Alberto,

My understanding is that they not only recognized Castro in RECORD TIME, they also denied Batista a shipment of arms [to fight the rebel forces] after he has already paid for them AND ON TOP OF THAT, the US ambassador to Cuba told Batista to leave Cuba! Once he left Cuba, they didn't even allow him asylum in the USA!

Something else I hate is the constant talk about how the CIA tried to kill Castro with harebrained ideas like electrified wires that he would touch while giving one of his marathon speeches or potions to make his beard fall off!

Is the CIA so inept? I thought that they were a first class secret police. What are they the Keystone cops or something? Or worst, are they in cahoots with Castro and did these things to create a mythology around him?

Ray:

If it were not for the complicit help of the US, Castro probably would have never stood a chance of obtaining power in Cuba. Not only did the US cut-off arms and supplies to Batista, but they also did many things behind the scenes to help the so-called revolution.

As far as the CIA is concerned, God only knows what really transpired behind closed doors. If they really wanted to take him out, or had the express orders to do so, they could have done it without much effort. The truth is, for whatever the reason may be, they never got the go ahead.

I don't take very seriously the whole exploding cigar and poisonous underwear stories the media loves to talk about because when was the last time you heard of ANY intelligence agency take someone out with an exploding cigar? I don't know what their reasoning is for having these cartoonish methods even documented, but to me it was an obvious ruse.

From the very beginning of his ascendancy in the early 1930s, Batista, tragically, was a product of Cubans' woeful political immaturity, not to say ineptitude. He should never have risen anywhere near that high, practically overnight and out of nowhere, simply because he was in a certain place at a certain time. He was simply not qualified or suitable for such a position. Of course, neither was Castro, but there we go again, and how.

Do you believe the poison pen attempt? The exploding molluscs? Infected diving suit? Poisoned cold cream? Bacteria-laden hankies? Who the hell comes up with these plots? McGyver?

The U.S. backed Cuban Revolution is much more complicated than that. IMHO Havana had to "Die" so that Las Vegas "Could Live."

Alberto

I've read everywhere about Batista being a U.S.-backed dictator, and you're mentioning that it's a fantasy.

Can you or someone shed some light on what Batista REALLY was in Cuba? And if the claims of Batista being a U.S.-backed dictator is false, please explain how so?

Thank you

J2:

Although there was a time when the US did support Batista, in the last years leading up to Castro seizing power, the US basically abandoned and betrayed him. The media would like us all to believe that Batista was a US puppet and that Castro toppled him (in spite of the US's support)all by himself without anyone's help. The truth, however, is that without the help of the US, Castro could not have been able to do anything. The US wanted Batista out and Castro in.

You can read the sordid details regarding this in a number of books, including Humberto Fontova's Fidel book. Also, you can visit Dr. Tony de la Cova's website, http://latinamericanstudies.org/cuba.htm , and find a lot of information regarding this topic.

Batista got much farther than he ever should have, even before 1952, and in trying to make it good, he bit on more than he could chew. He tried to be a user and wound up being used (and discarded). Unfortunately, politics has clearly been a major weakness of the Cuban people since the beginning, not to say their Achilles' heel.