By 1945, Cuba looked stable on paper but was rotting underneath. In 1952 General Fulgencio Batista seized power in a military coup, cancelling elections he was about to lose.
Why the 1952 coup mattered: Batista had already ruled once (1933–1944). This single act turned a flawed democracy into an open dictatorship — and convinced many that peaceful reform was impossible.
Political causes
- Batista's 1952 coup — cancelled the elections and ruled by decree, backed by the army
- Corruption — Batista's government took bribes from US organised-crime figures running Havana's casinos and hotels
- Repression — Batista's secret police tortured and killed opponents, pushing moderates towards armed resistance
- No legal opposition — with elections gone, students and reformers concluded change had to come by force
Economic causes
- Sugar monoculture — the economy depended on one crop, so world sugar-price swings caused mass unemployment
- Seasonal poverty — rural workers (guajiros) only had work during the harvest (zafra) and were jobless the rest of the year
- US economic dominance — US companies owned much of the sugar, mining and utility sectors, so profits left the island
- Inequality — Havana had glamorous casinos and US tourists while the countryside had poor housing, little healthcare and low literacy
Social causes
- Middle-class frustration — professionals and students resented a corrupt government that blocked careers and reform
- Nationalism — many Cubans, remembering the US had occupied Cuba earlier in the century and kept a naval base at Guantánamo Bay, resented US control over their economy and politics
- Racial and rural neglect — Afro-Cuban and rural communities had the least access to schools and healthcare, sharpening resentment
Castro's road to power
1953: Moncada
Fidel Castro, a young lawyer, launched a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks. He was jailed and then exiled.
1956: the Granma
He returned aboard the yacht Granma with a small guerrilla band, including Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
Sierra Maestra
Fighting from the mountains, Castro's 26th of July Movement won growing peasant support. It promised land reform and an end to corruption.
1958: Batista weakens
Batista's army lost morale, and the US cut off arms sales.
1 January 1959
Batista fled and Castro took power.
Moncada, exile, Granma, mountains, victory.
One sentence to remember: Cuba's revolution grew from a corrupt dictatorship, an unequal sugar economy, and resentment of US influence — Castro's guerrilla movement simply gave that anger a leader and an army.
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Once in power, Castro moved quickly from nationalist reformer to committed communist, though he did not declare this openly until 1961. His government reshaped almost every part of Cuban life.
| Area | Policy | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Land | Agrarian Reform Laws (1959, 1963) broke up large estates, including US-owned sugar plantations | Won peasant loyalty but wrecked relations with the US |
| Economy | Nationalised US businesses (banks, sugar mills, utilities) without full compensation | US responded with a trade embargo (1960), pushing Cuba towards the USSR |
| Society | Free healthcare and a nationwide literacy campaign (1961) cut illiteracy from around 25% to under 4% | Big rise in life expectancy and school enrolment |
| Culture | State control of newspapers, radio and film | Little room for views that opposed the revolution |
Treatment of opposition
- Revolutionary tribunals tried and executed hundreds of former Batista officials in 1959
- Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDRs) — neighbourhood groups that watched for dissent
- Bay of Pigs invasion (1961) — a CIA-backed force of Cuban exiles failed to overthrow Castro, which let him crush internal opposition as "US agents" and tie Cuba closer to the Soviet Union
- Mass emigration — hundreds of thousands of middle-class Cubans fled, mostly to Miami, rather than live under the new system
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962): Castro allowed the USSR to base nuclear missiles in Cuba, triggering a tense standoff with the US. The missiles were removed, but the crisis showed how far Castro's Cuba had become a Cold War flashpoint — not just a Latin American story.
Successes and failures
Successes
- Near-universal literacy and free education
- Free, widely praised healthcare system
- Land redistributed to poorer peasants
- National pride: Cuba stood up to the US
Failures
- One-party state with no free elections
- US trade embargo crippled the economy for decades
- Heavy dependence on Soviet subsidies (collapsed in 1991)
- Thousands imprisoned or executed as "counter-revolutionaries"
Castro's impact reached beyond Cuba. His success inspired guerrilla movements across Latin America (Guevara himself died trying to spark revolution in Bolivia in 1967), while the US, fearing "another Cuba," backed anti-communist forces and dictatorships across the region — a pattern that shaped the rest of Latin American politics into the 1980s.
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Not every Latin American leader took Castro's revolutionary path. Many rose through populism.
What populist leaders did
- Charismatic leaders who claimed to speak for the people against elites
- They mixed nationalism, social reform and strong personal control
- They won mass support, especially from urban workers
- Two of the clearest case studies: Juan Perón in Argentina and Getúlio Vargas in Brazil
Juan Perón, Argentina (president 1946–1955, 1973–1974)
Rise to power
As Labour Secretary in the military government after 1943, Perón built support among workers through better pay and union rights; jailed by rivals in 1945, mass worker protests freed him — he won the 1946 election outright.
Ideology
Justicialismo — a mix of nationalism, state-led economic growth and social welfare, claiming to stand above both capitalism and communism.
Policies
Nationalised railways and utilities; raised wages and expanded union rights; his wife Eva "Evita" Perón ran welfare programmes and championed women's suffrage (granted 1947).
Treatment of opposition
Censored hostile newspapers, harassed opposition politicians and used state radio for propaganda; ruled through the loyalty of unions and the army.
Successes and failures
Raised living standards for workers and gave Argentina national pride, but overspending caused inflation and economic decline; the military overthrew him in 1955.
Perón = workers, welfare, wife Evita, and eventually the wobble of an over-spent economy.
Getúlio Vargas, Brazil (1930–1945, 1951–1954)
Rise to power
Took power in a 1930 revolt after a disputed election, then declared the Estado Novo ("New State") in 1937, ruling as a legal dictator with a new authoritarian constitution.
Ideology
Authoritarian nationalism blended with populism — presenting himself as the "father of the poor" while centralising power.
Policies
Built up state industries (like the Volta Redonda steelworks), introduced labour laws (minimum wage, an 8-hour day) and a social security system for urban workers.
Treatment of opposition
Banned political parties, censored the press, and jailed or exiled rivals during the Estado Novo years (1937–1945).
Successes and failures
Modernised Brazil's economy and won loyalty from urban workers, but crushed democratic rights; forced to resign in 1945, he returned by election in 1951 but took his own life in 1954 amid a political crisis.
Vargas = state-led industry, labour laws, and an authoritarian grip that outlasted his popularity.
Compare, don't just describe: Paper 3 essays reward comparison. Perón kept elections (mostly) and ruled through unions; Vargas scrapped elections outright under the Estado Novo. Both, though, built loyalty through welfare and nationalism while silencing critics — that shared pattern is populism.