Soviet Union reportedly had 100 nuclear weapons in Cuba in 1962
Copyright 1998 Nando.net
Copyright 1998 Reuters News Service
MIAMI (May 3, 1998 1:50 p.m. EDT http://www.nando.net) - The Soviet
Union sneaked about 100 small nuclear weapons into Cuba at the time of
the 1962 missile crisis, a fact U.S. intelligence was unaware of for 30
years, the Miami Herald reported Sunday.
The newspaper also said that Cuban President Fidel Castro had wanted to
keep the tactical weapons even after the crisis, and that Moscow
initially agreed to train Cubans in their use.
But it said Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev ordered the weapons to be
removed, reacting cautiously after Castro urged him to launch strategic
nuclear missiles against the United States at the height of the
U.S.-Soviet standoff.
Citing documents found by Western and Russian researchers in once-secret
Soviet archives, the newspaper said the last of the tactical warheads
were reportedly returned to the Soviet Union in December 1962.
"In retrospect, it shows the crisis was more dangerous than thought,"
George Washington University Professor Jim Hershberg, an expert on the
crisis, told the newspaper. "If we had invaded Cuba, and they had used
some of these weapons, it would have been awful."
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