Britain on the Brink: The Cold War's Most Dangerous Weekend, 27-28 October 1962 by Jim Wilson

Author:Jim Wilson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bisac Code 1: HIS037030: HISTORY / Modern / General
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781783378425
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2012-12-18T16:00:00+00:00

Havana

In Cuba there was both fear and anger. On Friday, 26 October Castro had become convinced an American invasion was imminent, at least within the next twenty-four to seventy-two hours. Ever since the Bay of Pigs attempt Castro had almost a paranoia that the Americans were determined to overthrow his government. At around 2.00am Saturday, 27 October a highly stressed Castro turned up at the Soviet Ambassador, Alekseyev Aleksandr’s apartment in Havana. The two consumed a substantial amount of beer and sausages, then Castro started to draft an urgent message to Moscow. He feverishly dictated some ten versions before he was satisfied. The import of Castro’s message to Khrushchev was terrifying. Aleksandr realised he was prompting the USSR to launch an immediate pre-emptive strike against the United States.

Castro told the ambassador that he did not want his country to suffer the perfidy of allowing the imperialists to strike first and wipe Cuba off the face of the earth, which would be the certain result if the United States used its massive nuclear force. He wanted the Soviet Union to be the first to ‘fire’ – to launch a nuclear attack against the United States, even if his country perished, as it almost certainly would in the ensuing conflagration.

He later explained he was convinced an American attack was coming. The Soviets would respond with nuclear weapons causing an American nuclear retaliation in return. But he did not want Khrushchev to let the Americans strike first. ‘There should be no hesitation’ he told Moscow. ‘I dared to write a letter to Nikita aimed at encouraging him. That was my intention. The aim was to strengthen him morally, because I knew that he had to be suffering greatly, intensely. I thought I knew him well.’22

The letter crafted by Castro and translated by Aleksandr, read: ‘If the imperialists invade Cuba with the goal of occupying it, the danger that aggressive policy poses for humanity is so great, that following that event the Soviet Union must never allow circumstances in which the imperialists could launch the first nuclear strike against it. That would be the moment to eliminate such danger for ever through an act of clear legitimate defence, however harsh and terrible the solution would be, for there is no other.’23

Although Castro appeared to be accepting the virtual elimination of his island in an American nuclear attack, it is possible that he had swallowed Khrushchev’s boasts about the overwhelming missile supremacy of the USSR and that he believed after a Soviet first strike on the United States, America would have been so weakened, her response would have been minimal.

Castro’s alarming message arrived in Moscow early in the morning of Sunday, 28 October. Troyanovsky, who was permanently camped in the central committee building as the crisis unfolded, received the telegram and called Khrushchev at home. Castro’s sentiments appalled and scared the Soviet leader. He rightly interpreted it as a call for the Soviet Union to launch an immediate all-out nuclear strike against America. Castro, he

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