Central Intelligence Agency. Report on Plots to Assassinate Fidel Castro. Text dated 25 April 1967; cover memorandum by the Inspector General dated 23 May 1967. 133 pages.

This report was classified "Secret -- Eyes Only," and was declassified after Congress ordered a government-wide review of material relating to the JFK assassination. It was sent to the National Archives in November 1993. Perhaps twenty or so names are redacted, but that still leaves about 85 names. This is the most authoritative account available of the CIA-Mafia plots to kill Castro, which included poisoned cigars and poison-tipped ballpoint pens, an exploding sea shell, a skin-diving suit dusted with fungus, a chemical to make his beard fall out, and botulin pills that one technician "tested on monkeys and found they did the job expected of them."

Those who were high-up in the bureaucracy claim little knowledge of these plots. John McCone noted that over the years, phrases such as "dispose of Castro," "remove Castro," and "knock off Castro" were used in high-level government meetings, but that "those phrases were always construed to mean the overthrowing of the communist government in Cuba." Even William Harvey, who knew exactly what he was doing, made sure that phrases like "elimination of leaders" were excised from internal memorandums. The CIA has mastered the art of deniability. To put it bluntly, they can make a monkey out of anyone who tries to hold them responsible.

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