The Assassination of Fidel Castro: The Secret History of Assassination Attempts On Fidel Castro
For over 50 years, Cuba has been synonymous with one name: Fidel Castro. To the public, he has seemed like a force who never could be stopped--but it's not because nobody tried to stop him. There have been over 600 assassination attempts against Castro—many by the United States.
This book takes you inside an overlooked part of history, and uncovers some of the most notorious attempts.
This book takes you inside an overlooked part of history, and uncovers some of the most notorious attempts.
Buy Now!
|
The Assassination of Fidel Castro PDF and ePub |
Excerpt
Introduction
Fidel Castro once said that if surviving assassination attempts was an Olympic sport, he would win a medal. There is some truth to that statement. The Cuban communist dictator has been the target of multiple assassination attempts, some known and, no doubt, some that will never be revealed. None have been successful, which likely speaks to a combination of Castro’s iron clad security team and the ill-conceived nature of several of the plots.
Certainly, Castro has been one of the most protected political leaders in the world. For nearly five decades, Castro made no move in public without being under the watchful eye of a team of security guards, some of whom have worked for Castro for many years. By his own estimates, Castro has been the subject of over 600 assassination plots. Some might argue that the statistic is inflated but considering the length of his tenure as the leader of Cuba, it is certainly conceivable. He handed over control of the Cuban government to his younger brother, Raul, in 2008 after nearly 50 years in control of the nation’s government.
When Fidel Castro was in power, his overseas trips were not announced until a day or two in advance. More time than that and his potential assassins would have had a better opportunity to put together a plot. Sometimes, his trips were not made public until after he returned. Castro was also known to have at least three airplanes and it was never known for certain which plane he was in. When he was not traveling, he was in one of his numerous homes, also closely guarded. Aware of the plots against him, for a time Castro refused to allow anyone else to handle his food or drinks. He went so far as to get his own ice if he needed it. Now he has a special chef and an assigned “taster,” in case someone has tried to poison him.
Who would want to do such a thing to Castro? Many Cuban exiles who became disenchanted with the communist control of their country have long wanted to see Castro dead. For several years, the United States government did, too. Some of the plots against Castro can be classified as merely rumors but many have been verified as bonafide attempts to assassinate him, with the intent of freeing Cuba from communism. The government’s role in plotting against Castro came to light in 1975 following a Senate investigation. In July 2007, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) finally came clean with the release of “The Family Jewels.” The CIA’s disclosure contained details of all of the CIA’s anti-Castro activities including tales of exploding cigars, poisoned milkshakes, and one very disastrous attempt to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
All of these plots, known and unknown, have one thing in common: They were unsuccessful. Fidel Castro has survived them all. To date, he has outlasted ten U.S. presidential administrations. Whether he has been cherished or loathed, there has arguably been no political leader who has proven to be more elusive or resilient than Fidel Castro.
Chapter 1: The Rise of Fidel Castro
It was April 15, 1959 and young Fidel Castro was visiting the United States, taking in the sites in New York City and Washington, D.C. In some ways, he was no different than any other tourist as he visited the Bronx Zoo, paid his respects at the grave of George Washington, and indulged in hot dogs at Yankee Stadium. Castro was no ordinary tourist, though. He was four months out from leading revolutionary forces against Fulgencio Batista and assuming control of Cuba that would last until brother Raul Castro took over in 2008.
Throughout the 1950s, which was largely dominated by the presidential administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the United States supported the presidency of Batista. The Mutual Security Act, signed into federal law by Harry S. Truman in 1951, was created to provide money, military aid, and other necessary assistance to U.S. foreign allies. Through this act, the U.S. sent weapons and military advisors to Cuba until Congress applied enough pressure near the end of the 1950s to put a stop to it.
