Cuban Revolution - Cold War DOCUMENTARY

for anybody who's watched the godfather part 2 one of the pivotal scenes in the movie takes place in havana on new year's eve 1958. the movie uses the overthrow of fulgencio batista as a backdrop for what is just a phenomenal film if you haven't seen it go fix that well right after you've watched this video anyways the cuban revolution in cold war terms is one of the watershed moments of the time period setting the stage for a failed invasion and a missile crisis and just a constant thorn in the side of the united states i'm your host david and today we are going to pick up where we left our cuba story from previous episodes by looking at the cuban revolution this is the cold war before we get into today's video i'd like to give a huge shout out to today's sponsor squarespace squarespace gives you a powerful online platform letting you create a beautiful website for seamless engagement with both customers and followers squarespace lets you connect with your audience and generate revenue through gated members only content leverage audience insights send email communications and manage your members all through one easy to use platform build a community through your squarespace website it supports threaded comments replies and likes and lets you use squarespace's powerful blogging tools to schedule and share posts squarespace even lets you display feedback from your social media profiles directly to your website if you've been thinking about creating a website for your personal brand resume business or just for fun go to squarespace.com the cold war to start your free trial and get 10 off your first purchase okay so we're going to start on march 10 1952. this is the date that the fragile democracy of cuba came to an end with a coup d'etat orchestrated by one fulgencio batista general elections were scheduled to be held in june of that year but batista who had been president of cuba from 1940 to 1944 was pulling a distant third in the campaign in order to avoid an otherwise humiliating defeat he orchestrated a coup and simply took power by force batista established a military dictatorship over the island and was well supported by the united states the americans who had massive financial interests in cuba from utilities to the vital sugarcane industry were content to support a leader who kept not only the peace but security to ensure the dollars kept flowing now keep in mind this open support for a military dictator did little to win the hearts and minds of cubans and others across latin america and in fact really only served to alienate them from the americans who were seen as an imperialist power and like any good coup resistance formed among progressive opposition forces at the forefront of this emerging movement was a young lawyer who had been born into a well-off cuban family you may have heard of him his name was fidel alejandro castro even before the coup castro had been politically minded and politically active and had been running as a candidate in the cancelled 1952 elections a member of the left-wing populist partido ortodoxo since the late 1940s the establishment of batista's dictatorship created a feeling of disillusionment with traditional politics among fidel and others on the left they came to the conclusion that the only way to remove the military dictatorship in cuba was by means of revolution castro began to organize any successful revolution needs people to lead it and guide it as such fidel began to recruit people who could and would conduct a guerrilla warfare campaign against the batista regime this process included the publication and circulation of a newsletter el acuzador the accuser he found support among other disillusioned members of the partido ortodoxo and it did not take him long to gather as many as 1500 activists around him he also found support among student leaders at the universities in cuba as well and convinced his followers to procure and donate guns and other weapons necessary for a revolution the plan that castro and his group developed was centered on an attack on the mongodb barracks in santiago de cuba cuba's second city located in the southeast of the island the monkada barracks was the primary provincial garrison in the region and were adjacent to the palace of justice by capturing the barracks and the palace of justice as well as a hospital and radio station that were nearby the movement could broadcast their manifesto calling for a return to democracy for cuba fidel figured this would be enough to ignite the cuban people to rebel against the batista regime training for the attack took place over several months and the would-be insurgents had to disguise themselves as private businessmen with an interest in trap shooting and hunting in order to practice with the motley assortment of weapons they had collected the plan was that by capturing the barracks by surprise they could augment their own weapons with those they would seize from the garrison at 5am on the 23rd of july 1953 the plan was launched 119 rebels in 16 cars assembled to look like a convoy of government officials began their assault on the molkada barracks the attack went poorly many men had to be left behind due to a lack of weapons and of those that did participate some became separated from the main group including the men equipped with the heavy weapons at the barracks themselves the attack failed to penetrate the main gate and the assault