Contesting Cubas

Past and Future

Part II: The Cuban Revolution

or a brief period in the 1930s, Cuba

seemed poised for reform. A military
coup in September 1933 made Ramn Grau
San Martn president of Cuba. Grau and his
government dedicated themselves to social,
economic, and political reforms that would
alleviate the sufferings of the people. For
example, Grau required foreign businesses to
hire more Cubans, put a number of foreign
sugar mills under government control, gave
women the right to vote, and began a program
of land reform. But many in Cuba did not support the new government, viewing it as either
too radical or not radical enough.
Who was Fulgencio Batista?
The United States, realizing that Graus
government might threaten U.S. influence in
Cuba, refused to recognize the new government. This further weakened public support in
Cuba for the regime. Instead, the U.S. government began supporting Fulgencio Batista,
a powerful colonel in the Cuban army, and
convinced him to lead a coup against Graus
government.
Graus reform government collapsed in
1934. With U.S. support, Batista created a
government of his own, ruling through puppet
presidents rather than assuming power himself. Batista focused his energy on maintaining
control and stability and put nearly every
branch of government under the control of the
army. His government ruthlessly repressed all
strikes, demonstrations, and other forms of
government opposition. As a way of supporting Batista, the United States repealed the Platt
Amendment. The U.S. and Cuban governments negotiated a new agreement that gave
the United States a lease on the property of the
Guantnamo base but ended all formal U.S.
involvement in the Cuban government.
At the same time, Batista instituted numerous reforms to improve the lives of the poor
and working classes. In 1940, he organized a
constitutional convention and delegates wrote
a new constitution that enshrined many of the
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political, social, and economic reforms that

Cubans wished to see. This constitution was
one of the most progressive in Latin American
history. Batista won the presidency by a wide
margin in elections called later that year.
Despite the new constitution, the government corruption of previous years returned in
full force when Batista left office in 1944. A
succession of scandals and weak, corrupt leaders left Cubans thoroughly disillusioned with
their government and with democracy in general. In 1952, Batista led a coup and took over
the government again. Most Cubans raised
little protest and Batistas forces made sure to
smother any opposition immediately.
What was life like for Cubans in the 1950s?
Although there was little public protest
when Batista took over the government in
1952, many Cubans were frustrated. Despite
the fact that Cuba had the second highest average income per person in Latin America, many
Cubans lived in poverty. A series of economic
recessions in the 1950s added to their hardships. In 1958 alone, unemployment more
than doubled to 18 percent. Wages steadily
declined, thousands of beggars roamed the
streets of Havana, and an underworld of crime,
drugs, and prostitution flourished. At the same
time, there was widespread corruption in the
Batista regime. In 1957, a local newspaper
disclosed that twenty members of Batistas
government had Swiss bank accounts totalling more than $1 million ($7.5 million today)
each. Batista also gave millions of dollars to
groups that might oppose the government,
including unions, churches, and reporters, in
order to keep them under his control.
As the decade progressed, frustrations
reached a peak. Movements sprang up across
the country in opposition to Batista. Some
wanted to achieve political change through
negotiations, while others believed that only
armed struggle would lead to meaningful
change.

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Past and Future

What was the 26th of July Movement?

On July 26, 1953, a group of about 150
students and young radicals led an assault on
the Moncado Barracks, a military post in the
eastern city of Santiago. Government soldiers
easily defeated the attack, and in the days that
followed, more than one hundred of the rebels
were arrested and tortured or executed by
government troops. Although the attack was
a failure, the boldness of the group attracted
national attention, particularly for its young,
charismatic leader, a man named Fidel Castro.
Castro was a lawyer and led the defense
of his group at their trial. He connected the
struggles and goals of his group, which later
became known as the 26th of July Movement
(M-26-7), to Cubas rebellions in the nineteenth century. When asked to name who was
behind the attack, Castro replied that Jos
Mart was the groups intellectual author. At
his own trial, he gave an impassioned speech
highlighting the countrys inequality and condemning Batista.
The courts sentenced him to prison along
with his brother Ral and the groups other
leaders. Two years later, Batista granted them
amnesty and they left Cuba for Mexico. There,
the group joined up with an Argentine doc-

Bettmann/CORBIS.

