Thursday, October 22, 2009
Confrontacion entre Estados Unidos Moscu y Cuba
EXCOMM meeting on Cuban Missile Crisis, 29 October 1962. ST-A26-25-62
President Kennedy signs proclamation for naval quarantine of Cuba, 23 October 1962. ST-459-10-62
President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy confer, 03 October 1962. ST-423-1-62
For thirteen days in October of 1962 the world waited, hoping for a peaceful resolution to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In October 1962, a U.S. spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union on the island of Cuba. Because he did not want Cuba and the Soviet Union to know that he knew about the missiles, Kennedy met in secret with his advisors for several days to discuss the problem. After many long and difficult meetings, Kennedy decided to place a naval blockade, or a ring of ships, around Cuba to prevent the Soviets from bringing in more military supplies, and demanded the removal of the missiles and the destruction of the sites.
For thirteen days, the world waited, hoping for a peaceful resolution to the crisis. No one was sure how the Soviet leader would respond to the naval blockade and U.S. demands. Recognizing the devastating possibility of a nuclear war, Khrushchev turned his ships back. The Soviets agreed to dismantle the weapon sites and, in exchange, the United States agreed not to invade Cuba. In a separate, unpublicized deal, the U.S. agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from Turkey.
In 1963 there were signs of a lessening of tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States. In June 1963, President Kennedy gave a commencement address at American University in which he urged Americans to reexamine Cold War stereotypes and myths and called for a strategy of peace that would make the world safe for diversity. Two actions also signaled a warming in relations between the superpowers: the establishment of a Hotline between the Kremlin and the White House, and the signing of the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. In language very different from his inaugural address, President Kennedy told Americans in June 1963, “For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Estimada Conchita,
Yo también pienso mucho en mis 27 años en Luyanó, hasta que me casé en 1955 y fuimos a vivir en la calle O e/ 19 y 21, frente al Hotel Nacional.
Recuerdo la ferretería Santos Bouza en la Calzada de Luyanó, entre Clzda de Concha y el puente sobre el arroyo Pastrana. Pienso que usted debe ser de la familia Bouza, de la ferretería. Me imagino que coincidimos durante algunos años bastante cerca, sin conocernos.
Tengo dos hermanas allí, una en Pedro Pernas, y la otra en Ave. Porvenir.
Me gustan mucho sus "posts," pues muestran un alto nivel intelectual.
Saludos de su vecino de Luyanó,
Gonzalo
Excerpts from my book “Cuba’s Primer”:
. . . , I went to the Agence France Presse (AFP) office, the French news agency. I was their accountant. . .
Ives Daude, AFP Bureau Chief in Havana, was in his office. He asked about our trip, and I told him about observed scarcities of food, as well as, related anecdotes. I then mentioned, “By the way, Ives, we came across some impressive military convoys at three different places on the island”. Ives jumped to his feet and took me in front of a Cuban map hanging on a wall at his office. Pointing to locations on the map, I explained to him that we watched the first convoy off the northern coast, near Sagua la Grande, a port in Las Villas, the central province of Cuba. It was at night, but we watched large trucks with huge loads covered by canvases. The trucks were escorted by armed Cuban soldiers driving jeeps. The second convoy was heading south from the northern coast, at night, close to Gibara, a port in Oriente, in the eastern Cuban province.
We saw the last convoy on our way back, as we drove from the “Carretera Cental” towards the southern coast in Las Villas. It was an overcast afternoon, and we were traveling a narrow road, winding through the Escambray mountain ridges. Suddenly, we were in full view of a huge convoy manned by Soviet personnel wearing their characteristic short-sleeved plaid shirts. Overtime, this “uniform” became a kind of trademark of their presence in Cuba. There were some light armored vehicles manned by Cuban soldiers, around one hundred yards at the front and at the rear of the convoy. The large and heavy loads were covered by camouflaged canvases. The Cuban and Soviet soldiers were stone-faced, and the Soviet men looked professional and disciplined at whatever they were doing there. The convoy was moving opposite to our direction. We passed them pretending that we were not paying attention. We joked that these were probably the heavy-industrial pieces of equipment that Cuba was to receive from the Soviet Union. Government slogans purported that Cuba was moving into a fast industrialization program with the assistance of the Soviet Union and its Eastern Europe satellite countries.
Ives took notes as I recounted my story, but shortly thereafter, returned to his casual demeanor. It had taken on the tone of a matter-of-fact conversation, so we did not elaborate much further. My wife and I went to Paris in 1997. I called AFP and reached the Latin American bureau. They told me that Ives had retired and there were no records of his personal address or telephone number. I always wondered what Ives did with this missile build up information. I have the feeling that it was conveyed to the French intelligence service.
Post a Comment