JFK Files: What Was The Secret CIA-Led Operation ‘Mongoose’?

Washington DC: The President of the United States Donald J. Trump ordered the National Archives and Record Administration to declassify the JFK Documents in an unredacted format. Although, some Documents were already present on the National Archive website but were in a redacted format. The newly released documents shed light over unanswered questions regarding the assassination attempt of the then President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, involvement of any foreign entity or any illegal organised crime unit and Operation 'Mongoose'.

The National Archives and Record Administration is an agency responsible for maintaining all the Government’s records. 

Operation Mongoose

Operation Mongoose was a previously covert operation carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States of America. The unredacted documents reveal that the secret mission, authorized by the then President John F. Kennedy, aimed to overthrow the communist leader Fidel Castro’s Government in Cuba using tactics like information gathering, general disorder, espionage and sabotage.  

In 1961, an invasion was orchestrated and financed by the United States of America by the name of “Pigs of Bay”. Mission had the same aim, i.e., to overthrow the Castro Government. The mission, however, failed to weaken Castro's Military strength due to which, Operation ‘Mongoose’ was launched. This happened in the backdrop of the Cuban Missile crisis during the Cold War between the USA and the erstwhile USSR. 

Also Read: JFK Files Out: Did John F Kennedy's Killer Harvey Oswald act alone? Find out

Cuban Missile Crisis 

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day standoff in 1962 between the United States of America and the erstwhile Soviet Union. Subsequent to installation of US Missiles in Turkey, Soviet missiles were detected in Cuba, just 90-miles from the Florida shore. This lead the then US President John F. Kennedy to impose a naval quarantine around Cuba. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev threatened retaliation, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war. 

Ultimately, Kennedy and Khrushchev negotiated a deal in which Soviet missiles were dismantled and removed from Cuba, and America secretly agreed to remove the missiles from Turkey, marking a significant moment in Cold War history.