Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A sprawling account of the various, creative, often bizarre, yet incredibly disturbing attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro. Fabi n Escalante, the founder of the Cuban intelligence services, and head of the Cuban State Security Department, provides a clear-eyed first-person account of his experiences defending Castro from the extraordinary attempts to take his life. Written in the style of a political thriller, but filled with historical details on Fidel, Cuba, the communist movement, and US attempts to silence rebellion, this book clarifies the inherent danger that comes with fighting for a better world.
634 Ways to Kill Fidel Castro illuminates the threat Castro and the Cuban revolutionary movement posed to US hegemony. The result is a disturbing portrait of how US tax dollars fund campaigns to stifle dissent and attempt to rupture movements in the Global South fighting for sovereignty, justice, self-determination, and ultimately a better world.
Assassination plans devised against Fidel Castro over many years involved weapons such as lethal poisons, powerful plastic explosives, cigars containing dangerous substances, grenades to be launched in public areas, guns with sophisticated telescopic sights, poison-filled syringes so fine that contact with the skin would be unnoticed, rocket launchers and bazookas, and explosive charges concealed in underground drains with a timer ticking down the minutes and seconds.
Synopsis
A sprawling account of the various, creative, often bizarre, yet incredibly disturbing attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro. Soon to be a TV series from Jed Mercurio, show runner for The Bodyguard, and Richard Brown, producer of True Detective and Catch-22. Fabi n Escalante, the founder of the Cuban intelligence services, and head of the Cuban State Security Department, provides a clear-eyed first-person account of his experiences defending Fidel Castro from the extraordinary attempts to take his life. From lethal poisons to plastic explosives to bazookas, Escalante introduces and describes an array of assassination plots and historical figures and depicts the ensuing cat-and-mouse game in the midst of the Cold War.
Written in the style of a political thriller yet based on real events, 634 Ways to Kill Fidel Castro is a well-researched and documented series of vignettes put together by multiple investigations in Cuba and the experiences of the author, who participated in several of them; dozens of interviews with participants; extensive documentary evidence; and the collaboration of officials, and undercover agents who dismantled these plots. Filled with harrowing stories of deceitful FBI tactics such as moles who infiltrated the revolutionary Cuban government and gained a reputation with them with the ultimate goal of bombing their military bases. As well as undercover attempts to give Fidel poison laced cigars, Escalante takes the reader from DC to New York, Miami to Havana and uncovers the intricate conspiracy to silence dissent and kill Fidel Castro.
634 Ways to Kill Fidel Castro is filled to the brim with historical details on the CIA, Cuba, the communist movement, US government officials, and Fidel himself. Escalante's first-hand account provides evidence of the lengths to which the CIA went through to assassinate Fidel Castro and the determined efforts to protect him and what he stood for.