CUBA and the UNITED STATES CUBA and the UNITED STATES A Chronological History Jane Franklin For Bruce Franklin Sections of this book were previously published as The Cuban Revolution and the United States: A Chronological History by Ocean Press, 1992. The publisher acknowledges the support given by the Center for Cuban Studies, New York, and its director, Sandra Levinson. Cover design by David Spratt Copyright © 1997 Jane Franklin Copyright © 1997 Ocean Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN 10: 1-875284-92-3 ISBN 13: 978-1-875284-92-4 First printed 1997 Sixth printing 2006 PUBLISHED BY OCEAN PRESS Australia: GPO Box 3279, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia Fax: (61-3) 9329 5040 Tel: (61-3) 9326 4280 E-mail: [email protected] USA: PO Box 1186, Old Chelsea Station, New York, NY 10113-1186, USA Tel/Fax: (1-212) 260-3690 OCEAN PRESS TRADE DISTRIBUTORS United States and Canada: Consortium Book Sales and Distribution Tel: 1-800-283-3572 www.cbsd.com Australia and New Zealand: Palgrave Macmillan E-mail: [email protected] UK and Europe: Turnaround Publisher Services E-mail: [email protected] Cuba and Latin America: Ocean Press E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] www.oceanbooks.com.au Contents About the author Acknowledgments Author’s note on method and sources ¶ Background to revolution: 1492-1958 1 The year 1959 18 The year 1960 24 The year 1961 34 The year 1962 47 The year 1963 63 The year 1964 70 The year 1965 77 The year 1966 80 The year 1967 82 The year 1968 86 The year 1969 89 The year 1970 92 The year 1971 95 The year 1972 99 The year 1973 103 The year 1974 107 The year 1975 113 The year 1976 124 The year 1977 131 The year 1978 140 The year 1979 149 The year 1980 157 The year 1981 166 The year 1982 176 The year 1983 185 The year 1984 199 The year 1985 209 The year 1986 219 The year 1987 229 The year 1988 238 The year 1989 249 The year 1990 262 The year 1991 274 The year 1992 288 The year 1993 308 The year 1994 328 The year 1995 361 Glossary 383 Index 386 Jane Franklin Jane Franklin has been a contributing editor to CUBA Update, the journal of the Center for Cuban Studies, since 1979 and co-editor from 1984 to 1990. She is the author of Cuban Foreign Relations: A Chronology 1959-1982 (Center for Cuban Studies: New York, 1984) and co-author of Vietnam and America: A Documented History (Grove Press: New York, 1985; revised and expanded edition 1995). Her chronology of the history of Panama was excerpted in The U.S. Invasion of Panama (South End Press: Boston, 1991). She has published numerous articles, poems, and film reviews and has lectured extensively about Cuba, Vietnam, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Panama. She is a frequent commentator about Cuba on radio and television. Acknowledgments I am grateful to Sandra Levinson, executive director of the Center for Cuban Studies, for initiating the idea of this book. Jerry Nickel, the Center’s librarian, has been an extraordinary resource. Irving Kessler has provided reams of information along with his astute observations and encouraging friendship. I am indebted to Frank Scofi for constantly sending me materials from varied sources and for being a special friend. Bob Guild and Michael Krinsky have been generous in providing information about travel regulations and legal cases. Members of the U.S. State Department, Congress, and the Cuban Mission to the United Nations have furnished a variety of materials and specific information. Karen Franklin and Robert Franklin read most of the manuscript and made numerous perceptive suggestions. Gretchen Franklin furnished information about several legal cases. As this book has developed, they have developed families who are intertwined with everything I do. My deepest appreciation is for my life companion, Bruce Franklin. He read the manuscript, of course, and offered his inimitably perceptive ideas. But, more than that, he provides constant care and understanding as part of my daily life. ¶ Author’s note on method and sources This book presents the Cuban revolution in its relations with the United States. The first section, on the background that led to revolution, traces relations from the time when both countries were colonies of European powers. Then comes the detailed, year-by- year chronology beginning on January 1, 1959. The connections be-tween these two nations are placed in the context of global events and politics. Designed to be used in many ways, this book may be read in whole or in part as narrative history or consulted as a reference guide to a wide range of topics. I have employed a chronological method to establish historical context, to organize a maximum amount of information and data, and to convey the