Communism In Cuba
The year is 1959 and the place is Cuba. It is
January 1st and Batista, the
president of Cuba has just fled the country
fearing Fidel Castro, a Cuban
revolutionary who mounted a rebel force called
the 26th of July Movement against
Batista. Castro assumes power on the
16th of February and establishes a
dictatorship. Communist Rule In Cuba So
far, the Soviet leader, Khrushchev is in
question of what political track
Castro is deciding to take. Russia themselves
have only one connection with
Fidel which is his brother Raul who is no doubt a
full communist. The
Communist Party of Cuba at this time has no contacts with
Castro quite
yet. Unfortunately, Raul never showed his true feelings for
communism to his
brother, Fidel. This causes quite a predicament for the Soviet
Union to
make them seen and heard by Cuba. Smartly, Russia sends Anastas
Ivanovich
Mikoyan, who held business contacts in the US, to the states as a
guest of
the Russian ambassador. Fidel hears of Mikoyan’s arrival in the US
and
invites him to visit Cuba. Although Mikoyan is traveling throughout
the
island, looking things over, Castro still has not identified himself as
a
Communist quite yet. In May of 1960, diplomatic relations between
Russia and
Cuba are established following Mikoyan’s visit to the island.
One reason why
Cuba has turned to Russia is because the US had cut off
their oil supplies and
imposed an economic embargo on the island because of
the naturalization of US
owned companies and citizens by the Cuban
government. This calls for a massive
oil shipment from the Soviets but
unfortunately, Russia was unable to handle
such a demand because of their
limited overseas shipping capabilities.
Subsequently, Russia puts an
order for extra oil tankers from Italy, a
capitalist country. When Italy
agrees to the business proposition, the US is
infuriated that another
capitalist country was willing to help a communist
country. Italy saw it as
nothing more than an opportunity to make extra money,
regardless of opposing
economic systems. Back in Cuba, Castro has begun to make
enemies for himself.
The many policies he has instilled angered many who fought
beside him in the
revolution to overthrow Batista and many didn’t approve of
the socialist
reforms he made such as the naturalization of businesses and
his
collectivization of agriculture. Castro felt he needed protection against
the
United States and because Cuban forces mainly used small arms and
guerilla
warfare, Russia sent in tanks, artillery and attack planes as well
as
instructors on how to use the new technologies. The former Russian
ambassador in
Cuba was then replaced after Khrushchev soon realized that
he worsened relations
with Cuba instead of bettering them. A journalist
replaced him by the name of
Alekseyev who was friendly with Fidel and his
brother, Raul. Alekseyev was seen
to be much better suited for his position
and worked well with the Cuban
government because he was already known and
trusted by them. By the early
1960’s, Castro has openly endorsed
Communism with his many appointments of
communist leaders in key positions of
the Cuban government. As time, went on,
Cuba became increasingly
dependent on military and economic aid provided by the
Soviet Union.
Russia made up much of the Cuban trade interactions including the
purchase of
sugar and nickel. The American government became aware of Cuba’s
growing
success and began to wonder if Cuba would act as an example of
successful
Socialism, persuade other countries in the Western Hemisphere to
revert to a
socialist form of government or even serve as a base for
anti-American
propaganda. The United States was more threatened than ever by
this socialist
island nation on the rise. The Cuban Missile Crisis The date is
October
14th, 1962. U.S. spy planes are making a pass over Cuba, particularly,
an
area where much activity is spotted. A Soviet-managed construction site
is
visible and photographs are taken of the site. It is soon confirmed that
the
first of many medium/intermediate range ballistic missiles have been
spotted.
