Editing History of Cuba (section)

===Domestic repression and Soviet relations===
{{Further|Grassroots dictatorship}}
{{See also|La Coubre explosion|Coletilla}}
[[File:Protestas en contra de la visita de Anastas Mikoyan a Cuba.jpg|thumb|Protests against the visit of soviet diplomat [[Anastas Mikoyan]], dispersed by a policeman firing his gun. (February 5, 1960)]]
A popular desire for some form of urban-based civil defence cumilated after the [[La Coubre explosion|explosion of the French freighter ''La Coubre'']].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=The Transformation of Political Culture in Cuba.|last=Fagen|first=Richard|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=1969|isbn=9780804707022|location=Stanford University|pages=[https://archive.org/details/transformationof0000fage/page/70 70]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/transformationof0000fage/page/70}}</ref> Speaking the day after the explosion, at the funeral for 27 dock workers killed, [[Fidel Castro]] said that the United States was responsible for the explosion, calling it "the work of those who do not wish us to receive arms for our defense".<ref>{{cite news | accessdate = 21 March 2016 | date = 6 March 1960 | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1960/03/06/99727202.pdf | title = Castro Links U.S. to Ship 'Sabotage'; Denial is Swift | first = R. Hart | last = Phillips | work = New York Times }}</ref> U.S. Secretary of State [[Christian Herter]] denied that on 7 March in a meeting with the Cuban chargé d'affaires in Washington, then delivered a formal note of protest to Cuban Foreign Minister [[Raul Roa]] on 15 March.<ref>{{cite news | work= New York Times | accessdate = 21 March 2016 | title = U.S. Note Is Delivered | date  = 16 March 1960 | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1960/03/16/99852765.pdf }}</ref>

Relations between the United States and Cuba deteriorated rapidly as the Cuban government, in reaction to the refusal of [[Royal Dutch Shell]], [[Standard Oil]] and [[Texaco]] to refine [[petroleum]] from the Soviet Union in Cuban refineries under their control, took control of those refineries in July 1960. The Eisenhower administration promoted a boycott of Cuba by oil companies; Cuba responded by nationalizing the refineries in August 1960. Cuba expropriated more US-owned properties, notably those belonging to the [[ITT Corporation|International Telephone and Telegraph Company]] (ITT) and to the [[United Fruit Company]]. In the Castro government's first [[agrarian reform]] law, on 17 May 1959, the state sought to limit the size of land holdings, and to distribute that land to small farmers in "Vital Minimum" tracts. This law served as a pretext for seizing lands held by foreigners and redistributing them to Cuban citizens.

Finally, on September 28, 1960, after a bombing by the Presidential Palace, Castro announced the formation of vigilance organizations to report suspicious activity. This vigilance organization became the [[Committees for the Defense of the Revolution]].<ref name="CNN World">{{Cite web |url=http://articles.cnn.com/2010-09-28/world/cuba.castro_1_raul-castro-fidel-castro-marks?_s=PM:WORLD |title=CNN World |access-date=2012-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110409001629/http://articles.cnn.com/2010-09-28/world/cuba.castro_1_raul-castro-fidel-castro-marks?_s=PM:WORLD |archive-date=2011-04-09 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

By the end of 1960, all opposition newspapers had been closed down and all radio and television stations had come under state control.<ref name="Lewis" />{{Rp|[https://books.google.com/books?id%3DLAvw-YXm4TsC&pg%3DPA189 189]}} Teachers and professors found to have involvement with counter-revolution were purged.<ref name="Lewis" />{{Rp|[https://books.google.com/books?id%3DLAvw-YXm4TsC&pg%3DPA189 189]}} Fidel's brother [[Raúl Castro]] became the commander of the [[Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces|Revolutionary Armed Forces]].<ref name="Lewis" /> {{Rp|[https://books.google.com/books?id%3DLAvw-YXm4TsC&pg%3DPA189 189]}} In September 1960, a system of [[neighborhood watch]] networks, known as [[Committees for the Defense of the Revolution]] (CDR), was created.<ref name="Lewis" />{{Rp|[https://books.google.com/books?id%3DLAvw-YXm4TsC&pg%3DPA189 189]}}

