1 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:23,120 [in Spanish] Cuba has always been fighting for its freedom. 2 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:32,159 [in Spanish] 100,000 died, and even though we lost the war, the country had changed. 3 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:46,880 There is little question that Meyer Lansky had thoroughly corrupted Batista. 4 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,320 It's not a lie, they didn't promise anything. 5 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:56,040 They promised a revolution. They did a revolution. 6 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:07,200 [in Russian] These guys were bound to become either martyrs or national heroes. 7 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:10,560 Una revolución! 8 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:13,840 [man] Fidel Castro. 9 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:24,200 He told Khrushchev, "You should unleash the entire Soviet nuclear arsenals." 10 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:27,040 Apocalypse. 11 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:29,640 [siren] 12 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:37,600 [in German] Cuba will never bend its knee. 13 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:51,960 The island of Cuba. 14 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:56,400 A bustling melting pot of cultures and a curious colonial paradise. 15 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:04,160 Throughout its history, Cuba saw the rise and fall of many a hero 16 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:06,720 and suffered under many a despot. 17 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:16,360 In 1952, Fulgencio Batista, the former head of Cuba's armed forces, 18 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:18,200 seized power in a coup. 19 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:21,280 From his presidential palace, 20 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:23,640 he would go on to rule Cuba for seven years. 21 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:30,760 His rule ended on the morning of New Year's Day 1959. 22 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:35,280 Batista fled Cuba, as a new revolution swept over the island, 23 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:37,480 led by Fidel Castro. 24 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:46,080 But how did a tiny band of guerilleros manage to form a whole new state? 25 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:51,240 What poisoned Cuba's close relationship with the United States? 26 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:56,720 And how did Fidel Castro, the son of a wealthy landowner, 27 00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:58,800 become a communist statesman? 28 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,040 Fidel Castro became the vector of a revolution 29 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:08,120 that let the people of Cuba dream of living in freedom and prosperity. 30 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:12,200 And to this day, the Cuban people have not given up on this dream. 31 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:17,080 [in Spanish] I know that I shall die as a revolutionary. 32 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:21,280 I'll always be on the side of the oppressed. 33 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:26,520 I'll always be on the side of the poor, of the humble. 34 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:31,080 I'll always be on their side, until the day I die. 35 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:36,520 Fidel Castro rose in rebellion against Fulgencio Batista. 36 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:42,400 In 1933, Batista had set out to free Cuba from the yoke of another dictator. 37 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,720 But since taking power in a coup in 1952... 38 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:48,800 he had turned Cuba into a police state. 39 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:50,800 The United States supported him, 40 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:55,280 in exchange for American corporate control over much of Cuba's economy. 41 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:02,520 Fidel Castro's revolution began in the mountains of Sierra Maestra. 42 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:04,600 He had barely 100 men. 43 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:07,080 Rather than sending them into a hopeless battle, 44 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:10,400 Castro led a spirited propaganda campaign. 45 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:15,400 His aim was to convince the Cubans that his revolution was legitimate. 46 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:19,120 In December 1958, Castro and half of his rebels 47 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:21,880 marched on the city of Santiago. 48 00:04:21,959 --> 00:04:25,520 The other half, led by Ernesto "Che" Guevara 49 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:28,080 and rebel army chief Camilo Cienfuegos, 50 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:30,920 Castro sent towards Cuba's capital, Havana. 51 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:33,960 [in Spanish] We received orders, 52 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:38,560 meaning, Camilo received orders to head towards Havana... 53 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:46,680 ...when it became clear that Batista was fleeing. 54 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:49,360 So we headed towards Havana. 55 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:53,520 We, the troops of Camilo Cienfuegos, took the capital, the city of Havana. 56 00:04:55,680 --> 00:05:00,560 Camilo Cienfuegos's rebels reached Havana on January 2nd, 1959. 57 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:05,000 Batista had fled, together with his inner circle. 58 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:08,880 The soldiers in the capital surrendered without a fight. 59 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:13,440 At the same time, Fidel Castro and his troops entered Santiago. 60 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:17,800 Here as well, the army chose to surrender rather than fight. 61 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:27,320 Castro's leading comandante during the march on Santiago was Huber Matos. 62 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:30,760 He had been a crucial part of Fidel's revolution, 63 00:05:30,840 --> 00:05:33,000 by providing weapons for the guerrilleros. 64 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:37,080 Now he entered Cuba's second-biggest city by Castro's side. 65 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:41,800 [in French] And then something very surprising happened. 66 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:48,840 Fidel Castro declared that Santiago was now the capital of Cuba. 67 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,040 Castro's message was clear. The capital would be wherever he was. 68 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:57,240 Meanwhile, the people of Havana celebrated his revolution. 69 00:05:57,320 --> 00:05:59,880 But not everybody was happy. 70 00:05:59,960 --> 00:06:02,680 President Batista and his inner circle were gone. 71 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:05,360 Afraid of what would happen to them, 72 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:09,760 rich foreigners, mostly Americans, and wealthy Cuban landowners followed. 73 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:15,720 Among them were members of the American Mafia, 74 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:17,720 who controlled the island's casinos. 75 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:19,960 Their boss was Meyer Lansky. 76 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:26,720 My grandmother said, "We have to leave. We're gonna go back to Miami." 77 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:29,320 I guess they tried to be as cool as possible. 78 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:31,840 I will never forget 79 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:36,320 going down in the elevator and seeing soldiers in the street. 80 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,280 I will never forget that as long as I live. I was eight years old. 81 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:42,560 And I remember green. Just green and chaos. 82 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:47,480 Revolutionary leader Fidel Castro was not unknown in Cuba. 83 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:51,200 He was the son of a wealthy landowner, a lawyer from Havana, 84 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:55,560 and had been married to the daughter of one of Batista's chief ministers. 