| República de Cuba Republic of Cuba |
|
|
Motto:Patria o Muerte(Spanish)
"Fatherland or Death"a |
Anthem:La Bayamesa("The Bayamo Song")
|
|
|
Capital
(and largest city)
| Havana
23°8′N, 82°23′W
|
| Official languages |
Spanish |
| Demonym |
Cuban
|
| Government |
Socialist Republicb |
| - |
President |
Raúl Castro |
| - |
First Vice President |
José Ramón Machado Ventura |
| Independence |
from Spain |
|---|
| - |
Declaredc |
October 10 1868 |
| - |
Republic declared |
May 20 1902 |
| - |
Cuban Revolution |
January 1 1959 |
| Area |
| - |
Total |
110,861km²(105th)
42,803sqmi |
| - |
Water(%) |
negligible |
| Population |
| - |
2007estimate |
11,394,043 [http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/02/24/cuba.nextpresident/index.html#cnnSTCOther2](73rd) |
| - |
2002census |
11,177,743 |
| - |
Density |
102/km²(97th)
264/sqmi |
| GDP(PPP) |
2006estimate |
| - |
Total |
$46.22 billion (2006 est.)[Cuba, CIA World Factbook, <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cu.html>. Retrieved on 1 January 2008](not ranked) |
| - |
Per capita |
$4,500 (2007 est.) |
| HDI(2007) |
0.838[Human development Reports: Cuba, United Nations Development Programme, 2007/2008, <http://hdrstats.undp.org/countries/data_sheets/cty_ds_CUB.html>. Retrieved on 1 January 2008](high)(51st |
| Currency |
Cuban Peso (CUP)
Convertible peso d (CUC) |
| Time zone |
EST (UTC-5) |
| - |
Summer(DST) |
(Starts March 11; ends November 4)(UTC-4) |
| Internet TLD |
.cu |
| Calling code |
+53
|
a As shown on the obverse of the 1992 coin[Sonic.net. 1992 coin. Retrieved on 2006-09-26.] (Note that the Spanish word "Patria" is feminine in
Spanish and is translated into English as either "Cradle" or "Place of Birth" or "Homeland.")
b[Government of Cuba. The Cuban constitution. Retrieved on 2007-01-29.] states that "Cuba is an independent and sovereign socialist state [Article 1]... the name of the Cuban state is Republic of Cuba [Article 2]." The usage "socialist republic" to describe the style of government of Cuba is nearly uniform, though forms of government have no universally agreed typology. For example, Atlapedia[Atlapedia. Cuba.] describes it as "Unitary Socialist Republic"; Encyclopædia Britannica[Encyclopædia Britannica. Cuba. Retrieved on 2007-01-29.] omits the word "unitary," as do most sources.
c At the start of the Ten Years\' War.
d From 1993 to 2004, the U.S. dollar was used in addition to the peso until the dollar was replaced by the convertible peso. |
The Republic of Cuba (pronounced [ˈkjuːbə], Spanish: Cuba(help·info) or República de Cuba(help·info) [re\'puβlika ðe ˈkuβa]), consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles), Isla de la Juventud and several adjacent small islands. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean at the confluence of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Cuba is south of the eastern United States and The Bahamas, west of the Turks and Caicos Islands and Haiti and east of Mexico. The Cayman Islands and Jamaica are to the south. The national flower is Hedychium Coronarium Koenig, most known as "mariposa" (butterfly) and the national bird is "Tocororo" or "Cuban Trogon" from the family of Trogonidae.[National Symbols, DTCuba, <http://www.dtcuba.com/CubaInfoDetails.aspx?c=9&lng=2>. Retrieved on 9 February 2008]
Cuba is the most populous insular nation in the Caribbean. Its people, culture and customs draw from several sources including the aboriginal Taíno and Ciboney peoples, the period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction of African slaves, and its proximity to the United States. The name "Cuba" comes from the Taíno language the exact meaning of which is unclear, but may be translated either "where fertile land is abundant" (cubao[www.alfredcarrada.org/notes8.html]) or "great place" (coabana[members.dandy.net/~orocobix/terms1.htm]). The island has a tropical climate that is moderated by the surrounding waters; however, the warm temperatures of the Caribbean Sea and the fact that the island of Cuba sits across the access to the Gulf of Mexico combine to make Cuba prone to frequent hurricanes. Cuba\'s main island, at 766miles (1,233km) long, is the world\'s 17th largest.
