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| Fidel Castro |
|
|
In office
December 2 1976 – February 18 2008 |
| Vice President(s) |
Raúl Castro (First), Juan Almeida
Bosque,
Abelardo Colome Ibarra, Carlos Lage
Davila,
Esteban Lazo Hernandez, Jose R. Machado Ventura |
| Preceded by |
Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado |
Prime Minister of Cuba
|
In office
February 16, 1959 – December 2, 1976 |
| Preceded by |
José Miró Cardona |
| Succeeded by |
Office abolished |
|
In office
September 16, 2006 – present |
| Preceded by |
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi |
| Succeeded by |
Incumbent |
|
| Born |
August 13 1926 (1926--) (age 81)
Birán, Holguín Province, Cuba |
| Political party |
Communist Party of Cuba |
| Spouse |
(1) Mirta Díaz-Balart (divorced 1955)
(2) Dalia Soto del Valle |
| Religion |
None (Atheist) |
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926) was
the Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and the President of Cuba from 1976 to 2008. He resigned as President of
Cuba on February 18, 2008.[1][2][3]
Castro led the revolution overthrowing Fulgencio
Batista in 1959. Shortly thereafter, Castro was sworn in as the Prime
Minister of Cuba.[4] Castro became First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in 1965, and led the transformation of Cuba into a one-party socialist republic. In 1976 he became president of
the Council of State as well as of the Council of Ministers. He also holds the supreme military rank of Comandante en Jefe ("Commander in Chief") of the
Cuban armed forces.
Castro first attracted attention in Cuban political life through nationalist critiques of
Batista and the United States political and corporate influence in Cuba. He gained an
ardent, but limited, following and also drew the attention of the authorities.[5] He eventually led the failed 1953 attack on the Moncada
Barracks, after which he was captured, tried, incarcerated and later released. He then travelled to Mexico[6][7] to organize and train for the guerrilla invasion of Cuba that took place in December 1956.
Since his assumption of power in 1959 he has evoked both praise and condemnation (at home and internationally). Opponents
characterize Castro as a dictator, claiming that he has not risen to power through open, public
elections, and some contend that his rule is illegitimate because the socialist system itself was not established through what
they considered to be legal means.[8] Supporters, on the other
hand, see Castro as a charismatic leader [9] whose
presidential authority has been acquired through legitimate elections.[10]
Outside of Cuba, Castro has been defined by his relationship with the United States and
the former Soviet Union, both of whom courted Cuban attentions as part of their own global
political agenda. While Cuba's relations with countries of the Soviet bloc were generally
cordial during the Cold War, the Castro-led government has had an antagonistic relationship
with the United States since the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 by
U.S.-backed forces.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and Cuba's one major Latin American ally, Nicaragua, in the early 1990s, the Cuban
government found itself in a precarious spot. However, in recent years, Castro has found new regional allies in Latin America.
Regional Socialist and nationalist figures such as Hugo
Chávez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in
Bolivia have been ready allies. According to Paul Reynolds of the BBC, Fidel is a world
icon,[11] and is the current Secretary-General of the
Non-Aligned Movement (his second term in that office, the first having been
1979-1983).
