“JAN 1, 1959…Fidel Castro gives a victory speech from Santiago:this new revolution, he states, will not be like 1898, ‘when the North Americans cane and made themselves masters of our country.'”
“The Bay of Pigs Invasion/Playa Giron: A Chronology of Events,” The National Security Archive, NSArchive2.gwu.edu
“The United States recognized the new Cuban government, headed by Fidel Castro, on January 7, 1959. However, bilateral relations deteriorated rapidly as the regime expropriated U.S. properties and moved towards adoption of a one-party Marxist-Leninist system.”
“U.S.-Cuba Relations,” Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs; U.S. Department of State, 2001-2009.state.gov, May 1, 2001
“The Cuban revolution was going very strong from January 1959 on. Any Cuban who was involved or who has studied that period can tell you that the easy part was achieving power and the overthrow of the [Fulgencio] Batista dictatorship. Making the revolution after taking power was the really hard part. That was the transformation of Cuban society. They had lots of obstacles to overcome, many of them coming from the U.S. The first problems that Cuba had with the U.S. were the trials of Batista’s murderers and torturers who were captured. The chief of BRAC [The Bureau for Repression of Communist Activities], by the way, got away. He went to Miami and later on continued to work for the CIA. But his deputy was captured. This man had been the principal BRAC liaison officer with the CIA offices in the U.S. Embassy in Havana. They tried him. He was convicted and sentenced to death. He was not the only one. There were lots of others. These trials were public. They were broadcast on television, held in the national sports arena, an enclosed sports palace in Havana. They were seen in the U.S. as circus show trials, and various figures in the government denounced them, including Senators who stood up and called for an end to this so-called Cuban ‘bloodbath’. This was the beginning of Cuba’s problems with the U.S.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
Philip Agee, “A Century of War and Bad Faith; Cuba History, and the CIA,” Prevailing Winds Magazine, March 9, 1994, Page 26
“By March, 1959, just three months after the triumph of the revolution, [US President Dwight D.] Eisenhower and his National Security Council were discussing ways to overthrow the government and replace them with people who were more aligned with U.S. interests. So it happened very early on. Before 1959 was over, the CIA was already developing a counterrevolutionary underground. They were training people in such things as explosives and sabotage. And there had begun air drops to a counterrevolutionary guerrilla movement in the Escambre Mountains, a rugged mountain range on the south central coast of Cuba. So already in 1959 the U.S. government, through the CIA, was attempting to destroy the revolution.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
Philip Agee, “A Century of War and Bad Faith; Cuba History, and the CIA,” Prevailing Winds Magazine, March 9, 1994, Pages 26-27
“APR 19, 1959: During Fidel Castro’s first post revolution trip to Washington, he meets with Vice President Richard Nixon for three and a half hours. ‘I spent as much time as I could trying to emphasize that he had the great gift of leadership, but that it was the responsibility of a leader not always to follow public opinion but to help to direct it in proper channels, not to give the people what they think they want at a time of emotional stress but to make them want what they ought to have,’ the Vice President reports in a four-page secret memo to Eisenhower, Secretary of State Christian A. Herter, and [CIA Director] Allen Dulles. ‘It was apparent that while he paid lip service to such institutions as freedom of speech, press and religion that his primary concern was with developing programs for economic progress.’ Nixon concludes that Castro is ‘either incredibly naive about Communism or is under Communist discipline.’ But he also expresses his own ‘appraisal’ of Castro as a man. ‘The one fact we can be sure of, is that he has those indefinable qualities which make him a leader of men. Whatever we may think of him, he is going to be a great factor in the development of Cuba and very possibly in the development of Latin American affairs generally.’”
“The Bay of Pigs Invasion/Playa Giron: A Chronology of Events,” The National Security Archive, NSArchive2.gwu.edu
“11.06.59 In the context of the enforcement of the Agrarian Reform Law enacted in May 1959, the United States threatened to reduce the Cuban sugar quota, ban U.S. private investments and cut all economic assistance, if American properties were nationalized without prompt compensation.”
“Dwight D. Eisenhower (R), Timeline,” Cuba versus Blockade: Cuban People’s Website, 2007
“JUL 8, 1959: A CIA briefing for the National Security Council reports on ‘preparations in Cuba for efforts against Dominican Republic, either directly or through Haiti.'”
“The Bay of Pigs Invasion/Playa Giron: A Chronology of Events,” The National Security Archive, NSArchive2.gwu.edu
“SEP 4, 1959: [United States] Ambassador [Philip Wilson] Bonsal meets with Fidel Castro in Cuba. The Ambassador expresses, ‘our serious concern at the treatment being given American private interests in Cuba both agriculture and utilities.’ Castro responds saying he ‘admires Americans, especially tourists, for whom he is planning great things.’”
“The Bay of Pigs Invasion/Playa Giron: A Chronology of Events,” The National Security Archive, NSArchive2.gwu.edu
“LATE OCTOBER 1959: President [Dwight D.] Eisenhower approves a program proposed by the Department of State, in agreement with the CIA, to support elements in Cuba opposed to the Castro government. The operations are intended to make Castro’s downfall seem to be the result of his own mistakes. As a part of this program, Cuban exiles mount sea borne raids against Cuba from U.S. territory. [The 25th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
“The Bay of Pigs Invasion/Playa Giron: A Chronology of Events,” The National Security Archive, NSArchive2.gwu.edu
“NOV 5, 1959: In a memorandum to President [Dwight D.] Eisenhower, [Secretary of State] Christian Herter describes the changing policy towards Cuba, ‘All actions of the United States Government should be designed to encourage within Cuba and elsewhere in Latin America opposition to the extremist, anti-American course of the Castro regime.’ Herter adds, ‘[However], in achieving this objective, the United States should avoid giving the impression of direct pressure or intervention against Castro, except where defense of legitimate United States interest is involved.’”
“The Bay of Pigs Invasion/Playa Giron: A Chronology of Events,” The National Security Archive, NSArchive2.gwu.edu