Frantically, President Kennedy secretly meets with his advisory
staff to
question the approach. On October 22, Kennedy announces a naval
blockade aimed
at preventing offensive missile weaponry into Cuba on Russian
ships. Inspections
of ships in Cuba by U. S. personnel were also made. The
Russian strategy was to
install missiles in Cuba without the Americans
knowing it. They would then
discover them only to find that it is too late to
act upon it. The Soviet Union
saw installing missiles in Cuba as a very wise
course of action seeing that US
missiles were stationed in Italy, Turkey as
well as West Germany which were
pointed towards mother Russia. Also, even if
the US would try to neutralize the
missile installations in Cuba, they would
not be capable of neutralizing all of
them. The main objectives for the
Soviet Union were to prevent any type of
invasion by the United States and to
stabilize the "balance of power."
Something that both the US and the
Soviet Union shared was their fright of world
war and even nuclear war. This
is arguably the only time in history where the
threat of nuclear war is
possible. Things began to become very tense for both
sides. President Kennedy
became aware that the American army is pressuring the
US government to
use force against Cuba. This situation escalates so much that
the president
feels he is in danger of being overthrown by his own military. The
exchange
of messages between Khrushchev and Kennedy begin to become more
frequent as
tension rose. A final demand was made against the Soviet Union to
dismantle
the missiles immediately. Both sides wanted to end the argument
peacefully
and to avoid war. Word came from the Soviets that they were willing
to take
down the missiles in Cuba if the US promised that they would not
invade
Cuba. Kennedy agreed to the terms but wanted an inspection team to
verify the
dismantling of the missiles. During the evacuation of Soviet
missiles, a
American U-2 spy plane was shot down by the orders of Castro
which caused much
commotion in the states. This caused a total outpour of
negative propaganda
towards the Cubans and the Soviets. Afterwards, though
diplomatic relations with
the Soviets and the US began to settle, relations
with Cuba and Russia began to
worsen. The Cuban government saw the
dismantling of the missiles to be a"moral defeat" for the Soviet Union. Wisely,
the man who jumpstarted the
Soviet-Cuban relationship, Mikoyan, was once
again called upon and sent back to
Cuba to discuss matters with Castro.
Once the disputes were settled with Cuba,
and Mikoyan returned to Russia,
Khrushchev decided to write Castro a letter
pertaining to his feelings on the
recent crisis. He mentions the main objective
of keeping Cuba a socialist
country was successful in which no threat of
invasion is posed towards the
island nation. The Aftermath of the Crisis In the
late 1960’s, Castro focused
on revamping the agricultural system in Cuba. His
primary objective was to
dominate the international sugar market with modern
machinery and technology.
Because of the blockade on Cuba, the world sugar
prices suffered much
inflation but returned to normal after other countries
elevated their sugar
production to meet the demand. Cuba established a goal to
produce ten million
tons of sugar crop by the year 1970, which marked Lenin’s
100th birthday.
Khrushchev mentions that Kennedy was a great loss for the
Americans and
identified him as a true "statesman." He also feels that if he
lived through
his term, that relations between the Soviet Union and the United
States
would have been better because Kennedy wouldn’t have allowed the US to
be
defeated in Vietnam in the later years to come. I feel that the Cuban
missile
crisis served not only as another example of how nuclear war is in
fact possible
but also allowed interaction between opposing systems of
government that were
both seeking to expand their influence on third world
countries. For Russia,
they have succeeded in guaranteeing that Cuba would
not be invaded but they have
compromised their balance of power with the
United States for those missiles
served as the only nuclear threat to the
states where as the US had missiles
positioned in various places in Europe
and the Middle East all pointed towards
the Soviet Union. Khrushchev has also
lost face with China where they see him as
a coward in retreating. The people
of the United States saw this as their own
victory with the removal of the
nuclear threat.
Bibliography
Castro, Fidel. Microsoft Encarta
Encyclopedia, 1998 ed. Cuban Missile Crisis.
Microsoft Encarta
Encyclopedia, 1998 ed. Khrushchev, Nikita. Khrushchev
Remembers. USA:
Little, Brown and Company, 1970. Rubin stein, Alvin Z. Soviet
Foreign
Policy Since World War II: Imperial and Global- Second Edition.
Boston,
MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1985.