In the wake of the Bay of Pigs invasion, tensions between the United States and Cuba rose to a fever pitch. Now aware of just how far the Kennedy Administration would go to depose him, Fidel Castro turned to the Soviet Union for assistance. In return, the Soviets began sneaking nuclear missiles into Cuba, which were pointed at the Cuban shores and Florida. In the case of a US invasion of the island, Castro was prepared not only to launch missiles at the US mainland, but also to nuke his own shores to cripple any invading forces. The stockpiling of missiles in Cuba led to the Cuban Missile Crisis between the US and the USSR. Despite the fact that Kennedy proclaimed he ended the crisis and had the missiles removed from Cuba, the Cuban military retained the missiles pointed at their shores just in case of a US invasion.
