CUBA

  • 1898—Spanish-American War
  • 1902—Independence (Platt Amendment)
  • 1900-30—US “penetration” of Cuban economy and politics (military occupation, financial “advisors”)
  • 1925-33—Gerardo Machado
  • 1926—Fidel Castro born
  • 1933—Grau San Martin (“aborted revolution”)
  • 1933-44—Fulgencio Batista
  • 1944-52—elected civilian presidents (Garu and Prio Socarras)
  • 1952-59—Batista (1952 coup cancelled elections with Castro as a candidate for legislature)
  • July 26, 1953—Moncada Assault
  • 160 with Castro—most captured or killed
  • Castro’s “History Will Absolve Me” speech at his trial
  • May, 1955—Castro released from jail—Castro goes to Mexico
  • Late-1956—Castro and some 80 followers sail to Cuba on the yacht “Granma”—no over attacks, but begin guerrilla warfare
  • Dec., 1958-Jan., 1959—Batista resigns and Castro comes to power
  • US-Cuban/Castro relations (early ‘60s)
  • 1957—US realizes Batista is a liability but opposes Castro
  • 1958—classic case of conservative modernization
  • Relatively advanced economically (ranked 4th in L.A. in GNPpc)
  • Very economically dependent on US
  • Severe problems with equity
  • Jan., 1959—US recognizes Castro
  • Feb., 1960—Soviet-Cuban trade pact
  • March, 1960—CIA begins invasion plans
  • Feb.-June, 1960—significant deterioration in US-Cuban relations
  • June, 1960—US oil refineries expropriated
  • July, 1960—US cancels Cuba’s sugar quota—Castro begins to turn to USSR
  • Oct., 1960—Eisenhower bans all US exports to Cuba, except medical
  • Jan., 1961—US breaks relations
  • April, 1961—Bay of Pigs
  • Sept., 1961—US prohibits aid to countries trading with Cuba
  • Dec., 1961—Castro declares himself a Marxist-leninist
  • Jan., 1962—OAS expels Cuba
  • Early-1962—US bans importation of any products of Cuban origin (or even partial Cuban origin)
  • Nov., 1962—Cuban missile crisis
  • April, 1980—Mariel emigration
  • Differing Views
  • Links
  • National Geographic article
  • National Geographic pictures
  • .pdf
  • “Either a ruthless revolutionary took power in 1959, seized American corporate property, forced out his country’s own professional classes, and silenced all opposition by creating a totalitarian police state”
  • “Or a brilliant revolutionary led the overthrow of a corrupt dictatorship, shook off the colonialism of foreign companies and the Mafia, brought literacy and health care and egalitarian values to a mobilized people, and created a university-educated bastion of socialism in spite of a half century of U.S. efforts to destroy it by prohibiting Americans from doing business with or spending tourist money in Cuba.”
  • OVERVIEW
  • Characteristics of the Revolution
  • Nationalization, central economic planning, agrarian reform
  • Basic needs—education and health
  • Foreign policy—“Exporting the Revolution”? Venezuela—Che Guevera and Bolivia (Oct., 1967)—Africa (mid-1970s)
  • Political repression (CDRs)
  • Importance of Fidel
  • Relations with the Soviets (sugar for oil)
  • Justification for revolution? Exhaust legal means?
  • Socialization process for Castro (growing frustrations—and exhausting legal means?)
  • 1933 Grau
  • 1944-52
  • 1952 coup
  • Rationale for US retaliatory actions
  • Expropriations of US property
  • Anti-US sentiments in Cuba
  • Growing contacts with Soviet bloc
  • Political repression
  • Radicalization of the Cuban Revolution
  • Reaction to Batista system
  • Base of the Revolution in the lower class (workers and peasants)
  • Retaliation of the private sector and of the US
  • Why was Socialist Revolution Possible in Cuba?
  • Dependency
  • Socialization process
  • Unique (at the time) guerrilla movement