While the relationship between Batista and U.S. could hardly be described as warm, it was not bitter, either. Cuba joined World War II as a member of the Allies. After losing the 1944 election to Ramon Grau, Batista and his forces staged a coup against President Carlos Prio in 1952 and Batista resumed control of the government. Fidel Castro, a budding lawyer, tried to bring Batista to court to answer to charges that he gained control of Cuba illegally but he got nowhere with the legal system. On May 27, 1952, the U.S. government officially recognized Batista as the leader of the Cuban government.
The income gap between the wealthiest and the poorest Cubans grew in the 1950s. The rich Cubans owned land and had international connections that swung the advantage firmly in their favor over those with neither the financial means nor the relationships to help them get ahead. Some of the most prime real estate was in the hands of Americans, who had a virtual monopoly on the best available land. American hotels, casinos, and other businesses sprung up on Cuban soil. In fact, many Americans lived in Havana in the 1940s and 1950s and their influence could be seen in the food, clothing, and other goods that were available in Cuban shops. Many Americans lived very well in Cuba but the majority of Cubans were mired in poverty. As the money gap grew in Cuba, so did the tension. Cuba’s peasants directed their discontent at Batista. The environment in Cuba provided a breeding ground for a revolutionary like Fidel Castro.
Fidel and Raul Castro were imprisoned on July 26, 1953 when they and a group of rebels attacked military barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Political pressure resulted in their release in 1955, but their arrest put a name to the emerging revolution against Batista: The 26th of July Movement. The Castro brothers and their new partner, an Argentinian medical student named Che Guevara, trained in the rugged Sierra Maestra Mountains, surviving on lizards and rats.
When Guevara led the rebels into Havana on December 31, 1958, sending Batista fleeing the country, Castro was at a sugar mill in a rural province called Oriente. He could not get to Havana immediately, but Cubans heard his voice over Radio Rebelde, which amounted to a shortwave transmitter in French house in Palma Soriano. “Revolution, yes! Military coup, no!” he shouted. Within a week, Fidel Castro was in charge of the Cuban government. As he promised to bring democracy to Cuba, the Eisenhower administration cautiously recognized the government of this unknown rebel.
Fidel Castro’s Reign
While Castro did not openly acknowledge that he was a Communist, it quickly became apparent that democracy would not be coming to Cuba. Those who had supported Batista or simply disagreed with Fidel Castro were sent to el paredon, or the wall, where they were summarily executed. As many as 500 of Batista’s officials were killed as cries of “Paredon!” were heard through the streets of Cuba. Thousands of Cubans were murdered in the Sierra Maestra Mountains without a trial. Many were taken to the execution site and forced to watch others be executed as they waited in line for their own turn to die.
Within two weeks of the takeover, Castro announced the end of the Platt Amendment. Signed in 1901, the amendment laid out the conditions for the end of U.S. occupation of Cuba following the Spanish-American War. Those conditions included permitting the U.S. to intervene in Cuba’s affairs to help defend Cuba or maintain a government “adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty.” The U.S. was also awarded a tract of land on Cuban soil that would become the site of a naval base at Guantanamo Bay.
When Castro visited the United States in the spring of 1959, it was not at the invitation of the U.S. government. In fact, Castro never did meet President Eisenhower, who went on a five-day golfing trip to Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia rather than schedule a meeting with Castro or invite him to be the guest of honor at a state dinner. Castro was in America as a guest of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. American reporters were intrigued by Castro, who was never seen without his green fatigues and wore a shaggy beard, making him appear older than he really was. Castro was relaxed with the reporters, answering their questions in softly spoken English.
However, Castro was on the defensive about reports coming out of Cuba that he was seeking revenge for political crimes by murdering thousands of people. He countered with the claim that Batista was responsible for 20,000 murders. Castro said that all trials were open to the public and that the executed were responsible for robbing and killing people. These were war crimes, not political crimes, Castro said. He claimed that he was taking action to protect Cuba’s children from criminals. Where was the outrage over Batista’s murders, Castro asked, and slipped in criticism of the United States using atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan during World War II, which he considered a far worse offense.
