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In 1961, Eisenhower retired and the problem of dealing with Castro was passed on to the new president, John F. Kennedy. The new president continued with Eisenhower's policy of trying to assassinate Castro. This became known as Operation Freedom and was placed under the control of Robert Kennedy. The Bay of Pigs disaster is only the most famous example of Operation Freedom. In April, 1961, the CIA along with anti-Castro Cuban exiles, attempted to overthrow Castro starting at the Bahia de los Cochinos, or Bay of Pigs. In the initial hours, all looked rosy for the American forces, but soon Castro counterattacked and the invading forces found themselves without a plan. The cry came out to use the Air Force to beat back the stranglehold that Castro’s forces were exerting. President Kennedy had to make a call, and he decided that the risk of an American jet being shot down by Cuba was too great a risk on the world stage. Remember folks, this happened just after the Soviet Union shot down the U-2, which we had been denying all along. We had egg on our face in front of the United Nations, and Kennedy wanted to avoid a repeat performance.
Castro, seeing what the US was willing to do, asked for greater military support from the Soviet Union, and boy, did they ever comply. Then came October, 1962. On 14 October, 1962, an American U2 spy-plane took pictures of a nuclear missile base being built on Cuba. Kennedy’s advisers told him he had 10 days before Cuba could fire the missiles at targets in America. A naval blockade was required. Also at that moment there was an enormous Russian naval convoy heading towards Cuba to help finish the site. The first ship, an oil cargo ship, was allowed through, but all others were forceably stopped. The result of the standoff was that the Soviet Union had to dismantle the missile site in Cuba, and the US had to dismantle its missile site in Turkey. Though Americans are often told that, “The other side blinked,” in reality it was a secret tit-for-tat to keep the peace world wide. The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is also a direct resultant of this crisis and it marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War.
In the three years that followed the revolution, 250,000 Cubans out of a population of six million left the country. Most of these were from the upper and middle-classes who were financially worse off as a result of Castro's policies. Of those who stayed, 90 per cent of the population, according to public opinion polls, supported Castro.
Over the decades, Fidel Castro has been kept in virtual lock-down by the US governments and most Western powers. He has had to cope with a poorman’s budget with a country to run. Sugar prices have been kept artificially low since the early 1960s, and without the number one crop for Cuba, tourism, the island country has had to live virtually from handout to handout. While the Soviet Union existed, Cuba was able to take care of the needs of its own, indeed they were able to help other nations around the world. On November 4, 1975, Castro deployed 30,000 troops to the impoverished African nation of Angola. Why did Castro do this?? Because Angola was being overrun by South African troops who saw Angola as a Communist threat on their doorstep. Cuba successfully stopped the invasion and pushed the South African troops back home.
Even though Cubans of today have to drive around in 1950s vintage Fords and Chevrolets, even though Cubans of today have to live with minimum infrastructure improvements, and even though Cubans of today are ostracized by the industrial world, the vast majority wouldn’t trade their nationality for anything. During the recent disaster known as Katrina, Cuba offered to send thousands of doctors to help in the US. This could have saved hundreds of lives, but this American administration said no.
Cubans today have one of the highest levels of literacy in the world, have free health care for everyone, and enjoy some of the best doctors anywhere. They are guaranteed the basics of any modern society, food in their stomach, clothes on their back, and a roof over their head. There are absolutely no homeless in Cuba. Fidel Castro has taken the corrupt, Mafioso and racist Cuba and created an equal opportunity, socialist state that caters to the masses and ensures that NO PERSON is left behind. Though there are few who can live the good life, Fidel Castro has ensured that ALL can live a good life.
Today, we find the US government committed to spending $80 million of my tax dollars in his overthrow. We find the US actively pursuing regime change even before his death. Today, this government is salivating over the prospect of creating chaos, destruction, and death in Cuba upon Castro’s death. While we should be applauding his achievements, and seeking to improve upon them, the US government is seeking to return to the glory days when Batista killed by the thousands, and the mafia ruled the land.
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