12

tor and revolutionary named Ernesto Che

Guevara and began planning their next attack
on the Batista regime.
How did the opposition overthrow Batista?
In Cuba, opposition to Batista continued
to grow. Workers, students, professionals
and even members of the military joined
movements to remove Batista from power.
Increasingly, opposition groups came to the
decision that armed struggle was necessary. As
the opposition grew more violent, so did the
response of the government. Batistas military
police were brutal, arresting and torturing
scores of opposition members. At times, the
violence was indiscriminate, terrorizing many
who were not even involved in the opposition
movement.
In 1956, Castro and about eighty others
from the M-26-7 returned to Cuba, sailing from
Mexico on a small boat called the Granma.
Ambushed by Batistas forces when they arrived, the rebels fled into the mountains of the
Sierra Maestra and led their guerrilla attack
from there. Batista created detention camps,
similar to the Spanish reconcentration camps
in the 1890s, and cleared peasants out of the
mountains in order to isolate the rebels. Anyone found in these cleared
lands was assumed to be
a member of the guerrilla army and was shot
or bombed on sight. This
tactic pushed many peasants to support the rebels.
In the cities, opposition
groups were essential for
funneling supplies and
financial support to the
rebels. Over the next two
years, the M-26-7 slowly
gained more and more territory in the east.

M-26-7 rebels at a secret base in the Sierra Maestra mountains, 1957. Fidel
Castro is standing in the center, his brother Ral is kneeling in front of him,
and Che Guevara is second from the left.
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At the same time, others in the M-26-7 joined

opposition forces in the
cities conducting other
forms of sabotage. Bombings, arson, kidnappings,

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and assassinations became commonplace. The M-26-7 also wanted

to cripple Cubas economy. In
February 1958, guerrilla forces
began burning crops across the
countryside, focusing particularly
on the sugar harvest. The M-26-7
also called a general strike of workers across the island that April.
In July, opposition groups met to
better coordinate their efforts and
decided that Fidel Castro would be
the leader of the anti-Batista movement. These groups all wanted
an end to Batistas dictatorship
but did not necessarily share a
common vision for the future government.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

Contesting Cubas
Past and Future

Cheering crowds in Havana holding the flag of the 26th of July

Movement on January 1, 1959.

Batista led one last offensive against the rebels in the east
that summer. Within a matter of
months, most of his troops had deserted or
defected to the rebels. In December of that
year, the U.S. government sent representatives to negotiate with Batista. They hoped to
convince him to resign to prevent the whole
government from being overthrown. Batista
refused. Overwhelming popular support for
the rebels forced him to leave the country on
December 31, 1958. Within days, Fidel Castro
entered Havana and began directing Cubas
new government.

Patria o Muerte (The

Fatherland or Death)
Fidel Castro would lead Cubas government for the next four and a half decades, and
the Communist Party that he helped build
continues to lead Cuba today. According to
the Cuban government, the Cuban Revolution
was not a single event or transfer of power, but
rather a set of principles, ideals, and policies
that began in 1959 and continues to the present.
Many observers have argued that the
Revolution has endured for so long partly
because of the charisma, or strength of person-

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ality, of Fidel Castro. Although there is dissent

in Cuba, for many, Castro symbolizes ideals
such as Cuban independence and sovereignty.
The Revolution provided a powerful sense of
dignity, pride, and national culture to much of
Cubas population. For many, this justified the
undemocratic leadership position Castro held
for close to five decades.
What were the goals of Cubas new leaders?
In speeches and publications, the M-26-7
emphasized Cuban nationalism. They promoted an interpretation of Cuban history in
which Cubans were locked in a centuries-long
struggle for independence from foreign rule,
whether Spanish or American, and exploitation by foreign companies. The Revolution,
they promised, would finally allow Cubans
to control their own destiny. Cubas leaders
were also concerned about the inequality that
existed within Cuban society. They especially
wanted to improve the standard of living of
poor Cubans.
At the same time, Cubas new leaders did
not have a clear plan when they came to power. In the first few months after Batista fled the
country, it was unclear to many observers how
the new government would go about achieving
its goals. The U.S. government in particular

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Contesting Cubas
Past and Future

was concerned about how this new government might affect U.S. economic interests in
Cuba. Although the era of formal U.S. involvement in Cuban domestic affairs had ended in
1934 with the repeal of the Platt Amendment,
the U.S. government had maintained a great
deal of influence in Cuba throughout the 1940s
and 1950s.

Until Castro came to power, the

United States had such an irresistible
influence in Cuba that the U.S.
ambassador was the countrys second
personage, sometimes even more
important than the Cuban president.
Earl Smith, former U.S. ambassador
to Cuba, 1960

U.S. trade agreements still strongly influenced Cubas economic policies, and U.S.
businesses still controlled large parts of Cubas
economy. U.S. officials were unsure what to
make of Castros government and the Revolution.

What were the early reforms

of the Revolution?
In May 1959, the government issued the
first of a series of economic, political, and
social reforms aimed at reorganizing Cuban society. One of its top priorities was to bring the
economy under state control. The government
began by taking ownership of large amounts
of land with the Agrarian Reform Act of 1959.
This law limited the size of individual landholdings, and all land in excess of this amount
was nationalized (to nationalize is to bring
under government control). Owners were not
compensated for their land.
Government measures particularly attacked foreign ownership in Cuba. When
foreign firms refused to meet the demands of
workers or the Cuban government, the government threatened to nationalize them. U.S.
business owners were particularly opposed to
the Agrarian Reform Act, as many still owned
large tracts of land in Cuba. Tensions between
the Cuban and U.S. governments ran particularly high over this issue in 1960, and by the

What is the difference between socialism and capitalism?

