When Is a Cigar Not a Cigar? When It Tries to Kill Castro (TV Documentary)
Now that Fidel Castro has resigned as president of Cuba, it seems likely that illness and age will finally be allowed to accomplish what two generations of Cuban exiles have been unable to, despite obsessive zeal and the help of the American government. For a quick and entertaining roundup of their attempts, Sundance Channel is offering the well-timed American television premiere of “638 Ways to Kill Castro,” a 2006 British documentary being shown Monday night.
The title refers to the number of assassination plans that Fabián Escalante, the former director of Cuban intelligence, claims to have evidence for and, in many cases, to have thwarted. Mr. Escalante breaks it down by administration: Eisenhower, 38; Kennedy, 42; Johnson, 72; Nixon, 184; Carter, 64; Reagan, 197; Bush Sr., 16; Clinton, 21. (That adds up to 634, but we can forgive him for losing track of a few poisoned diving suits.)
The film doesn’t try to prove those eye-catching figures (and Mr. Escalante is also known for propounding a theory of the John F. Kennedy assassination involving Cuban counterrevolutionaries and the Chicago mob). But it covers more than enough on-the-record plotting and scheming to show just how preoccupied Castro’s enemies have been with removing him.
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The title refers to the number of assassination plans that Fabián Escalante, the former director of Cuban intelligence, claims to have evidence for and, in many cases, to have thwarted. Mr. Escalante breaks it down by administration: Eisenhower, 38; Kennedy, 42; Johnson, 72; Nixon, 184; Carter, 64; Reagan, 197; Bush Sr., 16; Clinton, 21. (That adds up to 634, but we can forgive him for losing track of a few poisoned diving suits.)
The film doesn’t try to prove those eye-catching figures (and Mr. Escalante is also known for propounding a theory of the John F. Kennedy assassination involving Cuban counterrevolutionaries and the Chicago mob). But it covers more than enough on-the-record plotting and scheming to show just how preoccupied Castro’s enemies have been with removing him.