"We possess moral long-range missiles that cannot be dismantled and will never be dismantled. This is our strongest strategic weapon."
Fidel Castro, November 1962

    IN OCTOBER 1962, during what is widely known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, Washington pushed the world to the edge of nuclear war.  Here, for the first time, the full story of that historic moment is told not by partisans of Washington or of Moscow, but from the perspective of the Cuban people.  Led by Cuba's revolutionary government, their determination- and readiness-to defend the country's newly won sovereignty and the achievements of their unfolding socialist revolution blocked U.S. plans for a military assault and opened the way to resolve the crisis, thus saving humanity from the consequences of a nuclear holocaust.

    TOMÁS DIEZ ACOSTA, then 16, participated in the general mobilization of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces during October 1962.  He retired from active duty in 1998 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.  Since 1987 Diez has been a researcher at the Institute of Cuban History, where he headed its Department of Military History.