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CASTROS REVOLUTION:
REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL IMPACT [1959 1983]
PRE-REVOLUTIONARY EVENTS
Fulgencio Batista
He was a barber turned military man and by 1933 he was able to gain control of the army. He
used his control of the military to be the mastermind behind puppet presidents. These
individuals owed their power to Batista; in seven years [1933 1940] he had made and unmade
seven presidents.
In 1940 Cuba got a new constitution and a new president; Batista was president of Cuba from
1940 to 1944 when he retired. Dr. Grau San Martin and Carlos Prio Socarras became presidents
for a term [4 years] respectively after Batista, but they seem intent on robbing the national
treasury.
Batista returned and became president again in 1952. Cuba had changed during Batistas
absence; the people were very anti-American, they were very discontented with Cubas
economic situation and staged many riots. Batista after a while started showing his displeasure
with the opposition, and instituted a military rule. This included the rounding up of opponents,
court martial and pre-dawn firing squads. A young lawyer named Fidel Castro immediately
began plotting Batistas downfall.
THE MONCADA ATTACKS
On the morning of July 26, 1953, Castro made his move. He selected the isolated Moncada
barracks in Santiago as his target. 138 men attacked the compound at dawn; it was hoped that the
element of surprise would make up for the rebels lack of numbers and arms. The attack was a
fiasco almost from the start; half the rebels died in the first round of machine gun fire few hours
after the fighting started. Others were captured and then shot; even sympathisers or those
suspected of sympathising were round up and court martial. Fidel and Raul Castro had escaped,
but they surrendered in August to stop the massacre. However, only 19 federal soldiers were
killed.
Outcome of the Moncada Attacks
The Castros and surviving rebels were put on public trial. Fidel, a trained lawyer, made a famous
quote at the trial: history will absolve me. He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, but
had become a nationally recognized figure and a hero to many poor Cubans. In May of 1955 the
Batista government, bending to international pressure to reform, released many political
prisoners, including those who had taken part in the Moncada assault.


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CASTRO REGROUPED
Fidel and Raul Castro went to Mexico to regroup and plan the next step in the revolution. There
they met up with many disaffected Cuban exiles who joined the new 26th of July Movement
named after the date of the Moncada Attacks. Among the new recruits was the charismatic
Argentine doctor Ernesto Ch Guevara. In November, 1956, 82 men crowded onto the tiny
yacht Granma and set sail for Cuba; they landed on the south east coast of Cuba.
Batistas men had learned of the returning rebels and ambushed them. Batistas soldiers greeted
the rebels with the latest automatic weapons. Fidel, Raul and only ten others retreated into the
jungle covered mountains of the Sierra Maestra; Che Guevara was among them. In the
impenetrable highlands the rebels regrouped, collecting weapons and staging guerrilla attacks on
military targets.
They even attracted new members especially after Batista closed the University of Havana,
because it showed opposition to his dictatorship. The rebels permitted foreign journalists to visit
and have interviews with them; these were published around the world and attracted a lot of
support and sympathy for Castro and his movement.
As the July 26th Movement gained power in the mountains, other rebel groups took up the fight
as well. In the cities, rebel groups loosely allied with Castro carried out hit-and-run attacks and
nearly succeeded in assassinating Batista in March of 1957. Batista sent a large portion of his
army into the highlands in the summer of 1958. The rebels carried out successful guerrilla
attacks on Batistas soldiers.
CASTROS ATTACK
In late 1958 Castro divided his forces, sending Guevara into the plains with small armies. Castro
followed them with the remaining rebels. The rebels captured towns and villages along the way,
and they were greeted as liberators. Meanwhile, government officials were negotiating with
Castro, trying to salvage the situation and halt the bloodshed.
Outcome of the Castro Attack
Batista and his inner circle realized that Castros victory was inevitable; they drained the national
vault and fled to the USA. Before he fled Batista authorized some of his subordinates to deal
with Castro and the rebels. The people of Cuba took to the streets, joyfully greeting the rebels.
Guevara and the rebels entered Havana on January 2
nd
and disarmed the remaining military
installations.
OVERVIEW OF THE RESULTS OF THE REVOLUTION
1. Consolidation of power - The Castro brothers quickly consolidated their power,
sweeping away all remnants of the Batista regime by purging the government, military
and police; they even removed rival rebel groups. Raul Castro and Ch Guevara were put
in charge of organizing squads to bring to trial and execute Batista era war criminals
who had engaged in torture and murder under the old regime. A total of 483 war
criminals were executed after trials.

