Cuba

Question 1

What sequence of events lead to the US trade embargo of Cuba?

Answer 1

US refineries refuse to process Soviet crude oil - Castro nationalises oil refineries - trade embargo imposed

Question 2

When does Castro pronounce himself a Marxist - Leninist?

Answer 2

Nov 1961

Question 3

How do sugar yields change in the first years of the Cuban revolution? With what consequence?

Answer 3

6.7m tonnes in 1961 - 3.8m tonnes in 1963

Question 4

When is the Communist party established as the sole political party of Cuba?

Answer 4

1965

Question 5

When is the Cuban ‘revolutionary offensive’? Give a detail…

Answer 5

1968 - 55,000 small businesses into public sector

Question 6

What does Castro acknowledge at the Communist Convention of 1975?

Answer 6

Latin America was not on the brink of socialist transformation

Question 7

Which governments did Cuba establish ties with in its move away from guerrilla strategy

Answer 7

Allende in Chile, Alvarado in Peru, Peron in Argentina

Question 8

Complete the Castro quote: ‘Cuba cannot export revolution…’

Answer 8

‘Cuba cannot export revolution, nor can the US prevent it’

Question 9

How does trade between the west and Cuba change in 1970s?

Answer 9

In mid-late 1970s the west comes to account for 41% of the Islands trade

Question 10

What was characteristic of the Cuba troops sent to Angola

Answer 10

Mostly black or mulatto - emphasis on racial solidarity

Question 11

When and what is the Platt Ammendment?

Answer 11

Cuba cannot sign treaties without US permission - 1901-1934

Question 12

How does Bolivia differ from Cuba, in a way Guevara doesn’t recognise?

Answer 12

1952 agrarian reform

Question 13

How is the revolutionary movement in Uruguay different from Cuba

Answer 13

Tupamaros - emphasis urban revolution over rural

Question 14

When is the Sandinista group founded and when does it take power

Answer 14

Founded 1961, elected to power in 1979

Question 15

How does Castro describe the sugar harvest of 1970?

Answer 15

‘A point of honour for this revolution, a yardstick by which to judge the capability of the Revolution’

Question 16

Why is a micro faction expelled from the Cuban communist party and when?

Answer 16

1968 - expelled for agreeing with ‘pseudo revolutionaries’ (USSR) that Cuban foreign policy was ‘adventurist’ and ‘unrealistic’

Question 17

What 6 factors does Perez - Stable say made Cuba susceptible to radical revolution

Answer 17

Mediated sovereignty - Sugar Centred development - uneven modernisation - crisis of political authority - weakness of economic classes - strength of popular sectors

Question 18

When does Cuban rapprochement with USSR begin?

Answer 18

1968

Question 19

Give six countries in which Cuba supported armed revolution in Latin America?

Answer 19

Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Guatemala, Bolivia

Question 20

What does Castro say in his ‘Second Declaration of Havana’ and when?

Answer 20

‘It is the duty of every revolutionary to make revolution’ - 1962

Question 21

When is Allende elected in Chile?

Answer 21

1970

Question 22

When did Che Guevara die?

Answer 22

October 1967 - Bolivia

Question 23

Name the key economists under Castro, what posts do they fill? What do they call for?

Answer 23

Felipe Bazos - National Bank Prsident

Regino - Economy minister

Call for agrarian reform, sugar industry modernisation, ISI and investment of domestic and state capital

Question 24

How much do wealthy Cubans contribute to revolution?

Answer 24

5 - 10 million pesos

Question 25

Complete quote from Castro 'workers are the...'

Answer 25

'Workers are the principal creators of wealth, not the capitalist in his comfortable Wall Street office... the revolution is yours and for you?'

Question 26

When and how does Castro announce he will not be holding elections?

Answer 26

May 1960, announces it to a million Cubans who respond that the people had already voted and they had voted for Fidel

Question 27

Explain the idea of the 'hombre nuevo'

Answer 27

The new man motivated by collective advancement rather than personal gain - work becomes the route to this (ie 10m tonne harvest)

Question 28

How high is Cuba's per capita income before revolution? | How does this compare to rest of Latin America and the US?

Answer 28

$374 - 2nd highest in Latin America, but significantly below US level of $2000 ($1000 in Mississippi)

Question 29

What reduces m-c security pre- revolution?

Answer 29

Fluctuating export economy, live within N. American cost of living index

Question 30

What proportion of Labour force in unemployment/underemployment pre revolution? How many are entering the labour force each year?

Answer 30

60%, 50,000 entering each year

Question 31

What proportion of farms control what proportion of land pre - rev?

Answer 31

8% of farms control 75% of land

Question 32

Compare living conditions in the cuban countryside with the cities...

Answer 32

9% of rural farms homes have electricity vs 87% in cities 15% of rural homes have running water vs. 80% in cities

Question 33

What does Arthur Schleisinger Jr. Say about Havana?

Answer 33

'One wondered how any cuban - on the basis of this evidence - could regard the united states with anything but hatred'

Question 34

When is the retrail of batista airforce pilots? What does fidel say?

Answer 34

1959 - 'revolutionary justice is based not on legal precepts but moral convictions'

Question 35

What proportion of cuban industry's productive value was under state control by 1961?

Answer 35

85%

Question 36

How many leave Cuba per year from 1960 - 62?

Answer 36

65,000

Question 37

When is the Agrarian Reform Law?

Answer 37

May 1959 - reduces real estate holdings to 1000 acres, except sugar, tin and livestock which are reduced to 3,333 acres

Question 38

How to compare actions of Grau government to those of Castro?

Answer 38

1933 Grau government faces similar calls for radical change from below but baulks and collapses

Question 39

How many decrees, laws and edicts are passed in the first 9 months of the revolution?

Answer 39

15000

Question 40

How do real wages increase after revolutionary reforms?

Answer 40

Increase 15%

Question 41

Who protests reforms?

Answer 41

Urban landlords, m-c small property owners, US business

Question 42

How big is CDR membership?

Answer 42

800,000

Question 43

How many times does the state intervene in industrial disputes in first 18 months of revolution?

Answer 43

200 times, usually on behalf of workers

Question 44

When is the Bay of Pigs?

Answer 44

1961

Question 45

When is the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Answer 45

1962

Question 46

When does the Organisation of American States vote to suspend Cuban membership?

Answer 46

1962 - all except Mexico sever ties in 1964