American Strategic Deception Bureau

　Initially, when Castro's naive lawyer learned that the Cuban Congress had been dissolved, his reaction was to go to court to sue Batista.

　However, Batista, the warlord, had already abolished the constitution. How could he still expect the court to rule against him?

　Isn't this the same as—"Who are you here? Why are you suing me?"

　Therefore, Castro's accusation was rejected without even entering the trial stage.

　After realizing that verbal battles wouldn't solve the problem, the exasperated lawyer Castro decided to resort to violence. Coming from a wealthy family with considerable connections and assets, on July 26, 1953, Castro managed to gather a mob of over a hundred people and attempted to seize the arsenal for rebellion.

　The problem was that lawyer Castro was still a rookie at the time and had no idea how to fight. He and his men were discovered before they could even get into the arsenal, and were then caught by the army and thrown into prison. The process was even more like a farce than Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch.

　There was no way. As a wealthy young man born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Castro only participated in political activities out of passion and romance, and launched armed struggle out of rebellion and blood. At that time, he was not a qualified revolutionary at all, let alone a shrewd politician.

　If Castro had gone this far in East Asia, he would have been cut into pieces, or at least beheaded.

　Fortunately, the revolution and counter-revolution in Latin America were far less bloody and cruel than those in Eurasia.

　Faced with a rebel leader like Castro, Batista only let him serve a year in prison and then deported him.

　Of course, it is also possible that Cuba was already full of rebels at that time, and Batista simply could not care about a small figure like Castro.

　So Castro fled to Mexico, where he met Che Guevara and other accomplices, and once again regained his fighting spirit.

　Later, in order to raise funds for his revolutionary activities, Castro went to the United States and contacted the former president Prio who was overthrown by Batista.

　, and obtained a large investment from Prio.

　Next, Castro, who found an angel investor, successfully gathered other Cuban exiles and established a revolutionary organization.

　On November 24, 1956, Castro, who appointed himself a major, set out from the port of Tuxpan, Mexico, on the yacht Marghera with more than 11 people, heading for Oriente Province, Cuba, with the ambition to counterattack his hometown. According to later historical descriptions, this was an epic expedition.

　Unfortunately, because Cubans lack the habit of keeping their mouths shut, news of Castro's expedition leaked before he set off.

　As soon as Castro landed in Cuba, a government force, already waiting for him, descended upon him. A chaotic exchange of fire ensued, and Castro's "eighty warriors" were utterly defeated. Only about twenty or so followed him into the Sierra Maestra Mountains for shelter.

　In the days that followed, more people fled or disappeared, and at the most difficult time, Castro's troops were left with only 12 people and 7 guns.

　If the government forces continued to pursue into the mountains and tried to encircle and suppress Castro with all their might, Castro would probably not survive until the next year.

　But the problem is that Batista did not do so. Instead, he relaxed his attack on Castro and gave the bearded man a chance to breathe.

　There was no other way. By then, Cuba was ablaze with war, with anti-Batista forces everywhere rebelling, turning the island into a Caribbean hodgepodge. Among the more than three hundred rebel groups, Castro was neither the first nor the last, nor the most dangerous.

　Batista, who was in a state of panic and exhausted with fire on all sides, could not ignore the other rebels and was determined to suppress Castro.

　It is important to note that even when the situation in Cuba was at its most turbulent, the lives of Cubans were far from being so bad that people were living in dire straits.

　When Castro's guerrillas were in the most difficult times in the mountains, they could only "share a roasted chicken between two people."

　Compared with the living standards of people in East Asian countries who were struggling on the brink of death during the same period, Cuba is so rich that it makes people cry!

　In other words, the Cubans' rebellion during this period was not because they had no way to survive and had no choice but to rebel.

　The reason why Cuba was full of traitors during Batista's rule was because he made such a stupid move that he offended almost everyone he could.

　First, Cuba's white racists opposed Batista because they could not stand being ruled by a black king.

　Secondly, Cuba's black people also opposed Batista because they wanted independence, or at least autonomy, but were suppressed by Batista.

　Third, Cuba's Catholic Church opposed Batista. Batista held certain progressive ideas. While maintaining his dictatorship, he also promoted women's rights, introduced atheism into textbooks, and criticized religion. This angered Cuba's conservative Catholics, leading to a rebellion in the church.

　Fourth, Cuba's landowners also opposed Batista. Coming from a poor background, he sympathized with the lower classes. Under his leadership, the Cuban government encouraged farmworkers to organize unions and negotiate with landowners, improving working conditions and reducing working hours. The government also demanded that landowners provide more benefits to their workers and cover the costs of supporting the disabled and elderly. This significantly infringed upon the interests of the landowners and sparked their fierce opposition.

