1. Write this question down, NOW! Por favor Was it Castro’s actions that caused the US to turn against him or was it US actions that caused Castro to move further to the left?

2. Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution has three distinct phases (not including the pre-1959 coup attempts) 1.1959-1963 (pages 438-442) 2.1963-1990 (pages 442-447) 3.1990-Present (pages 447-453)

3. Cuban Revolution A mixture of poor leaders, bad economic policy, and oppression of the people lead to the Cuban Revolution. Cuba’s main crop, and source of income, was sugar. –S–Sugar production employed 25% of the people for 4 months out of the year. The US was purchasing sugar from Cuba above the world’s market cost Because the sugar mills had not been updated since 1925 and other placed around the world began production of sugar, Cuba went from 20% of the world’s production in the 1920’s to 10% in the 1950’s.

4. In many ways Cuba was economically dependent on the US. –The US: purchased more than half of Cuban sugar US controlled –40% of its sugar production –90% of the utilities and telephones –50% of the railroads 80% of Cuba’s imports were from the US –Fulgencio Batista ruled Cuba from 1933-1944; and took back power in 1952 until Castro took over. He ran Cuba as a typical caudillo by dumping extra money into the military to keep his opponents down and by suspending civil liberties Batista arrested, tortured, sometimes to death, any opponents As Batista became more oppressive and the economy crumbled, opposition grew

5. Cuban Revolution The growing dissatisfaction in Cuba because of the following led to Batista’s eventual fall to Castro –declining economy –lack of economic opportunity –gov’t repression 7/26/1953 –Fidel Castro (28 years old) helped lead a band of rebels in attacking two military barracks near Santiago de Cuba in hopes of acquiring ammo and arms –the attacks failed 68 were jailed, tortured and executed. There was adverse publicity of Batista’s actions which may have saved Castro and countless others from death

6. Cuban Revolution –At his trial in October, Castro who studied law at the U of Havana defended himself with his famous “History will absolve me” speech You can find his speech in its entirety at the following website: –http://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/1953/10/16.htm –Castro, his brother Raul and others were sentenced to prison terms –In May of 1955, Batista granted amnesty to Castro and the others in an overconfident act –Castro moved to Mexico to train for the next invasion While in Mexico he met Ernesto “Che” Guevara, who would be Castro’s good friend and 2nd in command and eventually a martyr for revolution In 1955, Batista was losing support from his people, losing control of the military.

7. Cuban Revolution December 1956: Castro and 82 followers landed in Cuba for revolution –they were betrayed and only 12 were able to escape to the Sierra Maestra Mountains –Castro eventually rebuilt his forces but even in 1958 his camp was only 160 men strong and was only 1 of many groups fighting the regime –Because of the other groups Castro realized he needed his message to get out to the people he gave a series of interviews with the New York Times from his guerrilla camp in the mountains the interviews painted him as a Cuban patriot fighting against injustice, and for democracy and freedom which gave him a good image in the US –the interviews along with the withdrawal of US support to Batista helped the revolution greatly

8. Cuban Revolution In the summer of 1958, Batista tried one more time to get rid of Castro, it failed and it sealed his fate on New Years Day 1959, Batista and his entourage fled to the Dominican Republic One week later Castro and his rebels entered Havana and took over –Immediately Castro used his support to implement a socialized economy and to establish a dictatorship He fired, imprisoned, or executed most of Batista’s previous gov’t controlled the media regulate trade unions took land from large land owners and redistributed to the landless raised tariffs to protect Cuban industries U of Havana lost its autonomy and fell under gov’t control

9. Cuban Revolution –Many upper and middle class were disillusioned by Castro fled to the island of South Florida Around 250,000 left between 1959 and 1962 Historians are unsure if Castro was a committed Communist at this point –They were sure he was a dedicated Cuban nationalist who believed the only way Cuba could control its own ways was to get rid of the US control over the island country Castro nationalized the US owned Cuban Telephone company –The continued expropriation of US owned land with “inadequate compensation” caused powerful economic and political interests in the US to begin to oppose Castro –The Eisenhower administration began plans to support anti-Castro guerillas and to assassinate Castro

10. Cuban Revolution Write your thoughts down about this question: Was it Castro’s actions that caused the US to turn against him or was it US actions that caused Castro to move further to the left? Explain.

