Troll - Good point about Castro. I actually was living in the USA at that time (1958 to 1969), and you're right, there was an extraordinary fear of communism and of world war, so Castro's statement would have made him a pariah in America.

I think Castro totally expected support from the American people after throwing out Batista. As such, he was naive. Had he not been so naive he would probably have made no such public statements about being "Marxist-Leninist".

Or maybe he was just arrogant or overconfident and got carried away. He unquestionably has a big ego and a lot of guts and has been known to shoot his mouth off without regard to the consequences.

Too bad. It sure has caused a lot of unnecessary trouble for a whole lot of people.

Once you actually get to know the Cubans, who would care if they were officially communist or socialist or whatever...it doesn't stop them from being a greatly likeable bunch of people...and Cuba from being a great place.

- LH