LATIN AMERICA- CASE STUDY

You should be able to:

 Explain the establishment of communist rule in Cuba.

 Explain internal developments under Fidel Castro.
 Discuss the relationship between Cuba, United States and the Soviet Union.
 Evaluate the contribution of Castro’s Cuba to the Americas and Africa.

CUBA BEFORE FIDEL CASTRO

For many years, Cuba was a Spanish colony. The USA played an important role during
Cuba’s struggle for independence against the Spanish. The USA helped Cuba to object the
Spanish. After independence, the USA got involved in Cuban internal affairs.

(a)The USA kept a large naval base in Cuba at Guantanamo Bay

(b)The American companies controlled Cuban economy because they

(i) Owned mines in Cuba.

(ii) Owned sugar plantations in Cuba.
(iii) Owned cattle ranches in Cuba.
(iv) Owned hotels in Cuba.

(c) Cuban economy was heavily dependent on the USA because the USA was the main
importer of Cuba’s main export crop, i.e. sugar.

(d) Havana, the capital of Cuba became a tourist for rich Americans. Havana was a
holiday resort for rich Americans.

(e) A few Cubans were wealthy while many of them were poor.

(f) There were shortages of schools and teachers.

(g) About 40% of the people were illiterate.

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(h) There was shortage of doctors and hardly any hospitals for people in the countryside
(rural areas).

(i) In 1952, an army general called Batista took over control of Cuban government and
he:

 Became a dictator.
 Closed parliament and ignored the contribution.
 Imprisoned and killed his political opponents.

(j) The US government supported Batista’s government because he was anti-

communist.

(k) Many Cubans were dissatisfied with their living conditions and wanted a change of
government.

NB: The above points can be used to answer the question of:

WHY THERE WAS A COMMUNIST REVOLUTION IN CUBA.

FIDEL CASTRO COMES TO POWER

 Fidel Castro was young lawyer who wanted to do something about Cuba’s domestic
problems.

 He organised a group of activists to fight Batista’s rule. The group comprised only
160 activists. This group planned to attack the Moncada barracks. They wanted to
seize weapons and start a general uprising against the government.

 Castro and his group attacked in July 1953 but jailed. Seventy of Castro’s supporters
were killed while others were captured and tortured by Batista’s troops. Castro and
others were put on trial and given prison sentence of u to 15 years.

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  In 1955, Castro was released from prison and he went to Mexico where he met an
Argentinean revolutionary, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, who then became Castro’s
useful ally. It was while in Mexico that Castro decided once more to overthrow
Batista’s government.

 In 1956, Castro and about 80 revolutionaries returned to Cuba with weapons and
supplies. However, Batista’s troops were waiting for them and most of Castro’s
revolutionaries were killed and captured. Only12 survived, including Castro, his
brother Raul and Che Guevara who then retreated to Sierra Maestra Mountains.

 At Sierra Maestra Mountains, Castro built up support from the local people by:

(i) building schools and clinics.

(ii) and organising land reform.

News about Castro spread and many more people began to support him. Opposition groups
around the country began to think of Castro as a person who could free Cuba from Batista’s
tyranny.

 Batista sent troops to try to crush Castro and his rebels but was successful because
some of Batista’s soldiers even joined Castro. Slowly Castro captured the towns and
large parts of Cuba. By the end of 1958, Castro’s rebels were on the outskirts of
Havana. This made Batista to realise that he was defeated and he fled into exile.
 Castro and his supporters were welcomed in mass demonstrations when they entered
Havana in January 1959 and Castro became the leader of Cuba.

REASONS WHY FIDEL CASTRO CAME TO POWER.

1. Amount of American influence in Cuba- Many Cubans resented American influence in

Cuba. They hated the idea that American companies controlled all aspects of the Cuban
economy with American companies having interests in sugar, tobacco, textiles, iron, nickel,
copper, manganese, paper and rum industries. US companies also owned half of the land, 3/5
of the railways and all electricity production and the entire telephone system. The USA was

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the main market for Cuba’s exports. All these things sparked resentment and anger among
Cubans who supported Castro against Batista.

2. Cuba’s wealth was in the hands of only a few people while the majority were poor. This
unequal distribution of wealth angered many people in Cuba hence they decided to support
Castro whom they believed would do much better than Batista’s government.