History
The first voyage of Columbus
-
The recorded history of Cuba began on 12 October 1492, when Christopher Columbus sighted the island during his first voyage of discovery and claimed it for Spain.[Gott, Richard: Cuba A New History. Yale University Press. p13 ] Columbus named the island Isla Juana in reference to Prince Juan, the heir apparent.[Andrea A.J., Overfield O.H. (2005). The Human Record, Vol 1; Letter by Christopher Columbus concerning recently discovered islands, P8. ISBN 0-618-37040-4.] The island had been inhabited by Native American peoples known as the Taíno and Ciboney whose ancestors had come from South America and possibly North and Central America in a complex series of migrations at least several centuries before, and perhaps 6,000 to 8,000 years ago.[AFP 2007 (accessed 11-18 2007) Arqueología Hallazgo podría dar pistas sobre primeros habitantes de la Isla. Cuba en el Encuentro, jueves 15 de noviembre de 2007 http://www.cubaencuentro.com/es “"oficialmente se habla de la presencia de los primeros humanos (en Cuba) en un periodo que oscila entre 6.000 y 8.000 años".” ] The Taíno were farmers and the Ciboney (far more commonly written Siboney in neo-Taino nations) were both farmers and hunter-gatherers; some have suggested that copper trade was significant and mainland artifacts 
, University of Cambridge, <http://museum.archanth.cam.ac.uk/IACA.WWW/amulet.htm>. Retrieved on 18 December 2007
The coast of Cuba was fully mapped by Sebastián de Ocampo in 1511, and in that year the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa. Other towns including the future capital of the island San Cristobal de la Habana (founded in 1515) soon followed. The Spanish, as they did throughout the Americas, oppressed and enslaved the approximately 100,000 indigenous people that resisted conversion to Christianity on the island. Within a century they had all but disappeared as a distinct nation as a result of the combined effects of European-introduced disease, forced labor and other mistreatment, though aspects of the region\'s aboriginal heritage have survived.
Colonial Cuba
Cuba was in Spanish possession for almost 400 years (circa 1511-1898). Its economy was based on plantation agriculture, mining and the export of sugar, coffee and tobacco to Europe and later to North America. Havana was seized by the British in 1762, but restored to Spain the following year. The Spanish population was boosted by settlers leaving Haiti when that territory was ceded to France. As in other parts of the Spanish Empire, the small land-owning elite of Spanish-descended settlers held social and economic power, supported by a population of Spaniards born on the island and called Criollos by the Iberian born Spaniards, other Europeans and African-descended slaves.
In the 1820s, when the other parts of Spain’s empire in Latin America rebelled and formed independent states, Cuba remained loyal, although there was some agitation for independence. Due to Cuba\'s loyalty to the Spanish government, the Spanish Crown gave the following motto to the island government "La Siempre Fidelisima Isla" (The Always Most Faithful Island). This was partly because the prosperity of Cuban settlers depended on trade with Europe, partly through fears of a slave rebellion (as had happened in Haiti) if the Spanish withdrew, and partly because the Cubans feared the rising power of the United States more than they disliked Spanish rule.
An additional factor was the continuous migration of Spaniards to Cuba from all social strata, a trend that had ceased in other Spanish possessions decades earlier and which contributed to the slow development of a Cuban national identity. Pirates were also still a problem and defense against them depended heavily on the presence of Spanish troops. [The Times Thursday, September 01, 1825 London, Middlesex NASSAU (NEW PROVIDENCE), “June 4,-By an arrival from the coast of Cuba, we learn that His Majesty\'s schooner Speedwell accompanied by several barges from other vessels of war, is engaged in securing a key near Cayo Romano (off North Coast of Cuba), where a number of pirates had secreted themselves in the woods. Some small craft, which the pirates had used in their cruises, were captured by the barges; and with the assistance of some chasseurs which the Spanish Government at Principe had furnished for the purpose, it was expected the pirates would be hunted out of their lurking-places.]
