1. The Cuban Revolution
In 1959, Fidel Castro led a successful revolt which toppled the Batista dictatorship. Castro's
revolution was a turning point in the western hemisphere because it launched a radical program that
changed Cuba's society and economy and placed the country right in the middle of the growing Cold
War tensions.
“What did the Revolution find when it came to power in Cuba? What marvels did the
Revolution find when it came to power in Cuba? First of all the Revolution found that 600,000 able
Cubans were unemployed — as many, proportionately, as were unemployed in the United States at
the time of the great depression which shook this country and which almost created a catastrophe in
the United States. That was our permanent unemployment. Three million out of a population of
somewhat over 6,000,000 did not have electric lights and did not enjoy the advantages and comforts
of electricity. Three and a half million out of a total of slightly more than 6,000,000 lived in huts,
shacks and slums, without the slightest sanitary facilities. In the cities, rents took almost one third of
family incomes. Electricity rates and rents were among the highest in the world. Thirty-seven and one
half percent of our population were illiterate; 70 per cent of the rural children had no teachers; 2 per
cent of population, that is, 100,000 persons out of a total of more than 6,000,000 suffered from
tuberculosis. Ninety-five per cent of the children in rural areas were affected by parasites, and the
infant mortality rate was therefore very high, just the opposite of the average life span.”
-Fidel Castro, Excerpt from a speech given September 26, 1960 at the U.N. General
Assembly
Questions to Consider:
Who is Castro speaking to?
What does he claim the conditions were in Cuba prior to the revolution?
How might conditions such as these create instability in Cuba?
