Cuban Missile Crisis
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Every time the events of the Cuban missile crisis are retold, the Cubans are the ones who are left out of the story. For the most important international crisis of the 20th century, I think that there is too much left out when the story of those thirteen days are retold. First of all, I think that the United States should take some responsibility for the past actions that would lead to the missile crisis.
Throughout most of their history, the nations of Latin and South America were under the influence of foreign powers. Excitement was high when Fidel Castro overthrew the Batista government and came into power in 1959. ÐThe Castro revolution was a confused, ambiguous progression of pragmatism and idealism. Unlike most previous revolutions, the level of violence was minimal, partly because most opponents chose to emigrate rather than fight (Knight, 241). When Castro took over Cuba, the US lost their investments in markets such as sugar cane and tobacco. A variety of private US enterprises were nationalized, including banks, sugar mills, and service stations. Nationalization was common after revolutions. Within one year, foreign investments in Cuba had been virtually eliminated, and the Cuban government ended controlling about half of the nation economy. Because of that, the United States stated that they would broke all diplomatic relations with Cuba. Cuba had no other option but to turn to the Soviets for commercial support, as they were other dominant world power at the time. This was only the start of what would build up to the missile crisis. It was also around this time that United States started plotting to overthrow the Castro government, which would be called ÐOperation Mongoose.
ÐOperation Mongoose is the general name for CIA covert operations and plans initiated by President John F. Kennedy on November 30, 1961. The president authorized aggressive covert assault on communism in the Cuban republic and the plan came into being after the failure of The Bay of Pigs. (wikipedia). Operation Mongoose was a program that implemented the use of political, psychological, military, and sabotage operations. The plans included the use of the American Green Berets, the destruction of Cuban sugar crops, sabotage of Cuban copper mines, blowing up bridges and production plants, staging counterrevolutions and the like.
ÐOperation Mongoose also had more exceptionally controversial feature. Between
1960 and 1965 the CIA concocted eight plots to assassinate Castro. One was to recruit
Cubans with the intention of poisoning the dictator; another planned to take him out with
a high-powered rifle; and other bizarre assassination devices: poison pills, poison pens,
exploding seashells, and deadly bacterial powders. (OBrien, 651).
ÐGetting rid of Castro was top priority in the US government-all else is secondary. No
time, money, effort, or manpower is to be spared.” (Robert Kennedy). These failed
attempts of eliminating Castro only made him see more popular and powerful in the eyes
of the Cubans. In fact, now when historians look back at the missile crisis, Ðthey believe
that Castros murder would not have solved Americas quandary over Cuba. It probably
would have made him a martyr, and arouse intense anti-American sentiment throughout
Latin America. (OBrien 651). After 1961, the US decided that Cuba could no longer be
destroyed from within.
The hostility from the United States was what forced the Cubans and gave them a better reason to lean towards the Soviet Union. The Soviets became a major market for Cuban exports, especially sugar. They sold Cuba petroleum at rates cheaper than what they use to get from the US and extended low interest grants and loans to help bolster their new economy. Along with commercial exports, the Soviets provided the Cubans with weapons and planes. It was a little after this time that the US would soon discover with spy planes that Cuban was also receiving intermediate range ballistic missiles and having them built as fast as possible. For the Soviets and the US being the only countries with the technology of producing nuclear missiles, I believe that they entrust the Cubans with these missiles as a defensive maneuver opposed to offensive. Castro noted that there was nothing illegal or wrong about the Soviets placing missiles in Cuba, because even though the US might see them as a threat, similar missiles were aimed at the USSR all over Europe: there were sixty missiles placed in four different locations around the United Kingdom; thirty in two locations in Italy, and fifty in one squadron in Turkey. The US were prepared to destroy the Soviets far before they were ready. So I believe the Soviets installed missiles in Cuba for the safety of their own country and their new ally opposed to using Cuba as a jump point to spread Communism throughout the Western Hemisphere. An idea that so many US citizens feared at that time.
Although the US and Soviets were the only superpowers around the 1960s, the gap between their warfare capabilities were massive.
ÐThe Soviets had fewer than fifty bombers that could hit the United States. We
had more than five hundred. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev sought to placate his
generals by placing intermediate range ballistic missiles in Cuba. It was a cheaper way to
provide some deterrent against a feared U.S. attack than to build many new
intercontinental ballistic missiles that could be launched from the Soviet Union.
(Brenner).
It was the Soviets in my opinion who feared the US more than they feared them. The US
had the upper hand. They were making dealing with the situation the wrong way, which
would escalate into bringing mankind to the brink of nuclear destruction more than any