Plans to Leave the U.S. for the Soviet Union or Cuba
By August 1963, Oswald had been considering leaving the United States again. On June 24, 1963, he applied for a new passport. In late June or early July, he told his wife he wanted to return to the Soviet Union with her, weeping as he said nothing kept him in the United States, that he would not lose anything by returning, and that it would be better to have less and not worry about tomorrow. Marina then wrote the Soviet Embassy regarding her earlier February 17, 1963 request for permission for herself and June to return—now stating that “things are improving” because her husband wished to return together. Unknown to his wife, Oswald enclosed a note requesting his wife’s entrance visa be expedited while asking that his own be considered “separately,” suggesting his true intentions were not to go directly to the Soviet Union, if at all, but rather to Cuba. In Marina’s words, “all the rest of it was window dressing for that purpose.”
Failed Mexico City Visa Applications for Cuba and the USSR
Oswald left for Mexico City on September 25, 1963, arriving September 27, and went almost directly to the Cuban Embassy to apply for a visa in transit to Russia, representing himself as head of the New Orleans FPCC branch and seeking acceptance as a “friend” of the Cuban Revolution. The Cubans refused to issue a visa until he obtained a Soviet one, which involved months of delay. When Oswald became greatly agitated, he unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a Soviet visa at the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City and angrily argued with the Cuban consul, who told him a person like him “in place of aiding the Cuban Revolution, was doing it harm.” Oswald left Mexico City on October 2, 1963, thoroughly disillusioned, rejected by officials of both Cuba and the Soviet Union. The U.S. Government would not permit travel to Cuba, and the bureaucratic rebuffs left him with no apparent route to the communist ideal he had sought.
The original text of this work is in the public domain. This page focuses on a guided summary article, reading notes, selected quotes, and visual learning materials for educational purposes.