Socialism is an economic system in which the community or the state controls the production and distribution of resources in order to increase social and economic equality. Generally in
socialist systems, the state or communityrather than individualsowns resources such as land
and businesses. Communism is a political stage after socialism without social classes, property
ownership, or even government. Communism has never been achieved by any state in the modern world. Socialist economic systems have occurred in both democratic and authoritarian states.
Capitalism is an economic system in which resources are all or mostly owned by individuals
and operated for profit. Production and distribution of goods is left up to individuals or market
forces such as supply and demand.
During the Cold War, the United States acted on the belief that the world was divided into
two camps: governments supportive of communism and those supportive of capitalism. For a
while, it believed that all communists took orders from and acted on behalf of the Soviet Union,
which was seen as a mortal enemy to the United States. Many within capitalist countries were
also opposed to socialism because the property rights of individuals who owned land or businesses in socialist countries were threatened by the socialist system. For example, when Cuba
became a socialist economy, U.S. investors were forced to turn over their land and businesses to
the Cuban government.
Although countries are often classified as socialist or capitalist, in practice most economies
are not purely socialist or capitalist. For example, the United States is considered a capitalist
country. At the same time, there are programs, such as Medicare and welfare, in which the U.S.
government distributes resources to the elderly and to the poor.
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Contesting Cubas
Past and Future

end of that year, all U.S.-owned properties

and businesses had been nationalized by
the Cuban government.
Throughout the early 1960s, the government passed laws nationalizing more
land and businesses, including both local
and foreign-owned sugar mills, hotels,
banks, railroads, and other industries. The
government took control of these businesses and began to play a much more active
role in directing Cubas economy.
The government also sought to inCastro (right) visiting with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
crease trade with the Soviet Union, and in
(center) and other officials in Moscow, 1963.
1960 established diplomatic relations with
the Soviets. In the midst of the Cold War,
The Cuban government had little patience
this move greatly troubled U.S. officials. In
for
dissenting
opinions. It designated anyJanuary 1961, the United States broke relations
one
who
was
anti-socialist
as an opponent
with Cuba. Cuba-U.S. relations continued to
of the Revolution. Cubans who did not show
worsen over the next few years.
adequate enthusiasm for the Revolution also
risked being labeled as enemies.
How did the Cuban government
deal with dissent?
In a revolutionary process, there are
Although the leaders of the Revolution
no neutrals, there are only partisans
initially enjoyed widespread popular support,
of the revolution or enemies of it.
as the months passed, some opposition began
Fidel Castro, 1960
to grow.

Many criticized the government for its

treatment of former government officials.
Upon taking power, the revolutionary government removed all of Batistas supporters
from positions of power. Cubas new leaders
imprisoned and executed scores of former
government and military officials without
trial, often broadcasting the executions on
television. Many observers, both at home and
abroad, condemned the government for the
severity of these punishments and the lack of
legal process.
Some Cubans were also unhappy with the
socialist course the government had embarked
upon. Even some members of Cubas revolutionary government did not agree with Castros
turn towards socialism and the Soviet Union.
Many officials left or were forced out of the
government. Dissent sprang up across the
country, not only among wealthy Cubans most
negatively affected by the economic reforms,
but also among some poor and working class
communities.
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According to official government figures,

by the mid-1960s, Cubas jails were filled with
more than 20,000 political prisoners.
Many other Cubans chose to leave the
country altogether. In some instances, the
Cuban government even encouraged this, preferring that dissidents leave the island rather
than actively oppose the regime from within.
In the 1960s, more than half a million Cubans
emigrated. Many chose to settle in the United
States while others left for countries in Europe
and Latin America. The vast majority were
white and middle class. Many were former
managers, technicians, and professionals who
had been replaced by revolutionaries when
their businesses were nationalized. Many migrs believed that their time abroad would be
short-lived, confident that the new government
would fail due to opposition on the island and
from the United States.

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Contesting Cubas
Past and Future

defeated the invasion.

The Cuban government,
announcing its fear of
further U.S. involvement,
increased its political
repression and arrested as
many as 200,000 suspected
dissidents across the
island. Today, this unsuccessful invasion is known
as The Victory in Cuba.

Manolo Casanova/CORBIS.

16

Cuban exiles on an unidentified base in the Caribbean planning an attack

against the Cuban government. This picture was taken shortly before the
Bay of Pigs invasion, April 1961.

