Cuba Events

1895 Winston Churchill Travels To Cuba
"I hope the United States will not force Spain to give up Cuba— unless you are prepared to accept responsibility for the results of such action. If the States care to take Cuba—though this..." —Winston Churchill
1898 Jun 6 United States Launches First Attack in the Invasion of Guantanamo Bay
The 1898 Battle of Guantánamo Bay happened June 6–June 10, 1898, during the Spanish-American War, when American and Cuban forces invaded the strategically and commercially important area ...
1898 Jun 10 U.S. Marines Land In Guantanamo Bay
On June 10, 1898, U.S. Marines landed at Guantánamo Bay. For the next month, American troops fought a land war in Cuba that resulted in the end of Spanish colonial rule in the Western Hem...
1898 Jun 24 Battle of Las Guasimas
The Battle of Las Guasimas of June 24, 1898, part of the Spanish-American War, unfolded from Major General "Fighting Joe" Wheeler's attempt to storm a Spanish position in the jungles surr...
1898 Jul 1 Battle of San Juan Hill
The Battle of San Juan Hill (July 1, 1898) was the bloodiest and most famous battle of the Spanish–American War. It was also one of the greatest victories for the Rough Riders. At San ...
1934 Sep 8 Burning of the SS Morro Castle
The SS Morro Castle was a luxury cruise ship of the 1930s that was built for the Ward Line for runs between New York City and Havana, Cuba. The Morro Castle was named for the Morro Castle...
1959 May 17 Fidel Castro signs First Agrarian Reform into law
The agrarian reform laws of Cuba sought to break up large landholdings and redistribute land to those peasants who worked it, to cooperatives, and the state. Laws relating to land reform ...
1961 Apr 15
6:00AM
 United States B-26B Invader Bombers Attack Three Cuban Airfields
At about 06.00 Cuba local time on 15 April 1961, eight Douglas B-26B Invader bombers in three groups, simultaneously attacked three Cuban airfields, at San Antonio de Los Baños and at Ciu...
1961 Apr 15
7:30AM
 United States Flies B-26 Bomber in Deception Flight Near Cuba
About 90 minutes after the eight B-26s had taken off from Puerto Cabezas to attack Cuban airfields, another B-26 departed on a deception flight that took it close to Cuba but headed north...
1961 Apr 16 CIA/Brigade 2506 Invasion Fleet Converges on "Rendezvous Point Zulu" South of Cuba
Following the air strikes on airfields on April 15, 1961, the FAR managed to prepare for armed action at least four T-33s, four Sea Furies and five or six B-26s. All three types could be ...
1961 Apr 17
to 1961 Apr 19
 Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion (known as La Batalla de Girón in Cuba), was an unsuccessful attempt by a U.S.-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba with support from U.S. governm...
1961 Apr 18 Second Day of Bay of Pigs Invasion
By about 10.30 on 18 April, Cuban troops and militia, supported by tanks, took Playa Larga after Brigade forces had fled towards Girón in the early hours. During the day, Brigade forces r...
1961 Apr 19 Third Day of the Bay of Pigs Invasion
The final air attack mission (code-named Mad Dog Flight) comprised five B-26s, four of which were manned by American CIA contract air crews and pilots from the Alabama Air Guard. One FAR ...
1961 Apr 20 Fourth Day of the Bay of Pigs Invasion
From 19 April until about 22 April, sorties were flown by A4D-2Ns to obtain visual intelligence over combat areas. Reconnaissance flights are also reported of Douglas AD-5Ws of VFP-62 and...
1961 May 1 Fidel Castro declares Cuba a socialist state
On May 1, 1961, Castro declared Cuba as socialist state and officially abolished multiparty elections. Critics noted that Castro feared elections would eject him from power. In June 1960...
1961 Nov 30 President Kennedy Authorizes Operation Mongoose
The Cuban Project (also known as Operation Mongoose or the Special Group or the Special Group Augmented) was a program of CIA covert operations developed during the early years of US Pres...
1962 United States Military Plans Operation Ortsac to Disrupt Castro's Rule in Cuba
Operation Ortsac was the project name of a possible invasion of Cuba planned by the United States military in 1962. The codename was derived from former Cuban President Fidel Castro by sp...
1962 Feb United States Economic Blockade Against Cuba Becomes Near-Total Embargo
The United States Embargo against Cuba (described in Cuba as el bloqueo, Spanish for "the blockade") is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo partially imposed on Cuba in October ...
1962 Sep 8 First Nuclear Ballistic Missiles Arrive in Cuba
The first consignment of SS-3 MRBMs (medium range ballistic missiles) arrived on the night of September 8, followed by a second on September 16. The Soviets were building nine sites — six...
1962 Oct Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba in October 1962, during the Cold War. In Russia, it is termed the "Caribbean Crisis" (Ru...
