ABSTRACT
After Castro came to power in 1959, relations between the United States and Cuba rapidly deteriorated. Because U.S. economic and other assistance was withdrawn, Castro needed to find support elsewhere. Raúl Castro and “Che” Guevara opened domestic doors to local communists, and Fidel Castro joined them in paving the way into Cuba for the Soviets, too. For Moscow, Cuba was a long-sought beachhead in the Western Hemisphere, and a strategic base in the Caribbean, close to the United States and to the Panama Canal. For Castro, the alliance with the U.S.S.R. meant that he was protected from the United States and could proceed with his plans to become the Líder de las Americas. The old-time Cuban communists, riding high, thought that they, and not Castro, should become dominant in the government. Castro decided otherwise.