Cuba’s proximity to the U.S. has been a powerful influence on its history. Throughout the 19th century, Southern politicians in the U.S. plotted the island’s annexation as a means of strengthening the pro-slavery forces in the U.S., and there was usually a party in Cuba which supported such a policy. In 1848, a pro-annexation rebellion was defeated and there were several attempts by annexation forces to invade the island from Florida. There were also regular proposals in the U.S. to buy Cuba from Spain. During the summer of 1848, President James K. Polk quietly authorized his ambassador to Spain, Romulus Mitchell Saunders, to negotiate the purchase of Cuba and offer Spain up to $100 million. While an astonishing sum at the time for one territory, trade in sugar and molasses from Cuba exceeded $18,000,000 in 1838 alone.[The North Carolina Standard; Wednesday. April 6, 1859. …facts are drawn from the official report on the " Commercial Relations of the United States with all Nations," prepared at the State Department and published by order of Congress, we imported from Cuba in 1838 as follows: Molasses, $3,051,1515; sugar, $15,555,409.] Spain, however, refused to consider ceding one of its last possessions in the Americas.
After the American Civil War apparently ended the threat of pro-slavery annexation, agitation for Cuban independence from Spain revived, leading to a rebellion in 1868 led by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, a wealthy lawyer landowner from Oriente province who freed his slaves, proclaimed a war and was named president of the Cuban Republic-in-arms. This resulted in a prolonged conflict known as the Ten Years\' War between pro-independence forces and the Spanish army, allied with local supporters. There was much sympathy in the U.S. for the independence cause, but the U.S. declined to intervene militarily or to recognize the legitimacy of the Cuban government in arms, even though many European and Latin American nations had done so.
[Historia de las Guerras de Liberación de Cuba.] In 1878, the Pact of Zanjón ended the conflict, with Spain promising greater autonomy to Cuba.
The island was exhausted after this long conflict and pro-independence agitation temporarily died down. There was also a prevalent fear that if the Spanish withdrew or if there were further civil strife, the increasingly expansionist U.S. would step in and annex the island. In 1879-1880, Cuban patriot Calixto Garcia attempted to start another war, known in Cuban history as the Little War, but received little support.[The Little War (La Guerra Chiquita).] Partly in response to U.S. pressure, slavery was abolished in 1886, although the African-descended minority remained socially and economically oppressed, despite formal civic equality granted in 1893. During this period, rural poverty in Spain provoked by the Spanish Revolution of 1868 and its aftermath led to even greater Spanish emigration to Cuba.
During the 1890s, pro-independence agitation revived, fueled by resentment of the restrictions imposed on Cuban trade by Spain and hostility to Spain’s increasingly oppressive and incompetent administration of Cuba. Few of the promises for economic reform made by the Spanish government in the Pact of Zanjon were kept. In April 1895, a new war was declared, led by the writer and poet José Martí who had organized the war over 10 years while in exile in the U.S. and proclaimed Cuba an independent republic — Martí was killed at Dos Rios shortly after landing in Cuba with the eastern expeditionary force. His death immortalized him and he has become Cuba’s national hero.
The Spanish armed forces totaled about 200,000 troops against a much smaller rebel army which relied mostly on guerilla and sabotage tactics to fight battles, and the Spaniards retaliated with a campaign of suppression. General Valeriano Weyler was appointed military governor of Cuba, and as a repressive measure he herded the rural population into what he called reconcentrados, described by international observers as "fortified towns." These reconcentrados are often considered the prototype for the 20th century concentration camps.[Anne Applebaum. Gulag: A History of the German Concentration Camps. "the first modern concentration camps were set up not in Germany or Russia, but in colonial Cuba, in 1895. In that year, to put an end to local insurgencies, imperial Spain began to prepare a policy of reconcentratión, intended to remove Cuban peasants from their land and \'reconcentrate\' them in camps, depriving the insurgents of food, shelter and support. By 1900, the Spanish term reconcentratión had already been translated into English, and was used to describe a British project, initiated for similar reasons, during the Boer War in South Africa."] Between 200,000 and 400,000 Cuban civilians died from starvation and disease during this period in the camps. These numbers were verified by the Red Cross and U.S. Senator (and former Secretary of War) Redfield Proctor. U.S. and European protests against Spanish conduct on the island followed.[The Spanish-American War. Cuban Reconcentration Policy and its Effects. Retrieved on 2007-01-29.].
Military events of consequence include the breakout to the western provinces "La Invasion", and the taking of the fort complexes at Tunas and Guisa.
In 1897, fearing U.S. intervention, Spain moved to a more conciliatory policy, promising home rule with an elected legislature. The rebels rejected this offer and the war for independence continued.
