History of Cuba (1959–present)

Fall of the Batista regime

Immediately after the overthrow of the Batista's regime, the unprecedented and unexpected joy broke out. Members of the Revolutionary Directorate of 13 March Movement occupied the University of Havana, and the Presidential Palace. The action was done under the pretext of anxiety. When Fidel Castro announced his victory, and the establishment of a provisional government, no mention was made of the involvement of other rebel groups in such a government.^[7] Besides the rebel occupation, Cuban citizens began to loot and vandalize Havana. Angry mobs attacked several casinos, and destroyed slot machines. Sporadic gun fights killed thirteen people. The casino at Sans Souci was set ablaze by arsonists. Alongside the chaos, many citizens filled the streets in celebration of the flight of Batista, often shouting the slogan "Abajo Batista, Viva Fidel" ("Down with Batista, Long live Fidel").^[8] On January 2, Castro called for a general strike, and began his trek to Havana in his self-stylized "Freedom Caravan".^[9] The rebel army columns led by Che Guevara, and Camilo Cienfuegos reached Havana by January 2. The next day, Guevara secured La Cabaña fortress in Havana.^[10][11] The arrival of the 26th of July Movement restored order in Havana, ending the rioting.^[12] On January 8, Castro entered Havana in a triumphal way.

A provisional government led by the liberal President Manuel Urrutia Lleó was established, together with Prime Minister José Miró Cardona who was quickly replaced by Castro himself in February 1959. Once in power, Urrutia swiftly began a program of closing all brothels, gambling outlets and the national lottery, arguing that these had long been a corrupting influence on the state. The measures drew immediate resistance from the large associated workforce. The disapproving Castro, then commander of Cuba's new armed forces, intervened to request a stay of execution until alternative employment could be found.^[13] Disagreements also arose in the new government concerning pay cuts, which were imposed on all public officials on Castro's demand. The disputed cuts included a reduction of the $100,000 a year presidential salary Urrutia had inherited from Batista.^[14]

Fidel Castro's rise and consolidation of power

By February, following the surprise resignation of Miró, Castro had assumed the role of prime minister; this strengthened his power and rendered Urrutia increasingly a figurehead president.^[15] As Urrutia's participation in the legislative process declined, other unresolved disputes between the two leaders continued to fester. His belief in the restoration of elections was rejected by Castro, who felt that they would usher in a return to the old discredited system of corrupt parties and fraudulent balloting that had marked the Batista era.^[16]

Urrutia was then accused by the Avance newspaper of buying a luxury villa, which was portrayed as a frivolous betrayal of the revolution and led to an outcry from the general public. He denied the allegation issuing a writ against the newspaper in response. The story further increased tensions between the various factions in the government, though Urrutia asserted publicly that he had "absolutely no disagreements" with Fidel Castro. Urrutia attempted to distance the Cuban government (including Castro) from the growing influence of the Communists within the administration, making a series of critical public comments against the latter group. Whilst Castro had not openly declared any affiliation with the Cuban communists, Urrutia had been a declared anti-Communist since they had refused to support the insurrection against Batista,^[17] stating in an interview, "If the Cuban people had heeded those words, we would still have Batista with us ... and all those other war criminals who are now running away".^[18]

On July 17, 1959, Conrado Bécquer, the sugar workers' leader, demanded Urrutia's resignation. Castro himself resigned as Prime Minister of Cuba in protest, but later that day appeared on television to deliver a lengthy denouncement of Urrutia, claiming that Urrutia "complicated" government, and that his "fevered anti-Communism" was having a detrimental effect. Castro's sentiments received widespread support as organized crowds surrounded the presidential palace demanding Urrutia's resignation, which was duly received. On July 23, Castro resumed his position as the Prime Minister and appointed a more loyal Osvaldo Dorticós as the new president, thus gaining a dual power and strengthening his absolute control.^[19]

In October 1959, a so-called Matos affair happened. Huber Matos, a former Castro ally and a Commander of the Army in the province of Camagüey, opposed to growing influence of the communists. Fidel responded with his arrested a sentence of 20 years in prison, suppressing internal revolutionary dissent. Camilo Cienfuegos, the Commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, disappeared a weak later near the Straits of Florida, which caused conspiracy theory of Fidel or Raúl Castro planning to eleminate him from a power struggle.^[20] By the end of 1959, Fidel Castro's power became unchecked and unquestioned.

