Fidel castro cause of death

Marita Lorenz

German spy and lover of Fidel Castro (–)

Ilona Marita Lorenz (18 August – 31 August ) was a German woman who had an affair with Fidel Castro in and in January was involved in an assassination attempt by the CIA on Castro's life.

In the s and s, she testified about the John F.

Kennedy assassination, stating that she was involved with a group of anti-Cuban militants, including Frank Sturgis and E. Howard Hunt of CIA and Watergate infamy, shortly before the assassination.

Early life

She was born Ilona Marita Lorenz in Bremen, the daughter of Alice June (née Lofland) and Heinrich Lorenz. She had a sister, Valerie, and two brothers, Joachim and Manfred "Philip".[2] Her father, a wealthy German navy captain, became commander of a fleet of U-boats when Germany invaded Poland two weeks after Marita was born and was subsequently taken prisoner after his ship was captured; he was interned in a POW camp in England.[2] Her mother, who was born in Delaware, was an actress and dancer who performed under the stage name June Paget.[3] Earlier in the war she had been recruited for the French underground by British intelligence after she aided in the rescue of a French soldier and British pilot.[2] Accused of helping forced laborers in Bremen escape, Marita and her mother were incarcerated in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in [2]

After liberation by the allies, the Lorenz family moved to Bremerhaven.

Alice began working for U.S. Army intelligence, and then the OSS, the U.S. wartime foreign intelligence agency predating the CIA.[2]

When Marita was seven years old, she was raped by an American soldier, and testified against him in the trial that followed. Journalist Ann Louise Bardach wrote that "[m]any close to Lorenz say" these events "set in motion a lifelong pattern of violence and revenge in her relationships with men."[2]

The Lorenz family moved to the United States in , and Heinrich began work as captain of various luxury ocean liners.

During this time, Alice's work in the intelligence community deepened, working alternatively with both U.S. Army intelligence and the Pentagon.[2] Marita's sister Valerie described her mother's work: "I was never sure who [she] was working for, except I knew she worked in intelligence with high security clearance.

She didn’t confide in me, but she was very close with Marita."[2]

Castro and Pérez Jiménez

In February , weeks after the conclusion of the Cuban Revolution, Lorenz arrived in Havana with her father on board the MS Berlin.[4] Fidel Castro and his men visited the ship and Castro took a liking to Lorenz.

After dinner, the Berlin set sail for New York. Lorenz disembarked in Manhattan, where she would be living with her brother Joachim, a student at Columbia University.[5] A few days after she arrived, Castro called Lorenz—she had given him Joachim's home number on a matchbox before parting ways—and said he was sending a plane to fly her back to Cuba.

A jeep picked Lorenz up at the other end and drove her to the Havana Hilton, which Castro had repurposed as his base of operations. She claims then to have lived with Castro for several months, engaging in a sexual relationship. There are unconfirmed theories about whether she became pregnant with his child during this time, but no child was born.

She left the island and joined anti-Castro activists in Florida.

Her later testimony named Francisco Fiorini as the CIA agent who recruited her to assassinate Castro, and that this was an alias for Frank Fiorini Sturgis. She received poison pills that she was to put in Castro's food. Back in Cuba in , she did not deliver the pills but told Castro about the plot, claiming that she still loved him.[6] She left the island and visited Castro one last time in

According to Lorenz, in March she met deposed Venezuelan dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez, introduced to her as "General Diaz", at a residence in Miami Beach, Florida while working as a courier for the International Anti-Communist Brigade.[7] She said she was to collect a $, contribution from Pérez Jiménez for her group.[7] Lorenz said: "He chased me around for six weeks."[7]

Lorenz claimed that Castro and Pérez Jiménez each fathered a child with her.[7]

In August , a paternity suit Lorenz filed against Pérez Jiménez briefly held up his extradition to Venezuela.[8][9] She claimed to have been with Frank Sturgis at a meeting with the CIA head in Miami which also included E.

Howard Hunt, which Frank stated was for planning right before the JFK assassination.

JFK conspiracy allegations

In , Lorenz told Paul Meskil of the New York Daily News that she met Lee Harvey Oswald in the fall of at an Operation 40safe house in the Little Havana section of Miami.[10] According to Lorenz, she met him again before the Kennedy assassination in in the house of Orlando Bosch, with Frank Sturgis, Pedro Luis Díaz Lanz, and two other Cubans present.[10] She said the men studied Dallas street maps and that she suspected that they were planning on raiding an arsenal.[10] Lorenz stated that she joined the men traveling to Dallas in two cars and carrying "rifles and scopes", but flew back to Miami the day after they arrived.[10] In response to her allegations, Sturgis said he did not recall ever meeting Oswald and reiterated his previous denials of being involved in a conspiracy to kill Kennedy.[10] In an interview with Steve Dunleavy of the New York Post, he said that he believed communist agents had pressured Lorenz into making the accusations against him.[11]

Lorenz testified about this Kennedy assassination plot before the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA).

