In June 1961, GRU officers received evidence that another assassination attempt against the Cuban leader was being prepared with the participation of the President of Guatemala, the President of Venezuela and the former President of Costa Rica, whose plans were coordinated by CIA officers.
One of the documents intercepted by Soviet military intelligence was a memorandum by the head of Guatemalan intelligence to the President of Guatemala, Idigores, which outlined the mechanism of "Operation Condor" aimed at the murder of Fidel. In late June, another network was discovered - the Cuban National Front, one of whose leaders, Dr. Aviles Kautina, worked in Havana with a CIA staff officer named Caesar, who belonged to a previously unknown organization called Candela.
In mid-July 1961, Moscow received irrefutable information that the main task of Caesar and the Candela was to organize the attempt on Fidel Castro on July 26, during the celebration of the eighth anniversary of the assault on the Moncada barracks. But even this was not the main one, because Yuri Gagarin, who was invited to Havana as an honored guest, was chosen as one of the targets.
This information translated the situation into a fundamentally different plane. The Candela group was arrested.
Yuri Gagarin's visit to Cuba took place on schedule, but to ensure the safety of the distinguished guest, the journalists intentionally misinformed that he had not been in Havana for a short time and immediately flew to Canada, at the invitation of the organizers of the rally of peace supporters. And only when the head of the Cuban security service, Ramiro Valdez, informed Fidel that the danger had been eliminated, did Castro himself demonstrate to the Cubans that the first cosmonaut of the world was still visiting them.
THIS IS WRITTEN WRITING ABOUT THIS EPISODE
(excerpt from the book of NP Kamanin "Pilots and astronauts"):
The car jumped out into a small area and stopped in front of the square. Fidel got out of the car. A crowd immediately gathered around him. A conversation ensued.
- Well, did Gagarin not stay with us? He asked the Cuban standing next to him.
- Yes, he flew away ... It is a pity that so soon.
“Nothing, he will stay longer next time,” Fidel said, smiling into his thick beard.
One of the Cubans surrounding the car during this conversation gazed steadily at Gagarin, as if recalling something. Yuri Alekseevich was dressed in a civilian suit, without orders, a beret flaunted on his head. It was felt that the Cuban was intensely straining his memory. Then he exclaimed:
- Gagarin!
- No, it's not him. Gagarin flew away, - Fidel Castro remarked calmly, without turning his head.
But it did not help. Already not one Cuban, but many vied shouted: "Gagarin, Gagarin!"
- Is it really like that? Fidel asked calmly, covering the dispute that had begun with one of those present.
- Yes, very similar. This is it, - they rustled around.
“Do you not believe the newspapers?” Fidel asked sternly.
The voices were silent. The gathered crowd was silently bewildered. Fidel gave everyone an attentive look, paused so that his words sounded weightily, and quietly, laughing, said:
- Yes, this is Gagarin.
Like an explosion, shouts of delight shook the night air: “Gagarin! Gagarin! "
Source: https://vk.com/history_0z
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