Essay/Term paper: The cuban revolution

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Humanities Essays

The Cuban Revolution

Mr. Barron
Jason Rosenzweig
January 9, 1997

After the Cuban Revolution many change occurred in Cuba. Cuba was once a
corrupt dictatorship, now and for the past 36 years Castro has led a communist
government.

Before Castro took over Batista, Batista ran a biossed economy for the
rich. Officials took pay offs, keeping the majority of the peoples thoughts
invisible. Protestors of Batista were murdered, and their body's were thrown in
gutters. During these times the life for the rich was plentiful, they had more
Cadillacs than any other city in the world, and the highest number of T.V. sets
per capita out of all the Latin American countries . Many gambling casinos were
also present. While life for the poor was plagued with unemployment, inadequate
health care, and a high illiteracy rate.

Castro's take over of the government, changed many ways of life in Cuba,
most of which benefited the poor or the majority of the people. Education was
improved for the poor, there are many times more schools and staff members to
educate the young. Health care was improved, infant mortality rate has dropped
from 60 to 11.1 which is comparable to industrialized nations.

Even with all the good changes their are hardships do go with them.
Castro took over business's, some of which were owned by foreign investors,
collecting some of the revenue to help Cuba's economy. Some of Batistas
followers and the wealthy fled to the U.S. to escape the taking of their wealth
or being jailed. On April 17, 1961 the CIA arranged a invasion with 2000 exiles
to invade Cuba to spark a uprising against Castro, this was known as the Bay Of
Pigs. The invasion failed, this opened a window of opportunity for the Soviet
Union to change the global power balance towards the Soviet. In 1962 a event
known as The Cuban Missile Crisis was born, the Soviet Union plant Nuclear War
Heads in Cuba to prevent the U.S. from any farther attempts to invade Cuba. The
U.S. in return setup a quarantine to stop trade with Cuba. After six days of
public statements and secret diplomacy Khrushchev ordered the missile sites
dismantled in return for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba

All in all Cuba is a very difficult place to live, even with the
education and health care improved. The economy is paralyzed by the embargo put
on them, with the Soviet collapse they lost almost all there imports/exports.
Food is very scarce, sometimes people have to wait days in a food line, and when
it's there turn theirs nothing left.

The U.S. should stop the embargo on Cuba, for Communism is no longer a
threat, the embargo puts too much suffrage on the people of Cuba, just for their
beliefs on the government.