Contextualization: What was going on in

Cuba at the time? How

might this have

affected what Castro

said?

The correct answer to this open question is the following.

What was going on in Cuba at the time?

Fidel Castro had become the new Cuban leader after deposing President Fulgencio Batista. On December 31, 1958, United States President Dwight Eisenhower accepted Castro as the new President of Cuba. In April 1959, Fidel Castro flew to the United States to establish a conversation with Richard Nixon, vice president of the US.

How might this have affected what Castro said?

First, we have to say that this question refers to an interview in February 1959, when a group of journalists that were part of the American Society of Newspapers Editors.

Castro expressed concepts about the Cuban regime and his relation with the United States. Years later, in a speech of May 1, 1961, Castro spoke of John F. Kennedy, saying that if Kennedy did not like socialism, Cubans did not like imperialism. What Castro said in that speech worsened the relationship between Cuba and the United States.