At home, Fidel Castro has overseen the implementation of various economic policies, leading to the rapid centralization of
Cuba's economy, land reform, collectivization
and mechanization of agriculture, and the expropriation of leading Cuban industries. Opponents claim that
these changes have had disastrous consequences and transformed Cuba into a third-world nation[12], as Cuba's GDP has failed to keep up with countries that were in a similar
position during the 1950s despite the generous subsidies of the Soviet Union until the 1990s.[13] Conversely, supporters attribute the U.S. embargo for some or all of Cuba's
shortcomings, but maintain that Cuba's economy has expanded and grown at a more than acceptable rate since the revolution. In
2006, the Cuban government reported that Cuba achieved 12.5% growth,[14] which included trade and social services as part of GDP estimation; an unusual practice. Excluding
those categories, which is the more conventional practice, economic growth is estimated to be at 9.5%.[15]
The expansion of publicly funded health care and education has been a cornerstone of Castro's domestic political program. Cuba ranks better than many
countries on the United Nations' list of countries by infant
mortality rate, which is claimed by Castro's supporters as a success of his government. Opponents claim that Cuba's health
care and infant mortality were the same if not better before the revolution [16] and question the truthfulness of statistics concerning Cuba, despite its republication by the
United Nations, World Health
Organization, and Central Intelligence Agency, due to the fact that
most of this data is collected, or assisted in the collection, by the Cuban government. [17]
Under Castro, particularly after the onset of the Special Period created by the
collapse of the Soviet Union,[18] Cuba has experienced a
severe housing shortage[19] and a decline in the quality of
its public works.[20]
Moreover, opponents claim that there had been a significant decline in the average caloric intake since the Revolution came to
power. [21] While true in the 1990's, due primarily to the
lack of low-priced oil from the U.S.S.R., Castro's government rapidly began converting agriculture away from Soviet-style high
mechanization towards "greener" methods of organic farming and urban agriculture in an effort to increase domestic
consumption.[22]
On July 31 2006, Castro, after undergoing intestinal surgery
for diverticulitis,[23] transferred his
responsibilities to the First Vice-President, his younger brother Raúl Castro. On
June 2, 2007, Castro appeared on Cuban Television with Vietnamese
Communist Party Leader Nong Duc Manh looking somewhat healthier.[24]
On February 18th, 2008 Fidel Castro officially resigned as president of Cuba after 49 years of leadership in the country.
Castro's official resignation was published in the state-run newspaper, Granma. [25]
Childhood and education
![A letter written by the twelve-year-old Castro to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, expressing admiration and asking for a $10 bill. Castro writes, "If you like, give me a ten dollar bill green American, because never, I have not seen a ten dollar bill," signing the letter, "Thank you very much. Good by [sic]. Your friend, Fidel Castro."](http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/d/df/250px-FCR_to_FDR_letter_complete.jpg)
A letter written by the twelve-year-old Castro to U.S. President
Franklin D.
Roosevelt, expressing admiration and asking for a $10 bill. Castro writes, "If you like, give me a ten dollar bill green
American, because never, I have not seen a ten dollar bill," signing the letter, "Thank you very much. Good by [
sic]. Your
friend, Fidel Castro."
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on a sugar plantation in Birán, near Mayarí, in the modern-day province of Holguín – then a part of the
now-defunct Oriente province. He was the third child born to Ángel Castro y Argiz, a Galician immigrant who became
relatively prosperous through work in the sugar industry and successful investing. His mother, Lina Ruz González, who was a
household servant, was also of Galician background.[6] Angel Castro was married to another woman, Maria Luisa Argota,[26] until Fidel was 17, and thus Fidel as a
child had to deal both with his illegitimacy and the challenge of being raised in various foster homes away from his father's
house.
Castro has two brothers: Ramón and Raúl, and four sisters: Angelita, Juanita, Enma, and Agustina. All
of them were born out of wedlock. He also has two half siblings, Lidia and Pedro Emilio who were raised by Ángel Castro's first
wife.
Fidel was not baptized until he was eight, also very uncommon, bringing embarrassment and ridicule from other
children.[27][28] Ángel Castro finally dissolved his first marriage when Fidel was 15 and
married Fidel’s mother. Castro was formally recognized by his father when he was 17, when his surname was legally changed to
Castro from Ruz, his mother’s name.[27][28] Although accounts of his education differ, most
sources agree that he was an intellectually gifted student, more interested in sports than in academics, and spent many years in
private Catholic boarding schools, finishing high school at El Colegio de
Belén, a Jesuit school in Havana in 1945.[29]
Political beginnings
In late 1945, Castro entered law school at the University of Havana. He became
immediately embroiled in the political culture at the University, which was a reflection of the volatile politics in Cuba during
that era.
University student Fidel Castro (center, standing, in black suit) addressing fellow students during a protest on
November 11,
1947.
Since the fall of president Gerardo Machado in the 1930s, student politics had
degenerated into a form of gangsterismo dominated by fractious action groups, and Castro, believing that the gangs posed a
physical threat to his university aspirations, experienced what he later described as "a great moment of decision."[30] He returned to the university from a brief
hiatus to involve himself fully in the various violent battles and disputes which surrounded university elections, and was to be
implicated in a number of shootings linked to Rolando Masferrer's MSR action group.
