Cuba Terms – Flashcards

On July 26, 1953, at the age of 26, Castro lead a group of 165 students in an audacious attack on the Moncada military barracks near Santiago, intended to spark insurrection against Batista. Poorly armed, and with little military training, the attack failed. Castro and his brother Raul were captured and jailed. The trail and publication of his History Will Absolve Me speech made Castro famous. Castro was released from prison after he had served only two years of his sentence. He then left for Mexico where he began to plan another attempt to overthrow the Cuban government.

Guevara was born in Rosario, Argentina, the son of a progressive, middle-class parents of Spanish, Basque and Irish descent. An Asthmatic all his life, Guevara studied medicine and undertook a trip to the Andes in the early 1950s, while still a student, through which he gained a direct knowledge of peasant conditions and political movements. He was in Guatemala in 1954, in the final months of the reformist government of Jacobo Arbenz, and was witness to the invasion in June by a small group of Guatemalan officers, organized and funded by the US CIA, which confirmed in him a life-long distrust of the United States. Later in 1954, while living in Mexico City, he met Raul and Fidel Castro, and joined their 26th of July Movement, Between him and Fidel, he noted on first meeting, there was a "mutual sympathy." Right from the start, they were an effective partnership. Guevara provided Castro with broader horizons, a strong understanding of revolutionary experiments and political theory, as well as considerable first-hand knowledge of Latin America. Castro gave Guevara an immediate political cause. Guevara travelled to Cuba aboard the yacht Granma with the rebel army and became second-on-command to Fidel Castro, playing a major role in the successful two year guerilla campaign that deposed the Batista regime. Following the Cuban revolution, Guevara performed a number of key roles in the new government. These included a focus on agrarian reform as minister of industries, serving as national bank president, overseeing the revolutionary tribunals and later travelling the globe as a diplomat. He oversaw the training of the militia forces who repelled the Bay of Pigs Invasion and organized the deal to bring the Soviet nuclear-armed ballistic missiles to Cuba in 1962 that sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was an enthusiastic writer and diarist, and published a manual on guerilla warfare, along with a best-selling memoir about his youthful motorcycle journey across South America. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to spread revolution abroad, first in Congo-Kinshasa, in Africa, and later in Bolivia, where he was executed by CIA-assisted Bolivian forces.

Cuban President Fidel Castro opened the port at Mariel from April 21 to Sept. 28 in 1980, allowing any Cubans who wanted to leave to go to the U.S. Some 120,000 Cubans left, out of the country's total population of 11 million.

In 1945, Castro went to the University of Havana, entered law school and entered politics.

amount of money Batista left in the Cuban treasury after leaving office in 1959.

when Castro and his brother were jailed after the failed attack on the Moncada military barracks, to avoid being executed because they were members of a wealthy, prominent Cuban family, the Bishop stepped in to alleviate the brothers' sentence.

in protest of Castro's harsh rule and authoritarian practices as well as his communistic sympathies, the US placed an embargo on goods shipped to Cuban. However, no embargo was placed on food or medicine.

