Chapter 199
Chapter 199
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Cuban Crisis (1)
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The Cuban revolutionaries lived like nomads, trudging dozens of kilometers every day.
As mere guerrillas constantly on the run without a fixed base, Batista dismissed them as insignificant.
But at some point, Batista's attitude shifted.
He came to see them as an enemy that absolutely had to be eradicated, dispatching large-scale pursuit units to doggedly chase them down.
In the process, the revolutionaries lost many comrades.
"Comrade Castro, we won't last like this."
"No, we can hold out."
Yet Castro remained unshaken.
Che Guevara was so astonished by his steadfastness that he voiced his bewilderment.
"How do you maintain such faith?"
Castro pulled a yellowed letter from his pocket.
"We have people who believe in our cause and offer their help. Comrades who've never even met us but have poured in vast sums on faith alone—how could we bend the knee over a little hardship?"
Everyone felt ashamed at Castro's words.
Indeed.
Anonymous benefactors had sent them over ten million dollars.
Thanks to that money, the revolutionaries had been able to eat, provide medical services, and train their comrades.
To receive such precious aid and then whine weakly.
"So hold fast to your faith. As long as our cause doesn't waver, a breakthrough will come. After all, is there any justice on the side of Batista, who exploits the Cuban people, or America?"
Castro and his comrades renewed their resolve and pressed on with the forced march.
Batista's pursuit units, initially eager to capture them, soon began slacking off.
'Communists or not, they're just guerrillas in the end. Does it make sense to crawl through the wilderness day and night just to catch them?'
They could manage that for a few weeks.
But not a full month in the wilds.
Batista's soldiers were from the privileged class to begin with.
They lacked the mental fortitude to endure harsh wilderness life.
They had no such motivation.
'It's not like we'll get paid extra for this—what's the point of suffering?'
Batista's soldiers half-heartedly trailed them before scattering to villages to rest.
With pursuits like that, annihilation was out of the question.
The revolutionaries steadily grew their ranks using medical services and education as weapons, building their strength.
Wherever they passed, sympathizers and networks took root.
Batista underestimated Castro, fixating only on the visible number of guerrillas.
"Washington says to be vigilant—fine, we'll be vigilant, but what of it? They're communists without any support, aren't they?"
To Batista, the protesters shaking major cities posed a greater threat right now.
In this complacency, the Cuban revolutionaries' network steadily expanded.
By late 1956, they had amassed enough potential strength to target the capital, Havana.
Once prepared, the revolutionaries attacked a Batista army train in Santa Clara, disarming over 300 soldiers.
"What? Thirty men or fewer took down 300?"
The victory at Santa Clara sparked uprisings nationwide, and the revolutionaries began to assert their momentum.
In an instant, dozens of villages and cities fell into their hands.
'These guys aren't messing around.'
Batista belatedly realized the revolutionaries were a genuine threat.
"Washington, you have to help us. Otherwise, Cuba will fall to the communists."
Batista clutched at America's coattails.
"Understood for now—hold tight. Once the administration transition is done, we'll help right away. Just endure."
Batista planned to defend Havana at all costs and wait for American aid.
But his hopes shattered with the government army's crushing defeat at the Battle of Yaguajay.
The government forces, superior in equipment and numbers, lost primarily because excessive loyalty training for riot suppression had left them ill-prepared.
"Pack your bags."
Batista no longer harbored any desire to cling to power.
He grabbed a bag full of jewels and fled swiftly to the Dominican Republic.
America was greatly flustered by this shocking outcome.
"You couldn't hold out even a few weeks after we told you to?"
Unable to grasp the situation, the U.S. ambassador to Cuba, Arthur Gardner, was recalled to Washington.
"Just how did you assess the situation? We told you to watch for a communist revolution in Cuba, but you didn't send even one report on it!"
"I-I'm sorry."
That said, apart from holding the ambassador accountable, America refrained from military action in Cuba.
It was a delicate time with the regime change underway.
Washington pondered how to handle Cuba after the new administration took over.
As America weighed military options, Cuba felt the need to clarify its ties with Washington.
