Trained to Kill: The Inside Story of CIA Plots against Castro, Kennedy, and Che by Antonio Veciana & Carlos Harrison

Author:Antonio Veciana & Carlos Harrison
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Tags: Autobiography, Non-Fiction, Memoir, United States, Politics, War, Espionage, History
ISBN: 9781510713574
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2017-03-12T13:00:00+00:00

IN HIS BOOK, Phillips recalled his deeply emotional reaction as it became clear the invasion was collapsing. After he finally left the operations center at Quarters Eye in Washington, D.C., and went home, he got drunk in his backyard listening to news reports about Cuba on a portable radio:

Suddenly my stomach churned. I was sick. My body heaved.

Then I began to cry.

I wept for two hours. I was sick again, then drunk again….

Oh shit! Shit!

In our final conversation over lunch before Bishop left for the United States, back in March 1960, he had mused that the situation in Cuba had a simple solution.

“I have this theory,” he said, “that if Fidel died, the revolution would be over.”

At the moment, at least, he didn’t seem to be suggesting that I do it. Just that that’s what would happen.

“Yes,” he continued, as if ruminating out loud. “It all revolves around him. The best way for this to end is for Fidel Castro to die.”

In fact, CIA plans for Castro’s assassination were set in motion that year, while President Eisenhower was still in office. That September, CIA contractor Robert Maheu met with Mafia emissary Johnny Rosselli in New York City, offering him $150,000 for the “removal” of Castro. After the Bay of Pigs, the agency escalated its efforts against Castro. I received a terse message from Bishop printed in invisible ink. He told me that Bernardo Corrales had what I needed to give Cuba its simple solution.

He meant, of course, that I should begin putting together my own plan to assassinate Castro. We would refer to it as Operation Liborio.

“Liborio” is a symbol of national pride in Cuba, like Uncle Sam in the United States. Unlike the U.S. mascot, though, Liborio doesn’t represent the government. He represents the people. Liborio is depicted as a humble and put-upon farmer with a self-deprecating sense of humor and a long dark beard, whose droll observations on politics and politicians make him a voice for the hoi polloi.

By handing me the high-stakes Operation Liborio assignment, Bishop was making a statement. My time had come. With that message, he was telling me that I had graduated. I had already gone from being a simple accountant to a counterrevolutionary leading a propaganda campaign, and then to a bomb maker and terrorist. Now he was saying I could be even more, that I could be someone who could change the course of history.

Before I could make this leap, though, I had one more thing to do. I had to send my family to safety. I had to get them off the island to a new life, not knowing if I would ever see them again.

In the summer of 1961, I took my wife by the hand.

“Sira, my love,” I said. “You and the kids must leave. I have things I must do, missions I must complete.”

She knew, of course, that I was working aggressively against Castro. She didn’t know the details, but she knew.

“I don’t want any harm to come to our children,” I continued.

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