Fidel Castro Is The Man Associated With The Failure And

Fidel Castro is the man associated with the failure and success of Cuba throughout the 20th Century. This essay will explore his role and influence in one of humanity s darkest moments, the Cuban missile crisis, which was a defining moment in Castro’s political life. As the leader of Cuba during the Cold War and Cuban missile crisis, he was responsible for defending Cuba sovereignty and interests amongst the superpower - the United States and Soviet Union. Memoirs would argue that former US President Kennedy believed Castro was a very important player in the Cold War while others believed he was Khrushchev’s pawn helping the Soviet Union carry out a proxy war in Cuba against the United States. Using memoirs and primary and secondary†¦show more content†¦As a result of this Cuban-Soviet partnership, Washington grew more concerned as communist ideologies and Soviet influence creeped close to American shores. The US feared Castro’s example of a thriving soc ialist state under a Communist party rule in the American sphere of influence would spark similar uprisings throughout Latin and South America. Castro’s alliance with the Soviet Union and socialist ideology would start the breakdown of US relations with Cuba. His strategic and military alliance with the Soviet Union would make him a threat to US principles and national security. In 1961 the White House’s high-level advisory group determined that â€Å"the US could not live with Castro†. The group concluded that the only solution, other than a full invasion of Cuba, was economic and diplomatic measures. There were numerous plots to overthrow Castro and some of them were extremely unusual. The CIA attempted to spray lysergic acid diethylamide (LDS) in Castro’s radios station, hoping he would babble incoherently and thus lose credibility. They tried to lace a box of his favourite cigars with a mind-altering drug, hoping he would smoke one before going on air. They hired a hitman from the Florida mob. They even dusted his shoes with depilatory salts, hoping that his hair and beard fell out so he would lose his domestic appeal. As you can see, none of these worked. The infamous Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 was the most serious attempt byShow MoreRelatedCuban Writer: Reinaldo Arenas1499 Words   |  6 Pagesautobiographical in his work, and as it would appear in his New Yorker interview, this is where his passion and writing flourished. Reinaldo Arenas used his own marginalized voice as openly homosexual man in Cuba and commentary on Castro’s regime to challenge the persecution of the individual in Cuba. In 1961, Fidel Castro, Cuba’s dictator, introduced the Marxist-Leninist ideology to the Cuban people, â€Å"by grafting it onto the images, symbols, values, and concepts of Cuban nationalism† (Medin 53). 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