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2. Expropriation - By 1960 Castro expropriated without compensation property including
land and infrastructure belonging to wealthy Cubans and Americans; along with
businesses such as Coca Cola and Sears.


3. USA Embargo - The United States imposed a trade embargo in 1962 which led to years
of hardship for the Cuban people.



4. Help from the USSR - Castro tried to offset the crisis created by the USA embargos by
seeking and acquiring help from the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union traded with Cuba,
and provided them with aid and loans to stabilise their economy. The USSR became
Cubas protector and the premier Nikita Khrushchev exclaimed in May 1960 rockets
will fly...


5. Bay of Pigs Affair - In April of 1961 the CIA allegedly sent 2000 men to invade Cuba
and overthrow Castro; they landed at the Bay of Pigs. The invasion was not well planned
and some of the men recruited for the venture were Castros own men. Three days after
they landed, some were killed and over 1000 invaders were imprisoned until December
1962, when they were released for $53 million worth of food and drugs from the USA.
The failed invasion embarrassed the USA and gained Castro a lot of support and
sympathisers.

6. Missile Crisis - The USA got their revenge in 1962 when she forced the premier of the
USSR to remove and return nuclear missiles in Cuba; or face war with the USA. During
the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-
day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed
Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores. In a TV address on October 22,
1962, President John Kennedy (1917-63) notified Americans about the presence of the
missiles, explained his decision to enact a naval blockade around Cuba and made it clear
the U.S. was prepared to use military force if necessary to neutralize this perceived threat
to national security. However, disaster was avoided when the U.S. agreed to Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev's (1894-1971) offer to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for the
U.S. promising not to invade Cuba. Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles
from Turkey.

7. Move towards - Castros relationship with the USSR made him abandon his democratic
principles and promises to the people; his alliance with Khrushchev paved the way for
Cuba to become a communist state by May 1961.




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8. Export of the revolution - Under Castro, Cuba assisted rebels in Angola and South
Africa as they struggle to rid themselves of oppressive governments. The revolution
spawned copycats in almost every nation in Latin America as idealistic young men and
women took up arms to try and change hated right winged dictator governments.

9. Some local opposition - Not every Cuban welcomed the communist Cuba, including
thousands of middle and upper class Cubans who fled the nation to Miami [the largest
Cuban community after Havana]. Many of those still in Cuba, have tried to flee to the
United States or Mexico in makeshift rafts and boats. Nevertheless, there are still many in
Cuba who love Fidel and continue to embrace the legacy of the revolution.
IMPACT OF CASTROS REVOLUTION
CUBA
Literacy Campaign
The Literacy Campaign was designed to force contact between sectors of society that would not
usually interact. The theme for the 1961 campaign was essentially each one teach one.
Besides literacy, the campaign aimed to create a collective identity of unity, [an] attitude of
combat, courage, intelligence, and a sense of history. Before the revolutionary government
nationalized schools, private institutions often excluded large segments of society; wealthy
Cubans often received exemplary instruction in private schools, while children of the working
class received low-quality education, or did not attend school at all.
With the program education became accessible to a much larger segment of the population after
1959. The percentage of children enrolled in school in Cuba (ages 612) increased dramatically
over the years and around 707,000 Cubans became literate by December 22, 1961. By 1962, the
countrys literacy rate was 96%, one of the highest in the world. Cuban literacy educators trained
during the campaign later went on to assist in literacy campaigns in fifteen other countries, for
which a Cuban organization was awarded the King Sejong Literacy Prize by UNESCO.
Additionally, over the past 50 years, thousands of Cuban literacy teachers have volunteered in
countries such as Haiti, Nicaragua and Mozambique.
Tourism
When the USSR became more democratic and capitalist, Cuba lost a great political and
economic ally; however, Castro encouraged tourism to offset the loss of Soviet Bloc subsidies.
Tourism from Europe increased dramatically. Those with hard currency could find good lodging
and ample food and drink on the island because the Cuban government gave them special
treatment contrary to socialist idealism. Even the number of Americans tourist increased because
Cuba was only a pariah nation to some Cuban exiles and ideologues in the US.


