Cuba and Communism

In 1959, Fidel Castro had finally garnered a victory in his rebellion against Fulgencio Batista, the former leader. Castro began seizing American held land and redistributing it. The U.S> then cut off heavy importation of Cuban sugar and other resources (cobalt, nickel, iron ore, chromium, copper, salt, timber, silica, petroleum, and arable land). This led to more seizure of land by Castro’s new dictatorship. The United States finally broke diplomatic relations in 1961 and in the same year, placed a lasting embargo on Cuban products. As Cuba backslid towards communism, building ties with other communist countries, tensions between the U.S. and Cuba grew, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis and continuing on to the present.
Find the present-day CIA dossier on Cuba by clicking here.