Fidel Castro - The Cuban Missile Crisis

If you have been studying Fidel Castro for some time, you know by now the relationship between the United States of America and Cuba was not awesome. The Cuban Missile Crisis followed from the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in October 1962. What triggered this episode was Washington and Moscow confronted each other with the Soviet placement of nuclear missiles on Cuba. With 13 days of negotiations the Soviets agreed to remove and dismantle the sites. However, USA had to sacrifice something as well, which became their own nuclear missiles which was located in Turkey. Furthermore, they promised not to invade Cuba. This was a disappointment to the great Castro who now face a future without the protecting of the Soviet. 



All information is from Pearsons 'History, 20th Century World, Authoritarian and single-Party States', 2010

Fidel Castro - Economic Policies

Fidel Castro wanted to industrialise Cuba and to make it economically independent. This was not easily possible, as the Cuban economy was to be remained linked to other nations' policies and decisions. A few different international economic decisions shaped Castro's economic policies.

Moral incentives and voluntarism

Che Guevara was a revolutionary who was the President of the National Bank of Cuba and, later became, Minister of Industries. Guevara believed that the best ideology to follow was the one of communism instead of capitalism. He wanted a centrally planned economy where the key value would be self-sacrifice, as he believed the people should work and fight for the values of the revolution rather than any personal interests. All workers would receive equal wages, and overtime work would not be paid, as it was seen as the voluntary personal contribution to the revolution. Cuba changed their currency in 1962, which meant that anyone who had savings in banks that were not owned by the state, would lose them overnight, and in cities rents were abolished. In 1963, a second agrarian law was informed, which reduced the amount of and that could be owned personally. After 1963, the state owned 70 % of all land on the island.

After the exodus of counter-revolutionaries, Cuba was missing specialised personnel and technicians, which meant that assessing and finding solutions to problems was limited. Farmers in collective farms were forced to sell their produce to the state at very low prices, which lowered the incentive for the farmers to produce more that needed to survive. Castro, still determined to advance in industrialisation, continued to buy machinery, which merely increased Cuba's debt. By 1964, Cuba had to intensify sugar production in order to reduce its debt.

The Revolutionary Offensive (1968)

The aim of the 'Revolutionary Offensive', which was launched in 1968, was to eradicate the remains of capitalism, so Cuba would be purely communist. Again, the campaign emphasised the value of self-sacrifice. The last privately owned enterprises were expropriated, and self-employment was banned.

The 'Offensive' did not succeed, as it did not increase productivity, and merely created administrative chaos. At the same time, the return of the self-sacrifice values led to many refusing to go to work, and even some vagrancy.

The 'Year of the Ten Million' (1970)

To repair the damage of the 'Offensive', Castro announced that Cuba was to break its previous sugar production record and reach 10 million ton output in 1970. The aim was to be able to pay off the debt, by selling the surplus of sugar. It was intended to show those who were still doubting the revolution and its goals.

In order to create motivation for the people of Cuba, posters of Castro himself in fields harvesting sugar, were hung in the streets. Student, emigrants, law breakers, etc, all worked in the sugar cane fields as 'volunteers'. Free time entertainment, such as theatres and bars were closed, and holidays such as Christmas and New year and their celebrations were cancelled in order to increase productivity.

Cuba did reach a record amount of sugar, but they did not reach the 10 million tons that Castro had aimed for. 'Only' 8.5 million. The intense productivity had worn on the machinery and the people. It had harmed the forestry and fishing parts of the economy, and the military felt their status diminished, as the soldiers had been used to cut cane, instead of defending the nation.

The blow hit Castro both economically and politically. In a speech addressed to the nation on July 26th 1970, he admitted the failure, and by blaming the administrative side instead of the peoples commitment and offering his resignation to a crowd that was cheering his name, he managed to stay in power, and withhold his political position.

Following this, Castro had to abandon Guevara's ideas of voluntarism and self-sacrifice, and accept greater economic dependency on the USSR. State owned companies were given enough autonomy to be able to make their own decisions without having to run it by the state bureaucracy first. Despite these improvements, Cuba remained in the same similar economic state.

Cuba was badly hit by the international economic situation as the USSR cut the price it paid Cuba for sugar. Unemployment and debt were some of the factors that ended up leading to the 1980 Mariel exodus when 125000 people abandoned Cuba to go to America.

The Rectification Campaign (1986)

Castro returned to the self-sacrifice values once again during the 'Rectification Programme'. Farmers' markets were prohibited again, bonuses, extra pay were abolished, and self-employment was discouraged. Yet another Agrarian Reform Act was implemented, causing the percentage of land managed by independent farmers to drop to less than 2%.

The results of the programme, economically, were poor. Productivity fell, and once again workers refused to go to work. There was a reduction in the supply of milk, oil, textiles and suger, which led to the prices increasing. Transport and electricity prices also increased, and black markets started to reappear in the country.

The Special Period (1991)

After 30 years of economical and social cooperation, the USSR suddenly and unexpectedly ended it with Cuba. Soviet technicians abandoned projects as they left Cuba, and subsidised goods, oil and access to international loans that the USSR provided to Cuba were finished. 

This lead Castro to announce that Cuba had entered a 'special period of peacetime'. Hereon after Cubans faced tighter rationing. Energy had to be saved as the USSR had cut off their oil supply, which limited the working hours of the population, and it induced long black-outs and restricted public transport.

To come through these rough times new policies were implemented:

- State-owned farms began to be run as worker-managed cooperatives

- Cuba was opened to international business. (Tourism in particular developed positively)

- (1993) Cubans could now buy and sell US dollars

- Farmers' and handcraft markets reappeared and some level of self-employment was allowed.

