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gan moving away even om containment, and the Communists began m ­ ing to increase the territory they controlled.
In January 1960, Cuba ll to the Communists. Cuban exiles attemp d to gain their island's eedom in 1961, thinking ey had U.S. support, but the support s inadequate; the attempt iled. Brazil, however, er­ threw a pro-Communist gove ment in 1964, and Chile overthrew e Com­ munist gove ment of Salvador Allende in 1973.
Also in 1961, the citizens of Berlin woke one gust morning to nd a concrete wall topped with barbed wire down the middle of their city. The Soviets had erected the Berlin ll to p ent rther escapes in West Germany. Later they built vicious and deadly traps all along the border between East and West Germa . The U.S. did nothing about this outrage. The West German government under the liberal Willy Brandt eventually recognized the independence of East Germany and renounced even the desire of reuni cation.
But perhaps the most tragic con ontation of Communists and anti­ Communist rces at this time came in Vietnam. Communist guerrilas un­ der the leadership of Ho Chi Minh (a li long Communist and a personal iend of Lenin, Stalin and Mao) had been active in the Indochina penin­ sula during and a er World War II. The French, who had moved into Indochina during the days of imperialism, were nally rced to withdraw in 1954 when their rtress of Dienbienphu ll a er a prolonged siege. the Geneva con rences llowing the French de at, Laos and Cambodia were given their independence and Vietnam was divided into the Com­ munist North and e ee South. Many observers.expected South Vietnam soon to ll to Communism, but under the strong and able leadership of Ngo Dinh Diem, a committed Catholic, the South Vietnamese government and economy were stabilized, thousands of re gees om the North were success y absorbed, and e Co unist guerrillas (Viet Cong) were resis d. Diem received military aid and advisers om the United States, but all the ghting was done by South Vietnamese.
Realizing that Diem's government was not going to collapse, the Com­ munists developed a new strategy. They began anti-Diem agitation, ac­ cusing him of being oppressive and undemocratic and of persecuting the Buddhists in South Vietnam. The American mass media g e publicity to this agi tion, especially stressing Diem's re sal to hold elections, but with­ out pointing out that Viet Cong terrorism in the countryside uld make truly ee elections impossible. Eventually Communist agitators persuaded some misguided Buddhist monks that the only w they could save their