  • Her testimony was investigated by the political committee and said to be unreliable.[12]

    In February , attorney Mark Lane read a deposition that Lorenz provided in E. Howard Hunt's libel suit against the Liberty Lobby's tabloid, The Spotlight.[13] Lorenz lived in New York City at the time, however, Lane read the deposition in court stating that Lorenz was "afraid to come to Miami".[13] The deposition reiterated allegations similar to those she provided to the HSCA.[13] Lorenz said she met Oswald in Miami in the early s, and that in November Sturgis asked her to come to Dallas with him and Oswald to act as a decoy.[13] Her statement said that she, Oswald, and seven anti-Castro Cubans transported weapons to Dallas in two cars shortly before 22 November [13] Lorenz claimed that Hunt came to their Dallas motel room and provided Sturgis with an envelope filled with cash.[14] According to one account, this testimony became the "centerpiece" for Lane's book Plausible Denial.[7]

    In , Lorenz was interviewed by Vanity Fair writer Ann Louise Bardach who described her as "a patron saint of conspiracy buffs".[7] Bardach wrote, "at least half of her story is readily documented by the accounts of others and FBI memorandum, the other half lacks any corroboration, at times, flies in the face of existing evidence."[7]

    Work for the FBI

    In , she married the manager of an apartment building in New York.

    The two worked for the FBI spying on Eastern Bloc UN diplomats living in the building.[6]

    Books and films

    With Ted Schwarz, Lorenz's first autobiography, Marita: One Woman's Extraordinary Tale of Love and Espionage from Castro to Kennedy, was published in by Thunder's Mouth Press.[15]Kirkus Reviews described the book as "the wild—if nearly incredible—adventures of a new Jane Bond".[16]Publishers Weekly wrote: "Like other sensational conspiracy stories, this one presses the limits of credibility, but its very outrageousness gives it weight."[15] Her second autobiography Lieber Fidel – Mein Leben, meine Liebe, mein Verrat (ISBN&#;) appeared in

    Lorenz's story was the inspiration for Jack Bender's TV film My Little Assassin.[17]Gabrielle Anwar portrayed Lorenz in the film and her mother Alice was portrayed by Jill Clayburgh.[17] She is also the subject of a German documentary film Lieber Fidel – Maritas Geschichte ("Dear Fidel – Marita's Story").[18][19]

    In , it was reported that she would be played by Jennifer Lawrence in the upcoming biographical film Marita,[20] which is based on Lorenz's memoir, Marita: The Spy Who Loved Castro.[21] As of , the film is still listed as 'in development'.[22]

    Personal life

    Lorenz lived in Baltimore, Maryland.[7]

    Monica Mercedes Pérez Jiménez, the daughter she had with Marcos Pérez Jiménez (former President of Venezuela), is married to one of the sons of Orlando Letelier.[23]

    References

    1. ^Roberts, Sam (5 September ).

      "Marita Lorenz, Who Told Tales of Castro and Kennedy, Dies at 80". The New York Times.

    2. ^ abcdefghBardach, Ann Louise (Nov.

      ).

      On 14 April , during the night hours, the invasion fleet slowly slipped out of the port of Puerto Cabezas and headed towards the Bay of Pigs. At the end of May , she was suddenly transferred to the Riviera Hotel for a few days without warning, where she met someone who would later turn out to be a major influence on her life. It was only years later, when the Watergate scandal broke and Richard Nixon was removed as President of America and Fiorini was arrested, that it was discovered that the mysterious Eduardo E. Article Talk.

      "The Spy Who Loved Castro."Vanity Fair, pp. 80+. Archived. Photographs by Jonathan Becker.

    3. ^"Alice Lofland public record". .

      Marita lorenz and fidel castro A Cuban airline plane was waiting for them at the airport and they were the only passengers on the flight to Havana. She wanted to get out of the circle of suspicious people, spies and agents and get a job as a waitress. Does Marita Lorenz Dead or Alive? At the end of she received a telegram from Cuba asking her to call a number.

