Sad and Luminous Days ― Cuba's Struggle With the Superpowers After the Missile Crisis

Che Guevara wrote that the days of the October Crisis of 1962 (the Cuban Missile Crisis) were "sad and luminous." A 12-hour speech given in 1968 by Fidel Castro to the Cuban Communist Party's Central Committee and accompanying analysis by Blight (international relations, Brown U.) and Brenner (international relations, American U.) suggest why the Cubans may have viewed the crisis in such a way. Presenting the full text of the speech, the authors argue that its clearest import is the light it sheds on the rocky relationship between Cuba and the Soviet Union. The Cubans saw the aftermath of the crisis as a sad betrayal of the island nation by their supposed benefactor, but were absolutely determined to resist a U.S. invasion that they saw as imminent. However, in light of a speech given by Fidel months later (included here in an appendix), in which he equivocally excused the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, they see Castro's speech on the October crisis as a possible beginning of a detente between the Soviet Union and Cuba. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

James G. Blight is professor of international relations at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies.