Cuban Cigars! ..oh wait are those missiles?

Fidel Castro is known as the Cuban nationalist revolutionary who lead the Cuban Revolution, negotiated with Russia for Cuba and started the Cuban Missile Crisis and ultimately is responsible for the U.S. Cuba embargo.

In the late 1950s, the U.S was feeling threatened by Communism lurking at its doorway. The U.S knew that Castro was not close with the communist party, marxist inspiration for his proposals were clear. However, Castro began to negotiate with Russia, arranging an alternative Russian market for Cuban sugar and also bought Russian oil at a cheap price. U.S refineries refused to process the Soviet Oil and therefore lead Castro to expropriate the refineries. This all lead to the U.S stopping all purchases of Cuban sugar, which lead to Cuba expropriating more U.S property such as sugar mills, mines, telephone and power companies.  In 1960, the U.S declared an embargo on Cuba.  In 1961, just one year later, the U.S had formed a small army for what we know today as the “Bay of Pigs invasion”, which was quickly defeated by castors newly created army as well.  After this invasion from the U.S, Cuba formed strong alliances with the Soviet Union. One year after the invasion, there was the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.  U.S spy planes photographed nuclear missile installations in Cuba and demanded Russia to remove the missiles or there would be war.  Russia agreed to remove the missiles only after the U.S agreed to never invade Cuba. After the missile crisis, the U.S issued complete embargo blocking all trade between Cuba and countries allied with U.S crippling Cuba’s trade network.

After the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis in Cuba, the U.S and Cuba have not been on good terms politically or economically. Cuba’s population is split primarily between whites, mestizos and afro-cuban (blacks and mulattos), with the percentage of afro-cubans varying between 62% and 33% depending on the source. When Castro first came into power in Cuba, the afro-cuban population was disproportionately poor, lacking sufficient medical care, social services and educational opportunities. Castro believed that such overt racism was a direct conflict with his commitment to social justice and equality and passed policies to desegregate beaches, parks, work sites and social clubs. He outlawed all forms of legal and overt discrimination. 

After the 1959 Revolution, made by Castro, 300,000 Cubans fled to Florida any way they could. Miami was considered a sort of mecca for refugees coming from Cuba, later leading to bilingual strikes and riots from whites feeling threatened by the infringing hispanic culture. Castro denounced keeping Cubans on the island, “if they can’t rise to the Revolution, we don’t want them, we don’t need them.” (Latin Americans PBS Episode 6) Many Cubans felt they were fleeing from Communist hands, seeking just economic opportunities and shelter. U.S President Carter encouraged U.S people to house these Cuban refugees, which were later discovered to be partially made up of released psych ward patients and prisoners that Castro shipped off. Although some of the Cuban migrants were prisoner and psych patients, many of them were light skinned families with higher levels of education.