Cuba; Castro vs the world

- 1959 new years leader fled to the USA

- Guerilla army takes over
- Cuba was a holiday place for the wealthy -> run by mafia
- 19 April 1959, visits Richard Nixon, he says that communism is a danger, and rejects
Castro's pleas (visits for a fair Cuba —> Cuba was a colony that was exploited)
- Castro partners with the USSR -> interesting new allie, defining Cuba for the next 3
decades
- Castro removed the us defined economy —> the us cut off diplomatic relations, Cuba
was warned
- The revolution was purely down by the Guerilla army not by the soviets
- The US was strongly against Cuba, not necessarily decided by kenady
- The bay of pig Cuba fought back against the CIA, the CIA was captured, kenady
was humiliated —> eisenhauer was against this
- Planned to be supported by massive air strikes, but that was not going to
work, but would be a act of war —> they thought he would change his mind
- 20th April 1961, “Cuba must not be abandoned to the communists” —> plans were
put in place to kill Castro —> Cuba was bombed
- people walked around with rifles
- The USSR wanted to place nuclear weapons on cubas soil as the us were to attack
again —> they were suspicious, it was the us or the ussr
- 80 ships were sent to Cuba the military camouflaged as tourists —> the us found out
- The Cuban missile crisis had begun —> a week later a US plane had been
attacked, what if there is a nuclear attack? —> khrushchev took away the missile
without telling Castro who found it through the media, guverva was very disappointed
by this
- Castro decided to become independent; the ussr still helped a little
- Castro partnered with Algeria, Castro gave them advice, Algeria became
independent
- algeria was a base to provide support to freedom fighters throughout Africa and even
South America
- Cuba began to send more then weapons, they sent soldiers
- Castro used his forces to spread revolution throughout the world
- Congo was getting fought over for their resources, it was brave for Cuba to get
involved —> che did not mean success, they lost
- 1966 January hosted a conference with many liberational leaders
- Bolivia became the next target, —> create more vietnams, Monje or Che
- USSR wanted to challenge his idea of output of revolution so they met in Cuba
- Che and his group was increasingly isolated in the corners of Bolivia —> Che was
captured and killed —> he became a ideal
- 1974 the troupes were pulled out of Vietnam
- Journalists went to make a documentary about Castro
- William rogers kept in contact with Cuba —> Cubans should stop promoting
revolution, the us should stop crippling Cuban economy, Cuba refused to negotiate
under a blockade
- angola and Namibia offered help against South Africa —> 7000 were sent to Angola,
it was thought to be in collaboration with ussr but this could be more wrong
- el salvador us backed were murdering leftists —> Allied with Cuba, and got given the
money needed
- castro was directing everything, determined to win in Angola —-> the south africans
lost the war

- ussr backs out of providing aid as they need it themselves—> Castro stays strong
impowering the people and would not give up the fight —> thousands leave the
country as Cuba descends into poverty
- a new president (Obama) provides a new hope
- for the first time in 35 years people protest against Castro —> turns into a riot
- Cuba was dependent on the ussr everyone felt the pinch —> people would eat
anything
- Castro went onto the street to face the rioters —> it worked but th people still had
nothing to eat
- Castro allowed people to leave Cuba (people make makeshift boats—> supported by
some Cuban pilots in the Florida) —> trying to embarrass the us
- 1980 people gathered in the embassy in Havana (started by a bus crashing in)
- Cuban Americans were allowed to take one Cuban to the us
- getting rid of those he didn’t want propaganda spread
- Cubans trapped and they escaped making Cubans look bad —> this was really bad
everyone wanted to shot a Cuban —> the us people shot and calm was restored
- bill Clinton payed the prise
- 14 years later he was president this time he would do it right
- they sent them to gonetamano an island, in the us they wanted Castro dead
- some Cubans were invited to the White House for his birthday winning the right
- the refugees were mad, trapped on a military camp in cuba
- the Mexican president to talk to Castro as to effected to everyone
- he was told to stop this —> Castro wanted the sanction gone —> get rid of the
refugees and then we can talk (mistrust)
- Castro accepts the proposal —> the refugees on the island could go to the us, the
rest however were sent back
- resistants spread across Cuba due to the us (brothers arms)
- pilots shot —> us people were mad
- the imbargo was tightened
- he stopped being the military mad and was seen as a gental man
- he was going to run a democracy
- Chavez was elected president meaning they were allies —> Colombia had oil
- a coup was in place Castro helped him out and in returned he got oil
- he helped peoples eyesight —> payed for by the Cuban state
- Cubans isolation was over
- raul was appointed
- The americas were for Castro and showed so