When Castro Became A Communist : The Impact on US-Cuba Policy

Institute for U.S.-Cuba Relations ^ | November 3, 1997 | Salvador Díaz-Versón

[SusanUSA]

From December 1956, the time Castro landed his armed expedition from Mexico against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista; to Batista's downfall on January 1, 1959; to President Eisenhower's approval of covert action against the Castro regime in March of 1960;(1) the U.S. ostensibly pursued a policy of non-intervention in the Caribbean area and the Western Hemisphere as a whole. Conceivably, the U.S. could have invoked the Rio Treaty(2) at any point during this time period given the information available to official Washington concerning Castro's involvement with international communism and the threat it posed to the national security interests of the United States.

Had the Castro communist revolution been viewed less as a rebellion from within or as an insurrection against the established order as it was portrayed and more for what it really was, a Trojan horse attack by the forces of international communism led by Fidel Castro, then U.S. policy makers would have dealt with it as such and Castro, disguised as a democrat, would never have been successful in taking over Cuba.

Thanks for the ping. What an informative article. I appreciate your posting this!

[Polybius]

Whether Fidel was a Communist or not, one thing that is clear is that he hid his cards very well from a lot of Cuban people before he consolidated power.

One of my uncles fought with Castro against Batista in the Sierra Maestra. Once he discovered Castro's true colors, he came to the USA and then fought at the Bay of Pigs with Brigada 2506. He later volunteered for the U.S. Army and served two combat tours as a Green Beret in Vietnam as that was his opportunity to keep fighting the Communists.

I was too young at the time to know what people in Cuba really thought about Castro prior to 1 January 1959. However, it seems to me that a lot of Cubans that now claim, "Yo siempre sabia que Castro era un Comunista" are people que estan comiendo bastante mie......

[Victoria Delsoul]

Great information. Thank you, Luis.

[GHCubana]

The American liberals share guilt in the slavement of the Cuban people and its cost to the USA. Those who shake hands with traitor Fidel CaSStro and his criminals will never wash up the blood of our innocent people from their hands.

[afraidfortherepublic]

It's not for me to defend the policies of the Eisenhower Administration -- I was just a kid. However, the late fifties was a time when the idea of Communists lurking around every corner was seen as ludicrous by most folks -- the tin-foil hat attitude that you see ridiculed here.

Castro came to power just weeks before my wedding. I clearly remember watching the news and reading Time Magazine trying to figure it all out. Most of the American press lauded his revolution. I was not so sure. Call it feminine intuition, but I thought there was something sinister about him. My intuition was proven by subsequent history.

Perhaps Americans were caught unaware in reaction to the McCarthy hearings of a few years earlier. In any case, most of us didn't believe in Communists on our own soil (or hemisphere) in those days. It required a move back to Berkeley as a young matron (believe it, or not, I was insulated from politics as a student at UC Berkeley) and to realize that not only did we have Communists in America, some of them actually were my neighbors!

I felt the same cold intuition about David Horowitz when I encountered him once during my Berkeley days. Sure enough, his recent books proclaim that he had been a Communist -- a Red Diaper Baby -- who had morphed into the New Left. I knew it all along!

[MHGinTN]

Well, I know where I'll be at 9PM next Thursday! Thanks for the ping to this thread, Luis. I had no inkling of how clear the connection between Castro and the Soviet global strategy! When he arrives in Hell (sooner rather than later, at this point), will he be able to cite his servile posture for the Soviet as rationale for his treachery and betrayal of his country and fellow countrymen? He'll have an eternity to argue the case, but it won't raise him one centimeter out of the torment he deserves. Let justice be done; Deje la justicia coger hasta Fidel!

[Luis Gonzalez]

"However, it seems to me that a lot of Cubans that now claim, "Yo siempre sabia que Castro era un Comunista" are people que estan comiendo bastante mie......"

LOL! I have an uncle who was pro-Castro until his business was "nationalzed", he fled to the US shortly after that. We (my parents,my brother, and me) didn't get out for nearly ten years after he did.

To this day, anytime my uncle and my father disagree about anything to do with politics, you see a grin creep across my Dad's face, just before he "unloads" on my uncle, and about his political instincts.

Along with your statement, someone once said that if we added up the total acreage of all the land exiles claimed they owned before the revolution, Cuba would be roughly the size of Australia.

[AABC]

Thanks for the heads up Luis, as always a good read...especially when I'm relieving stress during finals!

[snippy_about_it]

Castro, disguised as a democrat,...

Mi amigo, we have many communists and socialists disguised as such in America, no?

Thanks for the ping Luis. I believe with all my heart that soon Cuba will be returned to her true people. Godspeed.

[Budge]

Excellent post, Luis.

I can't help but wonder just how large a part the American media played in Castro's rise to power. McCarthy was considered a fool by the media, and we bought it. No one wanted to believe Castro was a communist, and when the media told us he wasn't, we bought that too.

We were fools.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Excellent post, Luis. We won't hear about this from the mainstream press, the same way we haven't heard about Castro's atrocities and the intercepted KGB messages proving that McCarthy was right, but there are more trustworthy news sources today.

Happy Birthday week, Elian. We will not forget!

[Dqban22]

Luis, you always bring great contributions to the ideolocial struggle for the liberation of Cuba. Education and truthful information are basic against Castro's disinformation campaign prevailing in the Western media. KUDOS, keep your good work!

[backhoe]

Thanks for looking- it's just the tip of a very large iceberg...