| 1933 |
|
| |
General strike crushed by right-wing government,
supported by USA. |
| |
Military coups eventually sees Fulgencio Batista
take over as Cuban leader. |
| |
By now in the grip of organised crime, an
American mafia summit, hosted by mobster Lucky
Luciano is held in Havana. Those attending include
Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, Tommy Lucchese,
Vito Genovese, Joe Bonanno, Santo Trafficante
Jr. and Moe Dalitz. Frank Sinatra also makes
his singing debut in Havana, confirming Cuba's
status as a playground for the American rich. |
| 1952 |
|
| |
Another coup sees Batista regain pre-eminence.
The Washington government is quick to recognise
him as Cuba's leader. |
| 1953 |
|
| |
26th July |
| |
A law graduate Fidel Castro leads revolutionary
cadres in an ill-fated attack on the Moncada
army garrison in Santiago de Cuba. |
| |
16th October |
| |
Castro is imprisoned but not before delivering
an address
to the court, most famous for the final defiant
prediction: "History
will absolve me." |
| 1955 |
|
| |
May |
| |
Under intense public pressure, Batista issues
an amnesty and Castro and his comrades are released.
Castro goes to Mexico where he meets Argentinian
doctor Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la
Serna, with whom he sets up Cuban revolutionary
training camps. Both are imprisoned briefly
in Mexico. |
| 1956 |
|
| |
25th November |
| |
Castro and Geuvara leave Mexico with an 80-strong
force sailing for Cuba on the Granma. |
| |
2nd December |
| |
Reaching the Cuban coast, the rebels are spotted
and attacked. They flee but only a few survive. |
| 1957 |
|
| |
14th January |
| |
Prisoners are liberated from La Plata army
barracks and weapons seized. The new force heads
for the mountains to begin a guerrila campaign. |
| |
13th March |
| |
Rebels led by student José Echeverría
briefly take over a radio station in Havana.
Echeverría is killed while trying to
retreat. At the same time, 35 rebels and 5 guards
are killed in an attack on the presidential
palace. |
| |
20th April |
| |
The 7 Humboldt Street massacre - Police captain
Esteban Ventura, under orders from Batista,
shoots and kills four of the surviving student
leaders of the palace attack. |
| |
28th May |
| |
The first major battle of the war - Rebels
take the El Uvero garrison. Guevara later
writes: "For us, it was a victory that
meant that our guerrillas had reached full
maturity.
"From this moment on, our morale increased
enormously, our determination and hope for
victory also increased, and though the months
that followed were a hard test, we now had
the key to the secret of how to beat the enemy."
|
| |
12th July |
| |
The Manifesto of the Sierra Maestra is issued,
signed by Fidel Castro, Raúl Chibás
and Felipe Pazos, calling on all Cubans to form
a people's revolutionary front to "end
the regime of force, the violation of individual
rights, and the crimes of the police." |
| |
A news magazine Revista Carteles reports
that twenty members of the Batista government
have Swiss bank accounts, each with balances
exceeding US$1 million.
The extent of US influence in Cuba begins
to be exposed with reports that Cuban investments
make American firms profits of US$77 million
while employing little more than one per cent
of the country's population.
