The Cuban Revolution

1
The Cuban Revolution
2
General Cuban History

• Cuba had long been a colony of Spain whose main
  economic asset was sugar. Various social
  imbalances, such as the desire for a republic and
  a democratic constitution, lead Cuban
  revolutionaries to apply pressure for
  independence. Most attempts failed until the
  Spanish-American war, when the United States was
  behind the Cuban revolutionaries in liquidating
  Spains colonial holdings1. The USA then occupied
  Cuba with their own troops and essentially made
  the nation both economically and politically
  servile. The Platt Amendment legitimized the
  USAs political rule and gave them rights over
  Cubas political dealings. The USA also found
  itself in control of swathes of Cuban land and
  the majority of the sugar industry2.
• Cuba had their first free election in 1901 which
  officially made much of Cuba independent (however
  American economic control was still rampant). The
  elected leaders of this period are largely
  viewed, by historians, as having been corrupt
  one particular leader having mysteriously
  accumulated 40 million during his tenure. The
  last president, before Batista, Gerardo Machado,
  tried to rule beyond his constitutional limit and
  was forced to resign in 19333.

1Cuba, Hugh Thomas, pg. 430 2 Ibid., pg. 459 3
Fidel Castro, Richard Platt, pg. 8
3
Batistas regime

• In the power vacuum that ensued Machados removal
  from power, there was a military coup which put
  the military in power. Batista was a military
  officer who quickly ascended to power. Batista
  ruled dictatorially and crushed much of the
  opposition. Although he was not the real leader
  until 1940 (when he was elected president quite
  dubiously), he ruled behind puppet presidents,
  however, he was kicked out of office by popular
  vote in 1944.
• Two legitimate presidents followed Batista until
  increased political infighting led allowed
  Batista to, again, seize power in 1952 through a
  coup. Batista quickly moved to dismember the
  constitution, which was an unpopular maneuver in
  the eyes of the public. He resumed brutally
  oppressing opposition and in the process sparking
  dissent.

4
Castro Plans for Revolution and First Attack

• Fidel Castro, a university student in Havana at
  the time, was upset with the illegitimate nature
  of Batistas rule and forwarded a petition to
  have the courts overrule the dictators
  authority. Despite widespread disapproval with
  the illegitimacy of the regime, the judiciaries
  ignored Castros petition.
• In response to the seemingly ineffectual means by
  which to legitimately voice dissenting views,
  Castro covertly organized a political
  sympathizers to attack the Batista Government in
  some way. Over the course of many months, Castro
  and his rebels performed military exercises and
  trained in the rural meeting area4.
• Castro decided to plan an attack on the Moncado
  barracks, for July 26th, 1953. in order to
  disrupt Batistas power and to seize a
  communications tower within the barracks from
  which he planned to transmit propaganda to the
  Cuban people to convince them to overthrow
  Batista. It was known before the attack that it
  would require perfect execution and would likely
  fail5.
• The attack force consisted of less than 200
  poorly equipped and poorly trained rebels. Due to
  a combination of being vastly numerically
  inferior for an attacking force, lack of weapons,
  and the assault group being inadvertently split
  up on its way to the target, they were
  resoundingly defeated with over 60 rebels killed
  in action, and almost as many being captured
  (many were executed). Castro and a handful of
  others escaped by hiding themselves among the
  public but they were soon captured. Castro was
  sentenced to 15 years in prison for his part in
  the attack. It was in prison where Castros
  revolutionary angst grew, and his plans for
  revolution matured. He was released early in 1955
  under the pressure of the catholic community and
  other elements of the public. After being
  released, Castro and his brother exiled
  themselves to Mexico to where they brought a
  group of rebels to prepare for another
  revolutionary attempt. Furthermore, less than two
  dozen others were left in Cuba to assist from the
  inside. In Mexico, the Argentine revolutionary,
  Che Guevara joined Castros revolutionaries. He
  was the one who introduced Castro to Marxism
  prior to that, the revolution had largely been a
  populist one completely detached from Marxism6.

