Fidel Castro, the Communist leader of Cuba has lived through many assasination attempts. Many attempts on his life have been by the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Their ideas for plots on his life in the 1960's were very creative, James Bond type of things, ranging from an exploding conch shell to an exploding cigar. Many of these plans were aborted by the CIA because it would be obvious to anyone near that there was foul play. The CIA was nothing if not subtle and secretive. Many plans are not known to the general public because the operations were so low profile that written documents or notes contain them. Today, some records of the attempts and plots are based on the memory of the people involved. Many of the plans, however were released in a 1993 as a part of the CIA Historical Review Program.

Although many of these schemes were certainly attempted, the secrecy of the operation and the fogginess of the memory of those interviewed do not guarantee complete accuracy. All of the facts in this entry are based on the determination of the CIA Inspector General in his report.

Background

As soon as Castro and his communist party members took control of Cuba from the Batistas in 1952, President Eisenhower's Administration started plans to take out Castro. These would not surface for many years.

The 1960s were a decade of great anti-communism in America. This was when the military was pushing to invade Cuba. The Castro Regime was a grave threat to the United States, and the US hoped that by eliminating Castro, they would topple he regime and end Communism in Cuba. Besides this, Castro was bad for US business in Cuba, not only for trade, but also the Mafia's operations in the country. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 made it clear that having a Communist country just off their shores would be a sensitive, difficult thing to face.

As you may see, they had a number of clear reasons to want Castro killed or at least out of office¹. The government was nearly unanimous on this point, as President Kennedy simply told the CIA to do whatever it takes. Most in the government were largely unaware of when and what the CIA were planning for though. Planning began for the assasination.

They contacted the Mafia, who accepted the job, in order to stop interference in their Casinos. The CIA originally intended the killing of Castro to be a 'hit', or simply gunning him down.

The First Plans

The very first plans were quite creative and very much like something you would see in a James Bond film.

Cigars

The first recorded attempt on Castro's life was in August of 1960. They prepared a cigar for Castro that was laced in a virulent toxic chemical that was probably intended to influence his personality and discredit him right before a public speech. It is not known exactly what kind of chemical is was though, but it was definitely not a lethal substance. The cigar was slipped into his private stash of cigars while he made a trip to the United Nations.

The stash of cigars was never delivered to Castro though, because of security concerns. The CIA couldn't figure out how to deliver them without exposing themselves.

Another scheme that was abandoned around the same time was an exploding cigar. This was abandoned for the same reasons as the chemical laced cigar.

There are some records of a box of fifty fatal cigars that were laced with a powerful toxins. One of the cigars was later found when the CIA Inspector general was making his report. It had retained 94% of its effectiveness over the years and was so heavily contaminated that placing the cigar in a person's mouth without smoking it would cause them to die in a few hours.

Disapearing Beard

The next scheme was involved a depilatory salt that would cause Fidel's beard to fall out. The idea was to sprinkle thallium salts into his shoes while they were being shined. The thallium salts would be absorbed through the skin and every bit of hair on him would fall out. The intent was to demoralize the supporters of 'The Beard' (as he was popularly referred to) by taking away his beard.

The plan couldn't be completed when Castro didn't make the trip where this was supposed to take place.

Death by Scuba

There were two schemes that involved his love of Scuba.

Exploding Conch Shell

Scuba Diving Suit Gift

Other Abandoned Ideas

• A handkerchief covered in virulent bacteria.