Mexico, Cuba & Central America (1945-Present)

Vocabulary practice covering key political events, figures, and ideologies in Cuba, Panama, El Salvador, and Nicaragua from 1945 to the present.

Platt Amendment

A provision included in the new Cuban constitution stating that the U.S. had the right to intervene in Cuban affairs.

Panama Canal

A stretch of land $10$ miles wide for which the U.S. was granted a zone to build a canal in $1903$ after encouraging a revolt against Colombia.

Fulgencio Batista

The leader who took power in Cuba in $1934$; his regime collapsed in the late $1950s$ following a guerrilla war led by rebels.

Fidel Castro

The leader of the Cuban Revolution who declared Cuba a Marxist (Communist) one-party state by $1959$.

Nationalization

The process by which the Cuban government took over foreign-owned businesses, such as sugar industries.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

A $1961$ attempt by the U.S. to overthrow Castro using secretly trained Cuban exiles, which ended in defeat.

Cuban Missile Crisis

An October $1962$ confrontation where the Soviet Union was given permission to build missile bases in Cuba, leading to a U.S. naval blockade or quarantine.

Trade Embargo

A complete halt of trade placed on Cuba by the U.S. in $1962$, forcing Cuba to rely further on the Soviet Union for aid.

Leftists

Political groups, often Marxist or Communist, that want dramatic change, land reform, and are supported by the lower classes.

Conservative Right

Political groups that want no change, preserve traditional power systems like the Catholic Church, and are supported by the upper classes.

14 families

The small group of wealthy families that held almost all the land in El Salvador prior to the civil war.

St. Archbishop Oscar Romero

A Catholic Church official killed during the El Salvador civil war involving Leftist and Right-Wing forces.

Sandinistas

Marxist leftists in Nicaragua, led by Daniel Ortega, who overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza in $1979$ and implemented social reforms.

Contras

A conservative right-wing group in Nicaragua that opposed the Sandinistas and was backed by the U.S.

Violetta Chamorro

The first revolutionary leader in Latin America to give up power to the winner of a democratic election when she was elected President of Nicaragua in $1990$.