Latin America and the Cuban Revolution

1. Background:

• Latin America had many problems in the Cold War Period – USA has economically been imperialistic in the region for many years – main fear = Communism
• Slow agriculture, population growth, poverty, low education, and foreign ownership of land and companies caused slow individual country growth and development
• Fear by the USA of Communist government led them to support many Authoritarian style governments or dictatorships
• The USA would do anything to stop the spread of Communist groups
• USA had sent arms to Honduras and Nicaragua to stop Communism
• Argentina: Peron military ruler
• Chile: CIA led coup to install Pinochet as leader in the 1970s
• Countries were fertile ground for revolution due to discontent stemming from inequalities.

B. The Cuban Revolution

2. • Cuba was an American protectorate after 1898 Spanish American War
   • Under the harsh pro-American dictator Batista, American Corporations exploited Cuban resources and workers
   • Deterioration in industry, health and education and increasing poverty made Cuba ripe for revolution
   • America treated Cuba as their little “Playground”. Casinos, resorts, while the rest of the country suffered.
   • All major businesses were owned and controlled by American companies

C. Fidel Castro

3. • Anti American and anti Batista, overthrew the government in 1958
   • An educated lawyer, Castro organized a revolutionary group who took over the country to free it from the shackles of American control and the corruption of Batista

D. Why did the USA not crush the Revolution?

4. • American public would probably not support an invasion
   • No large Anti-Castro force to support
   • Economic pressure plus aid to Cuban exiles would topple Castro anyway, according to the State Department
   • Invasion would increase anti-American feeling elsewhere in Central America
   • USA had pledged not to invade Cuba

E. What would Castro then do?

5. • Nationalized USA owned companies (took them over and kicked the Americans out)
   • Received no aid from the USA
   • Began closer ties with the USSR (Castro was not communist until the USA cut off ties)
   • Thousands of Cuban refugees fled to the USA

F. The Bay of Pigs

6. • 1961 – the CIA devised a plan to invade Cuba using trained and supplied Cuban refugees
   • President Kennedy, approved the plan, but used the media to say the USA would not get involved.
   • Air cover was supposed to be given to the invasion force by the USA
   • Kennedy cancelled the air support at the last minute fearing international reprisals.
   • Poor planning and execution resulted in a fiasco; failure of the invasion, Castro defeated them easily.
   • Kennedy told the public it was a spontaneous action by the exiles, but the truth leaked out and Kennedy’s credibility greatly declined.
   • Castro would now seek greater Russian support fearing an American invasion.

Cuban Missile Crisis

A. Background

1. • Castro was forced into a political and economic corner by the USA
   • USA had put a trade embargo on Castro, hurt significantly
   • Castro feared American invasion due to the Bay of Pigs Fiasco
   • Had to turn to the USSR for support, economic and military

B. Discovery

• A U-2 spy plane flying over Cuba discovers missile installations being constructed in Cuba
• No doubt that the USSR was setting up the sites.

C. Issues

• The USSR was trying to install IRBM’s – Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles, that could hit any target in the USA
• The Soviets did not have the capacity for ICBM’s yet – Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, that could be launched from Russia to hit targets. The USA did.
• The Americans also had missiles under NATO in Turkey, threatening the USSR
• Kennedy announced the discovery to the world on TV
• The crisis would become known as the 14 days in October

D. What to do?

• Kennedy had 3 options: Air strike, Invasion and Diplomacy (negotiations)
• Kennedy chooses the use of diplomacy with the threat of nuclear war
• He orders a quarantine of Cuba, a complete naval blockade, attempting to stop any Russian vessels from delivering any missiles to Cuba
• During the public phase of the Crisis, tensions began to build on both sides. Kennedy eventually ordered low level reconnaissance missions once every two hours. On the 25^th Kennedy pulled the quarantine line back and raised military readiness to DEFCON 2.
• Then on the 26^th EX-COMM heard from Khrushchev in an impassioned letter. He proposed removing soviet missiles and personnel if the US would guarantee not to invade Cuba
• October 27^th was the worst day of the crisis. A U-2 was shot down over Cuba and EX-COMM received a second letter from Khrushchev demanding the removal of US missiles in Turkey in exchange for Soviet missiles in Cuba
• Attorney General Robert Kennedy suggested ignoring the second letter and contacted Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin to tell him of the US agreement with the first.

E. Results

• Khruschev would pay a political price for backing down to Kennedy
• The “Hot Line” red phone would be installed in the White House for instant contact with the Soviet Premier
• Crisis leads to the 1963 Test Ban Treaty
• The world is saved from possible Nuclear war, probably the closest that we have ever come to it.

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