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After Cuban leader Fidel Castro had – in Cubela’s view – betrayed the revolution and established a communist dictatorship, Cubela became disenchanted and started plotting with the CIA and other opponents of the Castro regime to try to end Castro's government and return to a non-socialist course for the country.<ref name="Faria 1"/>
Cubela later became "an important asset" of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] under the cryptonym AM/LASH, and worked with them on plots to assassinate [[Fidel Castro]].<ref name=Chambliss>William J. Chambliss and Marjorie Sue Zatz (1993), ''[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LbvCOCWIqpYC&pg=PA329 Making Law: The State, the Law, and Structural Contradictions]'', [[Indiana University Press]], p329</ref> In October 1963 Cubela met with [[Desmond Fitzgerald (CIA officer)|Desmond Fitzgerald]], head of the CIA's Special Affairs Staff, in Paris, over the objections of some SAS staff who considered Cubela a possible [[Dangle (espionage)|dangle]] or at least a security risk.<ref>Evan Thomas (2012), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=dsVlBBqaakYC&pg=PT318 The Very Best Men: The Daring Early Years of the CIA]'', [[Simon & Schuster]], p138</ref> At another Paris meeting, on 22 November 1963, Cubela received a "poison pen" - a fountain pen with a [[hypodermic needle]] to be used to inject Castro with a poison.<ref>Michael Howard Holzman (2008), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=H8q_zVR_5EYC&pg=PA192 James Jesus Angleton, the CIA, and the Craft of Counterintelligence]'', [[University of Massachusetts Press]], p192</ref> Nevertheless, Cubela was insisting on a meeting with [[U.S. Attorney General]] [[Robert Kennedy]] before proceeding with the assassination of Fidel Castro. The CIA cautious of "[[plausible deniability]]" stalled. In June 1965, however, the Agency terminated its relationship with Cubela "for reasons related to security."<ref>Chambliss and Zatz (1993:333)</ref>
On 28 February 1966, Castro summoned Cubela to his office, and had him arrested for plotting to kill the head of state. The prosecution did not refer to Cubela's pre-1964 CIA contacts or activities, including the 1963 poison pen episode, limiting evidence to 1964-5 activities.<ref>CIA (1967), [http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?mode=searchResult&absPageId=281085 REPORT ON PLOTS TO ASSASSINATE FIDEL CASTRO (1967 INSPECTOR GENERAL'S REPORT)], NARA Record Number: 104-10213-10101. p122</ref> After Castro petitioned the court to avoid the death penalty, Cubela was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison.<ref>Gus Russo and Stephen Molton (2010), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=rFE7nTO-iLcC&pg=PA429 Brothers in Arms: The Kennedys, the Castros, and the Politics of Murder]'', [[Bloomsbury Publishing]], p429</ref> After his pardon by Castro and his release in 1979,<ref>"Cuba Frees CIA agent", ''Ottawa Journal'', 28 August 1979, p13</ref> he went into exile to Spain, and became a doctor.<ref>Jose M. Cardona (1998), [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gzUcAQAAIAAJ ''Information Services on Latin America''], ISLA, Volume 53, Issue 12</ref>
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