Documents released by Wikileaks suggest there was a plot to assassinate the country's Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu (in picture). A note sent to the US Embassy in 1974 indicated that there were rumors of a plot and that the British Embassy had access to a more reliable source.

The plan was to kill Ceausescu in the town of his birth Scornicești, Olt, around 100km west of Bucharest. The information was reported as being “vague,” coming from a Ugandan woman married to a Romanian, but that as mentioned above, the British had more conclusive evidence. In the end, according to US Embassy documents, the plan failed due to the incompetence of the plotters rather than the proficiencies of the security services. The documents do not reveal whether Ceausescu knew of the plot or if those behind it were ever caught.

The news comes shortly after more Wikileaks on Romania, suggesting that Ceausescu cut short a visit to then US President Richard Nixon after not receiving the loans for Romania he wanted.

Ceausescu was Romania’s president between 1967 and 1989. He was also General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party, while the country was under the Communist regime. The regime was overthrown in what was named the revolution in 1989, when both Nicolae and his wife Elena Ceausescu were executed.

editor@romania-insider.com