There is no doubt that Castro was in the U.S. to seek financial assistance, but while speaking to the Council on Foreign Affairs, he became defensive again. He argued that Cuba was not going to beg for money from the U.S. The next day, Castro met with his host, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and refuted the notion that Cuba was becoming a communist nation. Castro said that too many Cubans were unemployed or hungry because of Batista and that 95 percent of Cubans wanted Batista out. He said, “the right to live, the right to eat, [and] the right to work” were basic rights and that did equate to communism. Castro reiterated that Cuba was not looking for a handout from the U.S., but rather he wanted to see more trade between the two nations. When Castro told the newspaper editors assembled that they did not report in their newspapers about Batista’s atrocities because Batista censored the media, and that “the free press is the first enemy of a dictatorship,” the audience roared and jumped to its feet in approval.
If the American media was impressed with Castro, Richard Nixon was not. Nixon launched his career in politics as freshman congressman from California on the House Against Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The purpose of HUAC was to reveal communist subversives to the country. With American foreign policy after World War II focused on the containment of the spread of communism, Nixon got his seat in Congress partly because of his use of anti-communism smear tactics. Resorting to unfounded accusations of communist connections against his Democratic opponent, Jerry Voorhis, Nixon defeated him in the 1946 election. He did it again in 1950 against his opponent for the Senate, Helen Gagahan Douglas.
Vice-president Nixon had a lengthy meeting with Castro during his 1959 visit. Castro came away from the meeting feeling as if he had been scolded like a child. Nixon had intended to use the opportunity to meet privately with Castro to encourage the Cuban leader to veer away from radical policies. That meant, of course, keeping communism out of Cuba. Nixon was not confident that their talk made much of a difference. He reported in a memo that was sent to the CIA, the State Department, and the White House that Castro was “either incredibly naïve about communism or under communist discipline – my guess is the former.”
The question of Castro’s affiliation with the Communist Party was an important one. The primary rival of the United States during this period of time was the Soviet Union. The idea that Castro could be developing a friendly relationship with the Soviets and turning Cuba into a communist nation was a frightening proposition. Cuba is a mere 90 miles from the coast of Florida. If Cuba became communist, this could give the Soviet Union an ally that was not only in the Western Hemisphere, but practically in the U.S.’s backyard. It would not take much for the Soviets to use Cuba as a launching point for a nuclear attack, a fact that came close to being a reality during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962.
Fidel Castro once said that if surviving assassination attempts was an Olympic sport, he would win a medal. There is some truth to that statement. The Cuban communist dictator has been the target of multiple assassination attempts, some known and, no doubt, some that will never be revealed. None have been successful, which likely speaks to a combination of Castro’s iron clad security team and the ill-conceived nature of several of the plots.
Certainly, Castro has been one of the most protected political leaders in the world. For nearly five decades, Castro made no move in public without being under the watchful eye of a team of security guards, some of whom have worked for Castro for many years. By his own estimates, Castro has been the subject of over 600 assassination plots. Some might argue that the statistic is inflated but considering the length of his tenure as the leader of Cuba, it is certainly conceivable. He handed over control of the Cuban government to his younger brother, Raul, in 2008 after nearly 50 years in control of the nation’s government.
When Fidel Castro was in power, his overseas trips were not announced until a day or two in advance. More time than that and his potential assassins would have had a better opportunity to put together a plot. Sometimes, his trips were not made public until after he returned. Castro was also known to have at least three airplanes and it was never known for certain which plane he was in. When he was not traveling, he was in one of his numerous homes, also closely guarded. Aware of the plots against him, for a time Castro refused to allow anyone else to handle his food or drinks. He went so far as to get his own ice if he needed it. Now he has a special chef and an assigned “taster,” in case someone has tried to poison him.
