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If you were to ask any 21st-century American about Cuba, most of the stories that would come to mind would be those of the Missile Crisis, the world on the brink of nuclear collapse, and the repression of freedoms against the island's inhabitants by a socialist tyranny. And they are right.
But the rich connections between the
island and the United States are not limited to the last almost 70 tumultuous
years. There is a whole current of prior ties, in which solidarity and alliance
between regional neighbors prevailed.
We discussed these with Cuban-American
historian Octavio de la Suarée, who for years was a professor and head of the
Department of Language, Literature, and Culture at William Paterson University
in New Jersey, and who presides over the Cuban Academy of History in Exile.
Here start a long conversation on the 250th anniversary of the United
States.
In what ways did Cubans contribute to
the American Revolutionary War?
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| A Map of the West-Indies, 1736 |
The contribution of Cubans to the
American Revolutionary War between 1775 and 1783 was very important, although
often underappreciated. As a Spanish colony, and given its proximity to the
United States, Cuba supported the Thirteen Colonies through Spain, which
officially entered the war against Great Britain in 1779.
Their contributions are highlighted in
various ways, but perhaps the most poetic of all was the famous collection by
the ladies of Havana, whose donations helped finance the military campaign that
culminated in the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, considered decisive for the
American victory. Several sources refer to the large quantity of personal
jewelry that, when sold, helped reach the sums required to finance that battle.
Another substantial economic foundation
was the large sums of money that were collected from all over Havana to help
finance the independence army.
Likewise, another significant military
reinforcement was the fact that Cuba served as a strategic base for operations
against the British in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Cuban troops,
militias, and resources participated in campaign actions such as the capture of
Pensacola, which weakened the British.
And among the logistical support was the
location of Cuban ports on the island, from where weapons, gunpowder, food, and
medicine were sent to the American rebels. Similarly, Havana was a key naval
supply center for the allied forces against England.
There were figures who stood out at that
historical moment, right?
Yes. I'm only going to mention two key Hispanic figures in the American Revolutionary War against the British.
Bernardo Gálvez, for example, was an essential figure in the independence of the United States, although he is little known in this country. This Spanish politician and military leader was born in Macharaviana, Spain, near Málaga, in 1746, and distinguished himself as a military strategist during the war between Spain and Great Britain. He was governor of Spanish Louisiana during the conflict and fought against the British on many occasions. Gálvez decisively aided the Thirteen Colonies, without openly declaring it at the beginning, by sending arms, gunpowder, money, and supplies to the rebels, which he received from Havana.
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| The Spanish General Bernardo de Gálvez (1746-1786), hero of Pensacola's Battle |
Later, he participated in and led important military campaigns against the British, including those of Baton Rouge, Mobile, and Pensacola in 1781. In the latter, he led a very risky naval attack and it was there that he acquired his motto, "Yo solo" (I alone), because he sailed his ship where other military personnel thought it was impossible. These victories not only expelled the English from the region but also prevented the rebels from being attacked from the south. Gálvez ended his brilliant career as Viceroy of New Spain (present-day Mexico).
In 2014, the United States Congress named him an Honorary Citizen of the United States (a very rare honor). There is a statue of Bernardo de Gálvez in Washington, D.C., near the State Department. The other important figure was Juan Miralles, an 18th-century Spanish merchant and diplomat, known for his role during the American Revolutionary War. In short, he was the main informal liaison between Spain and the American revolutionaries.
Miralles was born in Spain and later
settled in Havana, which at that time was a key center of Spanish trade. He
quickly became a wealthy merchant with extensive networks in the Caribbean and
North America.
He was a personal friend of George
Washington and lived for a time very close to the headquarters of the
Continental Army. From there, he discreetly helped channel financial support,
supplies, and weapons to the rebels. At the same time, he served as an observer
and political advisor for Spain, reporting on the war's progress.
Juan de Mirallés died in 1780, during the war. George Washington attended his funeral, a very significant gesture that shows the respect he had for him. Although not very well known today, Mirallés was a substantial figure in the secret diplomacy that helped make American independence successful and a reality.
In short, although Cuba did not
participate directly as an independent nation, its economic, military, and
logistical support was crucial to the triumph of the American colonies.
Without these resources, especially in
the final stage of the conflict, the independence of the United States would
have been much more difficult to achieve.
Now, let's change direction. In the
Cuban wars of independence in the 19th century, several North American names
stand out; But perhaps the most well-known is Henry Reeve, also known as
"the little Englishman." What is his story?
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| Henry Reeve (1826-1876) |
Many Americans participated in the Cuban Wars of Independence, and among the most prominent names are Thomas Jordan, a general of the Confederate States, who served as Chief of Staff of the Mambí Army in 1869; Colonel Federico Fernández Cavada of the Union Army, who was commander-in-chief of the Mambí Army for a time; his brother Adolfo, who was a colonel; and W.A.C. Ryan, executed in Santiago de Cuba, among others. We also have Henry Mike Reeve Carroll, who was a brigadier general in the Liberating Army during the Ten Years' War (1868-1878), the First War of Independence of Cuba proclaimed against Spanish colonialism by the Father of the Nation, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, with the Grito de Yara (Cry of Yara) at his La Demajagua estate on October 10, 1868. He is also known as the first president of the Republic of Cuba in Arms. Henry Reeve, for his part, was born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 4, 1850, and participated as a drummer boy for the Union Army from a very young age in the American Civil War (1861-1865), where he developed a strong opposition to slavery. Three years later, upon learning of the revolution in Cuba against Spain, he felt compelled to join the Mambí Army.