fell apart in total 19 cuban soldiers were killed for only 8 rebels but more than 70 rebels were taken prisoner of these many were executed either on the spot or after being tortured in prison fidel and a small group did manage to escape into the surrounding countryside batista's reaction to the failed attack was to declare martial law across all of cuba within a few days fidel had received guarantees from the authorities that he would not be killed or tortured and he surrendered he was subsequently put on trial and as a lawyer represented himself which incidentally i have been told by several lawyers is usually a terrible idea but castro didn't use the opportunity to absolve himself of responsibility or to try and win his own freedom he instead used the trial as a platform to denounce batista and promote his own platform to cubans he took ownership of his position as a leader in the attack even stating you may condemn me history will absolve me and he was condemned the court sentenced him to 15 years in prison other rebels who were being tried including fidel's brother raul received sentences between 7 and 13 years although castro was in prison he had gained a platform and recognition across cuba although the push had been easily put down by batista's military sympathy for the rebellion and the imprisoned rebels grew especially as opposition to military rule increased across the island after two years in prison a letter-writing campaign was started by the mothers of the political prisoners seeking their release this was followed by a public appeal endorsed by intellectuals academics editors and politicians also looking to have the prisoners released and how did batista receive this campaign well quite favorably actually by this point batista was well entrenched as leader and well supported by the americans as such he not only felt that castro wouldn't pose any threat to him but that it would actually serve as a goodwill gesture and positive publicity for his regime the cuban congress passed a bill of amnesty for the rebels which batista then signed having served 22 months in prison fidel in his group were released castro returned this favor by returning to political activism almost immediately fidel and his fellow prisoners had used their time reading and studying the philosophy and history largely but not exclusively of the left upon his release he gave interviews conducted press conferences and founded a new organization dedicated to toppling the batista regime it was called fittingly the moviemento venticies de julio or the 26th of july movement dedicated to the attack on the monkana barracks but batista was not a stupid man fidel may have been free but he was under constant government surveillance when unrest and violence broke out on the island in 1955 both raul and fidel as well as several close comrades fled to mexico to escape the inevitable repressions that would follow once in mexico castro wasted no time in beginning to prepare for a return to cuba with the intent of waging guerilla war so a word or two about fidel and his ideological beliefs at the time of castro's flight to mexico he had no known ideological affiliations he was clearly a believer in left-wing ideals from his membership in the pantido ortogso but unlike his brother raul he was not a communist fidel in fact actively avoided any links to the cuban communist party he did this in order to avoid the movement being labeled a communist organization he wanted to ensure that other groups and individuals would remain sympathetic to their cause and would not become alienated from it now mexico in the late 1950s was a hotbed of revolutionaries in exile gathered there from all across latin america many of them interacting with each other and sharing ideas and thoughts some of these people were marxists and interactions with them clearly helped to shape and form fidel's ideological beliefs prominent among these revolutionaries was a trained doctor and journalist from argentina and future capitalist t-shirt model i might add ernesto guevara it was during this time in mexico that shea joined the 26th of july movement now fidel had no intention of remaining for long in mexico and used the time there to train his fellow rebels as well as to raise financial support for the movement after all the first rule of war is that it isn't free and needs to be paid for it was at this time that fidel visited the united states raising funds from supporters including carlos burio sokadas the former president of cuba the one batista had overthrown in 1952 using the money raised the movement took 15 000 of the money and bought a small yacht which was to be used for transporting the rebels from mexico back to cuba the grandma was a 60-foot cabin cruiser that had begun its life in 1943 built as a lightly armored target practice craft for the u.s navy it had been converted at some point into a civilian yacht designed for 12 people just after midnight on november 25th 1956 fidel and raul castro guerrera and 79 other revolutionaries born at the craft the original plan had been for up to 140 rebels to be transported but the grandma was just unable to accommodate that many people at about 2 am she left the port of tuchupan in mexico destined for oriented province in the southeast of cuba the region for the landing was selected with symbolic purpose in mind this was the same area of the island that the cuban poet and revolutionary hero of the