American Strategic Deception Bureau

　Countless writers and journalists, while praising Gagarin, the hero who conquered space, have repeatedly repeated the famous words of Russian space pioneer Tsiolkovsky: "The Earth is the cradle of mankind, but mankind cannot be confined to the cradle forever. It will first carefully explore the edge of the atmosphere. Then it will extend its ability to control and intervene to the entire solar system."

　Now, starting with Yuri Gagarin, mankind has finally stepped out of the cradle for the first time! The soul is no longer bound by gravity!

　Hey, compared with the trivial disputes in the Caribbean Sea, this is a magnificent chapter that is destined to go down in history!

　Many, many centuries from now, people in the future may forget Castro, President Kennedy, and Marilyn Monroe. But as long as human civilization continues and develops, future generations will never forget Yuri Gagarin, the first person to leave the Earth!

　Just as Americans will never forget the great voyages of Christopher Columbus.

　In this way, the clarion call for mankind's march into space has been officially sounded.

　The space race between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, entered its climax from then on.

　——Thanks to the "Sputnik Moment" brought about by the launch of the first artificial satellite and the launch of the first astronaut, Gagarin, the Soviet Union, which was once generally considered "barbaric and backward", opened up a new era of science with its cutting-edge aerospace technology, shocked the entire world and made all of humanity take notice.

　The Americans, who lost two rounds in a row in the space race, were greatly shocked. In one word, they were broken.

　Even the most ordinary American citizens felt shocked and uneasy, hoping that the United States could catch up with the seemingly omnipotent Soviets as soon as possible.

　On the afternoon of the same day that Gagarin traveled into space on the Vostok spacecraft, US President Kennedy convened an emergency meeting on space affairs to study how to respond to the space race instigated by the Soviet Union and how to reverse the current decline... The final conclusion was: the first artificial satellite, the first astronaut and the first moon landing are the three medals of the space race, and the value of the last medal is greater than the sum of the first two.

　Now, the first two medals, "Opening the Space Age" and "The First Man to Conquer Space," have been won by the Soviets.

　So, if Americans don't want to admit defeat in the space race and admit that Uncle Sam is not as technologically advanced as the polar bears, they can only unveil the moon at all costs - send an American to the moon as soon as possible and bring him back to the ground safely.

　At this point, the Apollo moon landing project, one of the landmark events of the Cold War, has officially entered the planning stage.

　Following the lead of the US-Soviet space race, the UK, France, Japan, China, Germany, India, and other nations also launched their own space programs. Suddenly, it seemed as if the souls of all humanity had broken free from the constraints of gravity and cast their gazes and ideals heavenward.

　In addition, countless popular science fiction works centered around themes of the universe and space will emerge in the "space fever" of the next few decades: "Star Wars," "Star Trek," "Legend of the Galactic Heroes," "Starship Troopers," "Space Battleship Yamato"...

　This is a cruel world that is always on the brink of destruction, but it is also a romantic era where people build ladders to fly into space.

　Whether in the East or the West, this is an era of burning passion - although the directions of their passion are different.

　However, when all the passion is burned out, all that is left is ashes, and endless fatigue and exhaustion...

　-

　"The Space Race! This may be the last legendary adventure full of courage and romance in the next half century!"

　On the beach by the Caribbean coast, Fili looked up at the blue sky and murmured with emotion, his mind full of thoughts.

　People living in the 1960s often had some unrealistic fantasies about the speed at which human civilization would enter the cosmic age.

　Because, first, on October 4, 1957, they witnessed the sudden rise of the first Soviet artificial satellite into space, marking the first step towards human conquest of the universe. Then, less than four years later, on April 12, 1961, they heard a Soviet voice transmitted from space.

　So, they speculated that by the end of the 20th century or the beginning of the 21st century at the latest, the solar system would be full of spaceships. Humans would not only have developed the moon, but also landed on Mars, and would even continue to rush into the depths of the universe and come into contact with extraterrestrial civilizations!

　This is not pure conjecture, but rather a (self-perceived) reasonable inference based on people's personal experiences over the past fifty years.

　You know, the 20th century was an era of rapid technological advancement. The changes in just twenty years were earth-shaking.

