This was not the first contact between Cuba and the Soviet Union. In April 1959, Raul Castro, Fidel's brother and an admitted communist, contacted Moscow with a request for military advisors to help him consolidate his hold over the Cuban military.v Several months after the visit by Mikoyan, on May 7, 1960, Cuba and the Soviet Union officially established diplomatic relations. The United States responded to this on July 8, by suspending the Cuban sugar quota, cutting off about 80% of Cuba's exports to the US. On August 28, the US imposed a trade embargo on Cuba, who in turn, countered by nationalizing about one billion dollars of US investments in Cuba on October 8. In September 1960, the first Soviet military assistance arrived on Cuban soil. It consisted of everything from small arms to anti-aircraft batteries. Soviet military advisors also accompanied these arms.

             By the end of 1960, relations between the United States and Cuba had seriously deteriorated. On December 19, Cuba and the Soviet Union issued a joint announcement that Cuba would hereafter align itself with the domestic and foreign policies of the Soviet Union and committed itself to solidarity with the Sino-Soviet bloc. On January 2, 1961, Khrushchev told a gathering at the Cuban Embassy in Moscow, "alarming news is coming from Cuba at present, news that the most aggressive American monopolists are preparing a direct attack on Cuba. What is more, they are trying to present the case as though rocket bases are being set up or are already established in Cuba. It is well know that this is a foul slander. There is no Soviet military base in Cuba."vi The next day, the United States and Cuba severed diplomatic relations, the US turning over the handling of its affairs to Switzerland and Cuba to Czechoslovakia. It was in this environment that President John F. Kennedy took office. He was inaugurated on January 20, 1960.