How did the U.S. government respond

to the Cuban Revolution?
Most of U.S. animosity towards the Cuban
government came from the Cuban governments takeover of U.S. property in Cuba.
Cubas growing relationship with the Soviet
Union also troubled the U.S. government. U.S.
fears grew in mid-1960, when Cuba and the
Soviet Union signed the first of a number of
military agreements.
Even before these arms deals, the U.S.
government had begun planning operations to
overthrow Castros government. U.S. leaders
wished to avoid direct intervention in Cuba.
Instead, they hoped to support opposition both
within Cuba and within the exile community
in the United States to depose Castro.
On April 14, 1961, CIA-sponsored air raids
on Cuban airports killed several people. Two
days later, Castro declared that Cuba was a socialist country (see box on page 14). The next
day, a group of fourteen hundred Cuban exiles,
trained and supported by the CIA, landed at
the Bay of Pigs on the south central coast. Led
by a number of former Castro government
officials, these exiles hoped to spark a countrywide rebellion against the government. Within
seventy-two hours, Cuban forces had soundly

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Despite the failure

of the Bay of Pigs invasion, the U.S. government
continued to make plans to
overthrow Fidel Castro. In
early 1962, the CIA began
a program called Operation Mongoose, aimed at
overthrowing Cubas government.

The United States will help the people

of Cuba overthrow the Communist
regime from within Cuba and
institute a new regime with which the
United States can live in peace.
Operation Mongoose, February 1962

Throughout the early 1960s, CIA operatives and U.S.-backed Cuban exiles attempted
a number of plots to destabilize Cubas government. The CIA directed its attacks at both
economic and political targets. Operation
Mongoose included acts of sabotage within
Cuba as well as political maneuvers to isolate
Cuba internationally. The CIA also funded
opposition groups in Cuba and in the United
States to violently oppose the government. As
part of Operation Mongoose, in February 1962
the U.S. government instituted an economic
embargo, halting all trade with Cuba. (The
embargo is still in effect today.) It actively encouraged U.S. allies to do the same. The U.S.
military also conducted a number of naval
exercises near Cuban shores, aimed at intimidating the Cuban government. A separate CIA
program drew up plans to assassinate Fidel
Castro (see box on page 17).

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Contesting Cubas
Past and Future

What was the October Crisis?

Relations between the United States and
Cuba deteriorated throughout 1962. U.S.
attempts to destabilize Cuba were met with
growing hostility on the island. The Cuban
government became convinced that a U.S.
invasion was imminent. Castro believed that
he needed to strengthen Cubas defenses to
protect Cuba from the United States. The Cuban government turned to the Soviet Union for
support.
The Soviets, for their part, hoped to
increase their military capabilities in the
Western hemisphere. The Soviet government
increased its shipments of weapons to Cuba

throughout 1962. In October of that year, U.S.

reconnaissance pilots found evidence of nuclear missile installations in Cuba.
The discovery led to a tense standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union,
bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war
in what became known in Cuba as the October
Crisis. (It is called the Cuban Missile Crisis in
the United States.) Castro believed that standing up to U.S. aggression was worth the risk of
a nuclear attack on Cuba.

The installation of these weapons

was nothing other than an act of

Poisoned Divesuits and Exploding Cigars

A former bodyguard of Fidel Castro has estimated that, since 1959, there have been more
than 630 attempts on Castros life. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency initiated and supported
a number of assassination attempts in the 1960s, but claims that it has not been involved in any
since then. A number of Cuban exiles in the United States, many belonging to groups previously
funded by the CIA, have also been very active
in trying to bring down Castros government.

We were pretty (lousy) terrorists,

let me tell you.... We had come to
the conclusion that the only hope for
the Cuban people lay in the physical
elimination of Fidel Castro.

Bettmann/CORBIS.

Jos Basulto, a Cuban American exile

involved in a number of terrorist acts in the
1960s. He now leads the group Brothers to
the Rescue, a nonviolent Cuban American
opposition group.

Fidel Castro reading a newspaper article about an

attempt on his life while in New York, 1963. Earlier
in the day, when asked about the incident he said,
I sleep well and dont worry at all.

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Various unsuccessful plots included

poisoned food, bombs, and exploding cigars.
Other plans that the CIA considered included
a plot to infect the inside of Castros scuba
diving suit (he was known to be an avid diver)
with a fungus that would cause a debilitating skin disease, or to place a brightly colored
seashell filled with explosives at the bottom of
the sea where he liked to dive. The CIA sometimes worked with people close to Castro, like
government officials or former girlfriends, and
also elicited help from members of the mafia.

