Essay About Fidel Castro And United States Of America

Fidel Castro
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The United States of America is a country that believes in democracy and has
unfavorable ties with communist countries. The United States has tried for
decades to improve relations with the countries that don’t practice democracy.
History shows disagreements between the United States and dictators of these
irreverent countries, disagreements that brought the world to the brink of
nuclear war. The most recent of these confrontations involved three countries.
United States of America, Cuba and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic
(USSR). Fidel Castro is a Cuban revolutionary, who took control of Cuba in 1959
and established a Communist dictatorship. Castro, who was born in Mayari, became
the leader of an underground, anti-government faction. In 1956, he led a
rebellion that won increasing popular support. Eventually Castro forced Batista
y Zaldivar, who was the premier of Cuba to flee the country. Once in power
Castro executed and imprisoned thousands of political opponents, nationalized
industry, collectivized agriculture, and established a one-party socialist
state. In the early 1960’s Castro openly embraced Communism and formed close
ties with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), relying on Soviet
economic and military aid approving limited economic reforms that legalized some
free enterprise. In Cuba, an estimated $1 billion in U.S.-owned properties were
seized in 1960. The Castro government seized oil refineries, sugar mills, and
electric utilities owned by the United States. When the Castro government
expropriated in 1960, the U.S. government responded by imposing a trade embargo.
A complete break in diplomatic relations occurred in 1961. On April 17 of that
year, anti-Castro exiles supported and trained by the United States government,
landed an invasion force in the Bay of Pigs in southern Cuba. Ninety of the
invaders were killed, and some 1200 were captured. President Castro announced
May 17 that Cuba would exchange prisoners taken at the Bay of Pigs for 500 U.S.
bulldozers. Negotiations broke down June 30, and Castro declared himself a
Marxist-Leninist on December 2. He announced formation of a united party to
bring communism to Cuba. Relations between the United States and Cuba grew still
more perilous in the fall of 1962, when the United States discovered
Soviet-supplied missile installations in Cuba. United States President, John F.
Kennedy announced a naval blockade of the island. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev,
Soviet Communist leader, who was first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party
from 1953 to 1964 and president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR) from 1958 to 1964. After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, Khrushchev
became the head of the Communist Party of the USSR. In 1961, relations between
the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) grew
increasingly hostile. President Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had
a strained meeting in Vienna, Austria. Later that year, the Communists in East
Germany ordered a wall be built on the border between East and West Berlin. This
would prevent East Germans from fleeing their country via West Berlin, which was
under the control of the United States, France, and Great Britain. When East
German soldiers began blocking the allied route through East Germany into
Berlin, Kennedy