Cuba is an island in the Caribbean Sea. It is only 90 miles from Florida.

Fulgencio Batista was a Cuban dictator. He ruled Cuba from 1934 – 1959.

Under Batista’s rule, most Cubans were very poor.

Batista’s rule was oppressive.

But Cuba became a popular vacation destination for Americans.

And, yes, a few wealthy Cuban families prospered as long as they supported the dictator.

However, most Cubans were poor, illiterate, and oppressed.

High rates of illiteracy and malnutrition as well as foreign control of resources made many Cubans suffer.

Some Cubans were tired of dictatorship and malnutrition. They wanted a revolution.

Fidel Castro, the Argentinean – Ernesto “Che” Guevara, and other Communist rebels overthrew Batista in 1959.

A Communist government was established in Cuba in 1959 under the leadership of Fidel Castro.

U.S. officials were worried. A communist government was only ninety miles off the coast of Florida.

As Castro nationalized industries and Americans lost investments in Cuba, U.S. officials prepared Cuban exiles for an invasion of the island.

But the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 failed. Castro’s forces defeated the invading exiles.

Yet in 1962, the Americans did have some success when Soviet missiles were placed on Cuban soil.

President Kennedy demanded that the missiles be removed.

The Soviets agreed and a nuclear war was averted.

The U.S. began a trade embargo with Cuba, refusing to trade with Cuba, but Fidel Castro remained in power.

Yet again, a revolution had changed world history.