These actions were not always carried out on the direct order of the CIA or with its foreknowledge, but the Agency could hardly plead ‘rogue elephant’. It had created an operations headquarters in Miami that was truly a state within a city — over, above, and outside the laws of the United States, not to mention international law, with a staff of several hundred Americans directing many more Cuban agents in just such types of actions, with a budget in excess of $50 million a year, and an arrangement with the local press to keep operations in Florida secret except when the CIA wanted something publicized. ibid.
Title 18 of the US Code declares it to be a crime to launch a ‘military or naval expedition or enterprise’ from the United States against a country with which the United States is not (officially) at war. ibid.
The commando raids were combined with a total US trade and credit embargo, which continues to this day, and which genuinely hurt the Cuban economy and chipped away at the society's standard of living. ibid.
Moreover, pressure was brought to bear upon other countries to conform to the embargo, and goods destined for Cuba were sabotaged: machinery damaged, chemicals added to lubricating fluids to cause rapid wear on diesel engines, a manufacturer in West Germany paid to produce ball-bearings off-center, another to do the same with balanced wheel gears — ‘You're talking about big money,’ said a CIA officer involved in the sabotage efforts, ‘when you ask a manufacturer to go along with you on that kind of project because he has to reset his whole mold. And he is probably going to worry about the effect on future business. You might have to pay him several hundred thousand dollars or more.’ ibid.
What undoubtedly was an even more sensitive venture was the use of chemical and biological weapons against Cuba by the United States … The full extent of American chemical and biological warfare against Cuba will never be known. Over the years, the Castro government has in fact blamed the United States for a number of other plagues which afflicted various animals and crops. And in 1977 newly released CIA documents disclosed that the Agency ‘maintained a clandestine anti-crop warfare research program targeted during the 1960s at a number of countries …’ ibid.
Cuba had become what Washington had always feared from the Third World — a good example. Parallel to the military and economic belligerence, the United States has long maintained a relentless propaganda offensive against Cuba. A number of examples of this occurring in other countries can be found in other chapters of this book. In addition to its vast overseas journalistic empire, the CIA has maintained anti-Castro news-article factories in the United States for decades. ibid.
It’s the early ’70s and we’re experimenting with the first generation of video cameras that were rolling around New York City. Cuba and the Cameraman, Netflix 2017
We heard that Fidel Castro was implementing the social programmes that we were fighting for in New York. ibid.
‘We are ensuring that all workers have a home.’ ibid. builder
It’s 1975: the revolution seems to be working. The state-owned stores are all stocked up. ibid.
Fidel makes it easier for Cuban exiles to return and visit their families. ibid.
‘They should leave. We don’t want them; they’re anti-social. For 21 years we’ve given everything for our country and for Fidel. But those people are provocateurs.’ ibid. re dissidents entering American mission
Fidel says if you’re not with the revolution, it’s time to get out. ibid.
‘Our problem is the blockade.’ ibid. Fidel
‘Tourism is now essential to our economy.’ ibid.
Cuba: a small island that confronted the world. And the man who dominated Cuba’s recent history: Fidel Castro. Under Castro, Cuba would become one of the most difficult countries for the West to handle. Castro vs The World I: The Armed Struggle, BBC 2020
New Year’s Day 1959: Cuba’s corrupt dictator Fulgencio Batista abandoned Havana and fled to the USA. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and their small guerrilla army swept down from Sierra Maestra mountains to defeat the US-backed Batista and his hated secret police. ibid.
Fidel proclaimed his movement would benefit the poor people of Cuba and the peasants. The Cuban Revolution was in tune with national liberation movements around the world that were fighting colonial oppression. ibid.
The support of the Soviet Union brought oil, weapons and subsidies. ibid.
The United States cut off diplomatic relations. In his inaugural address President Kennedy issued a stern warning. ibid.
Castro’s revolution had led many of Cuba’s anti-communists to flee to Florida. Now the CIA trained some of their young militants to overthrow Castro. ibid.
The young president Kennedy was humiliated by the complete failure of the mission but he wasn’t giving up. ibid.
The President announced an almost total economic embargo of Cuba which is still in place today. ibid.
Krushchev backed down and decided to withdraw the Soviet missiles but he didn’t tell Castro, who heard the news through the media. Fidel had learned a powerful lesson. ibid.
