Jorge Castellanos, Cuba and the Destiny of the United States, 1962
Prior to leaving Cuba in 1961, Jorge Castellanos had worked as a Professor of History and
Literature in a number of Cuban Universities. The text here comes from notes for speeches he
delivered to civic groups in June 1962. His talks were sponsored by an anti-Castro group, the Truth
about Cuba Committee.
Ninety miles away from Florida a small, green island shines under the bright Caribbean sun. Its name is
Cuba, and it is called the Pearl of the Antilles. When Columbus discovered it in 1492 he wrote in his
diary: “This is the most beautiful land human eyes have ever seen.” And, of course, we Cubans agree with
Columbus one hundred per cent.
Being so near the United States, the relations between our small island and the giant Republic up north,
had always been very close and friendly.
In 1958 the Cuban people ousted a tyrant, Fulgencio Batista, and put their confidence in Fidel Castro, the
man who had performed the miracle of uniting the whole nation against the dictator. The American
people looked upon Castro with sympathy and understanding. Both Cubans and Americans believed the
long awaited time had arrived for Cuba to match its extraordinary economic achievements of the last two
decades with rapid democratic progress.
Unfortunately, we were both wrong. Castro had posed as a democratic leader but was actually a devoted
Communist, a sworn enemy of democracy, an enemy of Cuba and of the United States. He promised the
Cuban people freedom but betrayed them by setting up a Communist, totalitarian dictatorship. He
promised the people of the United States friendship, but betrayed them by setting up the first full-fledged
Soviet satellite in our Hemisphere.
The first Manifesto to the people from the Sierra Maestra (July 12, 1957) proclaimed the Rebel’s decision
to “put an end to the regime of force, the violations of individual rights, the infamous crimes, and to seek
the peace we all yearn for through the only possible way, which is the democratic and constitutional way
of the country...” This Manifesto premised “free elections, a democratic, constitutional government,”
based upon an “absolute guarantee of freedom of information.” In an interview Castro accorded to Jules
Dubois, of the Chicago Tribune, in May 1959, he stated: “Never has the 26th of July Movement talked
about socializing or nationalizing industries. This is simply stupid fear of our revolution.” And he added:
“We have proclaimed from the first day that we fight for the full enforcement of the Constitution of 1940,
whose norms establish guarantees, rights, and obligations for all the elements that have a part in
production. Comprised therein is free enterprise and invested capital…”
This is the same man who on April 16, 1961, boasted: “We have made a socialist revolution under the
very nose of the United States.”
This is the same man who on December 1, 1961, stated: “I am a Marxist-Leninist and will be one until the
day I die.”
This is the same man who on the same date confided: “Our ideas had to be concealed (at the beginning);
otherwise we should have alienated the support of the bourgeoisie and other forces which we knew we
would later have to fight.”
So the Cuban people have already found out who Castro really was and what communism is. The cruel
facts are there, and they speak for themselves, proving that all the distinguishing features of every Russian
satellite are present in Cuba today: the confiscation and nationalization of industry and agriculture; the
terror of the police state, the G-2 (secret police repressive organization) and the Committees of Vigilance;
the enforced state monopoly of communication and educational media; the imposition of a single official,
political, philosophical and quasi-religious ideology – Marxism-Leninism; scarcities of food; rationing of
meat, lard, eggs, milk, fruit, for the first time in our history; loss of workers’ rights; conscription into the
militia... Oh, yes, we Cubans have found out! And that is why we are fighting against the bearded traitor
with all the power at our disposal: passive resistance, demonstrations, slowdowns in work centers, oral
and written propaganda inside and outside Cuba, sabotage in the cities and sugar-cane fields; guerrilla
warfare in the mountains.
Yes, we are not confused any longer, but what a terrible price we have paid for this knowledge! More
than 2,000 men murdered by the firing squads. More than 100,000 men and women in jail. More than
200,000 men, women and children in exile.
Consider the situation in approximate comparative numbers, had this happened in the United States. Six
million Americans would have fled into exile. Six million more would have petitioned for visa waivers in
order to leave. Three million would be suffering political imprisonment, and over fifty thousand would
have been disposed of at the execution wall!
Perhaps many of you are thinking at this moment: Well, it can happen out there in Cuba but certainly it
can’t happen here in the United States!