By the late 1950’s, American capital
controls:
90 per cent of Cuba’s mines
80 per cent of Cuban public utilities
50 per cent of the national railways
40 per cent of the country's production
25 per cent of all bank deposits in Cuban
banks
|
| 1958 |
|
| |
The USA sends Batista's regime US$1,000,000
in military aid. All of Batista's military equipment
is US-made and his army is US-trained. |
| |
11th to 21st July |
| |
The Battle of Jigüe marks a turning point
in the war. After the battle, the defeated Major
José Quevedo joins his old friend Castro
in fighting for the revolutionaries. |
| |
4th September |
| |
Women fighters form the Mariana Grajales Platoon. |
| |
October to December |
| |
A series of rebel victories |
| 1959 |
|
| |
1st January |
| |
Batista flees as rebels take Havana. |
| |
2nd January |
| |
Manuel Urrutia is installed as President and
Jose Mira Cardona as Prime Minister. |
| |
7th January |
| |
The US officially recognises the new Cuban
government as Castro arrives in Havana. |
| |
26th March |
| |
A pro-Batista plot to assassinate Castro is
exposed. |
| |
15th to 26th April |
| |
Castro visits USA. |
| 1960 |
|
| |
6th February |
| |
Cuban trade agreement signed with USSR. |
| |
29th February |
| |
US rejects a Cuban offer to begin negotiations,
the obstacle being Cuba's condition that the
US take no unilateral action that could damage
the Cuban economy while the talks are in progress. |
| |
17th March |
| |
President Eisenhower approves a covert action
plan to overthrow Castro. The plan includes
propaganda, terminating sugar purchases, ending
oil deliveries, continuing an arms embargo and
organising a paramilitary force of Cuban exiles
to invade the island. |
| |
29th June to 1st July |
| |
The Texaco, Shell and Esso oil refineries
in Cuba are nationalised. |
| |
3rd July |
| |
US Congress passes the "Sugar Act,"
eliminating Cuba’s remaining sugar quota. |
| |
23rd July |
| |
China agrees to purchase 500,000 tons of sugar
from Cuba annually for five years. |
| |
17th September |
| |
Cuba nationalises all US banks. Further nationalisation
of businesses follows. |
| |
19th October |
| |
US imposes a partial economic embargo on Cuba,
excluding food and medicine. |
| |
24th October |
| |
Cuba responds to the embargo by nationalising
properties controlled by US interests |
| 1961 |
|
| |
2nd January |
| |
Cuba tells the UN Security Council that the
US is preparing an invasion |
| |
3rd January |
| |
US breaks off diplomatic relations with Cuba |
| |
1st March |
| |
Reports of at least ten violations of Cuban
airspace by hostile aircraft |
| |
9th March |
| |
Ecuador's President Ibarra reveals details
of US demands that his country break off diplomatic
relations with Cuba as a condition of the approval
of loans |
| |
29th March |
| |
CIA agent Carlos Antonio Rodriquez Cabo -
"El Gallego" is arrested by Cuban
soldiers and accused of acts of terrorism |
| |
15th April |
| |
Following terrorist bombings in Cuba, Cuban
airfields are bombed by eight unidentified B-26
bombers, which destroy more than a quarter of
the country's fighter planes |
| |
17th April |
| |
The Bay of Pigs fiasco - Cuban exiles, trained,
and equipped by the CIA, invade Cuba at the
Bay of Pigs (known in Cuba as Playa Girón).
The invaders are defeated and the USA is humiliated
internationally. |
| |
30th November |
| |
President John F Kennedy authorises Operation
Mongoose with the aim of eliminating Fidel Castro
and defeating the Cuban Revolution |
| 1962 |
|
| |
7th February |
| |
Kennedy broadens the trade restrictions, banning
all trade with Cuba except for the non-subsidised
sale of foods and medicines |
| |
15th February |
| |
US Navy vessels patrol the Cuban coastine |
| |
23rd March |
| |
With food rationing already in place in Cuba,
Kennedy further widens the Cuban embargo to
include imports of any goods made from or containing
Cuban materials, regardless of the country of
manufacture |
| |
14th October
|
| |
US spy planes photograph Soviet missile sites
in Cuba, sparking the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Kennedy demands the withdrawal of Soviet
missiles and imposes a naval blockade. Kruschev
agrees on the conditions that Cuba receives
a guarantee of non-aggression and on the US
removal from Turkey of Jupiter missiles aimed
at the Soviet Union.
While the world watches the stand-off, the
USA secretly capitulates but the episode is
hailed as a victory for Kennedy in the US
and the west.
