In 1940, Cuba implemented a new constitution, but mounting political unrest culminated in the 1952 Cuban coup d'état and the subsequent dictatorship of Batista. The Batista government was overthrown in January 1959 by the 26th of July Movement during the Cuban Revolution. That revolution established communist rule under the leadership of Fidel Castro. The country under Castro was a point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into nuclear war.
Modern diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States are cold, stemming from historic conflict and divergent political ideologies. The two nations restored diplomatic relations on July 20, 2015, after relations had been severed in 1961 during the Cold War. The U.S. has maintained a comprehensive trade embargo against Cuba since 1960. The embargo includes restrictions on all commercial, economic, and financial activity, making it illegal for U.S. corporations to do business with Cuba.
Early 19th century relations centered mainly on extensive trade, before manifest destiny increasingly led to an American desire to buy, conquer, or control Cuba. The U.S. attempted to purchase Cuba in 1848 and in 1854 from Spain. It successfully took over Cuba in 1898 as a U.S. territory within the Treaty of Paris. The U.S. position of economic and political dominance over the island persisted after Cuba became formally independent in 1902. Relations became closer still as the U.S. provided weapons, money, and its authority to the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista that ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1958. They deteriorated during the Cuban Revolution of 1959. The U.S. recruited operatives in Cuba to carry out a violent campaign of terrorism and sabotage on the island, killing civilians and causing economic damage. (Full article...)
Image 5Protests against the visit of soviet diplomat Anastas Mikoyan, dispersed by a policeman firing his gun. (February 5, 1960) (from History of Cuba)
Image 9Fidel Castro at the first congress of the Communist Party of Cuba. (from History of Cuba)
Image 10The city walls of Havana, 1848 (from History of Cuba)
Image 11Defense of a train attacked by Cuban insurgents (from History of Cuba)
Image 12A 1736 colonial map by Herman Moll of the West Indies and Mexico, together comprising "New Spain", with Cuba visible in the center. (from History of Cuba)
Image 16Cuban victims of Spanish reconcentration policies (from History of Cuba)
Image 17A monument to the Taíno chieftain Hatuey in Baracoa, Cuba (from History of Cuba)
Image 18Rebel leaders engaged in extensive propaganda to get the U.S. to intervene, as shown in this cartoon in an American magazine. Columbia (the American people) reaches out to help oppressed Cuba in 1897 while Uncle Sam (the U.S. government) is blind to the crisis and will not use its powerful guns to help. Judge magazine, 6 February 1897. (from History of Cuba)
... that after his release from a hospital for the criminally insane, Richard Dixon burgled $16 from a credit union and hijacked a jet to Cuba?
... that after his movement's victory in the Cuban Revolution, television broadcasts showed Camilo Cienfuegos freeing parrots from birdcages, declaring that the birds had "a right to liberty"?
... that the 1919 foxtrot song "I'll See You in C-U-B-A" was an example of Cuba being perceived as "America's playground"?
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The Cuban rock iguana (Cyclura nubila), also known as the Cuban ground iguana or Cuban iguana, is a species of lizard of the iguana family. It is the second largest of the West Indian rock iguanas (genus Cyclura), one of the most endangered groups of lizards. A herbivorous species with a thick tail and spiked jowls, it is one of the largest lizards in the Caribbean.
Isaac Oviedo (July 6, 1902 – June 16, 1992) was a Cuban tres player, singer and songwriter. He was the founder and leader of the Septeto Matancero for over 50 years, and the author of many famous sones such as "Engancha carretero". Throughout his long career Oviedo only recorded a handful of sessions, mostly for American record labels. He has been called "one of the greatest Cuban tres players" by other musicians such as Efraín Ríos and Pancho Amat. According to the latter, Oviedo was the pioneering and most influential tresero of the septeto format (the major type of son ensemble of the 1920s and '30s). His technical innovations include the alzapúa thumb stroke and the use of the pinky finger.
...that Raúl Martínez was a Cuban painter, designer and graphic artist best known for colorful pop-art portraits of leading Cuban political figures including José Martí and Camilo Cienfuegos?
...that the habanera is a musical genre from Cuba with a characteristic "Habanera rhythm"? And that it is one of the oldest mainstays of Cuban music and the first of the dances from Cuba to be exported all over the world?
...that the music for the song Guantanamera is regularly attributed to José Fernández Díaz in the 1920s, but that pianist Herminio "El Diablo" García Wilson also claimed to have written the song? And that the matter was only resolved decades later, when García's heirs lost their case at the Supreme Court of Cuba?
I believe that writers, unless they consider themselves terribly exquisite, are at heart people who live by night, a little bit outside society, moving between delinquency and conformity.
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