11. Cuban Revolution Summer of 1959 –Eisenhower administration instructed US oil refineries in Cuba to not refine crude Soviet oil In response, Castro nationalized the refineries Eisenhower then cancelled the Cuban sugar quota for the rest of the year Astro then nationalized all US owned businesses in Cuba In October, Eisenhower embargoed all US exports in to Cuba A few days before JFK’s inauguration, the US severed diplomatic ties with Cuba February 1960 –USSR visited Cuba Cubans agree to sell 1 million tons of sugar to the Soviets in exchange for $100 million in credits and low priced crude Soviet oil –Upon this, the US gave up on working with Castro

12. Cuban Revolution April 1961: Bay of Pigs Invasion –Cuban exiles and the CIA landed in Cuba in an attempt to overthrow Castro, it failed! –This failure only proved to Castro that the US was trying to get rid of him and reassert its hegemony over Latin America It also enhanced his status and power in Cuba The USSR had said they would protect Cuba against the US so they moved missiles (nuclear) into Cuba (Cuban Missile Crisis) –The failure of JFK to decisively commit US air and naval power at the Bay of Pigs invasion led Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev to believe that JFK would not take action when the Soviets announced they had moved weapons to Cuba

13. Cuban Revolution –Khruschev then believed that he could use “nuclear blackmail” to make the US acquiesce to his demands over issues like the status of Berlin, Germany. –The discovery of the missiles by the US before they were operational and the agreement by the USSR to remove them in return for the US to pledge never to invade Cuba and take missiles out of Turkey ended Khruschev’s plan and saved the world from nuclear war Castro was ignored during the Cuban Missile Crisis by both the US and USSR

14. Cuba under Castro “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” Cuban economy –Castro attempted to increase the industrial production Severe mismanagement and poor planning doomed the process –Castro tried to augment the supply of foreign currency by increasing sugar production to 10 million tons This failed in many ways –It caused other industry to collapse because all the effort was placed on sugar production –Workers resented the low pay and long hours required for sugar production »In 1970, Cuba did produce 8.5 million tons of sugar. The market, however, became saturated and the price dropped severely (lower than the cost of production) »The USSR was only buying ½ of Cuban sugar produced All this helped put the economy in disarray.

15. Cuba under Castro Why did people continue to support Castro? –Free: education through the university level Healthcare Child care Social security benefits Gov’t subsidized housing –These programs meant that Cuba had the most equal distribution of income in the Americas on the positive side; on the negative it meant that the people had little incentive to work in an attempt to improve standard of living –Even with the tremendous flow of Cubans into America the Cuban population continue to support Castro 1994 poll: by the Miami Herald, 69% of Cubans saw themselves as revolutionaries, socialists, or Communists; 58% believe the revolution bettered their lives

16. Cuba under Castro Socialistic Idealism vs. Capitalistic Pragmatism –The idea that Castro and Che Guevara wanted to spread around Latin America and the world –Castro believed that the downtrodden people of Latin America were the perfect people to get his message to. The US had other ideas though. As Castro began training troops in Cuba to help fight revolutions elsewhere the US began supporting anti-guerilla movements in L.A. countries. The Cuban revolutionaries could never gain enough support to overcome the status quo. –Che Guevara tried to start a revolution in Bolivia but was killed there by gov’t troops in 1967. The movement to take L.A. by revolution failed.