|
| 1963 |
|
| |
8th February |
| |
The Kennedy administration prohibits travel
to Cuba and bans US citizens from carrying out
financial and commercial transactions with the
country |
| |
19th June |
| |
Kennedy authorises renewed CIA support for
attacks on Cuban targets |
| |
9th July |
| |
All Cuban-owned assets in the US frozen |
| |
17th November |
| |
Kennedy asks French journalist Jean Daniel
to tell Castro that he is ready to negotiate
normal relations and drop the embargo |
| |
22nd November |
| |
Kennedy assassinated |
| |
December |
| |
Cuba becomes the first nation in the western
hemisphere to jam radio broadcasts, targeting
US anti-Castro stations |
| 1964 |
|
| |
12th December |
| |
Cuban exiles fire a bazooka at UN New York
headquarters during Che Guevara's address to
the General Assembly |
| 1966 |
|
| |
2nd November |
| |
US brings in the Cuban Adjustment Act, exempting
Cuban immigrants from general US immigration
laws. Any Cuban who has reached US territory
since 1st January 1959 to be eligible for permanent
residency after two years. 123,000 Cubans apply. |
| |
29th December |
| |
US Air Force pilot Everett Jackson shot down
over Cuba and captured after dropping arms and
equipment for anti-Castro forces |
| 1967 |
|
| |
9th October |
| |
Che Guevara killed in Bolivia |
| 1968 |
|
| |
2nd January |
| |
Cutbacks in Soviet deliveries force the Cuban
government to introduce petroleum rationing |
| 1969 |
|
| |
2nd January |
| |
Sugar rationing introduced in Cuba |
| 1972 |
|
| |
19th November |
| |
Cuba accepts a US proposal to begin formal
negotiations over airline hijackings |
| 1974 |
|
| |
11th September |
| |
Anti-Castro terrorist group OMEGA 7 is founded
in the US |
| |
November |
| |
Following a visit to Cuba by two US senators,
secret normalisation talks with Cuban officials
begin in Washington and New York. The talks
founder over Cuban involvement in Angola. |
| 1975 |
|
| |
21st August |
| |
US allows foreign subsidiaries of US companies
to sell products in Cuba, and stops penalising
other nations for trade with Cuba |
| |
20th November |
| |
A US Senate Select Intelligence Committee
report reveals that the CIA were involved in
more than eight attempted plots to assassinate
Fidel Castro between 1960 and 1965, with other
Cuban leaders also targeted |
| 1976 |
|
| |
5th April |
| |
US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, states
that there will be no resumption of US relations
with Cuba while Cuba has troops in Africa |
| |
6th October |
| |
The bombing of a Cuban airliner causes the
deaths of 73 people. Castro blames CIA sabotage.
An anti-Castro and CIA- trained activist,
Luis Posada Carrilles, is charged. In 1998,
Carrilles admits to more than a decade of
anti-Castro terrorist activities funded by
the Miami-based Cuban-American National Foundation
(CANF), the most powerful lobby in Washington.
He later withdraws the claims.
|
| 1977 |
|
| |
19th March |
| |
President Jimmy Carter's administration drops
the ban on travel to Cuba and allows visiting
US citizens to spend dollars in Cuba |
| |
September |
| |
US and Cuba open interests sections in Havana
and Washington respectively |
| 1978 |
|
| |
31st July |
| |
Castro calls for the removal of US military
bases from Guantanamo Bay. US claims that: "[The]
Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay is leased to US
and only mutual agreement or US abandonment
of the area can terminate the lease". |
| |
Anti-Castro terrorists bomb Cuba's United
Nations Mission and the Cuban Interests Section
|
| 1979 |
|
| |
1st January |
| |
Cuban-Americans allowed to visit their families
in Cuba |
| 1980 |
|
| |
11th September |
| |
Anti-Castro terrorists assassinate Cuban Mission
to the United Nations |
| 1981 |
|
| |
January |
| |
Ronald Reagan is innaugurated as US president
and announces a tightening of the embargo |
| |
30th October |
| |
US Navy exercises in the Caribbean are said
by Pentagon officials to be expected to send
a message to Cuba |
| |
31st October |
| |
Cuba goes on full alert in preparation for
an anticipated US invasion |
| 1982 |
|
| |
19th April |
| |
Reagan administration reestablishes the travel
ban and prohibition of US citizens from spending
dollars in Cuba |
| 1983 |
|
| |
25th October |
| |
After US invasion of Grenada, 642 Cubans are
captured, 24 killed, and 57 wounded. Of the
784 Cubans on the island, 636 were construction
workers and 43 were military personnel. |
| 1984 |
|
| |
30th December |
| |
In an article entitled, "New breed of
anti-Castro militant moves to Miami", The
Miami Herald names six members of Omega 7, involved
in anti-Castro bombings, many of them in the
USA. |
| |
14th May |
| |
US announces $43 million refurbishment of
Guantanamo naval base |
| 1986 |
|
| |
17th February |
| |
Reagan administration bans travel to the US
