The most unusual, but real attempts of the CIA on Fidel Castro. Assassination attempts on Fidel Castro Why Fidel Castro had so many detractors

We often panic or try to solve serious issues without resorting to God's help, forgetting that if the Lord does not want, nothing will work out. The example of attempts on Fidel Castro is amazing. Surviving an assassination attempt more than 600 times (!) is a miracle. We need to remember more often that even a hair will not fall from a human head without the will of God.

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Fidel Castro survived more than one assassination attempt in his life. He was one of those leaders whose life was under constant threat. Behind the 637 assassination attempts planned and carried out were the American government, Cuban opponents of Castro and American mafia groups, who were unhappy that after the victory of the revolution, Castro took over the famous Havana casinos and brothels. During Eisenhower's presidency, there were 38 assassination attempts on Castro, Kennedy 42, Johnson 72, Nixon 184, Carter 64, Reagan 197, Bush Sr. 16, Clinton 21.

The most famous and original attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro include:

1. In early 1961, the CIA brought Chicago gangster John Rosselli to the assassination of Fidel Castro. During a secret meeting in Miami, CIA agents provided him with tiny gelatin-coated capsules filled with deadly poison, which he had to throw into the food intended for Fidel. However, Castro suddenly stopped visiting the restaurant chosen for the assassination and the assassination attempt failed.

2. On November 22, 1963, a CIA officer handed over a poisoned ballpoint pen to a Cuban to use against Fidel Castro during a meeting between President Kennedy's emissary and Castro to ascertain the possibility of improving relations between the two countries. The attempt failed.

3. In 1963, the American lawyer Donovan went to see Castro. He was supposed to give the Comandante an aqualung as a gift, in the cylinders of which the CIA agents brought a tubercle bacillus. The lawyer, unaware of this, decided that the scuba gear was too simple for a gift, and bought another, more expensive one, and kept this one for himself. He died soon after, but Castro survived.

4. In the 1960s, the CIA made another attempt on the life of the Comandante. An exploding cigar was prepared as a gift to the Cuban leader. But the gift was not missed by the security service.

5. Then came the idea of ​​disorienting Castro's behavior by impregnating his favorite brand of cigars with special substances. This proposal was considered more realistic. Then the problem of delivering a box of poisoned cigars to Castro was discussed.

6. Most ridiculous of all: The CIA decided to strip Castro of his beard. The operation began when the CIA learned that Castro was about to travel abroad and thus become more vulnerable than in his heavily guarded country. A commonly known hair remover is thallium salts when applied to human skin. It's easy, the CIA planners decided. When staying in hotels on a trip abroad, Castro naturally left his shoes in the hallway for cleaning at night. The CIA had only to put thallium salts in these shoes, but the trip was canceled, and the CIA's idea failed. Previous attempts failed

7. Knowing about Castro's passion for diving, American intelligence distributed a large number of mollusks in the Cuban coast. The CIA agents planned to hide the explosives in a large shell and paint the clams in bright colors to get Fidel's attention. However, the storm thwarted the attempt.

8. The Americans tried to remove the Comandante also with the help of women. One of Fidel's former mistresses was instructed to kill him with poisonous pills. She hid the pills in a tube of cream, but they dissolved in it. It is said that Castro, who uncovered the plot, offered her a gun so she could shoot him, but the woman refused to do so.

9. In 1971, during Fidel Castro's trip to Chile, two snipers were supposed to shoot at him, but just before the assassination attempt, one of them was hit by a car, and another had an acute attack of appendicitis.

10. In 2000, during the visit of the Cuban leader to Panama, 90 kg of explosives were placed under the podium from which he was supposed to speak. But she didn't work.

11. In 2000, a document was declassified that outlined the CIA's plans to kill Fidel Castro. Among them was a plan to use thallium salts to cause the Cuban leader's beard to fall out.

Fidel Castro entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most fiery speaker, his famous speech lasted 27 hours.

If you believe the biographers of Fidel Castro, then the Cuban leader, for his long and eventful life, was attacked 637 times. It is known that all these attempts failed and the Comandante died in bed from old age, surrounded by family and friends. At the same time, Fidel survived several American presidents and countless other serious enemies. Let's remember the strangest ways that the enemy intelligence agencies resorted to in order to deprive the Cuban people of their permanent leader.

