Robert Kaffke

Re Kaffke, been researching the significance of the Wikileaks doc a little further. 'Not releasable under executive order or other law regulation ...' appears to mean what it sounds like: that even if the president were to request the doc's release, it would be denied, most likely on grounds of national security. Unlikely a FOIA request would get very far in that case (presumably).

Sheryl P Walter was head honcho at the State Dept in charge of records and archives admin and processing FOIA requests, 2011-2014. So this looks like a denial of a FOIA request of March 2014. My guess is this relates to Kaffke's request for consular assistance while in Mexico City in early 1964. 

According to an article by Jerry Rose in the Fourth Decade, Kaffke showed up at the protection and welfare section at the embassy on 27 Feb, claiming that the Mexican Security Police were after him, and that travelling by train would be 'too slow'. He later phoned the US embassy protection section in MC on 29 Feb 1964 and told them he would return to SF by bus. 

The big 'unknown' here is that when Kaffke got back from Cuba on 29 Aug 1963, his passport - along with those of the 50 other Cuba trip arrivals - was temporarily suspended (made permanent in Dec). So with his passport effectively revoked, how did he get from the US to MC? My first thought was that maybe US-born Kaffke had dual US / Nicaraguan citizenship. But the US and Nicaragua have no dual nationality treaty. So he must have travelled on a US passport. Does this mean that Kaffke was somehow 'above the law'? Was the passport perhaps 'fast-tracked'? And if so, where have we heard that before?

His whereabouts between 29 Aug and 25 Oct when he booked into the Casa de los Amigos are unknown. This leaves open the possibility that he already had been in Mexico for some time at that point, days, even weeks.

If we are to believe Rose, the story about LHO showing up at the Casa with 'lots of money' and the residents being 'scared' when his name was mentioned was told to the embassy in Feb 64 on an apparent second visit to the Casa when he stayed there one night in late Feb. This story was then forwarded by the embassy to the SF FBI.

As Rose speculates, this might have been the 'bait' Kaffke felt he needed to get him out of Mexico. He had already been providing info to the SF Bureau about meetings at his apartment re the Cuba trip, so he was already 'known' to them. But in the event, as we know, he had to get the bus.

(There seems to be some evidence - which I am still digging into - that Kaffke was in MC attempting to get a visa for Cuba and possible onward travel to Communist China, echoing LHO's own efforts - or whoever was impersonating him.)

So was Kaffke in Mexico all this time - from Oct 63 to Feb 64? If so, where and what was he up to? And where was he on 22 Nov?

What I'm floating here is that the parallels with LHO seem to be growing. An ex-military guy familiar with firearms, a bit of an oddball with real or faked 'socialist' sympathies. He appears in Mexico travelling on a passport that by rights he should not have had. Was he being groomed, perhaps, as an 'alternative' patsy, a back-up if LHO could not be 'positioned' in time? Or if the Dallas project failed, and Kennedy made a campaign trip to SF (was one in the planning?), was Kaffke being lined up to take the 'fall'?

Could it be that with Dallas a 'success', he had simply been abandoned by his handlers and had to fall back on the embassy protection unit (and FBI) when his funds ran out?

It's certainly curious that just weeks after the assassination, Bobby Kennedy - who had been among those most ardent in support of the travel ban - began arguing equally forcefully for the ban to be lifted.

All (or mostly) speculation, I know. But the fact that the WikiLeaks doc indicates a high degree of sensitivity around Kaffke's request for consular assistance does suggest that something well out of the ordinary was going on.

orangebicycle wrote:Re Kaffke, been researching the significance of the Wikileaks doc a little further. 'Not releasable under executive order or other law regulation ...' appears to mean what it sounds like: that even if the president were to request the doc's release, it would be denied, most likely on grounds of national security. Unlikely a FOIA request would get very far in that case (presumably).

Sheryl P Walter was head honcho at the State Dept in charge of records and archives admin and processing FOIA requests, 2011-2014. So this looks like a denial of a FOIA request of March 2014. My guess is this relates to Kaffke's request for consular assistance while in Mexico City in early 1964. 

According to an article by Jerry Rose in the Fourth Decade, Kaffke showed up at the protection and welfare section at the embassy on 27 Feb, claiming that the Mexican Security Police were after him, and that travelling by train would be 'too slow'. He later phoned the US embassy protection section in MC on 29 Feb 1964 and told them he would return to SF by bus. 

The big 'unknown' here is that when Kaffke got back from Cuba on 29 Aug 1963, his passport - along with those of the 50 other Cuba trip arrivals - was temporarily suspended (made permanent in Dec). So with his passport effectively revoked, how did he get from the US to MC? My first thought was that maybe US-born Kaffke had dual US / Nicaraguan citizenship. But the US and Nicaragua have no dual nationality treaty. So he must have travelled on a US passport. Does this mean that Kaffke was somehow 'above the law'? Was the passport perhaps 'fast-tracked'? And if so, where have we heard that before?

His whereabouts between 29 Aug and 25 Oct when he booked into the Casa de los Amigos are unknown. This leaves open the possibility that he already had been in Mexico for some time at that point, days, even weeks.

If we are to believe Rose, the story about LHO showing up at the Casa with 'lots of money' and the residents being 'scared' when his name was mentioned was told to the embassy in Feb 64 on an apparent second visit to the Casa when he stayed there one night in late Feb. This story was then forwarded by the embassy to the SF FBI.

As Rose speculates, this might have been the 'bait' Kaffke felt he needed to get him out of Mexico. He had already been providing info to the SF Bureau about meetings at his apartment re the Cuba trip, so he was already 'known' to them. But in the event, as we know, he had to get the bus.

(There seems to be some evidence - which I am still digging into - that Kaffke was in MC attempting to get a visa for Cuba and possible onward travel to Communist China, echoing LHO's own efforts - or whoever was impersonating him.)

So was Kaffke in Mexico all this time - from Oct 63 to Feb 64? If so, where and what was he up to? And where was he on 22 Nov?

What I'm floating here is that the parallels with LHO seem to be growing. An ex-military guy familiar with firearms, a bit of an oddball with real or faked 'socialist' sympathies. He appears in Mexico travelling on a passport that by rights he should not have had. Was he being groomed, perhaps, as an 'alternative' patsy, a back-up if LHO could not be 'positioned' in time? Or if the Dallas project failed, and Kennedy made a campaign trip to SF (was one in the planning?), was Kaffke being lined up to take the 'fall'?

Could it be that with Dallas a 'success', he had simply been abandoned by his handlers and had to fall back on the embassy protection unit (and FBI) when his funds ran out?

It's certainly curious that just weeks after the assassination, Bobby Kennedy - who had been among those most ardent in support of the travel ban - began arguing equally forcefully for the ban to be lifted.

All (or mostly) speculation, I know. But the fact that the WikiLeaks doc indicates a high degree of sensitivity around Kaffke's request for consular assistance does suggest that something well out of the ordinary was going on.

Unfortunately a certain amount of speculation is unavoidable. That said, there is speculation and there is speculation.

My take  on reading is that your speculation is not by any means unwarranted or unreasonable. Nice job.

Thanks, Greg.

Another thought occurs, namely that while LHO was in New Orleans actively promoting his 'support' for the Cuban revolution, Kaffke was in Cuba doing likewise. An odd synchronicity, to say the least.

Quick update. In 1963, a US citizen did not need a passport to enter Mexico for a short visit. So no mystery about how Kaffke was able to show up in Mexico City just weeks after his passport was withdrawn. Another theory shot down in flames!