85 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:58,920 But now his wife and her family abandoned him out of fear, 86 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:01,320 taking Castro's son with them. 87 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:05,560 The boy, Fidelito, that was in New York. 88 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:09,320 So the only one of the family that was in Cuba 89 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:13,560 was myself and my sister, but my sister was married, so no problem. 90 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:16,440 The one who had problem was me 91 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:20,400 so I just got the last plane and out, out of Cuba. 92 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:27,440 Havana, for the moment no longer Cuba's capital, 93 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:31,160 was under control of Castro's head of the army, Camilo Cienfuegos. 94 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:35,760 The people of Havana acclaimed him as their liberator. 95 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:42,040 Fidel Castro, meanwhile, was still in Santiago, 96 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:44,120 on the other side of the island. 97 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:49,520 On January 3rd, 1959, he left for Havana. 98 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:56,520 [in French] For eight days, he talked non-stop. 99 00:07:56,600 --> 00:08:01,520 They say that, at times, he teetered at the podium, but people held him. 100 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:04,720 But he continued. It was an incredible triumph. 101 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,120 After a triumphant journey across Cuba, 102 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:14,680 Fidel Castro arrived in Havana on January 8th, 1959 103 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:17,800 and gave the city back its title as Cuba's capital. 104 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,120 By his side were his brother Raúl, 105 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:23,520 his second in command Ernesto "Che" Guevara 106 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:28,600 and his comandantes Huber Matos and Camilo Cienfuegos. 107 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:34,360 That evening Castro made a victory speech before a crowd of 400,000 people. 108 00:08:35,919 --> 00:08:40,120 It was the first time Castro had spoken to such a large audience. 109 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:44,080 [in French] He gave a long and incredibly democratic speech. 110 00:08:44,159 --> 00:08:47,120 "We're going to give the land to the peasants. 111 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:51,120 We're going to disarm, we're soldiers of peace." 112 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:55,160 It was not a communist speech. It was not a violent speech. 113 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:59,440 And at one point there was an extraordinary moment, 114 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:02,360 where white doves rose up into the sky, 115 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:06,080 and we had this Christ-like image of Fidel Castro. 116 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:12,480 What we didn't see was a man behind him, a bird-handler, 117 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:18,080 who was making the birds rise up and fly away. 118 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:21,280 On the stage next to Fidel Castro 119 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:25,040 stood the man who had liberated Havana, Camilo Cienfuegos. 120 00:09:27,560 --> 00:09:33,000 [in Spanish] Fidel talked for 15 or 20 minutes. 121 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,920 He was telling a story about something, I forgot what it was, 122 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,960 and then Fidel leaned over to Camilo and said, "Am I doing alright, Camilo?" 123 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:45,600 And Camilo said, "You always do, Fidel." 124 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:50,120 To this day, Camilo Cienfuegos's words 125 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:53,640 are inscribed at the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana. 126 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:56,480 Fidel Castro had managed to unite 127 00:09:56,560 --> 00:10:00,160 all those who opposed Batista under his leadership. 128 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:05,000 Now the deposed dictator's army and police want to join his cause as well. 129 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:06,640 But Castro had no intention 130 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:09,760 of letting the old regime's supporters keep their power. 131 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:16,480 [in Spanish] Fidel did not take power, he made power. 132 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:22,600 The army dissolved and fled, 133 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:27,840 so he made a new army with his own people. 134 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:34,680 There was no congress, so legislation was made in a council of ministers, 135 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:39,360 which he entrusts with total judicial power. 136 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:44,360 When he took control of Cuba, Fidel Castro had no official position. 137 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:47,280 Instead of appointing himself as head of state, 138 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:51,720 he formed a government of esteemed Cuban intellectuals and thinkers. 139 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:55,720 But then, gradually, he deposed one minister after the other, 140 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:57,880 and replaced them with his own people. 141 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:00,160 This worried many of his supporters, 142 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:04,040 particularly when he appointed two communists as ministers: 143 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:07,360 his brother Raúl and Ernesto "Che" Guevara. 144 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:11,240 Many revolutionaries did not want Cuba to become communist, 145 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:13,400 including Camilo Cienfuegos. 146 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:17,880 [Alcarón, in Spanish] There were other comandantes of great prestige, 147 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:22,880 but Fidel started making the decisions on his own, 148 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:28,160 without taking into consideration the opinions of others. 149 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:32,440 Huber Matos asked him to listen to them. 150 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:37,520 He demanded that decisions be taken as a collective. 151 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:40,600 [in French] It may have been Fidel Castro's strategy 152 00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:44,600 not to put all his eggs in one basket. 153 00:11:44,680 --> 00:11:47,840 He wanted to maximize his potential among his followers. 154 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:53,360 Initially, the July 26th Movement was very diverse. 155 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:56,760 It was not a communist movement, it was a nationalist movement. 156 00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:01,080 The United States recognized Castro's revolutionary coalition 157 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:05,920 as the legitimate government of Cuba on January 7th, 1959. 158 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:09,560 Fidel had not even arrived in Havana yet. 159 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:12,760 [DePalma] This idea of Fidel 160 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:16,120 as a young rebel in 1957 161 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:18,800 who was going up against the corrupt dictator, 162 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,040 who didn't want power for himself, 163 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:23,960 who said clearly, "I've nothing to do with communism," 164 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:28,560 ends up being a hero that people in Cuba could support, 165 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:31,280 and imagine the impact in the United States 166 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:36,560 to see this person, young, handsome, magnetic personality. 167 00:12:37,680 --> 00:12:40,280 Even those of Cuba's upper classes who remained 168 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:42,840 supported Fidel and his government. 169 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:46,640 [in German] The day after the revolution, the Bacardi family 170 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:51,600 hung a huge sign on the company wall, saying, "Gracias Fidel." 