Castro's Role In The Cuban Missile Crisis

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The break up between Castro and US was already expected by the US invasion "Bay of Pigs" of Cuba in 1961, where US supported Cuban counter-reactionaries to overthrow Castro. Castro formed alliance with the USSR, since the invasion failed because he feared further invasions where the US would overthrow him. Ironically Castro’s fears did come true when US activities were spotted by the Cuban Intelligence, this lead to the ‘Operation Mongoose’ in 1962 to overthrow Castro by the US. However, as a new alliance of Cuba and Castro, USSR promised and proposed the plan for the protection of Cuba, which was to ship install nuclear warheads to Cuban territory, before US finds out. Castro welcomed Khrushchev's plan, and the USSR shipped their nuclear warheads …show more content…
Castro was suspected as in taking his role in crashing US U-2 airplane, as Khrushchev notes "Fidel Castro gave orders to USSR soldiers to put down US U-2 airplane." The role that Castro played in the Cuban Missile Crisis would have been significantly large as it would end the diplomatic negotiations around the Crisis and start a total confrontation of nuclear weapons between the superpowers. However, after further investigation, as it is proven that Soviet soldiers crashed U-2 airplane with no orders from Castro, his role in the Crisis cannot be given any significance, as he has not taken any action. Furthermore, role of Castro is related with his suggestion to USSR to launch first nuclear strike attack on US. However, not only was his role proven to be insignificant as Khrushchev rejected to accommodate his suggestion of plan, but Castro's over-eagerness in advocating nuclear war ironically reminded Khrushchev of the significance of preserving the peace of the world, thereby contributing to the peaceful outcome by the crisis resolution in 26,27th Oct …show more content…
In the background stage, it was Khrushchev who planned and carried out the shipment of nuclear warheads into Cuba to trigger the crisis. Also, in the climax stage, Castro's possible significant role in U-2 airplane shoot down was proven to be wrong as Castro has found to be unrelated with the incident. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a conflict that only involved USSR and US. The view is justified as we look into possibilities that Khrushchev has deployed his nuclear warheads for different motives other than to protect Castro from US and when we consider Castro's exclusion from the negotiation table. In conclusion, the extent of Fidel Castro's significance in his role in the Cuban Missile Crisis is

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