The CIA has tried to kill Castro more times than we'll ever know.
It has hired the Mafia and gangsters, has trained thousands of contractors and hundreds of agents, and has drafted plan after plan, with names as far-fetched as its ideas in efforts to depose the dictator, according to Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner.
There was the "Dripping Cuban" plan. A CIA agent would appear on the shores of Istanbul. He would tell the world that Castro was enslaving thousands of Cubans and selling them to Siberia. See the world get angry. See the world rise up against the ruthless commie.
There was "Mongoose" and all the novel ideas that came out of that operation. First, we'll blow up an American ship in Guantánamo Harbor. Then we'll fake a terrorist attack against an American airliner. After that, we'll ride our ponies right on up them beautiful sandy, white beaches! How 'bout it, boys?
There was the seven-page paper, "What Are We Doing in Cuba," that planned to use "a drug, which if placed in Castro's food, would make him behave in such a irrational manner that a public appearance could well have very damaging results to him."
There was Tony Varona, poison pills, and thousands of dollars in blood-money. We'll give the poison to a restaurant worker in Havana who'll put it in Castro's ice-cream cone. One moment cold and sugary deliciousness; the next, swift and painful death.
But this idea didn't pan out either: the vial of poison was left in the restaurant's icebox.
And there was — not last, nor least — the Catholic Church and the Cuban underworld that would backstab Castro, the economy that the US would wreck, the secret police that the US would thwart, and the crops and the farms and the countryside the US would devastate by biological and chemical warfare.
But despite all these plans — despite all the expended time, money, effort, and men — there was still the target in question. There still was Castro.
And still the CIA tried to kill him. And still they failed. In 1962, Attorney General Bobby Kennedy ordered the CIA to "get the hell on with it! The President wants some action right now."
A year later, the CIA did get their assassination--albeit that of the wrong leader. Indeed, whether or not it was the truth, President Lyndon B. Johnson would say, "Kennedy was trying to get Castro, but Castro got to him first."
And he still isn't dead yet. At 81 years of age, Fidel Castro, whose poor health made many doubt he had long to live, recently said on Cuban television "Well, here I am" and mocked the US, saying "They say I was dying and 'if I die' and 'I will die the day after tomorrow' or something. Nobody knows the day they are going to die."
The US may not have Castro figured out, but Castro seems to have US's number. Its policies toward Cuba have hinged on the expectation of Castro's death rather than enlightened political reconciliation.
For over forty years, the US's hostile attitude toward Cuba — best exhibited in its embargo against the country — has been utterly masterful at keeping Cubans poor and Castro powerful. Political opportunities have come and gone for the US to lift trade sanctions on even the most obvious of items: food, medicine, and other forms of humanitarian aid. But the US stands firm to its cold shoulder, "when Castro dies" policy, that likens the two countries to estranged siblings bitter from a long-forgotten slight.
Some progress toward reconciliation is being made. It is not enough. US Senator Michael Enzi introduced this year "The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act" that would allow American tourists into the country.
"If you keep on doing what you have always been doing," he spoke on the senate floor, "you are going to wind up getting what you already got. …We are not hurting the Cuban government; we are hurting the Cuban people. …It is time for a different policy."
This gets, of course, at the heart of what is wrong with the US's attitude toward Cuba: it puts the dictator before the people.
It is certain that Fidel Castro will indeed someday breathe his last. The United States, however, should stop holding its breath.
Reach reporter at rservis@asu.edu