In 1959, coletilla was implemented, which was considered a press censorship. Soon after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Fidel Castro announced in a speech given on April 9, 1959, that the elections which were promised to occur after the revolution were to be delayed. On May Day, 1960, Fidel Castro would outright condemn elections as corrupt, and cancel all future elections.^{[21][22][23][24][25]}

In the beginning of 1959, Cuban printers unions began demanding that newspapers which were critical of the government add a "coletilla" ("clarification") next to articles that rebuked critical comments in the articles.^[26] By the end of 1960, according to political scientist Paul H. Lewis, all opposition newspapers had been closed down and all radio and television stations were under state control. In nearly all areas of government, loyalty to the regime became the primary criterion for all appointments.

Repression against Batista loyalists

To implement a portion of the plan of revenge, Castro named Guevara commander of the La Cabaña prison, for a five-month tenure (2 January through 12 June 1959). Guevara was charged by the new government with purging the Batista army and consolidating victory by exacting "revolutionary justice" against those regarded as traitors, chivatos (informants), or war criminals. As commander of La Cabaña, Guevara reviewed the appeals of those convicted during the revolutionary tribunal process.

First agrarian reform

The first reform law was implemented in May 17, 1959, which eliminated latifundios—large scale private ownerships, and granted ownership and titles to workers who previously worked on those lands, and paying rent for land was abolished.^[27] The law the regulated the size of farms to 3,333 acres (13 km²) and real estate to 1,000 acres (4 km²). Any holdings over these limits were expropriated by the government and either redistributed to peasants in 67 acres (271,139 m²) parcels or held as state-run communes.^[28]

Four days after the announcement of the law, the owners of the 34 major American sugar mills went to the U.S. embassy to voice their frustrations.^[29] On June 3, 1959, the law went into effect. On June 11, the U.S. government issues an official statement of protest, claiming that compensation is too low. Compensation was based on tax estimates from 30 to 40 years ago, thus making estimated values below contemporary values.^[30]

On the anniversary of the 26th of July, the Cuban government invited peasants who had received new land titles to visit Havana. Half a million visiting peasants were housed in either private homes or in the gala hall of the Presidential Palace.^[31]

Agrarian reform caused almost 40% of arable land to be removed from foreign owners and corporations to the state, which then distributed these lands primarily to farmers and agricultural workers. This arrangement gave small peasant farmers limited autonomy, but it all changed in August 1962 when Castro announced that the small cooperatives would be converted to state farmers. Moreover, in instances where government seizes land from small peasants for public use, the small peasants are entitled to compensations. In the case for Cuba, compensations, though wrote into the reforms, were not guaranteed when land titles were liquidised under the state.^[32] The law also stipulated that sugar plantations could not be owned by foreigners. For lands taken over compensation was offered in the form of Cuban currency bonds to mature in 20 years at 4.5% interest.^[33] Bonds were based on land values as assessed for tax purposes.^[33] Lastly, two years into the implementation of the first agrarian land reforms, approximately 58.4 per cent of arable land was privately owned, while 41.6 per cent was under government control, which required a second wave of reforms.^[34] Both of these reforms were carried out for the purpose of increasing production, diversifying crop production, and eliminating rural poverty.

Rebellion against Castro

Immediately after the success of the revolution, the rebellion in Escambray Mountains began.

It was led by an ex-guerrilla that had fought against Batista before, but rejected the socialist turn the Cuban Revolution had taken and the ensuing close ties with the Soviet Union. Small landowning farmers, who disagreed with the socialist government's collectivization of Cuban farmlands also played a central role in the failed rebellion. The uprising was also secretly backed by the CIA and the Eisenhower administration because of Castro's ties with the Soviet Union.^[35]

The insurgent guajiro rural farmers were aided by some former Batista forces but were led mostly by former DR rebels (13 March Movement), such as the anti-communists Osvaldo Ramirez and Comandante William Alexander Morgan, both of whom had fought Batista's casquitos in the same area only a few years before (Morgan himself was executed in 1961, long before the resistance ended).^[36] Ramirez and Morgan were viewed by the United States as potential pro-democracy options for Cuba and sent CIA-trained Cuban exiles to promote and spread word of them being an alternative to Castro.^[35]

The rebels were a mix of former soldiers of the Batista regime, local farmers, and turncoat ex-guerrillas who had fought alongside Castro against Batista during the Cuban Revolution. The end result was the elimination of all insurgents by Cuban government forces in 1965.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

On 16 April 1961, Castro declared that the revolution had a socialist character. In the meantime, the United States had begun contemplating ways to remove Castro.^[41] This led to the Bay of Pigs Invasion on 17-20 April, when the US-backed Cuban anti-Castro rebels landed on the shore of Playa Girón, in a failed attempt to overthrow his government.

