CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Communist Conquest of Cuba
Now we turn our attention to Cuba.
During 1960, while the world was focusing attention on events in the Congo, a far more serious development was taking place just 90 miles from the shores of the United States. For many months shocked Americans had been watching Fidel Castro completely destroy his pretended image as the “George Washington of Cuba” and triumphantly portray himself in his true role as a hard-core Communist conspirator.
Everything Lumumba would have done in the Congo, Castro actually accomplished in Cuba: drumhead justice, mass executions, confiscation of industry, collectivization of the land, suspension of civil rights, suspension of democratic processes, alliances with the Iron Curtain. All these became the trade marks of the Castro regime.
To millions of Americans this was bitterly disappointing. They had read Herbert Matthews’ pro-Castro articles in the New York Times and watched prominent TV personalities portray Castro as the savior of Cuba.
As a matter of research, however, there was no real excuse for missing Fidel Castro’s Communist connections, For years he had been clearly identified with their leaders, their insurrections, their ideology and their plans. And even if all of this evidence had been absent, the official records of the Havana and Bogota police departments should have told the most casual observer that Fidel Castro was certainly no pillar of hope for Cuba. Even before he graduated from law school his checkerboard career included such crimes as assault with a deadly weapon, arson, insurrection and murder,
Who Is Fidel Castro?
Fidel Castro is one of five illegitimate children born to a servant woman on the sugar plantation of Fidel’s wealthy father, Angel Castro.{112} Biographers point out that his early upbringing was not particularly conducive to promoting the best qualities in a human personality.
When Fidel was sent to secondary school he turned out to be a mediocre student with an aggressive, ambitious and rebellious nature. He was not well liked at the school and to overcome his lack of popularity he decided to impress the students by mounting a bicycle and riding it full tilt into a high stone wall. This accident left him unconscious for days. Some authorities have wondered if he really ever recovered.
At 16 he obtained a gun and tried to kill a teacher because of an argument over poor grades. By the time Castro was 19, he had determined to become a lawyer. To achieve this, his father sent him to the University of Havana. Almost immediately, however, he identified himself with the most radical element on campus and joined a group of beatniks who prided themselves in being unshaven and unclean. Castro is still remembered at the University of Havana by his nickname of “Bola de Churre”—Ball of Dirty Grease.
Castro told Diaz Balart (who later became his brother-in-law) that he intended to become studentbody president and then use his prestige to agitate the students into a revolutionary force which would ultimately make him the political leader of Cuba. But his jealous ambition did not make him studentbody president. Instead, it led him to engineer his first attempt at murder in 1947.
The victim was Leonel Gomez, the popular studentbody president of Havana High School #1. For “political reasons” Castro shot him through the chest with intent to kill. Fortunately the boy recovered. Castro, however, expected him to die and fled from the city to join a Communist-directed expedition which was training to invade the Dominican Republic and overthrow Trujillo. Before the expedition was launched Castro heard that Gomez had recovered and therefore felt it was safe to return to the University.
Castro’s Second Attempt at Murder Is Successful
By 1948 Castro had gained considerable confidence in his own political prospects and was determined that nothing should stand in the way. He had made himself the head of a University terrorist organization and on February 22, 1948, he used machine guns to kill the ex-President of the University Student Federation and a friend named Carlos Pucho Samper. Two others were wounded. Castro was arrested for this murder but the investigation had not been thorough and he was able to get released. It is also suspected that the judge was influenced by the fact that one of Castro’s confederates was the nephew of the Cuban President.
A short time after this he left for Bogota, Columbia. Castro’s student activities had brought him to the attention of Soviet agents who were looking for young firebrands to lead out in the subversion of Latin American countries. Castro was ordered to go to Bogota and take Rafael del Pino with him. In view of his recent brush with the law it seemed an excellent time to be taking a trip.
Castro as a Soviet Agent in the Bogota Riots
In April, 1948, the eyes of the world were watching Bogota, Colombia, where the Ninth Inter-American Conference was to be held. It was under the direction of U.S. Secretary of State, George C. Marshall. This occasion was chosen by the Soviet strategists to stage a Communist-directed insurrection. It was to unseat the conservative government of Colombia and break up the Inter-American Conference.
Alberto Nino, Security Chief of Colombia, published a book in 1949 on the insurrection. He has much to say about Fidel Castro. Nifio describes how Castro and Rafael del Pino were put under surveillance the moment they arrived at the airport: “These two men came as replacements for two Russian agents stationed in Cuba, whose plans were known and who were expected by the Colombian police. Instead these two came…. Before the 9th of April, a telegram was taken from them announcing the arrival of one of the Russians.”{113}
Nino and his men found that the planned insurrection was not being led by the Communist Party of Colombia but by a group of “international Communists” who worked out of the Soviet legation in Bogota. There were nine of these international Communists who fronted for the Soviet apparatus. Fidel Castro and Rafael del Pino were two of the nine.
When the insurrection struck it was triggered by having Communist agents kill Dr. Jorge Gaitan, the most popular political leader in Colombia. Communist handbills, printed in advance, blamed the murder on the Government and urged the people to avenge themselves by sacking the city. Within an hour Bogota was converted into a holocaust of violence and flaming devastation.
Nino found that the Soviet apparatus had arranged to have a crew move through the city ahead of the mob smashing off locks and opening stores and warehouses. After the mob had looted the buildings, another crew went through spraying gasoline on floors and walls. The last stage was to have trained arsonists methodically burn these structures which ultimately gutted the center of the city.
When it was all over the “destruction of the civic center was complete.” The Palace of Justice which contained most of the civil and criminal records was demolished to its foundations. Colleges, churches, stores and other public buildings were burned. Altogether 136 major buildings were destroyed representing a loss of more than $21,000,000. After the battles between the police and the mobs had subsided more than 1,000 corpses were left lying in the streets.