"IT SEEMS LIKE THEY ARE WORRIED WITHIN THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, EVERY TIME THE ANGER AND DESPERATION INCREASES…": FASCINATING AUTOGRAPH SPEECH NOTES, WRITTEN ENTIRELY IN FIDEL CASTRO'S HAND, DECRYING U.S. ACTIONS IN THE WAKE OF THE BAY OF PIGS, POSSIBLY DELIVERED AT THE UNITED NATIONS

CASTRO, Fidel. Autograph manuscript. No place, circa 1960-61. Single sheet of unlined paper, measuring 6 by 9 inches; pp. 2. $25,000.

Compelling autograph speech notes, written entirely in Fidel Castro's own hand, emphasizing Cuba's strength in the wake of the Bay of Pigs invasion and likely for a speech delivered before the United Nations. Text in Spanish.

The manuscript, written in Spanish in blue pen, reads in partial translation: "The Revolutionary Government is very aware of [crossed out: "the desperate efforts that is the efforts that reflect in the last days"] the open activity that imperialism has been engaging in during the last weeks in order to promote at all costs… revolutionaries, terrorism acts, murder attempts and all type of fights that have a tendency to interfere with the revolutionary process. That activity has been doubled after reports have been expressed to the U.N. to the Prime Minister of the Government… Apparently, they are worried within the Justice department of the United States Government, every time the anger and desperation increases, because of our solid activity and the victorious and uncontrollable development of our revolution that translates each time a less dissimulated support of anti-revolutionaries, the war criminals and the worst [crossed out section] traitors, mercenaries of all types…." These speech notes relate to the period following the Bay of Pigs invasion. In March 1960, a French freighter unloading munitions from Belgium exploded in Havana, killing 75 immediately and injuring—in some cases fatally—200 others. The U.S. denied that they had sabotaged the freighter, but did acknowledge that they wanted to prevent the shipment from succeeding. By April 1961, tensions had reached a height. The CIA organized the Bay of Pigs invasion. Over 100 exiles died in the attack and Cuba took another 1200 prisoner. It was later revealed that four American pilots flying for the CIA had lost their lives. The Bay of Pigs assault relied heavily on the assumption that the Cuban public was ripe for revolution and would join outside forces in overthrowing the government. The exile forces, however, were riddled with former supporters and henchmen of Fulgencio Batista, the Cuban dictator overthrown by Castro in 1959. This was a grievous mistake, as the Cuban population would never have allied themselves with Batista. The Kennedy administration, embarrassed by their defeat, swiftly launched Operation Mongoose, a campaign of smaller nuisance attacks on Cuba. Cuba found itself subject to countless sea and air commando raids throughout the 1960s—nearly all involving exiles, sometimes with their CIA supervisors in tow. These attacked damages oil refineries, chemical plants, railroad bridges, cane fields, sugar mills, and sugar warehouses. Spies, saboteurs, and assassins infiltrated Cuba, aiming to create unrest by harming the economy and creating general disaffection with the Cuban government.

Faint scattered foxing and slight raggedness along top edges. Near-fine condition.