"To not return", said Castro later, "would be to give in to bullies, to abandon my beliefs".[30] Rivalries were so intense that Castro apparently collaborated in an
attempt on Masferrer's life during this period,[30] while Masferrer, whose paramilitary group Les Tigres later became an instrument of
state violence under Batista,[31] perennially hunted the
younger student seeking violent retribution.[32]
In 1947, growing increasingly passionate about social justice, Castro joined the Partido
Ortodoxo which had been newly formed by Eduardo Chibás. A charismatic and
emotional figure, Chibás was running for president against the incumbent Ramón Grau San
Martín who had allowed rampant corruption to flourish during his term. [citation needed] The Partido Ortodoxo publicly exposed corruption and demanded government
and social reform. It aimed to instill a strong sense of national identity among Cubans, establish Cuban economic independence
and freedom from the United States, and dismantle the power of the elite over Cuban politics. Though Chibás lost the election,
Castro, considering Chibás his mentor, remained committed to his cause, working fervently on his behalf. In 1951, while running
for president again, Chibás shot himself in the stomach during a radio broadcast. Castro was present and accompanied him to the
hospital where he died.[29]
Bogotazo
-
Main article: Bogotazo
Fidel Castro's role in the Bogotazo incident has been dogged by speculation and controversy but the following account seems to
be generally agreed upon. In 1948 Castro traveled to Bogotá in Colombia for a political conference of Latin American students that coincided with the ninth meeting of the
Pan-American Union Conference. The students had planned to use this
opportunity to distribute pamphlets protesting United States dominance of the Western Hemisphere and to foment discontent. A few
days after the conference began, the populist Colombian Liberal Party leader
Jorge Eliecer Gaitán was assassinated, triggering massive riots in the streets in
which many (mostly poor workers) were injured or killed. Rioting and looting spread to other cities in Colombia, beginning an era
of turbulence that became known as "La Violencia". The students were caught up in the
violence and chaos rocking the city, picking up rifles and roaming the streets distributing anti-United States material and
stirring a revolt. When Castro was pursued by the Colombian authorities for his role in the riots, he took refuge in the Cuban
Embassy and was flown back to Havana.[33][34] It seems clear that experiencing the power of popular insurrection had an
effect on Castro and influenced his subsequent political thinking.
Castro returned to Cuba and married Mirta Díaz Balart, a student from a wealthy
Cuban family where he was exposed to the lifestyle of the Cuban elite. In 1950 he graduated from law school with a Doctor of Laws
degree and began practicing law in a small partnership in Havana, mostly representing the poor and underprivileged. By now he had
become well known for his passionately nationalistic views and his intense opposition to the
influence of the United States on Cuban internal affairs. Increasingly interested in a career in politics, Castro had become a
candidate for a seat in the Cuban parliament when General Fulgencio Batista led a coup d'état in 1952, successfully
overthrowing the government of President Carlos Prío Socarrás and canceling the
election.
Batista established himself as de facto leader with the support of establishment elements of
Cuban society and powerful Cuban agencies. His government was formally recognized by the United States, buttressing his power.
Castro, nearing thirty, was now a politician without a legitimate platform and thus he broke away from the Partido Ortodoxo to
marshal legal arguments based on the Constitution of 1940 to formally charge Batista with violating the constitution. His petition, entitled Zarpazo, was denied by the Court of Constitutional
Guarantees and he was not allowed a hearing.[35] This
experience formed the foundation for Castro's opposition to the Batista government and convinced him that revolution was the only
way to depose Batista.[36]
Cuban Revolution
-
Main article: Cuban revolution
Attack on Moncada Barracks
-
Main article: Moncada Barracks
As discontent over the Batista coup grew, Castro abandoned his law practice and formed an underground organization of
supporters, including his brother, Raúl, and Mario
Chanes de Armas. Together they actively plotted to overthrow Batista. They collected guns and ammunition and finalized
their plans for an armed attack on Moncada Barracks, Batista's largest garrison outside
Santiago de Cuba. On the 26th of July, 1953, they attacked Moncada Barracks. The Céspedes garrison in Bayamo was also attacked as a diversion.[6] The attack proved
disastrous and more than sixty of the one-hundred and thirty-five militants involved were
killed.
