As part of their efforts to physically eliminate the Cuban leader,
the CIA has resorted to all kind of methods from known and classic
ones up to others that seem extracted from science fiction films.
The list of those who tried to assassinate Fidel Castro includes
officials and agents on the CIA payroll who were carefully trained
to kill, as well as members of terrorist groups recruited in Miami
and professional elements of the US mafia.
A brief look at these events is depicted in a TV serial entitled “El
que debe vivir” (The One that Must Survive), which premieres on
Sunday on Cuban television.
As early as December 11, 1959, Col. J. C. King, head of the CIA
Division for the Western Hemisphere, presented a memorandum to then
CIA Director Allen Dulles in which he gave arguments for the need to
eliminate Fidel Castro.
“None of Fidel’s closest followers have his hypnotic influence on
the people. Many
competent personalities agree that Fidel’s physical elimination
would significantly accelerate the fall of the current government,”
the report read.
Since then, the Agency studied and approved assassination attempts
in a number hitherto unknown, although Cuban State Security services
have evidence on 638 of them while a US Senate commission created to
investigate this issue admits only around 30.
In August 1960, after several fiascos, trying to assassinate Fidel
Castro became a “top priority” task as the conservative wing within
the US administration believed that the death of the Cuban Commander
in Chief was an indispensable requisite before launching an already
conceived military invasion against the Caribbean island.
Hoping that at least one of them would be successful, several plans
to kill the Cuban leader were then hastily organized.
For instance, on August 16, 1960, the Operative Section of the CIA
Medical Services Division gave an official a box of Fidel’s favorite
cigars and ordered him to impregnate it with a lethal substance.
“The poison was so strong that he would die immediately after
putting a cigar in his mouth,” the specialist later confessed.
It’s worth recalling that the US lawyer that was to give the cigars
to Fidel Castro was unaware of the plan and, in the last minute, he
decided to give the Cuban leader a different box of cigars.
Meanwhile, Col. Edwards, head of the CIA Security Office, contacted
criminals who were members of the gamble syndicate that operated in
Cuba until 1959.
Several names appear on several occasions in documents declassified
by the abovementioned US Senate commission. They are John Rosselli,
a known gangster from Chicago; Robert Maheu, a former FBI agent and
very close to Cuban criminals in Florida; Salvatore Giancana and
Santos Traficante, both leaders of the Cosa Nostra, just to mention
a few.
Long debates took place among them as some were in favor of using
poison to assassinate Fidel while others advocated the use of guns
or machine-guns. The latter option had many opponents as it was
difficult to find mercenaries willing to take such high risks, which
led to the failure of many of the assassination attempts.
Clearly, Fidel Castro has been one of the main targets of the CIA
since 1959 until today. We should recall that Luis Posada Carriles,
a former CIA agent and self-confessed terrorist who was pardoned by
former Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso and who is now facing
trial in the United States for lying to immigration authorities
there, was discovered in Panama when he was trying to assassinate
Fidel Castro during the Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and
Government held in this Central American country almost a decade
ago. On that occasion, the
plan was to plant bombs in the main hall of the University of
Panama, where the Cuban leader would speak to students and
professors.
There is no sign that the US Government has put aside the
assassination option. In fact, the White House continues to protect
terrorists while it keeps in jail those who fight against these
criminal plans.