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Contesting Cubas
Past and Future

legitimate self-defense on the part

of the Republic of Cuba against the
aggressive policy which the United
States has been pursuing against our
country since the very triumph of the
Revolution.
Fidel Castro in a communication with
the UN Secretary-General, November 1962

In the end, Soviet leaders, without consulting the Cuban government, removed the
weapons in exchange for the removal of certain U.S. missiles in Europe and U.S. promises
not to invade Cuba.
What was Cubas relationship
with the Soviet Union?
After the October Crisis, the relationship
between the Cuban government and the Soviet
Union became distrustful and uneasy. The
Cuban government felt betrayed by the Soviet
withdrawal of weapons and believed that Cuba
was now even more vulnerable to attack by the
United States.
At the same time, Cuba depended on its
alliance with the Soviet Union. Cubas changing relationship with the United States had
dealt a serious blow to the Cuban economy in
the 1960s. As relations soured between Cuba
and the United States, Cuba lost its primary
source of investment, trade, and finance. Cuba
did not have access to necessary food imports,
fuel, money to invest in new industry, and the
technical expertise or materials necessary to
fix aging machines and technology. Support
from the Soviet Union was vital to meet Cubas
economic needs.
Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s
Cuba and the Soviet Union signed a number of economic agreements that allowed
the Soviet Union, in some ways, to replace
the economic support the United States had
previously provided. The Soviets supplied
Cuba with inexpensive fuel and bought sugar
at high prices to help Cubas economy. They
also provided Cuba with large loans to finance
industrialization and trade. By the mid-1970s,
approximately 45 percent of all Cuban trade
was with the Soviet Union.
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The Soviet Union also provided Cuba with

a great deal of technical support and military
training and aid. With Soviet training and
equipment, the Cuban military became the
most skilled and experienced in all of Latin
America. Soviet advisors also assisted with
economic planning and training government
officials and workers.

Revolutionary Reforms
Economic change was at the heart of the
revolutionary governments plans for Cuba.
Reliance on sugar and trade with the United
States during the first half of the century had
led to very little variety in Cubas economy.
The country depended primarily on sugar and
other agricultural exports, and had very few
industries. The revolutionary governments
main goal was to diversify and industrialize
Cubas economy so that it no longer depended
on just one crop or trading partner.
How did the government
change Cubas economy?
In the early 1960s, the government charted
a radical economic course. Hoping to move
away from sugar, it poured all of its resources
into developing new industries and training
new professionals. But without the income
generated by sugar exports, the government
could not afford to import the goods it needed
and the economy plunged into recession.
The government changed its policies in
1963, hoping to ease the economic crisis by
turning once again to sugar. According to this
new plan, the sugar industry would generate
income that could then be used to develop
specific industries. The Cuban government
ambitiously announced that in 1970, Cubas
sugar industry would yield ten million tons,
far more than any other harvest in Cuban
history. In the years leading up to 1970, huge
amounts of labor and resources were redirected to the sugar industry from other parts of the
economy. The goal of ten million tons became
a source of national pride for the revolutionary
government. Cubas leaders promoted the harvest as proof that Cubans could take control of

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Contesting Cubas
Past and Future

Following this decline, the government

once again shifted directions, attempting to
lessen somewhat the role of the state in the
economy. Soviet advisors came to Cuba to
help the government draw up budgets and
economic strategies. Cuba began to rely even
more on trade agreements with the Soviet
Union and other Eastern European countries.
These countries wanted Cuban sugar, and the
industry regained its important status in the
Cuban economy. By the mid-1970s, the sugar
industry was booming in Cuba again, thanks in
large part to high world prices. After a harvest
of 4.3 million tons in 1972, the yield increased
to 7.8 million tons in 1979 and sugar made up
approximately 80 percent of Cubas exports.
How did government policies
affect Cuban workers?
By the late 1960s, the government was the
only employer of Cuban
workers. After the nationalization policies of the
mid-1960s, the government
controlled all legal economic activity except for
small farms, which were
still private. Government
agencies placed workers
in various sectors of the
economy, and government
policy determined everything from worker wages
to days allowed for sick
leave.
One of the governments primary economic
aims was to reduce inequality among the Cuban
people. Cubas leaders
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made a number of changes aimed at improving

the standard of living of workers. In the early
1960s, despite economic ups and downs, the
government reduced unemployment dramatically. Nearly all Cubans who wanted to work
had jobs or were provided with unemployment compensation by the government. The
government also provided all workers with
social security, accident insurance, sick leave,
education, and free health care. The government increased the minimum wage and put
caps on the maximum wage, aiming not only
to help the poor but to limit the incomes of the
wealthy.
Although these new policies improved the
lives of many workers, they created little incentive for workers to work hard. New laws in
the 1960s also took away financial incentives
for workers such as paid overtime, bonuses,
and differences in wages.
Developed primarily by Che Guevara,
these policies aimed to create a new man in
Cuba. This new man would not need financial incentives to work hard. Instead, his love
and belief in the Revolution would be enough
to increase his productivity at work. The
government began to pay workers the same
wage regardless of effort, skill, or time. The
government also strongly encouraged work-

Fidel Castro talking with farm workers during the ten million ton harvest in
1970.