4The Cuban Revolution, Earle Rice Jr., pg.
16 5Ibid., pg. 17 6Ibid., pg. 17-25 U pg. 60
5
Successive Campaigns

• In December of 1956 Castro and his guerrillas
  landed in Cuba aboard a yacht, but were attacked
  by Batistas men soon after they arrived. Most of
  the men eliminated in the attack, and the group
  was rendered inert, for the time being. The
  small, scattered group of survivors (including
  Castro, Raul, and Che), reorganized themselves
  and fled to the Sierra Maestra mountains where
  they joined up with other rebel leaders. After
  they had successfully raided a few military
  strongholds in the region, Castros growing fame
  in the media brought more volunteers to the
  Sierra Maestra mountains. The rebels acquired
  control of the mountains, and from here, most of
  their attack and battles would be staged, in the
  future. Castros force of only a few hundred men
  was able to hold the mountains, against the army
  of tens of thousands, and harassed Batistas army
  for the next 3 years7.
• In 1958, Batistas General Cantillo had Castros
  rebels surrounded but allowed them to agreed to a
  ceasefire which allowed them to leave. After they
  failed to capitalize on this opportunity Castros
  rebels began to advance out of the Sierra
  mountains and west through Cuba. Batistas army
  was plagued with poor morale and many of the
  soldiers either deserted or defected to Castros
  side8.

7Ibid., pg. 57 8Ibid. pg,. 70
6
Batista Leaves

• Castros forces acquired much of the nations
  infrastructure on their way westward, including
  the nations railway stations which expedited
  their advance towards Havana. By late December,
  1959, Che had amassed thousands of volunteers
  outside of outside of the capital. On New Years
  Eve, Batista officially stepped down and fled the
  country because defeat was imminent. Around the
  same time, Castros forces began to parade
  through the streets of the capital they were
  greeted by hundreds of thousands of the citizenry
  who were sympathetic to the revolution.
• Castro arrived eight days later to cheering
  crowds9.

9Ibid, pg. 71-73
7
Castro Takes over

• Immediately after taking power, Castro worked to
  purge political enemies, namely the Batistianos,
  people who were loyal to Batista. The American
  government protested these purges, but Castro
  dared them to stop him. The United States agreed
  to back down and let the purges take their
  course10.
• After he became prime minister on February 17th,
  1959, Castro began the purification wherein he
  purged all immoral elements of the economy,
  such as prostitution, gambling and illicit drug
  trade11.
• Fidel also sought to improve relations with the
  eastern bloc nations since he felt that the
  imperialistic United States was the source of
  Latin Americas economic backwardness. and thus
  wanted to distance himself as far away from them
  as possible. It was for this reason, despite
  Cubas economic difficulties, Castro refused to
  accept any aid from the US out of fear of further
  interlinking Cubas economy with that of the USA.
  The Agrarian Reform Bill further distanced Cuba
  from the USA by nationalizing US owned farmland.
  When US oil refineries in Cuba refused to process
  oil he purchased from the USSR, Castro kicked
  those companies out of Cuba as well. Every other
  type of American company within Cuba soon
  followed on the road to nationalization. In
  response to this rapid deterioration of American
  interests in the country, the ambassador to Cuba
  abdicated and returned to the USA on October 29th
  of 196012.
• In July of 1959, Cuba took another step away from
  the US by appointing a communist President,
  Doticos Torrado. Communist influence was also
  seen in the military, which his communist
  brother, Raul, controlled. And by 1961 most
  unions were and labour groups were headed by
  communists who were Fidel suggested should be
  elected13.

10Ibid. Pg, 74 11Ibid., pg. 75 12Ibid., pg.
75 13IBid., pg. 79
8
Falling out of Favor with the USA

• In 1960, Cuba reestablished formal diplomatic
  relations with the USSR with the visit of Soviet
  diplomat Anastas Mikoyan who signed a trade
  agreement with Cuba. Further trade agreements
  were signed which seems to have prompted the US
  to stop importing Cuban sugar. This prompted
  Nikita Khrushchev to affirm the USSRs desire to
  protect Cuba and her interests14.
• After a meeting between Castro and Khrushchev,
  Eisenhowever broke off most economic ties on
  October 18, 1960 and eventually eliminated
  diplomatic ties with Cuba on January 16th,
  196114.

14Ibid., pg. 80
9
Revolutionary Reforms

• Other revolutionary reforms within the time
  period in question included the eradications of
  illiteracy in 1961. Urban students were sent to
  the countryside to teach the illiterate rural
  populace how to read. This program was a massive
  success and reduced illiteracy significantly15.

15Fidel Castro, Clive Ross, pg. 66