Fidel Castro
Cuban revolutionary, leader of Cuba from 1959
Also known as: Castro
Fidel Castro (1926–2016) led the Cuban Revolution of 1959 and headed the Cuban state. Quigley uses him as an exemplar of post-war Latin American revolutionary nationalism and as the proximate cause of the Cuban Missile Crisis — though, in Quigley's reading, a junior partner in that crisis whom the Kremlin ultimately "brushed aside" (T&H 1121).
Castro and the missile crisis
Quigley's principal use of Castro is as the local catalyst of the October 1962 confrontation. The Soviets attempted to bring American urban targets "within range of the United States by secretly installing them in Castro's Cuba" (T&H 1104) — a decision that, in Quigley's reading, "showed once again the way in which the Soviet defense strategy moved in a direction opposite to that which was influencing American defense decisions" (T&H 1104). When the deal to withdraw was struck, "inspection of the sites was prevented by Castro, who was wild with anger at the way he had been brushed aside and finally sold out by the Kremlin" (T&H 1121). The American promise not to invade was, as a result, never formally given. The episode positions Castro as a figure whose autonomy from his Soviet patron was sharper than the popular framing of the crisis acknowledged.
Cuba in Latin American context
Beyond the missile crisis, Castro appears in Quigley's Latin American chapters as the comparative reference for revolutionary social policy. Cuba "where, we are told, illiteracy has been wiped out and all children of school age up to 15 are supposed to be in school" stands at one pole, while other Latin American states sit far below: "in 1961 in 18 other Latin American countries only 38 percent of the population had finished two years of schooling" (T&H 1124). Castro becomes the structural alternative against which Quigley measures the failures of mainstream Latin American development — a polemical device rather than an endorsement, but a substantive analytical move within the post-1960 chapters.
Cited in
- tragedy-and-hope · p. 1104 Quigley
Within range of the United States by secretly installing them in Castro's Cuba. This decision showed once again the way in which the Soviet defense strategy moved in a direction opposite to that which was influencing American defense decisions.
- tragedy-and-hope · p. 1105 Quigley
Britain or Spain could trade with Castro's Cuba, without the Superpowers feeling free to use their own real strengths to obtain what they wanted, since most of these strengths were neutralized opposing each other.
- tragedy-and-hope · p. 1121 Quigley
Inspection of the sites was prevented by Castro, who was wild with anger at the way he had been brushed aside and finally sold out by the Kremlin.
- tragedy-and-hope · p. 1124 Quigley
Paraguay (where very few children ever get near a school) and Castro's Cuba (where, we are told, illiteracy has been wiped out and all children of school age up to 15 are supposed to be in school).