Transcript Cuba Under Fidel - Revised - Fall 2011

Cuba Under Fidel Castro
Background – A Shaky Cuba
• As Batista ruled during his 2nd dictatorship Castro
began to organize rebels to challenge him
• Cubans were becoming very frustrated with living
conditions
o Ex: Cuba had the 2nd highest average per capita
income in Latin America, but many Cubans were
living in poverty
• As the 1950s progressed frustrations reached peak
= opposition movements sprang up across the
country
July 26th Movement: M-26-7: July 26, 1953
July 26th Movement: M-26-7 cont.
July 26, 1953
Moncado Barracks after the attack
July 26th Movement: M-26-7 cont.
July 26, 1953
• Gov't soldiers easily defeated the attack
• In the days that followed = 100s of rebels arrested and tortured or
executed
• Attracted national attention
• Cuban Revolution (1952-1958) is in full swing with this attack
• Result: Castro and many of his followers were brought to trial. It
was here that he gave his famous "History Will Absolve Me"
speech.
Trial Results
• Castro, along with brother Raul
and other group leaders =
sentenced to prison
• Two years later = Batista granted
them amnesty
• Group leaves Cuba for Mexico
where they joined with an
Argentine revolutionary named
Ernest “Che” Guevara (pictured
right)
1956: A Return to Cuba
• Castro and about 80 others from the M-26-7 arrive in a
boat from Mexico
• They’re immediately ambushed by Batista’s forces
• Castro and his men flee into the Sierra Maestra Mts. = led
guerrilla attack from there
M-26-7 rebels at a secret base in the Sierra Maestra Mts., 1957. Fidel is at the
center, Raul is kneeling in front of him, Che Guevera is on the far left
1959: Within days, Castro entered Cuba and began directing
its government. He would then rule for the next 45 years
Castro’s Economic Policy
• Goal: Bring economy under state control
• Agrarian Reform Act 1959
• Through the 1960s = Nationalization was
widespread and applied to local and foreign
owned:
– Sugar mills - Railroads
– Hotels
- Other Industries
– Banks
• Sought economic relations with Russia - By
mid 1970s - Soviet Union provided 45% of all
Cuban trade.
• 1961 U.S broke relations with Cuba = loss of
#1 source of investment, trade, and finance U.S
Response –1962 Trade Embargo
• 1962 - U.S. trade embargo that exists today
Castro’s Economic Policy cont. Transforming the Economy
• Too sugar dependent
• Poured resources into new industry and
training new professionals
• Problem - No sugar = little income =
little money to import goods
• This resulted in a recession and began a
wave of economic “ups and downs”
throughout the 1960s, 1970s, through to
today.
Castro’s Economic Policy cont.:
Cuban workers
• Despite economic instability = reduced unemployment
dramatically
• Provided with:
–
–
–
–
–
Social security
Accident insurance
Sick leave
Education
Free Health Care
• Increased minimum wage
• Put cap on maximum wage = helps poor and limits
income of wealth
• Development of the “new man”
Castro’s Social Policies
• Gov’t controlled:
– Number of shirts a person could buy each year
– The selling of goods only in state run stores
– Religion: officially atheist between 1959-1992 (Catholic Church
opposed the Revolution)
– Media - censored art, literature, scholarship, music, theatre, cinema
• Education campaign: by 1979 - 95% of Cubans were literate
• Worked towards eliminating malnutrition through food ration
cards
• Castro = constantly on the move visiting
– Factories
– Schools
- Farms
- Hospitals
• Enemies of the Revolution = tortured, imprisoned
Castro’s Foreign Policy
• Russia - tied politically and economically
• Felt he needed to represent and defend poor
people around the world.
• Wanted to reach out to as many countries as
possible = Deployed 1000s of Cubans overseas
• Example of Foreign involvement Angola
– Operation Carolotta -1975
– Goal: Help the Popular Movement for the
Liberation of Angola push back the South
African army that was moving in.
Castro w/ Russian
president Khrushchev in
1963 in the Soviet Union
Cuba’s “Special Period” - 1990s
•Begins in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union
•Economic support from then President Michael Gorbachev slowed
rapidly
•Result:
•Cuba lost 80% of its imports
•Exports and GDP dropped from 80% to 34%
•Heavily dependent on Russian oil =
agricultural production,
transportation, and industry stopped
•Cultural Expression (excerpts)
• Sin Embargo