CUBA ON A KNIFE EDGE
“THE GUARDS WERE GOING TO PUT DYNAMITE IN THE PRISON SO THAT IF THE AMERICANS CAME WE WOULD BE KILLED”
The Cuban Missile Crisis took the world to the brink of nuclear war when the Soviet Union installed missile sites on Cuba. Fidel Castro had closely aligned himself with the Soviets following the Bay of Pigs and requested that the missile sites be established to deter a future invasion. They were discovered by an American U-2 spy plane in October 1962 and a tense standoff ensued between President Kennedy and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev.
Inside Castillo del Príncipe prison, Lopez de la Cruz was initially unaware of events due to being in solitary confinement: “I didn’t know anything because I had no communications in the cell. When they got me out I read that something was going on.” It transpired that Brigade 2506’s captors had murderous plans if the crisis escalated: “The guards were going to put dynamite in the prison so if the Americans came we’d be killed. They also reinforced the area and had antiaircraft units in preparation for an invasion.”
Although Cuba had become a nuclear geopolitical hotspot, Lopez de la Cruz recalls the prisoners’ defiance: “We were obviously concerned but we also thought that the crisis would perhaps end Castro’s government. I remember telling the guard, ‘We’re watching you and know that when the Americans get here just see what will happen to you.’ People were throwing things at the guards from the doors of the cells and a couple of times they would shoot inside. Several people were wounded but fortunately nobody died.”
The crisis ended on 29 October 1962 with the Soviets removing the missile sites. One of the conditions was an American assurance that they would not re-invade Cuba. This greatly disappointed Brigade 2506. “The crisis was the result of Kennedy
