15th Century
Columbus discovers Cuba.
Population would become a multiracial society due to colonization and slavery.
19th Century
The United States helps Cuba
revolt against Spain due its investment 80% consumption in Cuban sugar.
-
Foreigners
purchase that land that Cubans can’t afford because of land taxes, and develop
plantations and industries. Cubans are forces to depend on a money currency of
slave wages. The U.S. capitalists then own the mills that generate Cuba’s
sugar.
-
Cuban’s can no
longer purchase small scales of land because of the enormous plantations owned
by U.S. capitalists.
-
Urban communities
called Bateyes, as well as slums called Colonias Populares are developed for
the working class.
-
The working class
becomes more concerned with wages and working conditions, rather than the
acquisition of their land.
1934-1959: The Rein of Cuban Dictator,
Fulgencio Batista
-
The Cuban
Government becomes a bureaucracy that acts in the best interests of the foreign
capitalists.
-
Thousands of
North Americans flood Cuba to visit or to live in Havana. The invasion would
bring in gambling, gangsterism, prostitution, U.S. media, and “Spanglish”.
1953-1959: Revolution
-
Cuban Government
slaughters suspects to the July 26th Movement revolt.
-
The middle class
and land peasants alike join the rebels in the civil war against their
government.
-
The War in the
mountains turns to unset battles of hit & runs, bombings, sabotage, &
harassment in cities of Cuba.
-
The Cuban army
harasses, tortures, or executes students, the middle class, or anyone else who
is accused of rebel affiliation.
Post Revolution: The Reign of Fidel Castro
-
The Cuban
Revolution eliminates the entire political class.
-
Land is
redistributed in the Agrarian Reform Law on May 17, 1959 to small, Cuban
private holders, and cooperatives.
-
By 1960, 500,000
soldiers surface in the Cuban Army in mobilization against invaders, and social
& economic problems. Cuba becomes more of a military based society, and the
government heads towards socialism and totalitarianism.
-
In 1960, the U.S.
enforced a strict economic embargo against Cuba, in which they pressured U.S.
firms and Latin American & European subsidiaries to cease trade with Cuba.
The embargo forced Cuba to depend on the Soviet Union for trade.
-
The country fails
in its transition from sugar production into industrialization.
-
Housing is
unequally distributed.
-
Agriculture takes
a fall in the 1970’s and food & goods become limited.
-
In the 1990’s,
the U.S.S.R. collapses and exposes Cuba’s economical vulnerability.
-
By 1992, Russian
economic and military aid was gone.
-
Living standards
in Cuba drops. Monthly rationing quotas now covered only one to two weeks of
food, with the rest only obtainable through the black market.
-
Electricity in
cities, such as Havana declines down to 4-8 hours a day.
-
Bus services
disappeared due to fuel shortage.
-
The country
returns to tourism in Havana and Varadero in order to boost economy.
-
Prostitution,
theft, and crime return.
2001 to Present
-
In 2001, Fidel
Castro announced that his brother Raul would be his successor.
-
Raul would
inherit $20 billion in unpaid debt to Russia.
-
By late 2003, the
economy was limping along, and on the verge of collapse. Food supplies
continued to be scarce, which forced the Cubans to spend their money in the
black market.
Optimism
Socialist
Cuba has served the basic human needs of its people.
- Illiteracy
has been wiped out, and a comprehensive school system has been created.
- Basic
healthcare has been extended to lower sectors, and medical training has been
geared to public health.
- Food
distribution has been guaranteed by rationing.
- Life
expectancy rose from 63 years in 1960 to 76 years in 1992.
- The infant
mortality rate fell by more than two-thirds in the same period.
No comments:
Post a Comment