Castro Timeline Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz

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Castro Timeline Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz

• From taking power to the present

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• Castro is born August 13, 1926
• 1933 Batista takes over (in a military coup) as
  dictator of Cuba. Cuba is Americas playland
  for mafia-run casinos, and illegal gambling.
• 1945, Castro studied law, University of Havana
• 1947, Castro joined Partido Ortodoxo, for social
  justice, honest government, and political freedom
  
• 1948, Castro joined anti-American demonstration
  trip to Bogota, Columbia (paid by Argentine Pres.
  Juan Peron) after mob violence, property
  destruction, Castro fled to Argentine embassy.

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• 1948, Castro married Mirta Diaz Balart, wealthy
  Cuban family, exposed Castro to the lifestyle of
  the Cuban elite (honeymoon in NYC)
• 1950 graduated Law School, practiced with small
  firm in Havana
• 1950, Castro spoke publicly against USA
  involvement in Korea War

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• July 26, 1953, plotted to overthrow Batista, the
  attack on the Moncada Barracks failed.
• Castro was captured, incarcerated in jail
• May 1955 Castro was released, traveled to Mexico,
  organized and trained for an invasion of Cuba to
  overthrow Batistas government
• In Mexico, Castro met Ernesto Che Guevara,
  learned guerrilla warfare
• December 1956 (Cuban Revolution) Castros men
  invaded Cuba
• 1956-1959 Castros men fought the USbacked
  Batista
• July 11-21, 1958, Battle of La Plata, Castro
  defeated Batistas entire battalion
• Jan 1, 1959 Batista fled to the Dominican (dies
  1973)

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• February 16, 1959 Castro (age 32) PM of Cuba
• April 15-26, 1959 Castro visited NYC, hired a PR
  firm Eisenhower refused to meet him so Castro
  called Khrushchev (USSR)
• On May 17, 1959, Castro created the First
  Agrarian Reform, which limited landholdings
• July 1959, KGB in Mexico City send 1000 Spanish
  speaking Soviets to help set up communist Cuba
• February 1960, Cuba signed an agreement to buy
  oil from the USSR. U.S.-owned refineries in Cuba
  refused to process the oil, broke diplomatic
  relations
• In June 1960, Eisenhower reduced Cubas sugar
  import quota by 7,000,000 tons, in response, Cuba
  took over 850 million worth of U.S. property and
  businesses.

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• 1960 Health care and education were socialized.
• Fall 1960 U.S. government engaged in a
  semi-secret campaign to remove Castro from power
• Dec 1960, all opposition newspapers, radio, and
  television were closed down by Castros state
  control. Moderates, teachers and professors were
  purged.
• 1960s, 20,000 dissidents held captive and
  tortured under inhuman prison conditions,
  homosexuals locked up in concentration camps
  subject to medical-political re-education
• May 7, 1960 USSR/Cuba captured the pilot of a U2
  spy plane. CIA Gary Powers, and the secret U2
  plane technology

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• 1961 New Years Day parade, Castro exhibited
  Soviet tanks and other weapons.
• Jan. 1961 JFK became President
• April 17, 1961, The Bay of Pigs Invasion (known
  as La Batalla de Girón, or Playa Girón in Cuba)
  1400 vs. 50,000 Cubans
• May 1, 1961, Castro declared Cuba a socialist
  state, abolished multiparty elections.
• February 7, 1962, the US imposed an embargo,
  including a general travel ban for American
  tourists

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• October 15, 1962 U2 spy plane discovered the
  construction of Soviet missile installations in
  Cuba
• October 22, 1962 US publicly announced its
  discovery implemented a quarantine to actively
  intercept and search any vessels
• October 27, 1962, Castro urged Khrushchev to
  launch a nuclear first strike against the USA if
  Cuba were invaded, Khrushchev rejected that idea.
• Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in
  exchange for a U.S. commitment not to invade Cuba
  and to secretly remove missiles from Turkey

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• Cuba became increasingly dependent on Soviet
  markets and military and economic aid. Castro
  tightened Communist Party control over all levels
  of government, media, educational system, police
  force.
• 1966, Guevara left for Bolivia to stir up
  revolution
• 1971, Castro visited Chile (Salvador Allende) to
  help create socialism there
• November 4, 1975, Castro helped in Angola
  (thanked by Nelson Mandela)
• 1977 Cuban troops sent to Ethiopia to defeat
  Somalia
• 1979 Helped the Sandinistas to overthrow the
  Somoza government in Nicaragua
• November 1989 Castro was upset with the reforms
  of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
• 1991 the dissolution of the USSR had immediate
  and devastating effects on Cuba (lost trading
  partners)