See this casahistoria site for further background:
 
             Cuba before Castro site

 

The following are general and not too deep, but are a clear place to start for a visual overview.

• Early History  Read about Cuban history, from before the 16^th century, when Cuba was inhabited by indigenous peoples, up to the present day. Use the links to work up to the 20th century. The last few centuries, from the 16^th to the 20^th, feature hyperlinked articles about numerous important events.  §
• History of Cuba The "Ultimate Cuba" site. A good selection including extracts from secondary as well as primary sources.
• A Short History of Cuba From Canadian TV History Television archives
• Peoples & Personalities Read about the people that formed Cuban history, those who hoarded her resources, others who fought for her freedom.  §
• Cuba: Lanic link page Very comprehensive.
• cubacultura Tourist orientated from Spain but contains a useful (helpfully visual) database of Cuban History, Culture and Architecture from the Pre-Columbian to the Special Period. Still a work in progress in several places.
• Documents for the history of Cuba A good selection of documents on all aspects of Cuban history and society today. For current developments to the national history themes:
  • Yahoo Cuba news excellent resource for current news items (in English) on Cuba
  • Lanic Newsroom: Texas Univ site for links to the recent news themes on Latin America in general

and something different....

• Manuel R. Bustamante Photograph Collection - 1890s-1999, Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami. Over 600 historical photographs available. A really worthwhile browse.
• The Chairman Smiles: Cuba Site devoted to political posters. Good Cuban poster images, excellent descriptions of purpose and origin.
• Art of Cuba A vast range of Castro era posters. Some articles but unfortunately very little commentary to posters.
• Cuban Poster Art Provides a clear outline history of poster development including info on Lincoln Cushing's "Revolucion! Cuban Poster Art, Chronicle Books" a source of several of the poster images on this page.

casahistoria home                              visit caféhistoria for updates and current topic news

 

2. Background to revolution: 1902-52 

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• Background to The Cuban Revolution, 1898-1959 Wolfe works for Mississippi State and did this piece on Cuba, 1898-1959, as a graduate student
• Batista article by Jerry A. Sierra From the Historyofcuba site
• Useful articles from the The Historical Text Archive:
  • Cuba, 1898-1959
  • Cuba, 1902-1925
  • Machado, Gerardo (President 1925-1933)
  • Cuba, 1934-52
  • Revolution of 1933
  • Cuba, 1934-52
  • Batista y Zaldívar, Fulgencio
• Military involvement, rebellions and coup's 1902 - 52. Some very, very brief!! From Armed Conflict Events Data site:
  • American Occupation of Cuba 1906-7
  • Cuban Revolt of 1917
  • Cuban Students Agitation 1930
  • Cuban ABC Terrorism 1930-33
  • Gibara Rebellion in Cuba 1931
  • Cuban Military Rebellion 1933
  • Cuban Batista Coup 1933
  • Second Batista Coup in Cuba 1952

casahistoria home                              visit caféhistoria for updates and current topic news

 

3. Castro 

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Speeches

• History will absolve me The famous Moncada speech (in English)
• Castro Speech Database - database of past and recent speeches by the Cuban leader from lanic. This database includes speeches, interviews, etc., by Fidel Castro from 1959 to 1996. All texts are in English. You need some idea of what speech you are looking for.
For more recent speeches or texts in Spanish, please consult:
• Discursos e Intervenciones de Fidel Castro, which has texts in a variety of languages starting with 1998
• Discursos: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, or Discursos y otras intervenciones de Fidel Castro.
• Radio Cadena Agramonte for audio of Castro speeches
• Recent Castro speeches from World History Archives

casahistoria home                              visit caféhistoria for updates and current topic news

 

4. 1952-9 Road to Power 

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• The day that launched the Cuban Revolution By Jill Hickson, in Green Left Weekly. Re the attack on the Moncada Barracks, 26 July, 1953.
• The Cuban Revolution - Extract from an article by Peter Taaffe. It explores the lead up to the revolution. Originally published in 1978, but revised May 2000.
• Cuban Revolution (1952-1958) From a site called M-26-7 (!) a cleverly designed audiovisual look a maps and images from the mountain period...Originally compiled by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. A comprehensive site about the Cuban revolution, with access to primary source documents.
• Herbert Matthews interview of Fidel Castro The famous interview that took place in the Sierra Maestra, Cuba, February 16 1957. Published in the New York Times, February 24 1957.
• Young Revolutionaries in Cuba March 1957 archive article from The UK's Economist reports briefly on the sailing of the Granma....
• The revolutionaries of 1959 Biographies. Clear, detailed once you click on an image
• Victory for Some, Defeat for Others: Understanding the Insurrection and Seizure of Power, 1952-1959 - An (undergraduate?) article by J. Michael Divney from Trinity College, Connecticut §
• Castro sworn in as Cuban PM Castro, becomes the country's youngest ever premier. (First broadcast January 1959) BBC archive news video download

casahistoria home                              visit caféhistoria for updates and current topic news