Before delving into the history of assassination attempts, it is worth mentioning the person who owns the most unusual ideas for eliminating Castro. US Strategic Services Officer Edward Lansdale led Operation Mongoose, the goal of which was to change the state system in Cuba in any way possible, from an economic blockade to the physical elimination of the country's leader and his inner circle.

Lansdale was an extraordinary person - extremely purposeful and possessing an incredible imagination. It is to him that we owe the fact that we can enjoy a real bondian around the Cuban leader. Some of the methods of murder invented by the American intelligence officer cause laughter today, but do not forget that behind them, in fact, was the serious work of dozens, or even hundreds of professionals, a solid investment of money, time and effort.

Unlucky Poisoner

The Americans, not yet taught by bitter experience, organized the first attempt using the classic method - the femme fatale. To do this, CIA agents recruited in 1960 the lovely brunette Marita Lorenz, who had had a fleeting but passionate affair with a Cuban revolutionary the year before.

The plan was simple - Marita, who was given a potent, tasteless poison in pills, was to go to Havana, seduce Castro again and put poison in her food during a romantic dinner. Initially, everything went like clockwork - Lorenz managed to arrange a meeting with Fidel, and he was glad to have the opportunity to remember the past at dinner with a former mistress.

But already in the bedroom of the Comandante, Marita saw with horror that the poisonous pills hidden in a jar of face cream had become unusable, having lost their gelatinous shell. This unsettled the fatal beauty so much that she did not notice how Castro approached.

This was followed by a female hysteria, during which the potential victim of the assassination even gave the unlucky killer a gun so that she would complete her mission or finally calm down. As a result, Lorenz confessed her love to the commandant, was graciously forgiven and immediately expelled from the island of Liberty. This is where it all ended - without casualties and tragedies.

poisoned cigars

In the same 1960, another attempt was made to kill Castro, which, only by a lucky chance, did not end successfully. In 1975, in one of the memos of the CIA Medical Division, information appeared that in February 1960, a box of poisoned Cohiba cigars, which was beloved by Fidel, was made to assassinate the commander.

The cigars were treated with botulinum and it was enough to put one of them in your mouth to get a lethal dose of the toxin. The fate of this product is unknown, but there are memories of Fabian Escalante, who headed the Cuban intelligence services. The officer wrote in his memoirs that one poisoned Cohiba cigar was found on Castro's desk during his speech to the UN Assembly. Despite all efforts, it was not possible to find out who planted her policy.

unusual shell

Realizing that Castro was protected not only by his environment, but also by fate itself, Edward Lansdale decided to switch to more extravagant methods of murder. He developed a unique plan to undermine the commandant in the sea while scuba diving. It is known that the Cuban leader was an avid diver and the CIA decided to use this passion to the maximum.

Fidel Castro liked to dive in the same picturesque bay, enthusiastically exploring the bottom and its colorful inhabitants. Lansdale decided to fill one of the shells with powerful explosives and provide a remotely controlled detonator. It was decided to use a bright and unusual shell, which the diver will certainly want to take a closer look at. The undermining was supposed to be carried out by CIA agents, located on board a submarine lurking nearby.

This idea failed at the design stage. Lansdale, choosing a shell typical of the Caribbean, realized with chagrin that the mollusks common in the area were too tiny to fit enough explosives in their shell to sabotage.

"Lazar" with a rifle

The charismatic and principled Cuban leader simply generated enemies and ill-wishers. One of these dangerous enemies was Felix Rodriguez, whose father held a high government post under the overthrown dictator Batista Castro. After fleeing Cuba at the age of 17, the guy came to the attention of CIA agents and did not have to be persuaded to take part in the assassination attempt on Fidel.

In 1961, before the invasion of the Bay of Pigs, Felix arrived in Cuba as part of a secret mission, the purpose of which was to prepare a counter-revolutionary uprising. On one of the difficult days for the detachment, Rodriguez, tired of hiding in the wooded mountains, picked up a sniper rifle and told his colleagues that he would immediately go to Fidel and finish him off, completing the operation.

