History of Cuba

1
History of Cuba
2
1492-1902

• 1492 1st European to get there was Columbus
• Became a Spanish colony for many centuries
• African slaves worked on coffee and sugar
  plantations
• 1898 Cubans overthrew Spanish rule with the help
  of the US in the Spanish-American War
• 1901 Platt Amendment
• US got a naval base in Cuba (Guantanamo Bay)
• Cubas right to negotiate treaties was limited
• 1902 Cuban independence

3
1902-1959

• Corrupt governments 1902-1959
• Plantations, refineries, railroads, and factories
  passed to American ownership b/c Americans
  invested in them
• US supported the dictatorship of Fulgencio
  Batista until 1959
• Jan. 1959 Fidel Castro became leader of Cuba
• Hailed as a liberator
• Communist

4
Castro 1959-1961

• Anti-American
• America imposed sanctions on Cuba
• 1961 Bay of Pigs
• U.S. equipped/trained a rebel army of Cubans
• Invaded Southern Cuba, poor planning and lack of
  U.S. support HUGE DEFEAT
• Prompted Castro to ally with U.S.S.R.

5
Cuban Missile Crisis

• Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
• U.S.S.R. placed nuclear missiles in Cuba
• U.S. was hours away from launching nukes
• Agreement Missiles taken out of Cuba, U.S. took
  its missiles out of Turkey

6
Cuba Today

• Allies with China and Venezuela (trading
  partners)
• Raul Castro is the leader
• Communist-run and reporters have to follow what
  the government says
• Cuban population in Miami, FL people send money
  home to Cuba to families
• Prostitution, corruption, black marketeering and
  desperate efforts to escape in search of a better
  life b/c lack of jobs
• Human rights violations