Is it true that he didn't speak Spanish?
Yes. Although he didn't speak a word of
Spanish, Reeve boarded the steamship "Perrit" in 1869 under the alias
Henry Earl and arrived on the Cuban coast at the port of Nipe, eight months
after the war began. The next day he engaged the enemy in combat, where he was
captured along with several other expedition members and they were taken to be
executed.
Reeve was shot four times, the bullets
piercing his body, but fortunately none of them hit a vital organ. He regained
consciousness later and managed to escape his captors at night. He wandered
aimlessly for two days until he found the Mambí detachment of General Luis
Figueredo at El Mejías camp, where he received medical attention.
The following month, the American
received the rank of Second Sergeant in the Mambí Army and in October of the
same year, he was appointed aide-de-camp to General Thomas Jourdan. Jourdan,
however, resigned shortly afterward, and the young man joined the 1st Cavalry
Squadron of the Northern Brigade of Camagüey under the command of Brigadier
General Cristóbal Acosta. Throughout that year, he participated in several
encounters with the enemy, including the battles of Tana, Imías, and Jagua,
where he was wounded again.
Reeve fought on the island under the
command of the legendary lawyer who fought in some 100 battles, Ignacio
Agramonte, correct?
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| Ignacio Agramonte (1841-1873) |
In March 1871, Reeve was transferred to Ignacio Agramonte's cavalry unit with the rank of captain. He fought in the battles of Estrada and Mulato before taking part in the rescue of Brigadier General Manuel Sanguily on October 8, 1871, leading a machete charge of Agramonte's cavalry against superior Spanish forces. Agramonte had selected a small group of 35 horsemen, led by Commander Reeve, to carry out the daring rescue, which resulted in a resounding success.
Later, the young commander participated
in the battles of Plátano, La Redonda, San Ramón de Pacheco, Santa Deo, La
Matilde, and Sitio Potrero, and, in November 1871, he was wounded again. The
following year, on November 29, 1872, he received an abdominal wound during the
Battle of Le Carmen, an injury that would cause him problems for the rest of
his life.
In 1873, Reeve participated in the
battles that took place in Ciego de Najasa, Soledad de Pacheco, and Cocal del
Olimpo. His daring and valor in the Battle of Jimaguayú on May 11, 1873, in
which Ignacio Agramonte died, earned him even more distinctions. During this
battle, Reeve briefly assumed command of Agramonte's division, later handing it
over to General Julio Sanguily. When Agramonte died in Jimaguayú, Reeve already
held the rank of colonel.
After the death of Ignacio Agramonte,
Reeve was reassigned to the command of Major General Máximo Gómez and was
appointed Chief of Cavalry for the First Division on July 27, 1873. Gómez
described Reeve as an exceptional officer, highlighting "his proven
courage, his tireless dedication, and his strict military discipline."
The American Henry Reeve was a scourge
to Spanish troops during the Ten Years' War in Cuba. Is that so?
Reeve's units frequently outnumbered
Spanish forces and often defeated larger enemy contingents through daring
tactics and relentless determination. His combat experience as a veteran
American gave him an advantage in battle, and his fearlessness earned him a
well-deserved reputation among the Cuban revolutionaries. In one notable
engagement, Reeve fearlessly leaped onto an enemy artillery battery to help
secure victory, a feat that would guarantee his promotion to Brigadier General
in 1873. Throughout the war, Reeve suffered more than ten wounds. He was held
in high esteem alongside legendary Cuban military leaders such as Generals
Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo.
Henry Reeve always led the charge, first
in line, thus demonstrating exceptional courage in battle. The brigadier
general participated in several battles during this period, including the
engagements of Las Yeguas, La Luz, and Atadeo. On September 28, 1873, during
the Battle of Santa Cruz del Sur, in one of his most remarkable feats, he
personally led the assault on a Spanish artillery battery, capturing it in
hand-to-hand combat.
Was it during this battle that he
suffered a brutal wound?
Exactly. It was devastating. Shrapnel
from Spanish artillery fire severely damaged his right leg near the hip, and he
was subsequently transported to a military hospital in Najasa. The wound, his
eleventh in combat, left him unable to ride a horse without assistance. After a
six-month recovery period, he rejoined the fight against the enemy, his wound
fitted with a metal prosthesis and specialized riding equipment to secure him
to his horse, allowing him to continue leading his troops in machete charges
against the Spanish forces.
On June 20, 1874, Reeve was given
command of the First Division and was wounded again during the Battle of San
Antonio de Camujiri on July 4, 1874.
In January 1875, Reeve provided
artillery cover for Cuban forces crossing the Spanish defensive line known as
the Júcaro-Morón Trocha, allowing Máximo Gómez's invading contingent to advance
westward.
