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Cuban Revolution Research Paper

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The Cuban Revolution began on July 26, 1953 with the intent to remove General Batista from power. General Batista was a cruel dictator, and under his rule, Cuba experienced many hardships and Cubans lost their democratic rights. Many CUbans looked towards the revolution as a salvation from all of the cruelties they had to endure under Batista’s rule. In 1959, Fidel Castro was declared leader and declared it his intention to transform Cuba into a functioning socialist country. Although the Cuban Revolution managed to establish free health care and education for everyone in Cuba, it ultimately failed in improving the life of Cuba’s citizens because the revolution failed to establish a successful economy, and under Fidel, many citizens had to …show more content…

Before the revolution Cuba’s economy focused mainly on sugar production, but the dropping price of sugar during the 1950s caused lots of people to fall into poverty. Although Fidel Castro promised to diversify the Cuban economy after the revolution, he failed to do so, and the price of sugar continued dropping during the 1970’s, causing lots of Cubans to experience food shortages and poorer living conditions (Lievesley). By not diversifying the Cuban economy, the leaders of the revolution placed a huge strain on the country’s economy. This in turn caused a shortage of food that affected the entire country. After the revolution Cuba depended nearly entirely on the USSR for economic sustenance because of a blockade imposed by the US. After the Union’s collapse, Cuba had trouble readjusting in the new world. Formerly the Soviet Union bought Cuba’s sugar in exchange for fuel and other resources. After its collapse, Cuba had to …show more content…

One change that was brought along with the Cuban revolution was that anybody could have been arrested for even the most meaningless reason. Right after Fidel Castro attained power, more than 18,000 arrests took place and close to 5,000 of those arrested were killed (Garvin). Of those arrested , most were people who opposed Castro’s policies (CITE). The trend of arresting people with a differing point of view continued when, after the failed Bay of Pigs invasions hundreds more were arrested. These arrests caused many Cubans to fear the new government because it was reminiscent of what happened under Batista, where people faced prosecution for having the wrong opinion (Geiling). These purges prompted many Cubans to flee the country (Garvin). Close to half a million people fled from Cuba since the Cuban Revolution (Garvin). Many of the people left because they didn’t agree with the ideals of the revolution or because they were afraid of being persecuted. Because Fidel was so intent on erasing all opposition, his actions caused many people to leave Cuba because they were afraid of getting killed or arrested (Geiling). By creating a hostile environment, the Cuban Revolution created an atmosphere where people would rather leave the country than to endure some unfair trials and fear and stuff. As a result of

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