Transcript The Cuban Revolution - UCSB Department of History

Revolutions in Latin America:
Bolivia, Guatemala, Cuba
What is a revolution?
Replacement of one regime with another
Significant structural change
Violence
Ideologically driven
Factions/parties emerge
Phases not planned
Perpetuating tradition uncertain
The Mexican Revolution
How well does Mexico’s revolution fit these
categories?
Significant violence
Replacement of one regime with another
Significant structural change – destruction of
federal army, land reform, new constitution
Ideologically driven
Factions / parties emerge
Phases not planned
Perpetuating a revolutionary tradition uncertain
Three Case Studies
Bolivia – 1952 National Revolution
Guatemala – 1944-54 democratic
reform/revolution
Guatemala – 1954 coup supported by
United Fruit Company and the CIA
Cuba – 1959 Castro’s reformist / Marxist /
socialist revolution
Structural Similarities
Significant socioeconomic inequalities
– Large, poor, non-white populations (indigenous, AfroLatin Americans)
– Lack of access to land, education
– Labor coercion
Role of foreign capital
– Guatemala – United Fruit Company (US, bananas);
German investments (coffee)
– Bolivia – tin
– Cuba – sugar (U.S., Canada)
Bolivia Timeline 1932-1964
Chaco War 1932-35
Creation of National Revolutionary Movement
(MNR) 1941
Catavi massacre 1942 – army kills unarmed
miners
MNR overthrows landed elites 1952
Revolutionary reform – nationalization of mines;
agrarian and educational reform 1953
Military coup takes power 1964
Bolivia:
A Land of
Contrasts
Bolivia’s Tin Barons –
La Rosca “The Screw”
•Bolivian entrepreneurs with
European ties control the main
export product
•Horrific working conditions of tin
miners
•Collapse of tin prices in 1929
Simón Patiño,
Moritz Hochschild,
and
Carlos Aramayo
Chaco War, 1932-1935
•Bolivia chooses to
participate
•Short-term military
success, then military
disaster
•Huge loss of territory to
Paraguay
•Military conscripts
highland indigenous into
hot, tropical lowlands
Catavi
Massacre
(1942)
National Indigenous Congress
1945
•Aim of “saving the
Indian AND Bolivia”
•Indigenous rights linked
to national progress
•Call for land reform,
respect for indigenous
culture (language,
customs, traditions)
Movimiento Nacionalista
Revolucionario (MNR)
•Founded 1941
•MNR self-image as
vanguard
•Bolivian Revolution
expected to be high on
greatness scale
•Implementation of
significant reforms
Victor Paz Estenssoro President from 19521956 and 1960-1964. Re-elected in
1964 but overthrown by a military coup, led by
Vice President Rene Barrientos
•Unable to institutionalize the
revolution as Mexico had
done
Revolutionary Policies
•Nationalization of tin mines
•Reduction military – armed
miners and peasants
•Universal suffrage w/o
literacy requirement
•Land reform – distribution
“Nothing separates the people from
their president.”
-Ministry of the Press, 1953
•Pressure on indigenous to
become citizens of the nation
and peasants
•Education and public health
for integration
Uncle Sam: “Oh I am
not enjoying anything
about this tin
nationalization by
Bolivians because
these things are very
contagious.”
Cold War Rhetoric and Bolivia
[Bolivian President Siles] “feared [policies] would
accentuate inflation, inspire Communist and
radical elements to redouble efforts to take
power and cause pressure to come upon the
present regime to go left… He said that if foreign
assistance, obviously from the United States,
was not forthcoming, the inflationary process
would inevitably bring about the downfall of the
present liberal, democratic regime inevitably to
be followed by a Communist Government”.
--U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia, 1957
Guatemala Timeline
1944 Civilian overthrow of dictator Ubico
1944-54 Democratic reform. Land reform,
empowerment of indigenous.
1954 CIA-backed military coup. Pres.
Arbenz sent into exile
1954-65 Reversal of reform
1960 start of civil war between guerrillas
and government
1996 End of civil war
Guatemalan Reform Era,
1944-1954
Democratically-elected leftists
– Free, fair elections
President Juan Jose Arévalo 1945-51
– “Spiritual Socialism”
Jacobo Árbenz 1951-54
– Significant land reform legislation
– United Fruit Company interests directly
threatened
Democratic Revolution
in Guatemala 1944-54
•Coalition of urban middle class
groups with junior military officers
topple dictator Jorge Ubico (1930-44)
•Arévalo administration cleanly
elected, deeply reformist
•Literacy campaign
•School construction
•Housing, hospitals
•New constitution - 1945
Juan José Arévalo, r. 1945-51
•Labor rights, abolition of forced
labor, land reform
Continuing the Guatemalan Reform –
Jacobo Arbenz 1951-54
Push for greater economic
independence
Import substitution
industrialization ISI
1952 Expropriation of lands
over 225 acres distribution
to landless, 25 year bond
compensation
Impact on United Fruit Co.
