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Moncada attack

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July 26, 1953 attack by Castro and other rebels on the Moncada barracks. The attack was a failure. Castro had expected the officers to not be as alert as they were, and groups of revolutionaries to fight in the attack were split off and never made it to Moncada itself.

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Oil Refineries

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Forced by Castro to process Soviet oil. The US government met with the refineries and asked them to join in a united front and reject the petroleum. In response, the Cuban government expropriated the refineries and processed it themselves.

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Gerardo Machado

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Dictator of Cuba, thrown out of rule in 1933. Modernized Cuba to some degree and increased literacy rate. According to the Modernization and Revolution lecturer, modernization led to his overthrow.

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Miami Pact

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Created in the summer of 1957 in Miami by a group of Autenticos, Ortodoxos, and signed for the M26J by Felipe Pazos, Unity pact that allowed for foreign intervention from the US and a military coup, Castro was vehemently opposed to it

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Revolutionary Directorate

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Group of students from Havana University who opposed Batista's dictatorship. Led the assault on the presidential palace, the revolutionary underground. Fought in the Escambray mountains.

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Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo

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Leader of the Escambray front during the Revolutionary war. Revolutionary directorate eventually accused him of treason

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Carlos Prio

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Former Autentico president of Cuba, thrown out of office and into exile by Batista in 1952. Supported the revolution financially.

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Jose Antonio Echeverria

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President of the FEU during the revolution. Led and was killed in the attack on the presidential palace in 1957. Portions of one of his remarks were included in a speech with religious references omitted; this led Castro to have a royal fit about the revolutionary past

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Autenticos

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Former political party in Cuba. Thrown out of office by Batista's coup. Pointed out as corrupt in "History Will Absolve Me." Presidents are Carlos Prio and Grau San-Martin

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Sugar producers' cartel

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Also known as the Sugar Stabilization Institute. One of the structures of US hegemony

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Herbert Matthews

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Reporter from the New York Times who visited Castro in the mountains. Published a very positive article about Castro and proved that he was still alive. Was tricked by Castro.

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Platt Amendment

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Corollary in the Cuban constitution after Cuba declared independence. Allowed the US to intervene in Cuba, station troops there, was forced on Cuba. Most provisions repealed in 1934, but Guantanamo Bay portion still stands

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Platt Amendment Mentality

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Term generally used in a negative manner regarding Cubans who seem to act as if the Platt Amendment still holds

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Rene Ramos Latour

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Leader of faction split against Castro. Felt that the revolution must be fought on all fronts. Signed Miami Pact and considered forming a government in exile without Castro. Replaced Frank Pais in the Underground after his death and led several revolutionary onslaughts. Died in 1958 fighting with Castro in the Sierra Maestra.

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Caracas Pact

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Signed July 20, 1958 (Batista was clearly falling) as a response to the Miami Pact. Signed by guerrillas in the Sierra Maestra, including Fidel Castro, Raul Castro in the Escambray, and the Revolutionary Directorate. Like the Miami Pact, but without US intervention in Cuba and a military coup

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Felipe Pazos

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Signer of the Sierra Maestra Manifesto in July 1957. Signed the Miami Pact for the M26J without permission from other leaders in the movement. Arranged for Herbert Matthews to visit Castro. Headed the National bank of Cuba after the revolution and joined April 1959 trip to US. Resigned from the movement in 1959 after becoming very disillusioned, escaped to the US.

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Ortodoxos

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Left political party before the revolution. Involved in Miami Pact. Led by Eduardo Chibas, who later killed himself. Planned to combat corruption, but were unsuccessful.

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Sugar Stabilization Institute

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Set quotas for each sugar mill and farm, thereby decreasing competition and allowing for inefficiency. Did not punish producers who made crap, thereby eliminating the benefits of capitalism.

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Ernest Hemingway

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Lived in Cuba prior to the revolution, but left after it happened. Purported to be a fan of Castro's overthrow of Batista, but his property was expropriated along with other American citizens' property. His former home was one of the locations used in Memories of Underdevelopment.

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Earl E. T. Smith

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Ambassador to Cuba during Batista's reign. Did not speak Spanish, was not very effective. Firmly believed in Batista, thought he should still receive weapons.

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PSP

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Cuba's communist party prior to the revolution. Was largely ostracized after the revolutionary victory. Castro gave preference to members of the M26J movement.

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Cienfuegos naval revolt

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September 1957 coup against Batista planned by officers working with the local underground and the Autenticos. Blow to Batista's image of military support, most effective coup outside of the revolution. Geographically limited, so it was overthrown by Batista.

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Ramon Barquin

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Held in prison in US, but released in order to start a coup that didn't involve Castro or Batista. Former colonel, tried coup in April 1956. It failed because he was betrayed by one of their own.

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Eduardo Chibas

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Leader and organizer of the Ortodoxos. Killed himself on live radio. Recording of his death used by revolutionaries.

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Raul Chibas

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Eduardo Chibas's brother and revolutionary leader. Signed Sierra Maestra Manifesto. Leader in the Cuban army after revolution, then defected to the United States.