Castro and other surviving members of his group managed to escape to a part of the rugged Sierra Maestra[37] mountains east of
Santiago where they were eventually discovered and captured. Although there is disagreement over why Castro and his brother,
Raúl, were not executed on capture as many of their fellow militants were, there is evidence
that an officer recognized Castro from his university days and treated the captured rebels compassionately, despite the 'illegal'
unofficial order to have the leader executed.[6] Others, such as Angel Prado, military commander of the 26th of July Movement, say
that on the night of the attack Castro's driver got lost and he never reached the barracks. That night was the night of “El
Carnaval de Santiago” and the streets of Santiago de Cuba were filled with party goers.
Castro was tried in the fall of 1953 and sentenced to up to fifteen years in prison.[38] During his trial Castro delivered his famous defense speech History Will Absolve Me,[39] upholding his rebellious actions and boldly declaring his political views:
| “ |
I warn you, I am just beginning! If there is in your hearts a vestige of love for your
country, love for humanity, love for justice, listen carefully... I know that the regime will try
to suppress the truth by all possible means; I know that there will be a conspiracy to bury me in oblivion. But my voice will not
be stifled – it will rise from my breast even when I feel most alone, and my heart will give it all the fire that callous cowards
deny it... Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me. |
” |
While he was being held at the prison for political activists on Isla de Pinos,
he continued to plot Batista's overthrow, planning upon release to reorganize and train in Mexico.[6] After having served less
than two years, he was released in May 1955 due to a general amnesty from Batista who was under
political pressure, and went as planned to Mexico.[7]
26th of July Movement
-
Main article: 26th of July Movement
Once in Mexico, Castro reunited with other Cuban exiles and founded the 26th of July
Movement, named after the date of the failed attack on the Moncada Barracks. The goal remained the overthrow of
Fulgencio Batista. Castro had learned from the Moncada experience that new tactics
were needed if Batista's forces were to be defeated. This time, the plan was to use underground guerrilla tactics, at that time a
form of combat unknown in Latin America.[6]
In Mexico Castro met Ernesto "Che" Guevara, a proponent of guerrilla warfare. Guevara joined the group of rebels and became an important force in shaping
Castro's evolving political beliefs. Guevara's observations of the misery of the poor in Latin America had already convinced him
that the only solution lay in violent revolution.
Since regular contacts with a KGB agent named Nikolai Sergeevich Leonov in
Mexico City had not resulted in the hoped for weapon supply,[40] they decided to go to the United
States to gather personnel and funds from Cubans living there, including Carlos
Prío Socarrás, the elected Cuban president deposed by Batista in 1952. Back in Mexico, the group trained under a
Spanish Civil War Veteran, Cuban-born Alberto
Bayo[39]
who had fled to Mexico after Francisco Franco's victory in Spain. On November 26 1956, Castro and his
group of 81 followers, mostly Cuban exiles, set out from Tuxpan, Veracruz, aboard the yacht Granma. for the purpose of starting a
rebellion in Cuba.[41]
The rebels landed at Playa Las Coloradas close to Los Cayuelos near the eastern city of
Manzanillo on December 2, 1956. In short order, most of Castro's men were killed, dispersed, or taken prisoner by Batista's forces.[41] While the exact
number is in dispute, it is agreed that no more than twenty of the original eighty-two men survived the bloody encounters with
the Cuban army and succeeded in fleeing to the Sierra Maestra mountains.[42] The group of survivors included Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Raúl Castro, and Camilo Cienfuegos. Those who survived were aided by people in the countryside. They regrouped in the
Sierra Maestra in Oriente province and organized a column under Fidel Castro's
command.
