Atomic Express

I am currently lying on a beach on an undisclosed location on a Caribbean island location, soaking up the sun, rum punch, and Alex von Tunzelmann’s “Red Heat.” I must say, we need a good overview of the Cold War in the Caribbean. There are problems with such an endeavor, however. First, the Caribbean tends to be subsumed, historically, as a poor cousin to Latin America. Second, Latin American history is overwhelmingly dominated by the left, who tend to retain legacy views of American imperialism in the region. Third, American historians, left and right, lean towards American exceptionalism as they struggle to determine whether the United States was an empire or not. One must establish where one stands on these matters first and firmly before tackling how the Cold War played out in the region.

This is the elephant trap that von Tunzelmann falls into with “Red Heat.” She is almost like a graduate student feeling her way through the historigraphical debate so she can get at what she wants to really do-compare Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic under three dictators and how they related to the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. That is a very different proposition from examining those three countries/two islands through the lens of the Cold War. The Soviets only seem to show up near the end of the book and then they follow in the already well-trod paths of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Ideally, von Tunzelmann should have solidly established Soviet policy, covert or otherwise, towards the region starting in the 1920s, then taken it from Stalin to Mr K on par with her examination of American policies which she delves into with some detail.

I for one appreciate the three-axis advance she uses looking at Castro, Trujillo, and Duvalier. Highlighting the execrable behaviour that the last two engaged in has its uses, but also drawbacks. Von Tunzelmann’s account of how the Tonton Macoutes buried several hundred men, women and children alive under a Vous Dous shrine and packed it down with mechanical rollers and reading her account of how Trujillo’s security forces sewed their torture victims’ eyelids open so they could see everything and not sleep, is one way to grab the reader’s attention, not to mention give them PTSD. But-and this is a big but-if you are going to do this with two, than it is only fair to do it with all three. Castro’s security services never committed any action or engaged in activity on par with the Haitians and Dominicans? Hmmmmm….. In for a penny, in for a pound. Von Tunzelmann should have examined the activities of the Cuban UMAP- Military Units to Aid Production. Or the camp at Guanahacabibes. Ever read anything by or about Armando Valladares?

“In the punishment cells, prisoners were kept in total darkness. Guards dumped buckets of urine and feces over the prisoners who warded off rats and roaches as they tried to sleep. Fungus grew on Mr. Valladares because he was not allowed to wash off the filth. Sleep was impossible. Guards constantly awoke the men with long poles to insure they got no rest. Illness and disease were a constant. Even at the end, when the authorities were approving his release, Mr. Valladares was held in solitary confinement in a barren room with fluorescent lights turned on 24 hours a day. By then he was partially paralyzed through malnutrition intensified by the lack of medical attention.”

Not much different from what “Red Heat” says Pap Doc’s Haiti did with its prisoners. Of note, we all need to remember that the influential role that the human rights industry plays today in the mediasphere and in international relations was not operable in the 1950s and 1960s. These were different times with different values.

I think also that a better depiction of CIA covert activities in the region is warranted, again with the claim that this book is about the Cold War. Where is OP-40? MJWAVE? There was a LOT going on, and it makes for exciting reading even in the primary sources, but it appears to have been glossed over in “Red Heat”. Was there any CIA activity in Haiti and the Dominican Republic? What did it consist of? “Red Heat” highlights the role a US military training group in Haiti and how the US Marines trained Trujillo. What about Soviet training groups in Cuba? What about KGB and GRU activities in the region?

As we know, geographical position during the Cold War is important. The most obvious example is the positioning of IRBMs and MRBMs in Cuba in 1962. The American tracking station in the Dominican Republic was part of the space programme and supported missile testing conducted from Cape Canaveral. This is the sort of thing that needs explanation in any discussion of the Cold War in this region, not just the fact that it exists.

“Red Heat” does make a significant historical contribution in one particular area. Many of the primary sources used are US State Department and FRUS-based. What comes across again and again is the complete disconnect in what the various American ambassadors report back to Washington and what their staffers with ground truth know is going on in the streets. American ambassadors were political appointees, not always professionals either in the region or even from the diplomatic service. This phenomenon also occurred in South Vietnam around the same time. Why exactly was this the case? What other effects did this have? How could an administration make the “right” decisions based on faulty information? (Paging Graham Alison). Reminding everybody that Fidel Castro wasn’t necessarily a Communist when he started out is a useful proposition but there is more to the story about his relationship with Raul, and Raul’s relationship with Moscow. Certainly that was part of the Cold War?

I think that “Red Heat” is well written but could have been ‘packaged’ better. As a comparative study of three dictators and their regimes, the book has merit. As an overview of the Cold War in the Caribbean, I find it too uneven.