Editing Fidel Castro (section)

===Bay of Pigs Invasion and "Socialist Cuba": 1961–1962===
{{Main|Bay of Pigs Invasion}}
{{See also|Assassination attempts on Fidel Castro|P.M. affair|Four Year Plan (Cuba)|Escalante affair}}
{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote=There was ... no doubt about who the victors were. Cuba's stature in the world soared to new heights, and Fidel's role as the adored and revered leader among ordinary Cuban people received a renewed boost. His popularity was greater than ever. In his own mind he had done what generations of Cubans had only fantasized about: he had taken on the United States and won.|source=– [[Peter Bourne]], Castro biographer, 1986{{sfn|Bourne|1986|p=226}}}}

In January 1961, Castro ordered [[Embassy of the United States, Havana|Havana's US Embassy]] to reduce its 300-member staff, suspecting that many of them were spies. The US responded by ending diplomatic relations, and it increased CIA funding for exiled dissidents; these militants began attacking ships that traded with Cuba, and bombed factories, shops, and sugar mills.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=215–216}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=353–354, 365–366}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=178}}.</ref> Despite internal tensions, and diplomatic tensions, Castro garnered support in New York City. On 18 February 1961, 400 people—mainly Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and college students—picketed in the rain outside of the United Nations rallying for Castro's anti-colonial values and his effort to reduce the United States' power over Cuba. The protesters held up signs that read, "Mr. Kennedy, Cuba is Not For Sale.", "[[Vive, viva, and vivat|Viva]] Fidel Castro!" and "Down With Yankee Imperialism!". Around 200 policemen were on the scene, but the protesters continued to chant slogans and throw pennies in support of Fidel Castro's socialist movement. Some Americans disagreed with President [[John F. Kennedy]]'s decision to ban trade with Cuba, and outwardly supported his nationalist revolutionary tactics.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Benjamin |first1=Philip |title=400 picket U.N. in salute to castro and lumumba. New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/02/19/archives/400-picket-un-in-salute-to-castro-and-lumumba-pickets-march-at-un-3.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=19 February 1961 |access-date=9 November 2018 |archive-date=9 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109234633/https://www.nytimes.com/1961/02/19/archives/400-picket-un-in-salute-to-castro-and-lumumba-pickets-march-at-un-3.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Both President Eisenhower and his successor President Kennedy supported a CIA plan to aid a dissident militia: the [[Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front|Democratic Revolutionary Front]], to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro; the plan resulted in the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]] in April 1961. On 15 April, CIA-supplied [[Douglas A-26 Invader|B-26]]s bombed three Cuban military airfields; the US announced that the perpetrators were defecting Cuban air force pilots, but Castro exposed these claims as [[false flag]] misinformation.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=217–220}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=363–367}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=178–179}}.</ref> Fearing invasion, he ordered the arrest of between 20,000 and 100,000 suspected counter-revolutionaries,<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=221–222}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=371}}.</ref> publicly proclaiming, "What the imperialists cannot forgive us, is that we have made a Socialist revolution under their noses", his first announcement that the government was socialist.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=221–222}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=369}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=180, 186}}.</ref>

[[File:CheyFidel.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Che Guevara]] (left) and Castro, photographed by [[Alberto Korda]] in 1961]]
The CIA and the Democratic Revolutionary Front had based a 1,400-strong army, [[Brigade 2506]], in [[Nicaragua]]. On the night of 16 to 17 April, Brigade 2506 landed along Cuba's [[Bay of Pigs]] and engaged in a firefight with a local revolutionary militia. Castro ordered Captain José Ramón Fernández to launch the counter-offensive, before taking personal control of it. After bombing the invaders' ships and bringing in reinforcements, Castro forced the Brigade to surrender on 20 April.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=222–225}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=370–374}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=180–184}}.</ref> He ordered the 1189 captured rebels to be interrogated by a panel of journalists on live television, personally taking over the questioning on 25 April. Fourteen were put on trial for crimes allegedly committed before the revolution, while the others were returned to the US in exchange for medicine and food valued at {{US$|25&nbsp;million}}.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=226–227}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=375–378}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=180–184}}.</ref> Castro's victory reverberated around the world, especially in Latin America, but it also increased internal opposition primarily among the middle-class Cubans who had been detained in the run-up to the invasion. Although most were freed within a few days, many fled to the US, establishing themselves in Florida.<ref>{{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=185–186}}.</ref>

