# What If We Had Befriended Cuba? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 25, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-we-had-befriended-cuba/504269 "2009-07-25T23:53:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-we-had-befriended-cuba/504269/61 "2009-07-30T16:33:24Z")
A more interesting question would be, what if the U.S. had befriended Cuba **immediately** after the [Revolution](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolution)? The Communist Party was an important part of the revolutionary coalition, but Castro had not yet joined it at that time, nor committed Cuba to Communism. Perhaps that could have been averted? ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-we-had-befriended-cuba/504269/62 "2009-07-30T17:05:47Z")
Forgive my hijack here, but in your cite, I found convincing proof that JFK was a communist. > [@](#): > > “I believe that there is no country in the world including any and all the countries under colonial domination, where economic colonization, humiliation and exploitation were worse than in Cuba, in part owing to my country’s policies during the Batista regime. I approved the proclamation which Fidel Castro made in the Sierra Maestra, when he justifiably called for justice and especially yearned to rid Cuba of corruption. I will even go further: to some extent it is as though Batista was the incarnation of a number of sins on the part of the United States. Now we shall have to pay for those sins. In the matter of the Batista regime, I am in agreement with the first Cuban revolutionaries. That is perfectly clear.” > > – U.S. President John F. Kennedy, interview with Jean Daniel, October 24 1963 ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-we-had-befriended-cuba/504269/63 "2009-07-30T17:15:28Z")
Same interview: “We can’t let Communist subversion win in the other Latin American countries. Two dikes are needed to contain Soviet expansion: the blockade on the one hand, a tremendous effort toward progress on the other. This is the problem in a nutshell. Both battles are equally difficult… The continuation of the blockade depends on the continuation of subversive activities.” ---
**Author:** ![lalenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@lalenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalenin)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-we-had-befriended-cuba/504269/64 "2009-07-30T18:49:42Z")
> [@adhay](#): > > No it doesn’t. I see what you did here. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-we-had-befriended-cuba/504269/65 "2009-07-30T19:35:41Z")
> [@lalenin](#): > > I see what you did here. No, you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-we-had-befriended-cuba/504269/66 "2009-07-30T20:01:28Z")
Judges score this one for **lalenin** , btw. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-we-had-befriended-cuba/504269.md?page=3)