Fidel Castro

To what extend was Fidel Castros maintaining in power a result of his economic policies?

Fidel Castro was one of the longest ruling leaders in South America. This essay discusses the question if his maintaining in power was caused by his economic policies, namely his agriculture reforms, his reforms towards the ideals of the revolution and communism, the year of the ten million and the fight against the influence of foreigners, or by his social reforms, the influence of the foreign powers of the USSR and USA, the lack of an organized opposition, his personality and war-hero image and the state propaganda.

The main targets of the agricultural reforms are the creation of cooperatives, an increase in the efficiency, the restriction of “rich farmers” that means people who own too much land, a shift away from a monoculture and cheap food supply for the people. To reach these targets the state expropriated landowners with too much land and organized these areas in cooperatives, which were motivated to grow other crops. Everything had to be sold to the government at very low prices. This took motivation from farmers to produce more than they need and lead because of that and the fact that most of the cooperatives were bad organized and not as efficient as expected, to a decrease in productivity. The tries to shift away to a monoculture failed as well, they had to go back to sugar production in 1964.

The restriction of the farmers with too much land was maybe popular with the poorer workers, but that decision did not lead to a higher production or more popularity in the rest of the population; it was still an important reform, especially because it was one of the reasons why the farmers supported him in the revolution.

Even if it was economical not really successful, it gave the population a picture of honesty. The year of the ten million was at the beginning a reaction on the enormous debts of the country, but it became a battle of Cubas pride. I think the Year can be seen as one of Castros biggest failures. The mobilization of the whole population was an incredible effort, the militarization of work was not very successful, the target of the 10 million tons was not reached and the campaign left soldiers disappointed because they were used for the sugar production, the economy damaged because they paid no attention to the other parts of the economy and overused the tools for sugar production and last but not least the population demoralized because they didn’t reach the target, even with this big effort.

Another target of his politics was to minimalize the influence of foreign countries and firms. In the agriculture reforms was all land that was owned by foreigners nationalized and added to the land of the cooperatives. This lead on the one hand to more wealth under the Cubans, but also to a significant mistrust under foreign investors. The landowners were paid in bonds what caused protests of their governments. Especially the relationship to the USA became more and more complicated. Cuba continued with confiscating foreign wealth in the country what lead to the US Embargo in 1960. This had a negative effect on the Cuban sugar export.

The improving relationships with the USSR gave Cuba a new sugar market and access to cheap oil and development help. One of the relative successful politics was the increase in the taxes on luxury goods. This lead to a decrease in import and higher tax income for the government. Interesting is also the enforcement of socialist and communist ideals. We can see that the government tried to nationalize as many firms as possible to enforce the socialist ideas. This lead to an administrative chaos because the organization of so many firms was too complicated for the existing offices and it lead to a decrease of productivity and efficiency.

The government tried also to enforce Che’s ideals of voluntarism and solidarity. The unpaid extra hours and the unification of wages lead to a decrease in working moral, poor working qualities and the massive emigration of specialists. They banned also farmer markets, what lead to difficulties in the food supply of the people. This reforms lead to a first economic crisis at the end of the 60`s. Stabilization was achieved with the adoption of the economic model of the USSR. The economic growth took place till the Rectification campaign 1986 and the return to Che’s working ideals of the new man.

This and the fall of the east bloc in the 1990’s lead to a new economic crisis and the special period in peacetime. An economic stabilization took place with the slow opening for foreign investments and the new tourism industry. Also the opening to the Dollar leads to a success in the form of an increase in demand, because exiled Cubans started to send money back home. Also the concentration on industries like the sugar production, the nickel extraction and the tourism industry lead to a slow positive development of the economy. Important for his maintaining in power were also the social reforms.

Things like higher wages, reduction of pension, the reforms of health and education system, the literacy campaign and the new workingman rights lead to the support of the lower classes for the government. The people were fine with these reforms, therefore they accepted to wait for democratic elections till Castro and the government established laws which enforced the targets of the revolution. These reforms in combination with a new gender politic lead also to the support of women. The government passed laws to enforce the equality of man and woman. They offered women access to better jobs and created daycare centers and other support for working woman. Even if the presence of women in the workforce remained lower than expected, the better situation lead to support for Castro as the membership of the FMC shows.