Beware, my dear friends, of complacency! Do you know that we Cubans used to say the same? When
Hungary was raped by Russian tanks, we Cubans felt very, very sorry for the poor Hungarians, but
dismissed any similar danger for our country with a shrug of the shoulders and a phrase on our lips: In
Hungary? Yes. But here? In Cuba? Oh, no. It can’t happen here!
Well, it did happen in Cuba. And one of the reasons why it happened was that we did not think it possible
to happen, and when we opened our eyes it was too late.
Communists are true masters of deceit. If you are not alert, if your eyes are not wide open and your ideas
are not very clear, you will be easily beguiled deluded and later betrayed.
Were we Cubans the only ones to be deceived by Castro’s crafty propaganda? No. The United States
government must share that blame with us.
Hearings held during the second half of 1959 by the Internal Security Subcommittee of the Senate
Committee on the Judiciary abundantly proved that the State Department and the CIA did not have the
slightest inkling about the true nature of Castro’s revolution.
The official in charge of Mexican and Cuban affairs in the state department was at that time Mr. William
Wieland. There is conclusive evidence that as late as August 1959 Mr. Wieland believed that Castro was
an idealist and not a convinced Marxist-Leninist.
The U. S. Ambassador to Cuba was at that moment Mr. Philip Bonsal. There is conclusive evidence also
that during his tenure of office, Ambassador Bonsal did not think that Fidel Castro was a Communist. He
was of the opinion that Cuba needed a revolution and he felt that eventually Castro would see the light
and return to the family of Latin American nations if patience was used by the United States in dealing
with the Cuban dictator.
At that time, General C. P. Cabell was Deputy Director of the CIA. On November 5, 1959, General
Cabell stated before the Internal Security Subcommittee: “Our information shows that the Cuban
Communists do not consider him (Fidel Castro) a Communist Party member, or even a pro-Communist...
Our conclusion, therefore, is that Fidel Castro is not a Communist...” When General Cable made this
unbelievable statement, President Urrutia had been already deposed in Cuba because of his overt antiCommunist attitude; and Major Hubert Matos — one of Fidel Castro’s right hand men in the Sierra
Maestra — had already been imprisoned because of his protests against Communist infiltration of the
Rebel Army.
Yes, we Cubans and Americans were both deceived. And now we must find a way out of the mess we are
in together.
Together? And why together?
Why should the Cuban situation be of any concern to the United States?
Why not let the Cubans alone in their fight against Castro’s dictatorship? Isn’t it a Cuban problem? Why
not let the Cubans solve it by themselves?
The answer to these questions is very simple: Cubans are fighting against Castro’s dictatorship with
unparalleled heroism. 3ut they cannot be successful in their struggle without the help of the United States
and the free nations of the world.
Why? Because Castro’s dictatorship is a totalitarian Communist dictatorship. Because Cuba is now a
Soviet satellite. Because our country has become a pawn on the international chessboard: a Soviet owned
pawn which can checkmate the American king. Because Cuba is a great menace to the security, to the
future, to the very destiny of the United States.
Cuba has always held a very important place in the foreign affairs of the United States. The record shows
that no other country in the world has so continuously interested the State Department. And rightly so, for
Cuba is linked to your country by geography, history, similar ideals and a common destiny…
So we may ask ourselves: Is the Monroe Doctrine still in force? And if not, what is the basic axiom on
which the international policies of the United States stand? Is the Hemisphere closed as formerly or now
opened to European, Russian, and Communist penetration? Can the United States consent to the
encirclement tactics of international communism in America without putting up a fight? Is the United
States ready to lead all Latin American countries in a frontal attack against Communist penetration of the
Hemisphere? And if so, why not start with Cuba?
These questions must be answered. And soon. The prestige and the security of the United States are at
stake…
Let us look at the military angle.
Communist activity in Laos has forced the United States government to send five thousand marines to
nearby Thailand. The Mekong River line is said to be so important that it must be held at any price.
If Laos and the Mekong River — situated thousands of miles away from this country — are so vital for
American defense... how about an island lying ninety miles off the Florida shores? How about Cuba?
Is Cuba important for the military security of the United States?
The line of defense of the United States extends south from Greenland, passes outside the projection of
Newfoundland and through the waters east of Bermuda, the Bahamas, the West Indies to Trinidad. Swing
it eastward to Pernambuco on the bulge of Brazil and the line is just about complete.