It will sound strange, but the assassination attempt failed due to the vanity of Felix's associates, who said they wanted to take part in the coup and personally avenge the commander for numerous insults. The attempt did not take place, the uprising failed, and most of its participants died. Rodriguez was miraculously among the few who survived and received the nickname "Lazarus" for the miraculous rescue.

Diving suit

Fidel's passion for diving obviously haunted Lansdale and he made another "sea" attempt to fulfill his deadly mission. In 1962, American lawyers, headed by James Donovan, managed to achieve some success in negotiations with the Cuban authorities.

The Americans returned 1113 hostages who ended up in Cuban prisons after the failure of the operation in the Bay of Pigs. To thank the Cubans for such an act of loyalty, the US government sent a shipment of humanitarian aid to Liberty Island, for a huge sum of $53 million at the time.

Donovan himself planned to present Fidel Castro with a new model diving suit, knowing for sure that the gift would be to the comandante's taste. The CIA treated the gift with strains of two deadly bacteria at once - a tubercle bacillus was placed in the respiratory filters, and the lower part of the suit was treated with a drug from a rare disease called "Madure's foot".

And this time, Lansdale and his team were in for a failure. Specialists from the Medical Division were busy too long and did not have time to deliver the deadly gift in time. When the hour "H" came, Donovan, in order not to arouse suspicion, was forced to present Castro with an ordinary diving suit, which Fidel was delighted like a child.

poisoned pen

In 1963, one of the close associates in the guerrilla war, Raul Castro, the brother of the Cuban leader, contacted CIA agents. The man's name was Rolando Cubela and he claimed to have a personal score with the Comandante. According to the traitor, it will not be difficult for him to kill Fidel, since he is a member of the closest circle of the Cuban leader and even owns a beach house next to Castro by the sea.

For the assassination attempt, the Lansdale team designed and manufactured a syringe disguised as a fountain pen. A capsule with the strongest poison was hidden inside the product, and the retractable needle was so thin that its injection could not be felt. And once again, Providence took up the rescue of Castro - at the moment when the CIA agent instructed Kubela how to use spy weapons, his phone rang.

The call brought bad news - US President John F. Kennedy was shot dead in Dallas and a temporary all-out was given for all special operations. Therefore, the deadly pen never fell into the hands of a traitor patriot, who had good potential.

frivolous mafia

In 2007, documents were declassified that contained information that not only the dreamer Lansdale, but also more respectable people were involved in the organization of assassination attempts on Fidel Castro. One of the organizers was the notorious Allen Dulles, the sworn enemy of all communist regimes on the planet.

Dulles decided that if the CIA agents could not cope with the task, then it was better to involve people who made death their profession. At the end of 1960, contact was made with the Chicago mob through agent Robert Mahew. On behalf of some "international companies" Robert offered the gangsters 150 thousand dollars for the murder of the Cuban leader in any way convenient for them.

The mafia also had its own interest in this enterprise - with the coming to power of the communists, numerous casinos, clubs and brothels, owned by the bosses of mafia families, disappeared from the island of Freedom. To implement the plan, the mafiosi brought in a retired Cuban official who was supposed to put one of the 6 poison pills in Castro's food.

This plan failed, as the performer unexpectedly refused to carry out the task, citing the fact that Castro was too well guarded. The mafia did not have a second chance, as the fighting began in the Bay of Pigs. After a while, already in 1963, Dulles returned to the plan with the involvement of criminal elements.

Another former Cuban official dissatisfied with Fidel was found, who was given poison pills through Chicago mafiosi. At the last moment, the performer also demanded small arms with a solid ammunition load. Having received what he wanted, this man disappeared without a trace, leaving the American intelligence “with a nose”, and the mafiosi at a loss.

Narcotic nonsense on the air

American intelligence agencies also made attempts to discredit Castro in front of his people. In 1961, the CIA's Technical Division was seriously developing a plan to spray an LSD-like drug into a radio studio where Castro liked to address Cubans.

Comandante was a born orator and could speak passionately for several hours. At the Third Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba in 1986, Fidel Castro "pushed" a speech for 7 hours and 10 minutes, and his speech at the UN, lasting more than 4 hours, remained in the history of the organization as the longest.

The CIA hoped that inhaling drug fumes, Castro would start to stray or talk nonsense. According to the Americans, this should have caused irreparable damage to the image of the head of Cuba. The LSD project remained on paper, as the technical specialists of the intelligence department were unable to create an effective narcotic aerosol.