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| Máximo Gómez (1836-1905) |
Later that year, Reeve requested to participate in the western invasion and was assigned to Las Villas on November 5, 1875. Recognizing his leadership skills, the Cuban general Máximo Gómez entrusted him with the command of the Second Division, responsible for the Camagüey and Villareño cavalry units, charging him with extending the war to the western regions of the island. On November 30, 1875, Reeve led a cavalry squadron across the Hanabana River, becoming the vanguard of the invading force. He also played a key role in the first invasion of western Cuba, marking his participation in the Battle of Las Guásimas. By May 1875, he had reached the plains of Colón, and by 1876 he had entered Havana province. Over a period of six months, he led a campaign that resulted in the destruction of more than fifty sugar mills, attempting to cripple the Spanish economy that sustained the war effort. Between 1875 and 1876, he fought in the battles of Los Abreus, Crocodilos, Quemado Grande, Santa Teresa, Espinal, Lagunillas, and Orbea. In July 1876, he was wounded again in the Battle of the Hanabana River, one of his last major armed engagements before his final battle near Yaguaramas. Despite these successes, internal divisions among the Cuban revolutionaries, including caudillismo, regionalism, and factionalism, weakened the independence movement. As a result, Reeve found himself leading a significantly reduced force.
On August 4, 1876, Reeve fell in combat.
How did this happen?
On the savanna near Yaguaramas, Reeve
and his men were ambushed by Spanish troops and guerrilla forces near Alba de
Tormes. During the battle, Reeve's horse was killed, leaving him stranded on
the battlefield.
His personal aide, Rosendo García, tried
to get him another mount, but Reeve ordered him to seek cover to avoid being
killed. Reeve decided to stand his ground and remained beside his dead horse,
armed with a machete in one hand and a revolver in the other.
The brigadier general then suffered
multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the groin and another to the
shoulder. As the Spanish troops approached, he was hit by three more shots.
Recognizing that he was about to be captured and out of ammunition, he took his
own life with a shot to his right temple.
His remains were sent to the city of
Cienfuegos as a war trophy and publicly displayed in the Reina Cemetery,
although the exact location of his burial remains unknown. At the time of his
death, he was wearing a white jacket with a vest, new boots, trousers, a belt,
and a fine pocket watch. His body bore numerous wounds. Although Reeve was not
Cuban by birth, he is remembered today as a Cuban National Hero, a soldier who
fought selflessly for his adopted homeland.
After the failure of the Ten Years' War,
the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898. This war ended the Spanish Empire
and marked a period in which Cubans and Americans took up arms together on the
battlefields. How did Cuba reach that point?
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| Narciso López (1797-1852) |
The failed expedition of the Venezuelan Narciso López to Cuba in August 1851, with the purpose of liberating the island from the vestiges of Spanish colonialism in the Americas, would pave the way for the three subsequent sustained armed conflicts that would culminate in the establishment of the Republic of Cuba in 1902: these are the Ten Years' War (1868-1878), the Little War (1879-1880), and the War of Independence (1895-1898). As we saw earlier in the answer to the first question, the Americans participated from the very beginning, and there we see the actions of "The Little Englishman" Henry Reeves, and others. However, the entry of the United States into the conflict, which led to the expansion of the struggle with its military and economic power, would witness the islanders and Americans fighting together again—this time as a group, not individually—during the short period of time the confrontation lasted.
This is where someone who would later
become very well-known in American politics enters the picture, eventually
becoming president: Theodore Roosevelt.
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| Teodoro Roosevelt (1858-1919) |
As you say, the figure and the detachment that stand out in this fight are Colonel Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders. Roosevelt and his men fought with courage and gallantry during their stay on the island in the two or three months that the conflict lasted.
Theodore Roosevelt was an assistant in
the United States Department of the Navy and had the vision to create a
volunteer corps for this conflict, and he presented his idea to his superior.
Since his combat experience was very limited,
Roosevelt suggested that a hero from previous battles and a friend of his should take command of this new unit, and he offered to be his assistant. His proposal was accepted immediately.
Roosevelt resigned his position in the
department, and soon afterward, Colonel Leonard Wood and Lieutenant Colonel
Teddy Roosevelt were reviewing more than 23,000 applications received from
candidates interested in serving.
The disparate group that was hastily
selected, now called the First United States Volunteer Cavalry, consisted of
polo players, hunters, cowboys, Native Americans, and athletic friends of
Roosevelt's from his time at university. This heterogeneous and disorganized
group of nearly 1,000 men gathered at a ranch in Texas, and the few career
military men among the participants served as training officers for the rest of
the volunteers, since the latter had no idea what military life entailed.
Among them was Captain Bucky O'Neill of
Arizona, who was the mayor of Prescott, a marshal famous throughout the West
for his victorious deeds against the Apaches and against bandits and murderers;
another was Allyn Capron, who was, all in all, the best soldier in the
regiment.