　Fifth, patriots opposed Batista because he sold out too many interests to the United States, essentially turning Cuba into a colony. Batista was also extremely greedy, embezzling large amounts of money and acquiring numerous properties in Florida, earning him a poor reputation among the people.

　Sixth, the democrats opposed Batista because he overthrew the civilian government through a military coup, dissolved Parliament, and abolished the constitution, effectively attempting to establish himself as king within the republic. Having eliminated their jobs and careers in the political and legal worlds, they naturally opposed Batista to the bitter end.

　Seventh, Cuba's Red Guerrillas and socialists opposed Batista because this authoritarian military government was not progressive enough in any way.

　In short, the dictator Batista had both a conservative and backward side and an open-minded and progressive side. Coupled with his high aspirations and low skills, he was "selling out the country on a macro level and progressive on a micro level." As a result, no one remembered his kindness, and political factions from the left to the right hated him.

　The poor rebelled, the rich rebelled, the whites rebelled, the blacks rebelled, the Christians rebelled, the atheists rebelled, the landlords rebelled, the poor peasants rebelled, the pro-Americans rebelled, the anti-Americans rebelled - the whole of Cuba was like China at the end of the Sui Dynasty, with hundreds of rebel groups rising up at once!

　As a dictator, Batista was both reactionary and not reactionary enough, and as a result he ended up being besieged by everyone.

　If these rebels had not been under the same command and had not often fought each other to the point of bloodshed, Batista would have been overthrown long ago.

　To be honest, instead of being caught in such a dilemma, Batista might as well be reactionary to the end, really reverse the times and become a feudal monarch.

　So, taking advantage of the time when Batista was too busy suppressing rebellions, Castro finally gained a foothold in the Sierra Maestra Mountains.

　Unfortunately, Castro's military talent was mediocre, his guerrillas were weak, and he had never won any great victories.

　The biggest battle Castro ever fought was the summer campaign launched by government forces against him in 1958. At that time, Castro's guerrillas, numbering only about 200 people, were surrounded and killed by 10,000 government troops.

　More than forty people were killed, and the rest of the people completely collapsed. They had no choice but to abandon their base and flee into the mountains.

　However, although the guerrilla war made little progress, Castro did a good job of networking. He established contacts with many other anti-Batista forces in Cuba and set up an underground radio station called "Voice of the Insurrection" to engage in verbal battles with the Batista government.

　But Batista could not be defeated by talking alone, so Castro thought of continuing to attract venture capital from outside.

　To do this, he needs the power of the media.

　——For the victory of the revolution, Castro decided to become an idol!

　Soon, Castro sent someone to find Herbert Matthews, a reporter for the New York Times who was on vacation in Havana at the time, and invited the reporter to sneak into the guerrilla zone. He treated him very warmly, hoping that the New York Times could publicize his "just struggle"!

　As a well-informed scion of a wealthy family, Castro was well-versed in the political climate in the United States and knew that the American elite was deeply dissatisfied with Batista. Batista's coup to overthrow the democratically elected government was a serious violation of the political correctness of the United States at the time.

　Therefore, Castro talked about democratic politics and free society in front of American reporters, advocated constitutionalism and separation of powers, and claimed that after overthrowing Batista, he would firmly protect private enterprises and foreign investment, and tried his best to please the Americans.

　On the other hand, Castro himself does have the potential to be an idol: he is humorous, eloquent, enthusiastic, and has considerable personal charm.

　A visiting New York Times reporter was quickly captivated by Castro's tales, which were embellished with factual tropes, believing him to be the archetypal American adventure hero. Upon returning home, he immediately wrote a lengthy interview about the Cuban Revolution, "Fidel Castro, Leader of the Cuban Youth Rebels." The report vividly portrayed Castro's guerrilla exploits in the Sierra Maestra Mountains, portraying him as a charismatic, heroic, resourceful, and lone fighter yearning for freedom and democracy.

　This report caused a sensation in American public opinion, made Castro an overnight sensation, and also brought a wave of hot sales to the New York Times.

　Seeing this, other media outlets immediately followed suit. The Chicago Tribune, the Sun, the BBC, AFP, and a series of other European and American media outlets all sent groups of reporters to the Sierra Maestra Mountains to interview and report on Castro.

　For a time, the Sierra Maestra Mountains became a popular check-in destination for internet celebrities, and the incompetent Batista regime was unable to stop it!

　The most outrageous thing is that the American Columbia Broadcasting Corporation sent people carrying cameras into the mountains to conduct a television interview with Castro.

　For a time, all kinds of anecdotes about Castro flooded the Western media's vision like a tide, making him a traffic celebrity.

　The Western media's high-intensity rolling coverage of Castro has led to the following results:

　First, a large amount of donations and supplies, like rewards in a live broadcast room, poured into Castro's small guerrilla regime in the Sierra Maestra Mountains like a tide. There were even overseas volunteers who traveled thousands of miles to help him, making Castro's guerrillas instantly rich and powerful, and their strength increased N times!

