Operation Mongoose

"Operation Mongoose" was the code name for the Cuban Project, a covert CIA operation with the mission to remove Communist Cubans from power after the failure to do so in the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Although the Cuban Missile Crisis is most often remembered as a time of great fear, this operation doesn't have the same somber tone as most of the Cold War, because of the various proposals for how to assassinate Fidel Castro.

In the early 60's, the CIA came up with the first of many proposals to end the communist leader's life. One of the earliest, and arguably most well-known, attempts on Castro's life was with the use of an exploding cigar. While the cigar wouldn't have actually exploded, it was laced with a dangerous chemical that would certainly kill anyone who put the cigar in their mouth. However, the cigar never actually made it to Castro, instead landing in the hands of some unidentified person.

In 1963, the US decided to exploit Castro's love of scuba-diving, and created an exploding seashell. They were hoping that Castro would find the shell on one of his scuba trips, and they would be able to detonate the explosives in the shell. However, this proposal never came through, because it was abandoned shortly after being proposed on the grounds of it being too impractical. Later that year, the US tried once again to target Castro's love of the ocean by poisoning one of his diving suits. The result of this plan is unclear: some people say Castro was given the wrong suit, others say the idea never even left the drawing board. But one thing is clear: attacking Castro's love of diving really wasn't working.

Another idea was to lace a pen with poison, and to inject it through a needle so thin, you couldn't even feel it. This plan, however, didn't end up being executed, because the planned day for delivering the pen happened to be the exact day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. This caused the CIA to withdraw their support of this attempt on Castro's life, and never followed through with the plan.

One of the most insane plots thought up by the CIA was to sabotage one of Castro's speeches and make him seem insane, causing him to lose support from the Cuban people. They planned to do this by lacing the broadcasting station where Castro gave his speech with a LSD-like substance, which would cause him to suffer from vivid hallucinations during his speech. They also planned to dust his shoes with thallium salts, which would have caused all his hair to fall out. Both plans were abandoned for being too unstable.

In all, these admittedly insane plots really reveal the desperation of the US government during the Cold War. Because of the rampant fear in America, the government was willing to turn to any means necessary to deal with their enemies, even if the ideas themselves were crazy. While the US never successfully assassinated Castro in one of their more than 600 attempts, the Cuban Missile Crisis was eventually solved, and Castro lived on into his 90's, finally passing away in 2016 as the man with the most attempted assassinations in history.

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