　In today's America, there are still many elderly people who have even witnessed the first airplane invented by the Wright brothers rising shakily and landing crookedly on a farm in North Carolina.

　Then, just ten years later, hundreds of thousands of humans were flying planes and killing each other on battlefields in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

　More than 20 years later, German planes bombed London to ashes, Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, American planes burned Dresden and Tokyo, and dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

　Let people discover that death and destruction can cross the sea and fall from the sky.

　From then on, the sky-blocking bomber fleets replaced the majestic armored fleet and became the symbol of hegemony in the new era.

　And flying across continents and oceans and traveling around the world on huge Boeing jet airliners has become a daily routine for Americans in the new era.

　Looking back, who could have imagined that at the beginning of the 20th century, airplanes would still be a fantasy?

　By analogy, referring to the speed of development and promotion of airplanes, in another fifty years, spaceships will no longer be a rarity, right?

　Science fiction writers from all over the world during the Cold War thought so, as did the Soviet Young Pioneers who buried the "time capsule" in the Cultural Palace, and so did the European, American, and Japanese children who played with various spaceship models.

　Who could have predicted that after twenty years of vigorous and pioneering work in the space race, there would be fifty years of total silence?

　There are no more exciting great adventures, nor legendary heroes discovering new worlds, only the mediocrity of day after day.

　The human soul is still bound by gravity, and continues to struggle for survival and intrigue in the increasingly crowded cradle of the earth...

　Thinking of this, Fili's mood became even heavier.

　Alas, soaring above the stars is ultimately too far away for me. As a mere mortal, I should focus on my earthly affairs first!

　——What Firi didn't know at this moment was that in a few years, even the affairs of the universe would depend on him to fool people...

　Author's words: PS: The biggest liar in the universe, the commander of all scams on Earth - one of the titles given to Director Ferry King by netizens in a certain country in the future.

　Readers, please think about what other nicknames are suitable for Director Jin?

　Chapter 58: Caribbean Sea Waves

　In mid-April 1961, the whole world was cheering excitedly for the arrival of Gagarin, the first human astronaut, and imagining a bright future of traveling among the stars.

　Third World and European countries marveled at the Soviet Union's technological progress, and thus developed a certain dreamy yearning for the Soviet Union's institutional advantages.

　While high-ranking US officials felt frustrated, humiliated, and even saddened by this, their immediate reaction wasn't to suppress public opinion or smear campaigns, accusing the Soviet Union of polluting the environment with its spacecraft launches or resorting to cheating tactics like sending agents to sabotage the Soviet Baikonur launch site. Instead, they believed in a direct and peaceful confrontation, "showcasing some exceptionally impressive and difficult rocket technology. For example, a manned mission around the moon would eclipse the Soviet astronauts in the eyes of the world."

　——At this time, the United States still has some of the spirit and ambition of a world leader, instead of being left with the vulgarity and meanness of petty theft.

　However, while the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a peaceful space race, the Caribbean Sea in Central America was undercurrents of conspiracy and war.

　On April 17, at Key West, the southernmost island of Florida, Captain Filikin led 4 Cuban freedom fighters (a mob) and continued to walk through the streets with each carrying a baguette, showing off their power (and spinning around in circles in disgrace), accompanied by the band's music and cheerleading.

　In order to add a bit of novelty, Firi also added a "black coffin dance" to the parade that day, which made the islanders who were already a little tired of watching it burst into laughter and filled the beach with a joyful atmosphere.

　But at the same time, on the streets of Havana, the capital of Cuba across the sea, there was a tense atmosphere of terror, solemnity and panic.

　——Fidel Castro ordered a nationwide curfew early in the morning and searched for all suspected disloyalties to him.

　So, in an instant, Havana's external traffic was blocked, all shops in the city were closed, and only soldiers and police walked on the streets.

　In other cities on the island of Cuba, large numbers of military and police officers took to the streets aggressively, breaking into houses, arresting and killing people.

　In Havana alone, the Castro regime arrested over 12,000 people. Prisons and detention centers were running out of space, so suspects were temporarily detained in baseball fields, public buildings, theaters, and auditoriums. About 4,000 of them were executed.