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their own history against all odds. But despite

the mass mobilization of Cubas workforce
towards this goal, the harvest fell short, totaling 8.5 million tons. This was greater than any
other harvest in Cubas history, but still short
of the goal. Furthermore, the economy was
once again in decline, largely because so many
resources had been taken away from other sectors and put towards the harvest.

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Contesting Cubas
Past and Future

ers to volunteer after work

in social campaigns to
improve things like health
and education. Rather than
increasing productivity,
the policies caused worker
morale and productivity to
plummet.
The utter failure of this
policy was made clear in
a series of worker strikes
across the country in 1970.
As a result, the government changed policies in
the early 1970s, reinstating
financial incentives and allowing wages to be aligned
A giant billboard declaring 1964 as the Year of the Economy. To the left, it
somewhat with supply and
states Greater Production at Less Cost.
demand rather than completely determined by the
government. The governsocial deviants and sent them to be rehabilitatment also issued new incentives, providing
ed in military-run work camps. Traditionally
outstanding workers with access to scarce
a Catholic country, Cuba was officially athegoods like televisions, refrigerators, and cars.
ist from 1959 to 1992, which means that the
state rejected religion and frowned upon
religious practice. The Catholic Church in
What social changes did the
Cuba opposed the Revolution and the governgovernment make?
ment restricted the practice of Catholicism in
One of the chief goals of the government
particular.
was to make major changes in the standard
of living of the Cuban poor. In the first nine
months of 1959 alone, the government passed
approximately 1,500 new laws. Many of
these were aimed at improving quality of life.
Among other things, the government reduced
housing rents and utility rates, increased
wages, and abolished legal discrimination.
The government put more and more facets
of Cuban life under state control. It determined
everything from funeral arrangements for each
citizen to the number of shirts each person
could buy every year. The government issued
monthly ration cards that determined a basic
minimum amount of food that the government
would provide at very low cost for each citizen. All goods were sold in government stores,
where Cubans often had to wait in long lines.
The government also took control of certain sections of the population. It classified
drug dealers, prostitutes, and homosexuals as
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The government put a great deal of resources towards improving education. One of
the governments first projects was a campaign
to end illiteracy. In 1961, the government
mobilized thousands of educated citizens to
go into the countryside and teach illiterate
Cubans how to read. The government took
control of all levels of education, making
all religious and private schools public, and
created an adult education system. Schools
promoted the values and history of the Revolution. Education became nearly universal and
by 1979, almost 95 percent of Cubans were
literate, a thirty point jump in twenty years.
The government also focused on improving the health care system. Although free,
quality health care had existed in many of
Cubas cities prior to 1959, the government
now aimed to expand these services to the
rest of the country. It also worked towards

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Contesting Cubas
Past and Future

eliminating malnutrition, mainly through

food ration cards. Growth of the health care
system was slow in the 1960s, due largely to
economic crises and because many doctors
had emigrated after the Revolution. In the
1970s, as the economy recovered, the health
sector began to make gains. Life expectancy
increased from 57 years in the mid-1950s to 74
years in the mid-1980s. By the early 1980s, the
major causes of death in Cuba were the same
as in highly industrialized countries. As was
the case in the education sector, government
policies did much to improve the delivery of
health services, particularly for rural Cubans.
How did the government
implement these changes?
Power in Cubas government has been
concentrated in relatively few hands for much
of the last fifty years, with many top officials
holding a number of government, state, and
Communist Party positions. Castro became
prime minister in 1959, and although there
was a separate president until the mid-1970s,
Castro quickly became the undisputed leader
of the revolutionary government. He identified
his brother Ral as his successor. No elections
were held from 1959 to 1976.

Elections will be held at the

appropriate time.... Now the people
want revolution first and elections
later.
Che Guevara, April 1959

The departure from many democratic

principles led critics to argue that Castro had
betrayed the original goals of the Revolution.
In the early years, many observers noted
that Castro behaved as if he were single-handedly managing the whole country. He travelled
constantly, visiting factories, farms, schools,
hospitals, and homes around the entire country. He became infamous for his hours-long
speeches, given at large public rallies, on
radio and television, and in person in informal settings throughout the country. In these
speeches, he passionately praised the gains of
his government, warned the Cuban people to
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be vigilant against enemies of the Revolution,