Who would want to do such a thing to Castro? Many Cuban exiles who became disenchanted with the communist control of their country have long wanted to see Castro dead. For several years, the United States government did, too. Some of the plots against Castro can be classified as merely rumors but many have been verified as bonafide attempts to assassinate him, with the intent of freeing Cuba from communism. The government’s role in plotting against Castro came to light in 1975 following a Senate investigation. In July 2007, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) finally came clean with the release of “The Family Jewels.” The CIA’s disclosure contained details of all of the CIA’s anti-Castro activities including tales of exploding cigars, poisoned milkshakes, and one very disastrous attempt to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
All of these plots, known and unknown, have one thing in common: They were unsuccessful. Fidel Castro has survived them all. To date, he has outlasted ten U.S. presidential administrations. Whether he has been cherished or loathed, there has arguably been no political leader who has proven to be more elusive or resilient than Fidel Castro.
Chapter 1: The Rise of Fidel Castro
It was April 15, 1959 and young Fidel Castro was visiting the United States, taking in the sites in New York City and Washington, D.C. In some ways, he was no different than any other tourist as he visited the Bronx Zoo, paid his respects at the grave of George Washington, and indulged in hot dogs at Yankee Stadium. Castro was no ordinary tourist, though. He was four months out from leading revolutionary forces against Fulgencio Batista and assuming control of Cuba that would last until brother Raul Castro took over in 2008.
Throughout the 1950s, which was largely dominated by the presidential administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the United States supported the presidency of Batista. The Mutual Security Act, signed into federal law by Harry S. Truman in 1951, was created to provide money, military aid, and other necessary assistance to U.S. foreign allies. Through this act, the U.S. sent weapons and military advisors to Cuba until Congress applied enough pressure near the end of the 1950s to put a stop to it.
While the relationship between Batista and U.S. could hardly be described as warm, it was not bitter, either. Cuba joined World War II as a member of the Allies. After losing the 1944 election to Ramon Grau, Batista and his forces staged a coup against President Carlos Prio in 1952 and Batista resumed control of the government. Fidel Castro, a budding lawyer, tried to bring Batista to court to answer to charges that he gained control of Cuba illegally but he got nowhere with the legal system. On May 27, 1952, the U.S. government officially recognized Batista as the leader of the Cuban government.
The income gap between the wealthiest and the poorest Cubans grew in the 1950s. The rich Cubans owned land and had international connections that swung the advantage firmly in their favor over those with neither the financial means nor the relationships to help them get ahead. Some of the most prime real estate was in the hands of Americans, who had a virtual monopoly on the best available land. American hotels, casinos, and other businesses sprung up on Cuban soil. In fact, many Americans lived in Havana in the 1940s and 1950s and their influence could be seen in the food, clothing, and other goods that were available in Cuban shops. Many Americans lived very well in Cuba but the majority of Cubans were mired in poverty. As the money gap grew in Cuba, so did the tension. Cuba’s peasants directed their discontent at Batista. The environment in Cuba provided a breeding ground for a revolutionary like Fidel Castro.
Fidel and Raul Castro were imprisoned on July 26, 1953 when they and a group of rebels attacked military barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Political pressure resulted in their release in 1955, but their arrest put a name to the emerging revolution against Batista: The 26th of July Movement. The Castro brothers and their new partner, an Argentinian medical student named Che Guevara, trained in the rugged Sierra Maestra Mountains, surviving on lizards and rats.
When Guevara led the rebels into Havana on December 31, 1958, sending Batista fleeing the country, Castro was at a sugar mill in a rural province called Oriente. He could not get to Havana immediately, but Cubans heard his voice over Radio Rebelde, which amounted to a shortwave transmitter in French house in Palma Soriano. “Revolution, yes! Military coup, no!” he shouted. Within a week, Fidel Castro was in charge of the Cuban government. As he promised to bring democracy to Cuba, the Eisenhower administration cautiously recognized the government of this unknown rebel.
Fidel Castro’s Reign
While Castro did not openly acknowledge that he was a Communist, it quickly became apparent that democracy would not be coming to Cuba. Those who had supported Batista or simply disagreed with Fidel Castro were sent to el paredon, or the wall, where they were summarily executed. As many as 500 of Batista’s officials were killed as cries of “Paredon!” were heard through the streets of Cuba. Thousands of Cubans were murdered in the Sierra Maestra Mountains without a trial. Many were taken to the execution site and forced to watch others be executed as they waited in line for their own turn to die.