From their encampment in the Sierra Maestra
mountains, the 26th of July Movement waged a guerrilla war against the Batista government. In the cities and major towns also,
resistance groups were organizing until underground groups were everywhere. The strongest was in Santiago formed by
Frank País.[43][44]
In the summer of 1955, País’s organization merged with the 26th of July Movement of Castro. As Castro's movement gained
popular support in the cities and countryside, it grew to over eight hundred men. In mid-1957 Castro gave Che Guevara command of a second column. A journalist, Herbert Matthews from the New York Times, came to
interview him in the Sierra Maestra, attracting interest to Castro's cause in the United States. The New York Times front
page stories by Matthews presented Castro as a romantic and appealing revolutionary, bearded and dressed in rumpled
fatigues.[45][46] Castro and Matthews were followed by the TV crew of Andrew Saint George, said to be a
CIA contact person.[47] Through television, Castro's rudimentary command of the English
language and charismatic presence enabled him to appeal directly to a U.S. audience.
In 1957, Castro also signed the Manifesto of the Sierra Maestra [48] in which he agreed to which was to call elections under the Electoral Code of 1943 within the first 18 months of his time in power and to restore all of the provisions
of the Constitution of 1940 that had been suspended under Batista. While he took steps to
implement some of the measures in the Manifesto upon coming into power, Cuba failed to have elections, the most important part of
the program, within the allotted time.
Operation Verano
-
Main article: Operation Verano
Fidel Castro in his days as a guerrilla
In May 1958, Batista launched Operation Verano aiming to crush Castro and
other anti-government groups. It was called La Ofensiva ("The Offensive") by the rebels (Alarcón Ramírez,1997). Although
on paper heavily outnumbered, Castro's guerrilla forces scored a series of victories, largely aided by mass desertions from
Batista's army of poorly trained and uncommitted young conscripts. During the Battle of La
Plata, Castro's forces defeated an entire battalion. While pro-Castro Cuban sources later emphasized the role of Castro's
guerrilla forces in these battles, other groups and leaders were also involved, such as
escopeteros (poorly-armed irregulars). During the Battle of Las Mercedes, Castro's small army came close to defeat but he managed to pull his
troops out by opening up negotiations with General Cantillo while secretly slipping his soldiers out of a trap.
When Operation Verano ended, Castro ordered three columns commanded by Guevara, Jaime Vega and Camilo Cienfuegos to invade central Cuba where they were strongly supported by rebellious elements who
had long been operating in the area. One of Castro's columns moved out onto the Cauto Plains. Here, they were supported by
Huber Matos, Raúl Castro and others who were operating
in the eastern-most part of the province. On the plains, Castro's forces first surrounded the town of Guisa in Granma Province and drove out their enemies, then proceeded to take most of the towns that had been
taken by Calixto Garcia in the 1895-1898 Cuban War of
Independence.
Battle of Yaguajay
-
In December 1958, the columns of Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos continued their advance through Las Villas province. They succeeded in occupying
several towns, and then began preparations for an attack on Santa Clara, the
provincial capital. Guevara's fighters launched a fierce assault on the Cuban army surrounding Santa Clara, and a vicious
house-to-house battle ensued. They also derailed an armored train which Batista had sent to aid his troops in the city while
Cienfuegos won the Battle of Yaguajay. Defeated on all sides, Batista's forces
crumbled. The provincial capital was captured after less than a day of fighting on December 31, 1958.
After the loss of Santa Clara and expecting betrayal by his own army, Batista (accompanied by president-elect Andres Rivero Agüero) fled to the
Dominican Republic in the early hours of January
1, 1959. They left behind a junta headed by Gen. Eulogio
Cantillo, recently the commander in Oriente province, the center of the Castro revolt. The junta immediately selected Dr.
Carlos Piedra, the oldest judge of the Supreme
Court, as provisional President of Cuba as specified in the Constitution of 1940. Castro refused to accept the selection
of Justice Piedra as provisional President and the Supreme Court refused to administer the oath of office to the Justice.[49]
The rebel forces of Fidel Castro moved swiftly to seize power throughout the island.[49] At the age of 32, Castro had successfully
masterminded a classic guerrilla campaign from his headquarters in the Sierra Maestra and ousted Batista.