Soon after the revolution, the Movement started with the consolidation of their power. The liberals were brought out of the government; people inside the movement who were against Castro were imprisoned or exiled. They used show trials against political enemies and restricted the freedom of expression. Also the CDR and the UMAP’s were important weapons against the opposition. All this left the opposition weak and unable to act. Also the fact that people could leave the country was a weakening of the opposition, because a lot of their supporters mainly members of the middle class were leaving the country.

That took the possibility of mass support out of every Anti-Castro movement. Not everybody was willing to stay and go into the opposition; it was easier for most people to leave the country. The support of the Soviet Union was also an important factor. Important for this support was also that he declared in 1961 that he is Marxist-Leninist. Not only that they helped with military support, or the education of teachers, they were also the main sugar buyer. This was important for the economic stability of a monoculture economy like Cuba. It was also an alliance that gave a certain safety against the US, because it made an invasion without the risk of a nuclear war impossible.

The USSR became Cuba’s main trading partner and insurance for political stability. One factor for his maintaining in power was from my point of View also the USA and the bay of pig invasion in the year 1961. Not only that the operation was a failure and let him look like a great military leader, it gave also a visible enemy to the Cubans. The danger from the US became real and Castro looked like the man to defend them from this danger, but for that his leadership had to be accepted. Also the fact that the attack did not lead to uprisings as planned was a consolidation of his power. Additional it reinforced the image of him as a war hero and defender of the nation. It is not only the fact that he had now a visible enemy who united the country that was helpful for his maintaining in power, it was also the possibility to blame this enemy for economical or political difficulties that helped Castro to stay in power. Read the list of microeconomic policies

Most experts agree that his long governing period was also caused by his personality. He was a charismatic leader, a war hero, a skilled politician and was able to turn a defeat into a success. He was well known in Cuba since the attack on the Moncada Barracks. The fight in the Granma expedition and the following guerilla war made him a war hero for most of the Cubans. “The main source of the inspiration and legitimacy of Castro’s revolution, however, has been the Cuban nationalist tradition in its more radical version. Castro saw his movement as a culmination of a time-honoured struggle for independence and development […]. (Sebastian Balfour, Castro, 1990)” Not only he, but also most of the people saw him as a fighter for their independence. As we can see after other independence struggles all over the world, it is highly unlikely that the fighters for independence will lose the support of the population as long as the idols of the revolution, like Raul and Fidel Castro or Che Guevara, are alive. In the first time of the provisional government he gave nearly every day speeches to the people about the targets of the revolution and the next reforms.

Because of that and his fight in the revolution he became one of the best known figures of the government, reforms were connected to him personal. His speaking skills were impressive as he showed in his famous “history will absolve me” speech and a lot of other speeches later. He was also known for his close contact to the people, in the revolution itself he had good relationships with the people in the fighting areas, he and his movement treated them better than the real army, paid for the food they took, explained the targets of the revolution, treated prisoners kindly and gave medical support. “The rebels leaders’ humanity- and excellent strategy- were illustrated in the order to the revolutionary army that captured soldiers were to be treated with kindness, their wounded given medical support.(Leo Huberman and Paul Sweezy, Cuba, 1960)” Also after the revolution he continued with journeys to the rural areas to speak with people about their problems. Because of all this, Fidel became for most Cubans a figure of hope.

I think it can be argued that his economic policies were not the main reason for his long maintaining in power. Even if some reforms had a certain level of success, like the higher taxes on luxury goods or the allowance of the dollar, other ideas damaged the economy in the long run. I think that the two main reasons for his maintaining is on the one hand the role he played in the revolution which was seen as a part of the fight for independence and his personality. He can clearly be seen as an example of a charismatic leader, after the definition of Max Weber (leadership that is resting on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him).

