The Revolution that Fostered Fear

The reaction after the Cuban Revolution created hope for some and chaos for others. People who belonged to the upper and middle class were anti-communists that feared the revolution because they feared that with the revolution they would lose their privileged life. The people fighting the revolution were glad it was finally happening. It was then when the Cold War ushered in a new era for Cuba. There was little that the government did to aid the Marxists. The only help they provided was training, arms, and money. Even when Cuba was declaring itself communist Russia did little to help them.

Of course the United States decided they had to intervene to prevent communism from spreading. During the Cold War the United States tried to thwart any advance in any country that would begin to lean towards the communist side of Russia. This era was the time of the Red Scare, a time when anyone who was communist became enemy number one in the U.S. Marxists were identified as foreign by the anti-communists. Alliances between the militaries of Latin America and the United States during World War II were strong and anti-communist. The alliance allowed permanent military aid for Latin America. This aid included money, arms, and military counter insurgence training from the U.S.

The School of the Americas for Counter Insurgency or also known as the CIA were the training schools that trained soldiers in Latin America which mainly focused on training to fight guerrillas. The National Security Doctrine consisted of keeping an alliance with Latin American countries in order to keep the “free world” free. In order to achieve this the U.S asked for loyalty to the free world and for the governments of these countries to turn on their own people if they supported communism. The purpose of this doctrine was to defend the western world of communist advances and as a bonus they coincidentally gave them rich and powerful allies. Kennedy thought it was important for the U.S to maintain a strong alliance with Latin America In order to insure economic expansion and political reform.

            Although this plan for reform did not help at all, it didn't create any reforms. During the 1960s more support for the revolution began to flourish. University students and intellectuals began to be drawn to the most popular political philosophy, which was Marxism. Then propaganda began with revolutionary filmmaking and posters, and fliers talking about the need for a revolution. “In 1960, Castro nationalized all U.S.-owned businesses, including oil refineries, factories and casinos.” (http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/fidel-castro) When Latin American militaries began to see that the revolutionaries weren't backing down they decided that there needed to be harsher measures to be taken. So they decided to kidnap, torture, and murder those who were believed to side with the revolutionaries. All of these tactics resulted in Juntas who were executive committees of generals, and admirals came to power in Latin American countries. “Cuba brought the greatest ideas of social transformation to several generations of Latin Americans. Its revolution touched the youth, convulsed political organizations and shook the left.” (http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-cuban-revolution-the-current-economic-reforms/5422826) As a result countries all over Latin America had intervention from the U.S.