cuban war of independence jose marti had landed in in 1895 to fight the spanish the crossing was inauspicious leaving in a storm the seas were very rough and the grandma was not equipped or prepared for the crossing to quote from john thorndike's book on camilo cintuegos a hundred fires in cuba camilo remembered how seasick he had been on the first day of the voyage almost everyone got sick only an hour out of tukhpan soon after the swells rose up beneath them the men started vomiting some threw off overboard some into buckets some were packed so tightly they couldn't move and puked where they sat splattering most those around them the stench enveloped them all camilo himself sat wedged between two men unable to lie down feeling like death for two days no one ate there were men who their pants and sat in it ended quote although the sea conditions mellowed by the third day mechanical issues plagued the grandma and the crossing to cuba took eight days making landfall at playa los colorados on december 2nd now the crossing had been planned to take six days a two-day delay might not have seemed significant in any other time but in this instance it proved fatal for many this was because the plan was that fidel and his rebels would land to help support an uprising in oriente led by frank pais a member and organizer of the movement that had remained in cuba when fidel and raul had fled to mexico bayes had begun the uprising on time but by the time the grandma landed the uprising had already been suppressed by bautista's forces a grueling march into the swamps of oriente began but batista and his army knew castro and the movement had landed as well as where they had landed and an assault was begun with poor cover and outnumbered and outgunned only 19 of the men who disembarked from the grandma survived fleeing into the sierra maestra mountains among the survivors was che guevara camila sienfuegos bravo castro and fidel once sheltered in the sierra maestra and with the help and support of local peasants a guerrilla war began to be organized dedicated towards the removal of batista the next step of the revolution occurred on march 13th 1957 when an attack on the presidential palace was launched aimed at killing el presidente except this attack wasn't carried out by fidel in the movement but rather by a group largely made up of students who organized themselves under the name directorio revolucionario estudiantil the dre or student revolutionary directorate the attack meant to capture and kill batista as well as the radio station so the dre could announce this to the cuban people and initiate a general strike was carried out by 50 men but the attack was not successful with 30 of the 50 dre attackers being killed what followed were disturbances across the island especially in havana and santiago as attempts to launch a general strike were launched but these protests were met with pro-batista demonstrations including one in havana on april 10th 1957 in which participants numbered in the tens of thousands how many of these people were there of their own volition instead of having been coerced by the government is unclear but it is highly unlikely that all were voluntary participants protests and disruptions continued across the island until on august 1 1957 batista suspended freedom of assembly and freedom of expression this was done in preparation for elections scheduled to be held in 1958. at this point we need to talk a bit about the american reaction to all of this washington which had long been a supporter of various cuban governments was starting to grow tired of batista and his violent and repressive reactions to events on the island there had been a growing outcry of protest from the larger international community and the us was beginning to see batista as more of a liability with this legitimacy weakened washington was nervous about the reactions of other countries in latin america themselves cautious of the americans following recent u.s involvement in places like guatemala of course on the flip side batista was a staunch ally to the americans not only providing reliable political support but also purchasing significant amounts of military supplies at favorable rates with no back left unscratched batista continued to let american business interests flourish on the island the americans saw their option as being continued support for bautista or providing support to castro this wasn't a difficult choice at the end of the day as fidel was strongly suspected of being a communist with an anti-american agenda this was despite castro's continuous public assurances that he was not a communist at the end of the day washington stuck with the dictator they knew now as we've alluded to fidel and the movement were not the only anti-batista organizations acting in cuba with a fractured field castro went about the process of creating a unified front against the military dictatorship while ensuring the united states remained relatively neutral in the cuban conflict and we would be remiss to not point out that by doing this fidel was strengthening his own legitimacy as a leader of the cuban revolutionary movement to this end on july 12 1957 the sierra maestro manifesto was signed by fidel castro felipe pazos and raul chivas basos was the recognized leader of the cuban emigrate community while pasos was the head of the partido ortoloxo the sierra maestro manifesto called for the creation of the revolutionary