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Batista was a military dictator with a reputation for corruption and harsh treatment of his enemies. He had taken over the Cuban government in a coup in 1952. A coup, or coup d’état, is a sudden, violent overthrow of the government. Batista’s coup occurred just before scheduled elections.
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Castro’s first revolution attempt, in the summer of 1953, failed, and he was put in jail.
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Castro resumed his revolutionary effort with a group of about 80 followers. They returned to Cuba, in December 1956, in an invasion that they hoped would lead to a swift victory.
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In 1958, the United States stopped selling arms to Batista.
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On January 1, 1959, Batista fled Cuba, and Castro’s group took control of the nation.
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Fidel Castro took control of Cuba during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Cuba’s confiscation of Americans’ property and its growing ties to the Soviet Union caused U.S.–Cuba relations to deteriorate. Eisenhower placed an embargo on U.S exports to Cuba except for medicine and food. Then, near the end of his term of office, Eisenhower cut off all diplomatic relations with Cuba.
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Concerns about Cuba and its close relations with the Soviet Union had led President Kennedy to try to overthrow the Cuban government. The failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion had embarrassed the United States and strengthened Castro’s power. The U.S. government continued to watch Cuba closely. This included using top-secret U-2 spy planes to illegally fly over and photograph the island
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Finally, on October 28, a settlement was reached. Khrushchev agreed to stop sending missiles to Cuba and to return the missiles already in Cuba to the Soviet Union. In addition, he agreed to dismantle the launching sites.
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By 1961, all political and economic relations between the United States and Cuba had ended.