Handkerchief

It just so happened that 1960 was the most productive year for Castro for assassination attempts. Another secret development designed to bring the invulnerable Fidel to the grave was a handkerchief infected with deadly bacteria. They planned to throw the accessory to the Cuban leader in the office or on the podium, and the result would not be long in coming.

It is not known for sure whether there was an attempt to slip the handkerchief to the Comandante, but it is obvious that if there was, then it was not successful. Like the second attempt to eliminate the objectionable politician - the same handkerchief, decorated with spectacular embroidery, was sent as a gift to Iraqi Prime Minister Abdel Kerim Kasem. Oddly enough, at that time the package simply did not reach the addressee.

In addition to these cases, there were many other attempts to eliminate Castro, such as toxic thallium in shoes, a botulinum milkshake, and a booby-trapped podium. As you can see, luck did not accompany the CIA and the commandant did not become a victim of a political assassination.

There is a well-known phraseological unit "to be born in a shirt." We can safely say about this person that he was born in a suit made of a heavy-duty titanium alloy.

He headed the Island of Freedom for a period comparable to ten American presidents and five Soviet general secretaries. This famous Cuban revolutionary is undeniably an unprecedented example of how a strange, sometimes inexplicable, set of circumstances can be the determining force in the development of an entire life path. Having become acquainted in more detail with the biography of Fidel Castro, I can no longer doubt the existence of such abstract concepts as fate, destiny and luck, and symbols for contact .

Even at the beginning of his revolutionary activity, during the fighting in the Sierra Maestra mountains (1957-1958), F. Castro, who led the Rebel Army, was always in the first line of attack, each time risking his life. This continued until Castro's supporters wrote a collective letter asking their leader not to take part in the battles from now on. Perhaps in this case, the initiative of the people surrounding Castro helped prevent the premature death of the commandant, which at one time did not happen to Admiral Nakhimov, famous for his habit of going out into the area completely open to enemy bullets and looking into the distance for hours. This example is very significant.

Throughout the rest of Fidel Castro's life, there were cases when the breath of death was felt very close, events occurred that postponed its triumph more and more for a longer perspective. F. Castro never consciously tried to escape from death, and perhaps that is why fate was favorable to him. However, even the Soviet leadership showed superstition in connection with the likelihood of the death of their ideological ally. There is a known case when, the day after the revolution in Cuba, the staff of the Russian Museum in Leningrad removed the painting of the artist Pavel Fedotov from 1844, just because it was called "The Death of Fidelka". Obviously, the picture was in no way connected with the events of the second half of the 20th century, but only depicted the grief of a woman over the death of her beloved dog. However, the US Central Intelligence Agency has repeatedly attempted to assassinate Fidel Castro. Langley, the headquarters of the CIA, was determined to get the head of the Cuban leader.

One of the first plans for the assassination of F. Castro is more like the plot of a not very good melodrama. The former lover of Castro, Marita Lorenz, was involved in the case, on whose offended feelings they decided to play the “Fighters of the invisible front”, who persuaded her to avenge the breakup that had happened. The idea was that M. Lorenz poisoned her former lover with the help of poisonous capsules. However, according to one version, the poison dissolved in a tube of cream, where the woman hid the ampoules, and according to another, she simply changed her mind at the last moment. The next attempt at poisoning is considered to be a case in a restaurant where F. Castro usually dined. The waiter was supposed to put poison on Castro's plate, but was unexpectedly fired from the restaurant. This crime was planned by American mafiosi, who suddenly lost their source of income from the operation of gambling and other entertainment establishments in Cuba, monopolized by the Cuban revolutionary. The elimination of Castro was entrusted to the gangster Santos Trafficante, who delivered the deadly poison to Havana. In April 1961, five machine gunners attacked Castro's car in one of the narrow streets of Havana. The car was riddled with bullets, but Castro himself miraculously survived. Then an attempt was made to offer the heavy smoker Fidel a box of cigars soaked in a potent poison. But, as you might guess, the plan didn't work. A poisoned automatic pen with a built-in microsyringe, the injection of which is not sensitive to humans - why not a means of killing from the pages of Agatha Christie's detective novels? Cuban official Rolando Cubelo, who was recruited by American intelligence services in the early 1960s, was supposed to kill Castro with his help. As a reward, he was promised political asylum in the United States. Cubelo was exposed by Cuban counterintelligence and went to jail. F. Castro liked to spend time on the beach in his free time, and American intelligence prepared a plan according to which explosives were disguised in one large sea shell. However, the storm thwarted the attempt. In 1963, American lawyer James Donovan traveled to Cuba to negotiate with Castro for the release of a group of US citizens from a Cuban prison. The present that Donovan intended to give to the Cuban leader - scuba gear - turned out to be too cheap, according to the lawyer, and he bought a more expensive gift for F. Castro, and kept the scuba gear for himself. Of course, he could not have known that the scuba cylinders were known to be contaminated with the tubercle bacillus by the CIA official. After some time, Donovan died.