Roosevelt believed that he represented
the ideal model of what an army officer should be. He was the fifth in his
family to serve in the United States Army, and both his body and mind were
perfectly equipped to perform his duties. Tall and slender, an exceptional
walker and boxer, a first-rate horseman with good aim, he seemed what he was:
the archetype of the fighting man. Both men commanded companies and were
extremely respected and admired by their men for their fortitude and
discipline.
A naval battle and a battle in the
eastern part of the island were key to ending the Spanish-American War…
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| La escuadra española sale de Santiago de Cuba para enfrentarse a la flota estadounidense al inicio de la batalla. Pintura al óleo de Alfonso Sanz, Club Naval, Washington D.C. Tomado de Historia NG |
The Spanish-American War is considered,
on the whole, a pathetically one-sided conflict. The American battleship
"Maine" exploded in Havana Bay, supposedly due to a mine, and the
United States declared war on Spain.
On May 1, 1898, Commodore George Dewey
destroyed the Spanish fleet in two hours at the Battle of Manila Bay in the
Philippines, and the capital was occupied by American troops in August.
While the Cuban Mambises fought on land
alongside American volunteers and regulars, the Spanish fleet in the Caribbean
under Admiral Pascual Cervera was in the port of Santiago de Cuba when it was
discovered by the Americans. An army of regular troops and volunteers under
General William Shafter, including Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, landed
on the east coast of Santiago and slowly advanced toward the city with the
intention of forcing Cervera's fleet out of the harbor and onto the open sea.
Cervera was forced to withdraw his
squadron shortly afterward and tried to escape westward along the coast. In the
ensuing battle, their ships were immediately attacked by U.S. cannons, and all
of them were quickly grounded, burning, or sunk. Their fleet was destroyed.
"In the capture of the San Juan
hills, our forces numbered about 1,000 men against some 4,500 Spanish
soldiers," Roosevelt reported. "Our total losses were 1,071, killed
and wounded." Of the cavalry division of some 2,300 men, including
officers and enlisted men, there were 375 killed and wounded. The Rough Riders
also captured a multitude of prisoners.
The Treaty of Paris concluded the
Spanish-American War and was signed on December 10, 1898. What was its main
consequence, and how it shaped the United States that we know today?
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| Kurz and Allison, Spanish-American Treaty of Peace, Paris 1898. |
With the Treaty of Paris, the Kingdom of Spain relinquished all its rights over Cuba, ceded Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States, and transferred sovereignty over the Philippine Islands to the United States.
The Spanish-American War was a pivotal
moment in the history of the two antagonists. Spain's decisive defeat shifted
the country's focus from its foreign colonial ventures to an inward look at its
domestic needs, a process that led to a cultural and literary renaissance and
two consecutive decades of much-needed economic development in Spain.
The victorious Americans, for their
part, emerged from the war as a global power with distant foreign possessions
and a new participation in international politics that would lead them to play
a decisive role in the affairs of Europe and the rest of the world.
During the republic, Cuba became a close
ally of the United States in terms of military action. In what ways was this
most evident between 1902 and 1958?
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| Máximo Gómez junto a Leonard Wood iza la bandera cubana el 20 de mayo de 1902 |
The Republic of Cuba was an unconditional ally of the United States from its founding until its dissolution in 1962, with the so-called Declaration of Havana, and the subsequent establishment of the first country with a socialist system in the Western world.
The role that the democratic and
sovereign republic of Cuba (today it is neither of those two) played in the
First World War was small, but symbolically very important for the hemisphere.
First, Cuba declared war on Germany on April 7, 1917, the same day as the
United States, reflecting the close political and economic ties between the two
countries.
The republic did not send combat troops
to Europe, as its participation was primarily naval and defensive, focused on
protecting trade routes in the Caribbean Sea by escorting and monitoring the
safety of merchant ships.
It is important to remember that Cuba
was a significant sugar producer, a critical commodity in wartime, and its
sugar exports helped sustain the Allied war effort, especially in the United
States and Great Britain. Likewise, Cuban ports and their infrastructure were
very useful for Allied logistics and their continuous supply in the Caribbean.
The support Cuba provided to the Allies
strengthened its relationship with the United States and its position in the
postwar international order. In summary, Cuba was not a military power on the
battlefield of World War I, but it played a leading role as a regional security
partner, an economic supplier, and a symbol of Pan-American support for the
Allies.
As de United States, Cuba was a founding
member of the League of Nations after the war.
During World War II, did Cuba play a
similar role alongside the United States?
Yes. Cuba declared war on the Axis
powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) on December 9, 1941, immediately after the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It was one of the first Latin American
countries to do so and was a staunch ally of the United States throughout the
war.
One of its most important contributions
was that its Navy and Air Force helped patrol the maritime routes around the
island, preventing German U-boats from attacking Allied ships with impunity. In
May 1943, a Cuban Navy patrol boat (CS-13), in cooperation with U.S.
intelligence, helped sink a German U-176 submarine near the island.
This is one of the confirmed Axis losses
caused by the actions of a Cuban patrol boat. Hundreds, if not thousands, of
Cubans and Cuban Americans volunteered or already lived in the United States
and served in the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force. They fought throughout
Europe, in North Africa, and in the Pacific, like any other American recruit.