By 1994 Cuba showed signs of economic recovery, as sugar was being replaced by tourism.

(All information is from Pearsons 'History, 20th century world, Authoritarian and Single-Party States', 2010)

Fidel Castro - Status of Women

Already in 1934, before the revolution, women had the right to vote in Cuba. They also had the right to work, study and sue for divorce. Despite the fact that they had the rights for equality, these rights were not upheld. Only occupations such as teaching or nursing were deemed appropriate for women, as they held less responsibility that other occupations. In the middle and upper classes the home were encouraged to be housewives.It was in Cuba's interest to defend women's rights as the women were much needed in the workforce in order to produce record harvests. This meant that the government had to fight both the discrimination towards women at workplaces, and finding a way to balance the women's work and household life.

To enable this new laws were implemented, that enforced the old equality laws. The women were offered training at technical and professional levels to prepare them for occupations with greater responsibility. This opened many fields to the female population of Cuba.

In Castro's reign women were expected to:

- Leave their families and homes for an extended period of time to work at 'Agricultural Legions' helping with agriculture.
- Be efficient workers
- Participate in Political life
- Volunteer to serve the revolution

STILL being:
- Wives
- Mothers
- Housewives

Women's newly enforced role in the workforce created some problems. Whilst women got more time in the workplace, the men did not give up more, or any, time for the household work, nor did they want to live with a woman who potentially would be economically independent. This lead to many women giving up their working life, and returning to being housewives only.

In the 1970's a new 'Family Code' was implemented, which states that men had to share the household deeds and help in the education of the children, and not complying was to be punished as exploitation women. The 'Family Code' was not as successful as hoped.

(All information is from Pearsons 'History, 20th century world, Authoritarian and Single-Party States', 2010)

Fidel Castro - Education

Cuba had one of the highest illiteracy rates in Latin America, and Castro wanted to fight this. There was a lack of schools and a lack of teachers, and Castro fought this by building more schools, and implemented a training programme for 271,000 teachers. Besides this, everyone who was already literate, had to volunteer as 'Brigadistas'. They would live with a rural illiterate family, and teach them. The campaign both lowered the illiteracy rate (to around 4%) and it opened the middle classes' eyes to the rural Cuban's lives and it made the illiterate peasants got another reason to support the revolution as they learned what it could do for them.

When Cuba, in 1961, shifted towards communism, all private schools were nationalised. A large scholarship programme for gifted and committed students was established, and the participants were selected by the government, who also often decided which subject area the student should specialise in. The students' free time, was to be used to do volunteer work. Teachers who did not support the revolution were fired, and the new ones who were to replace them would realise that the students acted as spies. Teachers who did support the regime were rewarded with training in the USSR and in Eastern Europe where communist values were reinforced. The teachers were given new textbooks focusing on the history of the revolution and the lives of the heroes (Fidel, Che and Camilo). Castro believed the aim of schools "is the ideological formation of revolutionaries, and then by means of the revolutionaries, the ideological formation of the rest of the people." Libraries were searched for inappropriate material, and Castro believed that Cuban culture had been marked by foreign influence, and he wanted to establish new organisations that would ensure art with the Cuban values.

(All information is from Pearsons 'History, 20th century world, Authoritarian and Single-Party States', 2010)

Fidel Castro - Religious Groups and Minorities

After the revolution the relationship between the government and the Catholic church worsened, because the church saw it as an opportunity to ask for achieving social justice and this lead to the government questioning the bishops were if they have enough loyalty to the revolution.

In 1976 the constitution stated that: "It is illegal and punishable by law to oppose one's faith or religious belief to the Revolution, education or the fulfilment of the duty to work, defend the homeland with arms, show reverence for its symbols and other duties established by the constitution."

Pope John II visited Cuba in 1998, and addressed the lack of political freedom in Cuba, whilst at the same time criticising the US economic embargo.

Hereafter the government changed the PCC statute, allowing religious people to join, however the seperation between the government and the church was still excitant and religious education was still forbidden in all schools.


(All information is from Pearsons 'History, 20th century world, Authoritarian and Single-Party States', 2010)

Fidel Castro - Propaganda

Castro used propaganda to mythologise the revolution and to create a cult around himself. He used Radio (Radio Rebelde), TV, Magazines (Bohemia) and newspapers (Granma). These were used to create a persistent presence of the revolution and the government in the Cuban's homes, and to raise awareness of the government's ideals and actions in order to increase the public's commitment to politics. Castro also used his speeches as propaganda, and helped him keep his power from 1959.



(All information is from Pearsons 'History, 20th century world, Authoritarian and Single-Party States', 2010)

Fidel Castro - Treatment of opposition

As every other political leader, Fidel Castro had to face some opposition. This was not acceptable, so Castro, naturally, tried to abolish it. In 1960 he created the CDR (Committees for the Defence of the Revolution), and these committees were used primarily to report any counter-revolutionary activity. After 3 years of the CDR's presence, one third of the entire country were members.

The ones who were caught doing counter-revolutionary activities were between 1963 and 1965 sent to UMAP labour camps (Military Units to Aid Production). The camps were shut down in 1965, by Castro who firmly states that he did it of his own accord, despite both international and domestic pressure to do so.

Multiple times Fidel Castro allowed for counter-revolutionaries to emigrate, and some times even encouraged it, instead of imprisoning them.

(All information is from Pearsons 'History, 20th century world, Authoritarian and Single-Party States', 2010)