thumb|[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba mis cri/621004 Minutes of Meeting of Special.pdf] first page of a meeting report on Operation Mongoose, October 4 1962.

The '''Cuban Project''' (also known as '''Operation Mongoose''') is the general name for CIA covert operations and plans developed during the early administration of U.S. President communist government of Air Force General Edward Lansdale and came into being after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.

Harvard Historian Jorge Domínguez states that a prime focus of the Kennedy administration was the removal of Operation Mongoose, a US program of sabotage and other secret operations against the island.<ref name="Jorge">Domínguez, Jorge I. "The @#$%& Missile Crisis (Or, What was 'Cuban' about U.S. Decisions during the Cuban Missile Crisis.Diplomatic History: The Journal of the Society for Historians of Foreign Relations, Vol. 24, No. 2, (Spring 2000): 305-15.)</ref> 

The goal of the Cuban Project was to "help Cuba overthrow the Communist regime", including its leader Fidel Castro, and aim "for a revolt which can take place in Cuba by October 1962". American policy makers also desired to see "a new government with which the United States can live in peace." Source: U.S., Department of State, FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES 1961-1963, Volume X Cuba, 1961-1962 Washington, DC [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/cuba/mongoose.htm]

== Origins ==

Ever since the Cuban Revolution, and the rise of communism under Fidel Castro, the United States government was determined to undercut the integrity of the Socialist revolution and install in its place a friendlier government. After the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, it had to take Cuba more seriously. A special committee was formed to search for ways to overthrow Fidel.

It was based on the estimation of the US government that coercion inside Cuba was severe and that the regime was serving as a spearhead for allied communist movements elsewhere in the socialist economic policies, had resulted in an atmosphere among the Cuban people which made a resistance program a distinct possibility at that moment. As such, the US designed their covert plan to fuel a growing anti-regime spirit to provoke an overthrow of the government and/or assassination attempts on Castro.

== Planning ==

The Attorney General Robert Kennedy retained effective control.

Mongoose was led by Edward Lansdale in the Defense Department and William King Harvey at the CIA. Samuel Halpern, a CIA co-organizer, conveyed the breadth of involvement: “CIA and the U. S. Army and military forces and Department of Commerce, and Immigration, Treasury, God knows who else — everybody was in Mongoose. It was a government-wide operation run out of Bobby Kennedy's office with Ed Lansdale as the mastermind.”<ref name="Blight">James G. Blight, and Peter Kornbluh, eds., Politics of Illusion: The Bay of Pigs Invasion Reexamined. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1999, 125)</ref>.

Over thirty different plans were considered under the Cuban Project, some of which were carried out. The plans varied in their efficacy and intention, from propagandistic purposes to effective disruption of the Cuban government and economy. These included the use of American Green Berets, destruction of Cuban sugar crops, and mining of harbors.

Operation Northwoods was a 1962 plan, which was signed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and presented to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara for approval, that intended to use false flag operations in order to justify intervention in Cuba. Among other things considered were real and simulated attacks which would be blamed on the Cuban government. These would have involved attacking, or reporting fake attacks on Cuban exiles, US military targets, Cuban civilian aircraft, and development of a terror campaign on US soil. [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/doc1.pdf]

The Cuban Project played a significant role in the events leading up to the 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 the publishing of views against Castro, armaments for militant opposition groups, the establishment of guerilla bases throughout the country and preparations for an October military intervention in Cuba. Many individual plans were reportedly devised by the CIA to assassinate Fidel Castro. Plans to discredit President Castro in the eyes of the Cuban public included contaminating his clothing with thallium salts that would make his trademark beard fall out and spraying a broadcasting studio with hallucinogens before a televised speech. Assassination plots included poisoning a box of Castro's favorite cigars with botulinus toxin and placing explosive seashells in his favorite diving spots. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/244974.stm]

The CIA operation was based in William Harvey was one of the CIA case officers who directly dealt with the mafiosi John Roselli.<ref name="Anderson"></ref>

Professor of History Stephen Rabe writes that “scholars have understandably focused on…the Bay of Pigs invasion, the U.S. campaign of terrorism and sabotage known as Operation Mongoose, the assassination plots against Fidel Castro, and, of course, the Cuban missile crisis. Less attention has been given to the state of U.S.-Cuban relations in the aftermath of the missile crisis.” In contrast Rabe writes that reports from the Church Committee reveal that from June 1963 onward the Kennedy administration intensified its war against Cuba while the CIA integrated propaganda, "economic denial", and sabotage to attack the Cuban state as well as specific targets within.<ref name="Rabe">Stephen G. Rabe -Presidential Studies Quarterly. Volume: 30. Issue: 4. 2000,714 </ref>  One example cited is an incident where CIA agents, seeking to assassinate Castro, provided a Cuban official, Rolando Cubela Secades, with a ballpoint pen rigged with a poisonous hypodermic needle.<ref name="Rabe" /> At this time the CIA received authorization for thirteen major operations within Cuba;  these included attacks on an electric power plant, an oil refinery, and a sugar mill.<ref name="Rabe" /> Historian Stephen Rabe has observed that the “Kennedy administration...showed no interest in Castro's repeated request that the United States cease its campaign of sabotage and terrorism against Cuba. Kennedy did not pursue a dual-track policy toward Cuba....The United States would entertain only proposals of surrender."  Rabe further documents how "Exile groups, such as Alpha 66 and the Second Front of Escambray, staged hit-and-run raids on the island...on ships transporting goods…purchased arms in the United States and launched...attacks from the Bahamas.”<ref name="Rabe" />

L''''opération Mongoose''' (terme anglais désignant une président américain John F. Kennedy et menées par la CIA.

== Description ==

Kennedy autorise l'utilisation d'actions contre le gouvernement communiste de US Air Force et suit l'échec du débarquement de la Baie des Cochons.

Les buts de ce projet sont :
* d'« avoir un gouvernement avec lequel les États-Unis pouvaient vivre en paix »
* de renverser le régime communiste et son dirigeant pour déboucher sur un soulèvement en octobre 1962.

Toutes les opérations sont basées sur l'estimation par l'administration américaine d'une grave coercition à l'intérieur de Cuba et sur le fait que le régime en place sert de tête de pont aux autres mouvements communistes en Amérique.

Les mesures répressives des communistes envers leur population, ajoutes à l'échec apparent des politiques économiques du gouvernement socialiste en place favorise un possible sentiment de révolte de la part du peuple cubain. Les États-Unis développent toutes leurs opérations afin de nourrir ce sentiment de révolte et de provoquer un soulèvement ainsi que des tentatives d'assassinat de Castro.

Les chefs d'état-major du Robert Kennedy.

L'opération comporte plus de 30 plans, dont plusieurs sont mis en pratique. Ces plans différent dans leurs intentions et leur efficacité. bérets verts américains, destruction des récoltes sucrières cubaines en passant par le minage des ports.

L'opération Northwoods, datant de 1962 et qui n'a pas dépassé le stade de la planification, prévoit l'utilisation d'actions ''false flag''; attaques ou simulations d'attaques contre des exilés cubains, d'objectifs militaires américains ou encore contre des avions civils cubains. Tout ceci dans le but de justifier une opération militaire à Cuba.

Cette opération joue un rôle prépondérant dans les évènements qui débouchent sur la Crise des missiles de Cuba en 1962.