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AFRICA
Angola
Castros provided military support for Angolas push for independence from Portugal, which
began in 1975. However, the United States, through the CIA, along with the apartheid
government of South Africa, tried to maintain colonial control Angola.
Castro sent 36,000 troops to assist along with doctors, teachers and engineers, playing a key role
in the Angolan revolution. He actually directed military operations from Cuba during the
conflict. After military battles lasting over a decade, the South African Army was defeated in
Angola; this victory was considered to have hastened the demise of the apartheid government of
South Africa.
Ethiopia
In 1977 the Ogaden War broke out when Somalia invaded Ethiopia; and Castro supported
Ethiopia. This was despite Castro being a former ally of Somalis President Siad Barre. In
actuality Castro had warned Siad Barre against such action; therefore Cuba sided with Mengistu
Haile Mariam's Marxist government of Ethiopia. Castro sent troops under the command of
General Arnaldo Ochoa to aid the overwhelmed Ethiopian army. The Cuban presence was
crucial to Ethiopia's victory over Somalia. During the early 1978 counteroffensive in the Ogaden,
Cuban troops fought alongside their Ethiopian counterparts. With Cuban support, Ethiopian units
quickly scored several impressive victories. As a result, on March 9, 1978, Somali president
Mahammad Siad Barre announced that his army was withdrawing from the Ogaden.
A large Cuban contingent, believed to number about 12,000, remained in Ethiopia after the
Ogaden War. However, by mid-1984 Castro had reduced its troop strength in Ethiopia to
approximately 3,000. In 1988 a Cuban brigade, equipped with tanks and APCs, was stationed in
Dire Dawa to guard the road and railroad between Ethiopia and Djibouti, following attacks by
Somali-supported rebels. A mobile battalion of various military advisers and an unknown
number of Cuban instructors who were on the Harer Military Academy faculty also remained in
Ethiopia.
After Ethiopia and Somalia signed an April 1988 joint communiqu intended to reduce tensions,
Cuba decided to end its military presence in Ethiopia. The last Cuban troops left on September
17, 1989, thus terminating twelve years of military cooperation.




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LATIN AMERICA
Nicaragua
Cubas relationship with Nicaragua actually began in the 1960s when Cuba trained and armed a
then little-known fifty person Nicaraguan group, the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional
(FSLN). Within the next decade and a half that organization grew in force to the point that it was
able to take power by 1979.
In Nicaragua prior to the revolution the Somaza family ruled the country in a harsh and
unscrupulous way for more than four decades. The dynasty was overthrown after the National
Sandinista Revolution, which was supported by Castro and the Nicaraguan people from all
sectors workers, businessmen, peasants, students, and guerrillas. The Sandinista, the
Nicaraguans and the Cubans joined forces and finally defeated the Somoza dynasty and the
National Guard on July 19, 1979.
There is an agreement that Castro did provide a major level of assistance to the rebels in El
Salvador, especially through his efforts to unify the various guerilla factions; and he played an
instrumental role in the victory of leftist Salvadore Allendes 1970 victory in Chile. In these
areas and other Castro support the guerilla movements, provide material, training, soldiers and
technician, among other support.
Other Areas
In other areas of Latin America, Castros revolution had a lot of impact; especially because Latin
Americans never disobeyed the United States before the Cuban Revolution. And even Castros
ideological foes acknowledge their debt to him for standing up to Uncle Sam.
CARIBBEAN
Guyana and Jamaica
Castro was able to influence socialist movements in other Caribbean territories including
Guyana, led by Jeddi Jagan, and Jamaica led by Michael Manley. Unfortunately Castros
influence in these territories was not successful. Still a colony of Britain, the USA was able to
influence Britain to oust Jagan from power. In the 1970s Manleys socialist policies in Jamaica
were undermined by the USA leading to his ultimate defeat in the 1980 elections.




