June 17thto the 18th, it peaked with an invasion of 450 men lead by a Colonel CarlosCastillo Armas. With the help of air support the men took control of thecountry and Arbenz fled to the Mexican Embassy. By June 27th, the countrywas firmly in control of the invading force. With its success in Guatemala,CIA had the confidence that it could now take on anyone who interfered withAmerican interests. In late 1958 Castro was still fighting a guerilla war against thecorrupt regime of Fulgencio Batista. Before he came to power, there was anincident between his troops and some vacationing American troops from thenearby American naval base at Guantanamo Bay. During the incident some USMarines were held captive by Casto's forces but were later released after aransom was secretly paid. This episode soured relations with the UnitedStates and the chief of U.S. Naval Operations, Admiral Burke, wanted tosend in the Marines to destroy Castro's forces then but Secretary of StateFoster Dulles disagreed with the measures suggested and stopped the plan. Castro overthrew Batista in 1959. Originally Castro was not acommunist either and even had meetings with then Vice-President RichardNixon. Fearful of Castro's revolution, people with money, like doctors,lawyers, and the mafia, left Cuba for the United States. To prevent theloss of more capital Castro's solution was to nationalize some of thebusinesses in Cuba. In the process of nationalizing some business he cameinto conflict with American interests just as Arbenz had in Guatemala. ". .. legitimate U.S. Businesses were taken over, and the process ofsocialization begun with little if any talk of compensation." There werealso rumours of Cuban involvement in trying to invade Panama, Guatemala,and the Dominican Republic and by this time Castro had been turn down bythe United States for any economic aid. Being rejected by the Americans, hemet with foreign minister Anasta Mikoyan to secure a $100 million ...
