his enemies as “worms”; the CIA hoped to turn a term of derision into “a symbol of resistance and pride.” Cartoons were commissioned and mailed to Cuban households showing a smirking worm cutting electrical wires and spilling tacks in front of a jeep carrying Castro’s troops.77 Soon to come were “Gusano Libre pins, armbands, seals, pencils, balloons, etc.,” which could be delivered to Cuba via helium-filled balloons launched from a chartered ship in international waters.78 A State Department official expressed well-justified skepticism about “whether ‘worms of the world unite’ will cause
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