and urged patience for the better future that
would come.
The Cuban government created a number
of organizations to ensure that Cubas population was adhering to revolutionary principles.
It organized a national militia of tens of
thousands of people to help build support for
the regime and to intimidate domestic opposition. It also organized Committees for the
Defense of the Revolution (CDRs) on every
street and in every apartment, farm, and factory. CDRs were responsible for monitoring the
local population and identifying any possible
enemies of the Revolution. An enemy might
be someone who spoke out against the government, who maintained contact with relatives
who had emigrated overseas, or who was not
sufficiently involved in volunteer campaigns.
By the late 1970s, approximately 80 percent of
the adult population was a member of a mass
organization such as a CDR.
The government exerted its influence both
through control and through censorship. It
outlawed strikes and reorganized the unions
so that they supported the state. By the middle
of 1960, all media was state-run. Starting in
1961, the government censored art, literature, scholarship, music, theater, and cinema.
Everything had to support the Revolution.
Because so many artists and intellectuals were
afraid of being censored by the government,
self-censorship further limited freedom of
expression.
At the same time, many areas of Cuban
culture flourished under the Revolution. For
example, the government devoted resources
towards developing the countrys sports
teams and athletes. It hoped to promote
both physical fitness and a positive image of
Cubas revolutionary government worldwide.
All citizens were required to participate in
athletics and the country won numerous international awards for sports such as baseball,
boxing, volleyball, and cross country. Even
with censorship, Cuban artcinema, ballet,
music, poetry, and fiction, in particularalso
achieved widespread international recognition.

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Past and Future

What was Cubas new foreign policy?

Many observers have described revolutionary Cuba as a little country with a big
countrys foreign policy. From the early 1960s,
the Cuban government decided it needed a
pro-active foreign policy. This was partly because U.S. policies had the potential to isolate
Cuba from other countries in the region and
around the world. Cubas leaders were also
eager for social revolutions to occur in other
poor countries. Cubas foreign policy aimed
both to promote revolutions abroad and to
maintain diplomatic relations with as many
countries as possible.
These two desires often came into conflict. Throughout the 1960s, Cuba actively
supported revolutionary movements in Latin
America and Africa, providing advisors,
troops, and supplies. This support angered
many governments that felt threatened by
these movements. They believed that Cubas
actions threatened their sovereignty. For most
of the decade, every country in Latin America
except Mexico suspended political and economic relations with Cuba. At the same time,
Cuba won the admiration of many poor countries for standing up to the United States and
repressive regimes around the world. In 1969,
the Non-Aligned Movement, with ninety-six
member nations throughout much of the developing world, elected Cuba as its chair.
The Cuban government also actively assisted the populations of other poor countries.
The government claimed that its involvement
overseas was a source of national pride, and
it connected the struggles of Cubans with the
struggles of poor people around the world.
Cuba deployed thousands of citizens overseas
to work in and advise other countries in fields
such as health, education, and construction.
It also deployed troops and military advisors
to poor countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin
America. In the early 1980s, there were about
fifteen thousand civilians and thirty-five
thousand military personnel working in more
than twenty countries around the world. (In
relation to Cubas population, this military
deployment was larger than that of the United
States at the height of the Vietnam War.) Many
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of those working overseas were some of Cubas

best managers, technicians, and workers, and
their absence contributed to Cubas economic
troubles.

Changes Brewing
Although Cubas economy boomed in the
mid-1970s, a severe drop in sugar prices later
in the decade led to a series of recessions. As
Cubas economy declined, it could no longer
make payments on its loans. At the same time,
the Soviet Union, also suffering an economic
crisis, withdrew some of its financial support
of Cuba.
In order to pay its debt, Cubas government
redirected its spending. It began to put money
towards paying the debt, and spent less on imports such as food, fuel, and medical supplies.
Cubas population immediately felt the repercussions of these changes. Goods suddenly
became unavailable and food rations declined.
Quality of life suffered dramatically.
What was the Mariel boatlift?
In the late 1970s, the Cuban government
participated in negotiations with the Cuban
American exile community. The government
hoped to improve relations with moderate Cuban Americans in order to undermine
support for Cuban American groups that still
led attacks against the Cuban government. In
1979, the government decided to allow Cuban
Americans to visit the island. Prior to this, the
government had not allowed people to return
once they left, and many migrs had not seen
their relatives on the island for twenty years.
In 1979 alone, more than 100,000 Cuban
Americans came to Cuba. They brought not
only great deals of money, but also magazines,
consumer goods, and stories that painted a
picture of life that was very different from
what most Cubans had ever experienced.
As the economic crisis worsened in 1980,
many on the island became increasingly desperate to improve their lives. In April 1980,
ten thousand Cubans flooded the Peruvian embassy in Havana seeking asylum. Within days,
Castro announced that anyone who wanted to

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Contesting Cubas
Past and Future