After coming to power in 1959 with the aim of making radical change to the country. He promised to end inequality, corruption and the economic dependency on USA. With these aims, he implemented economic policies to generate economic growth. The ups and downs of Cuba’s economic performance had not affected the state’s considerable investment in social reform, foreign aid and military involvement.

Underpinned by long term credit and trade agreements with USSR, the Cubans had achieved standards of health and literacy rivaling those of developed countries. After his coming to power, Castro had managed to reduce the infant mortality rate, a yardstick of development of development from 60 per thousand live children in 1958 to 13. 2 in 1980. On the eve of the revolution there had been one doctor for 5,000 Cubans, whereas thirty years later there was one per 400. Average life expectancy had risen from 74 to 57 and only 2 percent of the population was illiterate compared to 24 percent in 1958.

All children of primary school age now attended schools whereas only 56 percent had done so before the revolution. The bare figures conceal the extent of social and economic change in Cuba. Castro’s reform aimed to introduce social justice and allow all sectors of society to have equal oppurtunities. Reforms in health, education and the treatment of women and of minorities were implemented among other areas. Some of these reforms clashed with Cuban traditions and culture. Hence, arts played a fundamental role in designing a new Cuban culture in which for instance, the role of women as workers was implemented and promoted.

Castro’s social policies had their main targets as women and education. It evaluated the part played by FMC and the literacy campaign to change the status of women and promote education. One of the most significant changes brought about by the Cuban Revolution has been to the lives and status of women. One of the most significant changes brought about by the Cuban Revolution has been to the lives and status of women. Before 1959 the role of most Cuban women resembled that of other women in the patriarchal societies of Latin America where there existed rigid stereotypes and a division of roles between the sexes in the home and in society.

The undisputed role of a woman was that of wife and homemaker in a family headed by her husband or partner. Women enjoyed few rights and were expected to sacrifice not just their academic potential and broader interests, but also their health and happiness in order to ensure the stability and wellbeing of the family. In cases of maltreatment by men, despite the existence of laws forbidding such treatment, women were given minimal support by the police and the legal establishment. The status of women in Cuba by 1959 was different from that in many latin American countries.

They were only given right to vote in 1934. The 1940 constitution also granted them equality before the law where women could not be discriminated against a work and were to receive equal pay for work. Although women were allowed to vote, study, ad even sue for divorce, pre-revolutionary Cuba remained in many ways a traditional society. Only a few occupations like teaching and nursing were considered to be appropriate for women in the pre-revolutionary years. They were victims of discrimination at work as the jobs with greater pay and responsibility went to men.

Hence in the middle and upper classes, men preferred women to stay at home. The defense to the rights of women at work was largely a response to Cuba’s economic needs. Castro had an aim to achieve modernization and industrialization and to do so women were needed to produce record harvests, woman needed to join the workforce. New legislations were passed reinforcing the equal rights of men and women to access all types of jobs. They were offered training at technical and professional levels. They had entered the fields which were men dominated, such as construction, biotechnology and IT.

In villages the Agrarian reforms had offerd women the opportunity for work in areas like driving and repair of equipment. To facilitate this change and support the women, Castro facilitated the opening of an increasing numbers of daycare centers for working women to help them join the work force. Under Castro, women were expected to work for long hours in the agricultural fields leaving alone their homes and families for long intervals however this most often made conflicts with their husbands. To solve this problem, Castro came up with a new family code which stipulated equality of both the sexes at home and work.

Men were expected to share their household duties and the education of children. Despite this Castro had to admit that the presence of women on work fields was always lower than expected. The policies made by Castro were aimed towards encouraging of equality of women seem to have been focused more towards increasing the workforce than gender equality. More than 600,000 Cubans who were idle migrated from the island in 1960’s and hence to fill up the vacancies, women were brought n picture. They were trained for these works which they had denied before and they also played an important part in education and health campaigns.

Cuba in the Batista’s regime had acess to only limited education that too in varied geographical regions, being more restricted in the rural arean and the ghettos of the poor. Hence it was also limited by economic status. In the years preceding 1959, Cuba had the highest ill-literacy rates in ltin America. It had reached a peak of 24% in children under 10 years. Public education was nil, there was no infrastructure or presence of teachers to provide satisfactory quality of educstion while the acess of university was limited to the privelliged classes.

