1926
August 13Fidel Castro Ruz is born on the Manacas farm, in Birán, Mayarí, Oriente province.
1933
August 12The dictatorship of Gerardo Machado is overthrown by a general strike and a provisional government assumes power.
September 4Fulgencio Batista leads the “Sergeants Revolt” and the provisional government is replaced by a government of President Ramón Grau San Martín.
1934
January 14Batista overthrows President Grau, initiating a period in which Batista wields significant political power.
1945
JuneFidel graduates from Belén College, Havana. His final school report notes: “Fidel has what it takes and will make something of himself.”
1947
July-SeptemberFidel trains for an expedition to the Dominican Republic to fight against the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. The plan is intercepted and aborted.
1948
March 31On an organizing tour of Latin America to prepare a student solidarity conference, Fidel arrives in Bogotá, Colombia.
April 9While Fidel is still in Colombia, he participates in a popular uprising known as the “Bogotazo” that occurred in response to the assassination of political leader Eliécer Gaitán.
1950
JuneFidel completes his studies at the University of Havana and graduates with a doctorate in law.
1951
August 16Eduardo Chibás, founder of the Orthodox Party, commits suicide at the end of his regular radio broadcast.
1952
March 10General Fulgencio Batista takes power in a military coup.
1953
July 26Fidel Castro leads the attack by 165 young militants on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba, in the hope of sparking an uprising against the Batista dictatorship. The attack fails, many are killed, and Fidel narrowly escapes capture.
August 1Fidel is surprised and captured by an army patrol.
October 16At his trial for the Moncada attack, Fidel outlines the revolutionary political program that is later published as History Will Absolve Me. He is condemned to 15 years’ imprisonment.
1955
May 15Fidel and his compañeros involved in the Moncada attack are released from prison after a widespread amnesty campaign. (The two women political prisoners, Haydée Santamaría and Melba Hernández, had been released the previous year on February 20.)
June 12The July 26 Movement is formally established as an underground organization, headed by Fidel Castro.
July 7With legal avenues closed in the fight against Batista, and threats against his life, Fidel leaves Cuba for exile in Mexico.
JulyIn Mexico, Fidel meets Ernesto Che Guevara, who had been befriended by some Cubans in Guatemala before the overthrow of President Árbenz in a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-sponsored coup the previous year.
1956
November 25Fidel, Che Guevara and 80 Cubans leave the Mexican port of Tuxpan aboard the cabin cruiser Granma, with the intention of launching an armed struggle against Batista in the Sierra Maestra mountain range in eastern Cuba.
November 30The urban wing of the July 26 Movement, led by Frank País, initiates an uprising against Batista in Santiago de Cuba.
December 2The Granma expeditionaries land at Las Coloradas beach and the revolutionary war begins.
December 5The guerrillas are dispersed after being surprised by Batista’s troops at Alegría de Pío. Of the Granma expeditionaries, only a handful survive.
December 18Fidel, Raúl Castro and six others reunite at Cinco Palmas. A few days later, they are joined by Juan Almeida, Che Guevara, Ramiro Valdés and four others from the Granma.
1957
January 17The guerrillas and some new peasant recruits capture the army base at La Plata.
January 22A significant victory over Batista’s forces under the command of Lt. Angel Sánchez Mosquera is scored at Arroyo del Infierno.
February 17New York Times journalist Herbert Matthews interviews Fidel in the Sierra Maestra. The same day, the first meeting of the July 26 Movement since the start of the revolutionary war is held.
March 13A group of students attack the Presidential Palace and seize a major Havana radio station. José Antonio Echevarría, Federation of University Students (FEU) president and leader of the Revolutionary Student Directorate (DRE), is shot and killed.
May 28The battle of El Uvero takes place in which Che Guevara stands out among the combatants. A few weeks later, he is the first to be named “commander” by Fidel to lead his own guerrilla column.
July 30Frank País, the young leader of the urban underground in Santiago de Cuba, is killed.
August 20Fidel leads Column One (José Martí) in the battle of Palma Mocha.
September 17The first battle of Pino del Agua takes place.
November–DecemberThe Rebel Army conducts the “winter offensive” against Batista’s forces in the Sierra Maestra.
1958
February 16–17A significant victory is won by the rebels at the second battle of Pino del Agua.
March 1Raúl Castro and Juan Almeida lead columns that open up second and third fronts in Oriente province.
April 9The national general strike called by the July 26 Movement is defeated.
May 25Batista’s army launches a military offensive against the Rebel Army, but it fails after two and a half months of intensive fighting.
