Cuban Institutions and Groups

Title first used by the Cuban Communist movement (hitherto the Union Revolucionaria Comunista) from 1933.  This PCC backed the 1935 general strikes in Havana.  In 1938 Batista negotiated a coalition whereby the party joined in forming the Coalición Socialista Democrática to support him in the election of 1940.  The rewards were legalization of the party and considerable influence on Batista’s first […]

Name adopted in 1944 by the Partido Unión Revolucionaria, the earlier Unión Revolucionaria Comunista.  Its World War II objective became that of increasing its membership by getting all its supporters to become members.  Its slogan was “Economic Progress, Social Security, Victory and a People’s Peace.”  President Grau permitted Communist activities until 1947 when he broke

Name given to Fidel Castro’s revolutionary cause, adopted from the date of his ill-fated 1953 attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba.  He began the movement in prison, and after his 1955 release he traveled in the United States and Mexico seeking funds for it. His forces sailed from Mexico to Oriente province

A prominent clandestine organization opposing the dictatorial regime of Gerardo Machado, composed of intellectuals, students, and representatives of the middle sectors of society.  It came into being in 1931, principally to punish the regime for the atrocities it was committing against the opposition and was named from its organization in cells.  Each cell contained seven

Founded by the Dominican order in 1728 as the Real y Pontificia Universidad de San Gerónimo de la ciudad de San Cristóbal de La Habana, it received its current name August 31, 1828, adopted the Spanish government’s new Plan de estudios in 1838, and was secularized January 14, 1843 as the Real Universidad de la

Movement initiated by Ramiro de Maetzu, which was very popular in the Spain of the 1940s.  It lamented that Anglo-Saxon values had supplanted Spanish cultural domination of the New World and claimed that a lack of social reform had frustrated Latin American independence.  It called for closer identity among the Latin American nations as well

Begun in 1832 in Havana by Spanish journalist Isidoro Araujo de Lira, with capital provided by Ramón Pintó, as a simple bulletin of shipping movements, this morning daily was only one of eight flourishing 19th century Cuban newspapers, four of which were dailies.  The official organ of the Spanish military, it was primarily concerned with

A political, economic, and commercial newspaper founded in Havana by José Quintín Suzarte and Francisco de Frias Jacott in 1861 to campaign for Cuban home rule.  Contributors included José Morales Lemus.  In 1863 the paper was taken over by reformist Creoles who sought a reduction in the powers of the captain general.  They advocated greater

Partido Liberal uprising of August 16-September 26, 1906, led initially by Faustino Guerra, protesting the fraudulent election of 1905.  By threatening destruction of American-owned properties it brought about the second United States intervention and the desired overthrow of the government of newly reelected President Estrada Palma.

Begun in 1900, the Havana English-language daily morning paper’s first director was C.E. Fisher, who was succeeded in 1919 by John Thomas Wilford.  Directed at Americans living on the island, it contained international, U.S., and business news, along with some Cuban news, American sports news, society events, a listing of arriving and departing shipping, and