Cuban sailors served on Allied merchant
ships, which was extremely dangerous work. Several Cuban merchant ships were
sunk by German submarines, with loss of life. Protecting sugar shipments,
critical to the Allied wartime economy, was a major concern.
Beyond individual soldiers, Cuba was a
key base for Allied operations in the Caribbean. Its ports, airports, and radar
installations helped secure shipping routes. Cuban sugar production was of
vital importance to the war effort.
Apart from the actions of the Cuban Navy
patrol boat CS-13, in this US-led alliance against the Axis powers in World War
II, did Cuba contribute to other military strike?
Unlike other countries, Cuba does not
have many world-famous heroes of World War II, but Cuban military personnel
have earned US military decorations. Some even went on to become important
figures later in politics and the armed forces.
One of them was a Cuban Navy officer
named Mario Ramírez Delgado, and he was the commander of a CS-13 submarine
chaser.
In May 1943, his ship helped locate and
sink a German U-boat, U-176, off the northern coast of Cuba, thus becoming one
of the few Cuban submarine destroyers for whom there is both a documented and
confirmed record of such an action. He became an overnight national military
hero.
This action was most likely the
best-documented combat action involving a Cuban officer.
Another was Carlos J. Finlay, III, Cuban
by birth and an officer in the Cuban Army. He was the grandson of Carlos J.
Finlay, the Cuban scientist who discovered how yellow fever spread. He is a
prime example of a well-to-do Cuban family that directly contributed to the
Allied effort during the war.
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| Desi Arnaz (1917-1986) |
Desi Arnaz was not a war hero in the traditional sense of the phrase, but he was a well-documented Cuban military man. He was an actor and musician and served in the United States during World War II producing training films for the troops. He wasn't a front-line soldier, but he was part of the war machine.
Although many names have been lost to
history, it is known that hundreds of Cubans and Cuban-Americans served in the
Army, Navy, and Air Force of the United States. Some flew bombing missions over
Europe, others fought in North Africa, Italy, and the Pacific War, and several
received military decorations from the United States.
And beyond fighting in the two World
Wars, were there any other times when Cuban military personnel participated in
battle alongside U.S. troops?
There were. A group of Cubans served in
the Korean Peninsula War in the 1950s as members of the U.S. Armed Forces. Some
of them were immigrants or Cuban-Americans who enlisted in the Army, Navy, or
Air Force.
They fought as part of the United
Nations forces under U.S. command. Some trained Cuban pilots flew with U.S.
forces. Other Cubans also served as medics or in logistics with the United
Nations forces.
With the arrival of the socialist revolution in Cuba, many
exiles found support in the United States government to try to reclaim their
homeland. Perhaps the high point of that early period was the Bay of Pigs
invasion. What connections existed between the exile forces and the U.S.
military?
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| Monograma utilizado por la Brigada 2506 |
The Bay of Pigs invasion, also called the Playa Girón invasion, was a failed military invasion of Cuba in April 1961, organized by the United States and carried out by anti-Castro Cuban exiles, with the objective of overthrowing the government of Fidel Castro. It ended in total failure for the United States and in a huge political and military victory for the Cuban government.
In
1959, Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista, a dictator supported by the
United States. Initially, the United States did not openly oppose him, but
Castro soon nationalized U.S. companies on the island and moved closer
politically to the Soviet Union. In the midst of the Cold War, this greatly
alarmed the United States.
The
United States then faced the dilemma of wanting to overthrow Castro and prevent
a socialist government just 90 miles from Florida, but they were unsure what
measures should be taken to try to provoke a popular uprising against the Cuban
regime. All this without direct military intervention, to maintain a
"plausible denial" of their involvement.
There
was also a great fear of the spread of communism in the Americas. An agreement
was reached to prepare an invasion designed by the CIA during President
Eisenhower's administration. Some 1,400 Cuban exiles, the so-called Brigade
2506, were trained in Guatemala and Nicaragua with a landing projected for the
Bay of Pigs, south of Cuba.
On
April 15, 1961, Cuban airfields were bombed by Cuban pilots and other Americans
acting independently, but they failed to destroy Castro's air force. The
following day, the landings took place at Playa Girón and Playa Larga.
Aside
from the location chosen for the assault, which was highly unfavorable for the
invaders, they did not receive the promised air support and were trapped,
perhaps due to the change of government during the transition from a Republican
to a Democratic administration.
The
attackers had to confront the Cuban army, militias, and police, and the entire
affair resulted, as expected, in a defeat for Brigade 2506. All the invading
aircraft were destroyed and their pilots killed in action, except for one of
the four American airmen, who was taken prisoner when his damaged plane
crashed. There were many dead and more than 1,100 prisoners, and it was all
over in less than 72 hours.
Reflecting
on the reasons for the invasion's failure, the geographically unfavorable
location, President Kennedy's cancellation of promised air support, and the
poor planning by the U.S. officials are frequently cited, since the Cuban
people never rebelled against Castro or did not have the opportunity to do so.
They greatly underestimated the people's support for Castro in that early
moment and the effective Soviet-backed Cuban military response.