There were also many CIA projects aimed at discrediting Castro. For example, there was an idea to treat the premises of the radio station where Fidel was supposed to speak with narcotic substances. In the future, F. Castro, having inhaled the vapors of the drug, spoke, to put it mildly, not quite what he planned to convey to the audience from the very beginning. From the same series - cigars stuffed with a powerful hallucinogen. They were intended to be offered to the Cuban leader before a public speech. There was even a treacherous plan to strip Fidel Castro of his famous beard. American experts decided that the bald leader would no longer be taken seriously by anyone, and planned to treat the insoles of Fidel's shoes with thallium salts, a potent hair remover. Fortunately for Castro, none of the above ideas were put into practice. November 1971 F. Castro paid a friendly visit to Chile. This is where the "Chilean pursuit" of the CIA for their constantly elusive victim begins. It was planned to kill Castro during a press conference. An automatic rifle was mounted in the TV camera, with the help of which two CIA agents intended to "click" the Cuban leader during his speech. However, an hour before the start of the operation, one of the killers had an attack of appendicitis, and the second did not dare to act alone. Then, along the route of Castro's cortege, a truck filled with four tons of dynamite was installed, but the time bomb mechanism rusted and failed. On the way back from Chile to Havana, the Cuban leader's plane was supposed to make a transit stop in Lima. A detachment of armed mercenaries was already waiting for him at the airport. It seems incredible, but at the last moment the Comandante decided to land at another airfield. A total of 638 (!) attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro are known today. Their detailed description can be found in the book of the former chief of Cuban intelligence Fabio Escalante "638 ways to kill Castro." Unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Castro cost US taxpayers $120 million. Of all the American presidents during the reign of F. Castro, only Jimmy Carter did not attempt to assassinate him because of his religious beliefs. Now in Cuba they like to remember such a case: when Fidel was presented with a Galapagos tortoise, he asked how long she lived. “400 years,” they answered him. Comandante joked: "That's how it always is with pets - once you get used to them, they die in your arms."

On November 25, the era of the great Comandante finally ended for the Cubans. At the age of 91, the leader of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro, died.

Castro was a controversial political figure. While his anti-imperialist and humanist policies were highly regarded by his supporters, his spiteful critics called him a human rights dictator. One thing is clear - after the overthrow of the dictator Batista and the coming to power of Fidel CastroCuba and its inhabitants will never be the same.

Fidel Castro, the leader of the revolution in Cuba, has been a bone in the throat for many all his life. There were attempts on the life of the Comandante no less than 637 times.

1. Femme Fatale Marita Lorenz, 1960 This romance between a Cuban revolutionary and the daughter of a German captain and an American actress began very beautifully. As a result, this Marita was recruited by CIA agent Frank Sturgis, and according to the plan, in order to resolve the Cuban crisis, Marita had to come back to Havana, ingratiate herself with the commander and add poison pills to his food. At first, everything went like clockwork, but then Fidel Castro's ardent lover was horrified to find that the gelatin shell of the pills, which she put in a jar of night cream, had dissolved and the pills had become worthless.

2. Poisoned cigars, 1960 Fabian Escalante, the head of the Cuban secret services, spoke about the case in 1960, when, during a speech by Fidel Castro at the UN in 1960, his service discovered a poisoned cigar of the Comandante's favorite variety - Cohiba, lying on the table next to the leader of the Cuban revolution. The cigar was treated with a lethal dose of butulin.

