What role did Castro play in the Cuban Missile Crisis? Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro played a significant role in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Castro and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev made a secret agreement to place Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba to prevent the risk of another invasion attempt after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. This discovery of these missiles led to the diplomatic fiasco known as Cuban. Missile crisis. Background Castro first attracted the attention of U.S. officials after gaining control of the country in 1959. He and revolutionary Che Guevara began guerrilla warfare against the Batista regime, shortly after the government "suspended" the constitution, taking away many civil liberties, and negotiate creating a serious wage gap in Cuba. Despite the civil injustices that occurred under Batista's government, the United States continued to support Cuba's government both logistically and financially until Castro took power in 1959. Castro formed a socialist revolutionary group called “The Movement” in 1952 which...