citizens front whose main aim was to coordinate the fight against batista it also pledged to conduct free elections as well as agrarian reform once batista had been removed from power the manifesto even selected an interim president who would oversee the transition period between the overthrow and elections being held they selected a former judge manuel urudia who at the time was a key anti-batista lobbyist in the united states 1958 was a year of grinding action against the regime with and hit-and-run attacks designed to weaken the abilities of the regime targets naturally included both military and the police but also property targets including sugar mills and sugar plantations these were natural targets for the revolutionary groups as they were key drivers of the cuban economy and therefore the source of the regime's income in the same vein tourism also became a prominent target with a bombing campaign in havana as well as general unrest which kept potential visitors to the island away as instability grew the united states made the decision to distance itself from the batista regime imposing an arms embargo in march of 1958 this move proved to be a significant nail in the coffin of the cuban government as it removed one of the key advantages that batista held over the resistance movements deprived of new weapons and supplies the fight against the increasing power and popularity of the rebels became significantly more difficult with unrest increasing the june elections that were to be held were rescheduled but this only served to create a new wave of greater unrest with the communists led by juan marineo calling for a general strike batista's response to these escalations was to move to crush the rebel movements once and for all on may 24 operation varano or spring was planned against the 26th of july movement in the sierra maestra verano consisted of six battalions on the ground with support from both air and naval units they aimed to block in the rebels and isolate them preventing their resupply before moving in to finally destroy them which looked fine on paper except the bulk of the government forces was made up of new recruits with little experience operating in the field fidel and his forces on the other hand were not only combat tested but knew the terrain and how to use it to their advantage on the 28th of june the first engagement took place as army units moved out from the estrada palama sugar mill located north of santiago cuba revel troops under the command of che guevara spraying an ambush on the government troops killing 86 soldiers while only losing three of their own two weeks later battalion 18 was landed at the mouth of the flapa river west of santiago cuba their goal was to surround the movement's base just to the north but another ambush was triggered and a week of fighting ensued resulting in 40 soldiers killed but 240 soldiers taken prisoner by the rebels many of these prisoners would not only just lay down their arms but driven by low morale in the army joined the rebel movement now during the battle of la plata battalion 17 had been blocked by rebel forces from supporting the ill-fated battalion 18 but as battalion 17 was pulled back they planned an ambush of their own in the hopes that castro would follow them the rebels took the bait and in the battle of las vegas the rebel forces were surrounded by battalion 17 which inflicted heavy damage in a last-ditch effort to save the rebellion castro proposed a ceasefire to the cuban commander general cantillo who for reasons which still remain unclear accepted castro's offer this allowed castro who had suffered 70 dead to withdraw his rebels back into their safe areas to rearm and regroup this ended operation varano a victory for castro if only one of reputation his forces had engaged the cuban military and not only just survived but demonstrated the weakness of the government by extension he was now firmly seen as the main leader of the cuban revolution the summer of 1958 was also marked by the kidnapping of foreign civilians by the pro-castro forces these civilians were mostly american citizens and the goal was very much to put pressure on the united states to end its support for the batista regime on june 26 10 americans and two canadians were kidnapped from the freeport sulfur company headquarters the very next day 28 american sailors were kidnapped from a bus traveling outside of the guantanamo bay naval base this obviously sparked a massive outcry and castro looking to avoid a massive american backlash ordered the release of the prisoners inside of the week kidnapping had been a favorite tactic of the rebels looking to bring attention to their cause although the release of the american sailors scaled down its use it had been a successful tactic its victims even included a five-time formula one champion driver juan manuel fangio who was kidnapped on the eve of the 1958 cuban grand prix but released after 29 hours to the care of the argentinian embassy these kidnappings while certainly high in profile did nothing to win the love of the castro rebels in the eyes of the west incidentally the grand prix went ahead and was won by sterling moss but back to operation verano the failure of the operation to break the rising tide of the revolution was not just a standalone failure it had consequences the batista regime lost any momentum it had handing over the initiative to the rebels bolstered by the weapons that they