By Aleli Bravo and Alma Florez
Cuba has a long and interesting history, changing leadership many times and playing a key role in many international conflicts.
First, the island of Cuba was inhabited by numerous Mesoamerican tribes prior to its discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1492. After Columbus, Cuba became part of the massive Spanish colonies in the new world.
Cartoon published in a British newspaper, October 1962, shows Khrushchev and President Kennedy arm wrestling and ready to push the buttons on their missiles. GOOGLE IMAGES
Cuba remained under Spanish control, with many wars for independence in the first half of the 1800’s, until 1898. The explosion of the U.S.S. Maine, in Havana harbor, began the Spanish-American War. In December, 1898, Spain ceded control of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Cuba to the U.S. For sixty years Cuba had a strong U.S. presence. The base at Guantanamo Bay was established for the navy. American tourists went to many casinos and hotels in Havana, many U.S. companies invested and built in Cuba.
The Constitution of 1940 is established by a national assembly that included Blas Roca, a young shoemaker who helped organize the Revolution of 1933. The document strikes a balance between the rich and the working class, it protects individual and social rights, supports full employment and a minimum wage, extends social security, calls for equal pay for equal work and outlaws the huge plantations known as latifundias.
Newspaper map from the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis shows the distances from Cuba to various cities on the North American continent. In 1962 Americans feared that missiles launched from Cuba could reach critical U.S. cities. GOOGLE IMAGES/HISTORY.COM
By the 1950’s Cuba was ruled by a military dictatorship led by Fulgencio Batista. Fidel Castro led the resistance to this unpopular government, gaining power and support across the island. Once Castro gained control he reordered Cuban society, and he moved Cuba into a close relationship with the Soviet Union. This increased tensions with the United States.
Women demonstrating for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis. GOOGLE IMAGES/PHIL STANZIOLA/ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
A failed invasion by nearly 1,200 CIA-trained Cuban exiles in April 1961, ordered by President Kennedy, is known as the Bay of Pigs invasion. It is called the Bay of Pigs because the southern coast where the invasion was to begin is called Bahia de Cochinos. This has remained an embarrassing U.S. failure.
In 1962, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. came to the brink of nuclear war, during a fourteen day period known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. Cuba was central to worldwide attention as the two world super powers faced each other in a stand-off in Cuba. Russia agreed not to place nuclear missile bases in Cuba, and the United States agreed not to invade Cuba or depose Castro.
Cuba’s close ties to the Soviet Union propped up the economy for the next thirty years, until the Soviet Union’s own economy collapsed in 1989. Cuba became increasingly self sufficient, but the people suffered. In the early nineties Cuba opened up to international travelers, but the United States still prevented citizens from going there.
Cuba has a long and interesting history, but it has been violent and difficult for the people of that island nation. Hopefully, they can find their way to a truly free society.