　Francisco, the CIA's main collaborator in Cuba and leader of the anti-Castro underground movement, assured the CIA over the radio until his final moments before his arrest that he and his men were fully prepared and waiting for the right moment to wage war against the Castro regime, launching a "struggle of Cuban patriots against the dictator." He also requested that the CIA send him a large amount of money.

　But before he could finish his words, military police broke in and, working with an insider hidden within the underground movement, quickly captured Francisco and his trusted men. After torturing and interrogating the rest of his accomplices, they were all quickly escorted to the execution ground that same day and executed for treason.

　——From this we can see that Francisco and his underground rebel movement organization had probably been infiltrated by Castro's spies a long time ago, and his every move under the remote control of the CIA was also under the watchful eyes of the Castro brothers.

　Alas, it is absurd to expect such a weak and boastful rebel group to overthrow Castro.

　That same evening, four B-26 bombers painted with Cuban Air Force markings, flown by defected mercenary pilots,

　Taking off from a field airport in Nicaragua, they crossed the vast Caribbean Sea and launched attacks on Cuban cities such as Havana, Santa Clara, and Santiago.

　The reason for painting these planes with Cuban Air Force markings was to disguise the air strike force as defecting soldiers from Castro's government, making it easier for the United States to distance itself from the incident. To this end, the CIA even arranged for one of its pilots to disguise himself as a deserter and make an emergency landing at Miami Airport to be interviewed by reporters.

　However, unlike the original "Pluto Plan," this time, the mercenary airstrikes did not drop a single bomb on Cuban cities. Instead, they simply launched a "paper bombardment," dropping a large number of leaflets. The content of these leaflets varied widely, including instructing the "freedom-loving Cuban people" to secretly cut telephone lines, destroy power plants and post offices, and secretly stab and deflate the tires of militia patrols.

　In addition, the CIA also hired Lime Jones Associates to release news in the name of the "Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front", falsely claiming that the "Cuban rebels' war against Castro" would begin in a few days and calling on "patriots" to fully cooperate and engage in sabotage activities together.

　Although there was no immediate large-scale riot on the island of Cuba, it still made the Castro regime increasingly suspicious.

　In response to the increasingly tense situation, Fidel Castro ordered all soldiers to cancel their leave and put the entire army on combat readiness.

　At this time, the Cuban revolutionary army under Fidel Castro had 30,000 troops, which were temporarily divided into three war zones: East, Central and West.

　The Eastern Theater Commander was his brother Raúl Castro, with headquarters in Santiago; the Western Theater Commander was Che Guevara, with headquarters in Pinar del Río; and the Central Theater Commander was Major Juan Almeida Bosque, with headquarters in Santa Clara. In addition to the anti-landing defense battles along the coastline, they also had to fight against the rebels in the Escambray Mountains.

　虽然在1961年春天，苏联送给古巴的军事援助物资还没有全部到位。但古巴陆军也已经装备了苏联的T-34中型坦克、IS-2重型坦克、SU-100型自行反坦克炮和122毫米榴弹炮，以及其他小型苏式武器。

　In addition, there were Spanish military advisers sent by the Soviet Union to help train soldiers and officers in the Cuban army to improve the quality of the Cuban army.

　The Spanish military advisors who served as instructors in the Cuban revolutionary army were all retired officers from the Spanish Republican government who had fought in the Spanish Civil War. After Franco's defeat, they were forced into exile in the Soviet Union. Many of them later fought in the Soviet-German War and made significant contributions. Khrushchev sent them to Cuba primarily because they spoke the same language as the Cubans, facilitating communication.

　With such comprehensive strength, Castro believed that if the United States only dispatched the 2506th Brigade, he would be absolutely confident of winning the battle.

　Under the tense Cold War situation, both the United States and the Soviet Union were very cautious in handling international relations and generally did not dare to rashly launch military action against small countries.

　Of course, just in case, the Cuban revolutionary government was also prepared for President Kennedy to completely break with the government and send regular US troops to invade Cuba.

　Specifically, it means that all the Cuban people will be mobilized as soldiers, the vast majority of the Cuban people will be fully armed, and the powerful opponent will be dragged down by human wave tactics and guerrilla warfare, so that the United States will feel that the invasion of Cuba is not worth the cost, and will eventually have to withdraw its troops to stop the losses.

