Castro From Cuba example essay topic

Effect of the Bay of Pigs Invasion In late 1959, Cuba was experiencing a slow move in the direction of communism. It was also during this time when the Central Intelligence Agency stepped up its surveillance of Fidel Castro. This pro-communist leader was very well liked with the people of Cuba, a charismatic leader, but a threat to national security because of his communist activities. The events leading to the fiasco at the Bay of Pigs incident became one of embarrassment and criticism. Afterwards this led to the build-up of arms and nuclear weapons in Cuba with Russia's help. In 1959 when Fidel Castro ousted Fulgencio Batista from Cuba, our interests there were in danger, so the United States took more of a defensive stance.

While in Caracas, Venezuela in 1959, a man by the name of Jake Engler observed the arrival of the pro-communist Castro, and noticed the hero-type welcome that Castro received upon his arrival. This alarmed him, so he wrote a letter to Colonel J.C. King (chief of the CIA's western hemisphere) about the matter, stating in his letter that there was a "real problem in Cuba". King called a meeting of several of the CIA's high-ranking officials and this is where the Bay of Pigs operation was conceived. Richard Mervin Bissell, Jr., who was the CIA's chief of covert operations, assigned the job of Bay of Pigs project leader to Jake Engler. Engler had been CIA chief of station in Caracas from 1957 to 1960, had had direct involvement with the CIA's 1954 coup in Guatemala, and knew many Cuban exiles, so it was decided that they would train approximately 30 Cubans to organize a "typical Latin political upheaval" to oust Castro from Cuba. This way the U.S. could make it appear as if they were not directly involved, and thwart the spread of communism even closer to North America.

From the end of World War II until the mid-eighties, a good number of Americans could be in agreement that communism was the foe. It (communism) wanted to destroy our way of life and alter the freest country in the world. Communism is an economic system in which one person or a group of persons manages the entire country's government. The main purpose of it is to make the social and economic status of all individuals the same.

From "dictionary. com" - communism is defined as "A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people". Who was directly responsible for the failed Bay of Pigs operation? It was the CIA and President Kennedy. Richard Helms, "the CIA's most experienced spy boss, called the invasion of Cuba harebrained". President Kennedy kept dragging his feet, and didn't want to talk about the invasion, and some of the President's closest advisors were not even aware of the invasion plans at all. Meanwhile, the CIA was busy putting together a rebel force, and working harder than ever to build facilities in which to train these rebel groups.

At the same time, the CIA was also involved in attempts to have Castro killed, by several different means. Once they considered spraying the broadcasting studio that Castro used to make speeches from with a chemical similar to LSD. The chemical was supposed to produce unpredictable behavior, and would make him seem less reliable to his listeners. Another time they laced his cigars with a botulism toxin so powerful that it would kill Castro if he even put one of them in his mouth.

They obviously never made it to Castro. The CIA even resorted to contacts with the "underworld" mafia representatives - to kill Fidel Castro. Allen Dulles, formerly with the OSS and in 1943 became the director of the CIA, and unaware that others in his own agency had conspired to have Castro assassinated. When John Kennedy became President of the United States in 1960, he was informed of the intended invasion on Cuba.

He was told by his advisors that Castro was an unpopular leader and that once they had ousted Castro from Cuba, the Cuban population would support the CIA's trained military. On April 14, B-26 planes started to bomb Cuba, which ended up destroying nearly all of Cuba's aircraft and many pilots. Two days passed before five merchant ships carrying 1,400 Cuban exiles arrived at the Bay of Pigs. The attack was a total failure.

Castro's army sank two of the merchant ships, including the ship carrying most of the supplies, and shot down two planes attempting to give the militants air-cover. Within seventy-two hours all of the invading troops had been either killed, wounded or had surrendered.