Transcript Cuba and Grenada

Cuba and Grenada
By Julia Ely and Mikayla O'Callaghan
Cuban Location
• Cuba is located 90 miles south
of the Florida coast.
• It is an island between the Caribbean Sea and
the North Atlantic Ocean
• Cuba has a tropical climate
• The language spoken there is Spanish
American Involvement
The Spanish-American War
• Began with the Cuban and Philippine wars for independence
against Spain. America was interested in Cuban independence
because of American economic investment and the proximity
of Cuba to the United States. We sent the battleship Maine to
Havana (the capital of Cuba) as a demonstration of American
interest.
• We entered the war for Cuban independence after the sinking
of the USS Maine in 1898
• America defeated Spain and one
of the results was Cuban independence.
• These events occurred during the
administration of president McKinley.
American Involvement
The Cuban Revolution
• Began In 1953 led by Fidel Castro
• The Cuban government was controlled by the dictator
Fulgencio Batista. Batista was supported by the United
States because he promoted American investment on
the Island.
• Castro overthrew Batista New Years day, 1959
• As a result of American support for Batista Castro
aligned himself with the Soviet Union and adopted a
communist government.
• This situation initialized decades of conflict between
United States and Cuba.
• Dwight Eisenhower was the American President
American Involvement
The Missile Crisis
• In October of 1962 The Soviet Union sought to exploit its
alliance with Cuba to possession nuclear weapons close to
the United States.
• American spy planes discovered Soviet nuclear missiles on
Cuba and president Kennedy imposed a navel blockade
around the island.
• This episode would be the closest the United States and the
Soviet Union would come to a nuclear war.
• The crisis was resolved with the removal of the missiles in
Cuba as well as the removal of the American missiles in
Turkey and an American commitment not to invade Cuban.
Where We Are Today
• Tensions continued to exist between the United States and Cuba for
the duration of the Cold War.
• With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the enduring American
led economic sanctions, poverty in Cuba deepened.
• In 2011 the United States announced a relaxation in travel
restrictions, trade, and the remittances that could be sent from
Cuban Americans to their Cuban families. Currently, the United
States supplies more agricultural products and humanitarian aid
than any other country to Cuba.
• At the memorial service for Nelson Mandela, the world witnessed a
hand shake between President Obama and Raul Castro which could
signal the beginning of normalized relations between the two
countries
Work Cited
• Http://www.indexmundi.com/cuba/location.html
• http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/hernandez.html
• http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/historyofthecaribbean/p/08cub
anrevo.htm
• http://www.cubanmissilecrisis.org/
• http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2886.htm
Grenada
• An island located in the Caribbean Sea
• Geographically, Grenada is located southwest
of Saint Vincent and northeast of Venezuela.
• The official language is English, but
the main spoken language is
Grenadian Creole English
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countr
ys/namerica/caribb/gd.htm
French and British Involvement
• Grenada was formally a French Colony from 1649-1763.
• Became a British Colony in 1762 after a victory in the
Seven Years’ War.
• It stayed as a British Colony from 1763-1974.
• The French re-captured the island during the American
War of Independence, after they won the bloody land
and naval Battle of Grenada in July 1779.
• The island was later restored to Britain with the Treaty of
Versailles in 1783.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Gren
ada
Becoming Independent
• In 1950, Eric Gairy founded the Grenada United
Labor Party. Initially it started as a trades union.
• In 1951 this organization led the general strike for
better working conditions.
• Many riots arose and the British had to call in
military reinforcement.
• They held their own general elections for their
people and won.
• They were given full autonomy over their
internal affairs as an Associated State.
http://www.history.army.mil/html/bookshelve
s/resmat/co.html
http://www.vietnam-airsoft.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4594
Independence
• Their independence was granted in 1974
under the leadership of Eric Gairy, who
became the first Prime Minister of Grenada.
• Civil conflict broke out between Gairy’s
government and an opposing party called,
New Jewel Movement.
• NJM under the command of Maurice Bishop
launched a preliminary attack on the
government- resulting in being overthrown.
Change in Government
• Bishop cooperated with Cuba and the USSR on various trade and
foreign policy issues, he sought to maintain a "non-aligned" status.
• Bishop spent his time making Grenada a socialist economy.
• People started to deem Bishop as an “insufficient revolutionary
leader” and demanded that he either step down or enter into a
power-sharing arrangement.
• On October 19, 1983, Bernard Coard and his wife Phyllis, backed by
the Grenadian Army, led a coup against the government of Maurice
Bishop and placed Bishop under house arrest.
• Bishop had enough support from the people that he was eventually
freed. When Bishop attempted to resume power, he was captured
and executed by soldiers. The Coard regime then
put the island under martial law.
http://scottmonster.hubpages.com/hub/The-Invasionof-Grenada
U.S. Involvement
• Bishop threatened the lives of nearly 1,000
American medical students who were living on
the island.
• In response, and at the request of allied
Caribbean nations, the US launched
"Operation Urgent Fury," in 1983, sending the
Marines to the north of the island and Army
Rangers to the south.
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/joh
nson/431rr1.htm
Aftermath of U.S. Invasion
• U.S. casualties-19 dead 119 wounded.
• Grenadian casualties-45 dead 337 wounded
• After the invasion Grenada’s unemployment
rate dropped from 49% to 14%
• The total cost of the destruction to Grenada
and it’s economy totaled to 85 million dollars
• Literacy rates grew from 85% to 98%
http://scottmonster.hubpages.com/hub/TheInvasion-of-Grenada
Works Cited
http://www.whereig.com/grenada/
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-statesinvades-grenada
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/genera
l-article/reagan-grenada/
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/19551-us-invasion-ofgrenada-a-30-year-retrospective
http://libcom.org/history/articles/grenada-us-invasion-1983
http://www.globalresearch.ca/thirty-years-after-the-u-sinvasion-of-grenada-the-first-neoliberal-war/5355916