Write a short response to summarize the disagreement between any two people or organizations in the article. If you were to support the claims made by only one of these parties, who would it be? Why? The year 1961 proved to be important in Castro's relationship with the United States. On January 3, 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower broke off diplomatic relations with the Cuban government. On April 14, Castro formally declared Cuba a socialist state. Days later, some 1,400 Cuban exiles invaded Cuba at the remote Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow the Castro government. Cuba is 90 miles off the coast of Florida. The invasion ended in disaster, with hundreds of exiles killed and more than 1,000 captured. Though the United States denied any involvement, the Cuban exiles had been trained by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and they used American weapons.

Castro, in turn, used the incident to grab more power. On May 1, he announced an end to democratic elections in Cuba. Then Castro declared that the Cuban government was communist. On February 7, 1962, the United States put in place a full economic embargo on Cuba, banning all trade. The policy lasted for decades.

In October 1962, Castro brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Hoping to discourage another U. S. invasion of Cuba, Castro and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev placed nuclear missiles in Cuba. However, an American plane discovered the base and President John F. Kennedy demanded the missiles be removed.

Over 13 anxious days, the Soviets agreed to remove the missiles and the United States agreed not to invade Cuba. Castro, on the other hand, was humiliated. Both superpowers had completely left him out of the negotiations.