I hadn't realized that Castro was a Jesuit educated lawyer. The key here being Jesuit educated. You don't want to go against those guys. I can sort of remember the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1956-58. At least I was aware that something was going on in Cuba and I had the impression that the USA wasn't really opposing Castro at the time. In fact, the USA refused to support Batista, who was the unelected President of Cuba at the time, although others say the USA was proping up Batista. Castro led a poorly armed band of less than 200 men against the Cuban police and army that numbered over 30,000.
But I cannot find a good website that explains the US role in the Cuban Revolution and whether we wanted Castro to win or Batista to remain in power. Nor can I find out whether the USA made diplomatic errors that resulted in Castro becoming a partner of the Soviet Union.
I really, really, want to visit Cuba. It would be like going back in time to the 50's I suspect.
UPDATE: According to this article, JFK secretly tried to normalize relations with Cuba in the early 1960's.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I remember hearing about the diplomatic errors we made with Castro. Seems we were kind of indifferent - brought him up to NYC, but put him in a shitty hotel. ALong came the Russian ambassador in a limo to take him off to somewhere swank. Dropping the ball.
I think that's close to what happened, but it was ten years ago.
On Amazon, check out "The Man who Invented Fidel: Castro, Cuba and Herert L. Matthews of the New York Times" by Anthony Depalma. I think I'll order a used copy.
I had a friend whose family was terrified of what was about to happen and left Cuba just at the end of Batista's regime. Strange now to remember that with all that has occurred over all these years.
Sara's Mom, Mary
Post a Comment