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Grenada Revolution
Rise to power - Maurice Bishop seized power in Grenada in 1979 by ousting Eric Gairy. During
the next few years, Bishops regime under his party the Peoples Revolutionary Govt [PRG]
replaced democratic institutions with Marxist ones and deprived Her Majestys Governor-
General, Sir Paul Scoon, of any influence.
Bishops Economic and Social Policies - However, influenced by Castro, Bishop tried to
improve the economic and social structure of Grenada by creating a modern agricultural
programme based on a system of cooperatives, peoples assemblies, free health and education for
all and low cost housing. Both workers rights and womens rights were core principles of
Bishops as well as the struggle against racism and Apartheid. The former took place through
the formation of a National Womens Organization which along with other social groups
participated in policy decisions. Women were given equal pay and paid maternity leave, and sex
discrimination made illegal. He also tried to improve the educational system by advancing a
literacy campaign.
Close Ties with Castro - Despite these uplifting policies Bishops regime was very restrictive in
many respects: he came to power without being elected, and during his regime, no elections were
held and policies were solely decided by him. Opposers to his regime were jailed and his
supporters were armed in order to maintain control.
Under Bishop, Grenada moved into the orbit of Cuba and the Soviet Union and both territories
and their satellites provided Grenada with aid. Bishop was also close friends with Castro and got
help from Cuba in terms of supplies and personnel for various sectors [military, health and
education etc.]. For assistance Cuba was helping Grenada to build a large airport at Point Salines
which would ensure that would move from being isolated from the rest of the progressive world.
However, the construction of the nine thousand-foot runway at Point Salines by a Cuban work
force of about six hundred armed men worried US analysts. The Bishop regime claimed that the
runway was essential to Grenadas tourism and economic development. Military experts
observed that it would enable MIG 23s [Russian fighter planes] to operate from Grenada and
extend the operating range of these fighter-bombers across the Caribbean.
The runway at Point Salines could facilitate both eastbound flights supporting the nearly fifty
thousand Cubans in Africa and flights from Libya and the Soviet bloc to Central America. The
prospect of Libyan and Soviet bloc citizens planting seeds of revolutionary warfare in Central
America concerned President Reagan and the leaders of the other island nations of the Antilles.
The USA was very fearful of the spread of communism in the Americas and was suspicious of
Bishop ties with Cuba and Nicaragua.

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Bishops Assassination and Aftrmath - A major emergency began in Grenada on 12 October
due to disillusionment with Bishops leadership; a decision was made to remove Bishop. At
midnight, Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard and the Commander of the military General
Austin placed Bishop under house arrest. One week later, followers of Bishop freed him and
accompanied him to army headquarters at Fort Rupert. Coards troops recaptured Bishop and
executed him and several cabinet members and union leaders.
In the wake of the murders and the resulting public furor, General Austin dissolved the civilian
government and established a Revolutionary Military Council [RMC] with himself as
spokesman. Austin closed the airport, imposed a four-day, 24-hour curfew, and warned that
violators would be shot on sight. These restrictions prevented the thousand or more US citizens
on the island from leaving, and caused special hardship to the six hundred American students in
the St. Georges School of Medicine located offshore. The students had to violate the curfew to
obtain adequate supplies of food and water.
Operation Urgent Fury - In Washington, State Department and other officials feared that the
new regime threatened the lives of the US medical students and other Americans and would
provide the Cubans a base from which to operate against the Central American mainland. Thus
the USA found it necessary to plan on short notice a military operation in support of the
evacuation of US citizens from Grenada; the plan was referred to as Operation Urgent Fury
[October 25
th
28
th
1983].
In total, an invasion force of 1,900 U.S. troops, reaching about 5,000 in five days, along with 300
troops from the assisting neighboring islands invaded Grenada. They were fighting against 1,200
Grenadians, 780 Cubans, 49 Soviets, 24 North Koreans, 16 East Germans, 14 Bulgarians, and 3
or 4 Libyans. The mission of the invading forces was to oust the RMC, to protect U.S. citizens
and restore the lawful government. Within three days all main objectives were accomplished.
By Nov. 2, all military objectives had been secured. Next day, hostilities were declared to be at
an end. Grenadians went about putting their country back in order; schools and businesses
reopened for the first time in two weeks or more.
People did get hurt and die; at the end of the operation, 282 people were dead [170 Grenadians,
70 Cubans and 42 Americans] and 116 were wounded. The USA ensured that Grenada severed
all ties with Cuba and other communist countries and instead established diplomatic relationships
with approved democratic territories such as South Korea and Taiwan. Economically, the USA
ensured that Grenada returned to a capitalist economy, with private investment encouraged; in
addition the USA provided economic aid to help finish and repair the airport at Point Salines.