The Maine incident
-
The U.S. battleship Maine, the largest Navy ship built in an American shipyard, arrived in Havana on January 25 1898. The Spanish and their Cuban supporters saw the uninvited arrival as intimidation, though McKinley claimed it was to offer protection to the 8,000 American residents in the island.
On 15 February the Maine blew up in Havana harbour, killing 266 men. Forces in the U.S. blamed the Spanish for blowing up the Maine.
Those skeptical of the U.S. accusations were suspicious because the most important officers were at a party on shore. There were 81 foreigners and 82 black seamen among the 25 officers and 318 enlisted killed.
An investigative commission arrived in Havana on February 21 aboard USS Mangrove where Judge Advocate of the Navy Adolf Marix reported the ship had been sunk by a mine placed under the ship by a diver named Pepe "Taco" Barquin. Marix reported Barquin had been offered $6,000 and was killed the day after. Another diver was killed by guards and another wounded and jailed on the night of the explosion. The one in jail (his arrest was recorded in Regla\'s official documents), Marix reported, was being poisoned by the Spanish authorities.[Republic of Cuba, maXic.to, citing "Report published in Document 207 of President McKinley\'s Message to the 55 Senate Appendix "F": Report on the Destruction of the USS Maine, 1898 available in New York Public Library.", <http://suche.maxic.to/lexikon_Cuba_en.html#_ref-16>. Retrieved on 22 January 2008]
A naval court of inquiry found on March 22, 1898, after examination of the ship, "In the opinion of the court, the Maine was destroyed by the explosion of a submarine mine, which caused the partial explosion of two or more of her forward magazines."[Official Report of the Naval Court of Inquiry into the loss of the Battleship MAINE (Sampson Board), spanamwar.com, March 22, 1898, <http://www.spanamwar.com/mainerpt.htm>. Retrieved on 22 January 2008] Although the court also concluded, "The court has been unable to obtain evidence fixing the responsibility for the destruction of the Maine upon any person or persons."[Charles W. Eliot, ed. (May 2, 2001), "45. Recognition of the Independence of Cuba (1898)", Harvard Classics, Vol. 43: American Historical Documents, 1000–1904, vol. 43 of 51, New York: Bartleby.com, <http://www.bartleby.com/43/45.html>. Retrieved on 8 January 2008] and President William McKinley was quick to comply.
According to a letter from Brigadier Freyre de Andrade, the chief planners were Garcia Corujedo, Villasuso, Maribona and other Freemason businessmen, associated with gun runner Maximo Gomez and New York politician William Astor Chanler, a friend of Theodore Roosevelt.[citation needed]
Commonly authors find the matter far less definitive and assignment of guilt less clear.[Samuels, Peggy and Harold. Remembering the Maine. (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995).] McMorrow states: "Thus, the conclusion that the explosion which destroyed the ship was triggered by an external blast, as reached by both the Sampson and Vreeland inquiries, seems to be a valid one. Having reached that same conclusion, we still don\'t know what actually caused the blast. Was the Maine destroyed by a Spanish mine, as so many believed in 1898, by sabotage, or by some kind of infernal machine?"[McMorrow, Edward P. (accessed 10-27-07) What Destroyed the USS MAINE - An opinion. part 1, part 2]
Independence
Theodore Roosevelt, who had fought in the Spanish-American War and had some sympathies with the independence movement, succeeded McKinley as President of the United States in 1901 and abandoned the 20-year treaty proposal. Instead, the Republic of Cuba gained formal independence on 20 May 1902, with the independence leader Tomás Estrada Palma becoming the country’s first president. Under the new Cuban constitution, however, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Under the Platt Amendment, Cuba also agreed to lease to the U.S. the naval base at Guantánamo Bay. Cuba today does not celebrate May 20 as their date of independence, but instead October 10, as the first declaration of independence, May 1 international (but not US) labor day, and also July 26, the date of Castro\'s first attack on Moncada Barracks.[de La Cova, Antonio Rafael 2007 The Moncada Attack: Birth of the Cuban Revolution. University of South Carolina Press ISBN-10 1570036721 ISBN-13 978-1570036729]
In 1906, following disputed elections, an armed revolt led by Independence War Veterans broke out and that defeated the meager government forces loyal to Estrada Palma and the U.S. exercised its right of intervention.[Middletown Daily Times-Press 2006 Palma will Resign Beaten President to Call Special Session of congress and Give Up His Seat. Middletown Daily Times-Press Wednesday, September 26, 1906 Middletown, New York, page 2. “… All the Members of the cabinet and the heads of departments have presented resignations to President Palma. He has accepted them, but the officers will retain their positions until the resignation of the president has been presented to congress. O’Farrill secretary of state and justice, said their probably would be a government by a commission appointed by the American government. He mentioned Senor Barreiro chief justice of court and General Mario Menocal as commissioners. …”] The country was placed under U.S. occupation and a U.S. governor, Charles Edward Magoon, took charge for three years. Magoon\'s governorship in Cuba was viewed in a negative light by many Cuban historians for years thereafter, believing that much political corruption was introduced during Magoon\'s years as governor.[Thomas, Hugh (March 1971). Cuba; the Pursuit of Freedom. New York: Harper & Row, pp283-287. ISBN 0060142596.] In 1908, self-government was restored when José Miguel Gómez was elected President, but the U.S. retained its supervision of Cuban affairs.
