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The Cuban ProjectThe Cuban Project was the general name for Operation Mongoose; a covert plan devised in November of 1961 and set in motion in February of 1962 by the Central Intelligence Agency under the John F. Kennedy Administration. Operation Mongoose, another attempt to overthrown to Cuban communist government, came into being after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion of April 1961. On November 30, 1961; President Kennedy authorized the next aggressive covert assault on the Cuban Republic, codenamed Operation Mongoose. Operation Mongoose played a significant role in the events leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The purpose of the Mongoose Operation was to bring about the destabilization of the Communist regime in Cuba in addition to discrediting and/or assassinating the Communist leader, Fidel Castro. The end goal was to "to help Cuba overthrow the Communist regime" and aim for a revolt which can take place in Cuba by October 1962" (at the height of the missile crisis). The Operations six-phase terrorist schedule was presented by counter-insurgency specialist Air Force General Edward Lansdale on February 20, 1962. Lansdale outlined the coordinated program of political, psychological, military, sabotage, and intelligence operations as well as assassination attempts on key political leaders. Each passing month since his presentation, a different method was in place to destabilize the Communist regime; including poor publicity for Castro, arming militant opposition groups, establishing guerilla bases throughout the country and finally culminating in an October military intervention in Cuba. The operation, directed by Lansdale, was overseen by the Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Operation Mongoose was created based on the assumption that Communist controls inside Cuba were severe and that the regime was serving as a Communist leader in the Americas. There was also evidence that the repressive measures of the Communists, together with disappointments in Castro's economic dependency on the Communist formula, had resulted in an anti-regime atmosphere among the Cuban people which made a resistance program a distinct and present possibility. As such, the US devised their covert plan to fuel the growing anti-regime spirit to provoke an overthrow of the government and/or assassination attempts on Castro. Historically, just as the Americans had overthrown their own unwanted leaders through a revolution from within, the Americans were hopeful that the Cubans would undergo the same process with a little persuasion from the actions of Project Mongoose. They hoped that their covert operation would set this insurgency in motion from within, as it had been in the United States history, in motion. American policy makers wanted to help the people of Cuba overthrow the Communist regime from within Cuba and institute a new government with which the United States can live in peace. The Cuba Project was designed to culminate in October 1962 with an "open revolt and overthrow of the Communist regime." This is of course at the peak of the Cuban Missile crisis whereupon the United States and the Soviet Union come alarmingly close to nuclear war over the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba. Project Mongoose did not emerge sucessfully, if anything the covert plan helped strengthen Fidel Castros hold on his people. Works cited: CIA Inspector General's Report on Plots to Assassinate Fidel Castro, CIA Historical Review Program. 23 May. 1967 Operation Mongoose: The Cuba Project, Cuban History Archive. 20 Feb. 1962.
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