DISCUSSION1. Explain Castro’s rise to power. 2. Why did tensions between the US and Cuba increase

after Castro came to power?3. Why was the Bay of Pigs invasion a failure?4. Describe the causes/effects of the Cuban Missile

Crisis. 5. THINKER: To what extent do you think the US pushed

Castro into a relationship with the Soviet Union? Explain!

Fidel Castro

President of Cuba (1959-2008)Leader of the Communist Party of Cuba (1961-

2011)

Castro’s Early Life

El Colegio de Belen (Havana)

1947: Student-led protests

against social/ economic

inequalities

***Key turning point in political views***

Colombian Revolts (Bogotoza) led to 10-year Civil War, La Violencia

“I joined the people; I grabbed a rifle in a police station that collapsed when it was rushed by a crowd. I witnessed the spectacle of a totally spontaneous revolution... [T]hat experience led me to identify myself even more with the cause of the people. My still emerging Marxist ideas had nothing to do with our conduct – it was a spontaneous reaction on our part, as young people with Martí-an, anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist and pro-democratic ideas.”• — Fidel Castro on the Colombian Revolts,

2009

Fidel and his first wife,

Maria Diaz-Balart

Fidel and Marxist Ideology“Marxism taught me what society was. I was like a blindfolded man in a forest, who doesn't even know where north or south is. If you don't eventually come to truly understand the history of the class struggle, or at least have a clear idea that society is divided between the rich and the poor, and that some people subjugate and exploit other people, you're lost in a forest, not knowing anything”• — Fidel Castro on discovering

Marxism, 2009

1. Explain Castro’s rise to power.

Fulgencio Batista

First Attempted Overthrow: Moncada Barracks

July 26, 1953

Batista’s Response

Castro being arrested after attack on Moncada Barracks

Isla de la Juventude (Presidio Modelo Prison)

Divorce

Castros fled to Mexico in 1955

Arrival in Cuba on La Granma

Guerilla Warfare• The thickly forested

mountain range of the Sierra Maestra, from where Castro and his revolutionaries led guerrilla attacks against Batista's forces for two years.

• Castro biographer Robert E. Quirk noted that there was "no better place to hide in all the island”

Fidel's brother Raúl (left) and

friend Che Guevara (right)

in their established

camp.

Batista launched Operation Verano

Castro (right) with fellow revolutionary Camilo Cienfuegos entering Havana on

January 8, 1959 after Batista’s

overthrow

Castro Comes to Power“We are not executing innocent people or political opponents. We are executing murderers and they deserve it.”• — Castro's response to

his critics regarding the mass executions, 1959

Che Guevara

Agrarian Reform“Radical agrarian reform, the only type that could give land to the peasants, clashed directly with the interests of the imperialists, the large landholders and the sugar and cattle magnates. The bourgeoisie was afraid to clash with those interests but the proletariat was not. In this way the course of the revolution itself brought the workers and peasants together. The workers supported the demands of the peasants against the large landholders. The poor peasants, rewarded with ownership of land, loyally supported the revolutionary power and defended it against its imperialist and counter-revolutionary enemies.“• Che Guevara, First Leader of the National

Institute of Agrarian Reform (1960)

Social Reform• Education• Healthcare• Vaccinations• Construction of Infrastructure• Water Sanitation• Homelessness• Elderly Care• “Dialogue with the People”Drained financial reserves in 2 years!2. Why did tensions between the US and Cuba increase after Castro came to power?

Deterioration of US-Cuban Relations• In the 1950’s, Americans owned 90% of Cuba’s mines,

ranches, oil, and sugar.• 1959: Agrarian reform – ban land ownership by

foreigners• 1960: Five-Year Treaty between Cuba and USSR (sugar,

fruit, machinery, arms)• US training of La Brigada begins• Castro seizes Texaco & Esso oil refineries • Fearing an overthrow, Castro doubles military• Eisenhower reduces sugar quota• Castro takes US industrial property & nationalizes banks• US implements embargo• Castro takes an additional 166 US companies• 1961: Castro cuts U.S. embassy staff and declares himself

socialist• Bay of Pigs Invasion & Operation Mongoose• 1962: additional US embargo• Cuba signs trade agreement with China & USSR• Cuban Missile Crisis

Bay of Pigs Invasion• When JFK became President, he

made a goal to solve the problem “of a communist satellite on our very doorstep.”

• The U.S. refused to accept Castro as leader

• Castro developed close ties with the Soviet Union. (SU offered economic aide)

• Kennedy agreed to a CIA plan that involved training a group of Cubans to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro.