1912 Race War
In 1912 Partido Independiente de Color attempted to establish a separate black republic in Oriente Province.[Sources include Portuondo Linares, Serafin 1950 Los Independientes de Color. Historia del Partido Independiente de Color. Direccion de Cultura. Havana. (Fermoselle Lopez, Rafael 1974. Politica y Color in Cuba, La Guerrita de 1912. Ediciones Geminis Montevideo. Other sources give peripheral mention to burning of property at that time ] Perhaps because the group lacked sufficient weaponry the main tactic was to set businesses and private residences on fire.[ there are the physical acts of arson, in intent and action indistiguishable from the recent Balkan ethnic cleansing. Take for example the incident a La Maya (Fermoselle pp. 243-245) where the town was Take for example the incident a La Maya (Portuondo pp. 243-245) where the town was burned including houses bought by Mambi "de color" using their pensions.] The movement was a failure and General Monteagudo suppressed the rebels with considerable bloodshed. Historians differ on the interpretation of this circumstance. Some view it as suppression of Black rights, others as an attempt at racial cleansing and secession on part of the Black activists. [Officially the PIC wanted merely an armed protest to remove La Ley Morua. However, Fermoselle ( p. 199) has a cryptic sentence at the end of his book."Seria interesante saber si el PIC fue influido por ideas nationalistas generadas en otras islas del Caribe." However, there it the famous letter of Evaristo Estenoz "Todo hombre de color que no mate instaneamente al cobarde agresor que lo veje en un establecimineto publico, es un miserable indigno de ser hombre, que deshonra a su patria y a su raza" (Portuondo p. 56)]
World War I
Cuban pilots distinguished themselves fighting for France in the Lafayette Escadrille [1]. Cuba shipped considerable sugar to Britain, via smuggling which avoided U-boat attack by the subterfuge of shipping sugar to Sweden (this operation was managed by Cuban Ambassador Carlos Garcia Velez, General Calixto Garcia\'s eldest surviving son). During the unsuccessful revolt against the Menocal government in 1917, the government attributed this in part to pro-German sentiment on part of the "Liberales." However, this was not proven to most historians satisfaction. The Menocal government declared war on Germany very soon after the U.S. did, and as a result the Mexican government broke off relations with Cuba.
After World War I
Despite frequent outbreaks of disorder, however, constitutional government was maintained until 1930, when Gerardo Machado y Morales suspended the constitution. 
