The Cuban Missile Crisis (causes and long-term issues)

Cuba- causes and long-term issues

Fulgencio Batista, the USA's man in Havana (1940-59)- Brutal and corrupt.

1933- 'Good Neighbour policy'

The Americans thought of the Caribbean as in their backyard.

1936- Americans pulled out of Nicargua (the Somosa family were put in power- 1936-79).

Batista- By 1959, he is openly corrupt and an embarrassment to the USA. In the late 1940s, he wanted to propel the economies take off. Batista made Cuba a tourist destination.

Cuba- causes and long-term issues

Che Guevara and Fidel Castro- leaders of the 26th of July movement. They were not communist, but left-wing nationalists by the late 1950s. They became communist by 1961.

Castro was a lawyer he was a prisoner under Batista, Guevara was Argentinian

Context... long-term issues- The Monroe Doctrine

Regional US policy introduced in 1823 in response to the receding influence of the imperial powers (Spain)- the US wanted to fill that power vacuum.