171 00:12:51,680 --> 00:12:56,520 To them, he was the son of a big landowner, a lawyer from Havana. 172 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:58,320 He was one of them, in a way, 173 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:03,320 and they thought he would fall into line after the initial excitement. 174 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,600 And tourists, as well, continued to flock to Cuba. 175 00:13:06,680 --> 00:13:09,200 The island was still a vacation paradise, 176 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:12,200 despite, or maybe because of, the revolution. 177 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:18,680 In February 1959, barely six weeks after Fidel's arrival in Havana, 178 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:22,080 the German liner MS Berlin entered the harbor. 179 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:25,760 For whatever reason, Fidel Castro himself 180 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:28,640 took a launch out to greet the arriving ship. 181 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:31,680 The last stop was Havana Harbor. 182 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:35,680 There were other, many cruise passengers 183 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:38,760 and I was standing on A Deck 184 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:42,520 and I saw a launch come... 185 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:46,480 smaller boat with many barbudos, bearded ones, 186 00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:52,600 and he bumped up against the ship and he did motion like, "I wanna come up." 187 00:13:52,680 --> 00:13:55,480 And I said, "No. No guns." 188 00:13:56,520 --> 00:14:01,600 Marita Lorenz was 19 years old and the daughter of the ship's captain. 189 00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:06,000 Castro and his men obeyed her order, and laid down their weapons. 190 00:14:07,560 --> 00:14:11,080 Then it was up to Marita to show the Cuban leader around the ship. 191 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:17,080 The minute I saw him, I fell in love. 192 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:19,720 I had this feeling I'd never felt before. 193 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:23,400 The stomach went upside-down, my heart was beating. 194 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:27,800 I was, "Oh, my God! I never had a boyfriend before. 195 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:32,640 Not this one. This is a soldier in an island I don't know." You know... 196 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:36,560 But the way he looked at me and smiled and held my hand... 197 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,560 The MS Berlin left Havana again that same evening. 198 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:44,560 But this first, brief meeting between Fidel and Marita 199 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:48,960 would be the beginning of a love story ripe with passion... and vengeance. 200 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,040 [Lorenz] He said, "Do you know who I am?" 201 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:56,120 I said, "No, I don't follow politics. I just sail around the world." 202 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:58,360 He said, "I am Cuba." 203 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:02,600 I am Fidel Castro Ruz. 204 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:07,400 I come down from the Sierra Maestra. 205 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:10,640 I am Cuba, I will fix Cuba." 206 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:14,480 But fixing Cuba was not an easy task. 207 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:19,000 There was no lack of unresolved conflicts. 208 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:22,800 After the collapse of the Batista regime, 209 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:26,160 the Cuban people stormed the prisons of his secret police. 210 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:29,200 What they saw left many speechless. 211 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,280 Many of Batista's policemen feared reprisals, 212 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:39,800 and denounced or even arrested their former colleagues. 213 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:44,760 Fidel Castro had revolutionary courts set up. 214 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:48,680 [in Spanish] When Fidel came to power, I was 15 years old. 215 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:53,880 I knew that it was a change from Batista. Nobody liked Batista. 216 00:15:53,960 --> 00:16:00,000 When Fidel came to power, he was initially well liked by the people, 217 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:06,360 but that changed once the executions began. 218 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:11,280 The supposedly worst offenders of Batista's hated police and armed forces 219 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:16,040 are summarily executed when Castro's troops take over Havana and Santiago. 220 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:21,080 Initially, it was very bloody against Batista supporters. 221 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:23,320 They executed a number of them. 222 00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:28,560 There was a joke going around in Cuba that Raúl was in charge of eastern Cuba 223 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:32,480 and Fidel called them and said, "I don't want any bloodshed." 224 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:35,840 And Raúl started to hang people instead of shooting them 225 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:37,160 so there wouldn't be blood. 226 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:40,680 This is a story, but it has a lot of reality in it. 227 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:45,480 They killed a lot of enemies in the first few months of the revolution. 228 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:49,040 The subsequent revolutionary trials were public, 229 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:52,440 as Castro claimed that his justice had nothing to hide. 230 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:56,880 But in front of thousands of spectators in Havana's biggest sports stadium, 231 00:16:56,960 --> 00:16:59,200 the trials soon turned into a farce. 232 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:05,680 Soon, it was no longer only Batista's secret police henchmen being put on trial. 233 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:10,280 A simple accusation against someone would often suffice, 234 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:12,920 and the outcome was often clear from the start. 235 00:17:13,839 --> 00:17:18,400 [in German] It's estimated that 3,000 people were killed. 236 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:22,079 They were henchmen of the old regime, 237 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:24,000 but no one today knows exactly who they were. 238 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:28,480 Even those close to Castro feared being caught up in the violence. 239 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:38,400 [in Spanish] We began to be afraid of what to do, what not to do... 240 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:41,840 ...and what to say, what not to say. 241 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:47,640 The motto was: Fidel said so and that's enough. 242 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:51,920 If the comandante said so, it is so, even if it's a lie. 243 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,520 You had to support this lie. 244 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:57,640 On February 16th, 1959, 245 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:01,240 Fidel Castro named himself Cuba's prime minister. 246 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:04,080 During his revolution, he had been deliberately vague 247 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:06,440 about what he had in mind for Cuba's future. 248 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:10,800 But now, firmly in power, Castro began an extensive reform program. 249 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:13,400 In one of his first reforms, 250 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:17,120 Castro expropriated many American companies on Cuba. 251 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:21,040 Decidedly not what the US government had had in mind 252 00:18:21,120 --> 00:18:23,600 when they recognized Castro only months earlier. 253 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:27,320 It's not a lie, they didn't promise anything. 254 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:31,560 They didn't promise a good life. 255 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:36,320 They promised a revolution. They did a revolution. 256 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:42,000 Many expropriated properties were divided up and given to Cuban farmers. 