What was the

Rectification of
Errors campaign?
Cuba underwent a
number of significant
changes during the 1970s.
In 1976, a new constitution created legislative
assemblies for local,
provincial, and national
government. Beginning in
the late 1970s, the government also implemented
reforms to liberalize, or
reduce the governments
role in, the economy. The
government began allowThousands of Cuban migrs packed onto the deck of a ship travelling from
ing businesses to hire their
Mariel Harbor in June 1980. The U.S. Coast Guard escorted this and many
own employees directly.
other boats making the journey to Florida.
It also allowed business
managers to keep some of
their profits to reinvest in
leave Cuba was free to go. At the same time,
their workers or in their businesses. Prior to
U.S. President Carter said that the United
this, all profits had belonged to the state. In
States would accept any Cuban who wanted to
1980, the government also legalized small, priimmigrate.
vate farmers markets. After providing the state
In what became known as the Mariel boatwith the required amount of produce, farmers
lift, more than 125,000 Cubans left the island
could now sell their surplus goods in private
between April and October 1980 (many from
markets with unregulated prices. This not only
the port of Mariel, just west of Havana). Most
allowed farmers to supplement their incomes,
of them travelled to the United States in small
but also made it easier for many Cubans to
boats that Cuban Americans captained south
obtain a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables
from Miami. At the end of April, close to one
outside of government stores.
thousand boats were making the trip to Cuba
The economic crisis that led to the Mariel
daily. The Cuban government forced Cuban
boatlift eased somewhat in the early 1980s,
Americans to transport not only their friends
particularly after the Soviets increased the
and relatives but also people that it had clasprice they paid for Cuban sugar. But this
sified as "undesirable" from its jails, detention
development pushed Cuba into an even closer
centers, and mental hospitals.
economic relationship with the Soviet Union.
In October 1980, the U.S. and Cuban
By the mid-1980s, more than 85 percent of
governments negotiated an end to the migraCubas trade was with the Soviet trading bloc,
tion. To many critics outside of Cuba, Mariel
and sugar remained the countrys main export
was proof that Cubans did not support Castros
good.
government. But unlike the earlier waves of
In the mid-1980s, the Cuban government
migrants, most of the Mariel migrants left Cuba
decided to reverse its economic course once
more for economic opportunity than because
again. A number of factors contributed to this
of their political views.
decision, including the economic difficulties
of the early 1980s and the instability in Cuban
society signalled by the Mariel boatlift.
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Contesting Cubas
Past and Future

In 1986, the government instituted a

program called the Rectification of Errors.
The goal of this campaign was to increase the
role of the state in the economy. The government claimed that the economic reforms of the
1970s had created corruption. Inequality had
also increased in Cuban society. The government banned the private farmers markets. It
also removed financial incentives and again
called on workers to be motivated by a desire
to support the Revolution and the country. As
it had in the 1960s, labor productivity plummeted as workers became less motivated to
work hard. Another recession wracked Cubas
economy from 1986 until the end of the decade, partly due to these new measures.
What gains had Cubans made
by the mid-1980s?
Overall, the Cuban government struggled
to sustain economic growth over the first thirty
years of the Revolution. Despite the governments plan to diversify the economy, sugar
was still the countrys primary export and
Cuba still depended on one main trading partner. Some industrialization had occurred, but
most of the new industries were inefficient,
producing low-quality goods.
Many observers argued that the revolutionary governments primary achievement
had not been economic growth but improving
access to basic goods and services for large
portions of Cubas population. By the mid1980s, there was free universal health care
throughout the island, free education from
primary to graduate school, and universities located in every province. The countrys
infant mortality rate was comparable to the
rates in rich countries, the health sector had
eradicated most infectious diseases, and there
were more doctors per person than any other
country in the world. The government ensured
that nearly all Cubans were employed or paid
compensation. The government was also successful in reducing some of the inequality that

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existed among Cubans of different classes and

between rural and urban communities.
These gains were heralded as triumphs
of the Revolution by the Cuban government.
In many ways, these successes set Cuba apart
from the rest of Latin America and from developing countries around the world. At the same
time, many critics contested the positive image
that the government promoted. Some argued
that the government had targeted its resources
towards improving specific indicators, such
as infant mortality or literacy, and that these
statistics masked other problems that existed.
Others claimed that the Cuban government
could not have achieved these successes
without the significant financial support of the
Soviet Union. Still others have argued that the
cost of these benefits, in the form of political
repression, was too great.
In some ways, the government obscured
problems that continued to exist throughout
the revolutionary period. For example, race
and racism became taboo subjects in Cuban
politics. After attacking discrimination in the
early 1960s, the government claimed to have
solved the problems of discrimination and
racial inequality. About 37 percent of Cubas
population is of Afro-Cuban or mixed descent.
But although the Afro-Cuban population had
made gains by the 1980s, there were still some
gaps. For instance, Afro-Cubans tended to
live in poorer neighborhoods in low-quality
housing. Afro-Cubans and women were also
underrepresented in the national government
and the ruling Communist Party.
In Part II of the reading, you have explored
the significant changes that the revolutionary
government made to Cubas society, economy,
political system, and foreign policy. Although
the country made many gains after 1959,
the government struggled with a number of
issues. Most importantly, it had trouble keeping Cubas economy growing. In the coming
decades, the countrys economic woes would
threaten not only Cubas government but the
Revolution itself.

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