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Second Front

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Refers to the Sierra Cristal front organized by Raul Castro. Originally, Felipe Pazos wanted to establish it, but Fidel undermined his efforts. Fidel would use the same idea months later. Was a large success because the Sierra Cristal was a better location.

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"History Will Absolve Me"

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Speech delivered by Fidel Castro at his trial. Interpreted differently by multiple historians and the Cuban government. The biggest question surrounding this text is whether or not it reflected Castro's true beliefs.

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Sugar Monoculture

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Primarily used to describe the Cuban economy before the revolution. The economy would fluctuate dramatically because a large percentage of exports were sugar and similar products.

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Sierra Maestra Mentality

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The mentality held by the revolutionaries before and after the revolution. Requires blind devotion to the regime, a willingness to fight for revolution and die for it, and devotion to Castro.

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Frank Pais

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Leader of the Revolutionary Underground within the cities. Was killed during a demonstration in 1958.

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Marcos Rodriguez

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Tipped off the police to the location of the FEU students after the attack on the presidential palace. Member of the PSP and one of the communists that was an asshole to Castro.

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Marriage palaces

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Intended for weddings, weddings were family affairs, and huge numbers of people could be invited. Very expensive, but expected for a Cuban wedding.

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Castro-Cantillo Relationship

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Cantillo was a general during the revolutionary war that fought against Castro in the Sierra Mountains. He was not the biggest fan of Batista. Castro's Strategic Genius lecturer says that Castro took advantage of this fact and built an alliance with Cantillo intending to drive him away from Batista's side. Cantillo therefore allowed Castro to enter Santiago and Moncada. This move accelerated the deterioration of the Cuban army.

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"Cannibalized" factories

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During Castro's program of crash industrialization, factories broke down and no spare parts could be acquired because of the US embargo. To replace broken parts, the government dismantled older factories and used their parts to repair other factories.

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Great Debate

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US discussion over whether or not to continue the embargo.

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Philip Bonsal

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US ambassador to Cuba after Earl E. T. Smith's resignation. Fluent in Spanish, had dealt with revolutionary governments that were unfriendly to the US before. Welch claims that he was weak. Lecturer for US/USSR III: Cuba's initiatives claimed that he was actually a great diplomat and did his job well. He did not push the US objectives too hard, but did push them just enough.

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Anastas Mikoyan

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One of the first soviet officials to visit Cuba after Alexeev recommended it, vice-prime minister. Was enormously impressed by Cuba and therefore developed a trade agreement over sugar and oil. During Soviet missile crisis, negotiated the missiles' removal with Castro.

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April 1959 trip to US

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Castro traveled to US. It was an informal trip. Eisenhower did not meet with him, but Nixon did and trashed communism to Castro. Question of whether or not this trip alienated the Cuban revolutionary government.

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Material incentives

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Benefits that have a monetary value, including money, gifts, services, or discounts received as a result of one's membership in an organization. Led by Carlos Rafael Rodriguez, the director of INRA and was supported by many PSP leaders. This model was adopted after the failure of the Ten-Million-Ton Harvest in 1970.

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Moral incentives

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The personal satisfactions of active self-expression through contribution or other involvement to social causes. Led by Che Guevara. Used from 1966-70, and it failed pretty spectacularly.

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Dictatorship of the proletariat

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a. Marxist-Leninist term that refers to the state when the proletariat as a class has control of political power. Used in Cuba as justification for Castro's rule; he was a less figurative dictator of the proletariat.

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Diaz Lanz

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Flew out of US airfield and flew over Havana, dropping anti-Castro leaflets. GOC claimed that he actually bombed Havana. The casualties actually resulted from anti-aircraft fire on the ground.

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Jorge Valls

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Political prisoner under Castro, and author of Veinte Anos y Cincuenta Dias. Claimed that political prisoners were really the most free people in Cuba.

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Huber Matos

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a former major in Castro's army who suffered 20 years of imprisonment for his stand against Communism in Cuba

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Idle women

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Term referring to women that did not have children, jobs, were healthy, and of age for the workforce. These women faced no consequences for not working.

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Import Substitution Industrialization

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a process of substituting for foreign imports by developing domestic industries that produce the same products

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Crash industrialization

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The economic system used by Fidel Castro from 1960 to 1963. Requires huge amount of imports and produces fewer exports. This created a balance of trade bottleneck, so Castro made the decision to stop using this method in 1963.

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Bay of Pigs

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In April 1961, a group of Cuban exiles organized and supported by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency landed on the southern coast of Cuba in an effort to overthrow Fidel Castro. When the invasion ended in disaster, President Kennedy took full responsibility for the failure.

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Cuban Missile Crisis

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an international crisis in October 1962, the closest approach to nuclear war at any time between the U.S. and the USSR. When the U.S. discovered Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba, President John F. Kennedy demanded their removal and announced a naval blockade of the island; the Soviet leader Khrushchev acceded to the U.S. demands a week later.

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Plantados

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Political prisoners who refuse to be shaken in their beliefs, enduring hunger strikes and worse to change prison policies. Given this name for their refusal to move and rooted-ness in their ideals.

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Revolutionary Offensive

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1968. Expropriate what was left, state seized what remained of the private economy. Closed bars, ordering beer factories to produce non-alcoholic malt beverages, rum was intended only for export

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