3. Seashell, 1963 It is worth noting that Fidel Castro was crazy about scuba diving. The head of the secret operation "Mongoose" decided to play on this passion of Castro. Lansdale conceived a cunning plan: in the bay where the Comandante usually dived, an intelligence agent decided to put a shell filled with explosives and paint it brightly to attract attention. However, not a single shell was suitable in size in order to place a suitable bomb there.

4. Death by sniper rifle Felix Rodriguez, 1961. It's no secret that Felix Rodriguez, the son of the dictator Batista, who, in fact, Fidel Castro overthrew from the throne, was the worst enemy of the commandant and threatened to personally shoot the main instigator of the coup in Cuba. However, supporters cooled the ardor of the young hero, convincing him to give other Cuban exiles the opportunity to participate in the coup. By the way, Felix was the last person to interrogate the legendary Che Guevara.

5. Diving suit, 1962 On the occasion of the release of 1,113 prisoners after the turmoil in the Bay of Pigs, the US government sent $ 53 million in humanitarian aid in exchange, and the successful American lawyer James Donovan decided to present the Cuban leader with a gift - a super fancy diving suit. The lower part of the robe was treated with bacteria that causes a rare disease called "Madure's foot", and the respiratory filters were treated with tuberculosis pathogens. True, by some miracle the processed suit did not fall into the hands of Castro. Later, Donovan, using caution and diplomacy, sent him the usual version of the same gift.

6. Pen with a feather, 1963. Rolando Cubelo was a close friend of Fidel Castro. He himself contacted the CIA agents in order to settle some personal scores with the Comandante. The only thing he needed from a scout was a suitable weapon for the kill, which would not make a lot of noise. Cubolo was provided with such a weapon - a fountain pen from the shaft of which, when pressed, a super-thin syringe with poison was extended - so thin that the victim did not even feel his prick. Here, Fidel's guardian angels had to strain themselves. In this case, John F. Kennedy was shot dead in the United States, and all American conspiracies against foreign leaders were postponed for a long time.

7. Mafia game, 60s. In 2007, documents were declassified, according to which not only the leaders of Operation Mongoose, but also the heads of the highest ranks of the CIA, including the head of department Allen Dulles, participated in the attempts on the life of Fidel Castro. With the easy filing of this man, the Chicago mafia was even connected to the operation. Actually, the mafiosi were interested in returning nightlife to Cuba with casinos, brothels and other delights of life. Just then the fighting broke out in the Bay of Pigs, and for some time the plan was put on hold.

8. LSD, 1961 It got to the point where, in order to discredit the leader of the Hawaiian Revolution, the CIA considered spraying a substance like LSD into the radio studio from which Fidel Castro was addressing the people. It was planned that the hallucinogens would force Castro to say something during his address that would cause irreparable damage to his image.

9. Handkerchief, 1960 Crazy ideas of the CRC are not limited to using LSD as a weapon against Fidel. A unit, curiously called the Health Committee, suggested using a handkerchief contaminated with deadly bacteria. However, this ingenious plan was never destined to come true.

10. Exploding cigar, 60s. This weapon was destined to become a symbol of numerous attempts on the life of the elusive Fidel Castro. This, by the way, was one of the first exposed failed attempts to assassinate the Cuban leader.

11. Boots, 1961 On a cigar, as you know, the insidious plans of secret agents did not stop. Another brilliant idea was to put thallium salt in Castro's shoes. This slow-acting poison, in addition to nausea and aching joints, also causes hair loss. Exactly what is needed! CIA agents were already dreaming about how Fidel Castro would lose his famous beard. According to the plan, thallium was planned to be put into shoes during Castro's foreign visit, when he put the shoes outside the hotel room door for cleaning. However, the Comandante seemed to feel something was wrong and each time postponed the visit. When a military operation broke out in the United States in the Bay of Pigs, everyone completely forgot about the shoe conspiracy.

Milkshake, 1964 CIA agents became aware of the information about which cafe Fidel Castro liked to drink a milkshake. The scouts bribed a local waiter, who, at a convenient opportunity, was supposed to add a pill of butulin to the Comandante cocktail. The waiter put the tablet in the freezer, where it froze to the wall of the refrigerator. When trying to separate her capsule burst. The brilliant plan failed miserably.