Castr in the sierra time had promised the resurrection of illiteracy within a year for which he needed to solve two initial barrios, the lack of infrastructure and that of teachers. Castro had declared 1961 as the year of education when the rebel army personally taught the illiterate and had launched the famous slogan “If you don’t know; learn, if you know; teach”. Due to the shortages of school buildings, Castro transformed military barracks into educational complexes and many new schools were built all along the city, focusing in the rural and undeveloped areas.

Between 1959 when Fidel began his policy of school expansion and 1962 more schools had been developed than in the past history of 8 years of Cuba. In the following years, Castro implemented a training programme for 271,000 teachers. To reach all areas, they were sent all across the counry to teach people at their homes. Literate citizens were turned into “literate voulenteers” in free time. Each one was dressed in olive green uniforms and were sent to country sideto teach the peasents. In the year of 1962, illiteracy dropped by 4%.

The success of the campaign was spectacular and as such it increased the hopes in revolution. The aim of the literacy campaign had been twofold. First, it sought to fight illiteracy among the poor ans second, it aimed to make middle-classs youth illiterate youth familiarize themelves with the living conditions and the hardships of the poor, and to act in response to the values of the revolution; self service and sacrifice for the state.

Who was to blame for the Cuban missile crisis? The U. S had part of this crisis as they overreacted to the fact that the U. S. S. R was importing missiles into Cuba. They made Cuba tense because they tried to invade Cuba twice. The Cubans needed and help and the U. S. S. R were there to help. If the U. S didn’t try to invade Cuba then it wouldn’t cause so much tension thus the crisis not happening. Also if they haven’t set up a base in Turkey then this wouldn’t have led the Russians to put missiles in Cuba. Over-reacted to situation and led to escalation of conflict. The U.

S wanted to help Cuban exiles to overthrow the Castro government (which was hostile to USA). CIA under President Eisenhower had sought to help the anti-Castro rebels to overthrow the regime. Organised Operation Zapata that was carried out on 17th April 1961. Failed miserably. America followed this with Operation Mongoose which aimed to destabilise Cuba through acts of sabotage, economic warfare through embargo on Cuban imports, increasing Cuban’s diplomatic isolation through its expulsion from the Organisation of American States and simulating military exercises (code named Ortsac) aimed at toppling an imaginary dictator. Edwards, 2002: 127-8). America was trying to topple Castro through isolating Cuba, and in doing so, increased the hostility of the Castro regime against the USA and accentuated the fear of invasion, thereby prompting Castro to turn to Moscow for help to defend Cuba from America. (Because Castro was aware that Cuba could not possibly defend herself against America. ) (Edwards 2002: 126, 128) The U. S. S. R is also to blame as they were taking advantage of the fact that Cuba was close to the U. S. This creates tension for the U.

S as this poses a threat to their security. This act made the U. S feel threatened thus taking action. Should not have gotten involved with Cuba? Feb 1960: Extended $100 million worth of credits to Cuba. (Edwards, 2002: 125) May 1962: USSR deployed regiments and weapons to Cuba, including nuclear cruise missiles and mid-range ballistic missiles that could strike targets in USA’s interior. Had stationed 40,000 military personnel in Cuba. This was an indication of economic expansion into an area that ranked high on America’s defence priority.

Sponsorship of Castro’s regime and subsequent creation of a de-facto military base in Cuba appeared to be a deliberate affront to America’s national security. Cuba’s strategic importance to America can be likened to Poland’s importance to USSR. Transporting of military aid (especially missiles) to Cuba thus escalated a crisis between 2 neighbouring countries into a Cold War issue that threatened World peace. Cuba can also be blamed, they got paranoid over the U.

S invasion so they used one of the powerful countries to guarantee its safety. If they weren’t as paranoid Manipulated super-power politics to guarantee security of borders and to legitimise the new Castro regime . E. g. Turned to USSR for economic and military help, so that it would not have to play the role of a submissive little brother to America. Castro: “Moscow is our brain and our great leader. ” By using USSR as a counter-weight to USA, Cuba was shrewdly manipulating super-power politics for its own advantage.