Great Theater of Havana, Garcia Lorca
Machado\'s hold on power was weakened following a decline in demand for exported agricultural produce due to the Great Depression, the attacks first by War of Independence veterans, and later by covert terrorist organizations, principally the ABC.[ Dutcher, Rodney (NEA) 1933 Machado Fights Terrorists With Terror To Hold Iron-Handed Foes: of "ABC” Copy Gangster Methods to Rid Island of Despot Who Has Ruled Since-1924 Syracuse Herald Friday evening, April 28, 1933. Front Page “Terrorism has been met "with terrorism in this unique outbreak waged mostly by students and young intellectuals who brand Machado as a tyrant. On one side is the "ABC," secret terrorist, organization that has copied the methods of gangsters in the fine art of assassination. On the other side are Machado\'s strong-armed and equally, ruthless secret police. Murder has followed murder in a series of spectacular killings. The Law of Flight Typical were assassinations of Dr Clemente Vasquez Bella, president of the Cuban Senate and political ally of Machedo, and Capt. Miguel Calvo former head of the secret police Both were slain on busy throughfares, in daylight, by men who dashed past in autos firing shot guns. Many members, or suspected members of the "ABC" have been slain by the secret police in equally ruthless manner. Often, those killings have been defended on the ground that the victims preferred death to capture, though the evidence. In many cases Is not convincing. One police official alone is accused of 40 official assassinations. Police have also defended killings on the ground that the ley de fuga (law of flight) recognized the right of an officer to shoot an escaping prisoner. But, according to witnesses, prisoners have been released told to flee and then shot down they ran. Bombing has been common. Incendiary fires have destroyed much property. Great numbers of political prisoners have been jailed. President Machado, whose life has been threatened many times, is heavily guarded by soldiers and machine gun crews in his palace. He rides to and from his country estate in a bullet-proof auto, under escort of soldiers armed with rifles and machine guns. NEXT: Cuba economic distress and America\'s vast stake on the Island]
During a general strike in which the communist party took the side of Machado [ Argote-Freyre, Frank, 2006 Fulgencio Batista: Volume 1, From Revolutionary to Strongman. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey ISBN 978-0813537010 p. 50 and later explained by the communists themselves in: Massón Sena, Caridad 2004 (accessed 6-9-07) Dos visiones sobre el nacionalismo y las alianzas: Mella y Villena. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo de la Cultura Cubana “Juan Marinello”. La Habana, Cuba. http://168.96.200.17/ar/libros/cuba/marin/nacion.rtf. “ Según explicara Fabio Grobart a posteriori: “ Esta miopía política se reflejó también en una errónea conclusión que los dirigentes del Partido sacaron, de la justa apreciación de que sustituir a Machado por un gobierno de la oposición burgués-terrateniente significaba dejar a Cuba en su estado de semicolonia y a las masas populares en la misma miseria y esclavitud y que únicamente un gobierno de trabajadores podía producir los cambios radicales que el país necesitaba /.../Dicha a conclusión fue profundamente falsa por ser mecánica, por no basarse en un análisis correcto del desarrollo dialéctico de la situación y, esencialmente, por no tener en cuenta que las masas revolucionarias, enardecidas por la victoria sobre Machado y orientadas en su acción por una justa política de su vanguardia marxista-leninista, sí podría asegurar los cambios profundos, es decir, la realización del programa agrario-antimperialista, por el cual abogaba y luchaba desde su fundación el Partido Comunista.(22)” Reference 22 is Fabio Grobart, 1985, p. 93, This author also refers in this regard to Leonel Soto, 1977, vol. II, p. 8 ] the Senior elements of the Cuban army forced Machado into exile and installed Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, son of Cuba\'s founding father, as President. In September, 4th-5th (1933) however, a second coup (led by sergeants, most notably Fulgencio Batista, overthrew Céspedes leading to the formation of the first Ramón Grau San Martín government.) Notable bloody events in this violent period include the separate sieges of Hotel Nacional and Atares Castle (see Blas Hernandez). This government lasted 100 days but engineered radical socialistic changes in Cuban society and a rejection of the Platt amendment.
In 1934, Batista and the army, who were the real center of power in Cuba, replaced Grau with Carlos Mendieta y Montefur. In 1940, Batista decided to run for president himself. Because of a split with the leader of the opposition, Ramón Grau San Martín, Batista turned instead to the Communist Party of Cuba, which had grown in size and influence during the 1930s.
Batista\'s control ends with democratic rule
With the support of the Communist-controlled labor unions, Batista was elected President and his administration carried out major social reforms. Several members of the Communist Party held office under his administration. Batista\'s administration formally took Cuba into World War II as a U.S. ally, declaring war on Japan on December 9, 1941, then on Germany and Italy on December 11, 1941; Cuba, however, did not significantly participate militarily in World War II hostilities. At the end of his term in 1944, in accordance with the constitution, Batista stepped down and Ramón Grau was elected to succeed him. Grau initiated increased government spending on health, education and housing. Grau’s auténticos were bitter enemies of the Communists and Batista, which opposed most of Grau’s programs.
