Fidel Castro died in November of 2016. Castro had a huge role in the Cold War. In 1947, he joined an expedition to help overthrow Rafael Trujillo. He established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere. He called himself a Marxist-Leninist. Cuba became very independent on the Soviet Union for economic and military support. When he first became the leader, he gave the countryside electricity, he got rid of legal discrimination, and provided education to more children. On the other hand, he also put a limit on how much a land someone can own, From 1960-1980, Castro provided military and financial aid to countries in Latin America and Africa. In 1953, Castro was captured and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Cuba and the United States relationship has been up and down. During the Cold War, Fidel Castro and others took power of Havana, which angered the US. The US then tried to overthrow Castro in 1961 (the Cuban Revolution.)

The Cuban Missile Crisis: In 1962, US satellites found that Cuba allowed the USSR to build nuclear missiles on the island. President Kennedy ordered a naval quarantine of Cuba. This started a 13 day standoff. Kennedy agrees to take US missiles out from Turkey if USSR takes theirs out of Cuba. Russia agrees and the missiles are taken out. Later that year, Kennedy doesn’t allow any US citizens to travel into Cuba.

In 1982, President Reagan labelled Cuba as a sponsor of terrorism for giving military support to communist governments.

When Barack Obama won the election, he said he wanted to restore peace with Cuba and he met with Raul Castro. In 2014, Obama announced that the old tensions would be gone and we would be allies with Cuba again.