July 11–21At the battle of El Jigüe, Fidel personally leads the rebel forces in inflicting a decisive defeat on Batista’s army, which is expelled from the Sierra Maestra. This allows the Rebel Army to significantly expand its operational zone.
August 31Commanders Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos lead columns west toward the center of the island of Cuba, opening new battle fronts in Las Villas province.
November 15Fidel leaves the Sierra Maestra to direct the Rebel Army’s final offensive in Santiago de Cuba. By the end of the month, Batista’s elite troops are defeated at the battle of Guisa.
December 28Che Guevara’s guerrilla column initiates the battle of Santa Clara, successfully taking control of the city within a few days.
1959
January 1Fidel reaches Santiago de Cuba as the military regime collapses. He calls for a general strike for January 2. Batista and several cronies flee to Santo Domingo, leaving General Cantillo in charge.
January 2In the early hours, Fidel addresses the people of Santiago de Cuba in Céspedes Park. Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos reach Havana.
January 8Fidel arrives in Havana after a triumphant march across the island. A revolutionary government is installed headed by judge Manuel Urrutia as president and José Miró Cardona as prime minister. Fidel assumes the post of commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
January 23–27Fidel visits Venezuela and addresses 300,000 people in the Plaza del Silencio in Caracas.
February 7The 1940 constitution is reinstated.
February 9Argentine-born Che Guevara is declared a Cuban citizen.
February 16Fidel replaces Miró Cardona as prime minister in the revolutionary government.
March 22At a mass rally in Havana, Fidel explains that the revolutionary government will be outlawing racial discrimination and adopting measures to protect workers in the lowest paid jobs.
AprilGambling casinos are closed and Mafia boss Santos Trafficante, Jr., is arrested.
April 21All private beaches are opened to the public.
April 15–27At the invitation of the Association of Newspaper Editors, Fidel visits the United States, where he has a three-hour meeting with Vice-President Richard Nixon. Nixon later concludes that Fidel is “either incredibly naive about communism or under communist discipline.”
May 8In a speech, Fidel answers criticisms, saying “This revolution is neither capitalist nor communist! Our revolution has its own ideology, its own roots, which are totally Cuban and totally American—so why is our revolution accused of being something it is not?”
May 17The Agrarian Reform Law is proclaimed, placing a limit on the maximum land holding allowed.
June 26Cuba breaks diplomatic relations with the Dominican Republic but dictator Rafael Trujillo continues to back plots against the Cuban revolutionary government.
July 16After a confrontation with Prime Minister Fidel Castro, President Urrutia resigns. Osvaldo Dorticós is appointed president.
July 26To celebrate the anniversary of the 1953 attack on the Moncada barracks, the people of Havana open their homes to welcome thousands of peasant families in an effort to breach the country-city divide.
October 7Che Guevara is designated head of the Department of Industry of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA).
October 21Two planes flying from the United States strafe Havana, causing two deaths and wounding dozens. Former Cuban air force chief Pedro Luis Díaz Lanz later admits involvement.
October 26Announcing the formation of the National Revolutionary Militias to incorporate workers and peasants into the defense of the revolution, Fidel says “the revolution is here to stay.”
October 28After successfully negotiating an end to a counterrevolutionary plot led by Huber Matos, Camilo Cienfuegos is killed in a plane accident flying from Camagüey to Havana.
OctoberAt the end of this month, President Eisenhower approves a CIA covert action program against Cuba.
November 25Che Guevara is appointed director of the National Bank of Cuba.
December 11Col. J.C. King, head of the CIA’s Western Hemisphere division, sends a memo to CIA chief Allen Dulles about the possibilities for eliminating Fidel Castro.
DecemberThe CIA proposes to recruit Cuban exiles and train them for paramilitary attacks against Cuba.
FebruarySoviet Foreign Minister Anastas Mikoyan visits Cuba and the first major trade agreements are signed.
March 4An explosion on board La Coubre, a French vessel bringing Belgian arms to Cuba, results in 101 deaths and more than 200 wounded.
March 5At the funeral for the victims of the previous day’s terrorist attack, Fidel first uses the slogan, “Patria o muerte” [Homeland or death]. Alberto Korda snaps a photograph of Che Guevara on the platform that becomes the iconic image of the revolutionary guerrilla.
March 17President Eisenhower approves the CIA’s plans for a “Program of Covert Action Against Castro”—a comprehensive plan of military action and propaganda to overthrow the Cuban revolutionary government.
May 8Diplomatic relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union are restored, having been broken previously by Batista.
MayFirst broadcasts by the CIA-run radio station on the Swan Islands, off the coast of Honduras.
June 28–July 1The revolutionary government nationalizes foreign oil companies that refuse to refine Soviet oil, including Shell, Texaco and Esso.