Cuban Missile Crisis

On 26 March 1962, Fidel Castro merged the 26th of July Movement, the Popular Socialist Party, and the Revolutionary Directorate of 13 March Movement, into a sole legal party named the United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba (PURSC).

The Cuban communist regime ultimately prevailed following a Missile Crisis in October 1962, an event considered close to World War III.

Soviet and Cuban governments agreed, at a meeting between leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro in July 1962, to place nuclear missiles on Cuba to deter a future US invasion. Construction of launch facilities started shortly thereafter.

A U-2 spy plane captured photographic evidence of medium- and long-range launch facilities in October. US president John F. Kennedy convened a meeting of the National Security Council and other key advisers, forming the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM). Kennedy was advised to carry out an air strike on Cuban soil in order to compromise Soviet missile supplies, followed by an invasion of the Cuban mainland. He chose a less aggressive course in order to avoid a declaration of war. On 22 October, Kennedy ordered a naval blockade to prevent further missiles from reaching Cuba.^[42] He referred to the blockade as a "quarantine", not as a blockade, so the US could avoid the formal implications of a state of war.^[43]

An agreement was eventually reached between Kennedy and Khrushchev. The Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a US public declaration and agreement not to invade Cuba again.

Great Debate

The Great Debate was an era in Cuban history retroactively named by historians, that was defined by public debate about the future of Cuban economic policy that took place from 1962 to 1965. The debate began after Cuba fell into an economic crisis in 1962 after years of internal economic complications, United States sanctions, and the flight of professionals from Cuba. In 1962 Fidel Castro invited Marxist economists around the world to debate two main propositions. One proposition proposed by Che Guevara was that Cuba could bypass any capitalist then "socialist" transition period and immediately become an industrialized "communist" society if "subjective conditions" like public consciousness and vanguard action are perfected. The other proposition held by the Popular Socialist Party was that Cuba required a transitionary period as a mixed economy in which Cuba's sugar economy was maximized for profit before a "communist" society could be established.^[44][45][46]

The Great Debate would result in somewhat of a compromise in which Fidel Castro used moral incentives rather than material incentives to motivate workers, and industrialization would be ignored in favor of a focus on the sugar economy. These policies would eventually culminate in the Revolutionary Offensive where the economy would be oriented in producing 10 million tons of sugar by 1970. The campaign failed and led to a reorientation of domestic Cuban politics.^[47]

Revolutionary Offensive

By 1965, Cuba was officially a one-party state after a long period of political solidification by Fidel Castro after the Cuban Revolution. In September 1966, Fidel Castro gave a speech to representatives of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. In the speech, he gave his ruling that workers would no longer receive material bonuses for extra labor and instead be encouraged by "moral enthusiasm" alone, which distanced Cuba from the Soviet model of using material incentives. This independent approach to economic policy fell into a global trend during the Cold War in which Third World countries adopted independent economic strategies in relation to the industrialized dominant power blocs.^[48]

Cuba had begun what was referred to as the "radical experiment", where the country was to be reorganized to promote revolutionary consciousness and an independent economy. Rural to urban migration was regulated, excess urban workers were sent to the countryside, and agricultural labor became common for students, soldiers, and convicts. The Military Units to Aid Production (UMAPs) were established and used "anti-social" prisoners as penal laborers in agriculture.^[49]

In February 1968, a group in the Communist Party of Cuba and other official organizations known as the "microfaction" was completely purged from the government. The group numbered almost forty officials who endorsed Soviet-style material incentives over moral enthusiasm to encourage workers. They were accused of conspiring against the state, and made to serve prison sentences.^[50]

The Revolutionary Offensive drew on ideas articulated by Che Guevara during the Great Debate, a period of well-publicized economic debates in Cuba.^[51]: 37