Fulgencio Batista Zaldívar was born in Oriente Province, Cuba, on January 16, 1901. His parents were workers on a sugar plantation and Batista, not wanting to spend the rest of his life cutting sugar cane, joined the army when he turned 20. He rose steadily, if unspectacularly, through the ranks and in 1932 was promoted to sergeant. In 1933 he had become powerful enough to lead a successful coup - known as the "Revolt of the Sergeants" - against the progressive government of Gerardo Machado. After the coup Batista appointed himself head of the armed forces and quickly set out to consolidate his power. A year later he forced out the nominal president and appointed himself de facto ruler, although he used a succession of front men to hold the office of actual president. Batista quickly gained the support of the U.S. government, which saw him as friendly to its political and economic interests. He also formed a friendship with American gangster Meyer Lansky - known as the "treasurer" of the American Mafia - that would last for 30 years. Through his friendship with Lansky Batista was introduced to major Mafia figures, resulting in his forming a business partnership with some of the most notorious figures in American organized crime. They built hotels and gambling casinos, and controlled prostitution and the drug trade between Cuba and the U.S. (giving Batista a piece of the action). A change in the Cuban constitution in 1940 forced Batista to run for election as president, an election he won handily. However, the corruption and political repression of his regime and a string of high tax increases resulted in his losing re-election in 1944, after which he moved to Florida. He ran for and won a seat in the Cuban parliament in 1948 and ran for president in 1952. However, when it became clear that he would not win the election, he led a revolt against the government and once more took over, suspending the constitution and granting himself complete power. He formed an even closer relationship with American organized crime figures, which allowed them to spread their influence into Central and South America, and opened up the country to investment by large American corporations, which were attracted by his policy of keeping wages artificially low and silencing or jailing (or killing) labor-union leaders. Eventually, however, the corruption and repression engendered violent opposition, and a rebel movement led by Fidel Castro rose up in 1953. They were defeated, with many of their number killed and others - including Castro - sent to prison. In 1956, after his release from jail and flight from Cuba, Castro returned with a small army to resume the fight. A series of strikes, riots and university protests resulted in Batista's government growing even more repressive, and many opposition figures were beaten and killed. Armed opposition to his regime grew, and the various resistance groups came together under Castro's leadership. After a series of defeats inflicted by the rebels on his army and the U.S. government's finally withdrawing support for his regime, Batista fled the country on January 1, 1959, and Castro took over. Batista first went to the Dominican Republic, but eventually moved to Portugal, where he died on August 6, 1973.

although not originally a communist, through associations with the Soviet Union, Castro's Cuba began to demonstrate communistic policies which caused the US to reject Cuba, place an embargo on goods being shipped there, and sever relations with the island nation. After Castro's final attempt to overthrow Batista and his regime succeeded, Castro orchestrated the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations that brought the fidelistas and Cuban Communists together formally in 1961. In March 1963, the IRO became the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution (PURSC) and the final step came in 1965 with the creation of the Communist Party of Cuba (CPC). Castro was First Secretary and placed fidelistas in key positions. The final act came in 1976, when Cuba declared itself a communist state with Castro as head of state, head of the party and in control of key appointment. In 1960, however, Castro was playing a dangerous game with the superpowers, moving Cuba into the Soviet sphere at the same time that the United States was being ousted. This did not sit well with the White House and eventually led to the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961 and a 50-year US trade embargo.

when Castro's attempt from Mexico aboard the Granma failed, he and his followers fled to the Sierra Maestro Mountains. Castro and Guevara became international heroes when Herbert Matthews, a reporter from the New York Times, was brought to the rebel hide-out. Castro's forces grew during their time in the mountains and eventually launched a series of raids on the Cuban army, causing heavy casualties.

Following a year of severely strained relations between the United States and Cuba, Cuban leader Fidel Castro openly declared that he was a Marxist-Leninist. The announcement sealed the bitter Cold War animosity between the two nations. Castro came to power in 1959 after leading a successful revolution against the dictatorial regime of Fulgencio Batista. Almost from the start, the United States worried that Castro was too leftist in his politics. He implemented agrarian reform, expropriated foreign oil company holdings, and eventually seized all foreign-owned property in Cuba. He also established close diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, and the Russians were soon providing economic and military aid. By January 1961, the United States had severed diplomatic relations with Cuba. In April, the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion took place, wherein hundreds of rebels, armed and trained by the United States, attempted a landing in Cuba with the intent of overthrowing the Castro government. The attack ended in a dismal military defeat for the rebels and an embarrassing diplomatic setback for the United States. In December 1961, Castro made clear what most U.S. officials already believed. In a televised address on December 2, Castro declared, "I am a Marxist-Leninist and shall be one until the end of my life." He went on to state that, "Marxism or scientific socialism has become the revolutionary movement of the working class." He also noted that communism would be the dominant force in Cuban politics: "There cannot be three or four movements." Some questioned Castro's dedication to the communist cause, believing that his announcement was simply a stunt to get more Soviet assistance. Castro, however, never deviated from his declared principles, and went on to become one of the world's longest-ruling heads of state.

