29. Project Nassau: Taking CBS News For a Ride
Rolando Masferrer, who headed a paramilitary group of Cuban exiles known as Los Tigres, thought up Project Nassau: a plan to invade Cuba. American enthusiasm for invading Cuba had evaporated after the 1961 Bay of Pigs fiasco, so Masferrer needed another base of operations. He plotted to invade and seize the Dominican Republic, use it as a base to invade and seize Haiti, then use Haiti as a base to invade Castro’s Cuba. He approached CBS, and offered it exclusive broadcast rights over the invasions in exchange for financing. The network agreed and paid over $200,000 to fund his invasions.
CBS cameras followed Project Nassau for eight months. They filmed guns getting smuggled into Florida, training exercises that ended with a rifle exploding and taking out an exile’s eye, and a weird interview with Masferrer, who wore pantyhose over his head. CBS eventually pulled out when it realized that it was getting scammed and that the “training” was staged. The plotters were arrested and convicted of arms smuggling and violating the Neutrality Act, and CBS was investigated and censured by Congress. The exile who lost his eye sued CBS for workers’ compensation, on grounds that he was working for the network at the time. He got a $15,000 out-of-court settlement.
