Fidel Castro

The United States of America is a country that believes in democracy and has

unfavorable ties with communist countries. The United States has tried for

decades to improve relations with the countries that don't practice democracy.

History shows disagreements between the United States and dictators of these

irreverent countries, disagreements that brought the world to the brink of

nuclear war. The most recent of these confrontations involved three countries.

United States of America, Cuba and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic

(USSR). Fidel Castro is a Cuban revolutionary, who took control of Cuba in 1959

and established a Communist dictatorship. Castro, who was born in Mayari, became

the leader of an underground, anti-government faction. In 1956, he led a

rebellion that won increasing popular support. Eventually Castro forced Batista

y Zaldivar, who was the premier of Cuba to flee the country. Once in power

Castro executed and imprisoned thousands of political opponents, nationalized

industry, collectivized agriculture, and established a one-party socialist

state. In the early 1960's Castro openly embraced Communism and formed close

ties with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), relying on Soviet

economic and military aid approving limited economic reforms that legalized some

free enterprise. In Cuba, an estimated $1 billion in U.S.-owned properties were

seized in 1960. The Castro government seized oil refineries, sugar mills, and

electric utilities owned by the United States. When the Castro government

expropriated in 1960, the U.S. government responded by imposing a trade embargo.

A complete break in diplomatic relations occurred in 1961. On April 17 of that

year, anti-Castro exiles supported and trained by the United States government,

landed an invasion force in the Bay of Pigs in southern Cuba. Ninety of the

invaders were killed, and some 1200 were captured. President Castro announced

May 17 that Cuba would exchange prisoners taken at the Bay of Pigs for 500 U.S.

bulldozers. Negotiations broke down June 30, and Castro declared himself a

Marxist-Leninist on December 2. He announced formation of a united party to

bring communism to Cuba. Relations between the United States and Cuba grew still

more perilous in the fall of 1962, when the United States discovered

Soviet-supplied missile installations in Cuba. United States President, John F.

Kennedy announced a naval blockade of the island. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev,

Soviet Communist leader, who was first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party

from 1953 to 1964 and president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

(USSR) from 1958 to 1964. After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, Khrushchev

became the head of the Communist Party of the USSR. In 1961, relations between

the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) grew

increasingly hostile. President Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had

a strained meeting in Vienna, Austria. Later that year, the Communists in East

Germany ordered a wall be built on the border between East and West Berlin. This

would prevent East Germans from fleeing their country via West Berlin, which was

under the control of the United States, France, and Great Britain. When East

German soldiers began blocking the allied route through East Germany into

Berlin, Kennedy