What consequences had the invasion's failure?
As
a consequence of the Bay of Pigs fiasco, Castro consolidated his position (he
had officially declared the socialist character of the revolution shortly
before) and gained greater international prestige; at the same time, he
strengthened his alliance with the USSR.
For
its part, the Democrat Administration faced military and political defeat and
international humiliation due to the loss of its credibility and prestige, and
President Kennedy had no choice but to publicly assume responsibility for what
had happened.
The
United States policy also became more radicalized against Cuba, as demonstrated
by the tightening of the embargo and the Cuban Missile Crisis, the most
dangerous moment of the Cold War. These events inspired left-wing revolutionary
movements in Hispanic America, increased distrust of the United States, and
strengthened the image of Havana as the "leader" of anti-imperialism.
A notable aspect of the Bay of Pigs events is the heroic
story of an American pilot who provided air support to the Cubans, but whose
plane was shot down in combat. He was taken prisoner, and Castro held his body
captive for 18 years, until 1979.
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| Riley Shamburger |
The four American pilots known to have perished in the Battle of the Bay of Pigs on April 17, 1961, were Riley Shamburger, his co-pilot Wade Gray, Thomas Willard "Pete" Ray, and his co-pilot Leo Baker, all members of the Alabama Air National Guard in Birmingham.
The
first two died when their plane crashed into the Caribbean Sea after being shot
down by strafing fire from a Cuban Air Force T-33 fighter jet. The other two
crew members of the second downed plane, Thomas Willard "Pete" Ray
and Leo Baker, managed to land alive, but were immediately surrounded by Cuban
militiamen and subsequently died from their adversaries' gunfire.
And
so begins the unusual and interesting story of the body of the crew member of
the second plane, pilot Thomas Willard "Pete" Ray.
Since
the Cuban leader knew that the Cuban refugees living in the United States could
not have invaded the island without the express consent of the U.S. government,
and that the Kennedy administration could completely deny its involvement in
the attack, Fidel Castro considered it a good idea to preserve the body of the
deceased pilot—fair-skinned with green eyes, to be precise—as evidence of the
U.S. government's participation in the invasion of Cuba. With his co-pilot, Leo
Baker, who had brown skin and could have passed for Cuban, it was not necessary
to do so.
Thomas Willard "Pete" Ray's daughter was vital to
completing a story of redemption…
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| Leo Baker |
The
Cuban regime stored Thomas Willard "Pete" Ray's body in a morgue at
the Institute of Legal Medicine in Cuba for 18 consecutive years, even after
the United States acknowledged his involvement in the preparations for the Bay
of Pigs invasion—perhaps because Castro wanted to keep him as a war trophy.
His
daughter, Janet Ray, who would become the protagonist of this story as she
tried to recover her father's remains, was just six years old at the time and
began her odyssey searching for and gathering information about him. Even in
school, she began to notice that her classmates looked at her askance, not
understanding why, until years later she learned that her father was accused of
belonging to a group of paid mercenaries seeking fortune by attacking the
island of Cuba.
From
the age of eight, Janet would leave her tape recorder running, hidden under the
sofa in the living room of her house, to gather information about her
father—information her family kept from her to prevent her from learning of his
violent death and the rumors circulating. This is how she learned the names of
friends, colleagues, and people connected to her father, which she religiously
wrote down in a notebook she never let out of her sight. She would retrieve
papers her mother threw away in the trash, obsessed with finding out her
father's whereabouts.
 |
| Thomas "Pete" Ray |
She
still didn't understand so much secrecy, why the U.S. government was doing
everything possible to keep her from knowing where her father was, Janet
imagined.
It
was at that moment that she began a mission that would last eighteen years and
seven months: to find the truth, bring home her father's remains, and ensure
that he was honored in his own country. Later, she frequently visited local
libraries and bookstores, reading archives, documents, books—anything that
might give her a clue—to try to learn more about the case of Cuba and her
father's death.
Ten
years later, we find her at university, and it is during this four-year stay
that she frequently traveled to South Florida, where she realized for the first
time that her father was considered a good pilot in the fight against the
dictator Castro, and not a criminal mercenary.
On
a subsequent trip to Miami, someone told her that there were rumors that the
body of an American was in a morgue in Havana, along with photographs taken
after his death.
Shortly
afterward, Janet married Mike Weininger, an Air Force pilot with whom she
shared her concerns and who joined those who wanted to help her.
Did Janet ever speak with the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA)?
 |
| Janet Ray Weininger |
In
the early 1970s, she learned that some members of the CIA, who until then had
religiously kept her father's involvement in the Bay of Pigs invasion a secret,
were now willing to share their knowledge on the matter.
In
April 1979, on the very anniversary of her father's disappearance, Janet Ray
Weininger heard a knock at the door of the house where she was living at Hahn
Air Base in Germany with her husband, a military pilot. Upon opening the door,
she found an envelope sent by Peter Wyden, a journalist she had interviewed a
few months earlier who was writing a book about the Bay of Pigs invasion. It
contained photos of her dead father.
