A closer look
Central Intelligence Agency operatives genuinely plotted to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro by slipping him an exploding cigar, alongside other cartoonish schemes like poisoned scuba diving suits and explosive seashells; despite hundreds of elaborate and highly funded assassination attempts over several decades, Castro managed to survive and eventually died of old age at ninety, making the entire saga read less like elite Cold War espionage and more like a live-action cartoon villain scheme funded by millions of American taxpayer dollars, which is incredibly embarrassing considering the most powerful intelligence agency on earth could not figure out how to outsmart one bearded communist who just really loved smoking tobacco
