What Is The Bay Of Pigs Invasion

After Fidel Castro’s revolution and nationalizing of the economy (and after a failed attempt of American trained Cubans to overthrow Castro at the Bay of Pigs), the United States imposed an economic embargo on Cuba. Ideologically motivated to curb the spread of communism, America refused to do business with Cuba unless it reformed politically. The failure of America’s ultimatum was due to the Soviets eventual backing of the communist government in Cuba. The Cubans were unhurt by America’s sanctions because the Russians were able to send enough money to keep Castro’s economy afloat.

In 1959, Cuban leader Fidel Castro seized power over Havana and overthrew the U.S. during the Cold War. Castro then began an alliance with the Soviet Union and proceeded to increase trade with them. After these events, Washington banned exports from the U.S. to Cuba. Restricted were later extended over the whole economy by placing an embargo, which limited Americans travel and the ability to do business with Cuba. These events lead towards restriction between both countries for over 50 years.

Louis A. Pérez Jr. is an American author who wrote this source in 2002, which was four years before the end of Castro’s rule. The journal article in its entirety was made to explore how and why the US had fear of and loathing towards Fidel Castro. In the extracts, I have selected benefits and disadvantages brought about by Castro are mentioned and explored. The source, for example, mentions how Castro nationalised US property such as sugar corporations, cattle ranches, oil refineries, utilities, mines, railroads and banks. Although it may have initially created economic problems, the nationalism of US property would have been a good thing, as it would have helped Cuba feel more independent and free and therefore benefit the nation socially by creating a sense of patriotism. In another extract pulled from the same article, the four

The Cuban people have been under the harsh dictatorship of both Felgenico Batista and Fidel Castro. They both had very strict policies and gave the Cuban people limited or no freedom at all. Batista and Castro were similar but yet different. One major difference that they had was that Batista was friendly with the United States and he had respect for American interest. On the other hand Fidel Castro hasn’t been as friendly with the United States, so the U.S has a trade embargo that restricts and American company to do business with Cuba and also U.S citizens are prohibited from traveling to Cuba unless for special circumstances.

Cuba is near Florida and we already had business associations with them. Also, the Spanish were trying to take over them. We were against the Spanish and we didn’t want them to expand so this lead to the Spanish- American War. This war also is fought over the Philippines. We ended up winning the war. We felt Cuba could expand and also maintain the business we already had. Also, if we go to when the Cold War was occurring, we were threatened that Cuba would join the USSR and become communists. The reason we wanted Panama was simply for the Panama Canal. We wanted the Panama Canal since it was a faster route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean so this would fasten the process of trade which means more business would be occurring so this would give us more wealth and power.

D-Day, April 17, 1960; Brigade 2506 lands in the Bay of Pigs, a small beach in southern Cuba. Backed by former president Dwight Eisenhower, endorsed by current president John F. Kennedy, and masterminded by the Central Intelligence Agency, the plan to overthrow Fidel Castro, Prime Minister of Cuba, had been months in the making (Dunne 1). By the summer of 1959, as former Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista was overtaken by Castro, charges of communist takeover in Cuba were rampant in Washington, especially in Congress (Dunne 5). With the United States embroiled in the Cold War, a largely ideological battle between the communist Soviet Union and the capitalist United States, the United

Cuba didn't want another foreign country imposing their government over them, which America brought upon them anyways by not granting them full independences and having moderate control over them. Both Spain and America abandon them which left corrupt rebel types in control with no outline of governance or proper constitution. It also granted Native people rebelling against U.S. rules. As time goes on, America is looking at Cuba as an enemy from the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and not an allied country even though they joined a war to help them gain their independence. So basically, America joined a war to make an enemy and intervening into the war they could have avoided. This may have brought a decent amount of gain for them, but countless U.S. lives were lost from it, and created

     Cuba had been rebelling against Spanish rule for decades and the United States never intruded. America claimed that the reason for their involvement in 1895 was to assist Cuba against Spanish slaughter, but they hadn’t thought about involving themselves until their trade for sugar with Cuba was cut off. The Wilson-Gorman Tariff of 1894 placed high taxes on sugar, destructing Cuba’s sugar market and causing the discontinuation of trade with the United States. Cuba had acted as America’s primary sugar market. President Cleveland and successor, McKinley, desired to stay neutral, but the revealing of the Spanish De Lome letter and the sinking of the Maine in 1898 presented no other option.

Cuba was one of the territories that United States imperialized. The US was a heavy consumer of the sugar produced in Cuba but didn’t meet the sugar industry demands. The international market collapsed, and the US used this opportunity to purchase the sugar mills in Cuba “Cuban sugar mills into bankruptcy … sensing an opportunity, investors from the United States

The Cuban Revolution was touchy topic for the United States and Cuba. America’s alienation of Cuba didn’t help when communism from the USSR was brewing over the revolution. When the revolution gained Castro as its leader, the worry and hatred from the United States was unbearable, especially when the Soviet Union landed in Cuba to interest Castro in its aid. The US’s fear of communism, Fidel Castro, and aid from the Soviet Union was significant because it changed the US’s political role in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution.

Since Russia did not own any land or power in the US/Cuban region, Castro offered the Russians a chance to extend their sphere of influence. An opportunity which was not refused. Of course, the American government did not accept this situation readily. A plan to train and arm Cuban exiles who would return to Cuba to overthrow Castro was contrived.

The U.S. people wanted to get involved with Cuba for numerous reasons. One reason, was because the Cuban people begged for help. Also, American people thought it was the right thing to do. Lastly, the U.S. had invested 50 million dollars in cuba's sugar cane, rice, railroad, and iron mines. Despite all these reason to interfere, president Grover Cleveland decided to maintain neutrality. Although Cuba played a big part in the Spanish American war the were also other reasons.

     It was after Castro took power that the United States changed its way in which it dealt with Cuba dramatically. The United States decided it would

After it became officially globally acknowledged that Cuba was in fact a communist state and was being led through a dictatorship run by Castro, it did not take long before powerful enemies and essential allies were formed. The act of seizing all foreign land with none or very little compensation was received with great hostility amongst those who lost in their property through this process, and probably the reaction that had the biggest impact on Cuba’s economy was that of the US. Castro’s communistic policies did not of course help calm this resentment and also took part in leading to the establishment of trade embargos with Cuba from the US. This meant that Cuba would now lose a very valuable buyer of their precious sugar, [5] but they did however gain another one, a powerful nation that shared quite similar Marxist ideals and were quick to form an alliance with the Cubans, the USSR.