The Caribbean or Cuban Missile Crisis
IV Soviet occupation
The Caribbean or Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the USSR and Cuba and the United States in October 1962.
It was one of the greatest confrontations during the Cold War and is generally considered to be the moment when the war was closest to escalating into a nuclear conflict. It began on October 14, 1962, after discovering Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba that were able to reach US territory. The last missiles were launched on October 14, bringing the number to 42. The total number of nuclear warheads, including bombers and submarines, was 160. The crisis ended on October 28, when USSR leader Nikita Khrushchev ordered the withdrawal of all Soviet nuclear missiles against US President John Kennedy's Prosecutor General Kennedy and War Minister Robert McNomar promise not to attack Cuba. America also had to remove its missiles from Turkey. To prevent similar crises in the future, a Moscow-Washington hotline was set up (the so-called "red telephone").
From the documents preserved in the State Archives of Latvia it can be concluded that in 1962 the Central Committee of the Latvian Communist Party (CC) and the Council of Ministers of the Latvian SSR received many decisions of the Central Committee of the USSR Communist Party and the USSR MP training to defend against weapons of mass destruction, as well as the formations of the Ministry of the Interior to be deployed during the war. However, they seemed to refer to the USSR's general preparations for the so-called special period, or real war, rather than to the short-lived Caribbean crisis.
More information sources
Janis Riekstins. About hair from nuclear war. The Caribbean crisis. LA.LV, October 5, 2012. https://www.la.lv/par-matu-no-kodolkara-kubas-krize-3
Cuban Missile Crisis. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubas_ra%C4%B7e%C5%A1u_kr%C4%ABze
Category: Cuban Missile Crisis. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Cuban_Missile_Crisis
Related objects
Underground Military bunkers in Valka
The Valka bunkers are located in the centre of the city of Valka, on the left side of Ausekļa street, next to the Ādams Tērauds School. Visitors can only view the bunkers from the outside. The Soviet Army bunkers in Valka were among the most secret places in Soviet Latvia only accessible to people with special permits. From 1953 to 1989, they were home to the Soviet Army’s strategic missile communications reserve. Large 16 wheelers were used to deliver massive reinforced concrete blocks for building the bunkers. Once completed, all three bunkers were covered with gravel for additional reinforcement and insulation. The bunkers housed a strategic missile communications reserve subordinated to the Leningrad Communications Centre. Silos with army missiles were controlled from these bunkers. There were 20 such silos in the Valka and Valga area. In October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, these missiles were combat-ready and aimed at Florida. Legend has it that they were a couple of hours shy from actually being launched. Right next to the Ādams Tērauds School and the underground bunkers is the Swedish (Sheremetyevo) Fortification. The artificial wall of earth was built at the beginning of the Great Northern War, around 1702, to protect Valka against the Swedes. The steepest wall of the fortification faces the village of Ērģeme, while the other side faces Ausekļa street.