Castro was aware that Cuba’s distance from Moscow meant that it would be given a large measure of independence from Moscow, as opposed to the tight leash that it would be kept on had they decided to concede to American superiority. Therefore, the escalation of conflict was to some extent orchestrated by Cuba for her own benefit, as it meant that she would not have to fight the American behemoth on her own, but had USSR’s backing. Consequences to missile Cuban crisis-) Led to a thaw in USA-USSR relations, as both parties were aware that their rivalry had almost led to an all-out nuclear war (mutually-assured destruction).

Establishment of direct hotline from Washington White House to Kremlin to facilitate high level discussion between leaders of the 2 countries so as to help defuse tensions. (20th June 1963)Signing of the nuclear test-ban treaty (June 1963). Both countries agreed to cease atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons. But underground testing was still permitted. However, take note that although the Cuban Missile Crisis ended, US hostility towards Cuban regime continued, even though Kennedy briefly explored the option of negotiating with Castro via unofficial channels.

Resumption of Operation Mongoose June 1963. Acts of economic sabotage organised by CIA. Plans to assassinate Castro (Operation Condor) remained in place. Therefore, this shows clearly that it was USSR’s involvement that made the conflict between Cuba and USA escalate into the Cuban Missile Crisis in the first place, due to USSR’s provision of missiles to Cuba. Without USSR’s involvement, it would have remained a conflict between America and Cuba. USSR, USA and Cuba all had a part to play in the utbreak of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but it was USA who first over-reacted to the threat posed by a leftist regime in Cuba, and had created a self-fulfilling prophecy by taking unjustified pre-emptive strikes such as Operation Zapata and Mongoose that scared Cuba into thinking that her national security was threatened, and thus made her turn to USSR as a strong backer in order to secure her own security. Thus USA was chiefly to blame as she tried to secure her national interest at the expense of other nations, and thus led to the escalation of tensions as nations sought to secure their self-interest by scaring the other into retreat.

Had USA not over-reacted, a peaceful compromise could have been achieved earlier and the scare that was the Cuban Missile Crisis could have been averted. Moreover, USSR’s delving into the conflict was also partly in response to previous US stationing of Jupiter missiles in Turkey, which had essentially held USSR at gun-point, thus USSR’s decision to place missiles in Cuba was justified as it was trying to make USA understand the peril of being placed at gun-point. Therefore, I disagree with the above statement, as USA, more than USSR was to blame for the outbreak of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The year 1961 saw the attempt of Cuban exiles to replace the Cuban government led by Fidel Castro, and it was on April 17 on the same year when aerial bombings were launched as an attack by a coalition backed by the United States against Cuba which later came to be known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Although the United States helped in the planning and in the funding of the invasion, it failed right after the night landing of the invasion was discovered which led to the defeat of the invasion just within three days.

It is because of the immediate discovery and the reports about the invasion which practically enabled the Cuban government of Castro to frustrate the invasion and capture a large number of invaders. The consequence of the failed invasion is for Castro to start obtaining nuclear warheads from the Soviet government in the fear of another invasion backed by the United States, thereby leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis. History The history of the Bay of Pigs invasions stems before the time of the Kennedy administration.

Miller and Miller observe that the strains between the relations of Cuba and America stems back from immigration issues. They observe that: As the number of immigrants increased, relations with Cuba began to deteriorate after 1959. In June 1960 U. S. oil refineries in Cuba refused to process Russian crude oil. The Cuban government retaliated by nationalizing the oil refineries. On July 5, 1960, the Cuban government nationalized all U. S. property in Cuba.

In retaliation, the United States canceled Cuba’s sugar export quota. This action amounted to an economic sanction against Cuba (Miller and Miller, p. 53). In the following years, the tension between the two countries grew and the desire to free Cuba from the leadership of Castro intensified. Miller and miller notes: Attempts to free Cuba from Castro’s regime began under the Eisenhower administration, and under the Kennedy administration, U. S. -Cuban relations continued to deteriorate.

