638 Ways to Kill Castro (2006)

In 1959, Fidel Castro overthrew the Fulgencio Batista led government of Cuba in a revolution. Soon afterward, the US government, alarmed at a communist nation so close to their shores, began working with Cuban exiles and dissenters to find some way to assassinate the new Cuban leader. This film covers some of the 638 alleged attempts to do so, the native collaborators involved and how Castro's security successfully frustrated them all. In addition, the film illustrates the tumultuous relations between the nations over the decades and the disreputable Cuban characters who are prepared to go to horrific extremes to achieve their political aims with US complicity. —Kenneth Chisholm ([email protected])