reflected on by 2016General source · 2 sourcesWell documented

How Castro Survived: The Gold Medal

On the timeline · around reflected on by 2016 ·

What happened

By his 90th birthday, Cuba's spy chief Fabián Escalante had catalogued hundreds of attempts on Castro's life, foiled by counterintelligence, incompetence and luck. Castro himself liked to joke: 'If surviving assassination attempts were an Olympic event, I would win the gold medal.'

Why it matters

That the target of so many schemes died in his bed became a defining part of Castro's legend — and a lasting humiliation for the agency that tried to kill him.

Sources

CNN. Cuba's Fidel Castro survived 600 assassination attempts, officials say (2016) · General source
South China Morning Post. 638 Ways to Kill Castro · General source

Part of a timelineThe Plots to Kill Castro32 events · Exploding cigars, Mafia hitmen, a poisoned milkshake, a booby-trapped seashell, a lethal pen handed over the day JFK died — and decades of exile plots after. The CIA's documented campaign to assassinate Fidel Castro, and the man who outlived it all.View all →