Download Revolution in Cuba - Castro and Communism

Revolution in Cuba: Castro and Communism
Global History and Geography II
Name: ____________________________
E. Napp
Date: ____________________________
Fidel Castro led a revolution against
Fulgencio Batista, a Cuban dictator. In
1959, Castro’s forces were successful. By
1961, Fidel Castro had declared Cuba a
Communist state. Life in Cuba changed
drastically as Castro sought to create his
Socialist state.
Questions:
1. Who was Karl Marx?
_______________________________________________________________________
2. What book did Karl Marx co-author with Friedrich Engels?
_______________________________________________________________________
3. State two Communist beliefs.
_______________________________________________________________________
4. What nation experienced the first communist revolution?
_______________________________________________________________________
5. What did the Communist leaders of this nation promise?
_______________________________________________________________________
6. Who were two important leaders of this nation?
_______________________________________________________________________
7. What nation experienced a Communist revolution in 1949?
_______________________________________________________________________
8. Who was the leader of this nation at the time of its victorious revolution?
_______________________________________________________________________
9. Who was Fidel Castro?
_______________________________________________________________________
10. Describe Cuba before Castro’s successful revolution.
_______________________________________________________________________
11. Describe Cuba after Castro’s revolution. ____________________________________
Adapted from timeforkids.com
“When Cuba's President, Fidel Castro, came to
power in 1959, many people hailed him as a hero. He
promised the Cuban people freedom and
democracy. He later announced that Cuba would be
a communist country. Under communism, Castro
vowed, there would no longer be rich and poor.
Everyone would have an equal opportunity to get a
job and an education.
Although Castro did make some things more equal,
he also took away the personal and political freedom
of his people. He canceled free elections. He put his
opponents in jail. In the 1960s, he began to crack
down on religious freedom.
Questions:
1. When did Fidel Castro
come to power?
____________________
2. What did Castro
promise the Cuban
people after his victory?
____________________
3. Did Castro keep his
promise?
____________________
4. How did Castro change
Cuba?
____________________
5. How did Castro treat
his political opponents?
____________________
6. What happened to
religious institutions in
Castro’s Cuba?
____________________
7. How many priests are in
Cuba today?
____________________
8. Who did Castro allow to
visit in 1998?
____________________
9. Why was this
Type:
surprising?
Statesman
Quotes
____________________
Date of Birth:
August 13, 1926
Find on Amazon:
Fidel Castro
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Cubans were discouraged from practicing any
form of religion. Religious schools were closed, and
many priests and nuns were thrown out of the
country. By 1970, the Christian celebrations of
Christmas and Easter were no longer official
holidays.
Once there were many priests in Cuba, but today
there are only 240. "So many people do not even
know who the Pope is," says Enrique Lopez Oliva, a
professor of religious history in Havana.
So why did Castro, an enemy of religion, agree to
have the Pope visit his country? And why did the
Pope want to come? The reasons are complex. But
even before the Pope's visit (1998), Castro began
slowly to open the door to religion in Cuba. Last
month, in honor of the Pope's trip, Cubans were
allowed to celebrate Christmas for the first time in
27 years.”
Fidel Castro Quotes:
“A revolution is a struggle to the death between the
future and the past.”
“A revolution is not a bed of roses.”
Excerpt Adapted from “New Castro, Same Cuba” by Patricia Smith from The New York
Times Upfront
“Cuba today is a place of great economic hardship and political repression. Despite some
initial signs that President Raul Castro – who took over temporarily from his ailing
brother, Fidel, in 2006 and then officially in 2008 – might be willing to open the Communist
nation up to the world, not much has changed.
In his first weeks as President in 2008, Raul Castro allowed Cubans to buy cellphones,
computers, and DVD players for the first time, which many hoped was a sign of more
substantial changes to come. But bigger reforms did not follow…
Fidel Castro took control of Cuba in 1959, when he and a band of guerrillas overthrew
the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. At the height of the Cold War rivalry
between the U.S. and the Communist powers, Castro aligned Cuba with the Soviet Union,
embracing its repressive political system, state-run economic model, and hostility toward
the U.S.
Castro also nationalized, without compensation, U.S. businesses in Cuba. In response,
Washington imposed an embargo that remains in effect today…In 1962, the Soviets
deployed missiles in Cuba – which is just 90 miles off the coast of Florida – and the Cuban
Missile Crisis brought the U.S. and Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war. After an
American naval blockade of Cuba and 13 days of tense negotiations, the missiles were
withdrawn.