She
quickly went to a friend's house who took her to the airport to travel back to
the United States, but she found that the last flight of the day was full, with
no seats available. She then managed to speak with the pilot and begged him to
take her back to her country, explaining that her father, also a pilot, had
died at the Bay of Pigs and that his body was in Cuba. Since there was no room,
the two pilots agreed to take her with them in the cockpit. She only had $10.00
in her pocket.
With
her was the envelope she had received the night before with photos of her dead
father. From the age of 15, in 1970, Janet began writing letters to the tyrant
Castro month after month, asking for information about her father's
whereabouts, without receiving any reply. In 1974, the CIA awarded Thomas Ray
the Intelligence Cross, its highest distinction. His family didn't find out
until many years later.
The
next seven months were crucial, and Janet tried to contact the Cuban
government. Through a journalist cousin and with Pete's mother's help, they
managed to get local politicians interested in the case.
On
the other hand, the CIA denied her all information; they wouldn't even give her
her father's fingerprints for possible identification. Janet had to arrange
with her doctor for her dental impressions so the body could be identified.
Finally,
independent fingerprint and dental analyses by Cuba and the FBI corroborated
the identity. The man who had remained for 18 years in a refrigerator at the
Institute of Legal Medicine, in Havana, was Thomas Willard "Pete"
Ray.
How did the body of pilot Thomas Willard
"Pete" Ray, who fought alongside Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs,
return to the United States?
 |
| El cuerpo de Thomas Ray fue devuelto a EE.UU., y enterrado con honores militares el 5 de diciembre de 1979 |
Following negotiations by President Jimmy Carter's administration, the body was returned to his family on December 5, 1979, draped in the Star-Spangled Banner and carried by soldiers in full military uniform.
Janet was pregnant when the plane landed
at Birmingham Airport with her father's remains, at the same spot from which he
had taken off on a failed invasion of Cuba that led to his death and nearly two
decades frozen in a Havana morgue at -10°C.
And after a brief service at a local
church, he finally went to pay his long-postponed debt to the earth. Meanwhile,
trumpets sounded in mourning.
Janet's life, from the time she came of
age, was dedicated to restoring the name of her father, who died in combat, by
any means possible, even after recovering his body and restoring his military
honor.
In 1998, we found Janet in the remote
mountains of northern Nicaragua with the families of two Cuban pilots from
Brigade 2506 who died on the flight back to Nicaragua.
For her new mission of reuniting the
fallen pilots with their families so they could be buried with honor and
dignity, Janet had secured CIA funding for a mission led by the U.S. military,
meeting with government officials, politicians, and other influential figures
in Washington, D.C. They managed to find the bodies near the town of San José
de Bocay in the department of Jinotega.
Upon her return to the United States,
she founded Wings of Valor, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to
restoring lives destroyed by war, poverty, and disaster.
But Janet didn't stop there…
In November 2003, while the Castro regime was cracking
down on peaceful dissidents and writers, Janet found legal representation and sued the Cuban
government for the execution of her father and the desecration of his body.
The following year, Janet's efforts were
rewarded with nearly $87 million for her father's execution and the desecration
of his body. Of that money, $65 million was for punitive damages and another
$18 million for compensatory damages for pain and suffering. More than $3.5
million was designated for her father's estate, with Janet as its
representative.
However, the eighteen million dollars in
compensatory damages frozen in the United States since the embargo was imposed
were not available from the U.S. government. But two years later, in 2006, a
federal judge in the state of New York ordered J.P. Morgan to release $23.9
million to Janet from the frozen funds and $66 million to the family of Howard
Anderson, who had won damages in 2004 against the Cuban government.
In 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis
brought the world to the brink of World War III. Military tension between Cuba
and the United States reached unimaginable levels…
 |
| Primera imagen en la que se muestra un convoy con misiles soviéticos en Cuba. Foto tomada de BBC News Mundo. |
The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the most tense moments of the Cold War and, without exaggeration, the moment when the world came closest to nuclear war.
It began as a political and military
confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted
thirteen days, from October 16 to 28, triggered by the secret installation of
nuclear missiles on the island.
It's worth remembering that, after the
1959 revolution, Cuba aligned itself with the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics and that the United States had attempted to overthrow Fidel Castro in
the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. For its part, the Soviet Union, then led by
Nikita Khrushchev, intended to protect Cuba from a US invasion and was also
interested in balancing nuclear power, since the United States had missiles
aimed at the USSR from Turkey and Italy.
US U-2 spy planes took aerial
photographs of the missile bases in Cuba, and the president was briefed by the
Armed Forces on October 16.
President Kennedy then ordered a
"naval blockade," officially called a "quarantine," to
prevent more missiles from reaching the island.
For days, Soviet ships approached the
blockaded zone… and no one knew if there would be shots fired by either side.
There were several very serious accidents, such as the downing of an American
spy plane over Cuba.
Secret negotiations were held until an
agreement was reached, and the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw its missiles
from Cuba once the United States promised not to invade Cuba and secretly
withdrew its missiles from Turkey.
This confrontation was extremely
important because it demonstrated the dangers of nuclear escalation and led to
improvements in communication between the two powerful countries. For example,
the famous "hotline" between Washington and Moscow was established,
and it spurred further nuclear arms control agreements.