had captured during operation verano in october of 1958 castro along with other rebel groups went on the offensive coming down from the sierra maestro mountains castro attacked into oriented province capturing the towns of mafo contra maestra and central oriente by december the towns of jomento cabagoin and placentas had all been captured by other rebel groups these three towns were not located in the south of the island but were southeast of santa clara in central cuba the rebellion and its action was spreading by late december ciguavara and his forces had joined up with the rebels of the revolutionary directorate in the escambre region south of santa clara while on december 30th a column of rebels led by camilo cinfuegos defeated government forces in jagahuai northwest of santa clara this combined action opened the road to the main city of central cuba forces led by guava moved on santa clara occupying the city batista launched a counter-attack to dislodge the rebels and recapture the city but government troops under the command of colonel castillas were unable to get past the defenses that shea and his troops had established in a final attempt to dislodge the rebels from the city batista dispatched a train to his forces in the region loaded with men weapons and ammunition the train however proved to be the final straw for the government as it was captured by guava and his men with 350 government soldiers and officers laying down their arms and surrendering without putting up any resistance santa clara was captured and held by december 30th 1958 effectively cutting the island in two the rebels were now well armed well motivated and were ready to move on the key prize havana the day after santa claus fell was a momentous one a general strike was begun aimed at bringing the government to a standstill but more importantly january 1 1959 was the day that batista not only stepped down from power but gave up power handing control over to the commander of the cuban army general eulogio cantillo and with that the bloody batista regime was done thousands of cubans had lost their lives into the regime and wealth and racial inequality had grown wider between those few at the top and those not born to privilege the close association of the united states to the cuban government had furthered the already tainted reputation of the united states not only in cuba itself but across latin america a new era in cuba was very clearly dawning and it was evident that fidel castro was going to be the face of a new cuba castro still in the south of the island began talks to assume control of santiago de cuba which he did on january 2nd 1959 once in the city he spoke from the balcony of the city hall proclaiming the victory of the revolution refusing to recognize the authority of cantillo sien fuegos and cuevada meanwhile had quickly moved their troops towards havana entering the city at around the same time that fidel was entering santiago with the capital now occupied the cantillo presidency collapsed and manuel ulutia leo a leftist lawyer who would oppose batista was named as the new president with a cabinet largely made up of castro's supporters urutia's selection as president is often attributed to him being both educated and christian making him a more moderate candidate that the united states could accept but despite uruthia being the nominal new leader of cuba the real power still lay with the rebels who retained their weapons political power through the barrel of a gun and all of that castro entered the capital on january 8th and took up residence in the penthouse of the havana hilton hotel and proclaimed himself the representative of the rebel armed forces of the presidency although he wasn't officially in power he began to exert his influence to influence both corruption and illiteracy across the island at the same time he began a campaign to punish supporters of the batista regime especially those who had participated in repressions now this is also when political parties were outlawed although it was promised at the time that the ban was only temporary measure while the situation on the island was stabilized t-shirt icon che guevara at this point was granted cuban citizenship and put in charge of la cabana the 18th century fortress complex that was to be used as a prison it was at la cabana that representatives of the batista government were taken and put on trial these trials however fell well short of any requirements for due process and impartiality and hundreds of people were executed despite the lack of proper due process the majority of the cuban population was in favor of the drastic actions carried out by guevara at la cabana and fidel rejected any criticism by calling the executions acts of revolutionary justice on february 16 1959 fidel became the prime minister of cuba he replaced jose miro cardona who had been appointed to the office by urudia only six weeks prior cardona had made a decision to close down all the brothels and casinos on the island which castro feared would cause mass unemployment and destabilize the country castro still wanted to close the casinos and brothels but he wanted it postponed until other employment opportunities for the cuban people had been developed in april of 1959 prime minister castro made a trip to the united states at the invitation of the american society of newspaper editors the americans in general were very suspicious of castro's motives on the