by Cuban government or Communist party officials
or their representatives |
| 1987 |
|
| |
Cuban infant mortality, at 13.6:1000 is the
lowest in Latin America and lower than the USA |
| 1988 |
|
| |
February to March |
| |
US human rights inspectors report that conditions
in Cuban prisons are generally no worse than
those in US prisons, that there is no evidence
of systematic abuse, and that some practices
such as conjugal visits are more humane than
those in the USA |
| 1990 |
|
| |
June |
| |
Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture in Miami
bombed by terrorists for exhibiting work by
artists living in Cuba |
| |
October |
| |
The US Congress Mack Amendment prohibits all
trade with Cuba by US offshore subsidiaries,
and proposes sanctions or withdrawal of aid
to any country buying goods from Cuba |
| 1992 |
|
| |
23rd October |
| |
In the US, the Cuban Democracy Act is made
law. Described by Congressman Robert Torricelli,
who introduced the act, as having been designed
to "wreak havoc on the island," Torricelli
also believes it will bring down Castro "within
weeks". |
| 1993 |
|
| |
7th January |
| |
"Comandos L" leader, Tony Bryant,
announces plans for more attacks on targets
in Cuba, warning tourists to stay away from
the island: "From this point on, we're
at war. The Neutrality Act doesn't exist." |
| 1995 |
|
| |
2nd November |
| |
The United Nations general assembly recommends
an end to the embargo for the fourth consecutive
year. Only Israel and Uzbekistan join the US
in voting against. |
| 1996 |
|
| |
12th March |
| |
President Bill Clinton signs the Helms-Burton
Act imposing penalties on foreign companies
doing business in Cuba. The Act also permits
US citizens to sue foreign investors who make
use of formerly American-owned property seized
by the Cuban government. |
| |
12th November |
| |
The United Nations General Assembly recommends,
for the fifth consecutive year, that the US
end the embargo against Cuba. Again only three
nations vote against |
| |
19th November |
| |
Castro visits the Vatican and Pope John Paul
II accepts an invitation to visit Cuba |
| 1997 |
|
| |
April |
| |
A series of terrorist bombings of Cuban hotels,
restaurants and night clubs begins |
| |
13th August |
| |
A paid CANF advertisement in the Miami newspaper
El Nuevo Herald supports the bombings, and states
that "Cuban people, like all peoples fighting
for their freedom, have the right to choose
whatever instruments are within reach to obtain
freedom." |
| |
27th October |
| |
US Coast Guard discovers two sniper rifles,
one of which is registered to CANF president,
Francisco J Hernández, ammunition and
military-type equipment on a boat owned by
a member of the CANF board of directors.
After an FBI investigation, seven exiles
are indicted but, after the trial is moved
to Miami, all are acquitted.
|
| |
5th November |
| |
UN General Assembly passes a resolution to
end the Cuban embargo for sixth successive year |
| |
18th November |
| |
US defence intelligence report concludes that
"Cuba does not pose a significant military
threat to the United States or to other countries
in the region." |
| 1998 |
|
| |
February |
| |
Pope John Paul II visits Cuba and calls for
an end to the embargo and internal reform in
Cuba |
| |
March |
| |
The Pentagon concludes that Cuba poses no
significant threat to US national security |
| |
May to June |
| |
European countries call for an end to the
embargo |
| |
16th October |
| |
United Nations General Assembly resolution
against the embargo. Only the US and Israel
vote to retain it. |
| 1999 |
|
| |
9th November |
| |
Eightth consecutive United Nations General
Assembly resolution against the US embargo on
Cuba. |
| |
25th November |
| |
Elián Gonzalez rescued at sea after
his mother is killed trying to bring him to
the USA |
| 2000 |
|
| |
28th June |
| |
Amid American domestic protests, the US forcibly
returns Elián Gonzalez to his family
in Cuba |
| 2001 |
|
| |
30th November |
| |
US government refuses a Cuban offer to compensate
Americans for properties confiscated by the
revolution |
| |
16th December |
| |
First shipment of American goods purchased
by the Cuban government since the imposition
of the trade embargo arrives in Havana |
| 2002 |
|
| |
6th May |
| |
US Under Secretary of State, John Bolton,
adds Cuba, Libya and Syria to the "Axis
of Evil" nations he claims are deliberately
seeking to obtain chemical or biological weapons |
| |
12th May |
| |
Jimmy Carter arrives in Havana |
| |
13th May |
| |
While visiting the Center for Genetic Engineering
and Biotechnology in Havana, Jimmy Carter dismisses
allegations that Cuba is carrying out research
into biological terrorism |
| 2003 |
|
| |
14th June |
| |
Amnesty International adds 75 Cuban imprisoned
dissidents to its list of "prisoners of
conscience". |