July 6Cuba’s US sugar quota is suspended. The Soviet Union agrees to buy Cuban sugar.
July 23Cuba’s first commercial treaty with China is signed.
August 6Cuba nationalizes other US businesses, including oil refineries, sugar mills and US electricity and telephone companies.
August 7The Cuban Catholic bishops issue a pastoral letter warning about “communism,” marking a serious rift between the church and the revolutionary government.
August 28The United States imposes an embargo on trade with Cuba.
September 2In response to the hostile “Declaration of San José” issued by the Organization of American States (OAS), a “National General Assembly of the People of Cuba” in Revolution Plaza, a gigantic mass rally, adopts the “Declaration of Havana,” calling for the end of exploitation of human beings and the exploitation of the underdeveloped world by imperialist finance capital.
September 17Cuba nationalizes all US banks.
September 26Fidel Castro addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York for four and a half hours. At his hotel in Harlem, Fidel meets with Egyptian President Nasser, Indian Prime Minister Nehru, Soviet Prime Minister Khrushchev and African American leader Malcolm X.
September 28Establishment of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs).
October 13Large commercial and industrial enterprises in Cuba are nationalized.
October 14The Urban Reform Law is proclaimed, ending commercial real estate.
October 19President Eisenhower prohibits all US exports to Cuba except food and medicines.
October 21Che Guevara leaves on an extended visit to the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, China and North Korea.
NovemberCIA broadcasts from the Swan Islands off Honduras warn Cubans of an imminent plan by the revolutionary government to remove parents’ rights over their children.
November 9John F. Kennedy defeats Richard Nixon in the US presidential election.
December 2Cuba establishes diplomatic relations with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Hanoi).
December 16President Eisenhower cancels Cuba’s sugar quota for the first quarter of 1961.
1961
January 1Cuba’s national literacy campaign begins. Over 100,000 high school students are mobilized for the task in the Conrado Benítez Brigades.
January 3Washington breaks diplomatic relations with Havana.
February 23The revolutionary government establishes the Ministry of Industry headed by Che Guevara.
March 12As part of a terrorist bombing campaign, an oil refinery in Santiago de Cuba is attacked.
March 13President Kennedy proposes the “Alliance for Progress” to counter the influence of the Cuban revolution in Latin America.
April 15Bombing raids are simultaneously launched on three Cuban air fields by planes with fake Cuban insignia.
April 16At the ceremony to bury the victims of the previous day’s terrorist attack, Fidel proclaims the socialist character of the revolution. This same day the first literacy brigadistas arrive at the Varadero training camp.
April 17The invasion of 1,500 mercenaries (Brigade 2506), trained and armed by the CIA, begins at the Bay of Pigs on the southern coast of Cuba.
April 19With more than 1,200 mercenaries captured, the Bay of Pigs invasion is defeated.
May 1At an enormous May Day rally in Havana, Fidel sums up the lessons of the Bay of Pigs invasion and assesses the stage reached in the unfolding revolutionary process.
June 30Fidel addresses the final session of a three-day meeting of Cuban writers and artists, explaining, “Within the revolution, everything; against the revolution, nothing.”
JulyFormation of the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI) as a fusion of the July 26 Movement, the Revolutionary Student Directorate (DRE) and the Popular Socialist Party (PSP).
August 8Che Guevara denounces President Kennedy’s “Alliance for Progress” at the OAS meeting in Punta del Este, Uruguay.
September 2Cuba is the only Latin American country to participate in the founding meeting of the Movement of Nonaligned Countries in Bandung, Indonesia.
December 2In a television broadcast, Fidel says he “is and will always remain a Marxist-Leninist.”
December 22A huge celebration is held in Revolution Plaza to mark the completion of the national literacy campaign, and Cuba is declared a “territory free of illiteracy.”
1962
January 22–31The OAS meeting in Punta del Este, Uruguay, decides to expel Cuba from the organization.
February 3President Kennedy announces the total blockade of Cuba to take effect on February 7.
February 4The “Second Declaration of Havana,” in effect, a manifesto for the liberation of the Americas, is proclaimed by more than one million Cubans, stating, “The duty of a revolutionary is to make the revolution.”
March 12The ration book system is established in Cuba.
March 16A new CIA covert action program against Cuba dubbed “Operation Mongoose” is approved by President Kennedy.
March 26Fidel Castro denounces sectarianism within the ORI, and a new party, the United Party of the Socialist Revolution (PURS), is established.
August 27–September 7Che Guevara makes his second visit to the Soviet Union.
October 22After US spy planes discover Soviet missile installations in Cuba, the international crisis that brings the world to the brink of nuclear war unfolds.
