59 years after the JFK assassination, it's instructive to examine the immediate reactions from around the world. world leaders as varied as charles de gaulle and fidel castro immediately concluded there had been a right wing american coup
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after returning from the funeral, de gaulle said that the US would close ranks and remain silent on what had really happened: "They don’t want to know. They don’t want to find out. They won’t allow themselves to find out.”
soviet news agencies pointed out that dallas was a hub of far-right activity, even mentioning fascist general edwin walker by name, and that those groups were financed by oil millionaires
other soviet commentators compared the killing to the reichstag fire in germany, another crime committed by fascists which was pinned on a communist
according to the FBI's sources, the KGB's investigation concluded the assassination was in fact a coup committed by the far-right, and the effect would be to raise cold war tensions
in later years, indian prime minister indira gandhi would observe that president kennedy was killed "because he lost the support of his peers"
algerian president ben bella was shocked when he heard the news, and overcome with emotion. he immediately denounced the assassination as a "racialist and police-organized machination", while praising kennedy for fighting against big trusts and segregationists
kwame nkrumah also praised kennedy, and said the world has “witnessed the evil maneuvers of imperialism, capitalism, and racialism” in the assassination
kennedy's lack of support for the old colonial powers in africa was also frequently mentioned. that did not go unnoticed from portugal, who was one of only two countries to not send condolences. in 1969 nixon told portugal "I'll never do to you what kennedy did."
kennedy's arms embargo against south africa (a strong US ally in future years) was skewered by their foreign minister eric louw in the wake of the assassination, who blasted kennedy as “an unremitting enemy of South Africa and an opponent of her race policies.”
in north vietnam, nhan dan (the official paper of the communist party) was justifiably highly critical of kennedy's policies, but still noted that nothing positive would come of the assassination, and that a scramble for power within the US had resulted in the killing
2 days after the assassination, castro spoke on cuban television and radio, giving one of the best speeches on the assassination I've ever read. he began by explaining various factions of US power, and then elaborated on how the ultra-reactionaries had benefitted from JFK's death
castro said that kennedy had repeatedly clashed with these sectors, particularly in the final year of his life over his cuba policy. castro then began talking about the neo-fascists who advocated for a nuclear first strike against the USSR, who kennedy had clashed with earlier
elaborating on the motives of the murder, castro stated that everyone felt it was the work of elements who hated his policy towards cuba and the nuclear test ban treaty. then he gave this fantastic quote on the recent propaganda campaign against cuba
he concludes with his final analysis of the assassination, saying that "perhaps oswald is an instrument very well chosen and very well prepared by the extreme right wing" who wanted kennedy dead in favor of a more aggressive policy
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