World War II
Cuba, although supplying vast quantities of sugar, and strategic manganese metal, was not greatly involved in combat during WWII; although, U.S. air bases were established, Cuban freighters were sunk, a German spy was discovered and executed, and a German submarine was sunk by the Cuban navy. During WWII the Nazis counterfeited vast sums of U.S. currency which was sent via the Dozenberg group to Cuba and other parts of Latin America; Soviet directions to the Cuban communist party seem to have been sent via radio from Switzerland by the Alexander Foote Network.[Dallin, David J 1955 Soviet espionage, Yale University Press New Haven ASIN B0007DVJ8M pp. 394 and 198-203 ]
After World War II
Grau completed his presidential term. In 1948, Grau was succeeded by Carlos Prío Socarrás, who had been Grau\'s minister of labor and was particularly hated by the Communists. Corruption is generally believed to have increased notably under Prío\'s administration; however not all accusations of corruption were proven, and Eduardo Chibás, leader of the Ortodoxo party to which Fidel Castro belonged, committed suicide when his allegations were not substantiated. Corruption is partially attributed to the influx of gambling money into Havana, which became a safe haven for mafia operations. Prío carried out major reforms such as founding a National Bank and stabilizing the Cuban currency. The influx of investment fueled a boom which did much to raise living standards across the board and create a prosperous middle class in most urban areas, although the gap between rich and poor became wider and more obvious. [José Alvarez (2004), "Cuban Agriculture Before 1959: The Social Situation", Cuba\'s Agricultural Sector, University Press of Florida, ISBN 0813027543]
"Law No. 5 created the Banco de Fomento Agrícola e Industrial de Cuba (BANFAIC), which was enacted on December 20, 1950, by President Carlos Prío Socarrás. (In fact, Law No. 13 of 1948, establishing Cuba\'s national bank, envisioned an agricultural bank as a necessary complement.) Law No. 15 of 1949 authorized the issuance of $200 million in bonds. Of the $25 million going to BANFAIC, an equal distribution went to the agricultural and industrial branches. … It is clearly stated in the ACU study: “The city of Havana is living an epoch of extraordinary prosperity, while in the countryside, people, especially the agricultural workers, are living in sluggish, miserable, and desperate conditions too difficult to believe” (Gastón et al., 1957, p. 6).
Thus it is obvious that the living conditions in the city of Havana, and perhaps in a few other urban areas of Cuba, did not parallel those described in this fact sheet for the countryside."
From Batista to Castro
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Bullet riddled truck used in the attack on the Presidential Palace in
Havana by the Directorio Revolucionario and the Organizacion Autentica in 1957
The 1952 election was a three-way race. Roberto Agramonte of the Ortodoxos party led in all the polls, followed by Dr Aurelio Hevia of the Auténtico party, and running a distant third was Batista, who was seeking a return to office. Both front runners, Agramonte and Hevia in their own camps, had decided to name Col. Ramon Barquin, then a diplomat in Washington, DC to head the Cuban armed forces after the elections. Barquin was a top officer who commanded the respect of the professional army and had promised to eliminate corruption in the ranks. Batista feared that Barquin would oust him and his followers, and when it became apparent that Batista had little chance of winning, he staged a coup on 10 March 1952 and held power with the backing of a nationalist section of the army as a “provisional president” for the next two years. Justo Carrillo told Barquin in Washington in March 1952 that the inner circles knew that Batista had aimed the coup at him; they immediately began to conspire to oust Batista and restore democracy and civilian government in what was later dubbed La Conspiracion de los Puros de 1956 (Agrupacion Montecristi). In 1954 Batista agreed to elections. The Partido Auténtico put forward ex-President Grau as their candidate, but he withdrew amid allegations that Batista was rigging the elections in advance. Batista could then claim to be an elected president.
Fidel Castro directed a failed assault on the Moncada Barracks, in Santiago de Cuba, and on the smaller Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Barracks and on the Feast of Saint Ann July 26, 1953.[de La Cova, Antonio Rafael 2007 The Moncada Attack: Birth of the Cuban Revolution. University of South Carolina Press ISBN-10 1570036721 ISBN-13 978-1570036729]
In April 1956, Batista had given the orders for Barquin to become General and chief of the army. But it was too late. Even after Barquin was informed, he decided to move forward with the coup to rescue the morale of the armed forces and the Cuban people. On April 4, 1956, a coup by hundreds of career officers led by Col. Barquin (then vice-chairman of the Inter-American Defense Board in Washington and Cuban military attaché of sea, Air and land to the US) was frustrated by Rios Morejon. The coup broke the backbone of the Cuban armed forces. The officers were sentenced to the maximum terms allowed by Cuban Martial Law. Barquin was sentenced to solitary confinement for eight years. La Conspiración de los Puros resulted in the imprisonment of the commanders of the armed forces and the closing of the military academies. Barquin was the founder of La Escuela Superior de Guerra (Cuba\'s war college) and past director of La Escuela de Cadetes (Cuba\'s military academy). Without Barquin\'s officers the army\'s ability to combat the revolutionary insurgents was severely curtailed.