November 2President Kennedy announces that the Soviet missiles in Cuba are being dismantled.
December 24The mercenaries captured during the Bay of Pigs invasion are sent back to the United States in exchange for medicines and baby food worth $54 million.
1963
April 27Fidel Castro arrives in Moscow on his first state visit to the Soviet Union.
October 4Hurricane Flora devastates Cuba, especially the eastern provinces.
November 22President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Almost immediately, a media campaign attempts to link the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, to Cuba.
December 20Cuba initiates a campaign in solidarity with Vietnam.
1964
JanuaryA conflict between Washington and London arises over a British company’s plan to sell 450 buses to Cuba.
March 25Che Guevara speaks at the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) conference in Geneva, at which the Group of 77 (a caucus of Third World countries) is born.
December 11Che Guevara addresses the UN General Assembly in New York, condemning the US war in Vietnam and supporting the independence movements from Puerto Rico to the Congo.
December 17Che Guevara embarks on an extended trip to Egypt and several other African countries.
1965
February 22–27Che Guevara makes a controversial speech at the Afro-Asian conference in Algeria, urging the socialist countries to do more to support Third World struggles for independence.
March 13Discussing the Sino-Soviet split at a meeting at the University of Havana, Fidel says, “Division in the face of the enemy was never a revolutionary or intelligent strategy.”
March 25Che Guevara returns to Cuba and shortly afterwards drops from public view.
AprilChe Guevara leaves Cuba, along with a brigade of almost 100 Cubans, on a mission to support the liberation movements in Africa.
October 3The newly formed Cuban Communist Party holds its first Central Committee meeting, where Fidel reads Che’s farewell letter.
October 10Because of the US suspension of flights from Cuba, the port of Camarioca is opened for boats coming from the United States to take Cubans wishing to emigrate.
November 21Che Guevara leaves the Congo and writes up his account of the mission, which he describes as a “failure.”
1966
JanuaryFirst Tricontinental Conference of Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America (OSPAAAL) is held in Havana.
September 28At a ceremony on the sixth anniversary of the establishment of the CDRs, Fidel says “We will never build a communist consciousness with a dollar sign in the hearts and minds of men.”
November 2US Congress adopts the Cuban Adjustment Act that encourages illegal departures from Cuba.
November 4Che Guevara arrives in Bolivia to begin the revolutionary struggle it is hoped will spread throughout the continent of Latin America.
December 31Che Guevara meets with Mario Monje, the Bolivian Communist Party leader. There is a serious disagreement about perspectives for the guerrilla movement.
1967
March 13Speaking at the University of Havana, Fidel criticizes several Latin American communist parties, saying, “Those who are not revolutionary fighters cannot be called communists.”
April 16Che Guevara’s “Message to the Tricontinental” is published in Cuba, calling for the creation of “two, three, many Vietnams.”
April 19On the sixth anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion, in the year designated the “Year of Heroic Vietnam,” Fidel argues, “Our people have no other path to liberation than that of armed struggle.”
August 10Fidel addresses the Latin American Solidarity Organizations (OLAS) conference reaffirming armed struggle as the “fundamental road” for Latin American revolutionaries. Che Guevara is elected honorary chair of the organization.
October 8Che Guevara is wounded in combat and captured. This date becomes known in Cuba as the “Day of the Heroic Guerrilla.”
October 9Che Guevara is assassinated in cold blood by Bolivian Army Rangers under instructions from Washington.
October 15In a television appearance, Fidel confirms news of Che Guevara’s death in Bolivia.
October 18Fidel delivers a memorial speech for Che Guevara to almost one million people gathered in Havana’s Revolution Plaza.
1968
JanuaryThe trial of 35 members of the “pro-Soviet micro-faction” led by Aníbal Escalante takes place.
March 13The revolutionary government confiscates virtually all private businesses, except small family farms. At the University of Havana, Fidel explains, “We did not make a revolution to establish the right to trade.”
JulyChe Guevara’s Bolivian Diary is published and distributed free to the Cuban people. It is simultaneously published around the world.
August 21The Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia. Fidel responds with cautious approval.
October 10Cuba commemorates the 100th anniversary of the struggle for independence at the Demajagua monument, Manzanillo, Oriente province.
1969
July 14Fidel Castro announces the campaign for a 10-million-ton sugar harvest.
1970
May 20Fidel acknowledges the failure of the campaign to achieve a 10-million-ton sugar harvest in a televised speech.
November 10–December 4Fidel visits Chile and tours the country extensively at the time of the Popular Unity government, led by Salvador Allende.
December 2Fidel gives a farewell speech to a huge crowd in the National Stadium in Santiago de Chile.