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USSR
Emerging Ties
Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist in December, 1961. To many, it appeared that he was
enlisting the support of the USSR to forestall possible attacks on Cuba by the USA. For its part,
the USSR had little choice but to strengthen its ties to Cuba. By doing so, it could thumb its
nose at its chief rival, the United States; and to not to do so would mean that the USSR was not
interested in helping Marxist-Leninist revolutions. Nevertheless, Fidel never became a puppet of
the Soviet leaders.
Support from the USSR
In February, 1960, the Soviet signed a five-year trade agreement with Cuba, promising the
purchase of one million tons of sugar annually. Cuba was to receive petroleum products in
exchange. When the American oil refiners in Cuba refused to refine oil from Cuba, Castro
expropriated the companies without compensation. The Eisenhower administration decided to
work with anti-Castro groups inside Cuba in hope of overthrowing Castro. To defend Cuba as
well as itself against the United States, the USSR installed intercontinental ballistic missiles in
Cuba.
When the US confronted the USSR in October, 1962, the latter could not claim that these long-
range missiles were purely defensive for they could strike major Latin American as well as US
cities. The two nations went to the brink of nuclear war until the Soviets agreed to remove the
missiles and the US promised not to invade Cuba. Additionally the USSR was subsidizing Cuba
as much as the US was subsidizing South Vietnam. In the early 1970s, USSR military and
economic aid increased dramatically. In 1972, Cuba was granted full membership in
COMECON, the Soviet's equivalent of the European Common Market.
Castro Exerting Independence from the USSR
In return, Castro was expected to support all Soviet foreign policy. However, Castro was mindful
that no one would think that because Cuba was receiving so much help from the USSR that Cuba
was just another satellite. This fact was illustrated several times; for example when Castro began
to court the Chinese Communist government, another arch rival of the USSR; and also when the
Soviets invaded one of its satellites, Czechoslovakia, because it became too liberal, Castro sided
against the USSR.
Impact of the Collapse of the Soviet Union
However, the collapse of the Soviet Empire which began in November 1989, when the Berlin
Wall was destroyed and ended in 1991 greatly affected Cuba's situation. Not only did it lose its
subsidies, it no longer had great power support and the US took advantage of this situation, by
passing several laws and prohibitions. The situation worsened in 1993 when Russia withdrew
3,000 troops from Cuba, reducing income even further. Cubans began leaving the island by any
means.
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USA
The Beginning of the Conflict between the USA and Castro
Castro and others blamed the United States for Cuba's economic and political ills, believing that
the US kept Cuba dependent, and treated Cuba like a colony in all but name. However during the
period of American influence the United States paid Cubans higher than the world price for
sugar and gave it a substantial portion of its sugar quota. However, Castro, saw the sugar quota
as simply a means to control Cuba and to discourage Cubans from finding alternative and more
lucrative ways of making a living.
Castros Actions and Americas Response
Therefore, it was not surprising to those who knew him that soon after taking power, Castro took
a number of measures that disturbed the US government:
1. He arrested a number of Batista supporters, held quick "trials," and then executed many
of them.
2. He also arrested US citizens.
3. On March 3, 1959, Castro nationalized the Cuban Telephone Company, an affiliate of
International Telephone & Telegraph of the United States, and reduced telephone rates.
4. On May 17, 1959, his government passed an Agrarian Reform Law, which prohibited
ownership of farms larger than one thousand acres, excepting, of course, sugar and rice
plantations which, by necessity, have to be at least that large. Americans hated this
because most of the US-owned land in Cuba was much greater than that.
5. In January 1960, the Castro government expropriated 70,000 acres of property owned by
US sugar companies. The expropriation of United Fruit land in Guatemala in 1954 was
one reason the Central Intelligence Agency had overthrown the Arbenz government.
6. President Eisenhower asked for Congressional authority to cut off Cuba's sugar quota.
But in February, Cuba offset this embargo by signing a trade agreement with the Soviet
Union, which included Cuba buying Soviet oil. When the oil began arriving in June, US
oil refineries ESSO and Texaco; along with British-Dutch company, Shell, refused to
refine it. Castro contended that they had no choice if they were going to do business in
Cuba. They still refused. On June 28th, Castro nationalized the refineries.
7. On July 6, the US canceled all sugar imports from Cuba. Castro responded on August 6th
by nationalizing all US-owned businesses, industries, and farms.
8. By mid-September, Castro nationalized US-owned banks.
9. On September 18, 1960, Castro addressed the United Nations General Assembly and
protested what he called US aggression. He stayed in a hotel in Harlem to show his
solidarity with oppressed people.
10. Castros Urban Reform Law went into effect on October 14th. It nationalized all
commercial real estate and made housing free.
11. The Eisenhower Administration responded to Cuba's radicalism on 16th by a partial
embargo on Cuban goods. In response, Cuba announced the nationalization of the rest of
the property owned by US citizens on the island.
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12. Castro also reduced the staff of the US embassy to eleven, in hopes of reducing the
number of potential spies. The US broke diplomatic relations and began to train Cuban
exiles and others secretly to invade the island in 1961
The Bay of Pigs Affair
Castro knew that the US was planning an invasion using exiles. He told the world of this in late
March and he was correct, because by April there was a failed counter-revolutionary movement.
The Bay of Pigs invasion, April 17-20, 1961, involved 1,500 exiles; most were killed or captured
by April 20
th
. Castros army and air force reacted so quickly that the invading army never made
it to the mountains. The invasion had been planned on the premise that Cubans were so unhappy
with Castro's regime that there would be a mass uprising once news of the landing was
known. But many Cubans were happy with the changes Castro was making. Most of those who
were not had left the country. Even those willing to rise against Castro were unlikely to do so
unless there was clear evidence that victory would occur; and few people were so suicidal.
Castro and Carter the 1970s
Although the total economic embargo against Cuba, begun in 1961 and continued into the year
2004, it did not bring down the Castro government as intended. However, relations between the
United States and Cuba improved in the 1970s. Under President Jimmy Carter, restrictions on
travel by Americans to Cuba were lifted in 1977; study groups, journalists, and selected others
could visit the island. In 1979, Castro began allowing US relatives of Cubans to visit the island,
largely because he needed the income they would bring.