On 2 December 1956 a party of 82 revolutionaries, led by Castro, landed in a yacht named Granma with the intention of establishing an armed resistance movement in the Sierra Maestra. The yacht had come from Mexico, where Castro had been exiled and where his army was strengthened with the help of Ernesto Che Guevara, who became one of the most important people in the Cuban revolution and one of Castro\'s closest allies. Castro had gone to Mexico after serving two years of a 20-year prison sentence for his part in a 1953 rebel attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba.[2][copyvio source?]. Castro received his pardon from Batista after being requested by the Archbishop of Santiago, Monseñor Enrique Perez Serantes and Senator Rafael Diaz-Balart, at the time Fidel Castro\'s brother-in-law. After the landing, Batista launched a campaign of repression against the opposition, which only served to increase support for the insurgency. With Barquin\'s professional officers in La Prison Modelo de Isla de Pinos in the Gulf of Mexico, the army lacked the leadership and will to fight the insurgents.
Through 1957 and 1958, opposition to Batista grew, especially among the upper and middle classes and the students, among the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and in many rural areas. In response to Batista\'s plea to purchase better arms from the U.S. to root out insurgents in the mountains, the United States government imposed an arms embargo on the Cuban government on March 14, 1958. By late 1958, the rebels had breaken out of the Sierra Maestra and launched a general insurrection, joined by hundreds of students and others fleeing Batista’s crackdown on dissent in the cities. When the rebels captured Santa Clara, east of Havana, Batista decided the struggle was futile and fled the country to exile in Portugal and later Spain. Batista named Gen. Eulogio Cantillo chief of the army and gave him instructions not to release Barquin and his officers. Nevertheless, Barquin, who had the backing of the U.S., was rescued from Isla de Pinos in the early hours and taken to Campamento Ciudad Militar Columbia where he relieved Cantillo and assumed the post of chief of Staff (serving as chief of the armed forces and de facto president of Cuba for a short period) in an effort to establish order in the streets and the armed forces. He negotiated the symbolic change of command between Camilo Cienfuegos, Che Guevara, Raul and Fidel Castro, after the Supreme Court decided that the Revolution was the source of law and its representative should assume command. With fewer than 300 men, Camilo assumed the post from Barquin who in Columbia alone commanded 12,000 professional soldiers. Castro’s rebel forces entered the capital on January 8 1959. Shortly afterwards Dr Manuel Lleo Urrutia assumed power.
Cuba following revolution
Fidel Castro became prime minister of Cuba in February 1959. In its first year, the new revolutionary government carried out measures such as the expropriation of private property with no or minimal compensation(sometimes based on property tax valuations that the owners themselves had kept artificially low)[3], the nationalization of public utilities, and began a campaign to institute tighter controls on the private sector such as the closing down of the gambling industry. The government also evicted many Americans, including mobsters (who, in collaboration with Batista, ran the gambling casinos in Havana) [4] [5]) from the island. Some of these measures were undertaken by Fidel Castro\'s government in the name of the program that he had outlined in the Manifesto of the Sierra Maestra,[6] while in the Sierra Maestra. However, he failed to enact one element of his reform program, which was to call elections under the Electoral Code of 1943 within the first 18 months of his time in power and to restore all of the provisions of the Constitution of 1940 that had been suspended under Batista.
Castro flew to Washington, DC in April 1959, but was not met by President Eisenhower, who decided to attend a golf tournament rather than meet the Cuban leader.[Thomas E. Bogenschild (January 30, 2008), Dr. Castro\'s Princeton Visit, April 20-21, 1959, Princeton University: Program in Latim American Studies, <http://www.princeton.edu/~plas/publications/Essays/castro.html>. Retrieved on 30 January 2008] Castro returned to Cuba after a series of meetings with African-American leaders in New York\'s Harlem district, and after a lecture on "Cuba and the United States" at the headquarters of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.[[7][]