1972
July 11Cuba joins the socialist trading bloc, the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA).
1973
September 9The Cuban exile terrorist group Omega-7 claims responsibility for bombing Cuba’s UN Mission in New York, and further bomb attacks in October and November.
September 11President Allende of Chile is overthrown in a coup led by General Augusto Pinochet, openly backed by the CIA and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
1974
JanuarySoviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev visits Cuba.
March 26Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Van Dong visits Cuba and Fidel gives a speech emphasizing the importance of international solidarity.
NovemberCuban and US officials begin talks seeking a solution to the migration problem.
1975
January 27A US Senate Commission headed by Senator Frank Church is established to investigate the activities of US intelligence agencies against foreign governments and political leaders, including Fidel Castro.
February 14Introduction of the Cuban Family Code, affirming women’s rights in the workplace and in the home.
November 5As part of “Operation Carlota” Cuba sends troops to support Angola’s independence against a South African invasion.
December 17-22The first congress of the Cuban Communist Party is held. Fidel addresses the closing ceremony, saying, “we are the privileged heirs to what others have done.”
1976
February 24Cuba adopts a new socialist constitution after it has been put to a referendum in which 98 percent of voters participated.
October 6A Cubana airlines plane explodes in mid-air off the coast of Barbados, killing all 73 passengers, including Cuba’s national fencing team. Cuban exiles Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, known agents of the CIA, are arrested in Venezuela and charged with the crime. Cuba cancels the skyjacking agreement signed with the United States in 1973.
December 2The first National Assembly of People’s Power is held and elects Fidel Castro as president of the Council of State.
1977
September 1Under the presidency of Jimmy Carter, Cuba and the United States agree to open diplomatic offices (“interests sections”) in their respective countries.
OctoberThe African National Congress (ANC) leader in exile Oliver Tambo and Mozambican President Samora Machel visit Cuba this month. Fidel is welcomed in Jamaica by Prime Minister Michael Manley.
1978
February 9The US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence proposes legislation to prohibit political assassinations by US agents.
August 1Five Cuban exiles are indicted for assassinating Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and his driver Ronnie Moffitt in Washington on September 21, 1976.
January 1As a result of “the Dialogue” on migration issues, Cuban Americans are permitted to visit Cuba. More than 100,000 visit Cuba during this year.
March 13A revolution occurs in the Caribbean island of Grenada led by Maurice Bishop and the New Jewel Movement.
July 19The Sandinistas overthrow the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua. At the July 26 celebrations, Fidel says, “No two revolutions are the same.”
September 3–9Fidel Castro is elected chair of the Movement of Nonaligned Countries at its sixth summit in Havana.
October 12Fidel Castro addresses the UN General Assembly in New York on behalf of the Movement of Nonaligned Countries, which he explains represents “the great majority of humanity.”
December 23The first contingent of the Antonio Maceo brigade (a group of young Cuban Americans) arrives in Havana for a three-week visit.
1980
AprilA new migration crisis unfolds as a group of would-be émigrés crash a bus through the gates of the Peruvian embassy in Havana. Cuba responds by opening the port of Mariel for boats to come and take people to the United States. At a gigantic rally, called the “March of the Fighting People,” Fidel states that the revolution and the construction of socialism must be the task of “free men and women.”
May 1Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega and Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop attend the May Day celebrations in Havana. Fidel describes Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada as “three giants rising up.”
July 19Fidel attends the first anniversary celebrations of the Nicaraguan revolution and promises Cuba’s support for the Sandinista government against Washington’s “dirty war.”
September 11Cuban diplomat Félix García is assassinated in New York by the terrorist organization Omega-7.
January 20Formation of the Territorial Troop Militia.
October 22The North-South Summit in Cancun, Mexico, is pressured to exclude Fidel Castro, even though he heads the Group of 77 developing nations.
1982
April 2–June 13War between Britain and Argentina over the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands.
October 18French President Mitterrand intervenes to secure the release of Armando Valladares from a Cuban prison after serving 22 years for acts of terrorism.
1983
October 25The United States invades Grenada after the assassination of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. Some 600 Cubans working on the island are arrested and sent back to Cuba.
1984
DecemberCuba and the United States reach agreement on migration issues.
1985
March 15Mikhail Gorbachev becomes prime minister in the Soviet Union and announces a policy of glasnost (transparency) and perestroika (restructuring) of Soviet political and economic life.
May 19US-sponsored “Radio Martí” begins hostile broadcasts from Florida to Cuba.
July 18In a dialogue with delegates to a Latin American trade union conference on the debt crisis, Fidel says the choice is either “to pay tribute to the empire or to pay tribute to your homeland.”
