Bizarre Plots by America to Kill Fidel Castro

According to his former intelligence chief, Fidel Castro survived at least 634 assassination attempts in his lifetime. Whether or not that figure is accurate, this Cuban dictator foiled numerous bizarre assassination plots devised by the CIA. Here, we discuss 6 major bizarre attempts among those assassination attempts:

By Cigar

Perhaps the most famous attempt to kill Castro came in 1960 when the CIA spiked a box of his favorite cigars with poison.
Just a year after Castro seized power, the agency made the cigars so toxic with botulinum toxin that they could kill anyone.
According to a 1961 subcommittee report, the cigars were delivered by an "unknown person," but it remains unclear what happened to them after that.
Needless to say, they were never smoked by Castro.

By Gangsters

Months earlier, near the end of President Dwight Eisenhower's tenure, the CIA used a series of intermediaries to recruit two gangsters to help eliminate Castro. According to the Church Committee report, the agency was prepared to pay $150,000 (at least $1.2 million in today's money). These mobsters were Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana and Santos Trafficante, who headed the mob's Cuban operations. Both were members of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. Giancana suggested that poison pills were more reliable than guns, so the CIA provided six pills of "high lethal content" to a cash-strapped Cuban official who had access to Castro.
However, this plan too was abandoned after several failed attempts.

Painted Conch Shell

The CIA attempted an even more elaborate plot in 1963. Intelligence officials thought they could exploit Castro's love for scuba diving. They planned to hide explosives inside a large conch shell and paint it in bright colors to attract Castro's attention while diving.
Like many other plans, according to the committee report, this idea was "discarded as impractical."

Contaminated Diving Suit

That same year, the CIA planned to contaminate one of Castro's diving suits with a fungus that would cause a chronic and debilitating skin disease. The diving suit, along with an infected breathing apparatus, was to be presented to Castro by American lawyer James Donovan, who was involved in hostage negotiations with the Cuban leader.
This plan was abandoned after the suit was given to Castro by Donovan.

Deadly Girlfriend

Another attempt was made through "James Bond" heroine-like figure Marita Lorenz.

Lorenz told Vanity Fair in 1993 that, while she was Castro's girlfriend in late 1959, she was recruited as a contract agent for the CIA and tasked with assassinating the Cuban leader.

Poison Pen

There was a plan to kill Castro using a hypodermic needle concealed inside a pen.