 

5. The Castro Revolution

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• Fidel Castro - Year 1 Selections from Fidel Castro, by Robert E. Quirk 1993
• Open verdict May 1961 archive article from The UK's Economist reports on Castro's announcement that Cuba would become a socialist state. Of note is its conclusion: "Even in his moment of triumph, it has to be noted, Dr Castro has done a couple of things that do not quite fit into the standard pattern of communist behaviour. He has been unexpectedly lenient with the survivors of the invasion, letting them argue with him about politics on television and telling them that they will not be executed unless they had committed crimes in Batista's time. He also offered last weekend to re-open negotiations with the United States; but the State Department, sticking firmly to the policy that led to last month's disaster, replied brusquely, if obscurely, that “communism was not negotiable.”
• When the Daiquiris Ran Out March 1963 archive article from The UK's Economist Reports on the first indications of economic trouble and the growing exodus of Cubans. But it also mentions the 60,000 teenagers for whom Castro decreed secondary education as a reward for their efforts in 1961 to teach the peasants to read and write.
• Chronology of Cuban Affairs, 1958-1998 (US State Department)

Leadership

• Cuban Revolution - This article, by L. Proyect, is rather long, but provides good detail on the leadership of Castro, and the changes made as a result of the revolution.
• Glory to The Cuban Revolution A bilingual web page in support of Castro and the revolution. Includes important documents and images of leaders.

• Amnesty international Report on Cuba
• Human Rights Watch official Tom Malinowski's September 2003 testimony to the U.S. Senate, in which he details arrests of dissidents and other political repression by the Castro regime.
• Queue of Asylum-Seekers, 1980 (2:21) Cubans line up to have their passports stamped at the Peruvian Embassy as Castro supporters rally in the streets. Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Culture Newsreel
• Mariel Boat Lift, 1980 (0:55) Boats stream into Mariel after Castro opens the port to those seeking to flee Cuba. Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Culture Newsreel

casahistoria home                              visit caféhistoria for updates and current topic news

 

 

6. Ernesto "Che" Guevara 

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Biographies 

• Che Guevara A biography from the Time 100 series by Ariel Dorfman
• Che Guevara hero file from the more heroes, less villains site. Useful.
• Brief Biography of Guevara, Argentine Marxist revolutionary and guerrilla leader May take a little time to load. Very dense textually...
• Biographical Notes on Che Guevara  From the Biography project. Produced by a group called PopSubCulture(dot)com. Simply , but clearly written. Takes a largely factual line. Good section on cultural significance and links to other sites (But beware, the most interesting links are actually straight links to Amazon books... It is also slow to load)
• Chronology of Che in Bolivia be patient - it takes ages to load, but is very thorough.
• Ernesto Guevara: Snapshots from the family album. Good early photos of young Ernesto, but the red background.....
• Castro visits home of Che Guevara Fidel Castro has made an emotional pilgrimage to the boyhood home of his fellow-revolutionary Che Guevara. BBC 2006 news video shows home of Che.
• Site dedicted to "El Comandante" Che Guevara. Large, chic site in English, Spanish and Dutch!
• Centro de Estudios Che Guevara Excellent Cuban center of Che Guevara studies. Good images, sound bites.
• Ernesto “Che” Guevara  Special audio visual report From Argentina's Clarin on his life and work: A 35 aos de su muerte, este informe reconstruye etapas importantes de la vida de este mito hecho hombre. But turn off the music!!
• Ernesto Che Guevara de la Serna a growing site to Che - a cultish site from Cuba's city of Cotorro, but one that includes much of primary source interest. Besides videos, songs (mp3) it includes the text of the Bolivian diaries and many other Che writings. Use Google to translate pieces if you need English.

