History as noted on the Cuban Crisis.

[j.sabourn]

The Cuban crisis had a post on it once before. This was mainly by people such as myself who were involved in same whether knew it or not. Whatever we believed, saw, or were involved with does not matter to others as the history of such has already been written and is as follows.......

In 1959 a left wing revolution led by Fidel Castro born in 1927 ousted the corrupt regime of Fulgencio Batista in Cuba.Castro was a lawyer who had previously been exiled to the USA and Mexico . The revolution was originally welcomed by the USA , but relations soured as Castro nationalised American owned property and declared himself a Marxist. His revolutionary comrade Ernesto “Che” Guevara 1928-67 began to transfer Cuba’s economic ties from the USA to the USSR.
After US- backed Cuban exiles mounted a failed invasion at the Bay Of Pigs in 1961 . Castro turned increasingly to the USSR for political support, in 1962 he permitted the USSR to build missile bases in Cuba , these were detected by US aerial surveys on Oct. 14th. The US saw this as a direct threat and blockaded Cuba. The rest is also history and most of those who know nothing about the reason should know what the response was. Most of us on this site already know the full story and most of us lived through the total period trading with Cuba . But there will be others who don’t know. It was the closest thing that the present generation came to. WW 111 and should not be forgotten how easy it is to start .
This is as said the official version and is now down in the history books.
JS.....

[Louis the fly]

It should also be said, Castro kicked out the mafia who owned and ran the casino's. He nationalised the US owned sugar industry who were paying starvation level wages to the Cuban workers. He introduced a free education system for children who had never before had the opportunity of schooling. The health programme he set up provided health care for all and the Cuban trained doctors and nurses were recognized as some of the worlds best often travelling to disaster zones around the world to provide medical assistance.
None of this went down well with the US masters who had kept the corrupt dictator, Batista, in power and they never gave up on their attempts to kill him. Some say the Cuban revolution and the failed Bay of Pigs invasion was the reason behind the assassination of Jack Kennedy but we will never know.

[j.sabourn]

Everyone’s entitled to their views Louis you stick by them but doubt you will find that in any official history. I was also in Cuba before during and after Castro and have very good recollections of some of the the revenge killings taken . But as said mean nothing to history as you aren’t going to change the official history of cause reason and results. As regards the death of Kennedy try reading the book The Smoking Gun , the forensics alone if true point to a member of his own secret service being responsible for his death. A good pointer to this was why other would his head be severed from his body and sent to Washington seperate from the body. Cheers JS.

[Keith Tindell]

It turned my 6 week trip fro sugar into a 10 month trip, all and but a very enjoyable 10 months. We had reached the 200 mile exclusion zone , installed by the Yanks, things got too hot, so the company turned us for grain from Durban , to OZ, japan etc etc, but it was sneaky bum time for a while, kt

[cappy]

It should also be said, Castro kicked out the mafia who owned and ran the casino's. He nationalised the US owned sugar industry who were paying starvation level wages to the Cuban workers. He introduced a free education system for children who had never before had the opportunity of schooling. The health programme he set up provided health care for all and the Cuban trained doctors and nurses were recognized as some of the worlds best often travelling to disaster zones around the world to provide medical assistance.
None of this went down well with the US masters who had kept the corrupt dictator, Batista, in power and they never gave up on their attempts to kill him. Some say the Cuban revolution and the failed Bay of Pigs invasion was the reason behind the assassination of Jack Kennedy but we will never know.

well louis it sure all looks good...but just one question ....why were thousands upon thousands trying to escape to the US similar to the immigrants and our channel situation ...and if caught just disappeared....even today the numbers trying to get out are in the thousands ....havnt seen many folk trying to get in ....like russia no queues at the door waiting to get in.....but there you are ...try and tell me about venezuela....same game same packdrill......

[j.sabourn]

#6... Maybe they were all mafiosa Cappy. JS

[cappy]

#6... Maybe they were all mafiosa Cappy. JS

Wonder if comrade louisinki has thought of that.....lol cappy

[Lewis McColl]

When did the USA lift the economic embargo against Cuba.

[cappy]

When did the USA lift the economic embargo against Cuba.

probably the same time as russia stopped buying cubas only export ...sugar ..which kept the cubans from starving to death...i recall one cuban with a lorry tire innertube trying to cross shark infested water to get to the states didnt see many trying to get back....but there you are something to argue about ....

[Ivan Cloherty]

#3 I wonder when you were last in Cuba Louis and saw the great results of the revolution. I was there a couple of years ago and the results don't seem to be ideal, no public transport, rail journeys once a day, if they are not cancelled, internal flights require booking 2-3 weeks ahead and are probably cancelled anyway. Two currencies local and tourist, locals can go to prison if they have tourist currency. long queues for food and clothing, children's clothing virtually unobtainable. We had friends who returned before we set off and told us tipping was no good as nothing to buy, take childrens things, We filled a suitcase with kids clothes from Primark, together with excercise books and crayons/pens, toothpaste and brushes (virtually unobtainable in Cuba) and believe me the ladies in our cabin and restaurants cried with thanks when we gave items to them.

Some ideals are great on paper, but in the real world are less so, and as always the proof of the pudding is in the eating.