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Essay on Cuban History and Government

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On January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro and his band of rebels overtook the Cuban government. Their Revolution was based on massive agrarian reform and equality throughout. It was not based on Communism or communistic ideals. The US government was against the rise of Castro and his people. They had been able to control the Cuban government by controlling the successive presidents, since the Spanish-American War early in the 20th Century. The rise of Castro was undertaken with a distinct anti-American flavor to it. Castro was able to expand his popularity by fusing the anti-American fever with massive reforms intended to give social and economic equality to all Cubans. The economic presence, of the US, within Cuba was great at the time of Castro’s …show more content…

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In speeches made in July 1960, Khrushchev applauded the Cuban Revolution by saying it was the best weapon against imperialism, and Eisenhower made note that the "United States would not permit a regime controlled by international communism to established in the Western Hemisphere." [4] Later that month, Khrushchev sent note to Castro that if an armed invasion occurred, they could rely on the full support of the Soviet defenses in the Cuban cause. [5] This marked the first time the Soviet government went out on a limb and said they would defend Cuba militarily speaking. Yet Cuba was not a socialist state in 1960.

During the fall of 1960…after completing the economic stage…of nationalizing US firms…the Cuban government threw itself into the nationalization of private Cuban corporations…Moscow opinion held that the Cuban Revolution was getting dangerously ahead of schedule…It should be pointed out that even though no one, either in Havana or in Moscow, breathed a word of it in the fall of 1960, the transition to socialism was already under way in Cuba. [6]

Cuba’s move toward Communism

In a speech made on April 16, 1961, Castro proclaimed the socialistic nature of the Cuban Revolution, and "according to Raul Castro, this meant that the revolution had completed the national liberation stage and had definitively embarked upon the construction of socialism." [7] In a speech made on December 1, 1961, Castro

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