The incoming U.S. president was the hawkish hardliner Barry Goldwater.
If Goldwater took power, America might attack without even offering talks.
Cuba needed to signal Washington beforehand that the revolution wasn't hostile to America.
"First, make it clear we're not socialists."
Castro had never intended to confront America head-on.
From the start, that's why they'd studied Korean-style democracy instead of socialism.
Castro dispatched Che Guevara as envoy to the Americans.
"Sending some green kid as envoy? Have they lost their minds?"
America was offended at the sight of Cuba's envoy.
They stuck Che in a hotel for three days, ignoring him.
Then, on the third day, they summoned him to the State Department.
"Thanks to you, I got a good rest."
Surprisingly, the young upstart faced the American officials without a hint of intimidation.
The Americans first asked why the Republic of Cuba had sent an envoy to America.
"To maintain friendly relations between our nations, of course."
"Is friendship possible between communists and liberals?"
The Americans scoffed at that.
"What's impossible about it? And to correct a misunderstanding, we're not communists. We're democrats."
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
Che Guevara showed them the new Cuban government's organizational chart.
"We use a Korean-style government structure, not the Soviet one."
The Americans were taken aback.
Not just communists, but Korean-style democrats?
That changed things.
It wasn't communism—it was the fashionable ideology of dictator friends pursuing pseudo-dictatorship.
After conferring, the Americans finally softened their stance.
If they weren't communist reds, they qualified for proper talks with Washington—that was the officials' view.
The questions naturally shifted.
What was the Republic's stance on American assets in Cuba?
"We plan Korean-style compensated expropriation and redistribution. We seek the U.S. government's understanding on this. It may be inconvenient, but without resolving the land issue, revolution will recur in Cuba. A second revolution would bring real communists to power."
The Americans pondered Cuba's position.
No brute-force seizures typical of new nations—this was quite rational and moderate.
The issue was whether to trust it.
The Americans probed on Cuba's foreign policy and more, testing the envoy's attitude.
Che answered fluidly without hesitation.
"We understand Cuba's position fully."
Once the envoy returned, the State Department sent this report to Washington.
"If we just confirm they're not real communists, we can leave them be. Invading and toppling a sovereign nation for no reason would only embarrass us at the UN."
Goldwater sneered at the State Department's report.
The department's view was too naive.
These were revolutionaries who'd toppled a pro-American regime.
What was the ultimate goal of revolutionaries?
Redistribution of concentrated wealth.
Hadn't they said it themselves—compensated expropriation and redistribution?
Tolerating the Cuban Revolution and compromising with them would inevitably infringe on America's vast interests and assets there.
Setting such a precedent—how would they protect assets in Central and South America?
Compromise with Cuba was impossible, and shouldn't happen.
Goldwater's course was set from the start.
"Prepare contact with Batista."
Goldwater planned to bolster Batista's supporters with mercenaries to retake Cuba.
His scheme was this.
Bomb Cuba's key areas flat in one go, then land Batista's army to reclaim it.
The pretext: Supporting the return of Cuba's legitimate ruler, Batista.
Simple in words, but execution required preparation.
Batista needed at least six months to regroup.
Variables could arise in that time, but Goldwater saw no issue.
Even if communists wanted in, the Caribbean was America's turf.
If they dared reach out, he'd just demonstrate the world's strongest U.S. Navy.
Goldwater's aides voiced concerns over the plan.
"Mr. President-elect, attacking Cuba is fine, but the pretext is too vague. Cuba is a sovereign nation, after all."
"The Cuba we recognize is the Batista regime."
Goldwater had no intention of yielding on that.
"Then, sir, keep direct involvement minimal."
"Minimal involvement—what do you mean?"
"We need to appear uninvolved on the surface. That way, we'll have something to tell the international community."
"And if it fails? Wouldn't that be worse?"
Despite Republican persuasion, Goldwater made his direct intervention clear.
"Goldwater really has no brakes."
Public opinion wasn't wrong.
He was a man without backing down.
That such an ultra-hardliner led superpower America was truly this world's misfortune.