Less than three months after becoming president, Kennedy authorized an invasion of Castro’s regime by Cuban exiles on April 17, 1961. Regrettably for the United States, the 1,500-man exile force was defeated in less than 72 hours. The invasion increased Castro’s political power and popularity. As William Goodwin, a White House advisor, stated: “It made him even more of a hero as the man who had defended Cuba against the greatest power in the world (Miller and Miller, p. 54). “

Almost a year before the actual Bay of Pigs Invasion, the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency recommended to then-President Dwight Eisenhower a plan to equip Cuban exiles and use them for action against the newly established socialist Cuban government led by Fidel Castro. Since it was the policy of the American government to provide military, logistics and strategic assistance to guerilla forces fighting the government of Castro, the CIA pursued to train Cuban exiles for the mission.

Among the first plans to be adopted for the invasion is to land the Cuban exiles near the city of Trinidad, Cuba since the site gave a handful of choices for the brigade of Cuban exiles to exploit at the height of the invasion in the coming days. At the least, the site gave the exiles the advantage of a beach landing and of returning to the mountains for a possible retreat as the necessity would arise. However, the progress of the plans to invade Cuba led to several changes such as the change in the landing spot for Brigade 2506 from Trinidad to the Bay of Pigs.

As a result, contacts with the rebels situated in the Escambray Mountains were cut thereby reducing the military support the Cuban exiles needed. Further, senior KGB operatives Osvaldo Sanchez Cabrera and “Aragon” warned the Cuban government about the forthcoming invasion, thus giving Castro and his military men the time to anticipate and plan their counter moves against the U. S. -backed offensive. All these changes in the invasion plan under the helm of President Kennedy after seeking information to his advisors if the overthrow of Fidel Castro could be tied with weapon shipments.

The Invasion The invasion could be divided into at least three actions: sea, air and land offensives. The invasion was initiated with three flights of B-2B bombers on the early hours of April 15, 1961. As aircrafts with the markings of the Cuban Fuerza Armada Revolucionaria (CRAF) flew over and bombarded the airfields of Antonio Maceo International Airport, San Antonio de los Banos and Ciudad Libertad, counter air attacks against the CRAF, named Operation Puma, were also formed.

In the attempt to paralyze the air force of the Cuban government through the air attacks, the first air operations failed primarily because the air strikes were discontinued as opposed to what was original intended. There was a second attempt to foil the air force of the Cuban government by launching another air attack. However, the second plan was cancelled because President Kennedy hoped to make the operation look as if the Cuban exiles were the ones responsible in the attacks and not the U. S. government.

By doing so, the American government can easily deny accusations of being held responsible for the operation. The cancellation of the air assaults on the air fields of Cuba largely contributed to the failure of the invasion and the deaths of many Cuban exiles. Almost two days after the failed air strikes, approximately 1,300 Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs situated at the Cuban southern coast. Armed with weapons provided by the American government, the exiles intended to proceed to Havana in the hopes of gaining local support.

At first, the invaders were able to suppress the ground militia at the beach, forcing the Cuban forces to surrender. It was under the prerogative of President Kennedy to use air force to support ground troops but he never opted to do so. As a result, the armies of the government of Castro were able to stop the invading forces at the Bay of Pigs. Naval offenses also took a crucial role in the offensives, with the invader ship Blagar fighting off Cuban aircrafts and with the naval forces of Castro losing at least one ship, the P.

C. Baire. The aftermath Although the exact number of deaths for the Cuban government is widely disputed, it can hardly be argued that the death toll went by the thousands. Interestingly, even though the casualties among the Cuban government were higher in contrast to the invading forces, the Castro government ended up gaining as much as $53 million worth of food and medicine in exchange for the lives of the captured exiles who were sentenced to thirty years in prison for treason.

However, negotiations for the release of the captured exiles took almost twenty months which started from the demand of Castro for 500 large tractors to his demand of $28 million. In the end, 1,113 prisoners were released in exchange for $53 million worth of food and medicine; the funds were supposedly obtained from private donations. It was also reported that President Kennedy hesitated to back the ground forces of the Cuban exiles with further air strikes because Kennedy did not want a full scale war. In doing so, Kennedy effectively abandoned the Cuban exiles fighting on the ground against the forces of Fidel Castro.