When Fidel and Raul attempted the overthrow of the Cuban government by attacking the Moncada military barracks, they were sentenced to prison. Upon their release, the brothers fled to Mexico where they met Che Guevara and planned their next invasion of Cuba. This resulted in the failed Granma expedition which ended in disaster. Many of the rebels were either killed or captured as a result and the Castro's fled to the Sierra Maestra Mountains to escape imprisonment.

the yacht which carried some 80 rebels from Mexico to Cuba in Fidel Castro's second revolutionary attempt. It almost sank and arrived to the mainland too late to have a coordinated attack with rebels already in position.

the new regime would be defended from foreign incursion and counterrevolutionary insurgents by a national militia of part-time soldiers. "Committees for the Defense of the Revolution" were established throughout the country and recruited 500,000 soldiers who owed allegiance to Castro - a huge military considering Cuba's population was 6.7 million. The country was militarized almost overnight due to the wave of nationalism which swept the country as a result of these new policies. The committees controlled the country and would act as the government's strong arm, keeping order and control during the coming years of change and turmoil, effectively eliminating counterrevolutionary activity, defined broadly as anyone who disagreed with Castro. Critics of the revolution could expect harsh treatment, evident by the trail and conviction of Huber Matos. This resulted in the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of Cuba's best-educated and talented citizens to the United States. Within the first 18 months of his rule, Castro suppressed free press and the academic autonomy of the University of Havana was abolished.

on this date, Batista officially resigned from his office and fled the country, opening up the position for Castro and his revolutionaries.

criticism of Castro's refusal to hold elections came from members of the Fidelista. The most famous dissident was Major Huber Matos. A central leader and trusted ally during the revolution, Matos wrote a letter against the growth of communist influence and Castro's cancellation of elections.

Kennedy was the President who authorized the Bay of Pigs Invasion which resulted in a huge embarrassment to the US and his administration. In response, Kennedy took an ever harder stance against communism and severed relations with Castro upon his announcement as being a Marxist-Leninist.

several major oil companies refused to extend the newly installed government credit for oil imports and Castro responded by cancelling Cuba's exclusive contract with these firms and bought Soviet crude oil to be processed in US-owned refineries in Cuba. When their management refused, Castro responded, in turn, by seizing all US property and utilities (electricity and telephone), sugar mills, and nickel mines. The US responded with an embargo on all US trade to Cuba with the exception of food and medicine.

Cuba accepted aid from the Soviet Union when the US severed ties with them. The USSR installed their own nuclear ballistic missiles in Cuba as a deterrent to the US.

The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful attempt by United States-backed Cuban exiles to overthrow the government of the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Increasing friction between the U.S. government and Castro's leftist regime led President Dwight D. Eisenhower to break off diplomatic relations with Cuba in January 1961. Even before that, however, the Central Intelligence Agency had been training anti-revolutionary Cuban exiles for a possible invasion of the island. The invasion plan was approved by Eisenhower's successor, John F. Kennedy. On April 17, 1961 about 1300 exiles, armed with U.S. weapons, landed at the Bahía de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) on the southern coast of Cuba. Hoping to find support from the local population, they intended to cross the island to Havana. It was evident from the first hours of fighting, however, that the exiles were likely to lose. President Kennedy had the option of using the U.S. Air Force against the Cubans but decided against it. Consequently, the invasion was stopped by Castro's army. By the time the fighting ended on April 19, 90 exiles had been killed and the rest had been taken as prisoners. The failure of the invasion seriously embarrassed the young Kennedy administration. Some critics blamed Kennedy for not giving it adequate support and others for allowing it to take place at all. The captured exiles were later ransomed by private groups in the U.S. Additionally, the invasion made Castro wary of the U.S. He was convinced that the Americans would try to take over the island again. From the Bay of Pigs on, Castro had an increased fear of a U.S. incursion on Cuban soil.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. The United States armed forces were at their highest state of readiness ever and Soviet field commanders in Cuba were prepared to use battlefield nuclear weapons to defend the island if it was invaded. Luckily, thanks to the bravery of two men, President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, war was averted. In 1962, the Soviet Union was desperately behind the United States in the arms race. Soviet missiles were only powerful enough to be launched against Europe but U.S. missiles were capable of striking the entire Soviet Union. In late April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. A deployment in Cuba would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a real deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Fidel Castro was looking for a way to defend his island nation from an attack by the U.S. Ever since the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, Castro felt a second attack was inevitable. Consequently, he approved of Khrushchev's plan to place missiles on the island. In the summer of 1962 the Soviet Union worked quickly and secretly to build its missile installations in Cuba. For the United States, the crisis began on October 15, 1962 when reconnaissance revealed Soviet missiles under construction in Cuba. Early the next day, President John Kennedy was informed of the missile installations. Kennedy immediately organized the EX-COMM, a group of his twelve most important advisors to handle the crisis. After seven days of guarded and intense debate within the upper echelons of government, Kennedy concluded to impose a naval quarantine around Cuba. He wished to prevent the arrival of more Soviet offensive weapons on the island. On October 22, Kennedy announced the discovery of the missile installations to the public and his decision to quarantine the island. He also proclaimed that any nuclear missile launched from Cuba would be regarded as an attack on the United States by the Soviet Union and demanded that the Soviets remove all of their offensive weapons from Cuba. During the public phase of the Crisis, tensions began to build on both sides. Kennedy eventually ordered low-level reconnaissance missions once every two hours. On the 25th Kennedy pulled the quarantine line back and raised military readiness to DEFCON 2. Then on the 26th EX-COMM heard from Khrushchev in an impassioned letter. He proposed removing Soviet missiles and personnel if the U.S. would guarantee not to invade Cuba. October 27 was the worst day of the crisis. A U-2 was shot down over Cuba and EX-COMM received a second letter from Khrushchev demanding the removal of U.S. missiles in Turkey in exchange for Soviet missiles in Cuba. Attorney General Robert Kennedy suggested ignoring the second letter and contacted Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin to tell him of the U.S. agreement with the first. Tensions finally began to ease on October 28 when Khrushchev announced that he would dismantle the installations and return the missiles to the Soviet Union, expressing his trust that the United States would not invade Cuba. Further negotiations were held to implement the October 28 agreement, including a United States demand that Soviet light bombers be removed from Cuba, and specifying the exact form and conditions of United States assurances not to invade Cuba.

