Regime change highlights the negative, primal desires of the human conscious. Greed and apprehension are the driving factors behind today’s global instability. Economically, the US intervened in foreign land for the same reasons other global powers did throughout the course of human history. The target country has resources that the intervening country wants. Business interests and potential for profit were driving forces behind invasion. Moreover, the fear that communism would spread throughout the world justified covert operations and full-scale military operations. After WWII, newly forming nations found promise in Communism and Soviet principles because it provided a basis for equality among its citizens and gave power to the working class.
…show more content…
In 1952, Fulgencio Batista came into power over Cuba for the second time. Politically and militarily supported by the United States, Batista became anti-communist and allowed American business to dominate the Cuban economy (Wikipedia.org). Batista’s tyrannical rule motivated Fidel Castro, a revolutionary, to overthrow his dictatorship. As the new Castro government self-proclaimed they were Marxist-Leninists, US relations with Cuba dissolved (History.com). Castro nationalized all American businesses in Cuba and developed very close ties with the Soviet Union. Because of Cuba’s expropriation of American assets, radical left-wing ideals, and close geographic proximity, American policymakers viewed the island as a “grave concern” (history.state.gov). The CIA construed an operation called the Bay of Pigs, which consisted of Cuban exiles that challenged Castro’s administration in Cuba. The operation was a failure. Following the Bay of Pigs, Operation Mongoose was designed to remove Castro from power; ranging from anti-Castro propaganda to direct assassination attempts, the operation failed to do its intended objective (history.state.gov). These two embarrassing incidents heightened tensions between the US and Cuba. Soviet arms shipment ratcheted up. Upon American surveillance, Washington learned that the Soviets introduced ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads in Cuba. The pinnacle of the Cold War, this was the closest the United States and Soviet Union had gone to World War III. Both nations could have destroyed whole cities and decades of infrastructure. Whole populations would be decimated. Generations of individuals would have birth defects. The devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would
In 1952, Fulgencio Batista came into power over Cuba for the second time. Politically and militarily supported by the United States, Batista became anti-communist and allowed American business to dominate the Cuban economy (Wikipedia.org). Batista’s tyrannical rule motivated Fidel Castro, a revolutionary, to overthrow his dictatorship. As the new Castro government self-proclaimed they were Marxist-Leninists, US relations with Cuba dissolved (History.com). Castro nationalized all American businesses in Cuba and developed very close ties with the Soviet Union. Because of Cuba’s expropriation of American assets, radical left-wing ideals, and close geographic proximity, American policymakers viewed the island as a “grave concern” (history.state.gov). The CIA construed an operation called the Bay of Pigs, which consisted of Cuban exiles that challenged Castro’s administration in Cuba. The operation was a failure. Following the Bay of Pigs, Operation Mongoose was designed to remove Castro from power; ranging from anti-Castro propaganda to direct assassination attempts, the operation failed to do its intended objective (history.state.gov). These two embarrassing incidents heightened tensions between the US and Cuba. Soviet arms shipment ratcheted up. Upon American surveillance, Washington learned that the Soviets introduced ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads in Cuba. The pinnacle of the Cold War, this was the closest the United States and Soviet Union had gone to World War III. Both nations could have destroyed whole cities and decades of infrastructure. Whole populations would be decimated. Generations of individuals would have birth defects. The devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would