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Fidel Castro and Cuba
Through the 1950s, the United States had cooperated with the Cuban government headed by General Fulgencio Batista. Batista was a military dictator with a reputation for corruption and harsh treatment of his enemies. He had taken over the Cuban government in a coup in 1952. A coup, or coup d’état, is a sudden, violent overthrow of the government. Batista’s coup occurred just before scheduled elections.
One candidate in those elections was Fidel Castro. -
United States stopped selling arms to Batista
On January 1, 1959, Batista fled Cuba, and Castro’s group took control of the nation. Soon, the rebels set up a provisional government with the moderate Manuel Urrutia Lleó as president and Fidel Castro as the leader of the armed forces. However, within a few months, Castro forced Urrutia to resign and appointed himself as the head of the government. -
Castro’s Revolution Succeeds
By 1956, Castro had been released and sent to Mexico. There, he resumed his revolutionary effort with a group of about 80 followers. They returned to Cuba, in December 1956, in an invasion that they hoped would lead to a swift victory. The invasion failed, but the survivors hid in the mountains of Cuba and launched both a publicity campaign and guerrilla warfare operations. On January 1, 1959, Batista fled Cuba, and Castro’s group took control of the nation. -
Making The decision
When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, he was presented with a decision. Under the Eisenhower administration, the CIA had developed a plan to support an invasion of Cuba carried out by a group of Cuban refugees. These people had fled Cuba when Castro came to power. They wanted to overthrow Castro and replace his government with one that would restore private ownership of property and industry. Beginning in March 1960, the CIA trained people who opposed Castro for the assault. -
The Invasion
On April 17, 1961, the CIA-backed force of 1,400 Cuban refugees landed at the swampy Bay of Pigs on Cuba’s southern coast. A Cuban force of 20,000 easily overwhelmed the invaders, capturing about 1,100 men and imprisoning them. Eventually, the U.S. government secured the release of these prisoners by paying a ransom of $53 million in medicine and food. This disastrous invasion came to be called the Bay of Pigs. There are many theories that say the invasion failed. -
The Bay Of Pigs
Fidel Castro took control of Cuba during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Cuba’s confiscation of Americans’ property and its growing ties to the Soviet Union caused U.S.–Cuba relations to deteriorate. Eisenhower placed an embargo on U.S exports to Cuba except for medicine and food. Then, near the end of his term of office, Eisenhower cut off all diplomatic relations with Cuba. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
Concerns about Cuba and its close relations with the Soviet Union had led President Kennedy to try to overthrow the Cuban government. The failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion had embarrassed the United States and strengthened Castro’s power. The U.S. government continued to watch Cuba closely. This included using top-secret U-2 spy planes to illegally fly over and photograph the island. -
U.S. Leaders Analyze Cuban Intelligence
In 1962, intelligence reports noted a dramatic increase in the cooperation between Cuba and the Soviet Union. Shipments of cargo from the Soviet Union to Cuba increased dramatically through the year, from an average of 14 per month to 28 per month in August and then to 46 per month in September. The CIA suspected these shipments included weapons.By October 15, 1962, the administration knew with certainty that Cuba had the missiles and the launching capacity to attack the United States.
