The 50th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution: Year In Review
2009Article Free Pass On Jan. 1, 2009, the Cuban Revolution that
brought the regime of Fidel Castro to power marked its 50th
anniversary. A half century had passed since Castro led a small
band of rebels to triumph during the 1959 revolution that ousted
the unpopular and corrupt regime of Fulgencio Batista. Castro’s
embrace of communism and his alliance with the Soviet Union soon
provoked conflict with the U.S. In response to Castro’s actions,
U.S. Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower imposed economic sanctions on
Cuba in 1960 and broke off diplomatic relations with the country
in January 1961. Three months later Eisenhower’s successor,
Pres. John F. Kennedy, backed the Cuban exile-led Bay of Pigs
invasion, which backfired badly when Castro’s forces easily
repelled the assault. In early 1962 Kennedy placed a wide-
ranging U.S. embargo on the island that remains the central
element of U.S. policy toward Cuba. That October the Cuban
missile crisis was set in mot