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Within
six months of Castro's overthrow of dictator Fulgencio Batista in Cuba (January
1959), relations between Castro's government
and the United States began to
deteriorate.
The Cuban missile crisis was the gravest collision between
the US and the Soviet Union during the cold war and marked
the closest
point that the world had ever come to a global nuclear war.
On
17 April 1961, an abortive invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs (Bahía de los Cochinos)
erupted on the southwestern coast by
1500 Cuban exiles opposed to Fidel Castro.
This invasion was financed and directed by the US government. It was a disaster
for the US. On
26 July
1961, the CIA fails in yet another attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro, Raul Castro,
and Che Guevara
during celebrations comemorating the July 26th Movement.
More
Background. In
Late 1961, Khrushchev considers deploying nuclear weapons to Cuba to prevent a
full US invasion.
While the United States had nuclear missiles all around
the world -and on the very borders
of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union had
only 10 to 25 nuclear missiles
that were capable of reaching the United States.
___________________________
30 November 1961, Kennedy authorised another aggressive covert assault
on Cuba, 'Operation Mongoose' with the aim to 'provoke, harass or disrupt'
the new Cuban government. It has four hundred CIA agents, about 2000 Cuban exiles,
a private naval fleet of speedboats, and an annual budget of $50 million. Kennedy
was unwilling to committ to a full scale invasion, but he kept his options open
and allowed the US terrorist activities to continue.
April 1962, fifteen US Jupiter nuclear missiles erected in Turkey,
(on the border of the Soviet Union) became operational. All missiles are reported
"ready and manned" by US personnel -and ready to launch against the Soviet Union
at any moment. Fatality projections for each US missile are one million Soviet
civilians. Late
April 1962, Khrushchev realizes the nuclear tipped knife is at the throat
of the Soviet Union.
7 February 1962, the US instituted a total embargo of trade
with Cuba, a decision intended to be forced on every nation in the world. Fidel
Castro informs visiting Soviet officials that Cuba will accept the deployment
of nuclear weapons as a deterrent to a US invasion.
20 August, a frustrated hawk, General Maxwell Taylor (chairman of the SGA),
informs Kennedy that the SGA sees no chance of the overthrow of the Cuban Republic
through internal dissent, no matter how the US can manipulate the situation. In
the first week of September , Soviet troops and equipment have begun to
arrive in Cuba. Kennedy threatened that the US would not tolerate offensive weapons
in Cuba and that if the Soviets did so, it would be a violation of the USs 'sole
right' to be the only foreign government allowed to have military forces inside
Cuba (Guantanamo base). CIA terrorism against Cuba is intensified.
20 September 1962, the US Senate has approved the use of military
force against Cuba and will cut off aid to any country that transports
goods of any kind to Cuba. 21
September,
Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko charged the US with creating 'war hysteria'
and 'aggressive military preparations' to provoke Cuba. 14
October (early morning) A U-2 spy aircraft flying over western Cuba, reveal
MRBM sites in Cuba. Two days later, Kennedy learns about the missile deployments.
The US discussed several options -from a surgical airstrike on the missile bases
-to a full-scale invasion.
20 October, Kennedy implemented a military blockade on Cuba, that prevented
all goods and persons from either entering or leaving Cuba. US diplomat to the
UN Adlai Stevenson, aggressively protests to Kennedy that the blockade is invalid.
Stevenson's gets a strong reprimand from his masters, and henceforth Stevenson
is 'assisted' by US hawk, John McCloy. On
the same day the US informed its Nato allies about the Cuban missile crisis, and
the military options the US planned to pursue. -A massive alert of its B-52 nuclear
bomber force, and the US to begin sending 183 nuclear bombers to 33 civilian and
military airfields. All aircraft, both on the ground and in-flight, are armed
with nuclear weapons.