3. Unemployment was a serious problem, yet there was no unemployment benefit and this
caused a lot of resentment among Cubans who then turned to Castro whom they believed
would provide employment for them.

4. Batista’s government officials were very corrupt and they lived lavish lifestyles in
Havana while the majority of Cubans were very poor. This angered many in Cuba and they
supported Castro, something which contributed to him rising to power.

5. Batista’s government was very weak. Since the seized power in 1952, Batista introduced
no reforms. He spent a lot time attending to his private affairs and his foreign fortunes,
leaving himself too little time for affairs of the state. Batista was also very brutal because he
tortured and murdered his opponents. His brutality even made many of the middle classes to
support Castro as the most likely way of getting rid of a brutal dictator. Morale in Batista’s
poorly paid army began to crumble in the summer of 1958 after they failed to destroy
Castro’s forces. The USA began to feel embarrassment at Batista’s behaviour and cut off
arms supplies to him. This was a serious blow to Batista who on the 1 st January 1959 from
Cuba. A liberal government was set up with Castro at its head.

INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS UNDER FIDEL CASTRO /CHANGES

MADE BY FIDEL CASTRO IN CUBA.

ECONOMIC REFORMS

1. Land Reforms- The first issue that Castro’s government tackled was land. Castro’s
government nationalised all farms larger than about 400 hectares. This included much of the

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land owned by Big American agricultural farms. The farms were made into collective farms
(state –owned farms).

2. Modernisation of sugar production- Castro’s government introduced changes to

modernise sugar production to increase output. Sugar factories and businesses were
nationalised.

3. The government controlled all aspects of the economy through the policy of
nationalization.

4. Attempts were made to introduce new industries and crops to reduce Cuba’s heavy
dependence on the export of sugar.

SOCIAL REFORMS

Fidel Castro’s government introduced much needed social reforms and these included:

(a) Improvements in education- As a result, many Cuban children received some education.
Before Castro rose to power, fewer than half the children had attended school before 1959,
about 40% of the Cuban population was semi-literate... by 1984, literacy rate in Cuba stood at
96% and was one of the highest in the world. This was due to introduction of free education.

(b) There were improvements in health and medical facilities- All graduates of medical
schools had to do two years of health care service in rural areas. There was free health care
for all Cubans by 1984. Many diseases were wiped out, e.g. polio and malaria. Sanitation and
hygiene were improved. Migrant mortality dropped from 70 deaths per live births to 2 deaths
per 1000 live births.

(c) Castro’s government gave Black Cubans equality unlike before when they were looked
down upon.

(d) There were more rights for women unlike before.

(e) Touring cinemas, theatres, concerts and art exhibitions travelled around the country giving
entertainment to the people.

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NB: The above points (Economic Reforms and Social Reforms) show Castro’s successes
in Cuba.

SHORTCOMINGS OF CASTRO’S GOVERNMENT.

Not all Cubans supported Castro’s government because:

(a) Castro’s government used harsh methods to crush opposition. 500 people who had
worked for Batista were put to death.

(b)More than a million people left Cuba in three years the revolution. Many of these
people were middle class Cubans who were opposed to Castro’s economic policies. Many of
them chose to live in exile in the USA.

(c) Some Cubans were unhappy about lack of political freedom in Cuba- during Castro’s
rule because Cuba, under Castro, because a one party state. Under this system, no one was
allowed to criticise the government and those who did were put to death.

(d) There was no freedom of media because media was strictly controlled.

(e) There was no religion freedom in Cuba during Castro’s rule. Before Castro rose to
power, the Roman Catholic was the main church in Cuba. Under Castro’s government,
religion was not encouraged and the activities of the church were restricted. As part of
discouraging religion, Castro’s government outlawed religion holidays.

CUBA’S FOREIGN POLICY

A. RELATIONSHIOP BETWEEN CUBA AND THE UNITED STATES OF

AMERICA.

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Initially relations between the USA and Cuba were not bad. However, relations became bad/
sour became:

1. Castro started to nationalise American owned estates, factories and oil refineries. The
USA suspected that Castro was setting up a communist rule in Cuba.