257 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:45,840 Castro did what communists around the world had called for 258 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:48,440 and thus became more radical than a lot of them. 259 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:55,080 Practically overnight, American companies lost almost 500,000 acres of land. 260 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:58,640 The next wave of reforms hit Cuba's wealthier classes. 261 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:01,480 It was intended to help Cuba's urban poor. 262 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:05,040 [Hoffmann, in German] And it was possible to achieve this too and rapidly. 263 00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:09,240 The reforms were aimed at improving the daily lives of the poor, 264 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:14,520 and for the lower middle class. For example, rents were lowered in Havana. 265 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:18,120 This obviously hurt property owners, 266 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:22,720 but for those who now had to pay less rent, it was an immediate improvement. 267 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:29,320 For Cuba, these first few reforms marked the beginning of a new conflict. 268 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:33,880 The US government protested against the expropriation of their companies. 269 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:35,360 When protests were not enough, 270 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:38,480 the United States threatened to introduce sanctions. 271 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:43,400 And in Cuba too, not everyone was willing to follow Castro's course. 272 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:47,000 Many of those expropriated lost all income. 273 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:50,120 After Castro took power, 274 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:52,640 only a few hundred Cubans had fled the island. 275 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:58,160 Now thousands fled. 276 00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:02,960 Those unable or unwilling to live under Castro's reforms. 277 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:12,000 [in Spanish] We didn't receive the rent. 278 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:16,280 Landlords couldn't get the rent from their properties, 279 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:19,640 or rather there was a limit. I think it was 600 pesos. 280 00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:26,400 It was equivalent to $600 at the time, and not enough to live on. 281 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:31,560 To ease tensions with the United States, 282 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:36,480 Fidel Castro visited Washington, DC, in April of 1959. 283 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:37,920 One of his first goals, 284 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:41,640 the monument of his idol, US president Abraham Lincoln. 285 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:46,240 Fidel Castro's goal during his visit was legitimacy. 286 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:50,200 He wanted to be recognized by the US as Cuba's head of government. 287 00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:53,400 After touring Washington, DC, 288 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:55,880 he hoped to meet with President Eisenhower. 289 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:00,240 For many Americans, Castro was a media star. 290 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:05,360 But President Eisenhower simply did not trust Cuba's revolutionary leader. 291 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:18,240 I know you are worried, first of all, if we are communist. 292 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:24,560 And of course, I have said very clear... 293 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:30,040 ...that we are not communist. Very clear. 294 00:21:30,120 --> 00:21:35,440 Alongside Fidel in Washington was Marita Lorenz, by now his mistress. 295 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:40,360 He was upset because... Eisenhower wouldn't see him. 296 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:43,600 Not even a cup of coffee. 297 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:47,720 Eisenhower wanted to play golf and couldn't accept his uniform. 298 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:51,400 He got a call from Raúl in Barbados 299 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:54,120 and he said, "Come back. You're wasting your time. 300 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:55,440 They don't wanna see you." 301 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,080 I did see him, though. He spent the night with me. 302 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:05,400 That was nice. That was good, but then again he's gone and I felt alone. 303 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:12,640 And people photographing me going out of the hotel room. 304 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:19,800 And the CIA warning me, "Stay away from that commie bastard!" 305 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,240 Instead of meeting Castro personally, 306 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:26,080 Eisenhower sent his vice-president, Richard Nixon. 307 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:32,440 Nixon was a very, very brilliant figure, 308 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:36,800 and his instincts as an international politician were very, very good. 309 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:41,400 So he sat down with Castro in the Capitol building in Washington. 310 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:42,920 Nixon was the vice president. 311 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,800 Castro came to see him at the Capitol Building 312 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:50,000 and... he took Castro's measure. 313 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:54,200 And he took Castro's measure very skillfully, very accurately. 314 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:58,600 Nixon was supposed to push Castro into a more US-friendly direction 315 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:03,560 to make Castro see how Cuba should behave in regard to the United States. 316 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:08,040 Furthermore, Eisenhower gave him the task of finding out, once and for all, 317 00:23:08,120 --> 00:23:10,360 where Castro stood politically. 318 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:13,760 Nixon's verdict was devastating. According to him, 319 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:17,520 Castro was "...either incredibly naive about communism 320 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:21,520 or under communist discipline. My guess is the former." 321 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:24,280 [in French] It seems that, already at the meeting 322 00:23:24,360 --> 00:23:29,160 between Fidel Castro and Nixon in 1959, 323 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:34,240 Nixon understood that Castro 324 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:37,160 was at heart anti-American, if not communist. 325 00:23:38,360 --> 00:23:40,440 The American government wasn't alone 326 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:44,000 in worrying about Cuba's relations with communism. 327 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:47,880 During his revolution, Fidel Castro had been deliberately vague 328 00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:52,320 to unify all opponents of the Batista dictatorship under his banner. 329 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:55,040 But the reforms introduced by Fidel Castro, 330 00:23:55,120 --> 00:23:59,440 his brother Raúl, and minister for the economy Ernesto "Che" Guevara 331 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:02,520 alienated a good many Cubans. 332 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:06,960 The Castro brothers were not the Cuban revolution. 333 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:11,320 They were part of a coalition of largely democratic organizations. 334 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:17,960 But what happened once the coalition won in 1959, 335 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:23,040 the Castro brothers were more ruthless in eliminating their opponents 336 00:24:23,120 --> 00:24:26,680 until they were the last ones standing, so to speak. 337 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:30,560 Raúl Castro became Cuba's Defense Minister, 338 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:32,240 a key government post. 339 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:36,520 He was Fidel's younger brother and alongside Ernesto "Che" Guevara, 340 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:38,880 embodied the revolution's left wing. 341 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:45,680 The little brother, they used to call him names but he's... 342 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:51,040 Raúl was intelligent. He spoke different languages. 