The Mariel Boatlift and Immigration Policies

However, the good relations did not continue to the 1980s; problems started with the Mariel
Boatlift which began in May, 1980 and lasted until September 25. The problem started when
some Cubans crashed a bus into the Peruvian Embassy in Havana, thus gaining sanctuary,
thousands other Cubans flooded the embassy grounds. Infuriated and embarrassed, Castro not
only allowed them to leave through the port of Mariel but also sent others, including persons
who were mentally and criminally insane; altogether they amounted to approximately 124,776.
Nevertheless, soon after Cuba and the USA signed an immigration agreement where some of the
marielitos would be returned to Cuba and 20,000 Cubans would be allowed to migrate to the
United States each year.



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Relations between Cuba and the USA were strained again, when the US established Radio Mart
to broadcast to Cuba and try to create discontent, Castro suspended the immigration agreement
and forbade Cuban-Americans from visiting Cuba and the US barred Cubans from visiting the
US.
In November 1987, however, the immigration agreement was resumed; but in August 1994, the
increase in refugees led the Clinton Administration to announce that Cubans interdicted at sea
would be taken to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba or to Panama. Therefore on May 2, 1995, the USA
and Cuba agreed to admit to the United States, Cubans kept at Guantanamo. The countries also
established the "wet foot, dry foot policy." Those who made it to the US could stay; those
interdicted at sea would be returned to Cuba and Cuba would not punish them.

Strained Relations in the 1990s
However, in the 1990s Cuba and the USA were again at odds; and in 1992 USA passed the
Cuba Democracy Act, which forbade the entry of third-party ships and planes that had carried
goods or people to Cuba. USA reduced economic aid to nations that traded with Cuba; and
prohibited subsidiaries of US companies abroad from trading with Cuba.
When Cuba shot down two unarmed planes flown by the Brothers to the Rescue Group in 1996,
President Clinton signed the Helms-Burton Bill. Some of the terms of the law were:
1. Removed the power of any future American president to change policy towards Cuba
without Congressional approval
2. The embargo against Cuba would continue until Cuba had a transition government
without Fidel Castro or his brother.
3. Funding would be withdrawn from any international institution providing humanitarian
aid to Cuba.
4. A $50,000 civil fine could be levied on US citizen who traveled to Cuba without
permission.
5. Any American citizen whose property was confiscated after the Cuban Revolution is
allowed to sue any foreign corporation that has "benefited" from the property or from its
use.






