Of course, Nagle presents absolutely no evidence to back up the claim.
When I first saw this post I thought there was something vaguely familiar. And, in fact, this is the second post on Morley's Substack that has mentioned Diaz:
This time around, Nagle points to an FBI file and wonders why it is redacted:
Perhaps a visit to the National Archives might yield more sections of the document.
Of course, Nagle is unhappy that the CIA has not been more forthcoming:
Of course, this begs the question, why would anybody think that Diaz's file is an assassination-related record? Because Chad Nagle wants to see it? Because a hearsay rumor claims Diaz was involved?
Ok, so what about the story that Diaz was a grassy knoll assassin? Well, the basic story is this:
In the summer of 1966 Reinaldo Martinez Gomez was serving time for embezzlement when he met Antonio “Tony” Cuesta del Valle, one of the most violent of the anti-Castro commandos supported by the CIA in its secret war on Cuba.
Cuesta had been infiltrating Diaz into Cuba on a mission to assassinate Castro when they were intercepted by Cuban security forces. The ensuing firefight left Cuesta blind and Diaz dead. Martinez, working as an orderly in the prison hospital, took care of the wounded man, and they became friendly.
Cuesta told Martinez that Diaz had admitted complicity in the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
So what we have here is hearsay. Cuesta told Martinez that Diaz had told him that he was involved in the assassination.
Nagle claims that the allegation is "partly corroborated" by diverse sources.
He mentions the movie ZR Rifle:
In a Cuban-Brazilian TV documentary, “ZR Rifle,” which aired on Nov. 27, 1993, former head and later historian of the Cuban intelligence service Gen. Fabian Escalante fingered Diaz for JFK’s assassination as well.
But Gen. Fabian Escalante Font, an Interior Ministry official, said Cuban investigations showed that "four to five [gunshots] from various positions" were fired at Kennedy by Leonard Patrick, David Yaras and Richard Gaines, alleged members of Chicago organized crime syndicates, and Cuban exiles Eladio del Valle and Herminio Diaz Garcia.
Escalante did not disclose what evidence Cuba had to prove this.
Well, that sounds convincing, no? Escalante did actually disclose any evidence.
Further, an allegation against Diaz would have had more credibility had all those other suspects not been named. I am reminded of a talk that Paul Hoch once gave in 1993 in Chicago:
Anyone who spends time in the FBI files develops his own filters for detecting probable junk. For example, letters from citizens which are typed in all capitals — single spaced, with no margins — or handwritten with about ten words per page. I suspect that a useful measure of the plausibility of an allegation could be derived from the percentage of well-known names. If a source claims to have met with David Ferrie, Allen Dulles, and Fidel Castro in Jack Ruby's nightclub, I'll go on to the next document. Any post-Garrison story with Clay Shaw in it starts with a heavy burden of skepticism to overcome. I now put Roscoe White in the same category.
The book ZR Rifle from 1994 has different suspects: (pages 163 - 164)
Jack Ruby coordinated the sniper operation? Frank Sturgis was in charge of communications and was responsible for killing Oswald?
Here is footnote 84 in case you are curious:
The source for the allegation that del Valle and Diaz were assassins? Fabian Escalante: (page 165)
Nagle then quote from Escalante's 2006 book, JFK: The Cuba Files:
Shortly before his release, years later, Antonio Cuesta … affirmed that Herminio Diaz and Eladio Del Valle were part of the Kennedy assassination operation. According to Cuesta, they arrived in Dallas on November 20, 1963, and subsequently handled large sums of money. He affirmed that he learned this from Herminio Diaz, who had referred to it on one occasion. (“JFK: The Cuba Files,” p. 166)
But let's quote directly from Escalante's book: (page 161)
I love this quote from the last paragraph:
The source assumed that they were connected to the assassination, given that they were united by a visceral hatred of the Kennedy brothers and had been trained as sharpshooters. Apparently, they also handled large sums of money after the crime.
And why not bring in David Ferrie and Clay Shaw into the conspiracy: (page 162)
The Friends of Democratic Cuba was indeed founded by Guy Banister but only lasted a few months, and it was then disbanded.
But why on earth should we believe Fabian Escalante? He had been the head of the Cuban Department of State Security (DSE) and was later a senior official in the Cuban Interior Ministry. He had a vested interest in blaming the CIA and anti-Castro Cubans for the JFK assassination.
His book is full of specious allegations, like Veciana linking David Phillips to Oswald, and this claim from above: (page 161)
... Phillips met Veciana in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and threatened to eliminate him if he revealed what he knew of the Kennedy assassination.