By US nuclear bombers numbers alone, 17 times more
nuclear weapons are ready to drop on Cuba than all of Cuba has. The US also had
nuclear missiles in Puerto Rico and nuclear capable bombs in Guantanamo Naval
Base, all ready for use against Cuba.
At this time, the United States
has a total arsenal of 27,100 nuclear weapons, while the Soviet Union has 3,100. October
22, Kennedy addressed the US public for the first time about the crisis, stating
that the US will not permit any offensive military equipment in Cuba. Kennedy
exclaimed "... any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the
Western Hemisphere is an attack by the Soviet Union on the US, requiring a full
retaliatory response against the Soviet Union." On
the following day, 23 October, despite Kennedy's threats, Khrushchev wrote to
Kennedy: "....I must say frankly that the measures indicated in your statement
constitute a serious threat to peace and to the security of nations ...we reaffirm
that the armaments are in Cuba, regardless of the classification to which they
may belong, are intended solely for defensive purposes in order to secure the
Republic of Cuba against the attack of an aggressor. I hope that the US government
will display wisdom and renounce the actions pursued by you, which may lead to
catastrophic consequences for world peace." The
Cuban government placed its entire armed forces on their highest alert. The entire
civilian population is armed and ready to fight 'to the last person' in defence
of Cuba. The Armed Forces of the Warsaw Pact is also put on alert status. In
addition to its high-altitude U-2 breaches of Cuban airspace, the US military
begins new low-level intimidation and spy flights all over Cuba. In an extraordinary
further effort towards peace, Cuba and the Soviet Union refuse to make any attempt
to forcibly prevent the flyovers.
24 October, (early morning). Of the 19 Soviet ships that were enroute to Cuba,
most have altered or reversed their course. 16 of the Soviet ships return to the
Soviet Union, 2 altered their course. Only the oil tanker 'Bucharest' continued
toward the blockade. Khrushchev
responded to Kennedy's demands, decribing them as aggressive and unreasonable. In
his first communication with Kennedy and Khrushchev during the crisis, UN Acting
Secretary General U Thant, at the request of more than forty non-aligned states,
privately called for the voluntary suspension of arms shipments to Cuba, together
with the voluntary suspension of the military blockade.
25 October, two US naval vessels fail to intercept the tanker 'Bucharest',
it continues on course and refused to be boarded. The US ships are ordered not
to intercept.
Khrushchev
agreed with the proposal of peace that was sent by the U Thant, - to suspend all
arms shipments to Cuba.
Kennedy refuses to lift the military blockade. After
US pressure, U Thant sends a message solely to Khrushchev, that supports the US
blockade and tells Khrushchev to keep his ships outside Cuba. Meanwhile, a CIA
sabotage team in Cuba (whose aim is to destroy the Matahambre copper mine) are
caught by Cubans. The
US then applied further pressure by increasing the frequency of low-level incursions
over Cuba from twice per day to once every two hours. Aleksandr
Fomin, of the Washington Soviet Embassy (and KGB Station Chief), desperately arranges
a personal meeting with the US State Department to ascertain if the US has any
desire to solve the situation peacefully.
Fomin proposes "Soviet bases in
Cuba would be dismantled under UN supervision and Castro would pledge not to accept
offensive weapons of any kind, ever, -in return for a US pledge not to invade
Cuba." Later
that evening, Anatoly Dobrynin and Robert Kennedy met at the Soviet embassy. Dobrynin
repeats that if Soviet nuclear missiles are intolerable in Cuba, then US missiles
are also intolerable in Turkey. Robert Kennedy phones the US president, and returns
to Dobrynin and explained that the President is willing to negotiate. Unable
to bear the continued harassment, Castro orders Cuban anti-aircraft forces to
open fire on all US aircraft flying over Cuba. 27
October, The CIA reported that three of the four SS-4 MRBM sites at San Cristóbal
and the two sites at Sagua la Grande appear to be fully operational. On this morning,
Khrushchev publicly announces that if the US removes its nuclear missiles from
Turkey, the Soviet Union will remove its missiles from Cuba. A
U-2 spyplane flying over Cuban airspace was shot down, its pilot killed. The Soviet
Union order the Cuban anti-aircraft batteries to stop immediatly. The Cubans refused.