343 00:24:51,120 --> 00:24:53,920 He didn't boss Fidel around. 344 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,120 He was just very intelligent and quiet. 345 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:01,440 And serious. 346 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:04,640 Camilo was a little... [laughs] bouncy. 347 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,000 But Raúl was serious and quiet. 348 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:13,720 Camilo Cienfuegos was named head of the Revolutionary Army 349 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:18,000 and thus put under the orders of the defense minister, Raúl Castro. 350 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:23,720 And yet, he vehemently opposed Raúl and the Cuban government's leftist drift. 351 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:33,000 [in Spanish] Camilo's popularity among the people was so great... 352 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:36,840 ...that it obscured Fidel Castro's. 353 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:44,240 I remember how during one of Fidel's speeches, 354 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,000 Camilo was beside Fidel... 355 00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:52,720 ...and the people started calling, 356 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:57,360 "Let Camilo speak!" 357 00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:03,880 And the applause lasted for 20 minutes. 358 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:08,800 Camilo Cienfuegos, still adored by the people as the man who freed Havana, 359 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:13,320 and his close friend Huber Matos, who had helped Fidel Castro take Santiago, 360 00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:16,440 are vocal about their dislike of Fidel's policies. 361 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:21,600 Matos even went so far as to tender his resignation to Castro. 362 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:24,480 But Castro had already decided 363 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:27,600 that he would not let his comandante go so easily. 364 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:34,200 [in French] Castro made a choice, radical in a way, 365 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:40,800 to arrest the well-known commander Matos in October, 366 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:47,720 because Matos denounced the growing influence 367 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:51,360 of the Communist Party on Castro. 368 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:54,200 To carry out the arrest, 369 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,880 Fidel Castro sent none other than Camilo Cienfuegos, 370 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:00,080 who was close friends with Huber Matos. 371 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:01,960 It was a test of his loyalty 372 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:06,040 and Cienfuegos carried out the order, as this photo shows. 373 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:15,960 After the arrest, on October 28th, 1959, Camilo Cienfuegos flew back to Havana. 374 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:23,440 Here, he was set to meet with Fidel Castro, 375 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:25,960 and talk about what the future of Cuba would look like. 376 00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:31,560 His plane disappeared in mid-flight, 377 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:35,160 in clear weather, and with no distress signal. 378 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:38,640 Neither the plane, nor his body was ever found. 379 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:49,840 [in Spanish] Camilo Cienfuegos's accident was far from being an accident. 380 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:54,600 What happened to Camilo Cienfuegos was precisely planned... 381 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:00,320 ...by the Cuban government. 382 00:28:01,360 --> 00:28:04,000 By Fidel in particular. 383 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:06,080 [in Spanish] Camilo's death is a mystery. 384 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:11,640 I have information that suggests Fidel killed him. 385 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:15,560 Others say it was an accident. It's hard to say. 386 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:19,520 What we do know is that... 387 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:26,880 ...Camilo had problems with Raúl Castro, very serious problems. 388 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:32,640 Huber Matos was made a pariah and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. 389 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,680 Cuba, meanwhile, grieved for Camilo Cienfuegos. 390 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:45,080 But most Cubans had more serious problems than political orientations. 391 00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:48,040 Much of the population lived in extreme poverty. 392 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:50,720 The main reason for this 393 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,200 was that the United States had cut much of their trade with Cuba, 394 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,400 to Fidel Castro's dismay. 395 00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:05,080 The first year Fidel was in power, he never mentioned the word communism. 396 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:06,440 He wanted trade agreements. 397 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:10,120 He wanted sugar for tractors, tractors for sugar. 398 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:12,480 He wanted to build up Cuba, build hospitals. 399 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:15,400 He wanted building material, paint, cement. 400 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,600 To obtain construction materials, Cuba needed a new trade partner. 401 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:22,080 Castro's first choice 402 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:26,040 was the United States' sworn enemy, the Soviet Union. 403 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:32,280 On February 8th, 1960, the Soviet minister Anastas Mikoyan landed in Cuba. 404 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:35,680 Accompanying him was an old friend of the Castro brothers, 405 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,080 whom they had met in exile in Mexico, 406 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:40,720 and who had helped them during their revolution. 407 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:44,880 [in Russian] When the first Soviet government delegation went to Cuba, 408 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:48,200 it was led by Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan. 409 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:51,800 He knew about my previous contact 410 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:56,120 with Raúl Castro, Che Guevara, and Fidel Castro. 411 00:29:56,200 --> 00:30:01,600 So he invited me to come along. I was his translator. 412 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:06,520 Well, I was also his advisor, if you will. And even his bodyguard. 413 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:11,680 Officially, Anastas Mikoyan was on Cuba to inaugurate a trade fair. 414 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:15,160 But behind the scenes, the stakes were much higher. 415 00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:30,160 [in Russian] First of all, it was the foundation 416 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:32,360 of all future relations between the USSR and Cuba. 417 00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:38,000 Before that, we had no intention of opening diplomatic relations. 418 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:43,800 Secondly, we gave Cuba a loan of $100 million. 419 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:50,840 And thirdly, it was a complete re-orientation of the Cuban economy, 420 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:59,040 which eventually led to socialism. 421 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:03,560 It was the end of Cuban's alignment 422 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:07,480 with the United States. 423 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:09,920 Cuba formed a new alliance. 424 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:15,200 And pictures of the partying Soviet minister are broadcast around the world. 