　That’s why he often said, “The presence of foreign journalists, especially American journalists, is more important to us than a military victory.”

　Second, Castro's guerrillas were originally a minor force among Cuba's many anti-Batista forces. However, with intense publicity and hype from European and American media, Castro shot to global fame, rapidly acquiring a reputation that was disproportionate to his strength.

　With the blessing of international influence, Castro gained in the public opinion field what he could not get on the battlefield. He became a banner of the Cuban insurgents. People from other factions followed him as the commander-in-chief of the anti-Baptiste alliance, which led to Castro's rise to fame in just two years!

　The third and most crucial point is that under public pressure, the White House and the CIA gradually gave up their support for Batista and even began to support Castro, whom they saw as a democratic fighter, and even secretly provided weapons to Castro's guerrillas through the CIA system.

　On the other hand, in March 1958, the United States imposed an arms embargo on Cuba, which resulted in the government's air force lacking spare parts and becoming paralyzed.

　——For a comprador regime that lacks the ability to be independent, nothing is more terrifying than being abandoned by the suzerain country.

　As a comprador warlord who relied entirely on the support of the United States, the Batista regime would become powerless once it lost the support of the American boss.

　Upon learning that he had been abandoned by the American boss, Batista was completely panicked and began to try to win the support of the Catholic Church, but ended up making things worse.

　——Just as Castro and his comrades moved to the Sierra Maestra Mountains, revolutionary students at the University of Havana in the capital launched an armed uprising.

　This group of highly combative Cuban students attacked the presidential palace, Congress and radio station at the same time, and successfully broke into the presidential palace, where they engaged in a fierce gun battle with the guards. At the most critical moment, bullets even hit Batista's bedroom, grazed his scalp and riddled the wall with holes.

　After narrowly escaping the disaster, Batista refused to reward the soldiers who bravely defended him. Instead, he thanked God in various ways and asked his wife Marta to use the huge sum of money she had embezzled to build a giant statue of Jesus Christ on the open space next to the San Carlos Fortress.

　Although the size of the Jesus statue in Cuba is not as big as the one in Rio,

　The Christ the Redeemer statue in Janeiro is so tall, but it is made of snow-white marble imported from Italy. Each piece of marble has been blessed by the Pope himself. The material is much more advanced than the reinforced concrete one in Brazil.

　But the problem was that this approach did not seem to win Batista much support from the church, but it discouraged the last small group of loyal troops around him, and they were no longer willing to work for Batista. One week after the statue of Jesus was completed, Batista stepped down in a hurry and fled.

　It can be seen that even God would probably disdain his ill-gotten gains.

　In short, Castro, who was still being beaten to pieces by government forces in the summer of 1958, was able to come down the mountain and launch a large-scale counterattack by the autumn.

　Although when Castro called for the "March on the Nation" in the fall, he had only more than 200 guerrillas under his command, which was less than the number of troops that Colonel Gaddafi would use when he launched a coup in Libya later (although all of Gaddafi's subordinates were left behind, and Gaddafi could only occupy the TV station alone to announce the coup).

　However, the Batista regime was on the verge of collapse at this time, and everyone from top to bottom was disunited and completely desperate.

　Therefore, Castro's small force was able to march unhindered all the way, just like Mussolini's march to Rome more than 30 years ago. They encountered almost no strong resistance from the government forces along the way. Many other rebels also came to join them and formed a huge anti-Batista coalition.

　Of course, reporters from major European and American media outlets also followed the entire process and reported on the success of the "Cuban freedom fighters" to the world.

　By December, the entire eastern part of the island of Cuba had been completely occupied by the anti-Batista coalition, which then advanced westward.

　On January 1, 1959, the central Cuban city of Santa Clara was captured by the anti-Batista coalition. Seeing that the situation was hopeless and feeling exhausted, Batista simply fled the capital Havana with his close friends. Before leaving, under the instructions of the United States, he ordered his army to surrender to Castro.

　So, Castro accepted all the assets of the Batista regime without firing a single shot, and the Cuban Revolution succeeded easily!

　——Compared to those European and Asian revolutions with mountains of blood and seas of blood, Castro’s Cuban Revolution was simply a beginner’s village.

　Chapter 11: Castro Jumps Left and Right

　In short, just like the plot of a Hollywood heroic adventure movie, the Cuban Revolution achieved a lightning-fast victory in a magical way.

　But the problem is, as the saying goes, "If you want to wear the crown, you must bear its weight."

　For Castro, the real test only began after the victory of the Cuban Revolution.