(Still
27 October ) Kennedy replyed to Khrushchev's request for peace, by sending U Thant
to talk to the Soviets for him. In
response to the downed U-2 (there are definite US plans to destroy any sites that
shoot at US planes over Cuban airspace). Kennedy says no. Kennedy
ignored Khrushchev's proposal for removing US missiles in Turkey, and responds
by publicly declaring;
'
... the USSR to agree to remove weapon systems from Cuba under appropriate UN
supervision; and undertake to halt the further introduction of such weapon systems
into Cuba... we, on our part, would agree, through the UN, to remove promptly
the quarantine (blockade) measures now in effect and give assurances against the
invasion of Cuba... '. Further,
Kennedy had Dobrynin told that if the Soviet Union does not remove its missiles,
the United States will attack Cuba. The group secretly conceded that US nuclear
missiles must be removed from Turkey, but that this should not be made public
to save US face. Castro
finally agreed to the UN request to stop building Cuban missile sites, provided
the US also agrees to end its military blockade. Further, Castro extended an invitation
to U Thant to visit Cuba. 28
October 1962, the US advised its Nato allies that a military attack on Cuba
was imminent. The CIA has learned that Soviet technicians had succeeded to make
fully operational all 24 MRBM sites in Cuba, though no nuclear bunkers are in
operation (ie. missiles not armed). In
a new message from Khrushchev, broadcast on Radio Moscow, effectively ends the
missile crisis. Khrushchev promises to dismantle and return all the Soviet
missiles in Cuba back to the Soviet Union.
In Havana, Fidel Castro, who
was not informed of the decision beforehand, is outraged. Khrushchev explained
to Castro, that not ending the crisis would have meant a nuclear war, but the
Soviet Union still intends to fulfill its duty to defend Cuba. Kennedy
orders no further incursions over Cuban air space, yet the US Joint Chiefs of
Staff update their plans of a military invasion of Cuba, and decide that nuclear
weapons should still be used -even though Cuba's nuclear weapons are being dismantled.
Kennedy
orders that the US military blockade around Cuba to stay and low altitude spyflights
over Cuba to continue. U Thant explained to the US that they must fulfill their
agreement and end the military blockade. The US refuses, demanding that it's blockade
will end only after all missiles have been removed from Cuba.
In an effort
to squeeze the Soviets further, incredibly, the US adds another demand, that the
aged Ilyushin-28 (Beagle) bombers sold to Cuba must go also. US
air surveillance conclusively shows that all missile sites in Cuba have been bulldozed
and that the missiles and launch equipment have been removed.
2 November,
Kennedy states that the military blockade will remain.
14 November, Khrushchev told Kennedy that he will agree to remove the Beagle
aircraft in Cuba within three months. Khrushchev again points out that the US
is not honouring its side of the agreements, including ending all incursions over
Cuban airspace and ending the economic and military blockade. Also the US has
not registered a non-invasion pledge of Cuba, despite the fact that all Soviet
missiles have been removed from Cuba. This was ignored, and the US continued to
make new demands. For
the first time the US agreed to lift only the military blockade of Cuba. Though
incursions over Cuban air space continue. (incredibly, the US economic blockade
still remains today -44 years later). 23-24
December 1962, the Cuban government agreed to release 1113 Bay of Pigs invaders
to the US, in exchange for US$53 million in medical supplies and baby food. 15
January 1963, The Soviet Union made a final attempt to obtain a firm US non-invasion
pledge.
The US refuses.
Fidel Castro later explained, '... for
us, the Caribbean crisis has not been resolved, a war was avoided but the peace
was not won...' The
above text condensed from Marxist Internet Archive - Full
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