Latin American studies

LATIN AMERICAN STUDIESUNIT 6: CUBAN REVOLUTIONMAY 6, 2011

BLACKBOARD CONFIGURATIONDo Now: Grades/missing work check-in

Objectives:1. To understand Cuba after 1959 and the United States’

response2. To define and discuss counterinsurgency3. To work on the research paper

Homework: • Cuban Revolution Quest on Monday• Rough draft of paper due 5/11

CUBAN REVOLUTION

LESSON 5: 1959 AND BEYOND

REVIEW FROM THE MOVIE—POP QUIZ!• What was the essential revolutionary virtue?

• What was Che’s condition for participating in the Cuban Revolution?

• How would you define “guerrilla warfare?” What was it like for the Cubans during the Revolution?

• What was the relationship between Che and Fidel like?

Purging of Indiscipline(Heroic Guerrilla)

Reveling inIndiscipline(Hippies/Jipis)

New Left’s Spectrum of Cultural Practices

1959: REVOLUTIONIZING THE GOVERNMENT• Batista fled Cuba 12/31/1958

• Guerrillas take Havana 1/1/1959

COMMUNIST OR NOT?• Che was never aligned with the communist party

• HOWEVER…• Beliefs in land reform and work against economic

imperiism Marxist base

• Alternative markets in Russia

• 1960: Castro’s trip to New York

ECONOMIC TENSIONCUBA AND RUSSIA• New market for

sugar

• Bought Russian oil

CUBA AND THE UNITED STATES• US embargo on

sugar

• Refusal to refine expropriated

1961: BAY OF PIGS INVASION• CIA trained anti-Castro Cuban exiles try to invade Cuba

• Soundly defeated

• Did not spark an internal rebellion

May 1961

1962: CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS• US spy planes photographed nuclear missile installations

under construction

• JFK’s ultimatum to the Russians• Withdraw or “else”

• Agreement between the US and the Soviets

What were the “Lessons” of the Cuban Revolution(for the Latin American Left)?

1. Revolution is possible

2. Peasantry as “soul & strength” of revolutionary movements

3. Revolution will be global

Counterinsurgency

“A combination of military, paramilitary, political, economic, psychological, and civic actions carried on by a government in order to destroy any movement of subversive insurgency”

“Civic Action” Programs

“Programs of civic military action [aim at] trying to obtain the loyalty of the population toward the government, and at the same time, to undermine the roots of insurgency among the peasants.”

“Return toOrder!” (Revolverat the ready)

May 1965

SCHOOL OF LAS AMERICAS• Created in 1946 at the US-controlled Fort Amador in

Panama

• Officially became its name in 1963• Expanded

• Purpose of the school: To train individuals in counter-insurgency and military skills

“Day of theHeroic Guerrilla”(October 8th)

Distributed by the “OrganizationFor Solidarity with the Peoples ofAfrica, Asia and Latin America”(OSPAAAL); by Elena Serrano, (1968)

HOMEWORKQuest on MondayRough draft of paper due Friday