425 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:19,120 In Washington, Vice-President Nixon saw his hunch confirmed. 426 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:23,120 He secretly advocated an American intervention in Cuba, 427 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:27,280 as he saw it as the only way to prevent Cuba from becoming a Soviet outpost. 428 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:30,080 But President Eisenhower disagreed. 429 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:33,120 He didn't want to risk a war because of Cuba. 430 00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:38,040 [in French] I think Fidel understood that the only solution, 431 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,240 being 150 kilometers from the world's most powerful country, 432 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:45,680 was to form solid ties with the USSR. 433 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:47,280 It was clearly risky, 434 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:52,080 because the United States could react very badly and very quickly. 435 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:57,400 In order to defend Cuba, Fidel Castro counted on more than just his new army. 436 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:00,040 Revolutionary militia were trained throughout the island 437 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:03,880 with wooden rifles, as real weapons were sadly lacking. 438 00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:08,160 The USA had imposed an arms embargo during Batista's era 439 00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:10,520 and not lifted it since. 440 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:14,000 Cuba therefore attempted to procure weapons on the world market. 441 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:21,640 [in Spanish] Already in 1960, revolutionary militias were being formed. 442 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:26,840 They started in university. 443 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:28,360 That was the first militia. 444 00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:32,960 Later they went to the work places and they were in the thousands. 445 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:36,040 Thousands of Cubans marching through the streets. 446 00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:41,520 They received weapons too... from Russia and from Czechoslovakia. 447 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:48,120 On March 4th, 1960, the French freighter La Coubre, 448 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:53,360 carrying 76 tons of Belgian ammunition, was anchoring in Havana Harbor. 449 00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:59,080 Cuban dock workers were unloading the ship when the unthinkable happened. 450 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:06,600 A Cuban cameraman filmed the event. 451 00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:12,080 The death toll was at least 75, with hundreds injured. 452 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:30,200 Fidel Castro and Che Guevara led the funeral procession. 453 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:34,080 On that day, a world-famous photo of Che Guevara was taken. 454 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:46,280 Fidel Castro claimed the explosion of La Coubre was a deliberate attack 455 00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:48,360 and accused the United States. 456 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:51,640 This was the last straw for the US government. 457 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,800 [Latell] Castro crossed the red line 458 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:00,600 for conservative Republicans and for many Americans. 459 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:01,920 He was crossing a red line. 460 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:05,600 It was clear that he was on a course, 461 00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:09,480 taking Cuba and himself into the embrace of the Soviet Union. 462 00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:15,360 So the Eisenhower administration began planning for his overthrow. 463 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:18,360 [in French] The Eisenhower administration gave the go-ahead 464 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:23,360 to set up an operation in Guatemala. 465 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:29,320 It was basically a CIA operation 466 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:33,719 to finance, train and equip Cuban exiles 467 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:38,239 who would then land on Cuba. 468 00:34:39,159 --> 00:34:42,400 More than 1,300 exiled Cubans volunteered. 469 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:46,480 Only a few of them had any military experience. 470 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:54,080 The CIA filmed the recruits' training as they prepared to form an elite unit. 471 00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:03,160 [in Spanish] We had infantry training, parachute training too. 472 00:35:03,240 --> 00:35:06,480 We trained with heavy weapons too. 473 00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:13,280 Some of the men went elsewhere to learn to drive tanks, 474 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:15,920 since we had five tanks for the invasion, 475 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:21,400 and our air force had its own base as well. 476 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:28,520 During training, the exile Cuban's unit got a name. Brigade 2506. 477 00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:33,440 [Rodriguez] The number actually 2506 for Brigade 2506 478 00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:36,160 comes from Carlo Rodriguez Santana. 479 00:35:36,240 --> 00:35:38,720 He was looking for an area for training in Guatemala. 480 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,560 He fell from a cliff and got killed. 481 00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:45,000 And because he was the first casualty of the brigade 482 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:48,000 and his number happened to be 2506, 483 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:51,480 they used his number for Assault Brigade 2506. 484 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:56,200 The invasion was also counting on support from within Cuba. 485 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:59,840 Numerous former revolutionaries had turned against Castro. 486 00:35:59,920 --> 00:36:03,600 They fled to remote mountain areas, waiting for an opportunity 487 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:07,680 to launch a counter-revolution against Castro's drift towards communism. 488 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:12,240 But the Cuban leader was well aware of what was happening. 489 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:18,160 [in Spanish] The Cuban government, or rather, Fidel 490 00:36:18,240 --> 00:36:22,960 let anyone who was against them flee to the Escambray Mountains. 491 00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:26,480 Why? Very simple. 492 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:31,000 He wanted them all in the same place. 493 00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:37,080 There were not only ex-Castro veterans among the counter-revolutionaries. 494 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:40,040 Some were ex-Batista soldiers on the run. 495 00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:43,920 Others simple peasants, caught by chance between the two fronts. 496 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:48,360 They received weapons from the CIA. 497 00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:56,400 The agency hoped for a popular uprising against Fidel Castro during the invasion. 498 00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:05,880 [in Spanish] It was difficult initially. 499 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:08,160 The first counter-revolutionaries had, just like me, 500 00:37:08,240 --> 00:37:14,840 been part of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement. 501 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:19,600 It was the most dangerous moment for the revolution. 502 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:24,080 The CIA were counting on the Escambray rebels. 503 00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:26,160 Their mission was to tie up 504 00:37:26,240 --> 00:37:29,640 a maximum of Castro's soldiers and militia in combat. 505 00:37:32,720 --> 00:37:37,720 The heavily armed Brigade 2506 would then attack Cuba from Guatemala. 506 00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:44,320 Their target was the town of Trinidad, near the Escambray Mountains. 