If Fidel Castro were the leader of any country other than Cuba, he would look like the most paranoid head of state: Fidel was convinced that the US government and its CIA were determined to destroy both himself and his regime from the very moment of his coming to power. in 1959.
Operation Mongoose
Castro is right and proven. CIA reports, which became public in 1967, missed a few tidbits. More discoveries were made by the 1975 Church Senatorial Committee investigation: "Alleged assassination attempts involving foreign leaders;" and in 1993, as part of the investigation into the assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy by the Council on Review of Materials of the assassination ordered by Congress, several key CIA documents were declassified. The intricate interweaving of plans and conspiracies aimed at destabilizing the situation in Cuba and eliminating Castro was revealed. Most of them were merged under the code name Operation Mongoose, planned for 1961 in anticipation of the devastating operation in the Bay of Pigs. Conspiracy theorists were jubilant:all their suspicions about Cuba and the CIA turned out to be true.
Operation Mongoose started small: with plans to scatter leaflets over Cuban territory offering a reward for killing Castro.
Soon all the ingenuity of the CIA was involved, an example of which was the plan to inject disinformation with Operation Dirty Trick, which consisted of blaming the crash of the Mercury rocket - if it happened - electronic interference from Cuba. The psychological operation, codenamed "Good Times," involved the distribution of postcards depicting a fat, smug Castro, which were supposed to give the right picture of the dictator to the underprivileged masses. Operation Free Ride involved the distribution of one-way tickets to Mexico City throughout Cuba, although it was reasonably noted that "these tickets would have to be limited."
In 1963, the CIA considered the possibility of creating a fictitious opposition leader in Cuba, who could be entrusted with "mocking attacks" and "brave exploits." Even more ingenious were the plans, the purpose of which was to undermine the very glory of Castro as a hero of the revolution. Perhaps it would be possible to spray hallucinogens around the radio studio just before one of his lengthy revolutionary speeches, or sprinkle one of his cigars with a substance that alters the perception of the surrounding reality, or make his famous manly beard fall out.
There is something childish and a little suspicious about all this. Even the CIA realized this already in 1967, calling it "fruitless and often unrealistic planning." They cite excessive pressure from the Kennedy administration. And for good reason: in January 1962, Robert Kennedy publicly declared that the removal of Castro was “the top priority of the US government; everything else is of secondary importance; neither time, nor money, nor effort, nor human resources should be spared."
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Apparently, the tradition of these scams continues to this day. In 2003, a Miami-based newspaper reported that a number of US government officials were harassed by Cuban agents who defecate on their homes, make fake phone calls in the early hours, and, worst of all, tune their car radios to radio waves. broadcasting in support of the Castro regime. But perhaps it was just black propaganda directed against Cuba …
Family jewels
In 1975, the Church Committee published its report: "Alleged Assassination Attempts Involving Foreign Leaders." It cited eight separate plans for the assassination of Castro, drawn up between 1960 and 1965, which involved a wide range of weapons, from high-powered rifles to pills of poison, poison pens, powder containing deadly bacteria and other devices.
One of the earlier schemes, drawn up even before John F. Kennedy took office, involved the use of the help of the mafia, which had its own accounts with the revolutionary regime, which closed all casinos and made it impossible to earn money on prostitution in Havana (as rightly shown in the second part of the film "The Godfather father"). CIA Colonel Sheffield Edwards contacted former FBI man Robert Maho, who turned to underground personality Johnny Roselli, who hired mobster Sam Giancanu of the Chicago syndicate - a follower of Al Capone, a man believed to have a girlfriend with the John F. Kennedy and boss in Cuba by Santos Trafficante. The rest of the details of the operation were only revealed in 2007, when the CIA finally declassified the mega-dossier.containing information about illegal transactions called "Heirlooms". Giancana allegedly advised the use of "some potent pill that can be added to Castro's food or drink," and arranged to bribe Cuban government official Juan Horta to do so. The CIA provided Hort with six poison pills, but after numerous failed attempts he became frightened and refused the deal.
After the failed US-led invasion of the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, the Kennedy brothers stepped up pressure to achieve a result. The CIA launched a top-secret assassination program, code-named ZR / RIFLE, and once again pushed Roselli and his associates into action by supplying them with poison pills, weapons and explosives. Once again, nothing happened, although the mafia, apparently, was grateful for this free equipment.
Another plan looked like the work of the criminal brain of the villain from the James Bond films. Castro is known for his weakness for cigars, so the box of cigars was stuffed with botulinum toxin and transferred to Cuba by an "unidentified person" in February 1961 - the fate of the box and the identity is unknown.
Castro was also known for his love of scuba diving, which is why the attractive explosive strombida (shell) was invented; the plan was to dump her at one of his favorite diving spots. Another scheme involved filling the scuba gear with tuberculous bacilli and, to be sure, a "gift": a new wetsuit, pollinated with harmful fungi that were supposed to cause a chronic skin disease (mycetoma). However, before the plan was put into action, an American lawyer presented Castro with a nice American-made wetsuit - to the great tragedy of the CIA, the use of fungi became impossible.
Finally, a major of the Cuban army, Ronald Kubela, knocked on the door of the CIA with a proposal to kill Castro. He was urgently assigned a pseudonym, he was supplied with a poisoned pen, after which he was promised a gun. Luckily for Castro, Kubel's meeting with CIA agent Desmond Fitzgerald took place on the day of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, and plans were postponed indefinitely.
Secrets of the 20th century. Gold Series