• The CIA trained these Cubans in Guatemala

Kennedy addresses La Brigada (anti-Castro Cubans)

Bay of Pigs• The Bay of Pigs invasion took

place on April 17, 1961.3. Why was the Bay of Pigs invasion a failure?• An airstrike failed to destroy

Cuba’s air force and Cuban troops proved to be a strong match against the 1,500 U.S. invaders.

• The invasion was a total disaster and eventually Kennedy accepted defeat.

Cuban Missile Crisis4. Explain the causes of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Why did Khrushchev place missiles in Cuba?• “It was high time America

learned what it feels like to have her own land and her own people threatened”– Khruschev

Cuban Missile Crisis• The U.S. had missiles

stationed in Turkey & Italy.• By 1962, the Soviet Union

had missiles stationed in Cuba.

• This brought the world on the brink of nuclear war.

• After 13 days of caution, President Kennedy and Khrushchev agree to remove their missiles.

Soviet R-12 intermediate-range nuclear

ballistic missile in Moscow

The nuclear-armed Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic

missile. US had these placed in

Turkey & Italy

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Cuban_crisis_map_missile_range.jpg

Kennedy’s Response• Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM) came up

with several options:– Do nothing: Newly placed missiles in Cuba made little strategic difference in the

military balance of power.– Diplomacy: Use diplomatic pressure to get the Soviet Union to remove the missiles.– Warning: Send a message to Castro to warn him of the grave danger he and Cuba

were in.– Blockade: Use the US Navy to block any missiles from arriving in Cuba.– Air strike: Use the US Air Force to attack all known missile sites.– Invasion: Full force invasion of Cuba and overthrow of Castro.

• Which option does JFK choose? Do you think he handled it effectively?• How does the Cuban Missile Crisis end? What were the effects?

Castro - spreading a global revolution• There is often talk of human rights, but it is

also necessary to talk of the rights of humanity. Why should some people walk barefoot, so that others can travel in luxurious cars? Why should some live for thirty-five years, so that others can live for seventy years? Why should some be miserably poor, so that others can be hugely rich? I speak on behalf of the children in the world who do not have a piece of bread. I speak on the behalf of the sick who have no medicine, of those whose rights to life and human dignity have been denied.

• — Fidel Castro's message to the UN General Assembly, 1975

• 1970-1979• Castro considered Africa to be the

“weakest link in the imperialist chain”• Angolan Civil War• Mozambique• Spent time with Gaddafi in Libya• Supported communist government in

Yemen• Anti-apartheid movement in South

Africa• Somalia• Ethiopia• Argentine junta in Falklands War

“The Special Period” (1990-2000)• We do not have a smidgen of capitalism or

neo-liberalism. We are facing a world completely ruled by neo-liberalism and capitalism. This does not mean that we are going to surrender. It means that we have to adopt to the reality of that world. That is what we are doing, with great composure, without giving up our ideals, our goals. I ask you to have trust in what the government and party are doing. They are defending, to the last atom, socialist ideas, principles and goals.

• — Fidel Castro explaining the reforms of the Special Period

Castro in Havana in 2003; in front of

a statue of national hero, Jose

Marti

Castro’s Decline• Due to failing health, Castro delegated

his presidential duties to Raul on July 31, 2006

• “It would betray my conscience to take up a responsibility that requires mobility and total devotion, that I am not in a physical condition to offer.”

• George Bush: "One day the good Lord will take Fidel Castro away“

• Castro, who is atheist, sarcastically replied: "Now I understand why I survived Bush's plans and the plans of other presidents who ordered my assassination: the good Lord protected me"

Poster advertising a Mass to pray for Castro's health that was posted on a wall in Bogotá,

Colombia, in 2007

Castro’s Continued Involvement in Foreign Affairs

• Argentina• Iran• North Korea

Other failed Cold War CIA Missions….• Operation Gold (1954)

– Tap into landline communication of the Soviet headquarters in Berlin by digging a tunnel into the Soviet-occupied zone

• Operation Northwoods (1962)– Create public support for war against Cuba by faking terrorist attacks, bombings, and

phony evidence to implicate the Cuban government• Operation Mongoose (1961)

– Removing communists from power in Cuba and starting an internal revolt; place pro-US sympathizers in power. Included eight assassination attempts on Castro

• Acoustic Kitty (1965)– Plant microphones/antennas in cats in order to spy on the Soviet embassy

• Siberian Pipeline Sabotage (1982)– Faulty equipment sold to USSR; led to explosion of Siberian pipeline

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-37695-0020,_Altglienicke,_USA-Spionagetunnel_unter_DDR-Gebiet.jpg

Sino-Soviet Split• For homework tonight, you will finish the ch. 11

packet on the Sino-Soviet split. • As you read, complete the yellow note handout• Be ready to discuss all of this tomorrow! Make

sure you understand how each event effected the relationship between China & the USSR