507 00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:49,800 Here, they were to join up with the rebels and establish a bridgehead, 508 00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:52,880 before appealing to the international community for help. 509 00:37:56,880 --> 00:38:01,480 This appeal would serve as a pretext for the USA to officially invade Cuba. 510 00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:07,160 The American government, the CIA and the Cuban exiles 511 00:38:07,240 --> 00:38:09,840 were all convinced the plan would work. 512 00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:16,480 [in Spanish] I heard a speech by Che Guevara, and I remember thinking, 513 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:18,760 "How stupid can this guy be? 514 00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:24,240 He doesn't know this will be one of his last speeches." 515 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:29,280 We knew we might have personal problems 516 00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:32,200 and be wounded or even killed 517 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:38,600 but the idea that we could lose never occurred to us. 518 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:42,800 As the CIA prepared the invasion of Cuba, 519 00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:46,400 a presidential election campaign was underway in the US. 520 00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:51,280 Having served twice, President Eisenhower was barred from running again. 521 00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:54,080 Vice-President Nixon wanted to succeed him. 522 00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:57,840 His opponent was a younger senator called John F Kennedy. 523 00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:02,040 As a candidate, Kennedy should have been informed of the invasion plan. 524 00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:06,200 But Nixon was certain of his victory and prohibited it. 525 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:12,280 In September 1960, shortly before the election, 526 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:16,000 Fidel Castro, as well as heads of state from around the world, 527 00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:18,200 flew to New York to address the United Nations. 528 00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:22,760 The American public welcomed Castro enthusiastically. 529 00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:24,880 And he knew how to cash in on his fame. 530 00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:31,600 [Latell] There's no better actor than Fidel Castro. 531 00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:35,360 When he checked out of a very expensive first-class hotel, 532 00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:38,480 we would say today a four- or five-star hotel, 533 00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:44,520 and went uptown to Harlem, he checked into the Hotel Theresa. 534 00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:46,560 It was there at the Hotel Theresa, 535 00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:49,640 in black Harlem, African-American Harlem, 536 00:39:49,720 --> 00:39:54,480 that he began appealing to another whole American constituency. 537 00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:58,680 Fidel Castro was warmly welcomed in Harlem. 538 00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:02,520 He made a PR coup out of his move to the Hotel Theresa, 539 00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:04,760 presenting himself as a man of the people. 540 00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:09,400 The next day, he had a prestigious visitor. 541 00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:15,440 Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev, also here to speak at the United Nations, 542 00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:17,760 visited him at the Hotel Theresa. 543 00:40:18,240 --> 00:40:20,360 [Clerc, in French] It was an amazing encounter. 544 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:25,360 Firstly, Castro was six foot three and Khrushchev about five foot five, 545 00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:29,200 so when Castro hugged Khrushchev, 546 00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:34,280 it was like a bear trying to smother him. 547 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:37,920 Not a Russian bear, Castro was the bear, 548 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:43,360 smothering a man who, carelessly, had stepped on his territory. 549 00:40:46,240 --> 00:40:51,880 As Cuba is a member of the United Nations, Castro was free to visit the United States 550 00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:54,360 and talk before the UN's general assembly. 551 00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:57,480 His speech went down in history. 552 00:40:57,560 --> 00:41:00,560 He said he would make only a brief statement, 553 00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:03,720 and then spoke for four and a half hours. 554 00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:06,200 A record that still stands today. 555 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:11,920 But more telling than his speech was another message Castro sent that day. 556 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:15,080 At each vote, he followed the lead of the Soviet Union. 557 00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:19,040 [in Spanish] In exchange for his survival, 558 00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:23,840 Fidel Castro did what Moscow asked. 559 00:41:23,920 --> 00:41:26,200 He said that Moscow was very good, the USSR was very good, 560 00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:27,920 communism was very good. 561 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:31,400 And it was in his own interest, because the USSR supported him, 562 00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:34,040 both economically and with weapons. 563 00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:40,800 On November 8th, 1960, the American people elected a new president. 564 00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:45,160 Contrary to what Nixon had anticipated, it was a race to the finish line. 565 00:41:45,240 --> 00:41:48,960 Only a few thousand votes separated him and his opponent 566 00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:53,320 but in the end, John F Kennedy became president of the United States. 567 00:41:56,280 --> 00:41:58,360 Only after he had won the election 568 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:01,520 was Kennedy informed of the plan to invade Cuba. 569 00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:05,240 The Bay of Pigs was shocking thing to me. 570 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:11,720 I had to help Kennedy produce his book Strategy of Peace. 571 00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:15,080 There is a whole little section of it on Cuba 572 00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:18,840 that I had helped write but it was in Kennedy's name. 573 00:42:18,920 --> 00:42:23,040 I knew that he had one foot in the Cold War 574 00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:27,160 and one foot in another vision of one world. 575 00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:31,800 In the spring of 1961, 576 00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:36,320 1,334 exiled Cubans, trained by the CIA, 577 00:42:36,400 --> 00:42:38,600 were ready to take back their homeland. 578 00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:46,200 But Kennedy was reluctant to give the go-ahead. 579 00:42:46,280 --> 00:42:50,120 In public, he stated he did not want to intervene on Cuba. 580 00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:53,600 There will not, under any conditions, 581 00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:58,080 be an intervention in Cuba by United States armed forces. 582 00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:01,000 This government will do everything it possibly can, 583 00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:04,080 and I think it can meet its responsibilities 584 00:43:04,160 --> 00:43:08,880 to make sure that there are no Americans involved in any action inside Cuba. 585 00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:14,040 Finally, on April 4th, 1961, 586 00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:17,360 Kennedy approved the operation on two conditions. 587 00:43:18,200 --> 00:43:20,720 The target would not be the town of Trinidad, 588 00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:24,000 but a remote beach at the so-called Bay of Pigs. 589 00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:26,560 And Kennedy reduced aerial support. 590 00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:31,400 Only eight US bombers, disguised as Cuban planes, 591 00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:33,800 would accompany the landing. 592 00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:42,480 April 15th, 1961. 6 a.m. 593 00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:46,000 The eight bombers took off in the direction of Cuba. 594 00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:50,640 Their objective was to neutralize Cuba's small air force. 