CUBA ON MY MIND TODAY

BY DAN MILLER
(originally posted October 27, 2004)

Three memorable events in history happened on this date, October 27th.... each involving Cuba.... and I remember two of them.

The first happened a few years before I was born. On October 27, 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered Cuba and claimed it for Spain. That's the day Spanish became the official language of the island nation.

Almost 500 years later, on October 27, 1962, the Cuban missile crisis ended, after bringing the world frighteningly close to nuclear war.

I had been working for only a few months at a small 500 watt radio station in Augusta, Georgia, as a disc jockey and newscaster, while taking college classes.

I knew little of international situations..... in fact, looking back, I knew little of anything..... but it was clear to all of us that this was extremely serious business.

I recall seeing President Kennedy on television showing reconnaissance pictures of the Soviet nuclear missiles and launch pads in Cuba, photographed by a U2 spy plane.
It was a scary and sobering revelation.

The odd thing was, the Soviets had done nothing illegal, by international standards.
They were responding to the U.S. placing missiles in Britain and Turkey.
The Soviets felt they could achieve some sort of parity with our long range missiles by placing medium range missiles in Cuba.

So the whole process of getting the Soviets to dismantle the rockets was tricky.
Against the advice of some within his administration, Kennedy chose a naval blockade of Cuba, and the stare-down began.

No one could predict how Nikita Khrushchev might react.

But on this date, 42 years ago, the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles, while the U.S. agreed not to invade Cuba, and to remove our missiles from Turkey...... and we all dodged an unthinkable bullet.

If you haven't seen the movie "Thirteen Days" with Kevin Costner, rent it tonight.
It's a fascinating and chillingly realistic look at just how close we came.

Oh.... the third event involving Cuba on October 27th was in 1990.
Xavier Cugat died on that day, at the age of 90.

The Cuban bandleader probably had more to do with the infusion of Latin music into American pop music than anyone else.

He also introduced the world to his 4th wife, Charo.
I could probably make some sort of joke about a possible naval blockade, but I'll refrain.

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