The Cuban Revolution

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The Cuban Revolution

• SS6H3 The student will analyze important 20th
  century issues in Latin America and the Caribbean
• A. Explain the impact of the Cuban Revolution

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Early 20th Century Cuba

• Cuba is an island nation located 90 miles south
  of Florida

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• Early 20th century (1900 / 1950), Cuba had
  political problems
• Leaders came to power and then were thrown out by
  others
• This resulted in a very unstable government for
  the citizens of Cuba

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• At the same time (1900 / 1950), American
  businesses were trading with Cuba
• Most of Cubas international trade was with the
  United States
• American companies owned a large amount of Cubas
  land

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• Most of Cubas sugarcane (their largest most
  important trade product), was sold to the U.S.

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• Late 1950s Change in Cuban leadership
• Fidel Castro becomes dictator of Cuba
• Castro created the only communist country in the
  Western hemisphere

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How Castro Came to Power

• Late 1950s Fulgencio Batista was ruler of Cuba
• Batista had been elected president, but later
  made himself dictator
• Many people in Cuba were unhappy with his rule
• Much poverty (many people were very poor)
• Poor Education Poor Healthcare (both of which
  worsened the poverty problem)

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• Fidel Castro led a group of rebels against
  Batista
• Because of Batistas unpopularity, many people
  followed Castro
• This situation is similar to when the German
  people who, poor suffering after WWI (due to
  the financial demands placed on Germany by the
  Treaty Versailles because Germany was both the
  cause and loser of WWI), followed supported
  Hitler as he took power of the German government.
  The people were so desperate for change, that
  they were not concerned with how they got that
  change or exactly what kind of change they would
  be getting
• Castro defeated Batista and made himself dictator
  in 1959

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Fidel Castro leading the revolutionaries into
Havana, Cuba
Protestors against Batista
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Communist Cuba

• Castro immediately began organizing a communist
  government in Cuba
• Declared that all property belonging to
  Americans, now belonged to the Cuban government
  (also claimed all Cuban owned property as well)
• Had Batistas supporters arrested (most were
  executed by firing squad, others spent decades in
  prison)

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• Cubans no longer had the right to protest against
  the Cuban government
• Newspapers, Radio, and T.V. were shut down (the
  Cuban government became the only news source)
• All churches were closed / church property was
  taken by the government / Christians were
  discriminated against

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Communist Improvements in Cuba

• Hospitals and Schools improved
• Both women and blacks received better educations
  and better jobs

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United States Embargo

• Because of Castros actions, and the communist
  government he had created in Cuba, the United
  States government placed an embargo on Cuban
  goods (this meant that no Cuban goods could be
  sold in the U.S.)

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• Did not allow Americans to travel to or from Cuba
• Tried to persuade other countries to stop all
  trade with Cuba

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• The Soviet Union, (U.S.S.R.), became allies with
  Cuba (Soviet Union was the most powerful
  communist country in the world at this time and
  Americas greatest enemy/threat Cold War)

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Bay of Pigs invasion

• April 1961, Cuban exiles who were armed, trained,
  and finances by the United States invaded Cuba at
  the Bay of Pigs.
• This invasion failed and made the United States
  look bad.
• Castro would make Communism, the official
  government of Cuba shortly after the invasions.

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• The Soviet Union bought all of Cubas sugarcane,
  the same sugarcane that had been purchased by the
  U.S. before the embargo (this was necessary for
  Cubas economy to survive the final
  breakdown/collapse of the Soviet Union in the
  late 1980s, also led to the collapse of the
  communist economy in Cuba)
• Supplied Cuba with weapons and other goods
• Helped Cuba to educate their children train
  their military

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• Cuba tried to spread communism to other Latin
  American countries
• Supported revolutionary ideas in other countries
• Supported the revolutionaries by providing them
  with military training, weapons, and money

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Cuban Missile Crisis

• 1952 Cuba gave the Soviet Union permission to
  build a missile launching complex in Cuba
• Missiles launched from this site in Cuba (just 90
  miles south of Florida), could reach U.S. cities

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• U.S. president, John F. Kennedy, demanded that
  Cuba remove the missiles
• He threatened Cuba with invasion of U.S. military
  troops if they did not remove the missiles

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• This led to a very tense time period between Cuba
  and the U.S.
• The threat of nuclear warfare so close to home
  spread panic through the American public
• In an attempt to calm the fears of its citizens,
  the U.S. government developed a propaganda
  program which promoted nuclear bomb preparedness
  through Duck Cover Drills

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Duck and Cover!
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• The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest event to
  creating a Hot War between the Soviet Union and
  the United States.
• Eventually the Soviets did comply with Kennedys
  demand by removing all missiles from Cuba

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Current Cuba/U.S. Relations

• Relations between Cuba and the United States have
  not improved much over the last 50 years
• There is still an embargo on Cuban goods
• But, Americans can now send money to family
  members in Cuba

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• 1980s / 1990s gt Large numbers of Cubans escaped
  to the United States
• Before this time period, the U.S. had been
  accepting Cubans who had escaped (many Cubans are
  desperate to escape from Cuba because of the
  communist government that controls almost every
  part of their lives)

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• But during this time period (1980s / 1990s),
  thousands of Cubans were being allowed to
  escape
• When the Soviet Union fell apart (during this
  same time period), their partnership with Cuba,
  including all of the military and economic
  support they had been providing them with,
  stopped
• Cubas economy crashed as a result.
• The Cuban government actually began encouraging
  people to escape

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• The massive number of people Cubas government
  was allowing to escape caused greater tension
  between the U.S. and Cuba (once the U.S.
  government accepts these refugees into the
  country, they become a responsibility of the U.S.
  government in that they are allowed to take part
  in government funded programs such as public
  education for their children and certain welfare
  support for health and housing needsthe more
  refugees the government accepts, the more
  expensive it becomes)

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• 1994 U.S. / Cuban Compromise
• The United States agrees to accept 20,000 Cuban
  refugees per year (although there are many more
  that do enter the country illegally every year)
• The Cuban government agrees to stop allowing so
  many Cuban citizens to escape