      Retrieved 20 January

    4. ^Geyer, Georgie Anne () []. Guerrilla Prince: The Untold Story of Fidel Castro. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing. pp.&#;10, –, ISBN&#;.
    5. ^Rohrlich, Justin (28 April ). "The Search for Fidel Castro's Love Child".

      Raúl castro: Whether she wanted to or not, Marita became a participant in the invasion of Cuba, largely funded by the CIA. She had no regular income, but sometimes she got some money for interviews and, with the help of a journalist, she wrote her biography, which sold like a cheap edition of a pocket book. She seemingly knew him, having been introduced to him in Havana. She assured him, to his surprise, that she did not need help and that she did not want to leave Cuba.

      Daily Beast. Retrieved 14 January

    6. ^ abLieber Fidel – Maritas Geschichte, documentary film by Wilfried Huismann, Germany
    7. ^ abcdefghBardach, Ann Louise (November ).

      "The Story of Marita Lorenz: Mistress, Mother, C.I.A. Informant, and Center of Swirling Conspiracy Theories". Vanity Fair.

    8. Craziest fidel castro assassination attempts
    9. Last assassination attempt on president
    10. Castro assassination attempts list
    11. Why was fidel castro a threat
    12. 638 ways to kill castro

      13. Retrieved 21 May

    13. ^"Suit May Delay Jimenez Ouster". The Tuscaloosa News. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Associated Press.

      But what would they say in America when she told them she had failed in her mission? The apartment was in complete disarray, with a bazooka under the bed, many weapons, cigar boxes, empty beer bottles, plastic bags of dirty laundry and the smell of cigars everywhere. She was convinced that her telephone in her apartment was being tapped, so she called from a public phone booth in the next street. Basketball Player.

      13 August p.&#;2. Retrieved 8 April

    14. ^Lorenz v Jimenez, So.2d (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. ).
    15. ^ abcdeMeskil, Paul (20 September ).

      "Ex-Spy Says She Drove To Dallas With Oswald & Kennedy 'Assassin Squad'"(PDF). Daily News. New York. p.&#;5. Retrieved 7 March

    16. ^Dunleavy, Steve (3 November ). "Sturgis' Exclusive Story; Marita Pressured By Reds"(PDF). New York Post. New York. pp.&#;3, Retrieved 7 March
    17. ^Fonzi, Gaeton.

      The Last Investigation. New York: Thunder's Mouth (), pp.

    18. ^ abcde"Former Castro witness links Oswald, Hunt". The Ledger. Lakeland, Florida. 6 February p.&#;2B. Retrieved 6 April
    19. ^"Howard Hunt Met Oswald In Dallas, Woman Says".

      Ocala Star-Banner. Ocala, Florida. Associated Press. 5 February p.&#;2B. Retrieved 6 April

    20. ^ ab"Marita: One Woman's Extraordinary Tale of Love and Espionage from Castro to Kennedy". Publishers Weekly. 1 November Retrieved 29 May
    21. ^"Marita: One Woman's Extraordinary Tale of Love and Espionage from Castro to Kennedy".

      Kirkus Reviews. 1 October Retrieved 29 May

    22. ^ abDeming, Mark (). "My Little Assassin ()". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 May Retrieved 26 June
    23. ^Marx, Rebecca Flint ().

      Marita lorenz biography channel After landing, she was taken by jeep to the former Havana Hilton Hotel, now renamed the Havana Libre Hotel, and then by elevator to the 24th floor. They were going to poison him with hallucinogenic drugs so that he would lose control of himself and be a pathetic image of the former revolutionary. With those people from Miami, the counter-revolutionaries? After returning to New York, Marita lived peacefully with her brother Joachim and attended an accounting course, while their mother was again away on business in Heidelberg.

      "Lieber Fidel – Maritas Geschichte ()". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 May Retrieved 26 June

    24. ^Movshovitz, Howie (24 June ). "Dear Fidel (Lieber Fidel – Maritas Geschichte)". Screen Daily. Retrieved 26 June
    25. ^McNary, Dave (20 January ). "Jennifer Lawrence to Play Fidel Castro's Lover for Sony".

      Variety.

    26. ^"The Spy Who Loved Castro…and Almost Assassinated Him". The Archive. 10 October Retrieved 14 January
    27. ^ Jennifer Lawrence to Play Fidel Castro’s Lover for Sony url=
    28. ^"Costa Rica 'spy kid': Mom was sent to kill Castro; dad is a former president of Venezuela".

      The Tico Times. 27 October

    External links