Soviet aid kept Cuba’s economy afloat until the early 1990s, when the Soviet Union
collapsed and Cuba went into economic free fall. Today, Cuba is one of the last countries
in the world with a state-run economy: Cubans still live on rations and cope with chronic
food shortages. Government salaries average about $12 dollars a month – even for doctors
and teachers.”
Questions:
1. Who is Raul Castro and when and why did he come to power?
_______________________________________________________________________
2. What changes did Raul Castro implement?
_______________________________________________________________________
3. What changes did Raul Castro refuse to implement?
_______________________________________________________________________
4. When did Fidel Castro come to power?
_______________________________________________________________________
5. Who did Fidel Castro overthrow?
_______________________________________________________________________
6. How did Fidel Castro change Cuba?
_______________________________________________________________________
7. What happened to American businesses in Cuba when Castro came to power?
_______________________________________________________________________
8. Who did Fidel Castro align Cuba with during the Cold War?
_______________________________________________________________________
9. What happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
_______________________________________________________________________
10. Why would American officials not allow Soviet missiles on Cuban soil?
________________________________________________________________________
11. Why did Cuba’s economy suffer in the early 1990s?
________________________________________________________________________
12. Describe Cuba today.
________________________________________________________________________
Excerpt from globalsecurity.org
“…Jose Marti, Cuba's national hero, began the final push for independence from Spain in
1895. In 1898, after the USS Maine sunk in Havana Harbor on February 15 due to an
explosion of undetermined origin, the United States entered the conflict. In December of
1898, Spain relinquished control of Cuba to the United States with the Treaty of Paris. On
the first of January of 1899 the Spanish flag was lowered and Cuba was transformed from
a Spanish colony into semi-colony of the United States…On May 20, 1902, the United
States granted Cuba its independence but retained the right to intervene to preserve Cuban
independence and stability under the Platt Amendment. In 1934, the amendment was
repealed, and the United States and Cuba reaffirmed the 1903 agreement that leased the
Guantanamo Bay naval base to the United States.
Independent Cuba was often ruled by authoritarian political and military figures that
either obtained or remained in power by force. Fulgencio Batista, an army sergeant,
organized a non-commissioned officer revolt in September 1933 and wielded significant
power behind the scenes until he was elected president in 1940. Batista was voted out of
office in 1944 and did not run in 1948. Both those elections were won by civilian political
figures with the support of party organizations. Running for president again in 1952,
Batista seized power in a bloodless coup three months before the election was to take place,
suspended the balloting, and began ruling by decree…
Fidel Castro, who had been active politically before Batista’s coup, on July 26, 1953 led a
failed attack on the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba, was jailed, and
subsequently went into exile in Mexico. There he organized the 26th of July Movement
with the goal of overthrowing Batista, and the group sailed to Cuba on board the yacht
Granma, landing in the eastern part of the island in December 1956.
Batista's dictatorial rule fueled increasing popular discontent and…Batista fled on
January 1, 1959. Although he had promised a return to constitutional rule and democratic
elections along with social reforms, Castro used his control of the military to consolidate his
power by repressing all dissent from his decisions, marginalizing other resistance figures,
and imprisoning or executing opponents. As the revolution became more radical, hundreds
of thousands of Cubans fled the island.
Castro declared Cuba a socialist state on April 16, 1961. For the next 30 years, Castro
pursued close relations with the Soviet Union until the demise of the U.S.S.R. in 1991.
Relations between the United States and Cuba deteriorated rapidly as the Cuban regime
expropriated U.S. properties and moved toward adoption of a one-party communist
system. In response, the United States imposed an embargo on Cuba in October 1960, and,
in response to Castro's provocations, broke diplomatic relations on January 3, 1961.
Tensions between the two governments peaked during the October 1962 missile crisis.
Question:
Using the reading adapted and excerpted from globalsecurity.org, create a time line of
Cuban history from Jose Marti to Fidel Castro’s rule in the space below:
Now, identify the following individual, document, and/or event:

Jose Marti:
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 Platt Amendment:
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 Fulgencio Batista:
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 Fidel Castro:
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 Ernesto “Che” Guevara:
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 Cold War:
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 Bay of Pigs invasion:
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 Cuban Missile Crisis:
________________________________________________________________________
 Nationalization of Industries:
________________________________________________________________________
 Trade Embargo:
_______________________________________________________________________
Word Bank:
Jose Marti, Maine, Platt, Batista, Fidel Castro, Soviet Union, Cold War, Island,
Caribbean, Florida, Embargo