In a newly-discovered 1953 letter, former United States Ambassador Granville Conway advises Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles to consider Cuba’s Fidel Castro, who was then an emerging leader, as “the comandante” of the country. The document was recently discovered by the National Archives and is part of a series titled “Cuban Affairs: Documents on the U.S.-Cuba Relationship.”
The letter from Ambassador Conway marks a significant moment in American foreign policy. At the time of the letter’s writing, Castro had only recently emerged as a leader and the Cuban Missile Crisis was still nine years away, but Conway already saw the Comandante’s influence on Cuban politics. “The Cuban people are already disposed to look to the Comandante for guidance and comfort.,” he wrote.
Conway’s letter is also noteworthy for the way he labeled the United States as the enemy of Cuba. He warned Dulles that attempts to meddle in Cuban affairs could ultimately lead to increased Cuban hostility towards the U.S. “At present the existing regime in Cuba is definitely unfriendly and hostile to the United States,” Conway wrote. “The longer this attitude is maintained, the harder it will be for us to correct it.”
Conway’s assessment was prescient. In the following decades, the Cuban government would become increasingly hostile towards the United States, culminating in the Cuban Missile Crisis and decades of Cold War hostility between the two countries.
Though Conway’s letter paints an unnerving historical picture, it also marks an important moment in understanding the Cuban-American relationship. By labeling Castro as the comandante and recognizing the existing hostility between Cuba and the United States, this document serves as an interesting snapshot in how the Cuban–American relationship evolved throughout the twentieth century.