island and although castro didn't refer to himself as a socialist he was in favor of nationalizing american business in cuba as well as radical agrarian reform to help offset american distrust castro hired a pr firm to help improve his image during his 11-day visit to the united states castro toured new york and washington and was generally seen as a media darling but the trip had some stormy moments including when he abruptly left to talk to the council on foreign relations after being asked some particularly difficult questions the trip did not include a meeting with president eisenhower who pointedly made himself unavailable by going golfing so instead castro met with vice president nixon who concluded that castro was quote either incredibly naive about communism or under communist discipline my guess is the former end quote upon returning to cuba reforms began to be implemented some of the earliest of these included decreasing the salaries of judges and government officials while at the same time increasing the wages paid to lower level bureaucrats the cost of rent electricity gas and other utilities were decreased but these were small compared to what came next agrarian reform on the 17th of may fidel appointed himself the head of the national agrarian institute of reform and proclaimed his first agrarian reform package as part of the program any piece of land or farm over 3 33 acres and any real estate over 1 000 acres was to be expropriated by the state and then either redistributed to farmers in strips of land no larger than 67 acres per household or be taken into ownership of the state in addition foreign ownership of sugar plantations was expressly forbidden owners were offered compensation by means of cuban currency bonds the effect of this reform package ended the vast american ownership of cuban land two hundred thousand peasant households received land and sixty percent of land in cuba was now owned by peasants and small holders with the rest being owned by the state there was also the beginning of a program to encourage cuban peasants to accept collectivization and begin to use land owned by the state as you might expect these reforms were not well received by everybody unsurprisingly the american business elite reacted poorly to having their major interests stripped away from them additionally though cuban liberals and anti-communists were also unhappy with the reforms fearing that cuba was becoming a socialist state against this background the head of the chief of the revolutionary air force of cuba pedro luis diaz resigned his position and immediately left cuba for the united states where he would become heavily involved in the anti-castro movement even being recruited by the cia diaz's defection was denounced by president urudia but he himself began to express concern and criticism for the increasingly communist policies that castro was implementing in response to this criticism fidel resigned as prime minister which resulted in a huge crowd maybe as many as 500 000 people all caster's supporters gathering at the presidential palace calling for the resignation of president urudia this gathering was largely prompted by castro making a television appearance that day denouncing uruthia as hindering the progress of the revolution bowing to the clear will of the people his resignation was tendered fidel then resumed his position as prime minister and appointed one of his loyalists osvaldo dorticos dorado as the new president the consolidation of power had begun overall 1959 and 1960 were years of massive socialist reforms on august 6 1960 for example the cuban telephone company three oil refineries and 21 sugar factories were nationalized in september 1960 cuban banks as well as large trade and industrial companies which were owned by either foreigners or bautista supporters were also nationalized october 1960 saw a housing reform go through which saw housing properties nationalized by the state and then redistributed among the people all of these reforms resulted in huge losses for the cuban upper class as well as american businesses but resulted in gains for the poor of cuba politically though castro continued to postpone political reformation while he also became increasingly reluctant to engage in any power sharing deals with other factions che guevara and raul castro were given ministerial positions which helped to solidify fidel's control but also sent a significant signal to cuba and the world that the cuban revolution was turning into a socialist revolution by the autumn of 1959 the independent press in cuba had been all but banned and former revolutionary leaders including uber matos and william morgan had been arrested for their opposition to the marxist direction that castro was leading the revolution the national revolutionary militia was established a volunteer defense force committed to furthering the aims of the revolution as well as the committees for the defense of the revolution a wide network of citizens groups who acted as community watchdogs to observe people's behavior and conduct and ensure loyalty to the revolution the results of the creation of these two bodies was the start of large-scale arrests of those considered not loyal to the emerging regime in july of 1961 the integrated revolutionary organizations was formed by merging fidel's 26th of july movement together with the popular socialist party and the revolutionary directorate the merged