And have a look at what Escalante says about Eladio del Valle and David Ferrie: (page 163)
I have written extensively about Eladio del Valle and the fact that there is no serious evidence linking him to David Ferrie and to the JFK assassination.
An examination of rumors about Eladio del Valle emanating from the Garrison investigation.
Here are two more blog posts about Eladio del Valle:
Bill Barry, a reporter for the Miami News, who covered the Cuban exile community, said there was nothing to link del Valle to the assassination.
An examination of the allegations that Eladio del Valle was one of the assassins.
The next piece of corroborating evidence of Diaz being involved in the JFK assassination is Roger Craig. Nagle quotes from Craig's Warren Commission testimony:
BELIN: What about the man who was driving the car?
CRAIG: Now, he struck me, at first, as being a colored male. He was very dark complected, had real dark short hair, and was wearing a thin white-looking jacket — uh, it looked like the short windbreaker type, you know, because it was real thin and had the collar that came out over the shoulder (indicating with hands) like that — just a short jacket.
BELIN: You say that he first struck you that way. Do you now think that he was a Negro?
CRAIG: Well, I don’t — I didn’t get a real good look at him. But my first glance at him— I was more interested in the man coming down the hill — but my first glance at him, he struck me as a Negro.
To Nagle, this is a huge clue. Although Craig "didn't get a real good look" at the driver, he thought he was "dark complected." That is good enough for Nagle:
Was Diaz the “dark complected” man whom Craig saw? Maybe. Maybe not.
Henderson told the FBI that one of the men was "possibly a Mexican, but could have been a Negro." She couldn't really describe the second man.
She most probably saw two of the three men on the fifth floor of the TSBD, but who knows.
How this testimony links Diaz to the assassination is beyond me.
So what we have here is hearsay.
I decided to go back to Anthony Summers' 2013 book, Not In Your Lifetime, and I found an interesting passage:
There is a possible weakness to his [Martinez] account, however, Long before Martinez linked Diaz to President Kennedy's assassination, researchers had heard it from a Castro official. In the 1990s, former Cuban intelligence chief Fabian Escalante informed researchers that Cuesta had told him of Diaz's supposed role in the assassination shortly before his release from prison in 1978. Martinez, moreover, discussed Cuesta's claim with Escalante -- he told the author -- when he revisited Cuba in 2005.
Might this whole affair be disinformation effort on the part of Escalante? Perhaps he told Cuesta who then told Martinez.
It's amazing that conspiracy theorists do not accept the evidence against Lee Harvey Oswald, but they are so quick to point the finger at other people.
Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Jefferson Morley
There are clues as to what is in a redacted section of Schlesinger's memo.
Chad Nagle and Dan Storper's article on New Orleans gets everything wrong.
Believing Michael Kurtz is problematic.
Morley wrote that there are two redacted memos on CIA reorganization, but there is only one. He wrote about Goodwin's copy as if it was a different memo, rather than a copy of the Schlesinger memo.
The phrase 'who shot John' does not refer to the JFK assassination.
Only one word is redacted in Harvey's deposition.
There are no redactions in the Operation Northwoods document.
Kilgallen had nothing to tell.
An underwhelming interview of Marina Oswald.
Morley often repeats stories and changes their meanings.
Chad Nagle claims there was an assassination plot against JFK in Chicago in November 1963. One problem: There is no evidence of such a plot.
A response to Morley's Substack post alleging that I am a CIA apologist.
A rebuttal to Morley's response to my post Was Bill Harvey in Dallas in November of 1963?
There is no credible evidence Harvey was in Dallas in November of 1963.
Morley repeats the claim that Dulles was at a CIA training center during the weekend of the JFK assassination. He wasn't.
Morley's claims about Efron are all wrong.
Morley responded to my article "The Truth about Operation Northwoods." Here is my reply.
W. Tracy Parnell is one of the best JFK assassination researchers out there. Here is his look at Jefferson Morley with several important articles.
Operation Northwoods can only understood as being part of the Kennedys' war against Cuba and Operation Mongoose.
And a response from me.
There is no evidence that Dr. West petitioned the court to examine Jack Ruby before his trial.
There is absolutely no evidence that Dr. Louis Jolyon West interfered with Jack Ruby's case.
Jefferson Morley used a fake Oswald handbill in his press conference for the Mary Ferrell Foundation.
An examination of redactions in the JFK collection of documents.