IKE CLOSES US EMBASSY IN HAVANA, DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS SEVERED
Havana, Cuba (JFK+50) On January 3, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower closed the U.S. Embassy here in Havana officially severing diplomatic relations with the government of Fidel Castro.
The bearded revolutionary had taken power in 1959 and signed a trade agreement with the Soviet Union in 1960.
The Eisenhower administration began financing and training Cuban exiles to prepare for an invasion of the island and the overthrow of the Communist dictator.
President John F. Kennedy, inaugurated on January 20, 1961, inherited the CIA operation and authorized the ill-fated invasion at the Bay of Pigs,
At the time of the embassy closing, more than 50,000 visa applications were on file from Cubans wishing to come to the United States.
Harvey Summ, Consul, based in Santiago said (we)...
"were furious of some of the lies that Castro was uttering."
SOURCES
"January 3, 1961," JFK+50, January 3, 2011, www.jfk50.blogspot.com/
"Turning Out the Lights at U.S. Embassy Havana, 1961," ADST, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, www.adst.org/