595 00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:55,080 They succeeded in destroying numerous aircraft. 596 00:43:55,160 --> 00:43:57,960 But the attack alerted Fidel Castro. 597 00:43:59,600 --> 00:44:02,080 The Cuban leader mobilized his army for war. 598 00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:08,120 He also gave the order to arrest anyone even suspected of being a dissenter 599 00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:12,280 and publicly made martyrs out of the victims of the bombings. 600 00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:16,520 [in Spanish] It was April 15th, two days before the landing. 601 00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:19,800 San Antonio and Santiago de Cuba were bombed. 602 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:22,840 There were several dead and injured. 603 00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:28,520 One man wrote the name of Fidel with his own blood on a piece of wood. 604 00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:33,040 An unforgettable story for those who were there. 605 00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:35,600 Everyone knew the attack was imminent. 606 00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:40,840 On the morning of April 17th, three ships approached the Bay of Pigs. 607 00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:46,680 Aboard were 1,334 heavily armed Cuban exiles. 608 00:44:54,440 --> 00:45:00,240 [in Spanish] I disembarked at dawn 609 00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:03,760 and the first exchanges of gunfire had already taken place. 610 00:45:03,840 --> 00:45:07,560 We shot down one of their planes right next to my boat. 611 00:45:07,640 --> 00:45:14,480 I remember a Sea Fury that crashed from anti-aircraft fire. 612 00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:22,400 We got into a landing-craft, 613 00:45:22,480 --> 00:45:26,280 like the ones from the war, the ones that open at the front. 614 00:45:27,560 --> 00:45:30,920 Fidel Castro himself took command of the battle. 615 00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:35,160 But the Bay of Pigs was a strategically favorable landing zone. 616 00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:42,800 [in Spanish] From a military point of view, it was difficult. 617 00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:49,520 There were only three roads to the beach, three paths, 618 00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:53,840 more like tracks. And we had no choice. 619 00:45:53,920 --> 00:45:56,600 There was no other way to deploy the troops. 620 00:45:56,680 --> 00:46:01,080 We had, at that point in time, enough explosive in Cuba 621 00:46:01,160 --> 00:46:05,400 that we could have blown bridges on the way to Playa Girón, 622 00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:07,960 which meant we could have delayed tremendously 623 00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:09,720 a vast amount of Castro troops. 624 00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:13,520 But by the time the invasion went in, they didn't tell us anything. 625 00:46:14,040 --> 00:46:16,720 After successfully landing at the beach, 626 00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:20,880 Brigade 2506 was close to establishing a bridgehead. 627 00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:23,400 Victory seemed within their grasp. 628 00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:28,480 [in Spanish] We had taken the beach. 629 00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:31,520 We controlled all the area that we were supposed to control. 630 00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:37,160 Castro's response was massive. 631 00:46:37,240 --> 00:46:42,320 We pulled out when his tanks arrived on the beach. 632 00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:47,120 We only had bullets, we had nothing to fight them with. 633 00:46:49,240 --> 00:46:53,840 114 Cuban exiles died in the Bay of Pigs landing. 634 00:46:54,600 --> 00:46:57,440 More than 1,200 were captured. 635 00:46:57,520 --> 00:47:00,760 On Castro's side, casualties were even higher, 636 00:47:00,840 --> 00:47:04,120 particularly among the badly trained militia. 637 00:47:04,200 --> 00:47:08,120 Over 4,000 men were reported killed, injured or missing. 638 00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:15,680 Fidel Castro presented victory in the Bay of Pigs 639 00:47:15,760 --> 00:47:17,120 as an unmitigated triumph. 640 00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:22,480 And the failed American attack unified the Cuban people behind their leader. 641 00:47:22,560 --> 00:47:24,960 It gave Castro and the revolution 642 00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:28,760 a legitimacy that they had never had before. 643 00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:35,480 The underground opposition in Cuba was pretty well neutralized. 644 00:47:35,560 --> 00:47:38,720 About a 100,000 were thrown into prison. 645 00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:42,360 The Cuban Revolution achieved a level of respect and legitimacy 646 00:47:42,440 --> 00:47:47,600 all over the world. And especially in Latin America, he was seen as a hero, 647 00:47:47,680 --> 00:47:50,680 like no Latin American figure before him. 648 00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:56,480 After the victory at the Bay of Pigs, the only real opposition left in Cuba 649 00:47:56,560 --> 00:47:58,800 were the rebels in the Escambray Mountains. 650 00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:03,360 With his position secure, Castro ordered that they be eliminated. 651 00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:06,640 And in order to pin their uprising on the US, 652 00:48:06,720 --> 00:48:09,880 Castro sent not just soldiers, but also film crews. 653 00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:20,000 [in Spanish] In the Escambray Mountains, at the last minute, they closed in. 654 00:48:20,080 --> 00:48:24,680 We located the bandits and surrounded them. 655 00:48:25,680 --> 00:48:31,080 A death battalion went in and hunted them down. 656 00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:36,600 The battalion came up against the bandits and it was all over. 657 00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:41,000 [in French] It was brutal. No one will ever know how many people died. 658 00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:44,400 No one kept records, 659 00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:50,040 neither officially nor among the counter-revolutionaries. 660 00:48:53,560 --> 00:48:58,080 But to stay in power, Castro needed more than just victories on his island. 661 00:48:59,640 --> 00:49:02,080 He needed a firm international ally. 662 00:49:03,120 --> 00:49:08,120 On May 1st, 1961, just two weeks after the victory at the Bay of Pigs, 663 00:49:08,200 --> 00:49:10,480 Castro called for a public celebration. 664 00:49:13,680 --> 00:49:16,560 Soviet film crews captured the lavish celebrations, 665 00:49:16,640 --> 00:49:20,960 as he declared his revolution, and thus Cuba, to be socialist. 666 00:49:22,760 --> 00:49:25,400 Later Fidel Castro and Che Guevara 667 00:49:25,480 --> 00:49:28,840 topped off the day's events with two bottles of Coca-Cola. 668 00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:38,120 [in Spanish] Fidel was like a teacher. 669 00:49:39,400 --> 00:49:42,600 He talked about socialism. 670 00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:48,240 But the historic truth is that most of us did not know what socialism was. 671 00:49:49,280 --> 00:49:54,840 We knew nothing about socialism. 672 00:49:54,920 --> 00:50:01,920 We were 90 miles, or 180 kilometers, from our closest neighbors... 673 00:50:03,160 --> 00:50:07,920 ...and everything we had heard about socialism had been bad. 674 00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:11,080 US President John F Kennedy 675 00:50:11,160 --> 00:50:14,440 had to accept responsibility for the invasion's failure. 676 00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:18,280 For Kennedy, it was a disaster he could not endure. 677 00:50:18,360 --> 00:50:22,360 And so he ordered plans for a new invasion to be drawn up. 678 00:50:23,560 --> 00:50:26,640 Why we got stuck on this, 679 00:50:26,720 --> 00:50:31,320 I think for the Kennedys, 680 00:50:31,400 --> 00:50:38,360 it was sort of their manhood was being tested by the whole fiasco. 681 00:50:38,440 --> 00:50:41,320 And beyond the manhood, 682 00:50:41,400 --> 00:50:45,800 there was the damage it may have done 683 00:50:45,880 --> 00:50:51,120 for the reputation and the power of the administration. 684 00:50:52,640 --> 00:50:57,240 Fidel Castro had successfully rebuffed a first invasion of his country. 685 00:50:58,600 --> 00:51:01,800 In order to protect Cuba from further American attacks, 686 00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:05,160 he allied his country firmly with the Soviet Union. 687 00:51:06,800 --> 00:51:10,680 In the future, it was to be Soviet soldiers, 688 00:51:10,760 --> 00:51:15,280 and above all, nuclear missiles, that would guarantee the island's independence. 689 00:51:20,360 --> 00:51:24,600 And thus, Cuba had become what the Americans feared the most. 690 00:51:24,680 --> 00:51:26,917 An outpost for Soviet socialism, right on their doorstep.