August 3–7Fidel Castro addresses a conference in Havana on the debt crisis in Latin America, the debt now spiralling to $360 billion.
1986
February 4-7At the closing ceremony of the third congress of the Cuban Communist Party, Fidel says, “Our homeland is stronger, our economy more solid, our experience richer.”
February 26Fidel goes to Moscow to meet Prime Minister Gorbachev.
April 19On the 25th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs, Fidel Castro announces a campaign to wipe out corruption, economism, individualism and bureaucratism in the Cuban Communist Party, a campaign that becomes known as the “rectification” campaign.
December 20Cuba releases counterrevolutionary leader Eloy Menoyo Gutiérrez from prison.
1987
October 8On the 20th anniversary of Che Guevara’s death in Bolivia, Fidel urges a return to Che’s writings on political economy and the transition to socialism.
1988
March 23Cuban troops play a major role in the victory against the South African army at Cuito Cuanavale, Angola, paving the way for the independence of Namibia and the downfall of the apartheid regime in Pretoria.
July 26Fidel rejects perestroika as anathema to the principles of socialism, saying, “We will never adopt capitalist methods.”
1989
April 2-5Prime Minister Gorbachev visits Cuba. This is the first state visit by a Soviet leader since Brezhnev in 1974.
June 14General Arnaldo Ochoa and other key officials in Cuban state security are put on trial for drug trafficking.
July 26Fidel warns of the possible collapse of the Soviet Union but declares that even if the Soviet Union disappears, the Cuban revolution will continue to advance.
October 18Cuba is elected for a two-year term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
November 9The collapse of the Berlin Wall marks the beginning of the downfall of the European socialist bloc.
December 7Cuba honors the heroes of its internationalist missions at a ceremony for the Cubans who died fighting in southern Africa. Facing the imminent collapse of the European socialist bloc, Fidel says the choice for Cuba is “Socialism or death!”
December 20US military intervention in Panama captures and imprisons President Manuel Noriega. Thousands of people are killed. More than one million Cubans protest at the US interests section in Havana.
1990
FebruaryFlorida’s governor, Republican Bob Martínez, appoints a “Free Cuba Commission” headed by Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) chairman Jorge Mas Canosa.
MarchThe first group of child victims from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster arrive in Cuba for treatment.
AprilThe Sandinista government is defeated in elections in Nicaragua.
AugustThe Cuban government adopts drastic measures in the face of the looming economic crisis referred to as the “special period in time of peace.”
1991
FebruaryThe CMEA, which had accounted for 85-88 percent of Cuba’s foreign trade, formally disbands.
July 18The first Ibero-American summit is held in Mexico City.
July 26ANC leader Nelson Mandela attends the Moncada anniversary celebrations and thanks Cuba for its support in the struggle against apartheid.
September 11Prime Minister Gorbachev announces the withdrawal of Soviet military advisors from Cuba.
October 10Fidel addresses the opening session of the fourth congress of the Cuban Communist Party, saying “The only situation in which we would have no future would be if we lost our homeland, the revolution and socialism.”
October 14The Cuban Communist Party congress ends, marking a significant shift toward developing a new, younger party leadership, and making a change in the party rules to accept as members those practicing their religious beliefs.
November 25Following the military coup against President Aristide in Haiti, the United States announces that the Guantánamo naval base will be used to accommodate thousands of Haitian refugees.
DecemberThe Soviet government collapses.
1992
January 1First year of the “special period” is declared and many predictions are made about the imminent collapse of the Cuban revolution.
April 1“TV Martí” (initiated in 1990) steps up broadcasts from Florida to Cuba, escalating the battle of the airwaves.
June 12Fidel participates in the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, arguing “tomorrow is too late” to address environmental problems. “Let hunger, not humanity, disappear from the face of the earth,” Fidel states.
JulySomewhat prematurely, US commentators publish various books and articles predicting the “final hour” of Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolution.
July 23At the second Ibero-American summit in Madrid on the 500th anniversary of the colonization of the Americas, Fidel stresses the need for solidarity among the peoples of the continent.
September 5In a speech in Cienfuegos, Fidel acknowledges Cuba is facing a severe economic crisis, having lost 70 percent of its trade purchasing power.
September 6The 10th summit of the Movement of Nonaligned Countries demands an end to the US blockade of Cuba and US withdrawal from the Guantánamo naval base.
October 3US Congress approves the “Cuban Democracy Act” (proposed by Democrat Robert Torricelli), extending the US economic blockade against Cuba to third countries.
November 24The UN General Assembly approves for the first time a Cuban resolution opposing the US economic blockade with a vote of 59 to 3, with 71 abstentions and 42 absentees. Cuba estimates that the blockade has cost it $30 billion over three decades.