　This obviously means cruel sacrifices like mountains of corpses and seas of blood, but freedom is never free.

　Therefore, on this day, Che Guevara, commander of Cuba's Western Theater, publicly declared: "All Cubans must become guerrillas. Everyone needs to learn to use weapons. And if necessary, everyone can use weapons to defend the country."

　To boost the morale of the Cuban militia, the Castro regime's propaganda relentlessly emphasized the crimes committed by the United States against Cuba. It claimed that during the pre-revolutionary Batista regime, the puppet government collaborated with American companies to "buy" vast tracts of fertile land at prices as low as one cent per hectare. At the time, one-quarter of Cuba's land was owned by American companies, and even three-quarters of the most fertile land belonged to the United States. The sugar produced from these fertile fields brought the United States an annual net profit of $2 billion, while the Cuban people, mired in poverty, received virtually no benefits.

　After the revolution, Castro implemented land reform in Cuba, allowing countless poor farmers and rubber tappers to own their own land.

　But these lands were confiscated without compensation from exiled plantation owners and American companies. As soon as the rebels fight back into Cuba, the land they have just been allocated will be immediately snatched away. They may even be regarded as thieves who must pay fines by the Americans, and inexplicably owe a huge debt that cannot be repaid by 18 generations of their descendants. If you don’t want to live in despair for generations, please stand under the red flag of the revolutionary army and fight the rebels to the end!

　Freedom is the price of one generation, slavery is the price of generations! The price of freedom is indeed high, but the price of slavery is even more terrible!

　I have to say that this reason is indeed very convincing, and it can make many soldiers willing to risk their lives for their land and homes.

　In short, thanks to the popular support gained through land reform, the Cuban revolutionary army still maintained high morale despite facing a powerful enemy.

　In addition to military defense preparations, Cuba also took the initiative in diplomacy, accusing the United States of intruding into Cuban airspace without reason at the United Nations.

　The 26 bombers only dropped leaflets and did not carry out bombing, so representatives from various countries had little interest in it.

　Adlai Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, later issued a statement claiming that the leaflet drops over cities like Havana and Santiago were carried out by Cuban exiles. President Kennedy also expressed support for Stevens' statement: "I have emphasized before that this is a struggle of Cuban patriots against a dictator. While we cannot conceal our sympathy, we have repeatedly emphasized that the military of this country will not be involved in any way."

　Late in the night of April 17, under the strict urging of the CIA, Captain Ferry King reluctantly organized a fake airborne operation in Onda Bay, Cuba. He dispatched a B-26 bomber to drop a group of rubber dummies with radio sound devices and time bombs on their bodies in Onda Bay. He successfully killed a Cuban militia who came to investigate, and scared all the Cubans in a nearby fishing village to leave the village and flee to avoid the war.

　Although Castro believed that this was still a feint, in order to appease the people and confuse the enemy, he still sent a troop to Onda Bay to defend it.

　On the morning of April 18, 14 anti-Castro elements who were unaware of the inside story conspired to launch an armed uprising at Las Delicias Estate in Las Bellas Province. However, before they could break out of the estate, the news leaked and they were easily suppressed by a platoon of local militia.

　Despite this, this ridiculous rebellion further exacerbated the tension on the island of Cuba and made people more suspicious.

　For a while, all kinds of rumors were flying around Cuba, the "sugar island" in the Caribbean Sea, and war seemed to be imminent.

　The Miami News, a local tabloid in the United States, even confidently declared that a large number of Cuban navy had mutinied, and that an invading force, cooperating with the Cuban rebels, was using a huge pincer attack to split up Castro's crumbling army and gain a significant advantage in four provinces of Cuba.

　Well, most tabloids during the Cold War were similar to the self-media of today, relying entirely on full of nonsense to attract attention.

　In this tense and depressing atmosphere, on the night of April 18, 1961, under the cover of darkness, the "Garcia Fleet" carrying 1100 Cuban mercenaries from the 2506th Brigade quietly set sail from Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, and headed for the depths of the Caribbean Sea.

　The flagship of the U.S. Navy's Task Force 81.8, the USS Essex, two LST tank landing ships and five destroyers also arrived in Puerto Cabezas, escorting the fleet and preparing to provide sea and air fire support to the 2506th Brigade after the war broke out.

