Billy,+George,+and+Vincent's+declassified+Cuba+and+Nicaragua+revolution+guide





In both Cuba and Nicaragua the few wealthy elite controlled the country and economy. They used their political power to dictate the economy and make huge gains fore themselves. After them there was a huge gap to the rest of the population, whom they exploited for cheap labor in order to gain raw goods. This gap was due to a lack of middle-class jobs. In an economy dominated by agricultural goods there were only land-owning elite and then the people who worked the land. (Applies to both pictures above.)



These raw goods were the main source of money for both countries. After using the lower-classes to harvest the goods the elite exported them (in Cuba Sugar became the biggest export and in Nicaragua it was coffee, having one good as their main source of incoming money made both countries "banana republics"). This dependency on exporting goods made both economies very susceptible to economic downtime when the rest of the world suffered. When other economies were down they were not able to buy goods anymore, which would cause the economies to tank. The US was a main buyer for both countries.

In Cuba, Batista became the leader. He was corrupt, even going as far as to take control of the country despite only winning 40% of the vote. He also continued to help the economic elite and hurt the lower-classes, as a result he was very unpopular among the masses; however, he had good relations with the US and they supported his reign for a long time. The US did realize his lack of popularity though, and they attempted to tell him to get out of office, offering him a home in Florida; this attempt was not whole-hearted though and was also too late, as a result Batista stayed in power.



Batista's harsh reign and oppressive policies led to severe resentment from the masses. A lot of people turned to the communist Fidel Castro. Batista's regime attempted to stop Castro and his supporters by putting lower-class citizens into internment camps; however, this just made citizens even angrier and allowed Castro to gain a larger following, eventually enough to take Batista out of power. (Applies to the two pictures above.)



Although there were benefits from Castro's reign (i.e. better health care) there were still very significant problems and in reality things really only approved a little. He did not hold elections, claiming they got in the way of the social revolution and took advantage of the people's need for change to create even more radical change. He also began to impose his will more often in everyday life, for example he cuts electricity rates and would often personally solve disputes between companies and workers, almost always ruling in favor of the workers. As a result the elite were very negatively affected, and there were still problems for the masses, although things did improve some. The lingering problems led thousands of people to flee Cuba for the United States.

In addition to the economic problems present in Nicaragua (as shown earlier), the political system was also majorly flawed. This flaw, though, was not the fault of the Nicaraguan constitution. As part of their façade of democracy, Nicaragua's constitution provided for free elections, separation of power, and the protection of human rights. Despite their constitution, Nicaragua was actually a corrupt, dictatorial state. Although there were technically different branches of government, the President controlled them all behind the scenes. In fact, the parties that made up the legislature had almost no power. In addition, the elections that would have allowed the people to end the rule of the Somoza family were rigged, so much so that the Somozas sometimes had to pay the opposition just to run. There was also huge amounts of corruption: the Somozas actually encouraged dishonesty because they believed the officials who were dishonest would become alienated from the people and more dependent on the government.

The main event, or spark, that caused the demise of the Somoza government was the Christmas earthquake of 1972, which caused a lot of the resentment which had been lingering to finally come to the surface. In the aftermath of the quake, Somoza used the international relief funds for his own purposes, never delivering on his promise to rebuild the city. At the same time Somoza angered the peasants and workers with the lack of rebuilding, Somoza also managed to alienate the economic elite with emergency taxes. All these factors led to an overwhelming number of people opposed to Somoza, so he cracked down on the opposition. This crackdown, however, was so violent and oppressive that the international community called for him to stop (as seen in the US's response). When Somoza finally eased up, the opposition was able to gain much more support and finally overthrow Somoza. Somoza escaped the country, but his government fell and the Revolution had triumphed.



The US, having learned from the revolution in Cuba, realized that the situation in Nicaragua was getting out of hand. After an earthquake which sparked a lot of demonstrations of discontent, the US decided that something had to be done. Instead of supporting an unpopular government, as they had in Cuba, and continuing to oppose the rebels, the US first began to pressure Nicaragua to improve their record on human rights. Later in the revolution, the US began to pressure Somoza to flee the country. As opposed to the situation in Cuba, where the US had been unable to persuade Batista to give up power, the US actually got the job done in Nicaragua. The reason the US was more firm and actually succeeded in getting rid of Somoza was because the US government had realized that continuing to support the government through a revolution would alienate the rebels, who in turn would turn to other nations, and communism, for assistance and guidance once in power. Obviously, given the time period, the US didn't want Nicaragua depending on any other nation, especially not the Soviet Union.



Before their revolutions, Cuba and Nicaragua were very alike in terms of their economies. Both Cuba and Nicaragua had very dependent economies and large gaps between the upper classes and the lower class. As a result of their poor economies and oppressed lower classes, both countries went through revolutions. The US response to those revolutions, however, was different. The US, during the Cuban revolution, continued to support Batista even as the people turned on him. The limited attempts by the US to convince him to flee the country were not effective, and the US didn't take any action on that matter. As a result, the revolutionary forces saw the US as their enemy and turned to Communism. In Nicaragua, though, the US realized they couldn't continue to support an unpopular leader, and took steps to ensure he was removed from power. While events in both countries followed a similar path, the US learned from their mistakes and therefore Cuba directly impacted the events in Nicaragua.