In short, the crisis demonstrated that
the nuclear balance could destroy the world in hours and that diplomacy, even
between enemies, was vital for global survival.
If the negotiations had failed, what
would the possible scenarios have been?
This is not an exaggeration, and many
historians believe that nuclear war would have been almost inevitable. Here are
three realistic scenarios.
The first, and least likely, could have
been a direct military clash in which the United States invaded Cuba. Today we
know that there were tactical nuclear weapons on the island and that Soviet
commanders were authorized to use them if attacked.
A nuclear explosion in the Caribbean
would cause thousands of deaths immediately, and the United States would
respond by attacking the USSR. It would trigger an almost automatic global
escalation.
A second scenario would involve a ship
firing by mistake, a radar misinterpreting a signal, or a pilot acting on their
own initiative, all happening without "political decisions."
A third scenario would involve a
large-scale nuclear war. If the balance of negotiations were to break down,
missiles would be launched from Cuba, the United States, Europe, and the USSR.
Cities like Washington, Moscow, New York, and London would be destroyed.
As a consequence of any of these
scenarios, there would be a global economic collapse, massive radioactive
contamination, and worldwide famines (what we would now call nuclear winter).
The most unsettling aspect of this whole affair is that Kennedy and Khrushkov
didn't control everything.
Many military commanders were willing to
go further than the politicians wanted, and humanity depended on individual
decisions, on people who didn't lose their composure or push the button.
From 1959 onward, Cuba entered the Cold
War fully, but on the Soviet side. The saga of spies that the Castro regime has
infiltrated into American territory turned the island into an enemy to be
closely watched. Is it still a threat in that sense?
A completely impoverished country like
Cuba doesn't have the most powerful intelligence in the world, but it probably
does have one of the most patient, disciplined, and ideologically coherent. It
doesn't buy spies: it trains and convinces them! Its intelligence is small, but
very effective, focused more on ideological quality than quantity.
There are basically two classic methods.
Furst, ideological recruitment from
universities, the armed forces, diplomacy, student movements, and leftist
parties. They seek people with prior political convictions, not so much for
money.
Their narrative centers on the fight
against imperialism, sovereignty, social justice, and resistance to US power.
Their agents are young and trained for years. They receive intensive political
education, military discipline, and extreme compartmentalization. These "sleeper
agents" live normal lives as academics, journalists, civil servants, and
businesspeople for decades. The intelligence apparatus builds a culture where
betrayal is betrayal of the nation, not just the employer.
Cuban agents have fewer resources, are
fewer in number, but are well-positioned. They have patience, ideology, and
deep integration. They stand out for their conviction, their long-term
effectiveness, and their stealth. They are offered identity, a sense of
history, and a mission. Many agents genuinely believe they are fighting a
powerful enemy. The Cuban spy does not betray. As an ideological spy, he
endures prison, exile, or decades without recognition.
The second method is this. The Castro
regime remains powerful because of its perpetual war mentality, its strategic
patience over many years, its ideological infiltration mindset, its focus on
the United States, and its networked operations; when one falls, there are
usually others active or dormant.
Could you give us some examples?
Of course. There are several.
One of them was the Wasp Network, a
Cuban spy network dismantled in 1998. It infiltrated military bases, Cuban
exiles, political organizations, and strategic centers in Florida.
It stole sensitive military information,
monitored and penetrated exile groups, and participated in the downing of the
Brothers to the Rescue planes. The network was made up of illegal agents who
operated with false identities, sham marriages, and led completely fabricated
lives. They answered directly to Cuban intelligence.
Several members were sentenced to long
prison terms. In Cuba, they were celebrated as national heroes.
 |
| Ana Belén Montes |
She compromised entire operations,
endangered lives, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Her work
demonstrated that Cuba could infiltrate the heart of U.S. defense.
We can also add the case of Manuel Rocha, a career U.S. diplomat and ambassador
to Bolivia. He held high-ranking positions in the State Department, and spied
for Cuba for more than 40 years, beginning in the 1970s. He operated under both
Republican and Democratic administrations. He actively influenced foreign
policy decisions. He wasn't an analyst, but a decision-maker. He helped shape
governments and alliances favorable to Havana. His actions confirmed that Cuban
infiltration was very active in the United States.
Kendall Myers, a State Department
official, spied for Cuba for decades. With his wife, they were part of an
ideological family network.
Carlos and Elsa Álvarez participated in
infiltrations of academic and political circles.
There were (and possibly still are)
sleeper agents in universities, NGOs, media outlets, and think tanks.
But this awful scenario could change, with a free Cuba.
(*) Tomado de The Washington Stand
(**) Yoe Suárez is The Washington Stand’s international affairs correspondent. He is an exiled journalist, writer, and producer who investigated in Havana about torture, political police, gangs, government black lists, and cybersurveillance. A graduate of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, he was a CBN correspondent, and has written for outlets like The Hill and Newsweek. He has appeared on Vox, Univision, and Deutsche Welle as an analyst on Cuba, security, and U.S. foreign policy.
