Milestone Events Throughout History Chapter Summary

The CIA’s attempts to limit communism in Cuba and Guatemala during the Cold War proved to be embarrassing and made U.S. relations with Guatemala and Cuba worse. In Cuba, the CIA’s Bay of Pigs Invasion exemplified how foolish the United States was. According to the book, Milestone Events Throughout History Vol. 3, the CIA trained Cuban exiles to fight against a major threat to the U.S., communist leader, Fidel Castro. When the trained exiles invaded Cuba, it was hoped they could start an uprising to overthrow Castro. However, this invasion resulted in more than one hundred people in U.S.A. Brigade 2506 dying and the surrender of the exile troops ("The Bay of Pigs Invasion: April 17–19, 1961."). As a result of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, chances to improve U.S.

only increased because of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Because the CIA hurt Cuba and the U.S.’s foreign relationship, Cuba turned to the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Cuba’s ties with the U.S.S.R. drove the U.S. even further away from working with Cuba and created later tensions like the Cuban missile crisis. With more time, the U.S. and Cuba relations worsened, and it all started because of the CIA’s plan to overthrow Castro. Only now in 2016, has a U.S. president visited Cuba. This proves how the CIA’s Bay of Pigs Invasion sparked a terrible U.S. and Cuba foreign relationship that only seeks to improve now. Furthermore, the CIA operation, PBSUCCESS, in Guatemala showed the manipulative nature and selfishness of the United States. Associate professor of Adelphi University, Carl Mirra, explains that this CIA operation planned to replace the president of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz, with Castillo Armas because Arbenz planned to seize the uncultivated land owned by U.S. company, United Fruit. In operation PBSUCCESS, the CIA trained troops to invade Guatemala and sent out propaganda over the radios in order to force the noncommunist leader, Arbenz, to