This is the United States minimum line of defense in the Atlantic. The minimum line. The last ditch. The
essential strategic frontier for the defense of the Eastern seaboard of the United States.
Well, my friends, this line of defense has been penetrated. This protective shield has been pierced through
in its very center. Cuba has become a full-fledged Soviet satellite, a menacing Soviet stronghold in our
Hemisphere. Castro has assembled in Cuba a powerful arsenal. He has built and keeps on building
missile-launching pads. He has received missiles from Russia, as well as more than one hundred MIG
planes and hundreds of tanks. Soviet Russia, America’s most dangerous enemy, is now in possession of
Cuba…, a key position inside the minimum line of defense.
Rear Admiral Alfred T. Mahan — the great naval theoretician — said a few decades ago: The Caribbean
Sea is the strategic key to the two great oceans that surround America, the Atlantic and the Pacific… “As
between the three possible bases for attempted control of the Caribbean, no doubts can remain that Cuba
is the most powerful…”
Cuba controls three important entrances to the Caribbean: the Yucatan, Windward and Mona passages.
So you see, according to military science, the Caribbean is the key to the two great oceans. And Cuba is
the key to the Caribbean. Consequently, Cuba is the key to the whole defensive system of the United
States.
But this essential key is now in enemy hands.
Russia is now in full possession of the key to the Gulf of Mexico, the key to the Mississippi Valley, the
key to the Caribbean, the key to the Panama Canal, the key to the Atlantic and the Pacific.
These evident facts, however, have been questioned in certain quarters. We are living in the missile age,
they say. Military concepts have changed. Many strategic principles which were valid ten or twenty years
ago are already old and useless now.
That is true. But it is also true that the decisive role of rocket nuclear weapons does not diminish the
importance of other armed services. Popular beliefs notwithstanding, military experts (both in Russia and
the United States) assert that a rocket nuclear war would be waged by mass-multimillion-man armies.
Only last March, the President of the United States restated this nation’s policy of readiness to employ all
military means to repel invasion of Western Europe by conventional Soviet forces. And in the last few
months this country has embarked upon a policy of substantial build-up of conventional forces and of
greater reliance on conventional strategy. Today’s global conflict continues to be one between the
enormous continental land mass of Soviet Russia and the sea powers of the world, or as Churchill aptly
put it – the struggle between the elephant and the whale…
Cuba’s strategic role has not changed in the missile age. It is now more important than ever. Senator John
Marshall Butler, from Maryland, put it this way in a speech delivered on April 23, 1961: “Santa Clara
Province in Cuba would be an excellent location for missile launching pads since it is 425 miles from
Cape Canaveral, 800 miles from New Orleans, and less than 1,000 miles from the Panama Canal.” We
may add only this: Washington is 1,400 miles away from Santa Clara, and we can assure you that the
pads are there, the missiles are there... and in this age of speed many times faster than sound, one minute
alert may make all the difference and Cuba is many minutes closer than any other Russian base.
Hence, from whatever angle you look at it, the Cuban problem has become an American problem. The
Cuban question has become a vital strategic question, involving the military security of the United States.
Permanent existence of a Communist state in Cuba would mean the beginning of the end for the United
States as a world power. The disrupted balance of power in the Caribbean must be restored before it is too
late. To rebuild the broken line NOW, to mend the protective shield NOW, would certainly avoid a
bloody, costly and inevitable all-out conflict in the near future.
The re-establishment of democracy in Cuba is the greatest contribution we can make NOW to the sacred
cause of world peace, a cause for which we Cubans are ready to make the supreme sacrifice, a cause so
dear to the American heart.
Cuba and the United States have travelled together the roads of History. Together we fought and won on
the Hills of San Juan. Together we suffered humiliation and defeat at the Bay of Pigs. Together we must
fight our way to final victory.
The liberation of Cuba means for us, Cubans, the reconquest of country, home and honor.
The liberation of Cuba means to you, leaders of the world the vital step towards fulfillment of the Godgiven destiny of this great nation: to help all peoples of the world to obtain and preserve the ideal goals of
independence and freedom – “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Jorge Castellanos, “Cuba and the Destiny of the United States” (Miami: The Truth about Cuba
Committee, 1962).