Cubaphobia

What is it about Cuba? It seemed to me that for a good part of my young life, our country was obsessed by it. Fidel Castro was always in the news, shaking his fist, waving a cigar, and complaining that the United States was out to get him and his country.
I could never understand it. Wasn't Castro a hero? Didn't he overthrow a ruthless dictator who had suspended his country's constitution? When Castro first took over it seemed like everyone was happy about it. I remember watching Jack Paar do a special report about the Cuban revolutionaries; even interviewing Castro in Havana right after they took control of the government.
Fidel Castro spoke of reforming Cuba, giving land back to the people, and improving the school system so everyone could read and write. He talked about health care for everyone and an end to segregation. It sounded to me like Fidel Castro was someone who stood for freedom and justice, and wasn't that what we pledged allegiance to in school?
I was confused, to say the least. Why did so many Cubans leave the country and come to the United States? Did they like their dictator? Were they against education and health care?
Our government didn't seem to like Castro at all. He had nationalized the telephone company and thrown out the gangsters who ran the casinos and nightclubs. He was a socialist, whatever that was, and that seemed to upset a lot of people.
What did any of this mean to me? We were taught that our forefathers fought the British so we could be free to decide for ourselves. Why was it that the Cubans weren't allowed to do the same?
President Eisenhower had broken off diplomatic relations with Cuba,and now President Kennedy seemed disturbed by that island and its leader.
Castro was talking to the Russians. It seemed like the more we got upset with him the closer he got to the Communists. There was talk that Castro was going to become a Communist, so we'd better do something about it.
So on April 17th we saw on the news that Cuban exiles had invaded the island with the purpose of overthrowing Castro and his followers. It was all so confusing. Blurry images of men on a beach, ships on fire out at sea, and Castro commanding his troops for a counter attack.
It was somewhere called the Bay of Pigs. In my mind's eye I imagined a beach with hogs on it, running from soldiers, squealing with fear.
In two days it would be over, and more black and white images of men surrendering, hardly looking like soldiers at all.
President Kennedy would be on the TV trying to explain it to the world. The CIA, you remember them, don't you? Well, they were behind it. We just weren't going to let that darn Castro have his way, that's all.
It seems that the CIA was training Cuban exiles in Guatemala and Florida. They would invade Cuba and the people there would rise up and support them and throw Castro out for good. It didn't happen. "Reliable intelligence", the CIA would tell the president.
President Kennedy really didn't want to get America caught up in this. He changed a lot of the plans to make it look like we weren't involved, but the world wasn't stupid, and now he had to explain why the United States was invading a small country in a sneak attack; just using others to do the dirty work. He had to explain why and how it failed.
We would hear more and more about Cuba in the coming year. There would be stories in the press that we were trying to assassinate Castro, even making deals with the Mafia to get it done.
I stood in school and pledged allegiance to my country. I believed that we were the good guys, and we stood for all that was right in the world. This Cuban thing I couldn't understand. We would go to war with an island just because some guy who smoked cigars and wore army clothes wanted to run his country the way he saw fit?
An island that grew sugar cane and tobacco,were they really that much of a threat to us all?
Would we ever stop worrying about Cuba?
What's next, I wonder?