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WAS THE CUBAN REVOLUTION A SUCCESS?
Goals of the Cuban Revolution
From 1959 through the late 1980s, Cuba accomplished its major goals: sovereignty and
independence, equalizing income and fostering social justice. Thanks to the revolution, Cuba
was transformed from an informal United States colony, into a proud nation. For forty plus
years Cuban artists of all genres, athletes, doctors and scientists became world-renowned. The
revolution took a relatively unhealthy population and made it healthy, and gave it literacy,
universal comprehensive free health care.
Most importantly there were no elaborate lifestyles or self-enrichment by Castro or any of his
revolutionary leaders.
Yes, Cubans had to pay a price: divided families; injustices committed in the name of the
revolution; abridgement of civil liberties, not allow a free press nor foster competitive politics
and those with material aspirations suffered the frustration of egalitarianism. However, the
revolution destroyed the old society, which merited obliteration. The reactionary Catholic
Church hierarchy and the hypocritical upper class left the island, along with the mafiosos who
ran the hotels and casinos, in collaboration with the Batista government. The revolution also
replaced the old society with the state, which would be the instrument to bring Cuba out of
underdevelopment.
Survival of the Revolution against Odds
Unfortunately for those who left in 1959-60 and assumed that the US Marines would eliminate
Castro so they could return and retake their property, power and privileges; that did not happen.
The United States had, after all, established this pattern with other disobedient governments in
the Western Hemisphere and elsewhere. Just five years before Castro came to power, the CIA in
1954 had removed the democratically elected government of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala and
installed instead a gang of military thugs to preserve security, and fight communism. A year
earlier, the CIA had done a similar job in Iran. Therefore in light of the USAs determination to
punish disobedient leaders; the survival of Castros Revolution appears miraculous.
This was all despite USAs attempts to undermine Castros government. Allegedly in 1946 the
USA funded the School of the Americas also known as School of the Assassins in Panama. The
school was intended to train Latin American military officers. However, it is believed that by
1963 the focus of the school shifted from nation building to counter-insurgencies and for many
Castro was the number one target.
Also, in April 1961, the CIA sent approximately 1500 Cuban exiles to invade Cuba in the failed
Bay of Pigs Affair. Also, between 1961-3 alone, the CIA backed thousands of violent sabotage
operations, including dozens of assassination attempts. CIA labs devoted countless "creative"
hours to devising murder weapons to kill Fidel Castro. In 1968, Fidel recounted the story
which he also told Frank Mankiewicz in 1974 of a "pernicious poison they had developed,
which would metabolize and show no signs after I died of a mysterious disease."
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Anti-Human Rights Accusation
Whether anti-Castro propaganda or the truth, no one can be sure; however, Castro has been
accused of imprisoning without trial, locking in solitary confinement, torture and murdering so
called opponents of the regime. Alleged opponents included but were not limited to: political
opponents, homosexuals, journalists and artists.
Export of the revolution
In the 1970s and 80s, Cuban troops fought battles in Angola that changed the history of southern
Africa.
CASTROS GLOBAL LEGACY
1. Cubas military presence was felt globally, even though it was modest in most of
Southeast Asia and the Middle East. However, combat troops were dispatched to Syria,
South Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon.
2. The Soviets acknowledged the success of Castros activist policies, and, after 1979,
supported the Cuban position as the one to be followed by the communist parties in El
Salvador and Guatemala.
3. By the 1980s, Cuba accounted for nearly one-fifth of all Soviet-bloc economic
technicians working in the Third World, with only 2.5 percent of the blocs population.

4. It is clear that Cuba extended large amounts of civilian assistance to Third World nations
worldwide. Between 1982 and 1985, Cuba had one civilian aid worker for every 625
inhabitants, while the United States had only one worker in the Peace Corps and the
Agency for International Development (AID) for every 34,704 inhabitants.

5. Construction projects were especially important, with major undertakings centered in
North Vietnam, the Middle East, North Africa, and Latin America. The most
controversial project was located on Grenada, where the Cubans were working with an
English company on an airport expansion project. Contending that the airport was to be
used for military purposes, the Reagan administration justified a US invasion of the
island. However, the Cubans and the English company supplying and installing airport
electrical and technical equipment dispute the claim.

6. Cuba also extended educational and medical aid throughout the Third World.

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tanikadigiovanni@outlook.com

According to a contributor to the Economists, "the revolutions past social achievements still
give Mr. Castro a certain aura among people such as members of the European Parliament,
Hollywood film directors and Latin American students. But like the 1950s American cars and
decaying Spanish-colonial tenements, Mr. Castro has become part of the islands time warp."
However, many diverse audiences get into that "time warp" when they applaud Castro; including
Nelson Mandela, Jeddi Jagan and Michael Manley. He also received standing ovations at the
2002 Monterrey UN Summit on Financing for Development and at Nestor Kirchners presidential
inauguration in Argentina.