More importantly, the CIA believed that the invasion would lead to a spark in the sentiment of the people against the government of Castro thereby gaining the support of the Cubans with the offensive. In its entirety, Erich Weede observes that the failure of the invasion reinforced the ironies in the decisions and motives of the United States. Weede argues that: The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 was the most important case of vacillation and inconsistency: President John F. Kennedy would have liked to get rid of Fidel Castro and to replace him by a more friendly government, but he did not want to send in U.

S. troops when Cuban exiles were not up to the task. The Bay of Pigs disaster only reinforced Castro’s hostility toward the United States (Weede, p. 136). Thus, one of the consequences of the failure in the Bay of Pigs is the increased hostility of Fidel Castro towards the United States, which also led to his forging an informal alliance with the Soviet Union, a nation which has been a firm opponent of America. The observation of Weede reinforces the idea that Kennedy was playing things safe, owing to the fact that Cuban exiles were the primary ‘tools’ in engaging the Cuban government into a hostile battle.

Piero Gleijeses further notes that one of the causes of the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasions is the “miscommunication between the CIA and the White House” and that it would have been “politically costly for Kennedy to have aborted the operation” (Gleijeses, p. 2). He stresses the point that: The Bay of Pigs was approved because the CIA and the White House assumed they were speaking the same language when, in fact, they were speaking in utterly different tongues (Gleijeses, p. 2). Gleijeses’ observation indicates that the “miscommunication between the CIA and the White House (Gleijeses, p.

2)” contributed to the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, stemming back to the discontinuation of the plans first determined prior to the attacks at the Bay. At the aftermath of the failed attempt to invade Cuba right from the Bay of Pigs, Lucien Vandenbroucke observed that Kennedy and his advisers “did not carefully weigh competing alternatives and then select the invasion of Cuba as the best policy” without taking into account the fact that “Castro had over 200,000 men in arms and the benefit of the Guatemalan precedent” (Vandenbroucke, p. 472).

He further noted that: Carried out deftly enough to conceal the American hand, [the Bay of Pigs invasion] promised to deal with Castro while preserving the United State’s image. In short, then, the rational actor model suggests that the lack of other viable alternatives prompted the choice of the invasion, which appeared best in terms of a rational cost-benefit analysis (Vandenbroucken, p. 472). There is little or no disagreement over the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion which resulted to the increased tension between the United States and Cuban governments.

As the tensions increased, Fidel Castro apparently looked for ways to strengthen his military capabilities and, thus, the military aid by the Soviet Union in terms of nuclear warheads was a tempting option to be easily discarded. The years that followed soon paved the way for the Cuban Missile Crisis which further smeared the capabilities of the Kennedy administration to handle tough situations which involve the security of the United States.

Had the Bay of Pigs invasion been a success, there were promising chances for the American government to further launch successful offensives against the Castro government with the aid of the Cuban exiles (Dominguez, p. 20). Works Cited Dominguez, Jorge I. “Us-Cuban Relations in the 1980s: Issues and Policies. ” Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 27. 1 (1985): 20. Gleijeses, Piero. “Ships in the Night: The Cia, the White House and the Bay of Pigs. ” Journal of Latin American Studies 27. 1 (1995): 2. Miller, Willard E. , and Ruby M. Miller. “The U. S.

Invasion of Cuba: The Bay of Pigs. ” United States Immigration: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1996. 53, 54. Vandenbroucke, Lucien S. “Anatomy of a Failure: The Decision to Land at the Bay of Pigs. ” Political Science Quarterly 99. 3 (1984): 472. Weede, Erich. ” Patterns of International Conflict During the Cold War and the Contemporary Challenge. ” Economic Development, Social Order, and World Politics: With Special Emphasis on War, Freedom, the Rise and Decline of the West, and the Future of East Asia. Boulder, CO: Boulder Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1996. 136.