1962 Oct 14 United States U-2 Reconnaissance Mission Discovers SS-4 Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) Sites in Varying Stages of Readiness
The first consignment of SS-3 MRBMs (medium range ballistic missiles) arrived on the night of September 8, followed by a second on September 16. The Soviets were building nine sites — six...
1962 Oct 16 President Kennedy Assembles EXCOMM Upon Viewing Photographs of Soviet Missiles in Cuba
Kennedy saw the photographs on October 16; he assembled the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM), fourteen key officials and his brother Robert, at 9.00 a.m. The ...
1962 Oct 18 Kennedy Meets with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko
On October 18th the President ordered a build up of arms along the southern border of the United States, just in case war breaks out. No one suspected anything because training exercises ...
1962 Oct 21 John F. Kennedy Decides to "Quarantine" Cuba in Response to Nuclear Threat
On October 21st, ExComm, and President Kennedy decided that a quarantine was the best course of action. The administration called it a quarantine, because the term "blockade" would symbol...
1962 Oct 22 President Kennedy Delivers First Speech on the Nuclear Buildup in Cuba
"It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack on the United States, requiring a full ret..." —John F. Kennedy
1962 Oct 23 Joint Chiefs of Staff Instructed Strategic Air Command to go to DEFCON 2 for the Only Confirmed Time in History
On the night of October 23, the Joint Chiefs of Staff instructed Strategic Air Command to go to DEFCON 2, for the only confirmed time in history. The message, and the response, were delib...
1962 Oct 23 President Kennedy signs the Proclamation for Interdiction of the Delivery of Offensive Weapons to Cuba
Only an hour [after Kennedy's address to the nation], at 11:24 a.m. a cable drafted by George Ball to the U.S. Ambassador in Turkey and the U.S. Ambassador to NATO notified them that they...
1962 Oct 26 Fidel Castro Writes Letter to Khruschev in which he Urges the Soviet Union to Attack the US if it Invades Cuba
"I would like to briefly express my own personal opinion. If [an invasion of Cuba] takes place and the imperialists invade Cuba with the aim of occupying it, the dangers of their aggres..." —Fidel Castro
1962 Oct 28
9:00AM
 Khruschev Announces Soviet Union will Remove Missiles from Cuba in Radio Moscow Address
After much deliberation between the Soviet Union and Kennedy's cabinet, Kennedy secretly agreed to remove all missiles set in Turkey on the border of the Soviet Union in exchange for Khru...
2002 Jan 11 First group of detainees arrives at Guantanamo Bay's Camp X-Ray
In 2001, President George W. Bush signed an executive order that stipulated that US military could indefinitely detain any non-citizen who he believed was involved in international terror...
2007 Mar 26 Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee, David Hicks, pleads guilty to terrorist activity
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, March 26 -- Australian David M. Hicks pleaded guilty to one charge of material support for terrorism during a brief military hearing Monday night, becoming the first...
2008 Feb 19 Fidel Castro Resigns
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926) is a Cuban politician, one of the primary leaders of the Cuban Revolution, the Prime Minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976...
2008 Feb 24 Raul Castro is Elected as President of Cuba
Brigadier-General (retired) Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz (born 3 June 1931) is the President of the Cuban Council of State and the President (As Premier) of the Council of Ministers of Cuba. T...
2008 Aug 15
to 2008 Aug 27
 Tropical Storm Fay
Tropical Storm Fay was a tropical storm and the sixth named storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. Fay formed from a vigorous tropical wave on August 15 over the Dominican Republic....
2008 Aug 25
to 2009 Sep 4
 Hurricane Gustav
Hurricane Gustav was the second most destructive hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm was the seventh tropical cyclone, third hurricane, and second major hurricane o...
2009 Jun 3 Cuba readmitted into the Organization of American States after a 47-year suspension
SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (Reuters) - The Organization of American States lifted its 47-year suspension of Cuba on Wednesday in a move backed by Washington as it tries to soothe Cold War t...
2009 Jun 4 Cuba refuses OAS membership
Cuba is declining to rejoin the Organization of American States, but calls the group's decision to lift a 47-year suspension against it a "major victory." Cuban National Assembly Presi...
2009 Jul 6 President Obama Arrives in Moscow to Discuss Arms Controls
The United States and Russia, seeking to move forward on one of the most significant arms control treaties since the end of the cold war, have reached a preliminary agreement on cutting e...
2010 May 19 United States and Cuba Hold Rare Bilateral Talks to Discuss Protecting Gulf of Mexico from Oil Spills
The United States and Cuba are holding rare talks to discuss the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the State Department said today. The talks are the latest indication the growing ...
2010 Sep 8 Fidel Castro Admits Cuba's Economic Model Didn't Work
[During] the generally lighthearted conversation (we had just spent three hours talking about Iran and the Middle East), I asked him if he believed the Cuban model was still something wor...
2010 Nov 4 Aero Caribbean Flight 883 Crash
Aero Caribbean Flight 883 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to Havana, Cuba, via Santiago de Cuba. On 4 November 2010, the Aero Caribbean ATR-72-...