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Cuba
Early History
• 3500 B.C. Fishers and hunters were first
inhabitants from a variety of tribes in South
America.
• They were descendants of the Arawak Indians,
known as the Taino, an agricultural tribe.
– Taino are believed to be the tribe that crossed from
Asia via the Bering Strait to inhabit North and South
America.
Christopher Columbus and the
“Discovery”
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October 27, 1492 Columbus sighting of Cuba.
1514 Diego Velazquez de Cuellar conquers
the Taino.
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claims the island in the name of Spain.
sets up seven settlements across Cuba.
Taino chief burned at the stake for resistance.
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1515 to 1542 approximately 95,000 natives killed
either by disease or slave labor.
Spain begins African slave importation as
replacement workers
Independence
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The beginning of the 1600’s saw Spain losing
its control of the entire Caribbean.
British forces captured the island of Jamaica
(1655) and French forces took over Haiti
(1697).
1817 Spain’s monopoly on tobacco ends.
raising prices and spreading the crop all over
the Caribbean and to North America.
Sugar was the second leading crop under
tobacco. British forces were constantly trying
to take Cuba from Spain for these reasons
Domestic efforts to achieve
Independence
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Carlos Manuel de
Cespedes began
Cuba’s first war of
independence
The Ten Years War
(1867-77)
Over 200,000 rebel
and federal troops
killed
The rebel force is
defeated, settles for a
treaty - amnesty.
Jose Marti
• Jose Marti and
General Maximo
Gomez invade Eastern
Cuba in 1895.
• Marti was killed on his
horse in a battle with
Spanish troops
• Martyr to the cause of
independence.
Jose Marti
The Spanish American War
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1898 U.S.S. Maine explodes in Havana Harbor.
The Spanish-American war begins January of
1898, ends December 1898.
Peace treaty between the United States and
Spain provisions:
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U.S. retains Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam as
territories captured from the Spanish
Cannot annex Cuba because of a law providing for the
recognition of Cuba’s self-determination for
independence.
U.S. gains Naval Base on Guantanamo Bay Cuba
(1903)
U.S. domination?
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1920 American businesses own 2/3 arable land,
crippling food production, economic progress.
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Great Depression era:
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U.S. government historically viewed Cuba as
extension of US economic interests in the Caribbean
(U.S. Secretary of State James Blaine 1881)
1901 Platt Amendment – extension of Monroe
Doctrine to Cuba/US military intervention if necessary.
civil unrest develops/ violently repressed.
1933 Army Sergeant, Fulgencio Batista,
overthrows President Morales.
Background to Revolution
• Following the death of
Eddy Chibas in 1951,
Batista re-emerged in
the political arena.
• 1952 elections
scheduled, Fidel Castro
is a Congressional
Candidate.
Fulgencio Batista
Revolution
• March 10, 1952
Fulgencio Batista
takes control in a
bloodless coup d’etat.
• Cubans rally behind
Castro - revolution
begins.
Fidel Castro
The Moncada Attack
• The Revolutionary armed
struggle against the
Batista Regime official
began on July 26, 1953.
• Castro and 131 other
fighters attacked the
Moncada Barracks on
July 26
– the attacks fail.
– Castro was caught,
imprisoned.
– Castro exiled to Mexico.
• 1954 elections to reinstate
Batista as President
•General amnesty granted
and Castro sent into exile.
Living in Exile
• In Mexico Castro
studies guerrilla
warfare and
continues his attack
on the Batista Regime
by way of pamphlets
and letters intended
to rebuild the “July 26
Movement.”
Castro and friends in Mexico
Return from Exile
• At the end of 1956, Castro bought a yacht called Granma, loaded it
with weapons and as many supplies as he could find, as well as 82
followers and set sail for Cuba. On December 2, 1956 they beached
at Las Coloradas
• Ambushed at landing – betrayal by insider, most of the group is
killed.
• Survivors take control of the La Plata Army Barracks on January 16
1957, enabling them to restocked their weapons supply. Then they
took refuge in one of the most inaccessible places possible, the
mountains.
