-
Period: to
Cuba in the Cold War Marco Solana SS-1 4.10.14
-
Castro's Attempt to Revolution Fails
Fidel Castro reacted to Batista’s coup by becoming a communist and attempting his own revolution. Castro claimed that he wanted to establish a regime that promoted political liberties and moderate reforms. Castro’s first revolution attempt, in the summer of 1953, failed, and he was put in jail. -
Castro's Release
Castro had been released and sent to Mexico. There, he resumed his revolutionary effort with a group of about 80 followers. -
Guerrilla War
Castro lands in eastern Cuba from Mexico and takes to the Sierra Maestra mountains where, aided by Ernesto "Che" Guevara, he wages a guerrilla war. -
US Withdraws Military Aid to Batista
The publicity promised to replace the brutality and corruption of the Batista regime with a just government. Castro’s rebel force grew to around 800. Despite this small number, they had much success, and Batista gradually lost support. In 1958, the United States stopped selling arms to Batista.
P.S I could not find the precise month and day for this event. I looked on various websites and they only said "early 1958."* -
Triumph of Revolution
Castro leads a 9,000-strong guerrilla army into Havana, forcing Batista to flee. Castro becomes prime minister, his brother, Raul, becomes his deputy and Guevara becomes third in command. -
US & Cuba Relations End
All US businesses in Cuba are nationalised without compensation. -
Bay of Pigs
On April 17, 1961, the CIA-backed force of 1,400 Cuban refugees landed at the swampy Bay of Pigs on Cuba’s southern coast. A Cuban force of 20,000 easily overwhelmed the invaders, capturing about 1,100 men and imprisoning them. Eventually, the U.S. government secured the release of these prisoners by paying a ransom of $53 million in medicine and food. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was an international crisis in October 1962. It was the closest approach to nuclear war at any time between the US and the Soviet Union. When the US 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 US demands a week later. -
Cuban Communist Party
In 1944 the party had been renamed the People’s Socialist Party.It retained this name until 1961, when, after Castro’s overthrow of Batista and the victory of the revolution, the party was merged with Castro’s 26th of July Movement and Revolutionary Directorate to form the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations. This in turn, dissolved on October 3, 1965, and replaced by the Cuban Communist Party.
