Political Control under Castro
This leader said “History will absolve me” and relied on charismatic authority in the early years of the Revolution.
A: Who is Fidel Castro?
This 1959 reform redistributed land to 200,000 peasants and created Soviet-style state farms.
A: What is the First Agrarian Reform Act?
Prostitution, gambling, the lottery, and racial discrimination were banned in this year.
A: What is 1959?
Illiteracy (25% in 1959) was nearly eliminated by this year after religious education was banned and schooling expanded.
A: What is 1979?
When the U.S. embargo began, this superpower stepped in as Cuba’s main trade partner.
A: What is the Soviet Union (USSR)?
Around 500 Batista supporters were executed in early show trials, encouraged by this revolutionary who said “At the smallest of doubt we must execute.”
A: Who is Che Guevara?
After U.S. refineries refused to process Soviet oil, Castro responded by doing this to the oil industry.
A: What is nationalizing the oil industry?
This major reform provided free preventive medical care and raised life expectancy to U.S. levels despite low spending.
A: What is universal healthcare?
Castro told artists “within the Revolution, everything; against the Revolution, nothing” at this 1961 congress.
A: What is the First Congress of Cuban Writers and Artists?
In 1962, Bay of Pigs prisoners were exchanged for $53 million in medicines and this food product.
A: What is baby food?
Established in 1960, these neighborhood groups monitored citizens and promoted ideological education, enrolling about 80% of adults.
A: What are the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDRs)?
Che Guevara’s push to motivate workers through morality rather than pay led to this 1968 campaign where everyone earned the same.
A: What is the Revolutionary Offensive?
Led by Vilma Espín, this women’s group trained women for jobs and literacy campaigns; by 1986, 80% were members.
A: What is the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC)?
This poet was tortured and forced into a show-trial confession in 1971, beginning the “Grey Period” in Cuban arts.
A: Who is Herberto Padilla?
In 1989, General Ochoa was executed on this charge, though rumors suggested coup plotting.
A: What is corruption?
This faction of 37 members opposed Castro within the PCC in 1967 and was imprisoned.
A: What is the “micro-faction” led by Aníbal Escalante?
This 1970 campaign aimed for a 10-million-ton harvest but fell short, damaging the economy and prompting Castro to offer resignation.
A: What is the Ten Million Ton Sugar Campaign?
The 1980 mass emigration crisis began after Cubans sought asylum at the Peruvian embassy and fled through this port.
A: What is the Mariel Boatlift (Port of Mariel)?
This popular board game was banned for promoting capitalist ideas.
A: What is Monopoly?
Cuba joined this Soviet-led economic alliance in 1972.
A: What is COMECON?
The 1976 Constitution created this system of sham elections where only PCC members could stand.
A: What is Poder Popular (“People’s Power”)?
Imports and exports fell by 70–75% in the “Special Period” because this key Soviet resource disappeared.
A: What is Soviet oil?
Worker frustration led to the saying “The state pretends to pay us and we pretend to work” during this decade.
A: What are the 1980s–1990s?
Established in 1965, these forced-labor camps targeted homosexuals and other “undesirables.”
A: What are the UMAP labor camps?
During the 1994 Balseros crisis, intercepted Cuban rafters were held here.
A: What is Guantánamo Bay?