2. The USA began to cut down the amount of sugar that it imported from Cuba to show
that she disapproved of Cuba becoming a communist state. This boldly affected the Cuban
economy since Cuba relied heavily on the export of sugar to the USA for most of its income.

3. Castro started to negotiate trade with the Soviet Union which promised to buy Cuban
sugar. This made the USA alarmed because she did not want a Soviet ally close to her coast
at that time of the cold war.

4. Cuba nationalised the remaining American-owned sugar estate and their led to the
USA cutting all trade links with Cuba and breaking off diplomatic relations with Cuba.

5. The USA decided to support the Cuban exiles (wealthy Cubans who had fled from Cuba
when Castro came to power). An armed force of these exiles planned to overthrow Castro’s
government. With help from CIA (American Secret Service), an invasion force landed in
Cuba in April 1961 at a place called the Bay of Pigs. However the whole invasion was badly
planned and carried out. Castro’s forces easily defeated the invaders with many killed or
captured. After this incident relations between Cuba and the USA got worse. Castro now
declared himself to be communist and turned more to the Soviet Union for aid and support.

6. In 1962 there was Cuba Missile Crisis because the US spy flame had detected Soviet
Missile bases in Cuba. The USA were horrified by the thought of Soviet Missiles so nearer to
their country and crisis further deteriorated relations between the two countries.

B. RELATIONSHIOP BETWEEN CUBA AND THE SOVIET UNION

As relations between the USA and Cuba deteriorated, relations between Cuba and the Soviet
Union improved because:

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1. Castro started trade negotiations with the Soviet Union when the USA cut down the
amount of sugar she bought from Cuba. The Soviet Union promised to buy Cuban and the
two countries grew closer to each other.

2. The Soviet Union had started to supply economic aid to Cuba and this made the two
countries friends.

3. The Soviet Union promised to provide Cuba with weapons so that she could defend
herself against the US invasion. This was after the Bay of Pigs incident. This shows that Cuba
and the Soviet Union were friends.

4. Castro and Khrushchev (the Soviet leader) decided in secret to turn Cuba into a
Soviet nuclear base and this resulted in the Cuban missile crisis after which relations
between Cuba and the USA remained cold while relations between Cuba and the Soviet
Union became even closer.

5. By 1911 the USSR split and ceased to be communist. This means that Cuba had lost its
most powerful supporter. This then left Cuba dangerously isolated.

C. CASTRO’S CUBA’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE AMERICAS.

1. Other Latin American states which had right-wing governments were very
suspicious of Castro’s government in Cuba. They accused it of trying to stir up revolutions
in Venezuela, Guatemola, Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Grenada. In 1962,
they expelled Cuba from organisation of American states (OAS). Some of them even
imposed economic sanctions on Cuba.

2. Castro’s success in Cuba inspired some revolutionaries in Latin America. Such

revolutionaries had hoped to overthrow undemocratic governments in their own countries. In
attempt to help them, Castro sent Cubans sent to fight with guerrilla groups all over Latin
America.

3. Castro sent 5000 troops, medical technicians, teachers and agricultural experts to
Nicaragua. These helped the Sandinista Liberation Front which managed to overthrow a
harsh dictatorship.

4. Castro also sent military help to help a rebel group in El Salvador.

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5. Cuba also inspired the Montenegros in Argentina who bought a guerrilla campaign against
the government. 6. Apart from Nicaragua, the guerrillas failed to spread revolution in Latin
America because government in many of those countries were helped by the USA to crush
any revolutionary movement.

7. By the mid- 1970s, relations between Cuba and most other Latin American countries
improved and the OAS lifted sanctions against Cuba.

D. CASTRO’S CUBA’S CONTRIBUTION TO AFRICA.

1. Cuba sent soldiers to Africa to help left-wing groups. Cuba was involved in Angola for a
number of years. During a civil war which followed Angolan independence in 1975, Cuba
sent troops to support the communist MPLA against UNITA rebels which was supported by
South Africa. About 300 000 Cubans fought in Angola and managed to help the MPLA to
stay in power.

2. Between 1970s and 1980s, Cuba sent troops to Ethiopia to help the communist Mengistu
government to stay in power.

3. Cuba supported members of Umkhonto we sizwe (the ANC armed wing) by training
them in exile at the time when they were fighting South African Apartheid regime.

4. Cuba has helped African countries in health care and education.