Within two weeks of the takeover, Castro announced the end of the Platt Amendment. Signed in 1901, the amendment laid out the conditions for the end of U.S. occupation of Cuba following the Spanish-American War. Those conditions included permitting the U.S. to intervene in Cuba’s affairs to help defend Cuba or maintain a government “adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty.” The U.S. was also awarded a tract of land on Cuban soil that would become the site of a naval base at Guantanamo Bay.
When Castro visited the United States in the spring of 1959, it was not at the invitation of the U.S. government. In fact, Castro never did meet President Eisenhower, who went on a five-day golfing trip to Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia rather than schedule a meeting with Castro or invite him to be the guest of honor at a state dinner. Castro was in America as a guest of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. American reporters were intrigued by Castro, who was never seen without his green fatigues and wore a shaggy beard, making him appear older than he really was. Castro was relaxed with the reporters, answering their questions in softly spoken English.
However, Castro was on the defensive about reports coming out of Cuba that he was seeking revenge for political crimes by murdering thousands of people. He countered with the claim that Batista was responsible for 20,000 murders. Castro said that all trials were open to the public and that the executed were responsible for robbing and killing people. These were war crimes, not political crimes, Castro said. He claimed that he was taking action to protect Cuba’s children from criminals. Where was the outrage over Batista’s murders, Castro asked, and slipped in criticism of the United States using atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan during World War II, which he considered a far worse offense.
There is no doubt that Castro was in the U.S. to seek financial assistance, but while speaking to the Council on Foreign Affairs, he became defensive again. He argued that Cuba was not going to beg for money from the U.S. The next day, Castro met with his host, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and refuted the notion that Cuba was becoming a communist nation. Castro said that too many Cubans were unemployed or hungry because of Batista and that 95 percent of Cubans wanted Batista out. He said, “the right to live, the right to eat, [and] the right to work” were basic rights and that did equate to communism. Castro reiterated that Cuba was not looking for a handout from the U.S., but rather he wanted to see more trade between the two nations. When Castro told the newspaper editors assembled that they did not report in their newspapers about Batista’s atrocities because Batista censored the media, and that “the free press is the first enemy of a dictatorship,” the audience roared and jumped to its feet in approval.
If the American media was impressed with Castro, Richard Nixon was not. Nixon launched his career in politics as freshman congressman from California on the House Against Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The purpose of HUAC was to reveal communist subversives to the country. With American foreign policy after World War II focused on the containment of the spread of communism, Nixon got his seat in Congress partly because of his use of anti-communism smear tactics. Resorting to unfounded accusations of communist connections against his Democratic opponent, Jerry Voorhis, Nixon defeated him in the 1946 election. He did it again in 1950 against his opponent for the Senate, Helen Gagahan Douglas.
Vice-president Nixon had a lengthy meeting with Castro during his 1959 visit. Castro came away from the meeting feeling as if he had been scolded like a child. Nixon had intended to use the opportunity to meet privately with Castro to encourage the Cuban leader to veer away from radical policies. That meant, of course, keeping communism out of Cuba. Nixon was not confident that their talk made much of a difference. He reported in a memo that was sent to the CIA, the State Department, and the White House that Castro was “either incredibly naïve about communism or under communist discipline – my guess is the former.”
The question of Castro’s affiliation with the Communist Party was an important one. The primary rival of the United States during this period of time was the Soviet Union. The idea that Castro could be developing a friendly relationship with the Soviets and turning Cuba into a communist nation was a frightening proposition. Cuba is a mere 90 miles from the coast of Florida. If Cuba became communist, this could give the Soviet Union an ally that was not only in the Western Hemisphere, but practically in the U.S.’s backyard. It would not take much for the Soviets to use Cuba as a launching point for a nuclear attack, a fact that came close to being a reality during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962.