• The Eisenhower administration has just cut funding to Batista for
weapons.
– U.S. state department advisor William Wieland famously laments: "I
know Batista is considered by many as a son of a bitch... but American
interests come first... at least he was our son of a bitch”.
The Sierra Maestra
• The July 26 Movement two
elements: The Sierra and the
Llano (the underground
urban movement) which was
led under Frank Pais.
• After a Llano movement
strike, Pais was criticized
and the Sierra group took
control of its operations in
the plains.
• Castro is named
Commander in Chief for the
first time on May 3rd 1958.
Frank Pais
Revolutionary Success
• May 25th 1958 Batista launches a major offensive with
10,000 armed soldiers. Rebels obtain hundreds of
weapons from prisoners captured during the battle.
• Castro’s forces begin a counteroffensive in July. In the
months that followed, the rebels were able to
successfully divide the island in half and gain control of
Santa Clara, the capital, in December.
• On January 1st 1959, Batista flees Cuba and Rebels
gain control.
• U.S. government recognizes the new Cuban
government (Jan 7, 1959).
• On February 16th, Castro becomes Prime Minister.
1960’s-The Cuban Revolution
• Knowledge of socialism and communism
spread within 2 years of revolution
• Fidel used television to discuss major
national problems, to orient the masses, or
make public decisions
• During half of 1960’s politics was a cause of
family polarization
• 1965-Fidel let Cubans leave
The Revolution in the 60s
• 1959-Agrarian Reform Law
• Food rationing; ration books
• Cubans pay no taxes, almost
nothing for medical care,
electricity, entertainment,
transportation, or education
• 1960-Castro creates the
Federation of Cuban Women(meets infrequently in 1962,
1974,1980)
Revolution in the 70’s
• Projected sugar harvest of 10 million tons
• “ New Economic Calculus”
• 1974 - Castro saw his party to be “a party
of men, a state of men, and a government
of men.”
• 1975 - Cuban family code - “shared
housework”
Education
• Improvement of literacy
• Elite schools
• Education is free monetarily, but it is tightly
controlled as to what is learned
• Emphasis on medicine, pharmacy
US/Cuba Relations
History
• The relationship between the United States and Cuba for the
last 40 years has been marked by tension and confrontations.
• The United States initially recognized the new Cuban
government (January 7, 1959)
• Relations deteriorated as the regime engaged in land reform
and expropriated U.S. properties as part of its movement
toward adoption of a one-party Marxist-Leninist system.
• United States institutes a trade embargo on Cuba in October
1960 and breaks diplomatic relations the following January.
• Tensions between the two governments peaked during the
April 1961 "Bay of Pigs" invasion and the October 1962
missile crisis.
US/Cuba Relations
• Cuba established close ties with the Soviet Union which
fueled cold war tensions and kept the bilateral
relationship distant during the 1960s.
• In the 1970s, during the Nixon administration, the United
States and Cuba began to explore normalizing relations,
but the talks were suspended in 1975 when Cuba
launched a large-scale intervention in Angola.
• The United States and Cuba attempted to establish and
facilitate consular relations and provide a venue for
dialogue, but Cuban international entanglements in the
1970s, such as deploying troops to Ethiopia and allowing
Soviet forces on the island, continued the strain.
US/Cuba Relations
• In the 1980s the focus of friction in U.S.-Cuban relations shifted to
also include immigration migration crisis unfolded.
• In April 1980 an estimated ten thousand Cubans stormed the
Peruvian embassy in Havana seeking political asylum. Eventually,
the Cuban government allowed 125,000 Cubans to illegally depart
for the United States from the port of Mariel, an incident known as
the "Mariel boatlift." A number of criminals and mentally ill persons
were involuntarily included.
• Quiet efforts to explore the prospects for improving relations were
initiated in 1981-82 under the Reagan administration, but ceased as
Cuba continued to intervene in Latin America.
