4.6   The Cuban Revolution

The United States had its satellite states in Central America (Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama and Guatemala), the Caribbean (Cuba, the Dominion Republic and Haiti) and east Asia (the Philippines, South Korea, Fidel Castro The World After World War II South Vietnam and Thailand). These states were governed by ruling groups made up of military personnel, landed gentry and occasionally of local capitalists. After Castro took power, the US-owned oil refineries on the island refused to process Russian oil. Castro nationalized them.

The US retaliated by ending the arrangement by which it bought the bulk of Cuba’s sugar. Castro nationalized the US-owned sugar companies and ended the US monopolies in electricity and telephones. All these gravely threatened American economic interests. Cuban Missile Crisis In April , while landing an army of Cuban exiles on the island of Bay of Pigs, the US bombed Cuban airfields with the objective of overthrowing Castro’s regime.