After six months of ineffectual fighting, Che and his fighters lost their international backing and were forced to retreat from the Congo. The CIA chalked up another Cold War victory. It was a debacle for Castro but it didn’t stop him from pursuing his grand strategy. ibid.
‘Our concern relates above all to Cuba’s export of revolution.’ ibid. Kissinger
By the end of 1975 Cuba was sent 7,000 troops to Angola. Kissinger’s negotiators were outraged. ibid.
As the talks continued, Castro launched a huge surge in Cuba troops, sending another 20,000 soldiers to Angola. Castro took some of his most sophisticated Soviet-supplied anti-aircraft systems, ear-marked to defend Cuba, and sent them to Angola. ibid.
South Africa was forced to pull out of Angola and Namibia. ibid.
Little Cuba: 110,000 square kilometres and it acted almost like a super-power in the international arena. Castro vs The World II: The Charm Offensive, old dude
Even when the Berlin Wall came down and Russian abandoned him, Fidel would not give up the fight … The island began to suffer drastic shortages of petrol, medicine and food. ibid.
Castro seized the opportunity: he allowed Cuban-Americans to sail to the island in their small crafts and return to Florida with their Cuban passengers. ibid.
Cuba is the Caribbean’s most precious natural jewel. Forests still blanket large parts of the island. Her blue waters hide some of the richest coral reefs to be found anywhere. And while many of the wild lands and seas of the Caribbean are in trouble, Cuba’s extraordinary history has created a true wildlife wonderland. Fully half of Cuba’s animals and plants are found nowhere else. From their very own crocodiles and snakes to the smallest birds and frogs on the planets. Natural World: Wild Cuba: A Caribbean Journey, Colin Clifford-Johnson reporting, BBC 2020
You’ll often hear them before you see them … That is the very smallest bird in the world: it’s the bee hummingbird that’s only found in Cuba. And what a wonderful little creature it is. I cannot believe how tiny it is: it’s almost insect-like. It’s almost hard to believe it’s a bird. Cuba has been a real cradle of evolution, so many species have evolved here … The smallest bird in the world lays the smallest egg. ibid.
150 kilometres of islands, coral reefs and mangrove swamps form one of the greatest barrier reef systems on Earth. Travel beneath the surface here and you travel back in time to when the Earth’s seas were pristine … Coral reefs pulsate with life. ibid.
Columbus and his lessers describes them as a very benign people, very gentle, how friendly they were. And how open and trustworthy. And they didn’t appear to have any weapons, any methods of defence. So they were ideal people to enslave. European man brought with him disease, which was to wipe out many people this side of the world. ibid.
Today nearly twelve million human beings live on Cuba, over two million in the capital Havana. Founded in 1519, Havana’s old city transports you back in time. Barely 100 kilometres from Florida, Havana could be on a different planet from its north American neighbour. ibid.
There’s a very nice pace of life here. Today’s Cuban people are a ibid.
Spend a night in Havana and you might see flashes of movement under the streetlights: African geckos. A long way from Ghana and Liberia, this tropical house gecko stalks Havana’s streets. ibid.
Cuba’s unique animals and wild places transport me to another world. Natural World: Wild Cuba: A Caribbean Journey II
Every July this is where green turtles come to lay her eggs. Females that come to this beach would have been born here twenty years or so. ibid.
Cuba is woodpecker heaven … It’s the woodpeckers that make the holes for all the other birds. ibid.
The little frog … They really live in a land of giants … They’re really endangered now … That big forest where they evolved hardly exists any more. ibid.
By February Castro is sworn in as prime minister of Cuba … less than 90 miles from the USA. Cold War Armageddon s1e3, Discovery 2016
The Soviets are putting medium range Ballistic missiles into Cuba. Thirteen Days 2000 starring Kevin Costner & Bruce Greenwood & Steven Culp & Stephanie Romanov & Dylan Baker & Lucinda Jenney & Michael Fairman & Bill Smitrovich & Frank Wood & Ed Lauter & Kevin Conway & Tim Kelleher et al, director Roger Donaldson, Bundy to president et al
There is something immoral about abandoning your own judgement. ibid. JFK
We now count forty missiles. ibid. General
They want a war, Jack, and they’re arranging things to get one. ibid. Costner
‘I am prepared to wait for my answer till hell freezes over.’ ibid. US delegate to UN