Lisa Howard (reporter)

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Lisa Howard was born on April 24, 1930. She briefly worked as an actress when she was in her 20's, but then became a reporter. In 1963 she went to Cuba to make a documentary. In an interview with Fidel Castro, he told her that he was willing to negotiate with Washington. When Howard went back to America, she talked to the CIA, who told President John F. Kennedy that Castro was willing to negotiate. President Kennedy agreed that it would be helpful to start talks with Cuba, and allowed Lisa Howard to act as a go-between to set up negotiations between Washington and Havana.

As a goodwill gesture, Kennedy sent a coded message to Castro in a speech delivered on 19th November. The speech included the following passage: "Cuba had become a weapon in an effort dictated by external powers to subvert the other American republics. This and this alone divides us. As long as this is true, nothing is possible. Without it, everything is possible." He also sent another journalist to Cuba to tell Castro that he would lift the embargo if Cuba would stop supporting left-wing movements in other countries.

Three days later, President Kennedy was assassinated. The new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, refused to continue negotiations with Cuba. But Lisa Howard refused to give up. The next year, she met with Che Guevara, and because the president refused to meet with him, she arranged a meeting between Guevara and U.S. senator Eugene McCarthy.

Because of her continued efforts to set up negotiations between America and Cuba, she was fired from ABC. She died on July 4, 1965. The official story was that she had committed suicide by overdosing on phenobarbitols.