• In 1983, the United States and regional allies forced the withdrawal
of the Cuban presence in Grenada
Mariel Boat Lift
• April 1, 1980- September 25,
1980
• 124,776 Cuban Migrants (60%
Men, 22% Women, 18%
Children)
• 3,784 intercepted by USCG in
one day alone
• 27 Migrants died including 14
aboard a single capsized
vessel
• Average Weekly Cost to
USCG- $650,000
US/Cuba Relations
• In 1984, the United States and Cuba negotiated
an agreement to resume normal immigration
and to return to those persons to Cuba who had
arrived during the boatlift who were "excludable"
under U.S. law.
• Cuba suspended this agreement in May 1985
following the U.S. initiation of Radio Marti
broadcasts to the island.
– reinstated in November 1987.
– March 1990, TV Marti transmissions began to Cuba.
US/Cuba Relations
• In the ‘90s another migration crisis set
back U.S.-Cuban relations.
• 1994 food shortages/blackouts leads to
demonstrations in Havana.
• The Cuban Government responded by
allowing some 30,000 Cubans to set sail
for the United States.
– which resulted in a number of deaths at sea.
– Massive US Coast Guard rescue effort.
US/Cuba Relations
• This resulted in both
countries signing
migration accords in
September 1994 and
May 1995 to ensure
safe, legal, and
orderly migration.
US/Cuba Relations
• On February 24, 1996 the Cuban military shot
down two U.S. registered civil aircraft in
international airspace, killing three U.S. citizens
and one U.S. resident. In response to this
violation of international aviation law, Congress
and President Clinton passed the Cuban Liberty
and Democratic Solidarity Act, also known as the
Libertad Act, which codified the U.S. trade
embargo into law and imposed additional
sanctions on the Cuban regime.
US/Cuba Relations
• Present Policy
Our present policy has two fundamental
components:
– maintaining pressure on the Cuban
Government for change through the embargo
and the Libertad Act while providing
humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people
– working to aid the development of civil society
in the country.
US/Cuba Relations
• U.S. policy also pursues a multilateral effort to
press for democratic change by urging allies to
actively promote a democratic transition and
respect for human rights. It opposes
consideration of Cuba’s return to the OAS or
inclusion in the Summit of the America’s process
until there is a democratic Cuban government.
• The U.S. has made clear however that it is
prepared to respond if the Cuban government
initiates fundamental, systematic democratic
change and respect for human rights.
Three Major Waves of Cuban
Migrants
• 1965 Camarioca
• 1980 Mariel Boatlift
• 1994 Balseros (Boat People)
– 1999 Elián González
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli%C3%A1n_Gon
z%C3%A1lez
US Immigration Policy for Cuban
Migrants
• The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966
Treated Cuban migrants as political refugees and
granted them universal political asylum. Entitled Cuban
refugees to government welfare programs that other
immigrant groups were excluded from.
• Migratory Agreement of 1994 and
Joint Declaration of 1995
US agrees to formally process 20,000 Cuban migrants a
year in order to stop the flow of migrants across the
Florida Straits.
Officially Processed Number of Cuban
Refugees by Year
1995
6,133
1996
3,498
1997
2,911
1998
1,587
1999
2,018
2000
3,184
2001
2,944
Cuban Exile Groups
• Cuban American National
Foundation
• Cuban Liberty Council
• Brothers to the Rescue
Cuba’s Branches of
Government
National Assembly of People's Power
legislative and representative authority
power to declare war, approve state budget
approves general outline of foreign policy
Council of State
Take power from NAPP when out of session
equal to Assembly in policy making
31 members, elected by NAPP
Council of Ministers
executive and administrative organ
conducts foreign policy, submits bills
members elected by NAPP
Judicial System
3 tiers (People's Supreme, Provinical, Municipal)
Governing Council
members elected by NAPP
Judicial System—Governing
Council of the Courts
• President of Supreme Court, Vice President,
Secretary, Presidents of the 5 chambers
• 5 chambers = criminal, civil and administrative,
labor, crimes against state security and military.
