What happened in the Cuban Revolution of 1959?

The Cuban Revolution

La Revolución cubana

1 January 1959. In the early hours of 1 January 1959 the dictator Fulgencio Batista fled Cuba as the guerrilla army of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, which had fought…

Draft: not yet checked against its sources.

Where: The Spanish Caribbean, The whole Spanish-speaking world, Cuba, Havana, United States

What happened

In the early hours of 1 January 1959 the dictator Fulgencio Batista fled Cuba as the guerrilla army of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, which had fought in the Sierra Maestra since 1956, closed on the cities. A provisional government was formed within days; Castro became prime minister in February. The revolution's agrarian reform and the expropriation of American property, and its closer ties with the Soviet Union, turned the United States hostile: Washington broke relations on 3 January 1961, backed an invasion by Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961 that failed within two days, and imposed an embargo. Cuba then declared itself socialist. The revolution brought literacy campaigns and free health care, a one-party state, and the departure of hundreds of thousands of Cubans, above all to Miami.

Say it

El 1 de enero de 1959 Batista huyó de Cuba y empezó la Revolución.

On 1 January 1959 Batista fled Cuba and the Revolution began.

Why it matters

Cuba became the model and the warning for the whole Latin American left, the cause of the only nuclear crisis in the hemisphere, and the source of the Cuban American community that made Miami a Spanish-speaking capital. 'Fidel', 'Che' and 'la Revolución' need no explanation anywhere Spanish is spoken.

Read about it

• La Revolución cubana — The Cuban Revolution
• El cafecito cubano — Cuban Coffee

Connected

• José Martí and the Cuban War of Independence (24 February 1895–1898)
• José Martí and the Cuban War of Independence (24 February 1895–1898)
• The Disaster of '98 (1898)
• The Disaster of '98 (1898)
• Migration north and the Spanish of the United States (1942–)
• The Cuban Missile Crisis (14–28 October 1962)
• The Cuban Missile Crisis (14–28 October 1962)
• The coup of 11 September 1973 in Chile (11 September 1973–11 March 1990)
• The coup of 11 September 1973 in Chile (11 September 1973–11 March 1990)
• García Márquez wins the Nobel: the Boom (October 1982)
• Esquipulas II: peace for Central America (7 August 1987)
• The Venezuelan exodus (c. 2015)

• Before: The banana massacre at Ciénaga
• After: The Cuban Missile Crisis

Sources

1. Memorandum from Secretary of State Dulles to President Eisenhower, 7 January 1959 (FRUS 1958–1960, vol. VI, doc. 217) — Office of the Historian, US Department of State
2. The Bay of Pigs Invasion and its Aftermath, April 1961–October 1962 — Office of the Historian, US Department of State
3. Cuba — Countries — Office of the Historian, US Department of State