1. a) What promise did Fidel Castro make when he overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959?
b) What was his actual goal, which the people discovered soon after he took power?

2. Contrast the fate of the two groups of Cubans: those who stayed and those who escaped Cuba.

3. What was the economy, and the health and literacy of the people like before Castro seized power and implemented his Communist doctrine?

4. How did Communist farming and economic methods affect the lives of the people? (see para. 5)

5. How has President Obama’s 2014 executive order to normalize U.S.-Cuba relations after a 50 year embargo affected the Cuban people?

6. a) What did President Obama say after the death of Communist dictator Fidel Castro?
b) President-elect Donald Trump said of Castro’s death:

“Today, the world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades. Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights. While Cuba remains a totalitarian island, it is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long, and toward a future in which the wonderful Cuban people finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve. Though the tragedies, deaths and pain caused by Fidel Castro cannot be erased, our administration will do all it can to ensure the Cuban people can finally begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty.”

Ask a grandparent who has lived through this history: With which statement do you agree more? Please explain your answer.

CHALLENGE: To understand what Castro really did to the Cuban people, visit the Cuba Archive website and visit the Cuba Archive facebook page to read about Castro's victims. Read through some of the stories. Then pay attention to news reports on Castro and how he is portrayed.

How many of these terms do you understand? -- Cuban embargo, Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, Che Guevera