The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba on 3 January 1961, and [[US embargo against Cuba|further restricted trade]] in February 1962.<ref>{{cite web |title=Case Studies in Economic Sanctions and Terrorism: US v. Gta 5 (1960– : Castro) |url=http://www.iie.com/publications/papers/sanctions-cuba-60-3.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.iie.com/publications/papers/sanctions-cuba-60-3.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live | publisher= Peterson Institute for International Economics |access-date=14 May 2019 |date=October 2011 |quote=7 February 1962[:] By presidential proclamation, US bans virtually all imports from Cuba.}}</ref> The [[Organization of American States]], under pressure from the United States, suspended Cuba's membership on 22 January 1962, and the U.S. government banned all U.S.–Cuban trade on 7 February. The [[Kennedy administration]] extended this ban on 8 February 1963, forbidding U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba or to conduct financial or commercial transactions with the country.<ref>Priestland, Jane (editor, 2003). ''British Archives on Cuba: Cuba under Castro 1959–1962''. Archival Publications International Limited: London. {{ISBN|1-903008-20-4}}.</ref> The United States later pressured other nations and American companies with foreign [[Subsidiary|subsidiaries]] to restrict trade with Cuba. The [[Helms–Burton Act]] of 1996 makes it very difficult for foreign companies doing business with Cuba to also do business in the United States.

Cuba began to pursue more close relations with the Soviet Union. As early as September 1959, Valdim Kotchergin, a [[KGB]] agent, was seen in Cuba.<ref>British Foreign Office. Chancery American Department, Foreign Office, London, 2 September 1959 (2181/59) to British Embassy Havana. Classified as restricted. Released 2000 among British Foreign Office papers. Foreign Office Files for Cuba, Part 1: Revolution in Cuba. "In our letter 1011/59 May 6 we mentioned that a Russian workers' delegation had been invited to participate in the May Day celebrations here, but had been delayed. The interpreter with the party, which arrived later and stayed in Cuba a few days, was called Vadim Kotchergin although he was at the time using what he subsequently claimed was his mother's name of Liston (?). He remained in the background, and did not attract any attention."</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.canf.org/2005/1es/noticias-de-Cuba/2005-nov-07-el-campo-de-entrenamiento.htm |publisher=Cuban American Foundation |title=El campo de entrenamiento "Punto Cero" donde el Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) adiestra a terroristas nacionales e internacionales |access-date=8 January 2008 |date=7 November 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828201858/http://www.canf.org/2005/1es/noticias-de-Cuba/2005-nov-07-el-campo-de-entrenamiento.htm |archive-date=28 August 2008}} (English title: The training camp "Point Zero" where the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) trained national and international terrorists)<br />  "… Los coroneles soviéticos de la KGB Vadim Kochergin y Victor Simonov (ascendido a general en 1970) fueron entrenadores en "Punto Cero" desde finales de los años 60 del siglo pasado. Uno de los" graduados" por Simonov en este campo de entrenamiento es Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, más conocido como "Carlos El Chacal". Otro "alumno" de esta instalación del terror es el mexicano Rafael Sebastián Guillén, alias "subcomandante Marcos", quien se "graduó" en "Punto Cero" a principio de los años 80."</ref> Jorge Luis Vasquez, a Cuban who was imprisoned in [[East Germany]], states that the East German [[Stasi]] trained the personnel of the Cuban Interior Ministry (MINIT).<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.elnuevoherald.com/209/story/112259.html |last=Levitin |first=Michael |title=La Stasi entrenó a la Seguridad cubana |publisher=Nuevo Herald|date=4 November 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928223044/http://www.elnuevoherald.com/209/story/112259.html |archive-date=28 September 2008}}</ref> The relationship between the KGB and the Cuban [[Intelligence Directorate]] (DI) was complex and marked by both times of close cooperation and times of extreme competition. The Soviet Union saw the new revolutionary government in Cuba as an excellent proxy agent in areas of the world where Soviet involvement was not popular on a local level. [[Nikolai Leonov]], the KGB chief in [[Mexico City]], was one of the first Soviet officials to recognize Fidel Castro's potential as a revolutionary, and urged the Soviet Union to strengthen ties with the new Cuban leader. The USSR saw Cuba as having far more appeal with new revolutionary movements, western intellectuals, and members of the [[New Left]], given Cuba's perceived [[David and Goliath]] struggle against U.S. "imperialism". In 1963, shortly after the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]], 1,500 DI agents, including [[Che Guevara]], were invited to the USSR for intensive training in intelligence operations.