, which was larger but focused more on lobbying and intelligence-gathering rather than financing armed paramilitary raids.
The higher concentration of active, militant anti-Castro operations in Dallas was driven by several distinct factors:
- Elite Financial Backing: Dallas was home to a tight-knit network of wealthy, ultra-conservative oilmen and business executives. This group—notably figures who funded the National Indignation Convention—poured money into anti-communist crusades. Wealthy Dallas donors were more inclined to directly subsidize the militant exiles’ weaponry and boat charters to harass Cuban ports.
- Decentralized Exile Leadership: Rather than settling a massive, localized Cuban refugee population, Dallas attracted specific militant operatives and recruiters, such as Manuel Orcarberrio, who led the local Alpha 66 chapter and recruited volunteers.
- The JFK Assassination Context: The nexus of militant exiles, the CIA, and anti-communist factions in Dallas played a prominent role in the conspiracy theories that emerged following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Figures tied to anti-Castro networks, such as arms smuggler and activist John Martino, were deeply connected to the Dallas scene.
- Different Civic Economic Focus: Houston’s international community at the time was largely oriented toward global trade, the Port of Houston, and the emerging space industry. While deeply conservative, Houston’s Cuban exile and anti-communist groups were more integrated into diplomatic and academic spheres than the covert paramilitary pipelines operating out of Dallas.
Now, this makes sense to me as I read it. Dallas is in the Bible Belt and is going to be home to a more militant mindset than Houston. Additionally, the DFW area is more heavily laden with defense companies than is Houston.
This is what Google AI has to say:
Dallas is significantly more integrated with the military and defense sector. While Houston’s economy centers heavily on energy and civil space (NASA), the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex is a primary hub for defense contractor manufacturing, aviation, and military procurement.
DFW is home to massive defense industry infrastructure and active-duty installations:
- Major Contractors: DFW is a global center for aerospace and defense. Companies like Lockheed Martin (Aeronautics in Fort Worth and Missiles and Fire Control in Grand Prairie), RTX (Raytheon), Bell, and L3Harris operate major facilities and employ tens of thousands of workers. The region hosts the “mile-long production line” for the F-35 Lightning II.
- Military Installations: Fort Worth hosts Naval Air Station (NAS) Joint Reserve Base [NAS JRB] Fort Worth, a key joint installation for the Navy, Air Force, and Marines.
- Economic Scale: The military and defense industry is a dominant economic driver for DFW, pushing Texas to outpace Virginia as the top recipient of Department of Defense procurement spending nationwide.
By contrast, Houston’s military footprint is much smaller. The city is known for civil space programs rather than combat manufacturing. While Houston does host the Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base (home to the Texas Air National Guard’s 147th Attack Wing), its primary military footprint involves local reserve units, astronaut training at Johnson Space Center, and defense-adjacent technology companies.
And it has always been that way.
In short, the folks in Dallas are ass-kickers. This helps explain why organizations like Alpha 66 were more prominent there than in Houston.
In fact, Dallas figures prominently in the activities of Alpha 66 primarily because of money.
Money rules, and Dallas had plenty of money. It also had plenty of people who were committed to anti-communist efforts. Indeed, there was no place stronger in the United States for these anti-communist efforts than Dallas, Texas. It would be mild to say that Dallas was a bigoted back in the 50s and 60s.
It only makes sense that many of the members of Alpha 66 would gravitate to Dallas in some way.
These would be figures like John Martino, Eladio del Valle, Antonio Veciana, and Frank Sturgis.
And where Frank Sturgis goes, Bernard Barker follows.
It would also make sense for Oswald to gravitate toward this group given what we know of LHO as a probable CIA operative.
Plus we have one sighting of Oswald talking to a CIA handler – that sighting courtesy of Antonio Veciana. But is it true?
Here is a blurb from Google AI:
Yes, wealthy Dallas oilmen—most notably H.L. Hunt—are widely documented to have provided financial and political backing to the militant anti-Castro group Alpha 66.
- H.L. Hunt: This prominent wildcatter was a major financier of anti-communist causes and provided significant funding to paramilitary and exile organizations operating against Fidel Castro’s government.
- Other Financiers: Hunt’s network, which occasionally included associates like Clint Murchison, supported various militant Cuban exile groups actively plotting invasions and assassinations.
Hunt’s financial contributions to these militant Cuban exile groups are detailed in government investigations, including the National Archives Assassination Records Review Board Report.
It would be unfair to indict any one individual based upon association, but it would not be unfair to indict the group.
When you examine the members of Alpha 66, you begin to understand that not everybody could possibly be best friends with everyone else, and that there is no little way to go back in time and examine every encounter they might have had; however, there is enough overlap to reasonable conclude that it would be impossible that they would not know of each other.
There is a plausible link between the New Orleans and Miami crowds.
At one time toward the end of 1962 and 1963, these two groups were training near Lacombe, LA if not at the same camp.
Frank Sturgis, Pedro Diaz-Lanz, and David Ferrie were all experienced pilots, and they were all committed anti-Castro-ites. Given that pilots share their own proud fraternity, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that they knew each other. But even if they did not, the CIA certainly knew all of them.
To borrow a phrase from James Angleton it is a wilderness of mirrors to examine the connections between various anti-Castro Cubans, their remote connections with Santo Trafficante (the holy grail I imagine) and the CIA.
One can go own that rabbit hole and get lost for years and with little to show for it. It is a torturous and tortuous labyrinth that bears little fruit other than a vague feeling that one is getting closer to the truth.
The hole goes round and round in vague associations. It is the perfect deception game and one that the CIA would thoroughly approve of and employ.
Copyright 2026 Archer Crosley All Rights Reserved
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