following Castro's seizure of all US properties in Cuba, the US responded with an embargo on all trade with Cuba, except for items like medicine and food. This embargo is still in place today as a symbol of US discontent with Castro's harsh policies.

this was a type of cow Castro attempted to crossbreed to make a superior Cuban cow. He combined regular Cuban heifers with Canadian cows, however these cows were smaller and died more quickly than the others. This was a failed attempt demonstrating Castro's sense of superiority over experts which cost him drastically.

US never placed an embargo

the major revenue producing export of Cuba. In 1970, known as the "Year of Decisive Endeavor," Castro promised a bumper harvest of 10 million ton of sugar. It was a bold move designed to deflect attention from the government's economic shortcomings, a tactic Castro would use often. It was also a national campaign to bring Cubans together under Castro's rule.

US never placed an embargo

the economy of Cuban was agricultural based, mainly sugar. When needing to industrialize, Castro turned to the sugar crop to produce funds for his new revolutionary economy designed to catapult Cuba onto the world stage. On May 17, 1959, the Agrarian Reform Law (ARL) was passed mandating the expropriation of large agricultural holdings and signaled radical alterations to Cuba's agricultural sector. The ARL was the brainchild of Guevara as a means of dissolving the latifundios (large estates) that had been outlawed in the 1940 constitution but never enforced because of US ownership and control of the sugar industry, and Cuba's own reliance on cane products. The National Institute of Agrarian reform (INRA) was established to oversee the changes. The ARL set the maximum size of private farms at 995 acres, abolished sharecropping, and restricted foreign ownership. All uncultivated land defaulted to state ownership.

Cuba developed a relationship with the Soviet Union in order to solve its economic crisis. Beginning in 1960, the Soviets initiated a four-year, $200-million deal to trade one billion tons of sugar per year in exchange for Soviet equipment.

Castro's revolution was aided in the US by public sympathy due to Herbert Matthews's articles while support for Batista dwindled. Batista had his hands full dealing with the revolutionary unrest in the cities, orchestrated by other members of the movement, most notably Frank Pais, as well as rival groups. Oriente province was disrupted by strikes and acts of terrorism. Castro's forces were growing and launched a series of raids on the Cuban army, causing heavy casualties. In 1958, the rebels launched a three-pronged assault that effectively cut the island in half. The United States government turned its back on Batista's pleas for help, and on January 1, 1959, Batista fled. Castro then triumphantly entered Havana leading the men and women of the 26th of July Movement to the cheers of adoring Cubans. Batista was gone and so was the vision of Cuba as a playground for rich North Americans and their business interests.