Assumption of power
On January 8, 1959, Castro's army rolled victoriously into
Havana.[50] As news of the fall of Batista's government spread through Havana,
The New York Times described the scene as one of jubilant crowds pouring into
the streets and automobile horns honking. The black and red flag of the 26th of July Movement waved on automobiles and buildings.
The atmosphere was chaotic.[49] Castro called a general strike in protest of the
Piedra government. He demanded that Dr. Urrutia, former judge of the Urgency Court of Santiago de Cuba, be installed as the
provisional President instead. The Cane Planters Association of Cuba, speaking on behalf of the island's crucial sugar industry,
issued a statement of support for Castro and his movement.[51]
Law professor José Miró Cardona created a new
government with himself as prime minister and Manuel Urrutia Lleó as president on January 5. The United States
officially recognized the new government two days later.[52]
Castro himself arrived in Havana to cheering crowds and assumed the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on January 8.
In February Miró suddenly resigned and on February 16, 1959, Castro was sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba.[4]
Friction with the U.S. developed as the new government began expropriating property owned by major U.S. corporations (United
Fruit in particular) and announced plans to base the compensation on the artificially low property valuations that the companies
themselves had kept to a fraction of their true value so that their taxes would be negligible.[51]
During this period Castro repeatedly denied being a communist.[53][54][55][56][57] For example in New York on
April 25 he said, communist "influence is nothing. I don't agree with communism. We are democracy. We are against all kinds of
dictators.... That is why we oppose communism."[58]
Between April 15 and April 26, Castro and a delegation of
industrial and international representatives visited the U.S. as guests of the Press Club. Castro hired one of the best
public relations firms in the United States for a charm offensive visit by Castro and
his recently initiated government. Castro answered impertinent questions jokingly and ate hotdogs and hamburgers. His rumpled
fatigues and scruffy beard cut a popular figure easily promoted as an authentic hero.[59] He was refused a meeting with President Eisenhower.
After his visit to the United States, he would go on to join forces with the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev.[50]
Years in power
On May 17 1959, Castro signed into law the First Agrarian Reform, which limited landholdings to 993 acres (4 km²) per owner and
forbade foreign land ownership.[60][61]
Fidel Castro addresses delegates of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York in 1960.
As early as July 1959, Castro's intelligence chief Ramiro Valdés contacted the KGB in
Mexico City.[40] Subsequently, the USSR sent over
one hundred mostly Spanish speaking advisors, including Enrique Líster Forján, to
organize the Committees for the Defense of the
Revolution.
In February 1960, Cuba signed an agreement to buy oil from the USSR. When the U.S.-owned refineries in Cuba refused to process
the oil, they were expropriated, and the United States broke off diplomatic relations with the Castro government soon afterward.
To the concern of the Eisenhower administration, Cuba began to establish closer ties with the Soviet Union. A variety of pacts
were signed between Castro and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, allowing Cuba to receive large amounts of economic and military aid from the USSR.
The mould was set. U.S. disappointment with their lack of power in Cuban decision making fueled Castro's fears leading to
increasing Cuban dependence on USSR support.
In June 1960, Eisenhower reduced Cuba's sugar import quota by 7,000,000 tons, and in response, Cuba nationalized some $850 million worth of U.S. property and businesses. The revolutionary government
grabbed control of the nation by nationalizing industry, expropriating property owned by Cubans and non-Cubans alike,
collectivizing agriculture, and enacting policies which would benefit the population. While
popular among the poor, these policies alienated many former supporters of the revolution among the Cuban middle and
upper-classes. Over one million Cubans later migrated to the U.S., forming a vocal anti-Castro community in Miami, Florida, actively supported and funded by successive U.S.
administrations.
- Further information: Cuban-American lobby
By the early autumn of 1960, the U.S. government was engaged in a semi-secret campaign to remove Castro from power.[62]
On January 3, 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower broke off
ties with Cuba, saying that Fidel Castro had provoked him once too often.[63]
In April 1961, the U.S. government unsuccessfully attempted to depose Castro from power by supporting an armed force of Cuban
exiles to retake the island. This attempt is known as the Bay of Pigs invasion.