1993
February 24The first direct elections are held to Cuba’s National Assembly, with 99.62 percent of eligible voters participating.
July 26Fidel announces the legalization of the US dollar and other major economic changes, including the approval of free farmers’ markets. “Cuba will neither sell out nor surrender,” Fidel states.
1994
May 10Fidel attends the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as president of the new democratic South Africa.
September 9A new crisis during July and August of Cubans seeking to cross the Florida Straits on rafts leads to a new migration agreement between the United States and Cuba.
1995
October 22In a speech at the United Nations, Fidel condemns the fact that 20 million people die each year of curable diseases and that the arms race continues although the Cold War is over.
1996
February 24Two planes flown by counterrevolutionary “Brothers to the Rescue” pilots flying from the United States are shot down over Cuban territorial waters.
March 12US Congress passes the “Libertad” (Helms-Burton) Act, which is signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
1997
April–SeptemberA series of bombs explode at hotels in Havana and Varadero, with one fatality: an Italian tourist.
September 10Salvadoran citizen Raúl Cruz León is arrested for these bombings and admits links to the Miami Cuban exile terrorists, including Luis Posada Carriles.
October 10The fifth congress of the Cuban Communist Party concludes with the slogan, “We will defend the unity of the party, democracy and human rights.”
October 17The remains of Che Guevara and other combatants killed in Bolivia 30 years earlier are returned to Cuba and placed in a mausoleum in Santa Clara.
December 13The National Assembly of People’s Power votes to make some significant changes to the Cuban constitution.
1998
January 21–25Pope John Paul II visits Cuba and urges that “Cuba should open itself up to the world and the world should open up to Cuba.”
May 6Nobel prize-winning author Gabriel García Márquez takes a message from Fidel Castro to President Clinton providing information about the activities of counterrevolutionary terrorist groups based in the United States.
July 12In an article in the New York Times, Luis Posada Carriles admits involvement in the terrorist bombings of Cuban hotels in 1997, saying they were financed by the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF).
September 2Speaking at the summit of the Movement of Nonaligned Countries in South Africa, Fidel says, “There is no end of history.”
September 4Fidel addresses the South African parliament and receives an enthusiastic welcome in Soweto the following day.
September 12Five Cubans are arrested in Miami on espionage charges, having infiltrated exile organizations in order to avert terrorist attacks against Cuba.
December 6In Venezuela, Hugo Chávez is elected president with a clear majority vote. Chávez makes his first state visit to Cuba the following month.
1999
FebruaryFidel attends the inauguration of President Chávez in Venezuela and speaks about the “battle of ideas” at a meeting at the university.
May 31Cuba issues a lawsuit against the US government claiming $181.1 billion in damages for aggression and terrorist acts over 40 years.
September 19Fidel sends a message to the Group of 77 saying globalization is “an irreversible reality.”
November 25Five-year-old Elián González is rescued off the coast of Florida after his mother and several other Cubans drowned in their attempt to reach the United States. The boy is immediately taken hostage by his Miami relatives and every attempt by his father and the Cuban government to effect his return to Cuba is blocked.
November 30–December 3The World Trade Organization (WTO) summit in Seattle becomes the scene of mass protests against neoliberal globalization.
2000
April 14At the closing ceremony of the South Summit in Havana, Fidel calls for the abolition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
June 28Elián González is finally returned to Cuba.
September 6Fidel participates in the Millennium Summit at the United Nations in New York, stating, “Chaos rules in our world... and blind laws are offered up as divine norms that will bring the peace, order, well-being and security our planet needs so badly.”
September 8Fidel speaks to an overflowing crowd at the Riverside Church in Harlem, New York.
October 26–30During a state visit to Caracas, President Castro addresses the Venezuelan National Assembly and signs important accords for economic cooperation between Cuba and Venezuela.
NovemberCuban intelligence discovers a plot to assassinate Fidel at the 10th Ibero-American Summit in Panama. Luis Posada Carriles and three others are arrested by Panamanian authorities.
2001
January 25–30The first World Social Forum is held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, raising the slogan “Another world is possible.”
April 17Fidel sends a message of support to protests in Quebec against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
June 8The five Cubans arrested for espionage in 1998 are sentenced in the US federal court in Miami to four life sentences and 75 years collectively.
June 23During a three-hour speech, Fidel suffers a fall, giving rise to widespread speculation about his health.
September 1Fidel addresses the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Durban, South Africa, arguing that racism is “not a natural, instinctive human reaction but a social, cultural and political phenomenon.”
