Timeline: Cuba-US Relations
For more than half a century, relations between Washington and Havana have been characterised by aggressive rhetoric, sanctions and outright hostility.
January 1, 1959 October 1960 January 3, 1961 April 17, 1961 October 1962 1966 1977 April-October 1980 1992 March 12, 1996 1998 November, 2001 February 19, 2008 April 13, 2009 January 14, 2013 December 10, 2013 December 17, 2014 May 29, 2015 July 20, 2015 August 14, 2015 February 16, 2016 March 21-22, 2016
Revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro oust the Cuban dictator Fulgenico Batista and declare a revolutionary socialist state.
A commercial, economic and financial embargo by the US against Cuba begins.
US President Dwight D. Eisenhower breaks all diplomatic relations with Cuba.
The Bay of Pigs
Cuban exiles in coordination with the CIA launch a botched invasion that is defeated within two days.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The US discovers Soviet nuclear missile bases on Cuban territory, leading to a 13-day stand-off, the closest the Cold War ever came to all-out nuclear conflict.
Congress approves the Cuban Adjustment Act, which gives work and residency rights to illegal immigrants from the island who reach US territory.
Jimmy Carter asks to open an office of US interests in Havana.
Mariel Boatlift
More than 125,000 Cubans flee the island for the US in just seven months, mostly heading for Miami.
The US’s Cuban Democracy Act asserts that sanctions will continue as long as the government refuses to take steps toward “democratisation and show more respect for human rights”.
The Helms Burton Act states that any non-American company that has dealings with Cuba can be subjected to legal reprisals and its directors banned from entering the US. This meant that international companies have to choose between trade with Cuba or with the US.
US president Bill Clinton authorises sending limited remittances and medical supplies to Cuba.
United States opens a high security prison at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for the “detention, treatment and trial of certain foreigners in the war against terrorism” despite Havana’s protests.
Fidel Castro retires from politics, leaving his brother Raul Castro in power.
Barack Obama allows unlimited family travel and remittances from the US to Cuba.
“It's time to let Cuban-Americans see their mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers.”
Cubans are allowed to travel abroad without having to seek permission from the Cuban government.
Obama and Castro exchange a historic handshake at the funeral of Nelson Mandela.
Obama and Castro agreed to improve political, social and economic relations. Three Cuban agents still imprisoned in the US and a US citizen held in Cuba are freed.
Cuba is removed from the US’s annual official list of state sponsors of terrorism.
US and Cuba reestablish diplomatic relations and their interests sections in Washington and Havana begin to function as embassies.
John Kerry formally reopens the US embassy in Havana, the first visit to Cuba by a US secretary of state since 1945.
The US and Cuba sign an agreement to restore scheduled flights between the two countries.
Obama visits Cuba in first trip by a US president to the island in 88 years.
Sunday, 20 March, 2016
Also see
Cuban Court Fines Man for Act of Civil Disobedience
Prosecutors in Cienfuegos wanted jail term for defendant who blocked road to stop pollution from cement company trucks.
Timeline: Cuba-US Relations
For more than half a century, relations between Washington and Havana have been characterised by aggressive rhetoric, sanctions and outright hostility.
