The Cuban Revolution1959-1961

By: Alexus Sommerville

3rd Block Mrs.Crowder

Fidel Castro

He was the fifth child out of seven kids. His parents were Angel Castro and Lina Ruz-Gonzales. His father was a plantation owner. He was a star athlete in high school and he attended the University of Havana in 1945. He graduated from law school in 1951. He liked to study the writings of Jose Marti.

Jose Marti He was a well

know Cuban poet and writer. He was the leader of the Cuban Independence movement from Spain. He was most Cubans hero.

Fulgencio Batista He was born in Cuba’s province

on January 10, 1901. Both Batista and Fidel Castro ran in the same election but for different offices. Then on March 27, the U.S. president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, recognized Batista’s type of government. Shortly after Batista turned Havana into a large-scale gambling city. It was know as the “Latin Las Vegas”. After this the governmental rules seemed like they were ignored and rebellions started to take place. This started the attack on the Moncada army barracks, led by Fidel Castro.

July 1998 The Parque Central in Havana,

Cuba

The Beginning of the Attack

“In the next hours, we shall win, or we shall be defeated, but in either case this movement will triumph. If we win this morning it will hasten that to which Marti aspired. If the opposite occurs, the gesture will serve as an example to the people of

Cuba, to seize the flag and move forward.” -These were the words of Fidel Castro

an hour before the attack on the Moncada Garrison on July 26, 1953

Moncada Garrison

The Attack The attack started when Castro planned an attack

on the Moncada army. He had his younger brother, Raul Castro, to come in and help him with this attack. He disguised himself just to get in because people knew his face. The attack began at 5:15 A.M. Castro was conquering at the beginning of the attack but a short while later his army began to fall. In the end Castro and several of his companions ran away to the mountains to continue the battle but were captured in the process.

After his trail in October 1953 he was convicted of leading the attack on Moncada. He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

Santiago de Cuba, where the attack on Moncada occurred.

Life in Prison

While serving his time in prison he concentrated on history. He mainly focused on books by or on Jose Marti.

He was visited by some members of Batista’s cabinet and an army colonel visited him once. They all expressed their sympathy for him.

After all of this occurred a national demand for amnesty grew up rapidly. Then finally on May 13,1955 Batista signed a bill that granted all the men that participated in the attack on Moncada unconditional amnesty. This released all of them from prison and they had not even spent two years in there.

Batista’s Twist

A few weeks after the amnesty was established that released them from prison, some of the men were arrested again. If they weren’t they were threatened with death. Castro didn’t like this so he followed Marti’s teachings and went to Mexico, where he planned a movement to overthrow Batista.

Start of a Revolution

On January 8, 1959, Castro marched into Havana. This signaled the end of Cuba’s old order and the start of something new. But before he arrived, dictator, Fulgencio Batista and his closest allies had already left the island. Some of the members of the traditional upper class left too.

Castro promised democracy but it was eventually turned into a repressive dictatorship.

Effects In 1961 Castro wanted to expand Cuban

economy by expanding non-sugar , achieving self- sufficient food production, and developing an industrialization plan based on the import-substitution model.

The plan failed and Cuba had to start rationing food a year later.

Production of sugar, tobacco, vegetables, dairy products, poultry, pork, and beef drop very quickly at this time. Workers also became absent and manufacturing productivity went down.

Cuba in 1962

America expelled Cuba from the Organization of American States. Fidel responds to this action by issuing a second Declaration of Havana that called for revolutions across Latin America.

The Mariel Boatlift This event was a mass movement of Cubans who

left the Mariel Harbor in Cuba and went to the US. It occurred between April 15 and October 31, 1980.

The sharp drop in Cuban economy was what made so many Cubans leave for the US.

The government and Castro let anyone that wanted to leave, leave.

President Jimmy Carter found out that some of the exiles were Cubans released from jails and mental health facilities. In reaction to this, it was ended by a mutual agreement between the two governments in October of 1980.

By this time 120,000 Cubans had already reached Florida.

A Cuban refugee boat going to the US during

the Mariel Boatlift

crisis.

Map of the trip from Mariel to

Florida.

The Torricelli Bill

The US tightened their hold on Cuba by enacting the Torricelli Bill. This bill increased trade sanctions against Cuba. The Representative that took it to Congress was Robert Torricelli. He says that making bills like this made Latin America the way it is today.

Timeline 1953- Fidel Castro is sentenced to 15 years in

prison for leading the attack on Moncada. 1955- After being freed from prison under general

amnesty he left for Mexico to organize the movement to overthrow Batista.

1959- Castro comes to Havana and becomes the Prime Minister.

1962- Cuba is expelled from the Organization of American states.

1980- The Mariel Boatlift 1992- The US enact the Torricelli Bill

Bibliography Jerry A Sierra, Batista, Dec. 2, 2007 <http://historyofcuba

.com/history/batista.htm>

Thomas M. Leonard, Castro and The Cuban Revolution, Connecticut, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999

Terence Cannon, Revolutionary Cuba, Canada, Fitz Henry & Whiteside Limited, 1981

Santiago de Cuba Map, Web Havana Cuba Maps, December 3, 2007 http://www.webhavana.com/CubaMaps/index.php?page=13

Landau, Saul, Tightening the Chokehold on Cuba, 2007, High Beam Research, BNET Research Center, December 3, 2007. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb1367/is_199206/ai_n6389537