Comments by "Itinerant Patriot" (@itinerantpatriot1196) on "Cuban Missile Crisis from the Cuban Perspective | Animated History" video.

  1. Nice bit at the beginning but highly doubtful. As you pointed out, Castro knew the plans for the Bay of Pigs invasion well in advance so I don't think there would have been a one-on-one encounter such as that. That being said, this is a fairly accurate retelling, but some points were left out. Khrushchev had talked about putting missiles in Cuba with his son Sergei as early as November of 1961. He talked about it with him as they walked along the beach near his Dachau on the Black Sea. He said it would serve the American's right since missiles in Turkey could reach them as they walked in less than 10 minutes. He didn't think Kennedy had the stones to stand up to him and once the missiles were in place he could demand concessions, not only over Turkey but Berlin as well. Kennedy had let the Wall go up and after he met him in Vienna in June of that year Khrushchev was convinced he was weak. Castro agreed to the missiles not so much out of any moral obligation. Bobby Kennedy was pushing the CIA to ramp up the Mongoose raids and he was leaning on them like a madman to get rid of Castro by the 1962 mid-term elections. The Kennedy's played a very dangerous game with Cuba after the Bay of Pigs. Bobby admitted as much himself after his brother was killed, saying they were more ambitious than wise about a lot of things, especially Cuba. Anyway, John McCone, head of the CIA had been trying to warn the Kennedy's about missiles and Cuba for months but the Kennedy brothers were hell-bent on getting Castro and didn't want to hear it. The problem could have and should have been dealt with before those U2 overflights. Sergei tried to talk his father out of it, saying a missile doesn't look anything like a palm tree but the old man had set his mind to it. In the end, he felt he got what he wanted. The missiles in Turkey were taken out and he had the U.S. swearing off an invasion of Cuba on record. That didn't stop the Kennedy's though. Right away, Jack Kennedy was asking his legal and diplomatic advisers if he was bound to the deal since Castro wouldn't let the UN inspectors in. He still wanted the guy gone by the 64 presidential election. Johnson was convinced it cost him his life in November of the following year but that is another conversation. There was one Castro fanatic in Dallas paying close attention though and he would later buy a 6.5 mannlicher carcano from a mail order store in Chicago. The bits about Castro's letter and Che's reaction are spot on. Khrushchev read that doomsday letter and decided Castro was off his rocker. He considered leaving a few of the missiles that were still hidden behind until he read that. Then he was like, oh hell no. And Che Guevara was a murderous thug who would have been more than willing to blow the entire planet to hell. I'm saddened when I see young people wearing tee-shirts with his image like he's some sort of hero. I spoke with some of the older Cuban's still living in Miami years ago and the stories they told me about their family businesses being stolen and their family members being tortured and killed on the orders of that psychopath are heart breaking. The SOB used to show up to personally witness the mass killings. Pardon my language but F**k Che Guevara. In the end he was betrayed by Castro and good on em. I'm pretty sure he had a hard time accounting for his actions when he departed this planet and I will not give him a RIP. Hundred's of millions of innocent people died to prove the ranting of Karl Marx wrong and unfortunately it has taken root with our younger generation. God help us. Anyway, this was a good video. As you can see, it's a topic I have a bit of interest in. If you want to read a very good book on the background of the Bay of Pigs and the Kennedy's high stakes poker game against Castro, I recommend Die by the Sword by Gus Russo. He uses source documents and while he supports an overt conspiracy in the Kennedy assassination and I do not, it is a very good primer if you want to understand why the Missile Crisis happened and how it was resolved.
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