• Makes sure that all court decisions from all 3
tiers are uniform
• Intermediary for Council of Ministers and
Supreme Court
Judicial System—Municipal
Courts
• 169 municipal courts, one per municipality
– Judges are elected by respective municipal
assembly after nomination by the Ministry of
Justice.
– Lay judges outnumber professional judges
Judicial System—
Provincial Courts
• 14 provincial courts, one per province
– Elected by provincial assemblies after
nomination by Ministry of Justice
– justices serve a 2 ½ year term
– 5 chambers
Judicial System—Supreme
Court
• Consists of a President, Vice President,
members of the countries 5 chambers
– Each chamber consists of a President, 2
professional judges, and 2 lay judges
• Judges elected by National Assembly
– 26 professional judges serve 2 ½ year terms
– 126 lay judges serve 2 months per year over
2 ½ year terms
Council of Ministers
• Includes agriculture, education, interior
and other various ministries
• Executive and administrative organ
• Conducts foreign policy
• Submits state budget and bills for Council
of State and National Assembly to approve
• Members are elected by National
Assembly
Council of State
• 31 members, elected by National
Assembly
• Takes over all power from NAPP while
they are out of session
• President of council is the Head of State
and Government as well as President of
Council of Ministers
• Vice President of Council of State would
take over if President died or was unable
to serve
National Assembly of
People’s Power
• Legislative
representative authority
• Powers:
– to declare war
– approve state budget
– approves general outline
of foreign/domestic policy
• Discusses plans for
national economic and
social development
• Oversees other state
organs
Members voting in the National
Assembly of People’s Power
National Assembly of
People’s Power
• Elects members to serve on Council of
State and Council of Ministers
• Elects president, Vice President
• Elects judges of People’s Supreme Court
• Rules whether laws are constitutional or
not
• Members serve 5 year terms, elected by
municipal assemblies, serve on part time
basis
President of Cuba
• The highest post in the Cuban government is decided by the Council
of State, whose members are chosen by members of congress
amongst themselves. Members of congress are elected in a popular
ballot every five years. In order to win a congressional seat,
however, a candidate must be a member of the Cuban Communist
Party and his/her candidacy must have been put forward by local
councils. These councils are also elected in a popular ballot.
• This system has allowed Fidel to retain Cuba's presidency since
1976. In July 2006, however, ill-health forced him to hand over dayto-day power to his younger brother, Raúl, who has since been
acting as interim president. It is likely that Raúl will be picked to
replace his brother in March (of 2008). Like Fidel, Raúl is also a
candidate in the 20 January (2008) congressional election
The Communist Party of Cuba
• The solely recognized
political party since
the 1960’s, also
known as the PCC
• The Cuban nation
has been under the
current government
rule since January 1,
1959
• Current constitution
since 1976.
The Communist Party of Cuba
• The structure of the P.C.C. Is as follows:
– A first secretary general of the central
committee
– A second secretary general of the central
committee
– Members of the central committee, which
include secretaries, presidents of political
organizations, etc.
The Communist Party of Cuba
• The government is a totalitarian dictatorship
• There are very few checks and balances
• For example, Fidel Castro serves as the first
Secretary General of the central committee of
the Communist party, as well as President of the
State Council (legislative power), and President
of the Ministry Council (executive power), and
Commander in Chief of the Armed forces
• The national economy is entirely a function of
the state
US/Cuba Relations
President William J. Clinton
• "(Our policy) demonstrates the United States'
compassion for the Cuban people, our strong
interest in building bonds between the citizens of
our nations, and our determination to provide the
people of Cuba with hope in their struggle
against a system that for four decades has
denied them even basic human rights."
March 20, 1998
US/Cuba Relations
• "The policy of the United States is clear.
We want a peaceful transition to
democracy in Cuba. It is that simple. It is
that unshakable. And towards that goal,
we will never compromise our principles,
nor cease our efforts." February 27, 1998
Secretary of State
Madeleine K. Albright