9A—History of Latin America
The Cuban Revolution
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I. Cuba on the eve of revolution:

A. Economics: underemployment, urban/rural split
B. Political disaffection: politiquería

• 1902, the Cuban Republic
• US military occupation 1906-09, 1912, 1917-20
• 1920s-30s: Gerardo Machado
  Ramón Grau San Martín (1933)
  Platt Amendment overturned (1934)
  Fulgencio Batista (1934-44)
• 1940s-50s: Grau re-elected (1944-48) Ortodoxos and Eduardo Chibás
  Batista takes power again 1952.
• July 26, 1953 : attack on Moncada Barracks
  Fidel Castro; “History Will Absolve Me”

II. The Cuban Revolution, 1959

• broad support
• moderate early revolutionary government
• radicalization, 1960-62
  (U.S. oil embargo 1960, French ship exploded 1960, Bay of Pigs 1961, Cuban Missile Crisis 1962)