Articles by Che Guevara  

• The Militant Three articles written in 1958 from the Sierra Maestre.
• Che Guevara's Writings, Selections Includes "Socialism and Man in Cuba," "Guerrilla Warfare: A Method," "Message to the Tricontinental," "Camilo," "The United Nations Speech, Dec. 11, 1964," "Che's Letter to Fidel
• Che Guevara Internet Archive A selection of extracts and abstracts. Good links to writings.
• Che Guevara: Fundamentals of Guerrilla Warfare 1988 review of the writings of Che Guevara on the subject of revolutionary guerrilla warfare. Major Jackie Clarke, U.S. Marine Corps
• Che the photographer See many of the photos taken by Guevara himself. The Spanish photography curator Josep Vicent Monzo discovered this collection, which had been preserved in the study centre Che Guevara in Havana, in 1995, and, after screening the material, he presented a selection of 211 photos for the first time in Europe in 2001. The site is no longer active, this is the Wayback version. Nearly all images are available but the text is German. English version is here, but fewer images seem stored. §
• Che Guevara,  Biography, Speeches and Writings ( surrounded by ads for che paraphernalia...)
• Che Guevara texts, speeches and letters A valuable collection, long dead but revived saved & now stored on the Wayback Machine - hence can be slow to load. But no ads for T shirts!   § 

"Che" as "Icon" 

• Two articles about Alberto Korda who took the iconic image:
  • Guevara photographer dies
  • Guevara's image saved from drink
• Marxist revolutionary seizes market place from beyond grave Article about the commercialisation of Che. From CNN, July 24, 1997

Finally:      

• Bones of Cuban activist 'Che' Guevara to get hero's burial, 11 Oct 1997 account from CNN
• The Death of Che Guevara: Declassified By Peter Kornbluh. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 5., George Washington University. A selection of key CIA, State Department, and Pentagon documentation relating to Guevara and his death.
• End of a Myth. Gustavo Villoldo, the Man Who Buried Che  From Miami Herald, Sept 1997 
• Forty years ago in a far off jungle Caféhistoria item with links to Pagina 12 article (Diarios del final de vida or in google English) on the final weeks in the Bolivian jungle.
• Two 2007 BBC reports for the 40th anniversary of Guevara's death:
  • CIA man recounts Che's death CIA agent Felix Rodriguez has spoken about his part in the capture and killing of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara.
  • Che remembered 40 years on Forty years after the death of Che Guevara some of those who fought alongside him have paid tribute. 

        Motorcycle diaries?   

• Just a pretty face? For 40 years he has been a sex symbol, heroic victim and the ultimate poster boy of revolutionary chic. But behind the myth of Che Guevara lie darker truths. Sean O'Hagan reassesses the Sixties' most enduring icon The Observer  
• The Motorcycle Diaries Official Website : Channel 4 Film Site Walter Salles at the Cannes Film Festival speaking about the making of The Motorcycle Diaries. Granados interview. Diary extracts in English, chronology of journey. Full-size images from The Motorcycle Diaries. Slick Flash presentation (view trailer) !! 

 

Patrick Symmes: Chasing Che   A Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara Legend     A very perceptive travel book: written (in 1996-8) before 2003 recent film - but perhaps used as a basis for the key scenes - the author follows the route of the diaries (Guevara & Granado) but provides a very perceptive commentary on the contextual history of the period from the 1950's through to the present. This is not a sycophantic piece, and does cast a balanced look on the period. Well worth it!

casahistoria home                              visit caféhistoria for updates and current topic news

 

7. Castro's Cuba and the World 

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• Bay of Pigs Aftermath, 1961 (1:17) Fidel Castro and soldiers examine Playa Girón at the Bay of Pigs after the failed invasion. Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Culture Newsreel
• Fourteen Days in October A comprehensive Cuban Missile Crisis resource that includes a chronology, extensive information, photographs, and more.
• Cuban Missile Crisis: An In-Depth Chronology Excerpts from CUBA AND THE UNITED STATES: A CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY by Jane Franklin.
• Cuban Missile Crisis: 40th anniversary  From the National Security Agency, an excellent listing of articles, resources.
• Cuban Missile Crisis Summary From the Russian archives. Links to Mr K's actual letter to Mr K
• Kennedy Outlines U.S. Response  An audio file of President Kennedy telling the public about the actions the U.S. took to blockade Cuba.
• Oval Office Discussions  RealAudio discussions from recorded conversations in the White House. Caution, the tapes are often very hard to hear.
• Clandestine Radio Interesting site looks at the history of US radio stations aimed at undermining the Castro regime.
• Castro Visits the U.S.S.R., 1972 (0:55) Castro travels to the U.S.S.R. and meets with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Culture Newsreel

• Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act (State Dept)
•  U.S.-Cuba Relations (U.S. Department of State)
•  U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (U.S. Navy) This US Navy personnel site has now vanished form the web (!!!). This is the last archived version from the Wayback Machine. Text is present, images not. §
• Cold War International History Project Produced by The Woodrow Wilson Center. Academic site. Enter "Cuba" in the search engine on this site for access to many primary materials on Cuba  and the Cold War
• Kennedy Administration and Cuba  Volume X, Cuba 1961-1962; Volume XI, Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath
• Kennedy & Castro: The Secret Quest for Accomodation Documents of the National Security Archive. A very full list of interesting resources.

