 |
Business | Industries | Finance | Tax |
| Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
|||||
| First Prev [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ] Next Last |
According to Khrushchev's memoirs, the Soviet Premier conceived the idea of placing missiles in Cuba as a deterrent to further US aggression against the island (or against the Soviet Union directly) while he was vacationing in the Crimea in the spring of 1962. After consultations with his own military he met with a Cuban delegation led by Raúl Castro in July in order to work out the specifics. It was agreed to deploy Soviet R-12 MRBM on Cuban soil, however, American U-2 reconnaissance discovered the construction of the missile installations on October 15, 1962 before the weapons had actually been deployed. The U.S. government viewed the installation of Soviet nuclear weapons 90 miles south of Miami as an aggressive act and a threat to US security. The Cuban missile crisis resulted with the United States publicly announcing its discovery on October 22, 1962 and implemented a quarantine around Cuba that would actively intercept and search any vessels heading for the island.
In a personal letter to Khrushchev written on October 27 1962 [3], Castro urged Khrushchev to launch a nuclear first strike against the United States if Cuba were invaded, but Khrushchev rejected any first strike response [4]. Soviet field commanders in Cuba were, however, authorized to use tactical nuclear weapons if attacked by the United States.
Khruschev agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for a US commitment not to invade Cuba and to remove American missiles from Turkey. After tensions were defused, relations between the United States and Cuba remained mutually hostile, and the CIA continued to sponsor a number of assassination schemes (over 600, according to Cuban sources) over the following years.
In 1976, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, then Prime Minister of Canada, made one of the first state visits to Cuba by a Western leader during the height of the U.S. blockade and personally embraced the Cuban leader. Trudeau provided $4 million in Canadian aid, and arranged a loan for another $10 million. In his speech Trudeau declared, "Long live Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro. Long live Cuban-Canadian friendship."
Trudeau and Castro continued their friendship after the Canadian Prime Minister left office with Trudeau visiting the Cuban leader several times in the 1980s and 1990s. Castro travelled to Montreal in 2000 to attend Trudeau's funeral.
Following initial American hostility, the establishment of diplomatic ties to the Soviet Union, and the famous Cuban Missile Crisis, the Havana government fell increasingly under the influence of the USSR. Castro was able to build a formidable military force with the help of Soviet equipment and military advisors. The KGB kept in close touch with Havana, and Castro consolidated his power over all levels of government, the media, and the educational system, leading many to describe the political system within Cuba as totalitarian. A pervasive secret police force was developed.
Usually described as cordial and cooperative, Castro’s relationship with the Soviet Union was at times strained. After a trial in Cuba of thirty five members of a pro-Moscow “microfaction” charged with activities including “clandestine propaganda against the Party line”, Petrovich Shlyapnikov , the chief KGB advisor to the General Intelligence Directorate was sent back to Moscow as part of the alleged conspiracy with the “microfaction”. This coupled with what Moscow saw as wasteful use of Soviet aid, and a perception of an increasingly haughty and indignant demeanor, led to Soviet threats of cutting off aid to Cuba.
As soon as he returned from Havana, Shlyapnikov immediate lobbied for a reduction in oil exports to Cuba. Shipments were cut by 40%, which slowed Cuban industrial output drastically.
Castro's strong Soviet ties caused somewhat of a split between him and his fellow revolutionary, Che Guevara, who took a more pro- Chinese view following ideological conflict between the CPSU and the Maoist CPC. In 1967, Che left for Bolivia in an ill-fated attempt to stir up revolution against the country's military government; Castro did not provide him with any material support. One reason given for Castro's refusal is the fact that Moscow did not approve of revolution in Latin America unless it involved groups whose idea of communism was close to the Soviet model.
On August 23, 1968 Castro made a public gesture to the Soviet Union that reaffirmed their support in him. Two days after the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia, Castro took to the airwaves and publicly denounced the Czech rebellion. Castro warned the Cuban people about the Czechoslovakian “counter-revolutionaries”, who “were moving Czechoslovakia towards capitalism and into the arms of imperialists”. He called the leaders of the rebellion “the agents of West Germany and fascist reactionary rabble”. In return for his public loyalty to the Soviet Union when many traditional Soviet allies were questioning the brutal putdown of the Czechs, the Soviets bailed out the Cuban economy with extra loans and an immediate increase in oil exports.
| Politics | Business | Finance |
 |
 |
 |
|