Successful CIA coup against a
democratically-elected
government 1954
Reversal of reform
A young Che
Guevara present in
Guatemala during
coup, flees to
Mexico
Cuba Timeline 1895-1960
1895-98 Cuban War of Independence
1898 Spanish-American War
1903 Platt Amendment to Cuban Constitution
1952-58 Dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista
1953 Castro attacks Moncada barracks July 26
1953-55 Castro imprisoned but becomes national figure
1957 Voyage of the Granma and the beginning of guerrilla
warfare
1958 U.S. withdraws support of Batista
1959 New Year’s Day Fidel Castro is de facto leader of Cuba
1960 U.S. disillusioned with Castro, economic sanctions
1960 Cuban friendship with USSR
US and Cuba
Monoculture sugar, US major investors,
main purchaser
Political control / influence
Social / cultural relationship
Martin Dihigo,
Cuban
baseball
legend
Fidel Castro
Parents and early life affect
worldview
– Father – Spanish immigrant
land owner
– Mother – maid, unmarried
– Fidel sent to elite schools but an
outsider
– Brilliant, athletic, and audacious
student leader
Fidel Castro as a young
man, portrait of patriot
José Martí
Batista Regime
1952-58
1952 coup by Fulgencio Batista
Canceled elections
Opposition by Cuban middle class
Alliance with U.S., large scale foreign business
interests
Regime continues as long as it has US support
Moncada and “History will absolve me”
Attack on the Moncada
barracks to obtain
weapons July 26, 1953
– First major action
organized by Castro,
– Romantic martyrdom
– “History will absolve
me” speech
– Imprisonment &
amnesty
Voyage of the Granma
Exile and training in
Mexico
Landing of the yacht
Granma in Cuba 1956
Surviving Cubans flee
to the Sierra Maestra
26th of July Movement
Sierra Maestra, Guerrilla Warfare
Creation of a guerrilla
fighting force
Increasing support of
peasantry
Successful tactics
against Batista
regime
Builds widespread
support in Cuba
Fidel Castro and Celia Sánchez in the
Sierra Maestra
The Early Cuban Revolution
Castro’s victory widely applauded in U.S. - initial
phase of revolution is reformist
Early period has diverse political elements, no
fixed ideology
"...[communist] influence is nothing. I don't agree
with communism. We are democracy. We are
against all kinds of dictators... That is why we
oppose communism.“ (Castro, 1959)
Increasing polarization, Castro’s regime
becomes more radical
Friendship with Soviet Union strategic in many
ways
Executions of Batista
Officials, 1959
•No truth and reconciliation
commission
•Summary trials and public
executions of those convicted
of human rights abuses
•Widespread support by
ordinary Cubans
Cuban Timeline 1960-62
1960 Expropriations of foreign-owned properties
1960 US embargo of trade with Cuba
1960 Friendship with the Soviet Union
1961 April CIA-backed invasion at the Bay of Pigs fails
1961 May – Castro declares Cuba a socialist country
1962 U.S.S.R. places mid-range nuclear missiles in Cuba
1962 October Cuban Missile Crisis
Escalating Crisis - 1960
•Cuban economic
dependence on sugar
•Need for oil imports –
USSR supplies
•US sugar quota abolished
1960
•Nationalization of the
largely foreign-owned sugar
industry
•Expropriation of Coca Cola
& Sears Roebuck
•Soviet Union agrees to buy
Cuban sugar
Cuba and the USSR
1960 Cuba approaches
USSR for friendship and
aid
Castro declares Cuba a
socialist country May
1961
Change over time
– Soviet aid with few controls
1960-70
– 1970-1989 Soviet Union
calls economic shots
Castro and Russian Premier
Nikita Khrushchev
Literacy Campaign 1961
•Universal literacy a
revolutionary goal
•Large-scale participation of
Cuban population as
teachers or students
•each one teach one
•Commitment of universal
education – expansion of
rural schools
US Trade Embargo 1961-present
The majority of Cubans support Castro . . . the only
foreseeable means of alienating [this] internal support is
through disenchantment and disaffection based on
economic dissatisfaction and hardship . . . Every
possible means should be undertaken promptly to
weaken the economic life of Cuba . . . a line of action
which makes the greatest inroads in denying money and
supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages,
to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of
government."
-- Declassified April 6, 1960 memo by U.S. State Department's
Lester D. Mallory, Assistant Secretary of State for Latin
American
Bay of Pigs April 1961
CIA trains 1500 Cuban exiles
in Nicaragua
Expectation of rising of
Cubans against Castro
JFK supports invasion
Disastrous invasion,
– 1200 captured at Playa Girón,
lack of US air cover
Impact on Cuba and the
world
Cuban Missile Crisis
October 1962
•Placement of mid-range Soviet
missiles on Cuba detected by U2
spy plane
•US demands removal
U2 photo of mid-range
missile complex
•Back channel communications
between JFK and Khrushchev
•US promise not to invade Cuba
but negotiations exclude Cuba
as a partner
Achievements of Cuban Revolution
Literacy and universal educational access
Universal, comprehensive free health care
Aid to developing nations with doctors,
education, military personnel
Successful model of Revolution for other nations
– Defiance of the United States
Commitment to ideology of Cuban Revolution –
no self-enrichment by revolutionary leaders
Survival of Revolution