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The conspiracy guy says the CIA went after Fidel Castro's beard. He is right, and the proof is on page 72 of a United States Senate report.

In 1975 the Senate's Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, known as the Church Committee, published an interim report titled Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders. It was printed by the U.S. Government Printing Office. Page 72 sits under the heading "Plots to Destroy Castro's Public Image," and opens: "Efforts against Castro did not begin with assassination attempts."

The report says that "From March through August 1960, during the last year of the Eisenhower Administration, the CIA considered plans to undermine Castro's charismatic appeal by sabotaging his speeches." One idea was to spray his broadcasting studio with "a chemical which produced effects similar to LSD", rejected "because the chemical was unreliable." Another: "TSD impregnated a box of cigars with a chemical which produced temporary disorientation, hoping to induce Castro to smoke one of the cigars before delivering a speech."

Then the beard. According to the report, "The Inspector General also reported a plan to destroy Castro's image as "The Beard" by dusting his shoes with thallium salts, a strong depilatory that would cause his beard to fall out." The shoes were to be dusted on a trip abroad, "when it was anticipated Castro would leave his shoes outside the door of his hotel room to be shined."

The ending is the report's own, in the same flat prose: "TSD procured the chemical and tested it on animals, but apparently abandoned the scheme because Castro cancelled his trip." That is the stamp at the end of the vine.

The picture in panel 1 is a Universal newsreel, "Castro Triumphs," from January 5, 1959, shown in the public domain on archive.org. TSD is the CIA's Technical Services Division, according to the report.

The Church Committee was created by the Senate in 1975 after press reports of illegal CIA and FBI activity (Wikipedia: Church Committee). In 1976 President Ford signed Executive Order 11905, which banned US government employees from engaging in political assassination (Wikipedia: Executive Order 11905).