　In addition, the cruiser "Northampton", the aircraft carrier "Shangri-La" and two submarines have been assembled in the waters of the Cayman Islands in advance, ready to cooperate with the combat operations of the 2506th Brigade at any time.

　U.S. Navy Rear Admiral John E. Clark was in command of the USS Essex, supervising the battle and escorting the convoy throughout.

　Two of the five merchant ships and two landing craft planned for the Garcia Fleet had already sunk, leaving only four Liberty ships and one landing craft, severely reducing the fleet's carrying capacity. In particular, with only one landing craft remaining, the Braga, it became a bottleneck limiting the speed of troop deployment.

　Therefore, the CIA, which planned this military operation, not only reduced the actual number of troops from 1400 to 1100, but also had to load 5 tanks, 24 trucks and several engineering vehicles onto the USS San Marcos, a dock landing ship of the US Navy.

　At the same time, the ship's three LCU general-purpose landing craft and four LCVP vehicle and personnel landing craft are also allowed to be temporarily borrowed by mercenaries.

　As they set out from Guatemala, the Cuban mercenaries' morale was clearly high, as they saw so many steel ships flying the American flag and escorting them. Some even claimed that after they captured Havana, they would tear off Castro's beard as a souvenir.

　But when the Guatemalan coastline disappeared at the end of the water, the American military advisers and CIA agents who were on board the ship suddenly summoned officers of all levels of the mercenary army, and with a stern face, announced the real landing site of this expedition to these stunned Cuban exiles.

　——Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic!

　The waves of the Caribbean Sea did move, but not in Cuba.

　Plaza Trujillo and Trujillo Park, and then to work at the Trujillo Building...

　——Marshal Rafael Trujillo, who called himself the "Benefactor of the Motherland", had ruled this country for a full thirty years.

　To ensure his family's continued rule over the island nation, General Rafael Trujillo imitated the ancient Japanese shogunate. He effectively shut down the government in the Dominican Republic, reduced the president to a figurehead, and established his own government in his home, establishing a Latin American version of "samurai rule."

　Perhaps in his view, Japan is an island country, and the Dominican Republic is also an island country, so it is naturally suitable to adopt the shogunate system of military rule.

　——Well, being an emperor in a republic sounds absurd to everyone, so what is the concept of setting up a government in a republic?

　It's probably a concept of magical realism?

　Then, as the Western Hemisphere's most famous boaster, Trujillo went on to rename cities across the country. For example, he renamed the capital, Santo Domingo, to Ciudad Trujillo; San Cristóbal Province, Trujillo's birthplace, to Trujillo Province; the country's highest peak, Cerro Dulate, to Cerro Trujillo; and the flagship of the Dominican Navy, the Trujillo. The various Trujillo Streets, Trujillo Bridges, and Trujillo Elementary Schools were simply too numerous to count. It was as if the Dominican Republic had been the private property of the Trujillo family since ancient times.

　Although in the past year, due to a series of perverse actions by Trujillo, as well as his all-round foreign relations and his self-destructive behavior around the world, the Dominican Republic suddenly became an "orphan of the world" and was subject to diplomatic severance and sanctions blockade by the entire Americas, especially the United States.

　At the same time, Trujillo was excommunicated by the Pope, throwing the nation's church system into chaos. Hundreds of Dominican priests and nuns were imprisoned for refusing to sever ties with the Roman Curia, and numerous churches and monasteries were destroyed by the government.

　Unfortunately, the Dominican Republic did not cling to the Soviet Union like Cuba did. As a result, the country's economy collapsed in an instant, import and export trade came to a complete halt, and the store shelves and people's pockets were all empty. It could not be said that the people suffered, but it was definitely a case of people's livelihood being in dire straits.

　Well, both materially and spiritually, the Dominican Republic has suffered a catastrophe artificially created by its rulers!

　If the citizens of Paris, France, encountered such a scene, they would probably have taken to the streets in indignation to buy things for free and build barricades.

　But in the Dominican Republic, the local people's mood seems to be relatively stable.

　After all, for the people of Central American countries, since their independence, when have they ever had a stable life?