September 11Terrorists use hijacked aircraft to attack the Pentagon in Washington and the World Trade Center in New York. On behalf of the Cuban government, Fidel offers his sympathy and assistance to US authorities.
2002
January 7Cuba is informed that the Guantánamo naval base will be used to hold “enemy combatants” captured in the “war on terror” in Afghanistan.
April 11President Hugo Chávez is the victim of an attempted coup in Venezuela.
May 6President George W. Bush makes unfounded accusations that Cuba is developing biological weapons.
May 12–17Former US President Jimmy Carter visits Cuba and addresses a large audience at the University of Havana.
May 21Cuba is included in President Bush’s list of countries “supporting terrorism.”
2003
May 13Washington expels 14 Cuban diplomats.
May 26Fidel attends the inauguration ceremony of President Néstor Kirchner in Argentina and addresses a large, enthusiastic meeting at a university.
June 26After more than eight million Cubans sign a petition, the National Assembly votes to amend the constitution to make socialism “irrevocable.”
October 10President Bush announces a Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba (CAFC) to prepare for a “transition to democracy” at the same time as tightening restrictions on US travel to the island.
OctoberIn response to severe hurricane damage, the US sale of food and agricultural products to Cuba is authorized.
2004
January 1Cuba celebrates the 45th anniversary of the revolution.
January 29Fidel Castro accuses President Bush of plotting his assassination.
April 29A US State Department report accuses Cuba of maintaining links with “international terrorism.”
May 8The Bush administration plan to “accelerate the transition to democracy in Cuba” is released to the public. Fidel responds on May 14 with his letter titled, “Proclamation by an adversary of the US government.”
May 18A meeting with moderate exile leaders is held in Havana.
June 10Five opposition leaders are released from prison in Cuba, followed by the release of others.
June 21Addressing over one million Cubans in front of the US interests section in Havana, Fidel reads his “Second Epistle” to President Bush.
JulyThe US administration further tightens travel restrictions to Cuba.
August 26Cuba breaks diplomatic ties with Panama after the outgoing President Mireya Moscoso grants an amnesty to Luis Posada Carriles and his three accomplices in the plot to kill Fidel Castro.
October 20Fidel breaks his arm and fractures his knee in a fall.
November 8The circulation in Cuba of the US dollar is suspended and replaced with a special currency for use in the tourist market.
November 23Chinese premier Hu Jintao visits Cuba and signs several significant trade agreements.
December 14In the spirit of ALBA (the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas)—a counterproposal to Washington’s FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas)—presidents Castro and Chávez agree to close economic cooperation.
2005
March 17The Cuban peso is revalued against the US dollar as a result of the excellent performance of the Cuban economy.
May 17More than one million Cubans accuse the United States of harboring Luis Posada Carriles, who was convicted for the terrorist bombing of the Cubana airplane in 1976.
July 28US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice names Caleb McCarry as the coordinator of the “transition” in Cuba.
August 9An Atlanta court orders a new trial for the five Cubans convicted of espionage in 1998, declaring the original trial in Miami invalid.
October 14–15The Ibero-American Summit in Salamanca, Spain, condemns the blockade against Cuba and demands that US authorities facilitate the trial of Luis Posada Carriles.
October 15A brigade of young social workers are put in charge of gas stations in Havana in an anti-corruption campaign.
November 8The UN General Assembly condemns the US blockade against Cuba for the 14th time.
November 17In a speech at the University of Havana, Fidel says that the revolution can only be destroyed from within, after he had criticized the “nouveau riche” for corruption and illegal trading in a speech a few weeks earlier.
November 23Cuba reaches the goal of 2 million tourists for 2005.
December 18Evo Morales, leader of the Movement toward Socialism (MAS), is elected president in Bolivia. Evo Morales comes to Havana on December 30 to sign cooperation accords.
December 31The year ends with an announcement that Cuba has achieved economic growth of 11.8 percent.
2006
July 31Prior to major intestinal surgery, Fidel temporarily hands over his government and party responsibilities to Raúl Castro, minister for defense and first vice-president of the Council of State.
August 1Fidel’s message to the Cuban people from hospital is published.
November 5Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega wins the presidential election in Nicaragua.
November 28–December 2The Guayasamín Foundation holds a colloquium in Havana to celebrate Fidel’s 80th birthday, an event postponed from August 13 because of Fidel’s illness.
2007
March 28Fidel writes his first column for Granma since his illness, “Reflections of the Commandante.”
July 31Fidel sends his message “The Eternal Flame,” which concludes “Life is meaningless without ideas. There is no greater joy than to struggle in their name.”
February 18Fidel announces that he will not seek reelection as president of the Council of State. Cuba’s National Assembly subsequently elects Raúl Castro to that position on February 24.