interconnect- edness of lesser-known occurrences with major developments. Widely discussed episodes such as the Bay of Pigs invasion or the Missile Crisis of 1962 are too often seen in isolation rather than as part of a continuum of events, most of which are less dramatic and more obscure. The index, an integral part of the book, may be used to reveal historical context. For example, if a reader wants to find out about the exodus from Mariel in 1980, the index will of course list direct references but it can do much more, for Mariel is just one episode in a long complex story indexed under “migration.” The index may also be used to trace the course of various people and issues — e.g., the U.S. trade embargo, the travel ban, national-ization and compensation, Félix Rodríguez, Jorge Mas Canosa and the Cuban American National Foundation, elections, hijackings, human rights, Radio and TV Martí. In many cases, additional cross references of related items are indicated in the text by dates within parentheses. The principal sources are: official publications of the govern- ments of Cuba and the United States, including once-secret documents now declassified; contemporaneous journalistic accounts, especially in the New York Times and Granma (the official newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party), as well as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Miami Herald, and Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey); Congressional hearings, most notably investigations of the assassination of President Kennedy and the CIA’s covert activities. A broad spectrum of secondary sources has also been consulted. When relying on secondary sources, I have generally indicated this, usually by identifying the source. Whenever an item involves allegations or disputed facts, I have tried to so indicate. Except for matter-of-fact entries, and especially for those regarding complex or controversial issues and events, I have cross- checked multiple sources for accuracy. Two U.S. publications about Cuba, CUBA Update and, in recent years, CubaINFO, along with the legislative updates of the Cuba Information Project, have been especially useful. Cuba’s relations with countries other than the United States have of course had a profound influence on U.S.-Cuban relations. To maintain focus and to stay within a reasonable length, I have tried to include only the most telling events. The establishment or severance of diplomatic relations with certain countries, especially in the Western Hemisphere, is reported for the purpose of showing the kind of relations Cuba has maintained or established even when these relations were opposed by the United States. A fraction of the numerous state visits are included for the same reason. Some events are described solely to convey historical context. A few specifically domestic events in Cuba are described to show the direction of the revolutionary government or special developments that have affected U.S.-Cuban relations. Since the Soviet Union disbanded, the U.S. Congress has intensified efforts to codify not only U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba but also Cuban domestic policy. Because a chronology of Congressional actions regarding Cuba would constitute a book longer than this one, I have limited those entries. For instance, I have tried not to include non-binding resolutions because they do not have the force of law; yet some are important because they show Congressional intent. Background to revolution 1492-1958 1492 On his first voyage to the “New World,” Christopher Columbus arrives in Cuba October 27 and claims the island for Spain. 1511 Diego Velázquez, appointed governor of Cuba by Spain, begins systematic subjugation of the island’s indigenous peoples. In 1512, his invaders capture and kill Hatuey, a native leader who had come to Cuba to try to defend it against the Spanish after being driven from the island of Hispaniola. Within six years, Velázquez organizes the island into seven municipal departments. He grants encomiendas, whereby a Spanish colonist is allowed to force a large number of native people to work and to pay tribute in exchange for Christianization. Blacks are imported from Africa as slaves. 1533 The first recorded Black slave revolt in Cuba takes place at Jobabo mines. The slaves’ heads are cut off and displayed, soon a common practice. Slave rebellions, however, continue with frequency. 1570s By this time, the peoples who inhabited Cuba before the arrival of the Spanish — primarily Ciboney, Guanahuatabey and Taíno Arawak — have almost entirely disappeared. Some have emigrated. Most have either been killed outright or by the conditions of conquest, including malnutrition, diseases and suicide.