organization would later go on to become the cuban communist party now the revolution was having a considerable impact on cuban society namely as the castro regime moved more and more to the left a brain drain began to form qualified professionals from a wide variety of different spheres left cuba with many heading to the united states these professionals and intellectuals were joined by those unhappy that their economic privileges were taken away but not everyone who opposed castro fled cuba some anti-castro groups even took up arms and took to the hills recreating the gorilla movement that had overthrown batista in fact one of the main forces involved was the second national front of the escambre led by eloy guiterrez menoyo who had been involved in the march 1957 attack on bautista at the presidential palace and had then been a leader in the fight against batista and it wasn't just the relationship between castro and some cubans that was becoming strained their relationship between cuba and the united states was also fraying rapidly washington was most upset with the expropriations of american-owned land property and other business assets in response washington imposed a ban on the import of cuba's main export and currency generator sugar it also allowed for a much more streamlined immigration process for anti-castro cubans and began supporting anti-castro groups operating in cuba on the 4th of march 1960 a french-flagged freighter la cubra which was offloading belgian-made munitions in havana harbor exploded between 75 and 100 people were killed in two explosions castro almost immediately and without any actual evidence publicly blamed the united states for the explosion ending his speech by saying or muerte fatherland or death not inflammatory at all right incidentally the explosion of la cubra was likely caused by sabotage by an anti-castro group working in the port of havana and not directly by the cia has is often implied in september of 1960 castro returned to the united states but this time he did not go to meet with u.s officials but rather to attend a general assembly session of the united nations during his time in new york fidel met instead with other leaders including malcolm x the prominent spokesman for the nation of islam as well as the corn lord himself nikita khrushchev this meeting with the soviet leader is interesting because up until that point cuba had had very few dealings with the ussr in fact moscow had been rather standoffish unsure of fidel's ideological leanings but as the u.s cuban relationship increasingly turned into a train wreck the soviets were happy to step in eventually making cuba moscow's most important ally in the americas now while fidel was at the general assembly he got up and spoke giving the longest speech in the general assembly's history clocking in at an impressive four and a half hours during which he largely criticized american imperialism in latin america starting from the 2nd of january of 1961 u.s cuban relations collapsed it began when fidel ordered the u.s embassy in havana to downsize to no more than 11 people the americans responded the next day responding that the cuban action was quote designed to achieve an effective termination of diplomatic and consular relations between the government of cuba and the government of the united states accordingly the government of the united states hereby formally notifies the government of cuba of the termination of such relations end quote in short the us response was to terminate diplomatic relations this was the final blow for any hope of castro steering away from the socialist path as cuba would begin to forge significantly deeper ties to moscow and the socialist world the united states now had to contend with a socialist state only 90 miles off the coast of florida washington began preparation and planning for an ultimately ill-fated operation to remove castor from power before he could complete a total consolidation of power but the fiasco that became the bay of pigs invasion will be the subject of a future video if you've enjoyed today's episode and to make sure you don't miss all of our future episodes please make sure you subscribe to our channel and have led a multi-year guerrilla campaign against general kampana i would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our supporters and if you aren't a patron please consider supporting us at www.patreon.com thecoldwar or through youtube membership we can be reached via email at thecoldwar channel at gmail.com this is the cold war channel and as we think about the cold war i will leave you with the words of jfk in the final analysis our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet we all breed the same air we all cherish our children's future and we are all mortal

Channel: The Cold War

Views: 198,808

Keywords: batista, castro, cuba, cuban, revolution, Stalin, Cold War, josip broz tito, soviet union, stalin documentary, kings and generals, operation unthinkable, the cold war, soviet, world war II, USSR, US, America, capitalism, west, east, us, ussr, un, reconstruction, pows, hungary, china, vietnam, marshal plan, stalin, france, nato, united states, denazification, uk, malenkov, khrushchev, eisenhower, Miles Copeland, Egypt, suez crisis, warsaw pact, east germany, maclean, cambridge five, spy, sino-soviet split, fidel

Id: kDeKySs_nxw

Length: 40min 23sec (2423 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 02 2022