Antichrist, 1963 Perhaps this is the most incredible attempt on the life of the famous Comandante ... The author of this idea called "Antichrist" was the head of Operation Mongoose, Edward Lansdale. Missionary agents were supposed to be sent to the territory of Cuba, who would carry out propaganda work among the Catholic population, predicting the imminent end of the world and the second coming of Christ. Fidel Castro, at the same time, of course, was destined to become the Antichrist in this brilliant plan. Further, the CRC planned to strike the final blow: an American submarine was to appear from the waters off the coast of Havana, on the bow of which Jesus Christ would appear with special light effects. After the fatal "Repent, for it is coming!" the underwater Jesus was supposed to call on the inhabitants of Cuba to kill the Antichrist. The plan, of course, was impressive, but, alas, too unrealistic for its implementation.

Information about the deteriorating health of the former Cuban leader in the media has appeared from time to time since 2006, but apparently Fidel Castro was not destined to die earlier than at 91. It's a pity, of course, but we are all mortal and everything ends sooner or later...

August 13 marks the 87th birthday of Fidel Castro. To date, 638 attempts on the life of the commander of red Cuba are known. We remembered the 6 most insidious and seemingly irresistible, but nevertheless did not reach the goal.

1. The US Central Intelligence Agency made countless assassination attempts on Fidel. One of the first plans was to be carried out by his former lover Marita Lorenz, on whose feelings the Tseraushniks decided to play, persuading her to avenge the break. Lorenz was supposed to poison her ex-lover with poisonous capsules. However, according to one version, the poison dissolved in a tube of cream, where the woman hid the ampoules, and according to another, she simply changed her mind at the last moment.

2. A whole series of assassination attempts was planned during Castro's visit to Chile in 1971. An automatic rifle was mounted in the TV camera, with the help of which two CIA agents intended to "click" the Cuban leader during his speech at a press conference. However, an hour before the start of the operation, one of the killers had an attack of appendicitis, and the second did not dare to act alone. A truck filled with four tons of dynamite was installed on the route of the Cuban leader's motorcade, but the mechanism of the time bomb was rusted and out of order. On the way back from Chile to Havana, Castro's plane was supposed to make a transit stop in Lima. A detachment of armed mercenaries was already waiting for him at the airport. However, incredible as it may seem, at the last moment the Comandante decided to land at another airfield. So the operation "Chilean chase" failed.

3. The next attempt at poisoning is considered to be in a restaurant where Castro usually dined. The waiter was supposed to put poison in Castro's plate, but was unexpectedly fired from the restaurant. This crime was planned by American mafiosi, who lost their income from the operation of gambling and other entertainment establishments in Cuba, monopolized by the revolutionary government. The elimination of Castro was entrusted to the gangster Santos Trafficante, who delivered the deadly poison to Havana.

4. In April 1961, five machine gunners unexpectedly attacked Castro's car in one of the narrow streets of Havana. The car was riddled with bullets, but Castro miraculously remained intact.

5. Cuban official Rolando Cubelo, recruited by US intelligence agencies, was supposed to kill Castro with a poisoned automatic pen with a built-in microsyringe, the injection of which is insensitive to humans. As a reward, he was promised political asylum in the USA. Cubelo was exposed by Cuban counterintelligence and went to jail.

6. In 1963, American lawyer James Donovan went to Cuba to negotiate with Castro on the release of a group of US citizens from a Cuban prison. The gift that Donovan was going to give to the Cuban leader - scuba gear - turned out, according to the lawyer, to be too cheap, and he bought a more expensive one for Castro, and kept the cheap one for himself. Of course, he could not know that the scuba cylinders were obviously infected with a tubercle bacillus, and this was done by the efforts of the same CIA. After some time, Donovan passed away.

Of all American presidents, only Jimmy Carter did not attempt to assassinate Castro. CIA covert operations cost US taxpayers $120 million. As for Fidel's longevity, they say that he was given a Galapagos tortoise to Fidel, he asked how long she lived. “400 years,” they answered him. Comandante joked: “This is how it is always with pets - you just get used to them, they die in your arms.”

Therefore, no matter who and whatever keeps Castro, "Sobesednik.ru" can only say: Viva Cuba, Viva Fidel!