cuba: from revolution to "special period"

cuban independence!

• us forces remain in spain after 1898

• teller amendment (1898)

  • legislations that abrred the us from the outright annexation of cuba; pledged an independent cuba (at least nominally)

• platt amendment (1901)

  • leglislation intended to overrule telller amendment, allowed the us to invervene in cuba whenever it felt it’s interests were threatened.

• cuba feed itself of spain but not of theunited states.

the legacies of us occupation

• guatanamo bay lease

  • cuban american treaty (1903)

• us military intervention

  • 1898-1902, 1905-09, 1917-21

• political corruption

• us economic and cultural imperialism

“the tropical mussolini” the dictatorship of gerado machado

• president of cuba 1925-1933

  • former cattle theif, vp of us-owned cuban electric co

  • corrupt, fixed elections, graft and kickbacks, controlled military

  • secret police: el parra

• 1930: machado suspends cuban constitution

  • bans opposition parties

  • closes university of havana and cuban high schools

• forced into exile in florida 1933

the rise of fulgencio batista

• the first preisdency of batista 1940-44

  • 1940 election

  • 1940 constitution

    • reasonably liberal. universal sufferage. free elections, worker’s rights. etc.

  • the golpe (coup) march 10 1952

    • had support of cuban army and the us

    • swift, bloodless

  • bastista’s return to power

    • much more repressive than before

cuba in the 1950s

• second presidency of batista 1952-59

  • corruption and repression

  • economic woes

    • lowering the standard of living for most cubans

    • middle class in crisis

    • high unemployment

• organized crime

  • sin tourism

  • us mafiozi

    • meyer lanksky, lucky liciano, santo trafficante

the onset of the cold war

• latin america where the cold war became hot

  • us cold war policy short sighted

    • impact on today’s us/latin american relations

  • significant legacy in latin america

    • us backed dictatorships

      • trujillo, dominican rep

      • perez jimenez, venezuela

      • duvalier, haiti

      • somoza, nicauraugua,

      • batista, cuba

the cuban revolution

• overthrow of batista regime in 1959

• one of the most sweeping land reforms in history, radically redistrubuted wealth

• revolution less inspired by soviet style marxism than by radically anti us sentiment

  • cuba under castro, nationalism more significant than socialism, marti more influential than marx

the making of a revolutionary: fidel castro

• the 26th july the monocada barracks attack

  • 1953

  • led by 26 year old castro

• histroy will absolve me

  • imprisoned on isle of pines for two years

    • released on general amnesty may 1955

    • self exile in mexico 1955-56'

the 26th of july movement

• mexico exile and planning

  • july 1955-december 1956

• the 26th july movement

  • the centenarios

    • invoking the legend of jose marti

endgame: 1958-59

• batista’s offense (la ofensiva

  • operation verano

    • 10,000 cuban army troops

      • vs 300-400 revolutionaries

    • a miserable failture and embarassment to batista, weaks his crumbling rule

  • castros counterattack aug-dec 1958

the united states and cuba: 90 miles and a world apart     

• operation mongoose 1961-63

• there’s more couldn’t type

the literacy campaign

• 1961

• enlished over 100,000 student teachers

• cuba 1959: 40% illiterate

• cuba 1962: 4% illiterate

the us embargo

• el bolqueo

• november 1960

  • embargo forbade exporting all items except food and medicine

• soviet union, china, eastern bloc nations fill cuban import/export void

operation mongoose

• covert cia plan, backed bu kennedy administration to undermine and oust the catso regime

  • plots included assassination attempts, psychological warfare, sabotage, propaganda

bay of pigs: the lead up

• 1960 president eisenhower approves cia plan for program of covert action against castro

• january 1961, outgoing eisenhower admin severs diplomatic relations with cuba

the missles of october: causes

• soviets eager to exploit cuban relationship to their advantage

  • cuba “a dagger at america’s throat”

  • cubans did not request the missles

    • castro later approved of the plan

• the cuban missle crisis: october 15-28 1962

the missles of october: crisis

• 10/15 us reconnaisasance planes discover soviet missles under construction on cuba

• 10/22 jfk appears on tv; announces quarentine of cuba

• the us quarentine

  • technically a blockace of cuba by the us navy

  • blockade: an act of war

the missles of october: climax

• eyeball to eyeball

  • soviets back down

• endgame

  • crisis averted through backchannel deals

    • soviets will remove missils if us promises not to invade cuba and also to remove their own missles from turkey

  • cubans stunned and humiliated, used as pawns between superpowers

  • catsro not even consulted about the bargain

    • castro hears about agreement on radio

cuba and the collapse of the ussr

• castro responds to soviet reforms under gorbechev

  • castro reforms in ussr a mistake; soviet tinkering with marxist-leninist formula risks watering down socialism

• a divisive and irreparable idealogical rift emerges between cuba and ussr

• the soviet implosion whne it comes to 1991, stuns cuba

the cold war and latin america

• where the cold war becomes hot

the periodo especial

• the “special period”

  • era from 1990 to about 1996 when, with the fall of the ussr, cuba experiences several econonomic and social crisis

    • a time of scarcity, want, and hunger

• cuba alone

  • trade with easter euro nation grinds to hault

  • soviet oil imports fall by 90%

  • usa rachets up economic pressure

cuba’s response- reform and repressoin

• austerity and ingenuity

  • rationing of critinal items (food, oil, etc)

  • hunger, crime on the rise

  • appeal to patritosm and sacrifice for la patria