August 6, 1945: when meteorology changed tack

 HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 6 (ACN) The Americans behind the use of nuclear weapons 78 years ago in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki alleged ethically and politically unacceptable reasons, justifications and purposes, according to Professor Luis E. Ramos Guadalupe, Coordinator of the History Commission of the Cuban Meteorological Society.

He explained that meteorological data were key to target selection, so the Boeing B-29 bombers were escorted by two similar airplanes: one equipped to evaluate the effects of the explosion, and the other to record it with photographic and cinematographic equipment.

Earlier, U.S. air command ordered a weather reconnaissance aircraft to scan the targets that flew over Hiroshima at dawn on August 6 and reported that the skies were clear enough to ensure full visibility, Professor Ramos recalled.

“The bomb, equivalent to 1,600 tons of dynamite and programmed to blow up at a height of 600 meters, killed 70,000 people on the spot,” he remarked. “The air burned around the focus of the explosion and formed a hot spheroid 250 meters in diameter and 1,000 km/h winds. Thirty minutes later, ash and dust from the highly radioactive debris rained on the northeast of the city.”

He said that the second attack against Japan was scheduled for August 12, but the high command moved up the date to the 9th after the meteorologists detected the formation of Typhoon Queenie (SS-1). The city of Kokura had been chosen as the second target, but a buildup of cloud and smog saved it from disaster when the B-29 carrying the second bomb was ordered to choose another target that would maximize the effectiveness of the nuclear device. They picked Nagasaki, where 40,000 people died instantly.

According to estimates, 214,000 people have died to date as a result of the terrible nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when science changed course in favor of death.

When news of the bombing of Hiroshima came in, Fidel Castro Ruz was visiting Santiago de Cuba. Three days after the attack on Nagasaki, he experienced feelings of repulsion and rejection that remained unchanged throughout his life.

Harry Truman (1884-1972), President of the United States, ordered that barbaric attacks that wiped Hiroshima and Nagasaki off the face of the earth, with a death toll which has reached 300,000, including those who died from radiation-induced cancer.

In 1945, in what was called Operation Silverplate, the crews of the B-29s that dropped the first bombs in history used Cuban air bases to prepare, according to Cuban press reports.

The events were facilitated by two secret military pacts signed by the sergeant-turned-general Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar (1901-1973), whose dictatorship caused the death of 20,000 people until his overthrow in 1959 by the Cuban Revolution.