Bay of Pigs
-
A timeline released by the National Security Archives shows the U.S. began planning to overthrow the government of Cuba in
October 1959.[64] On April
17, 1961, approximately 1,400 members of a CIA-trained Cuban exile force landed at the Bay
of Pigs, while the U.S. publicly denied any involvement.
Documents released by the National Security Archive show that the CIA expected the Cuban people to welcome a U.S.-sponsored
invasion, spontaneously rising up against the Castro regime. It expected Cuban military and police forces to refuse to fight
against the CIA's 1,400-man mercenary invasion force.[65]
President Kennedy cancelled several planned bombing sorties designed to cripple the entire Cuban Air Force.[66]
The Cuban armed forces repelled the invaders, killing many and capturing a thousand. On May 1,
1961, Castro announced to the hundreds of thousands in the audience that:
| “ |
The revolution has no time for elections. There is no more democratic government in
Latin America than the revolutionary government. ... If Mr. Kennedy does not like Socialism, we do not like imperialism. We do
not like capitalism.[67] |
” |
In a nationally broadcast speech on December 2, 1961, Castro
declared that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was adopting Communism. On February 7, 1962, the U.S.
imposed an embargo against Cuba. This embargo was broadened during
1962 and 1963, including a general travel ban for American tourists.[68]
Many theories are offered for the failure of the U.S. operation. Some argue that the Americans misjudged Cuban support for
Castro.[69] They had believed the testimonies of the Cuban
exiles, who told them that Castro was not well supported by the Cuban people. In the weeks prior to the invasion, the Cuban
government had rounded up tens of thousands of Cubans suspected of opposing the government, detaining them in sports stadiums
across the island in order to prevent them from joining exile forces. The idea that Cubans would rise up against Castro never
materialized. In addition, the covert placement of dozens of Cuban intelligence officials in the invasion force gave the Cuban
government detailed information on the operation.[70]
Cuban Missile Crisis
-
Tensions between Cuba and the U.S. heightened during the 1962 missile crisis, which nearly brought the US and the USSR into
nuclear conflict. Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing missiles in Cuba as a deterrent to a possible U.S. invasion and
justified the move in response to US missile deployment in Turkey. After consultations with his military advisors, he met with a
Cuban delegation led by Raúl Castro in July in order to work out the specifics. It was agreed to deploy Soviet R-12 MRBMs on Cuban soil; however, American
Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance discovered the construction of the missile installations on
October 15, 1962 before the weapons had actually been deployed.
The US government viewed the installation of Soviet nuclear weapons miles ( km) south of Key West as an aggressive act and a threat to US security. As a result, the US publicly announced its
discovery on October 22, 1962, and implemented a
quarantine around Cuba that would actively intercept and search any vessels heading for the
island. Nikolai Sergevich Leonov, who would become a General in the KGB Intelligence
Directorate[71] and the Soviet KGB deputy station chief in
Warsaw, was the translator Castro used for contact with the Russians during this period.
In a personal letter to Khrushchev dated October 27, 1962,
Castro urged Khrushchev to launch a nuclear first strike against the United States if Cuba were invaded, but Khrushchev rejected
any first strike response.[72] Soviet field commanders in
Cuba were, however, authorized to use tactical nuclear weapons if attacked by
the United States. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for a US commitment not to invade Cuba and an
understanding that the US would remove American MRBMs targeting the
Soviet Union from Turkey and Italy, a measure that the US implemented a few months later. The missile swap was never publicized because the
Kennedy Administration demanded secrecy in order to preserve NATO relations and protect Democratic candidates in the upcoming
elections.
Assassination attempts
Fabian Escalante, who was long tasked with protecting the life of Castro, has calculated the exact number of assassination
schemes and/or attempts by the CIA to be 638. Some such attempts have included an exploding cigar, a fungal-infected scuba-diving
suit, and a mafia-style shooting. Some of these plots are depicted in a documentary entitled 638 Ways to Kill Castro.[73] One of these attempts was by his ex-lover Marita Lorenz whom
he met in 1959. She subsequently agreed to aid the CIA and attempted to smuggle a jar of cold
cream containing poison pills into his room. When Castro realized, he reportedly gave her a gun and told