Attorney General during his brother's time in office. He helped to plan an assassination attempt on Castro which failed.

Che Guevara was in Bolivia participating in a revolution attempt when he was killed by CIA-assisted Bolivian forces.

the younger brother of Fidel, Raul participated in the attack on the Moncada barracks and was jailed with Castro. He travelled to Mexico to plan revolution with his brother where they met Guevara. Raul and Guevara together were Castro's most trusted revolutionaries. Raul helped his brother shape the course and direction of the revolution with Fidel as the supreme commander. Raul now rules Cuba since his brother's health is failing.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis in order to get Russia to remove the missiles aimed at the US, JFK promised not to invade Cuba after the missiles were removed.

Cuba did not possess the raw materials it needed to industrialize. Therefore, it needed to import much of them. Originally, the US supplied these. However, when Castro announced that Cuba was a Marxist-Leninist country, the US severed ties and Russia supplied much of the equipment and materials Castro needed in Cuba to attempt ISI.

Castro made his major improvements in the education system in Cuba. He brought the literacy rate down from 26.3% to 3.9% in less than one year. Also, before he came to power, the best schools were private and attended by wealthy whites while the public school were poorly funded and blacks and poor whites went there. After Castro came to power, he abolished all private schools and greatly improved the public schooling system. In 1979, 92% of children ages 6-16 were in school and 1/3 of the entire population was receiving schooling of some kind.

when Castro came to power, he wanted to implement ISI, however, both he and Guevara did not have the proper economic background and expertise to make this succeed. Also, when Castro wanted to breed the F1 cows, he was not a scientist and his plan ended in failure because he did not know what he was doing.

Castro's harsh policies forced many of the wealthy, educated citizens of Cuba to flee the country and 1 in 3 doctors left in the first 3 years after the revolution. However, Castro was still able to decrease the infant mortality rate to the lowest in the developing world, a remarkable feat comparable to his reforms in education. Also, encouraging women's rights and allowing them to have a place in the workforce converted many more of them to doctors. Female doctors eventually outnumbered male doctors in Cuba.

the Russians and Khrushchev were extremely interested in Cuba since they wanted a place in Latin America so close to the United States. Therefore, when Castro sought aid from the Soviets after breaking with the Americans, they were more than happy to give it. They also placed their nuclear missiles in Cuba which spawned the Cuban Missile Crisis.

the Eisenhower administration saw Castro come to power and planned the original Bay of Pigs Invasion which was inherited by the Kennedy Administration. Eisenhower was the original President to sever ties with Cuba.

Kennedy faced the greatest embarrassment with Cuba because of the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. This made him even more determined to take a tough stance on communism which was what had gotten him elected. This almost ended in disaster iver the Cuban Missile Crisis in which he refused to back down to the Soviet Union and only through his brother, Robert Kennedy's negotiations through underground means was the disaster averted.

Carter focused much of his attention on the Panama Canal and wanted America to out aside its "inordinate fear of Communism."

distance Cuba is from the Us. This explains why we were so fearful when the Soviets placed missiles aimed at the US in Cuba.

Castro's many unfulfilled promises, especially about holding free elections, caused many Cuban citizens to flee the country to the US and escape the authoritarian regime.

Castro expropriated US assets in Cuba to take over the land and redistribute it under his new communist economic policies. The US severed ties with Cuba over this.

number of people who fled in 1980 from the Mariel port when Castro opened the gates for people to leave the country.

In the fall of 1960 the Cuban government created an important new institution: Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs). Locally based citizens' groups, they were organized primarily for civil defense. The constant threat of invasion necessitated such a measure. Since the Revolution also had an enemies at home, the CDRs also had the task of monitoring the population for counterrevolutionary opinions or behavior. That same year Fidel moved to eliminate or neutralize the key institutions of the former "bourgeois" order. Castro's concept/ U.S. concept of security. Defense tactics of both U.S. and U.S.S.R. were tested during the Cuban Missile Crisis.