After the [[P.M. affair|banning of the film ''P.M.'']], film critics hotly debated censorship in Cuba, which then caused the intervention of Castro, who met with the contesting writers and delivered his famed "Words to the Intellectuals" speech;<ref>{{cite book |last= |first= |author-link= |date=2001 |title=Censorship A World Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gDqsCQAAQBAJ&dq=P.M.+affair+cuba&pg=PA401 |location= |publisher=Taylor and Francis |pages=400–401 |isbn=9781136798641}}</ref> which he delivered in June 1961. In the speech, Castro commented on Cuba's censorship policy, stating:<ref name=speech>{{cite web |url=http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/db/1961/19610630.html |title=CASTRO'S SPEECH TO INTELLECTUALS ON 30 JUNE 61 |last=Castro |first=Fidel |date=1961 |website=lanic.utexas.edu |publisher= |access-date= |quote=}}</ref>
{{Blockquote
|text=This means that within the Revolution, everything goes; against the Revolution, nothing. Nothing against the Revolution, because the Revolution has its rights also, and the first right of the Revolution is the right to exist, and no one can stand against the right of the Revolution to be and to exist, No one can rightfully claim a right against the Revolution. Since it takes in the interests of the people and Signifies the interests of the entire nation.<ref name=speech/>}}

In an effort to consolidate "Socialist Cuba", Castro united the MR-26-7, PSP and Revolutionary Directorate into a governing party based on the Leninist principle of [[democratic centralism]], what resulted was the [[Communist Party of Cuba|Integrated Revolutionary Organizations]] (''Organizaciones Revolucionarias Integradas'' – ORI), eventually renamed the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution (PURSC) in 1962.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=230}}; {{harvnb|Geyer|1991|p=276}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=387, 396}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=188}}.</ref> The ORI began shaping Cuba using the Soviet model, persecuting political opponents and perceived [[Deviance (sociology)|social deviants]] such as prostitutes and homosexuals; Castro considered same-sex sexual activity a bourgeois trait.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=233}}.</ref>  
Although the USSR was hesitant regarding Castro's embrace of socialism,<ref>{{harvnb|Geyer|1991|pp=274–275}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=385–386}}.</ref> relations with the Soviets deepened. Castro sent Fidelito for a Moscow schooling,<ref name="Bourne 1986 231">{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=231}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=188}}.</ref> Soviet technicians arrived on the island,<ref name="Bourne 1986 231"/> and Castro was awarded the [[Lenin Peace Prize]].<ref>{{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=405}}.</ref>

In order to plan the Cuban economy, the commission JUCEPLAN was tasked with creating a four year plan. Regino Boti, the head of JUCEPLAN, announced in August 1961, that the country would soon have a 10% rate of economic growth, and the highest living standard in Latin America in 10 years.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gott |first=Richard |date=2005 |title=Cuba A New History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aVq0qOnLFusC&dq=cuba+four+year+plan&pg=PA187 |location= |publisher=Yale University Press |page=187 |isbn= 978-0-300-11114-9|access-date=}}</ref> The plan drafted by JUCEPLAN in 1961, was a [[Four Year Plan (Cuba)|four year plan]] devised to be implemented in 1962 through 1965. It stressed agricultural diversification and rapid industrialization via Soviet assistance.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Todd |first1=Allan |last2=Waller |first2=Sally |date=2015 |title=History for the IB Diploma Paper 2
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y_pfCgAAQBAJ&dq=guevara+juceplan+four+year+plan&pg=PA228 |location= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=227–228 |isbn=9781107558892 |access-date=}}</ref> In September 1961, Castro publicly complained that the industrialization plan had stalled because of lazy uncooperative workers.<ref name=Bunck>{{cite book |last=Bunck |first=Julie |date=2010 |title=Fidel Castro and the Quest for a Revolutionary Culture in Cuba
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rOf7CtLPDe4C&dq=guevara+%22socialist+emulation%22+1961&pg=PA130 |location= |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |pages=131–135 |isbn=9780271040271 |access-date=}}</ref>

In December 1961, Castro admitted that he had been a Marxist–Leninist for years, and in his Second Declaration of Havana he called on Latin America to rise up in revolution.{{sfnm|1a1=Bourne|1y=1986|1pp=230–234|2a1=Geyer|2y=1991|2p=274|3a1=Quirk|3y=1993|3pp=395, 400–401|4a1=Coltman|4y=2003|4p=190}} In response, the US successfully pushed the Organization of American States to expel Cuba; the Soviets privately reprimanded Castro for recklessness, although he received praise from China.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=232–234}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=397–401}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=190}}.</ref> Despite their ideological affinity with China, in the [[Sino-Soviet split]], Cuba allied with the wealthier Soviets, who offered economic and military aid.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=232}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=397}}.</ref>

By 1962, Cuba's economy was in steep decline, a result of poor economic management and low productivity coupled with the US trade embargo. Food shortages led to rationing, resulting in protests in [[Cárdenas, Cuba|Cárdenas]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=233}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=203–204, 410–412}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=189}}.</ref> Security reports indicated that many Cubans associated austerity with the "Old Communists" of the PSP, while Castro considered a number of them—namely [[Anibal Escalante|Aníbal Escalante]] and [[Blas Roca]]—unduly loyal to Moscow. In March 1962 Castro removed the most prominent "Old Communists" from office, labelling them "sectarian".<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=234–236}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=403–406}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=192}}.</ref> On a personal level, Castro was increasingly lonely, and his relations with Guevara became strained as the latter became increasingly anti-Soviet and pro-Chinese.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=258–259}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=191–192}}.</ref>