That's right, he dropped his pistol and it ND'd him in the cheek. He was in the hospital.

Part of the reason he didn't play a bigger role in the Missile Crisis is because he wasn't really in favor of having the missiles there. Also, the Russions were mad at him for supporting the Chinese.

Castro was actually estimated to be the more radical of the two initially. That assessment was off.

He met with Minnesota Senator McCarthy.

If you can spell Colombia and Israel, you can spell 'Russians' too :D The Russians may have been mad at him, but they had their own reasons for getting the missiles into cuba. Why do you say he wasn't in favor? I thought he set up and announced the deal.

Its an interesting exercise to think about how Castro's revolution would have manifested w/o Guevara. The thing is, Che wasn't political like Castro, politics was only one of the tools he used for his objectives, so he was more free to be radical.

I spelled Russians like a Cajun! LOL

Che was very loyal to Castro. He almost always toed Castro's line, even when he didn't agree with the situation. You're right, the Russians had their own reasons for wanting the missiles there. There's actually quite a bit of contention as to how it actually happened and why. Nikita appears to have made the decision almost alone. The Cubans claim they were their as a statement for the good of the socialist countries, but not to protect Cuba from invasion.

I agree with your assessment as to his being apolitical allowed him to be more radical. His best supporter appears to have been Raul, which is cause for concern if Fidel dies.

Yes, the missiles were the Rooskions idea. I'm starting to see, though, how it wasn't the threat of the Soviets that was the basis of the terrible relation between U.S. and Cuba.

Ok, so given that Raul is more radical than Fidel, how is it a cause for concern for Cubans? Are you refering to a prolonged period of economic isolation, or something else?