Executive Action: 634 Ways to Kill Fidel Castro

by Fabian Escalante

“Escalante’s review of CIA covert operations against Cuba in the early years is to be welcomed, and should be widely read—and pondered.”—Noam Chomsky
 
A unique view presented by the man responsible for countering innumerable assassination attempts against the Cuban leader. As Cuba’s former counterintelligence chief, Fabián Escalante reviews more than six hundred CIA plots to assassinate Fidel Castro, a project code-named “Executive Action.” Although melodramatic and at times quite comical, these CIA plans were deadly serious—and -unconstitutional—as subsequent US government inquiries concluded, including the 1975 commission headed by Senator Frank Church.
 
This book is the basis of a forthcoming Channel 4 (UK) documentary about attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro.
 
Published as part of the Secret War series.
 

Genres: History, Nonfiction

232 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2006

Reviews

[Thanasis · Rating 1 out of 5]

“Συνωμοσίες και συνωμοτικά σχέδια εναντίον του Κάστρο”, πιστεύω θα ήταν ο σωστός τίτλος για αυτό το βιβλίο, σίγουρα πάντως το 634 απόπειρες δολοφονίας του Κάστρο, είναι παραπλανητικός.

Οι απόπειρες που αναφέρονται είναι 4-5 αρκετά αόριστες και σε 2-3 γραμμές το πολύ. Όλο το υπόλοιπο βιβλίο είναι συνωμοσίες και συνωμοτικά σχέδια τα οποία στην συντριπτική τους πλειοψηφία αποκάλυψε η αστυνομία και οι μυστικές υπηρεσίες της Κούβας όταν βρίσκονταν στο στάδιο της προετοιμασίας τους.

Αυτό που θα μου μείνει από το βιβλίο είναι ότι το 99,8% όσων δεν υποστηρίζουν το καθεστώς που υπάρχει στην Κούβα, είναι άνθρωποι της CIA ή κατευθυνόμενοι από αυτήν.
;-)

[Brit · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was given Fabian Escalante's Executive Action: 634 Ways to Kill Fidel Castro as a gift. I was not able to find too much additional information about Fabian Escalante. He is listed as having extensively worked in the Cuban intelligence services under Castro.

In the book, he covers various assassination attempts on Fidel Castro by the CIA and exiled Cuban groups from 1959 to 1979. As the title suggests, he argues there were over 600 attempts on Castro's life and that the U.S. played some role in all of them. According to him, he chose to cover the episodes that have irrefutable evidence of American connections (12). He cites investigations (ex: the 1975 Church Commission Report), personal experiences, interviews, and documentary evidence as his primary sources.

My main problem with this book is the lack of historical context for the events covered. He unapologetically writes from the Cuban state perspective. While interesting to read history from the Cuban state perspective, it also highlights certain absences. For example, there is very little discussion as to why the exiled Cuban groups are attempting to kill Castro/overthrew the government. There is also no discussion as to what happens to those arrested by the Cuban state. At times, the lack of context or discussion makes it read like a long list of places and names. He also makes chronological jumps inside the chapters that can be jarring. On the other hand, this book does seem to be part of a larger series (The Secret War), so perhaps he examines the historical context in said other books. I still feel like the book should be able to stand on its own though or it should be clearer one has to read the other volumes first.

The highlight of the book is the timeline Escalante provides in the back of the book. His "Chronology of Crimes: 1959-2000" lists all the assassination attempts on Castro that he argues occurred. He writes, "The chronology includes two categories of homicidal plots; those which reached the stage of practical action before being discovered; and those which were neutralized at a preliminary stage" (202). I think the timeline is a great source as a jumping off point for further research/reading.

I would not recommend this to anyone who is not already very familiar with Castro and American-Cuban history in the twentieth century.

[Emilia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This reads like the documents my grandfather prepared when he got really into genealogy where he likely copy pasted, or maybe even took screen shots, of various bits of information and collated them onto a Word document. An obit here, a little paragraph here, an address, another obit, a family tree with names that don’t come up for another six pages, another obit. While the content of that information is interesting, like the content of this book, it’s a slog to read. Too much back and forth, too many names, too many superfluous details. I was craving some Cuban propaganda and this did not scratch the itch.

[Σταύρος Παυλίδης · Rating 3 out of 5]

634!Ο τίτλος είναι το λιγότερο παραπλανητικός.Πολλές από τις απόπειρες είναι πραγματικά για γέλια (ή για κλάματα...). Σε κάποιες στιγμές μου θύμισε το γνωστό καρτούν όπου ο κογιότ προσπαθεί να πιάσει τον μπιπ-μπιπ (ένα πουλί που μοιάζει με στρουθοκάμηλο) χρησιμοποιώντας βόμβες, παγίδες κτλ χωρίς όμως αποτέλεσμα. Εντύπωση μου προκάλεσε το γεγονός ότι σε πολλές στιγμές οι μυστικές υπηρεσίες των ηπα λειτούργησαν χωρίς ή και κόντρα στη θέληση του προέδρου της χώρας! Κανονικό παρακράτος!

[Susan Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of detail on the various CIA and ex-pat attempts and conspiracies against Castro by one of Castro's protective intelligence agents. While some documentation is provided, it would be helpful to cross-reference these accounts with declassified American documentation as well. One wonders if some of these schemes were revealed under torture, of course. I'm not sure that any leader in histpry has ever survived so many attempts on his life!

[Sandy Rechtsteiner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just really lost my interest almost immediately and I had to struggle to finish it. Many of the attempted on Castro’s life were just ridiculous.

[Emily]

Heard an interview with the author on NPR. My International Poli Sci teacher gave a marvelous lecture on this very subject. It's a little like candy...watch out for seashells - they might blow up! :)