Today’s Cuba is a curious mix of tropical paradise and quaint nostalgia. ibid. commentary
How did Cuba become a hub of the slave trade? … Cuba bears the scars of 500 years of foreign occupation. ibid.
Cuba is the biggest island in the Caribbean. It spans 760 miles from east to west … Cuba’s climate is hot and tropical. ibid.
Once hostilities began they did not stand a chance against the conquistadors. ibid.
Jose Marti, born in Havana, Cuba, in 1853, Cuba’s national hero, convinced that the Spaniards had no more business in Cuba. ibid.
The United States needed an excuse to intervene in Cuba and this excuse was The Maine. ibid. Cuban historian
The United States had gone from being Cuba’s liberators to its occupiers. ibid.
The US military occupation was a key historical moment for Cuba. The Cuba Libre Story s1e2: War and Sugar, Cuban historian
American business felt completely at ease in Cuba after its so-called liberation from Spanish rule. ibid. Nikolai Leonov, former KGB officer
Cuba became a mecca for migrants. ibid.
United Fruit amassed substantial political power in Central America and the Caribbean. ibid.
The Platt Amendment authorising an invasion at any time hung like the Sword of Damocles over the Cubans’ heads. ibid.
Many unemployed Cubans joined the island’s army. ibid.
The sugar crisis in Cuba began in 1918, with the end of the First World War. It would last many years. ibid.
Batista’s army upheld order in Cuba. ibid.
Cuban rum was a worldwide success. The Cuba Libre Story s1e3: Gangster’s Paradise
Cuba became an El Dorado for the Mafia in the 1940s. ibid.
The new president did little to stop organised crime … Cuba was their safe refuge. ibid.
For the rest of the people prospects were grim. ibid.
Castro’s will to fight was unbroken despite these revolutionary setbacks. ibid.
Thus began the Batista dictatorship … Cuba was a police state. ibid.
Cuba has always been an island of extremes. The Cuba Libre Story s1e4: A Ragtag Revolution
For more than 500 years Cuba has been scarred by poverty and oppression. ibid.
Batista’s police continued to crush any signs of revolt or rebellion. ibid.
The Castros gave the rebellious group a new name – the 26th July movement. ibid.
In both Santiago and Havana armed police offered no resistance to the victorious rebels. ibid.
Batista fled Cuba as a new revolution swept over the island led by Fidel Castro. The Cuba Libre Story s1e5: Making Heroes
There was no lack of unresolved conflicts. ibid.
Fidel Castro named himself Cuba’s prime minister. ibid.
Cuba attempted to procure weapons on the world market. ibid.
Fidel Castro was warmly welcomed in Harlem. ibid.
Fidel Castro presented victory in the Bay of Pigs as an unmitigated triumph. ibid.
So why did he authorise the presence of 43,000 Soviet soldiers on the island? The Cuba Libre Story s1e6: Of Soviets & Saviors
Castro’s government had to look for new trade partners. ibid.
The Soviet Union provided Cuba with a loan and other economic support. ibid.
In September 1962 the deployment was completed; most of the missiles were ready for launch. ibid.
What caused hundreds of thousands of Cubans to flee their country? The Cuba Libre Story s1e7: Secrets & Sacrifices
The Cuban missile crisis lasted 13 days. ibid.
‘This was where his literacy campaign came in. Until then, no-one had been interested in poor rural people.’ ibid. Bert Hoffmann, historian
Schools and hospitals were built across the island. ibid.
The most basic necessities were rationed. ibid.
The history of Cuba is 500 years of poverty and insurrection. And a dream of freedom the Cubans have never given up on. The Cuba Libre Story s1e8: Moments of Transition
Tens of thousands took to the sea in handmade floats and boats. ibid.
The prison [Guantanamo] was not shut down under US President Obama. ibid.
Raul took over his brother’s duty, first temporarily, then permanently. ibid.
Cuba: a small island that confronted the world. And the man who dominated Cuba’s recent history: Fidel Castro. Under Castro, Cuba would become one of the most difficult countries for the West to handle. Castro vs The World I: The Armed Struggle, BBC 2020
New Year’s Day 1959: Cuba’s corrupt dictator Fulgencio Batista abandoned Havana and fled to the USA. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and their small guerrilla army swept down from Sierra Maestra mountains to defeat the US-backed Batista and his hated secret police. ibid.
Fidel proclaimed his movement would benefit the poor people of Cuba and the peasants. The Cuban Revolution was in tune with national liberation movements around the world that were fighting colonial oppression. ibid.
The support of the Soviet Union brought oil, weapons and subsidies. ibid.
The United States cut off diplomatic relations. In his inaugural address President Kennedy issued a stern warning. ibid.
Castro’s revolution had led many of Cuba’s anti-communists to flee to Florida. Now the CIA trained some of their young militants to overthrow Castro. ibid.
The young president Kennedy was humiliated by the complete failure of the mission but he wasn’t giving up. ibid.
The President announced an almost total economic embargo of Cuba which is still in place today. ibid.
Krushchev backed down and decided to withdraw the Soviet missiles but he didn’t tell Castro, who heard the news through the media. Fidel had learned a powerful lesson. ibid.
After six months of ineffectual fighting, Che and his fighters lost their international backing and were forced to retreat from the Congo. The CIA chalked up another Cold War victory. It was a debacle for Castro but it didn’t stop him from pursuing his grand strategy. ibid.
‘Our concern relates above all to Cuba’s export of revolution.’ ibid. Kissinger
By the end of 1975 Cuba was sent 7,000 troops to Angola. Kissinger’s negotiators were outraged. ibid.
As the talks continued, Castro launched a huge surge in Cuba troops, sending another 20,000 soldiers to Angola. Castro took some of his most sophisticated Soviet-supplied anti-aircraft systems, ear-marked to defend Cuba, and sent them to Angola. ibid.
South Africa was forced to pull out of Angola and Namibia. ibid.
Little Cuba: 110,000 square kilometres and it acted almost like a super-power in the international arena. Castro vs The World II: The Charm Offensive, old dude
Even when the Berlin Wall came down and Russian abandoned him, Fidel would not give up the fight … The island began to suffer drastic shortages of petrol, medicine and food. ibid.
Castro seized the opportunity: he allowed Cuban-Americans to sail to the island in their small crafts and return to Florida with their Cuban passengers. ibid.
From 1945 to 2003 the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements fighting against intolerable regimes. In the process the US bombed some 25 countries, caused the end of life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair. William Blum
[American leaders] are perhaps not so much immoral as they are amoral. It’s not that they take pleasure in causing so much death and suffering. It’s that they just don't care ... the same that could be said about a sociopath. As long as the death and suffering advance the agenda of the empire, as long as the right people and the right corporations gain wealth and power and privilege and prestige, as long as the death and suffering aren't happening to them or people close to them ... then they just don’t care about it happening to other people, including the American soldiers whom they throw into wars and who come home – the ones who make it back alive – with Agent Orange or Gulf War Syndrome eating away at their bodies. American leaders would not be in the positions they hold if they were bothered by such things. William Blum