Cuban missile crisis advisor McNamara died

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara died this morning at the age of 93.

McNamara will most likely be remembered for his role in the buildup and failure of the Vietnam War. Though he would later admit that it was "terribly wrong" to have pursued military action in Vietnam beyond 1963, McNamara’s management and focus on statistics ignored the massive humanitarian cost of the war. "McNamara treated everybody like they were a spare part on a Ford," said the executive director for policy and government affairs for Vietnam Veterans of America who alluded to McNamara’s previous experience as a former Ford executive.

In terms of Latin America, McNamara was hugely influential in shaping a U.S.-Cuba policy that has changed little over the past four decades:

The former secretary of defense was among John Kennedy’s closest advisers during the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis 18 months later.

Those events shaped U.S. policy by hardening an adversarial relationship with Cuba, setting up a 47-year embargo.

Like many leaders in the Cold War, McNamara was obsessed with fighting communism and deterring nuclear war. The invasion and Missile Crisis represented the good and bad of that policy.

From 1968 to 1981 McNamara served as head of the World Bank where he “increased the bank's loans to developing countries and changed its focus from large-scale industrial projects to development in rural communities.”

The following is an excerpt from the brilliant 2003 documentary “The Fog of War”:

Online Sources- Al Jazeera English, YouTube, NPR, Miami Herald, Guardian UK, DC Blog

McCain: “Tested” by ’63 Cuban crisis

Republican presidential nominee John McCain said that he was “tested” by the 1963 Cuban missile crisis. While speaking at a rally today in Pennsylvania, McCain emphasized his years of military service while also attacking his Democratic rivals:

McCain recalled being ready to launch a bombing run during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which (Joe) Biden said over the weekend tested a new President John F. Kennedy and was the template for the kind of "generated crisis" the 47-year-old (Barack) Obama would face within six months of taking office.

"I was on board the USS Enterprise," McCain, a former naval aviator, said in the capital city of Harrisburg. "I sat in the cockpit, on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise, off of Cuba. I had a target. My friends, you know how close we came to a nuclear war."

As the crowd of several thousand began to swell with cheers and applause, he added with dramatic effect: "America will not have a president who needs to be tested. I've been tested, my friends."

McCain’s running mate also went after Biden’s remarks; Alaska Governor Sarah Palin claimed that an Obama administration would spark the sorts of crisis that Biden warned about.

In the meantime, a recently released poll showed that protestant Latinos are shying away from the McCain campaign. The survey of 500 Latino Protestant registered voters found Obama ahead of McCain 50%-34% with immigration and abortion serving as their most important issues.

Image- AP (“Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, applauds as he appears at a campaign rally in Bensalem, Pa., Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)”).
Sources- Guardian UK, CNN, USA TODAY

Today’s video: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis

In honor of President’s Day yesterday, this week’s poll asks which U.S. president has been the most influential in Latin American affairs. It’s difficult to narrow down the options to five presidents but they seem to be the ones whose policies and actions have most affected Latin America.

Our daily videos between today and Thursday will feature key events in Latin American history that have come about from the presidents in our poll. Tonight we've embedded a 1962 newsreel of the Cuban Missile Crisis which took place during the term of John F. Kennedy.

(Video Link):

Sources- Wikipedia, YouTube

Putin compares U.S. missile plan to Cuban missile crisis

Russian president Vladimir Putin compared a U.S. plan to create a missile defense system in Europe to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Said Putin at a press conference on Friday following a summit between the European Union and Russia:

"Analogous actions by the Soviet Union, when it deployed missiles in Cuba, prompted the 'Caribbean crisis,'" Putin said, using the Russian term for the Cuban missile crisis.

"For us the situation is technologically very similar. We have withdrawn the remains of our bases from Vietnam, from Cuba, and have liquidated everything there, while at our borders, such threats against our country are being created," he said.

Putin’s comments came two days after U.S. president George W. Bush spoke out on Cuban policy. In a speech at the State Department, Bush emphasized the urgency of supporting dissident movements and called on other countries to back democratic change on the island.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque replied to Bush’s speech by saying that it indicated his “personal hatred toward Cuba” and dismissed a domestic uprising on Cuba as a “fantasy”.

Image- BBC News

Sources- Associated Press, Sydney Morning Herald, Guardian UK