CIA PLOTS AGAINST CASTRO RECOUNTED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000300510158-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2004
• Sequence Number: 158
• Publication Date: March 10, 1975
• Content Type: NSPR

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ByJack Andersom
and Les Whittan
Press accounts have identi-
fied Cuba's Fidel Castro as the
target of an- unsuccessful CIA
:assassination plot..
The headlines couldn't have
come at a worse time for Secre-.
taryof State Henry A. Kissinger:
He is in the thick of "most deli-
cate negotiations," according to
our White House sources, to re-
Istore some kind. of diplomatic
relationship with Cuba.
Actually, we reported as far
back as Jan. 18, 1971, that the
CIA had arranged six assassina-
tion attempts against Castro in
the early 1960s. Now that the
story has been revived, it might
be useful to recount the details.
The plot began as part of the
discredited Bay of Pigs opera-
tion. The strategy was to elimi-
nate the Cuban leader before
the CIA invasion force landed
on the island. Without the char-
ismatic Castro, it was thought,
the- defenders would become
demoralized and disorganized.
To carry out the assassination,
the CIA selected an underworld
figure who could be disowned.
He was hawk-faced John Ro-
selli, identified in confidential
FBI files as "a top Mafia figure"
who watched. over "the con.
cealed"interests in Las Vegas
casinos of the Chicago under-
world."
Roselli's CIA contacts were
William Harvey and James
O'Connell, who accompanied
him on hush-hush trips to Miami
to line up the assassination
teams. No one else was told,
however, of the CIA's role in the
murder mission.
Roselli represented himself
as an oilman seeking revenge
against Castro for his seizure of
oil holdings. The assassination
weapons were also carefully se-
lected from foreign makes,
mostly Belgian, to prevent any
linkto the United States. -
Each attempt to kill Castro
was meticulously planned, like
an episode from the TV drama
"Mission Impossible." For the
first try, the CIA furnished Ro-
selli with special poison cap-
sules to slip into Castro's food.
The poison was supposed to
take three days to act. By the
time Castro died, his system
would throw off all traces of the
poison, so he would appear to
be the victim of a natural if mys-
terious ailment.
Roselli arranged with a Cu-
ban, related to one of Castro's
chefs, to plant the deadly per-
lets in' the dictator's food. On1
March 13, 1961, Roselli deliv-
ered the capsules to his contact
at Miami Beach's Fontaine-
bleau Hotel.
A couple of weeks later, just
about the right time for the plot
to have been carried out, a re-
port out of Havana said Castro
was ill. But he recovered in time
to rout the Bay of Pigs invasion
on April 17,1961.'
Although both the murder
plot and the invasion failed, the
CIA continued trying to get- rid
of Castro.'The Cuban who had
sneaked the poison into Havana
was never'seen again. There-
fore, the CIA, unsure whether
the plotters had. failed or the
poison hadn't been strong
enough, decided to try again
with a more powerful dose.
Roselli arranged for-triple-
strength capsules to be slipped
into Castro's food several,weeks
after the Bay of Pigs. But once
again, the plot failed and the
conspirators disappeared.
Four more attempts were
made on Castro's life, thereafter
using assassination teams
equipped with high-powered
rifles, explosives and. two-way
radios. Roselli personally made
midnight powerboat dashes to
deliver the teams at secret land-
ing spots on'the Cuban coast.
The assassination teams
never got a shot at Castro, Al-
though the CIA learned that the
last group reached a ' rooftop
within range. This occurred
around the last of February or
first of March, 1963.
Nine months later,.President
Kennedy was gunned down in
Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald,
a fanatic who had been active in
the pro-Castro movement and
had paid a mysterious call upon
the Cuban Embassy in Mexico
City a few weeks before the
dreadful day in Dallas. .
Sources familiar with the CIA
conspiracy can't shake a nag-
ging suspicion-unsupported by'
the Warren Commission's find-
ings-that Castro may have be-
come aware of the U.S. plot I
upon his. life and, therefore,
may have recruited Oswald to
retaliate against President Ken-
nedy.
Footnote: Sources familiar
with the secret review 'of the -
CIA's activities have now ac-
knowledged that Castro, as we
reported four years' ago,. was
marked for assassination by the
CIA. A CIA spokesman refused
to comment.
-191,5, Unite' Feature Syndicate.lac.
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Approved For Release 2005/01/11: CIA-RDP88-01315R000300510158-2