　After the success of the Cuban Revolution in January 1959, Castro was actually still sitting on the edge of a volcano, even more dangerous than when he was fighting guerrilla warfare - the reason was simple. The various anti-Batista forces in Cuba were a mixed bag, and the political spectrum ranged from extreme left to extreme right, with all kinds of people.

　Apart from opposing Batista, the political demands and fighting goals of this mob were almost diametrically opposed and had nothing in common.

　During the revolutionary war, these organizations had constant friction and frequent conflicts, and they only managed to maintain cooperation with great difficulty.

　After Batista, who was considered a public enemy, fled, no matter how talented he was, he would not be able to unite so many forces that were hostile to each other.

　So, in January 1959, just one week after the Allied forces captured Havana, internal strife broke out.

　Fortunately, because Castro had the righteous title of commander-in-chief of the coalition forces and had completely taken over the military and police of Batista's old government - the defenders in various places basically defected to him, allowing the troops under Castro's command to completely overwhelm other guerrillas in the blink of an eye.

　In other words, as soon as the Cuban Revolution succeeded, Castro immediately used Batista's old government army to suppress his revolutionary comrades.

　At the same time, although his military talent was mediocre, Castro was excellent in political talent - he used the method of using one faction to fight another, purged the thorns in the coalition forces, and expelled the white supremacists and black separatists who were really incompatible abroad.

　In just one spring, Castro initially stabilized the domestic situation and transformed from a small guerrilla leader into a true ruler of the country.

　But the problem is that for a small Caribbean country like Cuba, it is not enough to just stabilize the domestic situation, it also has to win the support of the big boss, the United States.

　In the eyes of US President Eisenhower, it doesn’t matter who rules Cuba. It’s just a matter of changing agents, but the prerequisite is that they have to listen to him.

　Batista also came to power through a coup. He followed the lead of the United States, and the United States quickly recognized his rule.

　Now, it's Castro's turn to find a way to please America's father.

　Therefore, in April 1959, before the situation in Cuba stabilized, Castro traveled north to visit the United States in an attempt to gain more support.

　However, this time, Castro, the popular star who visited the United States with 100 boxes of rum, failed to repeat his previous success.

　Although Castro was warmly welcomed by all walks of life in the United States at the beginning of his visit due to the previous media packaging and publicity.

　During his stay in the United States, Castro talked a lot about restoring constitutional order and democratic elections, claiming that the Cuban Revolution was a just struggle of freedom fighters against a dictatorial tyrant, and comparing the Cuban Revolution to the American War of Independence, which won him another wave of fans in the United States.

　Therefore, during his visit to the United States, Castro became a top figure in the United States. Wherever he went, the media and the crowd followed him.

　When he visited New York's Central Park, the New York government dispatched thousands of police officers to maintain order, and many beautiful women surrounded him, asking for his autograph and kissing him.

　But the problem is that compared with the warm welcome from the public, the US official attitude towards Castro is quite cold.

　Because before Castro arrived in the United States, Jacob Estelan, the CIA's chief of station in Venezuela and director of the Western Hemisphere Bureau, who once led the overthrow of the left-wing regime in Guatemala, had already sent a secret report that was embellished and full of hostility towards Castro.

　As a result, President Eisenhower refused to meet with Castro. Later, under pressure from public opinion, he sent his Secretary of State to have a meal with Castro.

　Afterwards, Vice President Nixon reluctantly talked to Castro. The two sides exchanged views fully, but found that they could not reach an agreement at all.

　- According to Castro's thinking, the Cuban people have fully demonstrated their strength through the crushing Cuban Revolution. The American boss should look at the issue from the perspective of strength, appropriately return some rights to Cuba, and no longer exploit it unscrupulously as in the past.

　However, according to Nixon's thinking, Castro was able to jump from a small leader with only a few dozen subordinates to the commander-in-chief of the Cuban uprising coalition, all thanks to the propaganda packaging of our American media. Now, of course, you should spend all of Cuba's wealth to repay the great kindness of the United States.

　In short, each side feels that the other side owes them something.

　Castro believed that the United States had exploited Cuba too harshly and demanded that some unequal treaties be revised so that he could achieve diplomatic success and return home in glory.

　Nixon believed that Castro owed the United States a lot since his inception, and demanded that Castro further cede national power in return.

　On one hand, there is the idea of ​​a slave who has turned over a new leaf and asks his master for compensation, and on the other hand, there is the idea of ​​the top brother asking the internet celebrity welfare girl to sell her body. It would be strange if they could reach an agreement!

　Even worse, during Batista's reign, Cuba's various industries had been essentially emptied out by American capital. 40% of Cuba's sugar industry, 90% of its mining industry, 90% of its tobacco industry, 100% of its telecommunications business, and a large number of casinos and brothels were all controlled by the United States.

　If Cuba continues to make concessions to the United States, why are the Cubans rebelling?

　Was it just to prevent a black man (Batista) from becoming president?