Africa

• From Armed Conflict Events Data site:
  • Renamo Insurgency:
  • Mozambique 1976-92
  • Ogaden War 1977-78
• Castro reveals role in Angola, Namibia independence Report on Castro's admission of Dec 2005.

Latin America

• On Cuba's support for Latin American revolutionary movements. CNN for CNN Cold War series. English transcript but links to actual interview in Spanish

       For something a little different:

•   Cuba: Lost in the Shadows 55 min 2006 documentary about the impact of U.S.-Cuba relations and intrigue

casahistoria home                              visit caféhistoria for updates and current topic news

 

8. Conclusions and critiques on Castro's Cuba 

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Early Analysis:

• Perspectives of the Cuban Revolution - By Albert Weisbord, from the magazine La Parola del Popolo, January 1962.
• October 1962: Castro's regime so far Richard Dimbleby gives an overview of Castro's regime since the revolution of 1959. BBC archive news video downloads

• 40 Years After The Revolution Article by Tom Bramble, 1999. Contains information about the effect of the Cuban Revolution on Latin America. §
• The Revolution Turns Forty Published in 1999, on the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, this article by Saul Landau describes how life in Cuba has changed over the years.
• A Critical Perspective Sam Dolgoff's online book examining the anarchy theory and actions as it relates to the revolution.
Loss of Life Resulting from the Cuban Revolution Subtitled "Revolutionary Justice or Political Murder?" The site gives estimates for the various lives that were lost during the revolution. Includes a persistent tolling of a bass drum.....
• The Truth about the Cuban Revolution - Article by Neville Spencer for The Golem online journal.
Neville Spencer presents the benefits that the revolution has brought to the Cuban society. §
• Cuba: ¿socialismo de mercado o planificación socialista? (Cuba: Market socialism or planned economy?) Detailed summary and critique of the book from the Marxist journal Herramienta.
• Amnesty International Report on modern Cuba Up-to-date listing of the most infractions of Human Rights violations in Cuba

After 50 years A selection of sites to commemorate the 50th anniversary in 2009

• Engaging Cuba, 50 Years Later. Washington Post article by Marcela Sanchez looks forward to a change in US relations with Cuba. From the same paper see also Castro's Cuba at 50. The readers comments are especially interesting....
• The Cuban Revolution 50 Years Later Concise 2003 article by Saul Landau, Cal Poly Pomona University
• Views on Cuba researched by the US PBS for a 2004 bio. Interesting, and concise evaluations of
  • Fidel Castro's Feat by Rafael Rojas, professor at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (C.I.D.E.) in Mexico City.
  • The Right Priorities: Health, Education, and Literacy by Miren Uriarte, University of Massachusetts-Boston sociologist.
  • An Exploration into the Origins of the Cuban Human Rights by Ricardo Bofill, president of the Miami-based Cuban Committee for Human Rights, Ricardo Bofill spent 12 years imprisoned in Cuba.
  • Cuba's Future -- or Futures by Mark Falcoff, scholar emeritus of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
• Four items from the BBC:
  • Reliving the revolution: The people and places at the heart of Fidel's rebel campaign
  • Highs and lows: Cuba's successes and failures in the past 50 years
  • Property pressure: Shortages fuel black market housing boom
  • Exiles' stories: Five Cubans tell of why they left and life in the US
• Photos:
  • Magnum Photos 50th anniversary online exhibition. Very good images drawn from vintage and contemporary prints. Included are Eve Arnold’s pre-revolution images shot in 1954, the unfolding of events in 1959 by Burt Glinn, portraits of the main protagonists, Fidel and Che by Rene Burri and Elliott Erwitt and latterly of modern life under Castro in the crumbling beauty of Havana by Alex Webb, David Alan Harvey and Christopher Anderson. Also included are rarely seen photographs by Magnum correspondants Andrew Saint George and Bob Henriques. Henriques documentation of Castro's troops advancing into Havana are hugely evocative and evidence of Castro's timeless way with his people.
  • BBC - In pictures: Cuba at 50 and En Imágenes - Cuba: 50 años después

Upon retirement

• Life after Fidel: for a balanced article on the retirement see this interview with Castro by Jon Lee Anderson, biographer of Che Guevara, in which Fidel reflects on his legacy and the future of the island.

casahistoria home                              visit caféhistoria for updates and current topic news

 

 

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Google Book Search - Castro & Cuba

• This has become an increasingly valuable tool for casahistorians. Key materials are already listed on the site but for more, click on the logo alongside to go to a results page linked to this topic. Once there you can narrow your search further by using its search box. Remember then to show at Full & Limited preview settings. Instructions on how best to use Google Book Search can be found by clicking here.