1959: Cuba taken over by Fidel Castro

DATE: January 1959

DESCRIPTION: This event highlights the taking over of power of Cuba to the communist revolutionary and politician Fidel Castro who became Prime Minister at this time. Cuba was previously being led by a corrupt regime, with Fulgencio Batista ruling the country after taking power illegally in 1933. Even though various attempts had been made to reform this system, nothing yet had worked. A man named Fidel Castro then gathered a force of armed rebels and attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago, starting off the Cuban Revolution. After almost 6 years of fighting, Bastita eventually decided the situation was hopeless and gave up the fight, fleeing to Spain. Castro and his forces then occupied the city.

BLAME: This revolution was mainly the fault of Fulgencio Batista. His reign was obviously unfair and the wealth in Cuba was definitely distributed unequally when he was in power. People wanted to change the situation with him peacefully, but because of him, it was never possible. This is the reason why Fidel Castro came to power – overthrowing Batista’s regime was the only way to fix the country’s social and economic problems.

TENSION INCREASE: The coming to power of Fidel Castro in Cuba meant another country that fell into the hands of the communist ideals, which in turn raised the tension in the world. America was convinced that Cuba was communist no matter how much Castro denied it because of reforms he implemented that nationalized property, for example – the US government was terrified of communism and could not see any other options because the Cuban government was not acting in the American way. The US was so scared that they believed that if a country’s government wasn’t like America’s, they were communist. America was also unhappy about Castro’s decisions to confiscate American properties and industries on the island because before their revolution, they often exploited Cuba, especially their sugar industry. +1.5

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