17. Cuba under Castro What else did Castro do to try and help the economy? –Took after the Soviet (Communist) model Economic management in the hands of the gov’t –Efficiency and productivity were encouraged by giving managers of state owned businesses the authority to give bonuses and hire and fire people –Availability of consumer goods was given as incentive for something to work for –Commodities were sold to capitalist countries to gain the hard currency necessary to purchase advanced industrial technology »1974: 41% of trade was between non-communist countries and Cuba –Limited private enterprise was allowed »Farmers’ markets; carpentry; electricians; plumbers; appliance and auto repair and the like –Tourism was encouraged

18. Cuba under Castro –These reforms did lead to growth in the 1970’s, however, Cuba’s economy was still to dependent upon the export of sugar and when the price fell to $0.8 a pound the economic growth stopped Cuban military movements –20% of Cuban military served overseas in 1978, mostly in Africa 1975: to help pay debts owed to the Soviets, Castro sent 20,000 troops to Angola (Africa) in hopes of keeping a Marxist regime in power 1978: 20,000 troops were sent to Ethiopia to help the prop-up that country’s leftist gov’t

19. Cuba under Castro 1982: Cubans built a large airfield in Grenada in the Marxist controlled area of the island –The Grenadian gov’t claimed it was for tourism, but the Reagan administration was fearful it would be used for Soviet aircraft to supply the Sandanistas in Nicaragua –1983: US invaded Grenada, replaced the gov’t and ordered the Cubans off the island Castro also had a program similar to the US Peace Corps –Cuban specialists helped, with no cost from the host, with: »Medical care »Construction projects »Education »Agriculture »Mining »Fishing »Cattle production

20. Cuba under Castro In 1979, more than 14,000 Cuban aid workers were serving abroad –Which, of course, served to enhance Castro within the developing world –It also removed unemployed workers that could have become discontented with the regime 1980: dissatisfaction with the regime led to 11,000 Cubans to seek asylum in the Peruvian embassy to escape Cuba –To avoid further embarrassment Castro allowed those who wanted to leave the opportunity 125,000 took advantage of this and emigrated by sea to Florida Castro used this opportunity to empty his jails and mental institutions and send them to the US

21. Cuba under Castro –To help reduce the discontent by stimulating the economy Castro reduced black market traffic by allowing small businesses to sell food and clothing alongside the official gov't rationing stores How did Castro fund all these programs? –Borrowed heavily from foreign banks Europe, Japan, Canada In the 1980’s when the interest rates increased the Cubans could not meet their payments and had to restructure the $3.5 billion debt –They also had to renegotiate the $7 billion debt with the USSR To help ensure the money came in the gov’t clamped down on the limited free market activities they previously allowed and enacted stricter wage controls

22. Cuba under Castro Soviet collapse created a big problem –USSR collapse led to the “special period” Because of the Soviet collapse there was no longer any oil available or purchasing of Cuban sugar; the cost was a severe economic depression in Cuba –1992-1993 7,000 people fled Cuba for Florida citing economic hardship as the reason –1993: the gov’t allowed the US dollar to be used by the gov’t to pay off debt –1995: allowed foreign and joint-foreign businesses –Tourism attracted many from Europe and Canada each winter (some US citizens illegally) Agricultural production was decentralized and state farms became cooperatives where farmers worked for a share of the profits

23. Cuba under Castro These reforms caused food production to increase over 17% in 1996 1994: gov’t allowed surplus food to be sold on the free market, thereby reducing the black market and ensuring the tax revenue generated 1993: private service industry and restaurants allowed to expand Taxes were collected from private operations and if the business was in US dollars then taxes were in US dollars –The dual dollar-peso economy is creating an increase in Cuban society. The privileged work in the service industry where they have access to dollars; people without luck are stuck in the peso economy or rationing and state-owned stores

24. Cuba under Castro This has placed a special burden on teachers, doctors, and bureaucrats- those who work for the gov’t –They can’t get dollars which means they have no purchasing power –Therefore, many have second jobs in the service industry so they can make dollars The inequities of this economy is threatening the revolutionary ideals The end of the Cold War did not help US-Cuban relations like many thought –1992: Torricelli Act (aka Cuban Democracy Act): prevents subsidies of US companies that are located outside the US from trading with Cuba even if the country they are in allows it; ships that dock in Cuba can not dock in a US port for 6 months; the president can stop foreign aid to any country that deals with Cuba and the law allows him to give aid to anti-Castro dissidents.