Mafia’s Greatest Hits TV - Robert S McNamara - Fidel Castro TV - Infamous Assassinations TV - CIA Declassified TV - Secrets of War TV -
It wasn’t just the Mob who wanted Castro gone. Mafia’s Greatest Hits s1e1: Sam Giancana, AHC 2012
We had attempted to assassinate Castro. Robert S McNamara, The Fog of War, 2003
He had led a revolution that overthrew a hated dictator. And on January 6th 1959, the day of his triumphant march into Havana, he embodied the hopes of an entire nation. Fidel Castro, PBS 2013
He survived a US backed invasion, countless assassination plots, an economic embargo, even the collapse of his benefactor the Soviet Union. ibid.
When in 1955 Guevara meet Castro for the first time he feels at last that he can put his idealism into action. Castro is still determined to invade Cuba and depose president Batista. But all he has is a handful of men. Infamous Assassinations: Che Guevara
2nd January 1959 Havana Cuba: The revolutionary armies arrive in Havana, as Batista knowing his situation is hopeless flees to safety in the Dominican Republic. But he doesn’t go empty-handed having looted a three hundred million dollar fortune from the Cuban Treasury. ibid.
January 3rd 1961 Washington DC: The US officially breaks off all diplomatic relations with Cuba. ‘There is a limit to what the United States’ self-respect can endure. That limit has now been reached’. ibid.
Meanwhile in a humiliating defeat ninety of the invaders are killed, and the rest captured. The failed attempt is a major embarrassment for President Kennedy. And Castro firmly backed up by Guevara resolves never to trust the US again. ibid.
Guevara addresses the UN General Assembly. It should have been one of the greatest moments of his life. But his long rambling speech about Cuba’s non-alignment impresses neither capitalists or communists. ibid.
In 1959 the CIA is confronting a new enemy, Fidel Castro, the man who threatens to spread communism across America’s backyard. The US president, Dwight Eisenhower, wants him assassinated and the CIA is given the job. But they need someone who can break through his tight security. Their unlikely weapon a 19 year old woman named Marita Lorenz. This is the story of one of the most extraordinary CIA operations of them all. It will involve the Mafia, a Watergate burglar and Castro’s lover. CIA Declassified s1e9: Castro and the Cold Cream
‘Even if the imperalists prepare a blood drama for America, they will not succeed in crushing the peoples’ struggles. They will only arouse universal hatred against themselves. And such a drama will also mark the death of their greedy and carnivorious system.’ ibid. Castro
The CIA now initiates its plan to turn Marita into their assassin. ibid.
Since then there’s been an estimated 638 plots to kill Castro. ibid.
One plan to kill Castro involved the use of poisonous cigars. Secrets of War s5e5: Cold War: The Kennedy Years, 2002
The United States targeted the Cuban revolutionary government and Fidel Castro himself for his anti-American rhetoric and his growing relationship with the Soviets. Secrets of War s1e61: Cold War: Cuba’s Communist Revolution